Chapter 24
Yake’s phantom raised its sword to block the attack, but alas, with his strength, it was utterly impossible to withstand the combined might of Aierjisi and Yake, and he was knocked down to the ground, unable to rise again.
As for Aierjisi’s phantom, the moment Yake’s phantom fell, she too lost her fighting power and collapsed to the ground.
Controlled by the core, their actions were devoid of thought; witnessing a comrade being hit didn’t spur them to block in return. This was a significant flaw of phantoms.
“Success! Aier, we did it, we really did it!”
“No need to shout so loudly, I can see it already.”
With both phantoms lying down and disappearing, Yake was bouncing around like a three-year-old, leaving Aierjisi at a loss for words; he was even more childish than she was. No wait, she wasn’t a child!
“Anyway, since we’ve passed the trial given by the Creation Core, we should be able to obtain the power within it. Yake, come on, let’s reach our hands toward the core.”
“Eh? Do I really have to join you?”
“Of course! Aren’t you and I one and the same? So you need to reach out too. Come on!”
“Oh…”
Yake reached his hand toward the core, and together with Aierjisi, they plunged their hands into the core’s interior.
Incredibly, although the surface of the core was radiating heat and looked very hot, when they put their hands inside, they didn’t feel any burning sensation at all.
“Wow, I can feel it… Power is filling my whole body.”
“That’s to be expected, you should really thank me. If it weren’t for signing the contract and sharing my life, how could you possibly gain such immense power?”
“Yeah, I’ll definitely thank you! But when can we pull our hands out? Are we supposed to keep them in here forever?”
“Of course not! But how long we have to keep them in, I’m not really sure. Huh? Wait a second, what’s this? It feels hard… what is it?”
Aierjisi felt she had grabbed something strange and pulled her hand out.
“What is this? A crystal? It looks really valuable!”
Yake stared at the crystal in Aierjisi’s grasp, and just looking at it felt like it was worth a fortune.
“How could there be something like this inside the Creation Core? Father King never mentioned anything about it.”
“Let’s not worry about that now; since this crystal is in the Creation Core, it surely possesses great power.”
“Well, I can certainly feel the immense power contained within this crystal.”
“Then let’s see; who knows, there might be plenty more crystals like this inside the Creation Core.”
Yake stuck his hand deep into the core and started searching around, but he couldn’t find anything resembling a crystal, only empty space.
“Did you find anything in there?”
“Nope, nothing at all. It seems this crystal may be the only one.”
Disappointed, Yake pulled his hand out to show Aierjisi that he hadn’t found anything.
“That’s such a letdown! I was hoping to dig out some treasure, but there’s only this one crystal. Forget it, let’s head back, Yake, we’ve finished our task here.”
Having passed the trial, they obtained a power from the core and also this unexpected crystal. There was nothing else for Aierjisi and company to do here, so returning early seemed wise; that crazy woman might just take advantage of their absence to strike again.
“True enough, let’s get going.”
“Let’s hurry back and check things out.”
The two didn’t linger and left, preparing to return to their hidden cave.
“What’s going on? Did that crazy woman take the chance while we were away to…”
Back in the cave, Aierjisi was speechless as she looked at the corpses before her.
“These wounds… They were definitely caused by that crazy woman.”
Yake moved closer to examine the injuries on the bodies; some had died from weapon wounds, while others seemed to have perished from bodily twists, like a sudden snap of the waist or neck, limbs torn from their bodies.
Besides that crazy woman they had encountered before, Yake couldn’t think of anyone else capable of such destruction.
“That crazy woman. Right, where’s Father King? He was in this cave too.”
Aierjisi ventured deeper into the cave but found no sign of her father. Could it be that her father had been…
“Don’t think about it too much; he’s your father and won’t go down so easily. At least don’t give up until we find the body. This cave seems to extend further inside. Let’s go take a look.”
Yake pointed deeper into the cave and led Aierjisi onward.
…
“You all stay hidden here, understand? That crazy woman is after me and not you. You’re better off staying here until she leaves, and then return to the tribe to wait for the adults to come get you.”
Carl hid Xiuliein and the other beast children in one of the caves while he dashed toward another cave to lure Freya away.
“You can’t escape! I’ve already memorized your scent, and I won’t let you slip away!”
Freya, following Carl’s scent, confidently pursued him into the cave, completely oblivious to the children hidden away in another cave.
“She’s gone. Let’s hurry back.”
“Yeah.”
Once that crazy woman had completely left, the children revealed themselves and returned to their previous cave, just in time to run into Aierjisi and the others.
“You guys, you’re still alive? I thought all you beast folks had been wiped out!”
Seeing the beast children still alive, Aierjisi couldn’t help but be surprised. How did they manage to survive?
“Elder brother, sister! You two are back! Well, that big brother is still luring that big sister into another path, so we’re the only ones who managed to stay alive. Elder brother, sister, you have to hurry and help him!”
Mia understood that the situation was urgent; this was no time for chit-chat. She quickly informed them that Carl was still distracting Freya down another path.
“Father King? I got it, thanks, Mia. If possible, can you all wait for us here? Don’t head further in.”
Considering the bodies of beast folk scattered ahead, Aierjisi couldn’t bring herself to let them witness their parents being slain. It would undoubtedly leave a heavy burden on their innocent hearts.
