Chapter 49: Cress 2

She floated within this glow of energy. Her hair dripping wet as the aura around her barely kept the rain. She was staring down with her cold eyes. Her eyes reflected Nolan who was covered in black grime and blood. His left hand was facing the opposite direction.

Her fluttered as the wind pushes behind Nolan's back. His cloak waved along with the wind and his pale obsidian sword glowed slightly at the sight of the energy surrounding her. He was surrounded by the corpses of the monsters that hunt him. He was covered in their own bile and intestines.

A faint figure floated behind him. She could not see her blurry figure but she started to understand why a man could kill his hunters while sustaining only a broken left arm. She saw him fight. She saw how he moved as if it was natural. How most of his moves were embedded into his muscles and bones. He was a monster in his own right who possesses a very sharp show. She saw him as a monster.

Nolan stood unbothered by his left broken arms. His head hurts like hell. His body felt it want to give up. He just fought monsters that needed all his strength to fight. It should not be mistaken. He could never bring down those who have higher power than him, he knew that fighting creatures as strong he'd faced before she arrived would turn out like this. He was used to it.

She continuously floated within the use of her power. She was unfazed by the monsters that were lying dead. She was a master of the nether forces. She could obliterate companies and slay monsters within an activation of a spell. Yet she was impressed by the image of the man staring her below.

She muttered. Her voice was eerie and so fast that it was like a screech.

He never had the time to react. He never was willing to act. Nolan knew what that spell was. The spell gave a feeling of comfortableness to his battered body. The milky feeling circulated around his body until it all dispersed into dots of light that came out from the pores of his skin.

"What can I do for you, Audrey Cress?" said Nolan. He then thought, "It was nice seeing you again, Master."

"I remember you," she looked at him. "You were that shameless man that purges those poor souls. I thought that I'd never see the likes of you, but you are proving me wrong. I've many questions inside my head. Why do these monsters hunt you down, and why are you covered in demonic blood. That black grime that covers your skin is toxic and once it stops flowing out from your body you will suffer a huge backlash. I've read books about this kind of stupidity...what are you thinking about making a symbiotic relationship with a demon as strong as the ones that live inside your sword?"

He widened his eyes, "You can tell that she exists here?" he tapped the flat part of the sword.

"I know things. The smell of demon blood is strong on you. I'll call you a fool but I listen to reason. Why are you doing this to yourself? Why are you treating yourself as a killing machine?"

"I don't know what you are saying, Audrey Cress," he straightened his back like an arrow. "Why are you asking me?"

"Don't reply with a question," said Audrey. "I am no fool. I can sense the engravings on your body. You are making use of this demon that you have sealed to act as a fuel. Rune tattoos that would allow you to fight these monsters without using the phantasmal oil, you are making a monster of yourself. The holy church would hunt you for heresy and call you a child of darkness, Walker."

"Am I that monstrous looking to you?" Nolan smiled lightly.

She was taken aback. There was a trace of acceptance in that smile that she could not help but wonder. She wondered why the man standing before her had this resolute expression plastered on his face.

"Yes," she replied. "But I can sense that you are not, Walker. You are an odd person. Ever since I saw you I thought of you as an odd person."

"I see. May I ask what are you doing here, Lady Cress?"

"Lady Cress?" she snorted. "Just call me by name, Walker."

He kept her name. "Why are you here, Lady Cress?"

She looked at him. "I am here looking for something. I've thought it would be a dull rainy day yet here I am talking to you. I should be the one asking you."

"I am a Wanderer who never settles down. You should know that it is natural for Bleak Walkers like me to do that."

"Is that so?" she looked at him. "Can you suppress that odd spell of yours?"

"I can," he stopped the flowing of Tania's blood into his veins. He kneeled on his knees, eyes rolling as the black grime dripped to the ground. His tolerance to pain was quite strong, yet, having blood suck from his veins even made him squeal.

Audrey Cress furrowed her brows, "Is it that painful?"

"Yes," he said. "I am not fond of being in pain but it gives me enough power to deal with foes that hunt me down."

"Is that so?" she said blandly. "I am not fond of this rain. Let us take shelter in that hollowed tree. Or are you too busy for that, Walker?"

He smiled, "I am not. Having a Witch of Nether conversing with me would be quite...great."

"Is that so?" she snorted. Her hands formed into that of a claw. She clawed the entrance of that hollowed tree and cleared it for two people.

Nolan eyed the tree. He rose to his feet and sauntered inside the hollow tree, following Audrey Cress who was wet down from the rain. She sat gently and waves her right hand and fire came upon and floated like a wisp. It burned with enough heat to dry her clothes.

