Chapter 171: The Second Candidate

She found herself been sucked into the egg by the dark silver energy. Before she could even react, she was drained dry and permanently disappeared, leaving only a grey cold heart in the material world!

The queen had died, and subsequent to her death, a hand shot out of the egg 

......….

The appearance of the hand shocked everyone in the room, regardless of what race they belonged to. Even the netherans that couldn't get into the room and couldn't also peer through it, could at least feel the aura coming from hand.

Eden stopped fighting with the wraith as it moved to its queen body. The queen was dead. He saw it himself.

She died when attempting to suck the lifeforce of the egg, which miraculously reversed the [Life Drain] and killed the queen. The brilliant queen due under her own spell.

The death of the queen marked many things for him, but the most important one was the appearance of the bounty.

The grey heart which reduced the temperature in the room was the key to escaping the continent and it was right in front of them, right in front of the hatching egg!

*Crack* *Crack*

The egg cracked further. Another hand shot through the egg and revealed itself to the people in the room.

As they watched attentively, the two hands broke apart the egg. Out of the egg came a figure that looked covered in a full-body mask.

There was no inclination on the gender of the figure. It was just a tall figure with silver eyes and an androgynous appearance, a sight that was scary to anyone who looked. 

Even its face was featureless, except for the silver eyes. No nose. No mouth. No ear. No hair.

The figure kicked away the egg and set her sights on the people in the room, giving equally menacing stares to the three.

It was then Eden realized what her intention was. He held his spear firmly and nodded at Renee.

Even the wraith, who wept as it held its lifeless queen, stopped to look at the figure close to it.

Its eyes met with the eyes of the figure and it trembled like it would have when talking to its queen.

Slowly, the figure walked closer to it. It revealed a clean glint in its eye as it materialized two dark daggers.

The wraith tried to escape, but the daggers found their way into the wraith's body, despite it being in its transparent state! 

The daggers locked the wraith on the wall as it struggled to run away. Yet, it couldn't due to the strange powers of the dagger.

After a few seconds, it was face-to-face with the figure, staring deep into those emotionless human-like silver eyes.

There was a soothing bearing the eyes gave when it looked at it. The wraith forgot about its queen and joined the tranquility of the eyes.

It surrendered to the figure who materialized another dark dagger in its hand and pierced the wraith.

For a wraith and most incorporeal netherans, the only way for them to die was to receive more damage than they could endure.

Just the one dagger of the genderless figure dealt enough damage to the wraith. Its body slowly started disappearing, particles of its wispy body fell apart. It died after the last particles dispersed! 

After its death, the figure stood still for a while, then faced the two humans, the only beings in the room apart from it.

A smile too big for its face arched on it as dashed to the petrified humans. 

It was strange. The creature didn't have a mouth. Yet, they could tell that it was smiling!

......

Far away from the room, Jake stood up from the last wall he slammed, 'What a sad life?'

His body was banged up. Hence, he took his time to do brief healing and made sure he was ready for whatever was happening in the room.

Walking through the hole he made in the walls, Jake guided himself back to the room.

Stopping at the last hole, he saw the genderless figure fight with Eden and Renee.

He also saw the dead body of River beside a cracked large egg, the one he saw behind the queen previously.

'Interesting,' smiled Jake.

Of course, it was only interesting to him as he was not battling the outstanding figure.

'Hmmm….perfection….sweet perfection,' Jake smiled again.

The genderless figure wielded powers that were all too perfect in Jake's eye. The daggers she used to cut the metal skin of Eden were certainly nearing perfection to Jake.

He found himself not wanting to approach the figure, but instead watch from a distance.

To his right were the netherans that burnt each time they tried to cross the [Holy Dust]. They snarled at him, but he ignored them.

They weren't a threat right now.

It was at this moment he remembered something.

'Candidate...Candidate...could it be?!' Jake's face twitched as he came to the profound discovery.

Rhys Woods had said that he would definitely encounter the second candidate along his way. The second candidate would be like him, special.

All signs pointed to the creature that came out of the egg….. which was definitely special in its own right.

However, knowing this didn't bring a smile to his face. 

Avoiding the battle, Jake sneaked to the position of the [QueenSpriteheart] and took it. The heart was the only organ of the queen that would remain in the material world after she died.

After he had made sure to secure the item, Jake sneaked back to the corner had analyzed, 'It's weakened…...no, it's not strong. It's barely enough to overcome Renee and Eden. Should I help it? Or should I help the group?'

Out of the Tegylcas, only three remained, including himself….Scratch that, only two remained, including himself.

The genderless figure had just managed to kill Renee after an intense battleground.

Her dagger stuck in Renee's chest and darkness covered her, carrying her soul to the underworld.

Meanwhile, Jake watched as it all happened.

He felt nothing. Even though he could have helped, there was no need to do that. Fighting the genderless creature was not worth it!

The mission had already been technically secured. Hence, logic denotes that he didn't owe Eden anymore, not when the latter had a dagger embedded in his head!

Under his observation, Jake noticed something. The appearance of the genderless creature was rapidly changing!

As blood from the hunters splashed on it, it absorbed and mysteriously used it to define itself.

Black hair with natural silver highlights grew from its bald head. Its skin took a pale tone. Its new lips turned a darker shade of red. In its eye, the silver ring surrounding its black pupil shined more brightly.

A moderate bust protruded out of its chest and its face took a feminine form, strikingly resembling the banshee queen, except a human version.

'So, it's a female candidate,' mused Jake.

He didn't smile for long as the creature set its sight on Jake and the [Holy Dusts] began to disperse!