Taking a deep breath, Vritra continued with his story.
"I was very lucky that I didn't fall all the way to the bottom of the trap to my death. Instead, my unconscious body hung over a stone that hooked my clothes… sigh I was really lucky.
After I came to my senses, I was frightened and almost fell down, but luckily, before my clothes gave up, I was able to hold onto the bulging stone.
I shouted for help, and just when my hands were about to give up, luckily someone was passing by there and they heard me—and thankfully, that person helped me out. After that, he gave me these clothes since mine were torn, and then he brought me back here."
Vritra finished his story, a look of gratification on his face while Diana listened without much visible reaction, but Vritra could sense slight interest in her crystal-like eyes. Only after he had finished did she give a slight nod.
"I see."
Her expression remained unreadable. Vritra didn't know if she was involved in what happened to him or not, but just from her attitude, he didn't like this woman at all. Just her presence and gaze brought a sense of inferiority to others.
'So much luck huh…' Diana stared at Vritra for a long time, several thoughts going through her mind; of course, she had many doubts about the story he just gave her, but he was just too insignificant, so she didn't really care all that much.
Not wanting to waste any of her energy on him she nodded and spoke:
"You can leave. It's good that you have returned. For now, you can rest. You will receive further orders later."
Vritra nodded with a slightly flustered expression, his fists were still clenched, and slight shivers could be seen running across his body; all the details were easily noticed by the goddess, proving how ordinary and mediocre he really was.
'How rare, someone actually came back after their ambush. But I wonder how long he can stay alive—'
He turned and began to walk away, but just as he started to climb down the stairs, something almost invisible sparkled around his body. It was almost impossible to see, but the presence it emitted was undoubtedly chilly.
Diana's thoughts suddenly came to a shocking halt as she noticed that faint and nearly invisible flicker of aura around his body. Her eyes widened in shock and her red lips parted, yet she was unable to speak anything.
Both her mind and heart were in turmoil at this moment, she couldn't believe what she had just seen and felt, it was such an impossible sight.
As Vritra's figure disappeared from her vision, her thoughts finally exploded.
'W-Was that…' She found it hard to form a proper sentence. After taking a deep breath, she calmed her mind and wondered to herself:
"Was that a Halo? And a Mythic one at that? No no no, there is no way… a Mythic Halo wouldn't just appear like that, even more so on this insignificant human."
She walked to a chair and sat down. Then she replayed the scene when Vritra was leaving. After thinking for a few minutes, she couldn't help but exclaim:
"There is no doubt about it. That was definitely one of the Mythic Halos. How could someone like him get his hands on it?
In any case, judging from the faint colour, that Mythic Halo seemed to be the twentieth-ranked Misty Essence Mythic Halo. It has many abilities, but its strongest ability is creating reality-like illusions. Despite being ranked last, it is still extremely powerful."
Diana's voice was filled with excitement. She wouldn't even dare to think that what she saw was the 3rd-ranked Mythic Halo. These Mythic Halos were so precious that even the last-ranked one could create large chaos and bring extremely strong people to fight for it.
They were after all one of the biggest divine treasures of the world, even normal halos were quite precious, not to mention a mythic halo that even she was unworthy to possess.
'No matter what, I have to get it.' Diana thought. She was sure that such a terrifying thing wasn't stable in Vritra's body; otherwise, she wouldn't have seen that flicker of its aura. She closed her eyes and began to plan her moves.
Diana was sure that she would have to make her move as soon as possible before someone else notice it, if news of it leaks out just the name: 'Misty Essence Mythic Halo' will bring chaos to the entire kingdom.
For a long time the goddess couldn't even calm down, but one thing was for sure there was something special about Vritra.
Not only he came back alive after getting attacked by such strong warriors but he even possessed such a terrifying thing, so Diana only became more cautious in her planning.
If she were to know that it was the 3rd ranked Mythic halo, then the poor goddess might have just fainted.
******
Vritra left the temple under all the watchful gazes. He desperately wanted to go and meet his mother, so with hurried steps he moved towards the castle.
The distance wasn't too far away, so he arrived at the entrance within minutes. The guards were surprised at first, but the news of his return had already spread, so they didn't stop him.
He directly went towards the room assigned to his mother. Most of his classmates had gone out, so almost all the rooms were empty. Just as Vritra got close to his mother's room, the door creaked open and an old maid walked out of it with a plate full of food. She sighed and shook her head.
As Vritra suddenly appeared in front of the old maid, it gave her a startle and she almost dropped the plate. Then she looked him up and down and felt a little afraid.
"Is my mother inside?" Vritra asked, his nervousness and fear clearly evident in his eyes.
"M-Mother? So you are her son? But I heard you died in the labyrinth… Did you actually survive?" She hadn't heard the news yet, so the old maid was quite surprised, but then she smiled and nodded.
"She is inside, but…" she hesitated, and after a sigh, she added: "I won't hide anything. After she heard the news of your death, Vanessa had almost gone crazy. She tried to rush back into the labyrinth many times even after she was brought back. She won't eat anything and—"
The maid seemed to hesitate again, but then she decided to tell him:
"Over the duration of the last month, your mother wasn't able to handle the news of your death well, and she tried to take her life many times. She had lost all her will to live. If it wasn't for the goddess giving her all those expensive potions, she would have long been dead." She finished with a heavy tone, feeling very bad for her.
Vritra could no longer stand still. His mind filled with pain that not even the Serene Mind skill could deal with. He pushed open the door and rushed inside.
There he saw her—the familiar face of his mother. She was sleeping. Her body seemed considerably thinner than before, and the usual rosy colours of her face couldn't be seen. She looked so weak that the sight of her pained Vritra's heart.
This scene hurt him even more than anything he had experienced in the past five months. His love for her couldn't be described by mere words. She was the person he loved and cherished more than anything.
With slightly unsteady steps, he walked closer to the bed. There she lay motionless on the bed, looking so pale and weak, her eyes closed in sleep. But as he got closer, Vritra noticed that there were faint, barely visible scars on her wrists that weren't there before. It seemed under the effects of the potions, it wouldn't be long before they disappeared, but the sight of those marks made his chest tighten painfully.
"M-Mom…" he muttered softly.
He gently touched her wrists, his fingers brushing against the faint scars. There weren't just one or two—there were more than ten cuts. He couldn't even imagine how much physical and mental pain she must have gone through in this one month.
He touched her cheek and couldn't feel the warmth that should have been there. Her skin felt cold to the touch. Even though back on Earth, Vritra and Vanessa didn't get much time together, they both cared about each other a lot. Just like how she couldn't hear one bad word about her son, Vritra too couldn't see even a single scratch on her body.
But now…
The more he looked at his mother, the more his emotions surged—anger, grief, a violent rush of pain. Rage surged, and killing intent almost burst into the air but was stopped in time by Yasmine, or it might have harmed Vanessa.
This was all because of those people who tried to kill him. Just thinking about them, Vritra felt a desire to kill like never before. He suddenly stood up as his pupils faintly glowed with a blood-red light—completely unnoticed by both Yasmine and even Vritra himself. He wanted to slaughter the classmates that were in his team.
Along with all the guards and the commander, the king, and every person in the castle—
As the sight of his mother appeared in his mind, Vritra felt inhuman level of anger.
____________
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