"No need!" Vaelyth suddenly spoke up. "I'll take care of this myself."
Noan frowned at her words, his gaze carrying a hint of suspicion as it landed on her.
"Don't worry. I wouldn't be foolish enough to betray you," Vaelyth sighed. "She and I share the sa soul, only… we've been split into two different personalities."
"You intend to rge again?" Noan asked, still frowning.
"That's right," Vaelyth replied. "Only by fusing with her will I be strong enough to fight Vinelord. Otherwise, I fear he'll break free and plunge everything into chaos."
"And if you don't fuse with her?" Noan continued questioning. "Will it affect you in any way?"
Vaelyth was puzzled and asked with a frown, "What are you implying?"
"Hahaha…" Noan suddenly laughed, then said, "I'm asking sothing very simple. If you don't fuse, will you suffer any consequences in the future?"
"Forget about defeating Vinelord. I don't want to hear about that."
Vaelyth furrowed her brow, confused, but still patiently explained, "In truth, this world is a cage. Not only the Lords, but even I and the native inhabitants are restricted to level 5."
"If I can't retrieve the soul inside that girl, I'll still be fine—after all, I can't level up any further anyway."
"However, if I do fuse the soul, the quality of my energy will double, and I'll have a chance to defeat Vinelord."
Hearing that, Noan nodded slightly, then smiled and said, "Good. Then you no longer need to fuse with the soul inside that girl."
"Hm?!" Vaelyth frowned in surprise. "Why? If that's the case, I won't be able to defeat Vinelord, and he'll…"
"What does that have to do with you?" Noan suddenly asked, leaving Vaelyth speechless.
"What do you an? Don't you care about the other humans?" she asked, confused.
Noan shook his head with a smile, but didn't answer her. Instead, he said, "Tell , when you previously faced Vinelord, had your soul already been split?"
"No, back then my soul wasn't divided like this," Vaelyth replied.
"Ah! So back then, even with your soul whole, you couldn't destroy Vinelord—you rely sealed him away. So where does your confidence co from now, thinking that fusing with Monica will allow you to defeat him?"
"That… I…" Vaelyth faltered. "But… I can stop him."
"Oh please…" Noan scoffed, shaking his head as he spoke. "Worry about yourself first. Don't pretend to be a hero when you don't even have what it takes to be one."
"But…" Vaelyth frowned, feeling a bit uneasy.
Noan shook his head—he had only given her a piece of advice, with no intention of stopping her. After all, she was now his slave. Without his permission, she couldn't do anything anyway.
"Good, now it's your turn," Noan said with a smile, his gaze shifting toward Monica. "You may refuse this contract."
Monica lifted her head to look at Noan, then turned to Vaelyth, her eyes full of confusion.
"I… I can refuse?" Monica asked hesitantly.
"Of course. But your fate will be the sa as his," Noan said, pointing toward Valen.
Monica looked at Valen's headless corpse, then back at Noan. She took a deep breath and bowed her head. "Do I even have a choice?"
She reached out, her trembling hand touching the floating contract.
Monts later, the pact was sealed. Noan could feel that Monica's life was now in his hands.
At the sa ti, he saw their information.
What was strange… was that Monica was actually a Rank B Lord at level 3, whereas Vaelyth's data was even more peculiar.
…
Na: Vaelyth
Race: Elf
Rank: A (Locked)
Level: 5 (Half power sealed)
Description: Vaelyth is not a Lord. She is a mber of the Elf race; however, her power and soul have been permanently imprisoned in this world.
…
Noan read Vaelyth's description, and his eyes glead as if a very interesting thought had just occurred to him.
"Noan…"
At that mont, Vaelyth spoke up.
Noan glanced at her and frowned. "Call Master."
Vaelyth gritted her teeth, but now that she was Noan's slave, she had no choice but to obey. "Master…"
"Good! What do you want to say?"
"I… are you really going to let Vinelord run free?"
Hearing that, Noan smiled and shook his head. "If you want to play the hero, you can go try and stop him. Even if you die, I won't save you."
