Ryder and Rale reached the lake where they were supposed to find beasts to hunt.
"Strange. There is not even one beast here? What's happened?" Ryder asked Rale as he gazed back.
"I'm not sure. This place should have had at least one beast. No idea what's happening here," Rale answered, frowning.
"I guess we would need to go deeper," Ryder said as he came out of the bushes.
He walked past the lake as he advanced deeper into the forest.
A shadow kept following them around. Rale's feeling continued that someone was watching them, but he couldn't find who it was even after all that. He kept glancing back more often than not.
"There is one!"
Ryder noticed a beast in some distance. He started running after the beast to catch him without giving it a chance to run.
A scythe appeared in his hand, which looked as sharp as it could possibly be.
The beast seemed like a giant bull. There were a few differences, though. The bull had no horns; instead, it had ears like a rabbit. Its skin was sky blue. Only its ears were of different colors. The bull's eyes were pale white.
Ryder had instantly activated the All-Seer as soon as he had deen the bull, which showed the information of the bull before his eyes.
[Name: White-Eyed Bull]
[Species: Demon Wolf]
[Level: 150]
Without delaying for even a second, Ryder swung his scythe as he appeared near the White-eyed bull.
He wasn't going to leave this beast to the Diamond Tiger Beast and get the experience himself, but near the end, he changed his mind.
He decided not to kill the Bull in one blow and controlled his force.
The White-eyed bull saw Ryder attack him. It roared furiously as he started stepping back slowly. A white light started taking shape near its forehead that kept getting bigger.
"It's about to attack! Careful!" Rale warned Ryder, seeing the white light.
Ryder nodded his head as he understood what was happening.
Before the white light could finish taking shape, the blade of his scythe reached the neck of the enemy. Its neck was sliced through the middle, killing it instantly.
The light also disappeared as the beast's head fell down to the ground.
Ryder landed on the ground and smiled wryly.
"Oops…"
He shook his head as he watched the beast's dead body lying on the ground.
"I thought this would leave some HP for him to deal the finishing blow. Who knew that it was not possible," he muttered as he gazed back at the Diamond Tiger Beast, who seemed to be confused.
Until now, Ryder was giving it the opportunity to make the final attack. I thought this time was going to be the same.
It was standing ready to deal the finishing blow; however, it didn't have any need anymore as the White-eyed bull was lying dead in the ground.
"I'll give you the next prey," Ryder comforted the Diamond Tiger Beast.
"Umph."
The Diamond Tiger Beast gave a light whimper as if it was agreeing with Ryder.
The body of the White-eyed bull slowly disappeared as it turned into specks of light.
"We should see more just like them."
Ryder and the others started walking even deeper into the forest.
******
"He seems weaker. Just what method did Janus use to bring him back to life? Why doesn't he have his old strength? I get the same intimidating feeling from him as before, but the way he fights… It's different. Does he not remember?" The Goddess of Life and Death wondered as she saw Ryder fight.
"I need to meet him to test this theory. But if I go down, I'll attract the attention of other gods to that place. He would be discovered…" She muttered as she frowned.
"That must be why Janus didn't go down to fight Asteria even after knowing that he is alive. He doesn't want to get the attention of others to that Place. But in his shock at finding Asteria, he made a mistake. Does he really not realize that his mistake exposed his existence to me?"
"Oh, does he know? It was intentional? Since Asteria is alive and he knows that I am not willing to cause another war, he wouldn't worry about me knowing. Is that his way of subtly involving me in his scheme? Or was it actually an honest mistake?"
The more she thought about it, the more she grew curious. She knew that there was only one person who could end her curiosity. There was only one person who knew all the answers about what was truly happening, and it was Janus.
She tapped her feet on the floor once again after taking one last glance at the face of Ryder.
The floor once again returned to normal and stopped showing the images.
The visage of the Goddess of Life and Death started getting vague as she disappeared slowly.
Janus was watching Ryder in the water of his pond when he sensed something. He snapped his fingers, and the pond returned to normal.
Two fishes could be seen swimming in the pond. Janus watched the fishes with curiosity.
"The Sun and Moon Fishes. Pretty rare. I never knew you had them," a feminine voice came from behind him.
"But then again, I never knew a lot of things. You're good at fooling people after all," she continued.
"It's you. What brought you here?" Janus asked without looking back.
"Don't tell me you didn't expect me to come here. You are pretty good at scheming, Janus. It was all intentional, wasn't it? Making that mistake when speaking and talking as if your brother wasn't dead. Telling me about your discovery of Asteria. It was all a part of this plan since the moment you noticed him. Am I right?" The Goddess of Life and Death asked.
"Oh? Am I really like the evil boss behind the shadow in your head?" Janus asked as he smiled slightly.
He snapped his fingers once again. The pond started showing Ryder again.
He could see Ryder fighting with another snake-like beast.
This time, the last blow was dealt by the Diamond Tiger Beast as per the plan of Ryder.
"Good work, little guy. You again jumped in levels. Your progress makes me jealous," Ryder complimented the Diamond Tiger Beast as he patted his head.
After Ryder finished patting the Diamond Tiger Beast, he started walking ahead in search of a different prey. Rale walked on the left side of Ryder while the Diamond Tiger Beast walked in the middle of the two.
Crack!
"Hmm?" Ryder heard a cracking sound that wasn't light at all. It was a loud sound as if a tree was broken.
Swoosh!
As soon as he turned back, he saw a giant tree falling towards them. To be specific, it was about to fall on top of the Diamond Tiger Beast, who was walking in the middle of Ryder and Rale.
Rale reached fast as he appeared in front of the Diamond Tiger Beast. He reached out his hand and caught the falling tree easily before he pushed it aside.
"Strange. How can a tree fall so suddenly," Ryder thought as he observed his surroundings suspiciously.
"I was right. It's him!" The Goddess of Life and Death exclaimed as she saw Ryder in the pond of Janus. It was obvious that Janus was watching him. He wasn't even trying to hide it now.
It was evident that he intended for her to know.
"Asteria is never going to change. His jealousy is still the same," Janus muttered as he sighed.
"I wasn't going to have you know since I didn't know your feelings towards my brother. I had seen you going to meet my brother a day before the attack. I even asked him what you two talked about after that, but he didn't answer. He was expressionless, so I didn't know if your talks were good or bad. So I kept you out…" Janus starts explaining.
"But now that I know about you, it's certain that you were concerned about him even then. You also helped Asteria, who was close to him. I should thank you. One of the things I regretted was not being able to save Asteria. Who knew that he was still alive…" He continued.
"Yeah. He didn't change at all. He was like this before too. He was pretty annoying sometimes, to be honest," The Goddess of Life and Death answered as she sighed.
"So tell me. How did you do it?" She asked Janus.
"How did I do what?" Janus inquired.
"How did you save your brother? How is he still alive? And does he really not remember anything? Did you use the forbidden reincarnation that gods aren't able to use?" The Goddess of Life and Death asked. "Reincarnation can be the only answer as to why he doesn't know about his fighting abilities and his strength? Is that it?"
