Even though everything seemed to have returned to normal, all the people who worked in the temple noticed that something was different there—to be specific, the goddess was acting a bit different for some reason.
Diana seemed to be preparing something in her room; she even took several things from the treasury of the temple, after which the goddess didn't leave her room at all—not even coming for the prayers or anyone who came to meet her.
Even though Vritra was nothing more than a level 1, just the fact that he possessed such a dangerous Mythic Halo was enough to make her more cautious. She didn't want to leave any kind of loopholes.
The beautiful goddess, looking pure and majestic, stood in her room and gazed all around. She was already done putting up a strong barrier over the walls so even if there was a fight, she would be able to take care of everything within the walls of her large room.
"Heh, Vritra, if you were lucky enough to have survived then you shouldn't have returned to this place. Maybe you could have lived a few more days. It's too bad that your strength is so low—it would be better if I take care of that treasure for you." Diana chuckled as she continued with her preparation.
She planned to get the number 20th Mythic Halo the next day. Although the process might result in Vritra's death, she couldn't care less about someone like him who possessed such a trashy skill, even if he survives, she would have to kill him in the end.
Leaving traces of her treasure behind would only bring disaster to her in the long run.
"Just wait a bit longer, from tomorrow I will be your new owner…" the goddess felt excited, there were few things that make her feel like this.
******
Vanessa had such a peaceful sleep after such a long time. When her eyes opened, she found herself leaning onto her son—she had fallen asleep on his shoulder.
"Are you awake?" Vritra asked with a smile. Even though she still appeared a little tired, she already looked a bit better than before.
"Mmm." Vanessa nodded, her lips curled up and she thanked the gods that Vritra's return wasn't just a dream. But then she looked at him and saw his messy appearance.
"You urgently need a haircut and a nice bath… uh, also a new set of clothes," Vanessa said after looking him up and down, and Vritra agreed with her.
A few minutes later, Vritra sat on a chair and Vanessa stood behind him as she carefully cut his hair. There wasn't much to do; she just needed to decrease the length a little.
Since he looked really good with long and slightly messy hair, this time she pushed the hair that was covering his face back, revealing a very charming face.
"Why don't you keep them like that from now on? You look better like this," Vanessa said. She didn't get as much time with him back on Earth, so she didn't want to interfere too much in his personal life. She knew he was smart enough to know right and wrong.
"Sure." Vritra nodded. It didn't really matter to him; he just didn't like getting too much useless attention.
"I will prepare food for you while you finish your bath, and it's done." Vanessa spoke with a smile. She looked at his face and smiled—he truly looked perfect.
After nodding, Vritra left her room and returned to his own, which was right next to it. All his clothes were stored there. While Vritra was busy catching up with his mother, Yasmine silently observed Vanessa. The dragon lady could clearly sense that Vanessa wasn't a human.
But since Yasmine knew that she was Vritra's mother and had come here from another world, she understood that she must have gotten a new bloodline and physique—and it was quite a unique one at that.
'Should I ask him about it?' Yasmine wondered. From her observation, she could tell either Vritra didn't know about it or he didn't want to talk about it, so in the end she decided not to talk about it for now.
After returning to his room, Vritra headed into the bathroom while his mind was busy with many things. Even if he had a plan against the goddess, he still had to be extremely careful.
After a few minutes, Vritra was ready in a new set of clothes. He threw his wet hair back and was about to head to Vanessa's room when Yasmine's voice rang in his mind.
"Oh right, I forgot to mention before—Nihil-Anima also has an ability called corpse explosion. Even though it is still weak, I think you can do that."
'Corpse explosion… I guess I'll give it a try later. For the explosion, do I need a normal corpse or does it have to be a Wraith?' Vritra asked. He decided to try it after eating.
"Both could work. The difference will be in the size of the explosion," she replied and added a few more things she knew about this ability.
When Vritra got the Mythic Halo, he used the corpses of the demons and turned them into Soul Wraiths that were completely under his control because of the Nihil-Anima, after which a new section had appeared in his status window.
++++++++++++++++
SOUL WRAITH INVENTORY:
Goblin Champions: 5000
Orc Lords: 2000
Troll Warlords: 1000
Lava Hound Elites: 500
Minotaur Commanders: 300
++++++++++++++++
Vritra had only turned the strongest types among each race of demons, since there was a limit to how much Nihil-Anima could currently do in its weakened state. Yet he was quite surprised by the fact that even in a weak state, it was so strong.
Of course, he now stored most of the corpses in his inventory. Previously they were just for his emergency rations, but now with such a treasure in hand, there were countless uses for them.
But it seemed there was a time limit to turn a corpse into a Wraith. In any case, Vritra was quite satisfied with his current arsenal. If he allowed all of them to cause havoc across the temple and the kingdom, then the number of deaths would reach a very high number.
'And the best part is—even if these Wraiths are destroyed, they would only lose their form and return to the storage. I only need to exhaust some Mana to regenerate them, so as long as I can supply the mana, the army would be truly endless.'
Vritra only needed to expend his mana when he extracted these Soul Wraiths from those corpses. Then they wouldn't need any more energy and would follow his commands until they were destroyed or had exhausted all their energy.
Just to gather this army, Vritra had exhausted all the mana potions in his inventory, and even then he barely made it. Because of this, he was tempted to use all the allocated points for mana, but he stopped his impulsive behavior.
Currently, he had a few priorities. After his small plan succeeds and his mother's safety is guaranteed, he wanted to return to the labyrinth and finish that Death Canopy trial. He also wanted to increase and strengthen his army of Wraiths.
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Thanks for reading…