Chapter 227: Leaving the Forest of Death

"L-lord Cendral," Vlad gasped, his jaw almost dropping to the ground.

Even he wasn’t stupid enough not to understand his current situation. He had been caught red-handed by one of the Five Heroes, the Eight-Ringed Archmage Lucas Cendral, while holding his daughter in his arms.

"You were also here..." Vlad mumbled with a weary grin.

"Hmm," Lucas groaned, his eyes narrowing further at Vlad.

’Crap, he seems pissed,’ Vlad gulped inwardly. Somehow, he was still managing not to show his nervousness on his face.

"Greetings, Lord Cendral," he decided to begin the conversation with a greeting.

"Greetings," Lucas replied, his tone flat. "My daughter cried a lot for you."

Vlad parted his lips, but closed them again when no words came out. He didn’t want to make any excuses.

Lucas moved towards Vlad, his hand rising.

’Is he going to beat me?’ Vlad exclaimed inwardly. ’Well, since he is Sera’s father, I can take a little beating.’

Lucas’s hand landed on Vlad’s shoulder. "Once again, you saved my daughter," Lucas said, his voice warm and thankful. "I’m truly grateful for what you did. But still, I don’t acknowledge the self-sacrificing choice that you made."

He tapped Vlad’s shoulder as he continued, "Keep this in mind, Vlad. It’s not the dead who suffer, but the living who are left behind to carry the weight of their absence."

Lucas’s words struck Vlad like a hammer. Chloe and Sera’s cries were still fresh in his ears, their broken faces vivid in his mind, and they were memories he would never forget. He never wanted to see them suffering through such pain again.

"I understand, Lord Cendral," Vlad replied, his eyes lowered.

Lucas nodded. A playful smile formed on his lips as he glanced at Seraphina, who was standing behind him together with Chloe. "It seems my daughter has grown quite fond of you. There’s no need to address me formally. Just call me Uncle...or even better, call me fath—"

Bam!

A punch landed across Lucas’s face, stopping him mid-sentence.

"Shut your mouth!" Seraphina snapped, her face blushing crimson as she suddenly appeared between Vlad and Lucas.

Both Vlad and Chloe were left flabbergasted, their eyes wide as saucers, their minds still processing what they had just witnessed.

As for Lucas, a trail of blood leaked from his nose after Seraphina’s punch.

He immediately bent down, clutching his nose. "Aaghh!!! My nose! My nose!" he screamed, seeming almost on the verge of tears.

Vlad was left completely speechless. Wasn’t Lucas supposed to be the Pyro Tyrant, the most ruthless among the Five Heroes? His senses should be faster than lightning, and his body tougher than diamond.

If Seraphina punching him without hesitation wasn’t absurd enough, how the heck did he not see that coming? And how in the world was he bleeding from a punch that didn’t even contain mana?

’He deliberately took the hit and even lowered his defences to get hurt,’ Vlad murmured inwardly. ’No wonder Sera was such a brat in childhood. He has spoiled her through and through.’

Now Vlad understood why her slap stung so much when she wasn’t even a knight. She must have been using Lucas as a punching bag while growing up.

Seraphina pivoted on her feet, turning to Vlad. "You don’t need to feel pressured by his demand," she mumbled, her tone warm and her eyes lowered in a blush. "You may call him however you deem fit."

She kept fidgeting with her fingers shyly, her eyes fixed on the ground. ’I want you to call him father-in-law by choice, not because you’re being pressured by him,’ she murmured inwardly.

While she was busy with her inner thoughts and Lucas groaning on the ground, Chloe arrived beside Vlad and tugged at his sleeve.

"When did you become so close with Seraphina?" she demanded, her brows raised in a frown.

Vlad was a bit surprised that Chloe didn’t address her by the nickname she had given her.

"It kind of happened during the mission," he replied, rubbing the back of his head.

His words only made her frown deepen. Her grip tightened on his sleeve. "I’m still your baby, right?"

Vlad blinked. ’Awww!! She is so adorable!’ he exclaimed inwardly, barely holding back his urge to shower her cheeks with kisses.

"Of course, you are. My Chloe baby," he replied, gently patting her head.

A faint smile bloomed on her lips. "It’s fine then."

Lucas’s giant wyvern came back. Once the squad climbed onto its back, it soared into the sky again, moving towards the academy.

A few minutes later, dark smoke emerged from the tunnel in the terrain. Several cracks spread across the ground, and it collapsed inward as wild flames erupted from underground, engulfing what had once been a massive cave.

As for the dormant monsters inside, they had been completely reduced to ashes.

---

Vlad, Lucas, and Seraphina sat on the wyvern’s back, forming a circle, while Chloe had already fallen asleep, her head resting in the most protective and comfortable place, Vlad’s lap.

"Vlad, could you explain what happened once the squad teleported away?" Lucas asked, his tone turning serious.

Vlad had been waiting for them to ask this question. He was surprised that they hadn’t asked it already. He had prepared a perfect script for this moment.

When the squad left, he was overwhelmed by the undead monsters. Pressed into a corner, he was able to make a breakthrough thanks to the dense Umbra mana present in the vicinity.

It helped him defeat the undead, but he was still far too injured and weakened to face Daemoth. So he took a gamble. He absorbed the Genesis Artifact. Surprisingly, it regenerated his severed hand and healed all of his injuries. Moreover, it also possessed a soul attack skill.

Vlad used this skill to catch Daemoth off guard and finished him off.

This was the story he told Lucas and Seraphina.

Lucas immediately found several potholes in his explanation. No matter what breakthrough a Sentinel Knight could achieve in the heat of battle, they still couldn’t defeat a Five-Ringed Mage. Moreover, a Genesis Artifact didn’t usually heal its host when they merged with it. The strangest part was that Lucas couldn’t detect Vlad, even though he had his Amber Vision activated from the moment they entered the Forest of Death.