Chapter 149 Nerael

My eyes fluttered open.

Splash-

Cold warmth spread across my body as I felt myself floating.

Rugged rocks appeared in my vision while my eyes wandered to the roof.

[Synchronization complete]

Ding-

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[Synchronization]

- Temporarily boosts your overall rank, skills grade, and mastery in arts by one rank.

- Synchronize with ???

- Temporarily borrow [Chains of Order]

Number of Uses: 2

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Reading the system prompt I felt my motivation dwindling further.

[Chains of Order]… If I had to guess these were chains locking Caim.

Each of those chains held unfathomable power. Whenever I would step closer to them, I could feel a sense of oppression weighing down on me, and now, I would be able to use them 2 times.

If I had been given the skill in order to achieve something, then whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"Haaa….."

'You have only 8 months to live.'

'Suffer the consequences of your choices.'

The being's words came to my mind. From his words, it was safe to assume something was going to happen to me by this year's end.

It said that this was a consequence of my choice. Does it mean that it was a butterfly effect created by me?

Can I trust his words?

"Leader!"

Splash-

With a tug, I felt my body being pulled.

Taking me out of the elixir pool, Miller gently laid me on the bank.

"Leader! Can you hear me?"

"Don't shou-!!"

I tried to push Miller's face away, which was too close for comfort, when suddenly jolts of pain ran across my body.

As if I had been electrocuted, several needles pricked at me like needles were being stuck all over my back.

It wasn't just one needle though; there were many small needles. They didn't have any meaning or existence on their own, but they were still extremely painful.

I bit my tongue before a scream could escape. The pain came too suddenly to ignore.

"Leader, I'll put you back in the pool."

"N-no…I'm fine."

Taking a short breath, I stopped Miller. Right now, I needed something, anything, to distract my mind.

The pain was coming from muscles that were torn due to excessive power that coursed through my body, other than that all major injuries had healed, only leaving scars.

My arms shook from weakness as I tried to touch the area of my abdomen with slightly pinkish skin. This was where the sentry had blown a hole.

Thankfully, the water jets he shot were thin, otherwise, it could have been a lot worse.

"How… long was I out… for?"

I was having difficulty speaking too. Healing so many injuries completely drained me.

While I was trying to sit up with Miller's assistance, he answered.

"It has been 12 hours since we found you."

Miller was pale as he tried to help. His movements were awkward as he struggled to help me up.

His cheeks were slightly sunken and there were soft dark circles underneath his eyes.

He must have been worried sick, thinking I might not make it out alive.

It was justified. After all, my death would create problems for his ga…

'No, he was probably genuinely worried about my well-being.'

"Papa!"

I opened my mouth to ask how much stress he had to get that kind of face in one day when something abruptly flew into my chest.

Bang-!

Unable to handle the powerful impact, my back arched and my body shot like a cannon, crashing into the wall.

The sound of bones cracking came from all over my body and I began seeing stars.

"Papa…papa… papa…papa…papa…papa…"

Like a broken recorder, the child(?), burying its face in my chest, repeated the same words.

In between, the child kept breaking down in sobs while trying to hold back its tears.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Miller and a girl with ashen-grey hair and cat-like ears running toward me.

Miller quickly fed me an elixir after he re-aligned my left leg in its correct position.

Throughout the exchange, no one questioned the identity of the child, nor did they try to remove it from me.

"Don't cry…"

I gently picked the child up and made it sit.

'She' had short silver hair, reminiscent of the moon, and mesmerizing purple eyes. Tears and snot mixed ran down her chubby cheeks.

Her eyes trembled when she realized what she had done. The small body shook, and I could sense a rush of foreign sadness and sorrow pouring through my mind.

"My Nerael looks….shooo beautiful…"??ee???n????.???

I lightly pinched her cheeks.

At the same time, new emotions began brewing in her mind. Relief, happiness, delight, and all sorts of positive emotions burst forth as she jumped in joy.

"Papa… recognizes… Nerael!"

Opposite to how she acted, the words coming out of her little mouth were slow, as if she had to think carefully before speaking.

I felt myself being injected with that bright smile on her face.

"Papa…smiling!"

"I'm always smiling, though?"

"Different…smile…"

She exaggeratedly shook her little body while denying my claim.

Laughing a bit, I turned to Miller.

"Where are others?"

"Tristan is guarding the dungeon's entrance while the two twins…" Miller turned to Merlin.

Both of us waited for her to speak.

However, she only kept nervously fiddling with her thumbs. Her gaze was locked on her feet and she saw sweating.

Finally, Miller spoke himself.

"They entered the boss' room."

I frowned.

Although I never barred them from using the boss room, they hadn't waited for my permission to use it.

Nevertheless, I did not question Miller. I wasn't planning on limiting any of their actions as long as they followed a few rules.

Moreover, this was for better.

It was good that those two still held their free will despite living as slaves until now. While the one who was my focus couldn't even lift her face due to fear and nervousness.

Gently picking up Nerael by her underarms, I passed her to Miller.

I had been away from Ward for over a week. It was high time I returned.

But before that, I had to settle a few matters.

"Call Tristan."

It was time I dealt with the 'Blood Prince'.