Chapter 151 – Skills: Some New, Some Old. (2)

"I heard you wanted to meet me?" Jonathan asked Mera in the most uncaring tone, "What is it about?"

"You and I both know why, your highness," Mera replied in a similar tone.

Neither one of them was thrilled about meeting each other. While Mera felt so because of her hate for Jonathan, it wasn't the same case for Jonathan. Earlier he thought of Mera as an asset who if taught well and given enough resources might help him in his plan.

At least that was what Jonathan had in mind for her. Her only fault was that she wasn't a pureblood or else Jonathan would have happily made her the crown princess of the kingdom. He didn't really care about her bloodline, but seemingly the ministers and other high-ranking members did.

Back then Lycania was in a state of chaos with the sudden emergence of the swamps and Jonathan could not afford to lose the precious support of his ministers. As a result, he was forced to distance himself from Mera. Which she did not take well, obviously.

Slowly her grudge started to get bigger and bigger, while Jonathan tried his best to achieve some sort of stability in his kingdom. He was hopeful Mera would forgive his neglectful behaviour, but by the time he could reach out to her, things had taken a turn for the worse.

Jonathan, for once, wanted to be a father to Mera, but it was too late. Her anger towards him and the nobles had gotten way too big for him to cross over. As a result, he decided it was best to distance himself from her.

However, he never stopped protecting her. Even when the Conundrum found her to be a 'potential' threat to the kingdom, he vetoed their decisions until he turned his attention towards conquering his dreams. From then on, he had not spared a single thought for her, until this moment.

"If you want the boy, I'm afraid he isn't here. If that's all you can leave." Jonathan dismissed her, but she wasn't like the rest of his children who would do whatever daddy told them to.

"Allow me to enter his bungalow." She put her point forward, "Ashton isn't the only one I care about who lives there."

"Surprising… since when did you start caring about humans?"

"Oh please, between the two of us, I have always been the one to care about the humans more than you ever did." Mera scoffed, "You know with my mother being one of your human conquests."

"Be very careful regarding what you say about Asheera!"

Jonathan never lost his cool, at least not so much that he would start yelling at the top of his lungs. Hell, no one had ever seen him like that, especially with the mention of a human. His rage showed itself in the form of a huge aura burst, strong enough to knock several royal guards down.

Even Mera found it a bit difficult to get pushed back… all because she mentioned her human mother.

"Hmm… I didn't think you care about her so much. Especially when you never even visit to see her once when she was on her deathbed." Mera continued throwing verbal jabs at him, "I don't care about the past. I think we're done here. Permission or not, I will enter the building and if anyone dares to stop me, then you know what I am capable of."

With those words, Mera left the palace with her bodyguards closely following her. None of them wanted to stay back and test the king's patience any more than their mistress had already done. As she disappeared, everyone left in the courtroom was stunned into absolute silence.

Well, most of them did not speak a word as they were afraid of what Jonathan might do to them if they did.

***

Back near the cave, Seven was getting a bit nervous. Although he said he would enter the cave around the 45-minute mark to check on Ashton, he didn't do so. And now, more than one and a half hours had passed and still, there was no sign of him.

"Damn it! I should have gone along with him." Seven cursed under his breath while looking at the cave's entrance, "I should probably go in now… fck, I'd rather have the kid pissed at me rather than being sentenced to death for not being able to protect him."

Seven made up his mind and bravely marched inside the cave. It only took him a couple of minutes to find the carnage Ashton had left behind. To say that his jaw dropped with shock would be an understatement.

He had never even heard about creatures like that, let alone kill them. Finding the dead monsters only put him under more stress. He was now worried about Ashton.

The kid might have been skilled but going against a species no one had any information about was… a bit troubling. It was problematic even for him who was on the verge of evolving his class.

"After a closer look, I don't think these creatures are extraordinarily strong or something." Seven squatted down next to one of the corpses and began examining it, "He should have been able to take care of them with ease. Maybe, I'm unnecessarily being paranoid."

A flash of relief could be seen on his face. But it was short-lived because the next moment, the knight found himself surrounded by two dozen wraith wolves who had arrived there looking for their pack members.

When the wolves saw Seven next to their fallen brethren, they immediately charged in. Their numbers could easily overwhelm anyone. After all, their pack strategy had never failed before.

"Looks like I'll get to test their skills myself."

In an instant, Seven took his sword out and dashed straight towards the incoming wolves. His nerves were calm and his body backed with a resolve to kill all these creatures. His hands moved like lightning as he quickly got rid of all the wolves one after another.

"Strange… they are pathetically weak. Even weaker than the creatures we found outside." Seven mumbled to himself, "I wonder why that city guard said the cave is dangerous. It's been a walk in a park till now- wait for a second… the hell is going on here?"

The wolves he had just killed were slowly getting back to their feet. It didn't matter whether he had severed their heads or not. They simply regenerated as if nothing had happened to them in the first place!

"On a positive note…. at least I know why this place is dangerous. Fck me! Where the heck is Ashton!?"