Chapter 368: Unexpectedly
Chapter 368: Unexpectedly
Phield slept for only two hours before suddenly jolting awake and springing out of bed.
He looked around the room before remembering that the battle was already over.
"Mmm..."
A soft murmur came from the bed beside his. Rosalia, now in her little girl form, lay sleeping peacefully beneath the blanket. The quilt rose and fell gently with her breathing, and every so often, she unconsciously licked her lips.
"Thanks to you. Get some proper rest."
Phield extinguished the candle and quietly walked out of the room.
Faint sobs echoed through the fortress.
Soldiers were not machines. The wounded wept from the pain of their injuries.
"I need to find a way to improve our medical capabilities, or recruit priests or Divine Chosen with healing abilities."
Committing the matter firmly to memory, Phield headed off to discuss the next steps with Ophelia.
"My Lord Phield, you’re awake."
Gherlos leaned casually against the wall, twirling her staff in one hand as she lowered her voice and gave him a playful wink.
"Would you like something to eat? You can eat me, eat me, or eat me."
"Cough... Cough..."
Phield nearly coughed up blood.
"I saw that gloomy look on your face, so I couldn’t resist interrupting you."
Gherlos threw a couple of playful punches into the air.
"Don’t be so down. If anything difficult comes up, just leave it to me."
"Absolutely."
Phield gave her a thumbs up.
"But there’s nothing for you to do right now. Just help take care of Rosalia."
"Oh, right. Miss Ashina asked me to pass along a message."
Standing on her tiptoes, Gherlos leaned closer and whispered,
"Destruction has awakened. Miss Ashina is guarding the basement."
"Huh?"
Of all the times to wake up, it had to be while I was unconscious.
Phield froze for a moment. Somehow, it felt like there was a connection.
Shaking the stray thoughts from his mind, he smiled.
"Alright. Got it."
When he arrived beneath the fortress, only Ashina was there. She had obviously sent all the other soldiers away.
"My lord, you’re awake already? Why not sleep a little longer?"
When she saw Phield, a trace of warmth appeared in Ashina’s crimson eyes.
"I can sense a living being down there, but its presence is incredibly weak. There’s absolutely no killing intent. It honestly feels like... a little rabbit. I have no idea what’s going on."
"A bunny?"
A flood of images involving soft, creamy white breasts flashed through Phield’s mind.
After pondering for a moment, he looked up and noticed Ashina staring at him suspiciously.
Feeling awkward, he coughed.
"As long as it hasn’t gone berserk and isn’t running around chopping people apart, it shouldn’t be a major problem."
"Wait... that’s not right."
Glancing at the minimap, Phield suddenly noticed something strange.
There wasn’t any marker for the Divine Chosen of Destruction.
"Could it have concealed its presence? Or..."
Thinking any further won’t solve anything.
"Let’s go take a look."
Suppressing the anxiety rising in his heart, Phield remembered how the little angel had once been able to hide from his perception. There was no reason the Divine Chosen of Destruction couldn’t do the same.
Without hesitation, he opened the door leading to the underground chamber.
The two of them descended the spiral staircase once more.
Tap... Tap... Tap...
The sound of their footsteps echoed throughout the vast underground chamber, hollow and oppressive.
Phield couldn’t help growing tense. His palms were already beginning to sweat.
The horrifying bloodstained ritual array on the floor...
The blood splattered across the walls...
The hems of clothing fluttering despite the absence of any wind...
The faint sobbing drifting through the darkness...
Anyone who claimed they weren’t afraid would simply be lying.
Who knew what the Divine Chosen of Destruction actually looked like?
Maybe it resembled a ghost.
Or perhaps some grotesque alien monster.
Back when he had chosen to assist with the resurrection ritual, he had undeniably been gambling on the outcome.
"Sob... Sob..."
Following the faint crying, Phield slowly approached.
The sobbing stopped instantly.
Then footsteps echoed from the darkness.
Something terrifying seemed to be drawing closer.
Ashina tensed as well. Her wolf ears stood straight up as she tightened her grip on her spear, ready to strike at any moment.
"Master?"
A young girl emerged from the darkness, her body trembling beneath an oversized white robe that clearly didn’t fit her.
The moment Phield’s eyes met hers, he froze.
It felt as though he were looking into a mirror.
An indescribable sense of familiarity welled up inside him.
Yet what captivated him most were her extraordinary eyes.
She possessed heterochromia.
Her right eye was violet.
Her left eye was gold.
Within both irises, faint stars seemed to drift and revolve.
"Waaah..."
The instant she saw Phield, she could no longer hold back.
She burst into tears.
Her slightly rosy bare feet padded rapidly across the stone floor.
Pat... Pat...
She ran straight into Phield’s embrace and rubbed against him affectionately like a kitten.
"Huh? That doesn’t seem right."
Ashina was completely dumbfounded.
She pointed at the breathtakingly beautiful girl.
"You... know each other?"
The girl blinked her charming eyes in confusion, glanced at Ashina for a brief moment, then turned back and continued rubbing against Phield.
"Of course not. Honestly, I thought something like a facehugger was about to leap out of the darkness."
Phield felt completely at a loss.
Yet the warmth and softness in his arms were undeniably real.
Holding the girl gently by her shoulders, he lightly shook her.
"So... are you the Divine Chosen of Destruction?"
She didn’t resemble one in the slightest.
Could a Divine Chosen of Destruction really be this soft and adorable?
The girl allowed herself to be gently shaken without resisting.
Her beige hair came loose and cascaded downward like a flowing waterfall.
Meanwhile, a foolishly blissful smile spread across her lips, giving her an almost morally questionable level of happiness.
She lifted her face.
Her natural temperament was lofty, elegant, and aloof.
Yet now...
Her expression radiated only one thing.
Pure, uncomplicated foolishness.
In short...
She was a little silly.
When the girl still didn’t answer, Phield frowned and drew in a deep breath.
"Could it be that I’m actually the reincarnation of some supreme expert capable of crushing stars with one hand? Maybe this girl was my beautiful disciple in my previous life. Hah... I knew I had the potential to become a god."
"Looks like I was born to be an emperor."
Ashina blinked in surprise.
"Huh? But... the Emperor of the Sacred Griffin Empire can only be a woman, right?"
"Cough... Alright, enough joking."
Phield sighed in amusement and shook his head, discarding the ridiculous theory.
His thoughts raced before he finally grasped the key to the mystery.
"I understand now. No wonder she feels so strangely familiar to me."
Phield struck one fist into his palm.
"She used my soul power to complete her own soul. Strictly speaking, part of her soul belongs to me."
"W... What about your soul, my lord? I don’t want the Divine Chosen of Destruction. I just want you to be safe."
Ashina was completely stunned.
It was the first time she had ever heard of someone sharing part of their soul with another person.
"I said soul power, not my soul. It doesn’t really affect me. At least, I feel perfectly fine now."
When he had first activated the resurrection array, his entire minimap had disappeared, and he had been utterly exhausted, clearly from mental overexertion.
After resting several times, everything had gradually returned to normal.
Ashina finally let out a relieved sigh.
"As long as you’re alright, my lord."
"Which means the minimap doesn’t display uncontracted Divine Chosen because the moment she was born, she had already formed a contract with me."