Supreme Magus novel Chapter 222

"I don’t understand. What is that thing? How did you manage to survive the explosion?" Scarlett was happy to see Kalla alive, even if she was heavily injured.

Most of the shadow that usually covered her massive skeleton was gone, leaving it completely exposed. Only a faint mist covered the zone where her internal organs were supposed to be.

One of her front paws was missing and the red light that usually burned inside her eyes was almost gone.

When it started blinking, Kalla collapsed on the ground.

"Survive is a strong word. Let’s just say I’m not completely dead. As for your questions, it’s a bit complicated to explain. After my evolution, I have been shunned by humans and magical beasts alike.

"They don’t see beyond my physical appearance, that’s why I started spending so much time with the various tribes of higher undead. I felt like I didn’t belong in the forest anymore, so I was searching for a new family." _{ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom}

"Why didn’t you tell me that earlier? I would have taught them a lesson!" Scarlett roared in outrage.

"To what end?" Kalla sneered. "Nothing would have changed. They would behave in front of you and keep ostracizing me as soon as you turned your back. I don’t need anyone’s pity nor protection."

Her voice was feeble, but filled with determination.

"However, greater undead always treated me with respect. After I adopted my daughter, I was seriously considering turning myself into a true undead instead of being stuck in this half baked form.

"So, I started researching the blood cores, experimenting on myself to see how they interact with a living body with an intact mana core. Worst case scenario, I would have become a real undead. Nothing would have changed for me.

"I would still be an Awakened one and Nok would follow me even if I had three heads. The actual result was quite underwhelming. The second core does nothing except take enough energy from me to sustain itself.

"Since it didn’t seem to have any side effects, I kept it as a study subject for my research on how to cure Mina. It pains me to admit that I hope the same cure will help me too. It’s so frustrating always being alone."

Kalla paused, the shadow inside her body kept getting thinner.

"It’s only thanks to my experiments that, when I recalled the darkness magic animating my undead, I was able to avoid the overload by splitting the energy between both cores. That way even if one shattered, the other would remain.

The problem is that now that they have almost the same strength, I don’t know which will prevail."

"How can I help you?" Scarlett asked, wishing she could do the same thing Lith had done for Protector.

"Not much. Just wait for me to come back and be my friend no matter what the result is. Also, I would greatly appreciate if you helped me find a safe place for me and Mina to live. Your forest doesn’t suit any of us."

Kalla finally succumbed to exhaustion, the light in her eyes went out completely. If not for some shreds of darkness still lingering over her, it would have been impossible to distinguish her from an old carcass.

Scarlett felt a deep pain inside of her. By choosing to help the humans, she had endangered the lives of her underlings, causing the death of many of them. M’Rook had died fighting the Valors, leaving her without a second in command and many more had been gravely injured or maimed.

As long as they were alive, she could heal them, but it would take a long time for the forest to recover from its wounds. In just two days, the combat prowess of her turf had been halved.

Her dear friend Kalla was now on the brink of death, Protector had almost died, and she couldn’t help but consider it as her fault. Her arrogance had blinded her. She had been so confident in her strength that she almost lost everything she had.

- "Now I understand why the members of the Council are so detached. The longer you live, the more painful it is when you lose someone. I’ve known M’Rook and Kalla since they were just cubs, and I raised them both like they were my own.

"Now M’Rook is dead. Kalla will survive or turn into a true undead, either way she will leave the forest forever. I’ve been so obsessed with the Abomination threat, by pursuing my ’master plan’ and always thinking big picture that I’ve disregarded the details.

"Those small, precious details that make my life worth living. I’ve neglected both the lives of my subjects and their happiness. Maybe I have become too old to be a Lord of the forest. Maybe Leegaain is right, I should leave my turf to someone better than me and strive to become a Guardian.

"By the Great Mother, I never thought the day I would get tired of living could ever come."– Scarlett was lost in thought when she heard a movement from her right.

Protector was getting up and for the first time since they had known each other, he seemed to be out of his mind with rage.

"Don’t worry, Protector. Your friend is fine, I made sure of that myself." Scarlett tried to calm him down.

"Fine? How dare you to call losing decades of his life being ’fine’? Why the heck didn’t you stop him?" He pointed his muzzle to Lith’s shrivelled body. He had lost so much of his body weight before losing consciousness that he was unrecognizable.

Protector was still as weak as a baby, his life hanging by a thread while his core could never recover completely from the damage it had suffered. Yet his rage was stronger than all that.

"You wanted him to die, you crazy f*cker! Did you think I have gone deaf? I heard your whole conversation with that pompous a*s, whoever she was. You can forget me helping you again in the future! If you don’t want to make an enemy out of me, you’d better do as I say."

Scarlett nodded. Her guilt prevented her from even trying to defend her foolish actions.

"As soon as Lith wakes up, you’ll tell him that I’m dead."

"What?" Scarlett didn’t see that coming.