The Moon Thief

Heinald's stamina was gradually declining, and his magical treasure was almost completely absorbed. The freezing ray would kill him if he didn't make a quick move.

"Blood Nightmare Shield! Activate!" Heinald shouted out.

A pale red barrier surrounded him, the freezing influence from outside no longer affecting him at all.

Heinald immediately jumped back and was out of Dementor Frost Flower's attack range. The ax in his hand turned into a silver beam of light and flew towards his finger, taking the form of a ring again.

"My turn!" A stream of fire that was terribly hot formed in Heinald's arm, and they began to pool in his hand. A red ray of fire shot out from its descendants towards the Dementor Frost Flower. The heat emanating from this fire ray began to melt everything around.

Dementor Frost Flower was directly hit by this destroyer ray. Its already completely destroyed resistance could only resist this fire ray for a few seconds. The icy blue leaves of Dementor Frost Flower began to turn black and soon turned to ash all over it.

Only a pearl-sized core remained from the Dementor Frost Flower.

Heinald approached the core slowly and began to examine it. He hadn't touched it directly, he had learned his lesson well from the previous incident!

He did not feel any coldness or energy emanating from this core. He created a small energy field around his hand and lifted the core into the air. This core was light blue in color, its surface was smooth, as if it had been formed into a perfect sphere with thousands of years of effort.

Heinald infused this core into his dimensional ring.

As he began to slowly examine the surroundings, he noticed that the egg-shaped ice in the back was starting to melt. The interesting point is that these egg-shaped things did not melt even during the fierce battle.

They were starting to melt when Dementor Frost Flower died.

"While Dementor Frost Flower was fighting me, he was also conserving some of his energy for these things. He was truly a being equal to a peak-phase Level 2 Ainsar power!" Heinald trembled with fear when he realized this fact.

The most important lesson he learned from the many battles he experienced was not to give strong enemies the first opportunity to strike. He had attacked it quickly and effectively in his battle with the Dementor Frost Flower, and had managed to break its resistance at the very beginning of the battle.

He didn't even hesitate to use his very valuable Magic Scroll for this; because he knew that if he didn't break its resistance early, he could face unpleasant surprises in the future.

If he didn't have a Magic Scroll that he could use right away; his battle with Dementor Frost Flower would have been far more dangerous and grueling for him.

This was obvious!

"Hmm?" Heinald saw two bodies emerging after the egg-shaped things melted. These bodies belonged to a woman and a man.

These must have been the people he was looking for!

However, his attention was in a different place right now. He was trembling with excitement from the awareness he had gained about two seconds ago.

Dementor Frost Flower had the ability to split a soul into particles. Thus, he could easily consume the souls of his victims and prolong his life. Obviously, he was applying the same process to these two people, but that process was interrupted by him.

Heinald immediately approached the bodies and began carefully pouring the clear secretions that surrounded them into the tubes he pulled from the dimensional pocket of his robe. If his guesses were right, it was the secretion Dementor Frost Flower used to tear souls into particles.

He thought that if he did enough research and experiments on this secretion, he could get some very important methods or clues. This would have been of great help in furthering the Spirit Elixir formula he was trying to create!

Unfortunately, since the Dementor Frost Flower died, these secretions were dissolving very quickly. He was only able to collect a few tubes of secretions.

Heinald sighed and muttered, "I guess that amount isn't bad either."

More than half of the spirit of the bodies within the secretion seemed to have already dissolved.

They were dead!

Since they were already dead, Heinald was able to easily store their bodies in his dimensional ring. When he examined them closely, he was sure they had seen their faces in the earl's estate. There was not the slightest rot in their bodies, at least that would lessen the count's pain a little.

They must have gotten some information that there was a Dementor Frost Flower in this place. Most likely, this dangerous herb was a remnant from an Ainsar's experiment long ago.

The Ainsars bequeathed some important remnants of their experiments for the continuity of the Ainsar Way. Thus, they believed that the doors of opportunity would open for them further down the Ainsar Road.

These two people had died trying to get hold of one of these legacies, but that was their problem. It had nothing to do with the Ainsar who left this legacy because it was their failure to capture this Dementor Frost Flower.

There was no room for the unsuccessful on the Ainsar Road!

Heinald realized that beyond the huge room he was in, there was a dark road. After making sure that he had looked around sufficiently and that nothing had escaped his eye, he left the place.

He walked non-stop for days on this straight road. When this road ended, he realized that he had entered some kind of cave. After walking for hours in this highly entangled cave, he started to see the light of day.

He finally managed to get out of the underground.

When Heinald went out, he was surrounded by trees and various plants. From his first observations, he was on top of one of the hills of a rough terrain.

He communicated with Revakender in his mind, his Spirit Companion could feel his presence and come near him.

It took about twenty minutes for Revakender to get to where he was. He deduced from this result that he was not far from the valley. When he jumped onto Revakender's back, the two of them began flying directly towards Count Vaarsen's mansion.

When Heinald got close to Jusse City, he got off the Revakender's back and started traveling at a run. He didn't want to enter the city with a dragon.

When he entered the city, he rented a carriage and went to Count Vaarsen's estate.

When he arrived in front of the Manor, the previous officer accompanied him again, and they went to Count Vaarsen's room together.

When Heinald entered the earl's room, everything was the same as before. He had detected no change in either the earl or the room.

"Did you...find them?" Count Vaarsen asked.

Heinald nodded, "I did."

Count Vaarsen grimaced and closed his eyes.

There was silence for about a minute.

"I've also learned what they're after." Heinald broke the silence.

"What did they go there for?" Count Vaarsen asked.

Heinald took out the core of Dementor Frost Flower and placed it on the count's desk. "This is the core of a Dementor Frost Flower."

"Dementor Frost Flower..." Count Vaarsen muttered, "Where in the valley did you find them?"

Heinald briefly told the count of his experiences.

Although Count Vaarsen was listening carefully, he could not hide the pain in his heart. His face was becoming increasingly pale and his eyes were beginning to look pensive.

Heinald said, "I have their bodies with me."

"How is the condition of the bodies?" Count Vaarsen asked.

"Because of their environment, they're in pretty good shape." Heinald replied.

As soon as he removed the bodies from the dimensional storage ring, several attendants arrived and began preparing the bodies for the burial.

"Thanks to you, at least I'll be able to arrange a funeral for my son and grandson. Thank you, young man. I'll send a letter to Ruthas Academy as soon as possible confirming my request."

Count Vaarsen barely managed to smile a little. Ever since his son and grandson went missing, there was always a little hope inside her, but that hope was killed by reality. The little piece of hope that had kept his morale up for so many years was also completely gone. Because of this, Count Vaarsen was starting to look a little older than he used to be within minutes.

After Heinald said goodbye to him, he left the city of Jusse City. He called Revakender to a distant place outside the city and jumped on its back and began traveling with him to Ruthas Academy.