Chapter 399: I do not like you
Once they were far enough away from Haven, a familiar figure suddenly appeared beside Elion and Isla’s mount.
She flew through the night sky with effortless ease, keeping pace with the enormous bird as though it were barely moving at all.
Her arrival startled all three of his companions.
Isla stiffened immediately in front of him, while Aeron and Zenovia nearly lost their grip on their reins as they turned sharply toward the unexpected newcomer.
"Relax," Elion told Isla gently, tightening his arm around her waist. "She is with us."
The sight of Zenith’s blue skin immediately put Aeron and Zenovia on guard. Both of them had spent far too long fighting demons to ignore the obvious resemblance, but Elion’s calm reaction stopped them from reaching for their weapons.
At the very least, they managed to regain control of their mounts.
"Hello, Zenith," Elion called out with a smile. "Should we head down?"
Zenith nodded.
"Yes. How much time do you have left?"
"About an hour."
Zenith glanced toward the plains below before changing direction and descending toward the ground.
"Let us go down," Elion told the others as he gently pulled on the reins.
The large bird tilted downward.
Aeron and Zenovia exchanged confused glances before following him.
Zenith landed near a small cluster of trees scattered across the plains. This was not a forest, and there were only a few isolated patches of trees spread across the otherwise open land, but the area offered enough cover for a private conversation.
Elion landed a short distance away.
He dismounted first, then reached up toward Isla and lifted her down in a princess carry before gently placing her on her feet.
Aeron and Zenovia joined them a few seconds later.
Isla remained close behind Elion as they approached Zenith. She was clearly guarded, her gaze moving cautiously over the unfamiliar woman.
Zenith’s blue skin made it obvious that she was not human.
However, her lack of horns and the calm expression on her face made Isla wonder whether she might be some kind of beastwoman she had never seen, rather than a demon.
Elion smiled lightly.
"Isla, this is Zenith," he said. "I suppose you could say that she is one of your sisters."
Isla seemed to understand his meaning immediately. Her gaze moved over Zenith curiously, "I thought you said..."
She trailed off, clearly confused. Elion had told her that his other women were waiting for him in his own world.
Elion chuckled awkwardly.
"Ah, yes. I met Zenith here, just like I met you."
Zenith looked toward Isla and offered her a kind smile. Zenovia, however, stepped closer with a wary expression.
"Who is she?" she asked.
Elion turned toward Aeron and Zenovia.
"Do you remember the coalition’s anonymous informant inside demon territory?"
Aeron folded his arms over his chest.
"This is her?"
"Yes."
Elion nodded.
He spent the next few minutes explaining the situation as carefully as possible. Zenith had been the one providing the coalition with critical information throughout the war. She was also a Saint-class Mage, which immediately shocked both Aeron and Zenovia.
She looked far too young.
Then again, appearances could be deceiving when powerful Mages were involved.
Elion explained that Zenith possessed a way for natives of this world to leave the trial world without being teleported into the second stage alongside the rest of them. He deliberately avoided explaining the exact method, but he told them that she would also be taking Isla with her.
That was the reason they had stopped here. Aeron and Zenovia nodded slowly in understanding. Zenovia let out a quiet, condescending scoff.
Everyone looked toward her, "What?" Aeron asked.
"Nothing."
Zenovia shrugged lightly.
"It is simply reassuring to know that this shameless bastard is every bit the womanising miscreant I thought he was."
Elion chuckled wryly. He didn’t exactly have any way of denying those allegations, since she was one hundred percent right.
Aeron smiled wryly, and even Isla had to suppress a faint smile. Zenith, however, did not seem amused. Her expression cooled slightly.
"And what makes you think you are any better than the rest of us?" she asked.
Zenovia frowned. She had not expected such a hostile response, "I was merely stating my thoughts," she replied calmly.
She had teased Elion in similar ways countless times before, and he had never appeared offended. Still, she did not want to push her luck against a Saint-class Mage whose strength she could not begin to measure.
"If my words offended you, Miss Zenith, then I apologise."
Zenith studied her for a long moment.
Unbeknownst to Zenovia, Zenith had already been watching the group for some time. She had taken note of the catkin woman’s repeated rejection of Elion’s advances throughout the past week.
And, quite frankly, she found it disappointing. Who did this woman think she was to dismiss her beloved so casually? Did she truly believe she could find a better man than Elion?
How ridiculous!
Her darling could have any woman he wanted if he so pleased. Zenith finally harrumphed.
"I do not like you," she said simply, and then she turned away from Zenovia and walked directly into Elion’s embrace, clearly showing of how comfortable she was around him.
Elion blinked, and Aeron stared at the pair with a confused expression, clearly unaware of what to make of this little interaction.
’What was that about?’
The tension had been sharp enough to make sweat gather faintly along his brow. More importantly, he still could not understand how Elion had managed to win over yet another woman.
And not merely any woman, but a Saint-class Mage!
How was such a thing even possible?
Aeron had spent more than twenty years alive without a single romantic prospect worth mentioning, while Elion seemed to gather beautiful women wherever he went without even trying.
He silently cursed the bastard’s unreasonable luck. But despite his frustration, his respect for Elion rose by several more levels.
Elion informed Aeron and Zenovia that there was no need for them to remain if they did not want to, but the pair decided to stay.
It seemed they were still curious about Zenith’s supposed method of escaping the trial.
Technically, it should have been possible for all of them to leave through the same method. However, Elion did not even have to think about it, and no doubt, the same applied to the others.
There was no way they were going to abandon the rewards waiting for them.
They had worked far too hard for those rewards, after all.
If they had already received them in advance, perhaps things would have been different. But this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, one they might never encounter again.
After a brief farewell, Elion assured Zenith and Isla that he would see them both again soon on the other side.
He kissed them both deeply, then gave Zenith a light slap on her springy ass that earned a soft giggle from her.
Zenovia gagged quietly at the sight, her expression twisting with visible disgust, but she did not dare voice her displeasure aloud.
Afterwards, Zenith and Isla moved a short distance away from the others. Zenith took Isla’s hand and closed her eyes.
She began chanting softly in an ancient language Elion did not recognise. The words flowed from her lips in a smooth, almost melodic rhythm, carrying an unnatural weight that made the air around them tremble faintly.
A moment later, a brilliant pillar of light descended from the heavens.