He widened his eyes and sat down. He peered at her and thought, "She's amazing as always. Even in this time she already has a grasp of her learned powers."

Rain continued on pouring. It dripped down the body of the gigantic trees. Wind swayed the branches of the trees. The sound of rain meeting the ground rang their ears. The two sat with their elbows near their legs. They watch the continuous flow of water from the heavens with bland expressions.

"What were you here for?"

"Purging the monsters and save those that can be saved."

"I see. I would have purged them all."

"Our ideas are different. Nothing new there."

He looked outside and watches the scene, "I see no reason to save monsters. Or is that the mentality of the strong? Why give salvation to the monsters?"

She looked at him, "Do you know that these monsters are the ones keeping the peace?"

"I do," he replied. "I also know that there's an existence of the old ones that refuse to take part unless provoked."

"Then you should know why," she shrugged her shoulders. "No matter how you hate them the monsters are one of the reasons that the inner lands can stay united against a common enemy. If these monsters didn't exist then this world would still be covered in wars. Knowing that, do you still truly want to kill all these monsters?"

"Maybe," he replied coldly. "The only goods monsters in my books are those that are dead. I can accept the rational ones but yet my hatred for these monsters will never cease."

She snorted, "I thought Walkers don't hate? I thought you all are indifferent to the troubles of this world."

"I am indifferent. I can endure it since I am used to it but it doesn't mean my heart says that my heart will stay still when I see the monsters. I've lived my life killing them and you expect me to suddenly stop and get tired of it?"

"Is that? Will you stay as a butcher of monsters? I pity you, Walker."

"I don't think you should." He balled his fists. "This is the path that I've chosen out of my own will. There is never any need for me to get worked up or troubled my soul about things that I cannot control any longer."

"So your will to kill these monsters have reached that far?"

"You saw me. I know that you can tell that I attract the monsters."

Her brows met, "Why is that you have that curse in you? That curse belongs to the War Maiden of this current Era. Why is it bonded in you? Why would you allow it so?" she paused for a moment. "To lure the monsters out of their hiding and slaughter them?"

He merely smiled at that. He held the sword of Zachariah and pointed its tip forward. "That's right. I did it to slaughter them. Isn't that great?"

"I'll never understand you," said Audrey Cress."

"I don't think you will. Even though you are prized as a beautiful prodigy unmatched in both wisdom and intelligence, I don't think you will understand what keeps my heart beating and my limbs moving."

Nolan gave her a single look before he continued staring at the rain. His expression cold and casual as it may be. There was a trace of loneliness in his heart as he speaks with the woman who taught him to fight beasts using the runes and the creator of the tools that he uses.

"You try to hide it. But I am proud of my observation abilities. The moment you saw me float your eyes dilated. Your right hand shivered and the way you tried to open your mouth made it like you were trying to speak to an old friend. I am not that of a vain person who thinks highly of his or her beauty but I've been proposed by Princes and Nobles. Men would eye me lewdly yet you see me in this queer reverence resembling that of a disciple seeing his master. May I ask you why?"

"I don't know what you are saying," he replied softly while touching the back of his neck.

She turned her eyes to his direction. "I should tell you that I know it when people lie. I hate when people lie to me."

"I know that too," Nolan eyed her. He squared his body and he gave a feeling of a man who was ready to pounce.

Audrey Cress's eyes turned sharp. The flow of energy that she had produced before acting up. It was like the elements turned into electricity and that they were being bent to her will. The hollow tree that they were sheltering from the rain started shaking.

Nolan knew too well how strong she was. No matter how skilled or experienced he was, he could not react to the speed of lightning and could only predict it. He knew that the person that was readying to ask him harshly was someone who would not stop until she gets what she wants. He could only hope that her strike would do him no harm. That he would have enough phantasmal oil to neutralize the magic that she handles so well that later on would turn her into a demon in the eyes of the demons.

She was a far too observant person that her reasoning was borderline unreasonable. Yet, he knew that the eccentric savant before him was no pushover. That's why before she could even chant her spell. He threw a bag of spices in her face.

She started coughing heavily. The bag of spices turned her tongue red and she was unable to move with the spice entering her eyes.

Nolan sprinted away from the hollowed tree and made Tania's blood flow inside of him. The black grime painfully made their way out of the pores of his body and covered him in black grime. He reached for his phantasmal oil and covered his blade with it while still moving like a skulking puma through the cover of thick foliages.

He was already far from the scene when he heard the burst of power cracking in the air. The hollowed tree that sheltered him and she slowly fell down upon him. Above the sky was Audrey Cress whose eyes were bloodshot red. She chanted a complex chant as the hollowed tree that fell towards Nolan suddenly turned into thick roots that flew towards him with a surprising speed!