Chapter 147 Tracked [1]
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Jumping to his feet Arvell looked at the direction at which Sepis was sent to scout.
'Sepis didn't deviate into any of the nearby branch tunnels yet, so if they found him, it means that they have a clear path to our location.'
Arvell furrowed his brows in confusion.
'This means that somehow they got extremely lucky by guessing our path, or… They're tracking our location.'
However this didn't make sense to Arvell.
Slimes don't have eyes, noses, or even ears, meaning that their ability to observe their surroundings is fairly limited.
They mainly interact with their environment is by emitting trace mana particles onto their surroundings, and visualizing their environments through a means similar to echolocation, or by simply observing the mana flow of nearby organisms.
If they were to be tracked it would be via the second method.
Slimes are beings extremely sensitive to different mana signatures, so if properly trained, they should be able to find beings or objects with that specific signature, even from a distance away.
'If that's the case, then what could the object they're tracking be?'
The only thing that Arvell was carrying on him with a recognizable mana signature would be the school's terminal iron insignia, but that didn't quite fit the bill.
After all, the mana signature was designed to only be recognizable when broken.
'If it's not me then… It has to be her.'
Arvell turned to Lily with a scrutinizing look.
"I-Is there something wrong?"
"Lillianna, do you happen to have any objects that emit a mana signature on you? Even if it's extremely trace, that's fine too."
'If this isnt the case, the only other option would be that the queen slime memorized her unique mana signature. If that's the case, it'll be far more troublesome to deal with. Luckily though, for it to memorize Lily's signature without Lily knowing… That would be highly improbable.'
Lily looked at Arvell with a perplexed look.
She felt a little confused and defense since a classmate she barely knew started interrogating her on the spot.
Even if he was supported by one of the dukes, to act this way, especially to a member of royal blood was too much.
However, Lillianna didn't know why, but she felt that she could put her trust in the silver-haired youth.
Taking a deep breath, she reached her hand into the inside of her shirt, just below her neck and pulled out what appeared to be a small pendant.
Unclasping it off of her neck, she showed Arvell.
"This is the only thing I have on me which gives off a trace magical signature. Do you need something with this?"
Unfortunately for Lillianna, instead of answering her directly, Arvell had his attention glued to the object in her hand, or it would be more accurate to say, the status screen infront of it.
[Status Information]
Item name: Tracking Pendant
Durability: 95/100
Skills: Trace
Trace: Allows for the user to have a firm grasp of the position of this necklace at all times, as long as they are within range to sense it.
[A pendant designed to track the wearer, and send their location to the creator]
Arvell's eyes narrowed as he read the text before him.
'There's no doubt about it, this is the cause.'
"Who gave you this?" Turning back to Lillianna, Arvell asked.
However instead of answering Arvell immediately this time, Lillianna frowned at him.
"I'm not saying anything else until you tell me what this is all about. Seriously, you expect me to just answer your questions, when you won't even tell me what's going on? You keep ignoring me and treating me like I'm your subordinate or something."
Arvell sighed and nodded his head in understanding.
"You're right, I appologize," Arvell smiled bitterly.
While Arvell wanted to just get the problem over with as soon as possible, he had overlooked the fact that he owed Lillianna an explanation.
Especially considering what he planned to do next.
"Back when we reached this floor, we were ambushed by a queen slime. Luckily I was able to outrun it, but somehow it's managing to track us."
"Wait you ran into a queen slime?!? How did you even manage to get away? You know what… That's not important right now. You said it's tracking us right? So is it coming here right now?" Lillianna asked in a panicked tone.
Arvell nodded his head with a complicated look.
"For it to track us, it's no doubt using some form of magical signature. Which I suspect is the same one being emenated from your pendant."
Lillianna looked at Arvell with visible shock.
"There's no way… This thing was given to me by that person… Why would a beast in a dungeon have that magical signature memorized?"
"I suspect that the queen slime might be a contracted beast. Don't you find it weird how the army of slimes just happened to appear on a higher level like that? Even more so that we were led into a trap that we didn't seem to trigger the first time we traversed that hallway?"
Lillianna's eyes flashed with a spark of enlightment.
"You're right… That does seem awfully odd… But you think it's a contracted beast and that it's tracking us? …You think that it's tracking the magical signature in this pendant?"
Arvell nodded his head, "that's the only option I can think of."
Lillianna's hand gripping the pendant began to shake as her breath grew unsteady.
"B-but that makes no sense… Why would it be tracking this pendant… No… It cant be…"
She stared at the pendant in her hand as if doubting it's very existence.
Arvell watched Lillianna's expression before putting his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her.
"Lillianna, I need you to tell me… Who gave you that pendant."
Lillianna slowly raised her head to face Arvell.
"I-I…" The princess exhaled slowly before continuing, "It was given to me by my current fiance… Cyprian"
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