Chapter 50: 49. Her Ever-burning Soul
Raphael’s figure followed the subhuman herd down the dark corridor, and after quite a chase, she suddenly noticed that the footsteps ahead had completely vanished, leaving only a slight echo.
As she dashed into the corridor, the cave ahead widened abruptly. Within that vast space stood many dazed subhumans, both male and female, the only characteristic uniting them being that their horns seemed to have been sawed off.
On both sides of the cave, at the wider sections, were two pools filled with a pungent liquid. Upon closer inspection, the liquid on the subhumans matched the smell of the substance in the pools.
What is this?
Raphael looked around in confusion, only to see Nana, sitting on the shoulder of a robust subhuman, appear in front of her. Ral and the others had been captured and placed at the back of the cave.
“Do you think it’s possible, Miss Raphael? Who would have thought that the jewel of the Southern Branch Tribe’s chief would be captured by humans? And you, too, must have fallen in love with that human, right?”
Nana covered her mouth, pointed at Raphael, and smiled. “That’s such a wonderful thing! The human body is so warm, isn’t it? Even subhumans and humans can give birth to offspring. Do you know what it feels like to have a child? You can truly feel their existence right here.”
Her face flushed as she fondly rubbed her belly, where it seemed the treasures of the entire world were being nurtured, a life born from her union with Mr. Feilon, a testament to their love.
“Shut up! Where are Ral and the others?!”
But Raphael ignored her, narrowing her eyes and warily scanning her surroundings.
“Tsk, how boring, just like that human named Fisher. Raphael, don’t struggle. Give up on your companions and stay quiet for a while. After Feilon and Fisher are done, I’ll let you go. You can return to the Western Continent together. The Southern Continent has no place left for subhumans.”
Nana waved her hand, prompting the expressionless subhumans beside her to turn and focus on her. From the pool next to them, subhumans similar to the ones beside her began to emerge.
These were the materials left behind by Feilon’s experiments, just perfect for Nana.
“If you misbehave, I won’t be as kind as your parents. Don’t come crying when you get your backside slapped.”
Raphael was shocked to see the lifeless expressions of the subhumans around her. Their bodies still breathed, yet they lacked any color of life.
“These… these are…”
Raphael’s gaze swept over the subhumans, as if recalling something. They all had golden hair, and she had suspected this before when she saw Nana. This color of subhuman only existed in one herd in the Southern Continent, and both Nana and these subhumans were from that tribe.
Raphael’s shocked gaze glanced around, catching sight of a blue-tailed dragon among the expressionless subhumans—Ral’s brother, Narl.
“Narl!” Raphael exclaimed in panic, rushing over and gripping his shoulder. His body had no wounds, but his skin was greyed out, devoid of the heat typical of dragonkind. He stared blankly at her, unresponsive to her shaking.
“What’s wrong with you? Speak up!”
“Stop calling him, Raphael, he won’t answer you.”
The warmth of Nana’s usually gentle smile was gone; her expression turned cold as she looked at Raphael, interrupting her actions. “His soul has already become a commodity, probably burning in some human factory, just like those subhumans.”
Raphael’s scales bristled, steam continuing to surge from her. She turned to Nana in anger.
“They are your kin! Your kin! How can you be so ruthless! Why would you help that human harm your own people?”
“Kin?” Nana laughed as if she had heard a funny joke. She leaped down from the shoulder of the male subhuman, her gentle demeanor replaced with a terrifying scowl as she pointed at the sawed-off horn covered in golden adornments on her right side. “My dear subhuman kin divide status based on the size of their horns! Those with smaller horns in the tribe aren’t even considered beasts! Do you know what kind of life I lived in the tribe? Do you know the pain of wanting to escape but being caught and having your horn sawed off? Why do you think I learned so many languages of other subhumans? My kin bullied me, and you dragons look down on subhumans. Do you think everyone is kind? Stop dreaming, Raphael!”
Her smile was terrifying; she kicked at the male subhuman next to her, bruising his body, but he remained expressionless, having lost his soul.
“You, Raphael, daughter of the Southern Branch Tribe’s chief and princess revered by all, will of course feel sorrow and hatred when captured by humans! Ha, but I, after my tribe was breached by humans, found that I live even better, hahahahaha!”
“I want to kill all these damned subhumans, saw off their proud horns, and let them taste a pain worse than death! The bigger and more beautiful the horn, the more I like it, including yours! My tribe was betrayed by the intelligence I provided to humans; they took my tribe’s resources, and the condition was that all these damned subhumans belong to me!”
Nana’s smile became manic, but it abruptly stopped, as if a switch had been flipped. The next moment, she calmed down and spoke indifferently to Raphael, “I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to saw off your damned horns and keep them as trophies. Kill her.”
The golden adornments on her right horn flashed with a dim light. Following her command, the expressionless subhumans surged forward to attack.
Raphael gritted her teeth; just as she was about to strike, her claw extended like a steel knife toward the nearby subhuman, who suddenly changed his expression to one of despair and sorrow.
“Wait! Don’t kill me! My body is out of control! Help me! Save me, save me!”
“Bang!”
Raphael’s movements slightly halted, her intention to attack paused. But the next moment, the subhumans beside her struck hard against Raphael’s body.
In the distance, Nana sat on the male subhuman with a smile, watching the show with her arms crossed.
Yes, those guys had long been dead; the only reason they could still move was because Nana’s horn bore an ancient relic—a “Necromancer.” Originally a treasure of Nana’s tribe, after the tribe was attacked by humans, Nana killed the chief and stole this artifact.
This item was originally used to control the corpses in the wasteland, but Nana discovered that these bodies, robbed of their souls, could also be manipulated. Since their bodies were still alive, they could perform more intricate actions, just like now.
Ha, naive Raphael!