"Besides… are you really willing to sacrifice yourself for people you don't even know?"
"I… it's just… this is an order, and also my mission," Vaelyth said.
From her words, Noan realized—there might be another, far more terrifying existence behind all this, one that could give orders and imprison Vaelyth in this world.
He frowned, starting to feel a bit uneasy. However, it was already too late for anything now.
Noan asked, "Who gave you the order?"
"The Elf Queen. I can't tell you the specific details," Vaelyth replied.
"She's watching you, isn't she?"
"No," Vaelyth shook her head. "Ever since I was sent to this world, all information and connections between and her have been severed."
"Why were you sent here?"
"Because I was the most suitable candidate to imprison Vinelord in this place," Vaelyth explained. "The Elf race couldn't destroy Vinelord, so the only thing they could do was trap him here."
"Moreover, to prevent Vinelord from growing stronger, they needed an Elf with enough power to contain him."
Noan responded, "And in the end, you were the one chosen?"
Vaelyth nodded slightly.
"Hahahaha…"
Hearing him laugh, Vaelyth frowned in confusion. "What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing. I just think you're an idiot," Noan said with a grin.
"What?! You… what do you an by that?"
Noan let out a sigh and said, "They just wanted to sacrifice a foolish little lamb. Let guess—you held quite a high status in the Elf race, didn't you?"
"That's right. I was the Holy Maiden of the Elf race," Vaelyth nodded.
"Exactly what I thought." Noan didn't say more on the matter. He just shrugged and asked, "Earlier, where did you take Vinelord?"
"You still haven't answered my question—what did you an by that?" Vaelyth quickly asked.
Noan glanced at her, his eyes turning frighteningly cold. "Look closely at your position right now. You're my slave. You're no Holy Maiden, nor are you the Queen of any kingdom."
Vaelyth clenched her teeth, lowered her head, and said nothing more.
"Where did you take Vinelord?" Noan asked.
Vaelyth took a deep breath, trying to calm herself before answering, "I only took him outside. I don't know where he went after that."
Noan was about to leave when Vaelyth suddenly spoke up. "Master. I… what must I do for you to tell ?"
"Hm?! What are you talking about?" Noan frowned and asked.
"I an… what you said earlier…" Vaelyth stamred.
Noan chuckled and replied, "If you can please , I'll naturally give you the answer you want."
"Alright, you must have so sort of healing magic, right? Help Monica recover a little. I'll return later."
With that, Noan vanished as if he had never been there.
Vaelyth let out a long sigh, feeling like everything that had happened today was just a dream.
Even when she had been chosen as a sacrifice to imprison Vinelord in this world, she hadn't felt as confused as she did now.
She walked over to Monica, who looked back at her.
The two of them shared so similarities, though there were also a few differences.
The biggest difference was that Vaelyth was slightly more beautiful than Monica. However, the gap between them wasn't too large.
Monica carried a hint of innocence, resolve, and purity.
Vaelyth, on the other hand, bore the pride, righteousness, and strength of a queen.
As Vaelyth cast healing magic on Monica, she asked, "What do you know about him?"
Monica pressed her lips together, then shook her head and said, "I've only just t him. The only thing I know… is that he's incredibly strong."
Vaelyth sighed and shook her head.
By now, Monica could feel warmth returning to her body, and the wounds caused by Valen gradually healing.
She glanced at Vaelyth and asked with confusion, "Are you… are you ?"
Vaelyth shook her head and answered, "Not exactly. You're simply holding a part of my soul."
"Ah! Why did sothing like this happen?" Monica asked in confusion.
Vaelyth glanced at her and asked, "Where did you get this power?"
Monica opened her mouth, ready to speak, but in that mont, a sudden realization dawned on her.
Not everything—but a fragnt.
But even that fragnt was enough for Monica to understand why Vaelyth had said she possessed half of her soul.
Seeing Monica's expression, Vaelyth sighed and said, "You guessed correctly. You rged with a replica that carried half of my soul. Now, you could say… you are a half of ."
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