Chapter 184: The Egg’s Guardian
"This body truly is fascinating," Marion muttered as he continued floating through the air.
Making sure Cassian’s contract transferred to him had been a pain, especially given that it was quickly fading due to his death.
But Marion had managed to figure it out, and thus, he was now contracted to two spirits.... though it was more accurate to say that the first had completely merged with him.
Anyway, he could now fly thanks to the wind spirit that previously belonged to Cassian.
"Though compared to yours, it’s quite lackluster," he added as he looked ahead.
Adrian completely ignored him as he watched the almost endless waves of beasts exiting the volcano and rushing towards the representatives.
He would’ve preferred being by his lady’s side right now, but she had permitted him to retrieve the egg.
Besides, if he waited until the horde was dealt with, then the Saintess’s fire spirit would lead them to it.
So he had to retrieve it first.
With a sigh, he looked towards the Volcano, noting that there was still a thick smoke coming from its peak, but that was exactly where he was headed.
Since the salamander had left, only one more guardian remained.
The moment they were directly above the volcano, he dove straight down, causing Marion to look at him with a blank expression.
With a sigh, he also followed, and the air surrounding them got hotter the closer they got towards the Volcano.
But just before they could reach the lava, Adrian suddenly stopped and slightly adjusted his glasses.
Through them, he could see multiple flame mana all around. He paid heed to none, and instead, he started searching for a specific one.
«There,» Noctis’ voice was suddenly heard in his head, and he followed the direction it indicated.
On the side of the volcano’s wall was what seemed to be an opening, a cave perhaps, and without hesitation, Adrian launched himself towards it.
Marion followed behind him, and the deeper the two went, the wider the cave became, until they came upon what seemed to be a large chamber.
And in the center of said chamber, resting on a natural platform formed from cooled lava shaped like a cradle, was the egg they were here for.
It was a large red one that seemed almost translucent, and the vague shape of the creature within was visible.
"So that’s the egg," Marion muttered as he walked towards it in fascination.
Adrian watched Marion walk toward the egg but didn’t say a word. In fact, he almost seemed to be waiting for something to happen.
Marion approached the egg, his fascination growing as he got closer and felt the sheer quality of mana radiating from it.
"What’s inside the—"
He didn’t get to finish his words when he was suddenly forced to jump back as something suddenly landed in the position he previously stood, kicking up a dust cloud.
"There it is," Adrian said as the dust cloud cleared up and revealed Marion’s attacker.
It was a massive serpent that, much like the salamander, possessed black scales with molten orange lava flowing through the gaps between them.
The beast rose to its full height, its head nearly brushing the cave’s ceiling as it towered more than twenty meters above the ground.
"You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?" Marion said as he turned towards the butler behind him.
He could have sworn Adrian smiled for a moment, but it was gone in an instant, leaving him wondering if it was just his imagination.
"Perhaps," Adrian said with a shrug as he kept his eyes on the serpent, "even if you had ended up dying, you’ll just come back in a different body."
"..."
Marion looked at him with a blank expression. As true as that was, it didn’t mean he could just go around discarding his vessels.
Besides, the current vessel was very crucial to his deal with the cult Master, so losing it was definitely not ideal.
There was also the fact that finding a new vessel in time before the one he used to escape death became fully corrupted was almost impossible.
Cassian’s case was purely due to luck.
«Be careful, that thing’s strong,» Noctis said again within Adrian’s head, «perhaps you want me to eat it?»
"No," Adrian shook his head as he looked at the beast, "I’d like to see the gap between the current me and an S-rank."
Besides, although the serpent was of the same rank as the Oroborus, it felt a lot weaker,
So Adrian was certain he stood a chance against it....he just had to find out how much.
"I guess I should also find out exactly how strong this vessel is," Marion said with a smile as the two of them faced the beast.
The creature watched them for a moment before deliberately placing itself between them and the egg.
Then, without warning, it opened its jaws suddenly opened wide, revealing the glow within.
The next second, a stream of lava was released from its mouth, but just before it could reach its intended target, it disappeared.
The serpent suddenly slammed its tail towards its side, where one of the two seemed to have appeared,
Unfortunately for it, that was only one of Adrian’s [Shadow Clones], and it realized that too late, because the next second,
BOOM!
Something slammed into its head, and although the damage done wasn’t much, the serpent’s body was pushed back a bit.
Before it could recover, multiple strings suddenly wrapped around it, pulling tight around its neck and upper body with enough force to stop its movement for a fraction of a second.
And that was all Adrian needed.
His shadow suddenly extended, and before the serpent could wiggle out of the restraints, the shadow completely cocooned it.
Adrian then clenched his fist, and spikes suddenly pierced through the cocoon, impaling the creature within.
Marion moved to Adrian’s side and looked at the cocoon for a while before saying, "That was a lot easier than I thought."
Unfortunately, a moment after his words, something hot suddenly slammed into their backs...well, his back, since Adrian had managed to use [Shadow Sense] quickly enough to avoid the attack.
BOOM!
Marion slammed into the wall, and he couldn’t help but let out a groan of pain.
"How the hell did that thing escape?" He muttered as he physically pulled himself from the crater created on the wall and wiped the blood off his nose.
If he hadn’t mitigated the impact with his strings, that attack would have turned him into pulp.
He then looked forward, coming face-to-face with the serpent again.
The same serpent that was supposed to be wrapped in Adrian’s cocoon made of shadows.
