'The pulse quickened?'
As he was heading East, rather than north, where Eve went, his pulse quickened even more.
Phew!
He sighed in relief.
'It's not the same thing.'
He was glad their paths wouldn't cross.
He ran, whilst preparing spells left and right.
Offensive spells. Defensive spells. Utility Spells. Spells he might need to run away.
Every type he could think of.
This was another reason why he thought Raven's innate magic was better than normal.
Crystal was really versatile.
He made as many spells as his mana conduit allowed.
There was no such thing as being overprepared for anything.
He ran into the woods using the hit-and-trial method.
If the pulse dimmed down, he was going the wrong way.
Just like this, he moved quite forward.
Urgh!
Suddenly, he clutched his shoulders hard and fell on the ground face-first.
Tsss!
Out of nowhere, a searing pain assaulted his shoulders.
If any other Church member of high enough strength came across him in this situation, he would immediately start hunting him down.
The mark.
After revving like a V12 for a minute, it had finally shown itself.
Kugghhh!
He suppressed his scream as much as he could, using his shirt as a gag.
He looked like a clown doing tricks currently, but what really mattered now was that he had hidden himself properly.
He needed to stay low.
'Would it always be this painful?' He thought, tears coming out of his eyes.
The blistering pain on his shoulders was calming down quickly, but clearly not quickly enough.
He took his shirt off to prevent the fabric from making contacts with the burn.
His chiseled, bare torso was now a hanging spot for the dirt below, as he rolled there frantically.
As the pain subsided, he gradually opened his eyes, only to face a blinding light that made him scrunch his lids again.
Urgh!
'Just one pain after another.'
Wasn't it evening already?
What could possibly be so blinding?
And there was only one way to find out.
He slowly opened his eyes again, only to be stuck at the bare minimum.
He could barely see through those slits, but it was something.
'What am I even looking at!?'
There was a person.
A woman.
A woman whose skin was… silver.
A silver woman who glowed with a bright white light.
Illuminating the surroundings with that light.
Her face looked sculpted by an artist who poured their heart out to chisel her face.
It was unbelievably pretty.
Even her clothes looked like they were woven out of sheets of silver, not threads.
They were loose, but not enough to hide her natural and perfect curves.
"Is it you?" Her voice buzzed in his ears, as if layers were being uttered by her.
It echoed mechanically and tickled his ears weirdly.
"Are you Her chosen apostle?"
She obviously referred to the Moon Goddess.
Her entire face felt rigid, as if it were chiseled out of a block of silver.
But the next second, her eyebrows moved, "I wonder what she saw in you."
Raven wanted to say something, but couldn't.
He couldn't even figure out where to start.
"Would I be correct to assume that you were sent here by Arthur?" She asked, tilting her head sideways.
'She knows about Arthur?'
And the way she talked about him made Raven wonder if she was someone close to him.
Maybe she also directly served the Moon Goddess like him.
"Mhm!" He nodded in affirmation. "He told me to just go as far as I could, and I would come across something to help me."
"He sent me all the way to this place for that?" She muttered angrily.
Thankfully, she had better control over her emotions than Eve.
Because she clearly felt insanely strong to him.
An oppressive feeling of inferiority.
"I was sent here with something to give to you," She said, her fingers on her chin, "But I don't feel like giving it to you that easily."
"Huh!?"
He was already risking so much being here, out of his carriage, with this mark being active.
And this woman had time to play?
"What do you mean?" He called her out, his pitch higher than usual.
He was anxious.
"I came here, all the way, and I don't feel like doing this the easy way." She chuckled, looking at Raven's face.
She clearly wanted some fun at this point.
Raven could tell that much easily.
She wanted to get some reactions out of him, and he wasn't going to be this easy.
But he clearly underestimated the level of detail she could notice in him.
Pfft!
This only made it more fun for him.
"What's so funny?" Raven frowned.
"The way you are trying so hard is what's so funny." She snickered harder.
"You know what?" She turned around, "Do me a favor and I will not only give the 'thing' to you, but I will also answer a question that you have."
"And what if I don't?" He threatened her.
"Then I would simply walk away." She said, nonchalantly.
"Can you?" Raven sounded confident, "I doubt you can abandon a mission given to your apostle that easily."
Pfft!
Haha! Hahaha!
She just burst out laughing, hearing his words.
"Y- You are a funny kid, you know?" She chortled loudly.
Woosh!
Suddenly, Raven lost his footing off the ground, and the next thing he knew, he was floating.
Floating right below the clouds.
Raven's breath stuck in his throat.
But that fear was nothing compared to what the woman was making him feel currently.
"You overestimate the value of yourself, Raven Marlowe." The mood shifted immediately.
Her face was mere inches from his face, and her tone no longer contained the jest it just had.
"Unless you get strong enough, you are always replaceable," She threatened him back.
"Do you even know that you were our second choice this time?"
Her voice took him by surprise.
He used to think he was selected because he killed so many of the cultists back on Earth.
Was there someone who killed more?
Was there someone who had more passion for this?
Was there someone who was even more desperate than he?
He bit his lips, his eyes rolling down.
"Your sister," She started, "She just killed two of the three High-level accurseds, and she would be able to kill the last."
"And after that, she would easily hunt down the main accursed, orchestrating this entire thing."
Raven gulped.
There was more than one below?
And how strong was Eve that killing 3 high-leveled accursed and an even stronger one like it was a walk in the park?
"I want you to kill 20 low-level accurseds, before she finds and kills the main orchestrator accursed."
She faced him, her smile coming back.
"And if you were to fail," Her tone chilled him to his bones, "I will kill you."