NOVEL NEXT Chapter 297: SAVE THE CAT!
Kaden opened his eyes once again inside the strange place, golden fog kissing his whole body like maggots crawling beneath his skin.
He clicked his tongue, then wordlessly and unhurriedly stood up from the ground, straightening his posture as he looked at the sight before him.
Mahina's voice began to echo through his head, threatening him in a way almost too polite. But being polite would certainly not stop him from smashing her face into the ground if the opportunity ever dared to occur.
His Will was still active, so the pain and the whispers were not unbearable, though his expression twisted in discomfort.
There was something about this intent that made his skin tingle, as if being prickled by countless crows hungry for his flesh. Madness… there was too much madness within it.
But not only that, because when Kaden focused on understanding the whispers, when he subtly loosened his control over his Will and let a few wisps of intent slither into his mind… he could discern something else beyond the madness.
There was fear. And sorrow. And an anger so vast it seemed to swallow the heavens and the earth whole.
Anger and grief…fused together until they touched the level of pure madness.
And to think that Kaden intended to use this very intent to push his own beyond their current stages…
No one in either world would dare such a thing. It was like watching a fire burning quietly in its corner and deciding to dive into it with a bloody smile. You would, without a doubt, burn yourself and eventually die.
And yet, just as fire neglects what it burns, Kaden needed to neglect the pain and agony this act would cost him.
And that was something only he could do.
Smiling faintly, Kaden intentionally removed his Will's protection over his body and mind, letting his two intents take its place.
He immediately staggered backward, his body slouching under sudden exhaustion, his face twisting in deep pain. Crimson and black light tore open reality and began to shroud his entire body in a protective embrace.
But they flickered sporadically, like candles in the heart of a storm. Kaden had to focus intently just to keep them from being snuffed out by the overwhelming intent enveloping him like a bloody armor.
'Fuck.' He cursed inwardly. 'This is harder than I thought.'
His two intents were trying to flee, to disperse under the crushing madness of The Mad Sun Emperor. But Kaden would be damned if he allowed that to happen.
His crimson eyes sharpened, glowing like ignited blood, and he forced his focus inward, commanding the intents to stabilize within his mind. The whispers were growing louder, and that constant shout of "Aurora!" was becoming insufferably annoying.
Who the hell was even Aurora?
He didn't have the time to ponder the question, as the moment he took a single step forward, he kissed the ground the next second.
His whole body became veiny, his skin bulging, threatening to burst and kill him once again.
Face-first against the cold ice floor, Kaden cursed in fury at his state. One step. One bloody step, and he couldn't even withstand the intent?
What was this intent made of?
What kind of comprehension had the Mad Sun Emperor achieved to create such a thing? What level had he reached?
These questions flooded Kaden's mind restlessly, but he refused to dwell on them.
Now was not the time, because death was approaching. He could feel it crawling toward him like a starving wolf stalking its crippled prey. He didn't have much time.
But in that fleeting instant, as death's shadow fell upon him, a faint light of clarity flickered within his mind. It was a warm, subtle glow of understanding.
He was at death's door.
Wasn't it the perfect time to ponder death itself and evolve his intent?
He rarely had this kind of opportunity. Most of his deaths were instantaneous, leaving no space for thought or revelation. But now, here, he had time, even if it was brief.
Yes, the pain was unimaginable. With his Will intentionally suppressed, the urge to give up clawed at his mind, whispering that surrender would be easier. But he wouldn't.
He had endured too much to bend now, too much to yield when hardship came to greet him. He welcomed it even. Because he knew only through such trials could he go beyond.
So without another thought, standing at the edge of death, Kaden began to seek understanding in the way of death.
But not only death, as his blood vessels ballooned painfully, his body trembling under the strain, he also sought enlightenment through the way of blood.
His intelligence and perception strained to their limit as he began to feel it all…death tightening its grasp on him, blood rushing violently through every vein, every artery screaming its song.
He simply stared and listened. And in that stillness, something began to whisper inside his mind.
And yet, he could go no further, for his body betrayed him before his mind could.
[You are dead.]
And he died.
…
Meanwhile, in a place shrouded by ice and snow…
Meris Elamin was lying on her back, on the silver grass beside a stream where a strange statue of an overgrown cat was vomiting ice, her gaze fixed on the blue sky tainted with frost above her, the blue moon hanging there like an unblinking eye, her expression filled with boundless annoyance.
Her clothes were ragged, her skin marked with wounds and streaks of dried blood.
She certainly hadn't spent the past two months idly.
'I'm going to kill someone or something, it doesn't matter who or what.' These thoughts had been looping through her mind without pause since two months ago.
And as if sensing her murderous intent, no beasts dared approach her, terrified of the cold aura radiating from her body. The thing about her ice wasn't that it was merely cold… it was lifeless. It was alien.
As if she could approach you with the warmest smile you'd ever see and still skin you alive with that same smile plastered on her face, no emotion flickering through her strange soul.
It was eerie.
But Meris didn't bother with these pathetic beasts either. She was far more concerned with the Legendary evolution quest she had received from The Will.
{Find the hidden inhabitants from the hidden world of the forbidden zone and gain their acknowledgment.}
{Time limit: 4 months.}
Meris clicked her tongue in irritation once again, recalling the vague content of the quest. She had never seen or heard of a task so cryptic in its instructions.
She had spent the past two months searching for these hidden inhabitants, scouring almost every inch of this frozen wasteland, battling Master-ranked beasts and even Grandmasters while always managing to escape, barely.
She wasn't strong enough yet to take one of them head-on. Still, it seemed they couldn't leave the core zone, so Meris always returned to this place to rest.
Weirdly enough, there were almost no beasts here, and when there were, they were only small, harmless frost creatures, cute, delicate things she didn't mind using to vent her fury.
'Can I at least get a clue?' she thought for the nth time. 'How am I supposed to find these inhabitants with nothing but this vague piece of information?'
Meris would have called The Will unfair, if she didn't know better. The Will always gave quests that had a solution. So there was a way. She just had to find it.
But easier said than done.
She sighed wistfully, her mind starting to drift again, thinking how she'd probably kill herself if she failed this quest. She would never accept the shame of disappointing her mother… or her lover.
She would rather die.
But before her thoughts could spiral further, something flickered at the edge of her vision. She blinked, thinking she imagined it.
But no.
To her left, a small beast was being chased by a colossal hissing snake, at least nine feet tall, the frost radiating from its scales turning the already frozen landscape into a hell of ice.
Meris focused on the smaller creature, her heart suddenly pounding in strange trepidation and found that it was…
A cat?
She blinked, confused. But the confusion didn't last long, because something screamed inside her head like a divine command:
'SAVE THE CAT!'
In a heartbeat, Meris raised her right hand, her palm shifting, wriggling with patches of snow. She slammed it against the ground, transforming the carpet of silver grass into a field of slick icy snow. The friction dropped instantly, and her body slid across the frozen surface as she intercepted the cat's path, arriving just beneath the frost snake.
The cat looked at her with strange calmness. The snake froze, startled by the sudden intrusion, enough time for Meris to move.
She twisted her body, scooped up the purple cat, unleashed a burst of ice straight into the snake's face, blinding it, and sent it crashing into the snow. Then she rose from the ground and sprinted away in the same way she had learned to survive by now.
—End of Chapter 297—