Chapter 134: Never Forgotten (25)

Kreti's abilities were still fairly in line with Herbert's expectations, but the ability obtained from Flora was quite peculiar.

As a unique succubus, a sage among demons, she did not grant Herbert transcendent wisdom.

Instead, she gave Herbert an unexpected ability — 【Demon's Body】.

That's right, another physical body!

A solid, real physical-body ability.

Herbert's body seemed to be covered in a layer of demon scales, and his resistance to all spells and magic was greatly enhanced.

At the same time, he also gained supernatural perception, an extremely keen sense of smell for changes in living beings and the environment outside.

Combined with his perception of others' malice, this let him easily find those nobles who were filled with hostility toward him.

And finally, Herbert obtained an ability that delighted him most — the power to turn his body into a sharp weapon at any given moment!

Key point: this ability is extremely useful.

Ex-treme-ly useful!

Think about it — in the middle of an intense battle, turning part of your body into a hard, sharp weapon, what a delightful surprise that would give your opponent.

For example… the palm.

That's right.

Herbert's great slaughter in the ballroom just now actually relied on this very ability.

He merely cloaked his palm in holy power as a surface to mask the truth; what truly dealt the killing was not the punishing holy power, but his palm sharp as a blade…

So Herbert appeared to be chastising others with holy power, but in reality he simply relied on brute force and sharpness to lop those fine heads clean from their necks.

Magic damage?

Where is physical attack simpler and more direct?

Just hack away with all your might.

After flying for a while like this, as the sun sank below the horizon, the sky gradually darkened.

("Speaking of which, can you shrink a bit?")

Herbert recalled something and asked Valentina: ("This is too conspicuous, it'll easily cause unnecessary trouble.")

A hundred meters long, while not seeming that exaggerated in written description, can't compare to those primordial behemoths that easily run into the thousands or tens of thousands of meters.

But when compared in reality, it really is quite massive — taller than two Statues of Liberty stacked together, not counting their pedestals.

"…"

Valentina did not answer upon hearing this, but her hundred-meter-long body slowly shrank nonetheless.

After a few breaths of proportional compression, she was left at just over twenty meters long; still massive compared to Herbert, but far smaller than before.

It was at this moment that Herbert finally felt like he had truly become the dragon rider from a fairy tale.

He sat on the dragon's back, gently stroking her scales with his palm, and asked softly:

("Speaking of which, Valentina, where exactly are we headed?")

According to the original plan, after leaving the royal palace, Herbert would circle around outside with Valentina, then return to Wang Cheng to reunite with Sister Kaplan and the others.

"…"

But Valentina did not follow the original plan, instead flying westward the whole way; watching her look so certain of her destination, she seemed to have somewhere she wanted to go.

("Don't worry, I won't stop you.")

Herbert sensed the shift in her emotions and said softly: ("Go if you want to, it's no big deal.")

"…Mm."

They kept flying like this for roughly an hour, until night had fully fallen, when Herbert felt Valentina's speed gradually slow.

Fortunately, he possessed decent night vision and could make out the destination they were about to land at.

It was a steep cliff.

"This is…"

Although Valentina did not explain, a guess had already vaguely formed in his heart.

Whooosh—

Just as they were about to arrive, the dragon's wings beat once, sharply cutting her speed, and she hovered in midair before gently landing on a cave platform on the steep cliff.

The motion was smooth and practiced, as if she had done it countless times before.

The space beneath Herbert vanished as Valentina reverted to her human form as a nun, staring blankly at everything inside the cave.

Herbert landed lightly, stretched his stiff body from sitting so long, and asked curiously: "Is this your lair?"

Valentina did not answer for a moment; Herbert, realizing something, did not press her, and silently stood behind her waiting.

After a long while, Valentina finally came back to herself, lowered her head to look at the floor thick with dust, and said softly, contrary to her usual manner:

"Mm, I suppose so."

"Originally, this was just a place where I slept temporarily, but Wendy insisted on treating it as my lair and stuffed it full of useless things."

"So in the end, this became my lair."

She slowly stepped forward, walking past all manner of objects already eroded and weathered by time.

Stone steles carved with dragon motifs, stone dragon statues, wooden totems with coiling dragons…

In the end, Valentina stopped before a massive stone stele.

There were no words left on the stele, only a few enormous claw marks that ran through the entire slab.

It could hardly even be called a proper stele — one could only vaguely make out its original rectangular shape, with irregular, uneven edges.

Due to long abandonment, it had merged with the cave, no longer an abrupt, isolated presence.

As if it were part of the place, as if it had simply grown straight out of the mountain itself.

Although he could not tell what it had originally looked like, Herbert still vaguely formed a guess, stepped forward, and gently drew Valentina into his arms from behind.

"Is this… the gravestone of that Lady Wendy?"

Valentina was silent, letting Herbert hold her tight, and only after a long while did she slowly nod, humming softly and very tenderly.

"Mm."

After a long pause, Valentina lifted her head, gazed toward the top of the cave, and whispered through bitten lips:

"Dragons don't need gravestones."

"But Wendy wasn't a dragon — at least not entirely… so she needed one."

"A proof that records her existence, that proves she once came to this world."

"Otherwise… no one would remember her."

Valentina bit down hard on her lip.

Even though she possessed the power to destroy everything, she had no way to hold on to a life that had already departed.

So, at this moment, Valentina was very sad.

Just then, the strong arms holding her close gave her a warm strength.

And a tender whisper:

"No, Valentina. As long as you still remember her, she won't vanish completely."

"Look — hasn't she always been right there?"

Valentina blinked, lowered her head to look beneath the stone tablet, and her eyes suddenly went wide.

In that instant, her gaze seemed to pierce through layer upon layer of obstruction and see the bones pressed beneath.

It was as if she saw Wendy as she grew old, and as if she saw the girl from their very first meeting.

Wendy had indeed passed away; her soul had returned to the Sea of Chaos.

Even if in the future she were to come to this world again, her soul would carry no memories of the previous life — she would only be an entirely new being.

She might not even be human, but any number of other creatures.

Every trace of her existence had already vanished in the previous life.

But she had not completely disappeared from this world either.

She had always lived on in Valentina's memory.

Her master — who seemed hot-tempered, inarticulate, yet deeply gentle — had never once forgotten her.

Because she had never been forgotten,

she had never truly vanished.

(End of this chapter)