Chapter 169 - New Troubles

Cyril's heart beat faster as he only has a tiny amount of Aura left in his body. He was almost drained after using his Artifact's Domain powers for a long time.

However, he immediately sighed in relief after realizing what had just happened.

His Traceless Scarf just reached its limit and became a useless scarf…

"Sigh~ I didn't notice its durability at all. Ugh, I should be careful next time." Cyril bitterly smiled after looking at the scarf tied around his neck.

This item has been with him for a while now so he felt quite melancholic seeing that it's no longer how it used to be.

It has become completely ordinary and he can only keep it inside his Storage Space.

Because he had almost never experienced having his Artifact's durability reaching zero, he sometimes forgot to check their statuses at all.

Well, when he was an F-Rank Awakened, his Rank-F Artifacts would rarely drop their durability after all. It only happens unless he was forced to fight which is quite unusual since he mostly works as a Transporter.

Cyril walked around the streets to find some shops but unfortunately, it was still too early and most of them have already closed.

With this situation, he decided to return to his hotel to take a sleep and replenish his Aura.

He woke up at 10 AM already which is quite late already. After having his breakfast, he checked his phone for the recent news around the city and as expected, the chaos within the Nine Crows Guild has spread online and created quite a sensation.

Well, a huge mess was left after he completed his mission after all.

'Unaffiliated S-Rank Awakened attacked the Nine Crows Guild!'

'The Fall of the Tier 1 Guild!'

'Nine Crows Failed to Stop a Single Thief!'

'Divine Sword Guild Offers Assistance to the Nine Crows Guild!'

Cyril read the news curiously as he wanted to know the public opinion. Surprisingly, he learned that the Nine Crows Guild actually has a good reputation for the public. There are many people supporting them and offering assistance.

On the other hand, only a few netizens were happy at the drawback they suffered.

"Did I go too far this time?" Cyril muttered as he felt a bit guilty after creating chaos in this innocent guild.

'At the very least, it will also make you stronger since you guys are now aware of the flaw of your defenses. This guild will probably become stronger as long as they remain firm after this setback.'

The building has to be fully renovated and they have to redesign their defenses. Perhaps, they would place stronger Arrays this time and they would even train their Arcane Explorers harder and become better Awakened in the human world.

In that way, this incident will no longer be repeated. Cyril comforted himself telling him that this is also a good thing for the guild.

He spent the rest of the day idling around the city as he bought souvenirs for his friends and aunt.

He's planning to leave the country in a few more days since he originally planned here to stay for a week.

However, on the last of his stay, he met a familiar woman again, but this time, her situation is quite different.

"Miss Asta… I'm sure you're not allowed to sleep there."

At some back alley within the city, Cyril saw a heavily injured S-Rank Awakened. It was quite a sight so he immediately greeted the woman.

Asta's body is covered with blood and she's holding her stomach which seems to have been stabbed.

Seeing that she was still breathing, Cyril decided to find out what was going on. He knows that Asta would still live long after all and she'll play a big role against the Vampire outbreak later.

Helping her right now might give him some good points so he would no longer be bothered by them someday.

Though he didn't want to get involved with this woman, he can't change the fact that he'll meet her quite often since they are both S-Rank and also in the same country.

Aside from that, he's sure that Asta already realized that he noticed her.

"Cough! Cough! I know that. I'm not trying to sleep here. A-Are you going to help me or not? Huu~"

Asta no longer has that firm and cold voice. She spoke weakly as she slowly looked up at Cyril.

She's currently leaning beside a garbage bin not caring about the smell.

"Alright, I'll bring you to the hospital."

"W-what? You can't bring me there. I've gone there already if I can… Oof-!" Asta replied before coughing with blood.

It seems that her situation is getting worse.

"Alright, alright… Drink this… This is 300,000 per bottle, okay?"

Cyril then pulled out his Lesser Healing Potion. He uncapped it swiftly and helped Asta drink the potion.

Gulp!

He watched her slightly better but it seems that it wasn't enough.

"One more…" Asta said.

"Are you sure? That's another three hundred thousand…"

"Yes… Hurry up!"

Cyril smiled and pulled out another potion. Since Asta is an S-Rank Awakened, she must've saved plenty of money.

'Maybe I should've increased the price?' Cyril thought but he also erased that idea. The price he gave is already quite high since this potion is now only worth about 80,000 at the moment thanks to the recent competitions this potion had.

Anyway, the second potion seems to have closed most of her wounds but she still looks a bit pale. It means that the injuries she had weren't ordinary wounds and were most likely done by some high-rank Artifacts or perhaps, Magical Creatures.

"Haa~ Thanks, young man."

"If you feel better now. You can pay up. This is my account number."

Cyril handed his phone and showed his bank account number.

"Tsk! You're really in a rush. Fine."

Asta pulled up her phone and immediately transferred the money to his account. The transaction was done smoothly which put a smile on his face.

"Thanks!" Cyril said as he turned his back.

"Wait! One more thing!"

"What now?"

He looked at Asta who just stood up and realized that her clothes and body is really filled with blood. She can't walk like this in the streets.

"If you're embarrassed to walk like that. Just call your subordinates to fetch you."

Cyril said thinking that it was her problem.

However, the weak lady didn't speak and bit her lips.

It took a while before she answered him with a low voice.

"W-we failed our mission. All my subordinates stationed here are dead." Asta said dejectedly.

'She might be sniveling now if I'm not here. Just what happened with her team? I thought that they were quite strong. Ugh… If someone forced an S-Rank Awakened to this state… It must be those criminals they're chasing. It's better to stop my connection to her here.'

"I see… You should leave this place then. Do you need anything else?" Cyril asked with a nonchalant tone. Nevertheless, he still removed his jacket and gave it to Asta.

She silently took the jacket and smelled it before she removed her blouse.

Cyril froze for a moment but he realized that she just wanted to throw away her bloodied blouse before wearing his clean jacket.

"Thanks. Do I have to pay for this jacket or should I return?" Asta returned to her usual cold voice.

"No need to pay. Are you unable to leave this country? Did they recognize you?"

Cyril then saw the lady nod confirming his guess. This woman is truly filled with problems.

"Ugh… You should be able to call the others in your guild, right?"

"I already notified them. However, it will still take them 48 hours before they can come here. Right now, the members of the organization hunting me had surely placed their people to monitor the airport and other places I could use to leave this island."

"You're situation is bad. You shouldn't implicate me, right?"

"I-I know. But I'll pay you more if you can help me hide at this time, if you can even help me out of this place, I'll pay you even more."

Cyril sighed as he weighed his situation.

If he really managed to help this woman, the Silent Crawler Guild would have a good impression of him and he will even be able to ask her help or even the guild someday. However, the enemies of this woman were surely strong individuals. They aren't just normal criminals since they are capable of killing several A-Rank Awakened and injuring an S-Rank Awakened.

"I can help you hide for two days. However, I don't need money. Do you have some Artifacts instead?"

Cyril asked with a smile. Of course, he wanted to ask for her Rank-S Artifact but it should be impossible. Having some Rank-A Artifacts that she's not using a lot shouldn't be a big deal, right?

On the other hand, Asta sighed in relief hearing Cyril's response.

"I don't have Artifacts with me right now. I only have two at the moment and the others have been lost or destroyed during the battle.. Don't worry, I can give you an Artifact that will satisfy you once I've returned to the guild successfully."