Nana was already thinking about how to saw off her beautiful pair of horns. She wanted to make Raphael feel the blade’s friction against her horns.
Clearly, she didn’t know that dragon horns couldn’t be touched with ordinary tools.
But Raphael’s situation was also dire. Just as Nana observed, whenever the subhumans’ expressions changed, Raphael couldn’t bring herself to strike. With punches raining down, Raphael’s expression gradually blurred, and warm blood trickled down her forehead.
For some reason, Raphael’s heart was consumed by anger and frustration. Yet this powerless irritation wouldn’t solve her problems and merely fueled her rage.
“Raphael, calm down.”
Ha. As strikes hit around her, Raphael’s eyes suddenly widened. Uncertainty crept in, and she seemed to hear Fisher’s expressionless voice, his tone as annoyingly familiar and repetitive as ever.
“Anger and impulse won’t help you; only icy calm and analysis can extricate you from the current situation. Think carefully and then take action!”
Raphael’s vision, obscured by blood, gradually revealed Fisher’s silhouette. But where was Fisher now?
However, Raphael had already calmed down as she saw through the illusory figure of Fisher and, amidst the violent strikes from the subhumans, she suddenly spotted the glimmering adornment on Nana’s horn.
The ones beside her were already dead! They were dead, Raphael!
Fisher was right; such anger would only bring harm to herself and her companions, accomplishing nothing!
You must remain calm!
Raphael gritted her teeth; steam burst forth around her, launching one of the subhumans that wore a sorrowful expression across the cave. Her claws regained control and extended.
“Miss, I am—”
“Raphael, save me!”
Raphael opened her eyes, her rage gradually subsiding, but her actions were not slow. She struck and tore through the incoming waves of subhumans beside her with claws and fists.
“Sister Raphael.”
Raphael stood before Narl, whose face resembled Ral’s but was still so youthful, tears spilling from his eyes. Yet Raphael did not hesitate; taking a deep breath, she clenched his head with her claws and snapped his neck.
Narl.
The further she walked, the more calm her anger became—not that the anger disappeared, but rather it was transformed into a state of icy rationality, gradually turning the burning flame into a cold form, one that would strike fear into all.
She stepped forward silently, becoming increasingly upright as she continued down the cave until she reached Nana’s position.
Nana’s expression changed slightly; she reached for the sturdiest subhuman beside her. That seemingly massive subhuman towered over Raphael, but before it could make a move, Raphael abruptly waved her hand and cut the subhuman in half.
“You truly are a monster,” Nana remarked, beads of cold sweat forming on her brow as she gazed at the expressionless Raphael approaching her.
“Where are Ral and the others?”
“Don’t worry, I haven’t had time to deal with them yet. They’re still alive, but are you too confident to come this close to me?”
Raphael’s expression changed as Nana’s right hand, covered with a frightening glove, swung violently at her. But Raphael reacted quickly, her claw grasping Nana’s right hand like lightning.
Raphael’s grip turned cold, applying pressure, causing a bone-cracking sound to reverberate from Nana’s gloved hand.
Nana’s face turned pale, but her eyes glinted with a mad smile, as if she felt no pain at all.
“Haha, die!”
Raphael’s pupils slightly contracted. The next moment, an odd current burst from Nana’s captivated hand, racing up Raphael’s arm and into her brain, making her tremble all over.
Raphael hadn’t expected Nana to possess a concealed weapon that activated upon touch. She should have severed her entire arm immediately, yet now it was too late to regret.
As the current surged in, Raphael’s vision began to darken, as if she were being expelled from her body. She struggled to let go of her hand, but the point of contact, due to the link of the current, seemed to create a vacuum, making it impossible for Raphael to pull away.
Not good, my soul is being…
The twin horns on Raphael’s forehead dimmed as a bright red, dazzling soul gradually separated from Raphael’s body.
“Hahaha, fool! Your soul…”
Raphael still felt the pain, but to Nana’s eyes, she saw both Raphael and the blindingly radiant soul that had emerged angrily glaring at her, an overwhelming pressure and heat instantaneously assaulted Nana’s mind.
This was the first time Nana had encountered such a terrifying soul, one so hot it felt like the blazing sun, sending terrifying heat radiating through her gloved hand. In just an instant, her palm completely vaporized without a hint of pain.
And the flames showed no signs of stopping. The entire cave ignited from that extreme heat, the surrounding corpses and the pools of liquid catching fire as well. The once soulless bodies that craved souls lay motionless in fear, cowering on the ground.
That soul… like a queen, looked down haughtily upon everything in the cave.
“Monster, monster.”
The crimson, horned dragon’s soul moved alongside Raphael’s body, coldly staring at the trembling Nana. The next second, as the red soul slowly returned to its place, Raphael suddenly took a deep breath filled with steam.
Raphael raised her hand, and just as Nana thought she was about to end her own life, Raphael merely gently removed the golden relic from her head, crushing it slowly in her palm until it transformed into a flurry of strange glowing dust.
“Enjoy your humble fear in the remaining days of your life, insect.”
Raphael said coldly.
Strangely, after the golden horn was taken away, Nana’s expression radically changed, filled with intense panic, her legs seemingly losing all strength and collapsing.
“My… my horn! Give me back my horn! No… my horn!”
Raphael discarded the shards of relic on the ground, and Nana immediately scrambled over to collect the pieces of her horn, trembling fiercely as if perpetually crushed by some invisible terror.
Subhumans lose their horns and become like this; Raphael had witnessed such a scene before.
Raphael looked at Nana on the ground searching for the dust with pity, glanced back at the cave now fully engulfed in flames, gritted her teeth, and focused on her already unconscious companions inside.
She needed to save them before everything burned down.
Please continue reading and vote. Thank you all.
