1234 Snake of Chaos
Sarah wanted him to rest if possible. The fight between them was brutal, to say the least.
For now, she's physically healed.
Once she accepted the legacy back, it began an unconditional integration to prevent similar transgression.
But mentally, Sarah was still in a state of tension and exhaustion. She wanted to return and just take a long, long break doing nothing.
Moreover, she needed some time to come up with terms that she and her husband nearly killed each other.
And that she met him across the stars, crossing light years, in god knows where. It was all too much in too little time and she needed a desperate break.
But she couldn't afford it. Neither could he. Because someone needed more help than them.
"V-Varian, S-Sia is in danger. Th-The third soul is trying to wake up."
Varian trembled for a moment and tried to stand, but there was no strength in his feet.
Sarah helped him up. He'd normally be a bit embarrassed to take help but now, his breathing was erratic and he said in an anxious tone. "L-Let's go."
Sarah sighed and asked the Well Of Exchanges. "Let us out of this pla—"
"Wait," Varian stopped her from finishing and asked. "Is there any danger if we return to the World Tree now?"
There's an exit out of world tree, leading towards the second safe zone. His plan was to get into the safe zone and then leave the tower, use Hortus, and get home.
But he just killed a very powerful Celestial.
Even if the tower was equivalent to a divine ranker and couldn't care less about a mere celestial, this mission had always been about gods.
Varian glanced at the three royal heirs who had fainted long ago and pursed his lips.
Now, only he and Sarah were standing in this place. Looking down, the floor with twinkling stars in it looked much more peaceful. If only Sia's condition wasn't bad, they could've stayed here a bit longer.
Pushing back his careless thoughts, Varian's expression slowly hardened. 'If they can send literal prince and princesses to this dangerous place, they are not just interested, they want it.'
[You need to pay an equivalent price for the information.]
Varian's eyes twinkled and he asked. "How much?"
[...]
"If it's the corpse of a ranker, which rank would it be?"
[8th celestial ranker.]
Varian's eyebrows jumped and he felt like someone punched him in the gut. Why?
Why so much price for that mere information? Even when he needed the secret to killing a rank 9 celestial, it just cost a bunch of rank 6s and a rank of his path.
Of course, the availability of conditions—his artifacts, Ares' legacy—played a massive role in reducing the price, but still.
If this was the price for a simple question, 'Safe or Not', then there's only one possibility.
"Snake Of Chaos…" Varian looked up into the endless void, his heart slowing down as he felt the gaze of a god.
It was far less than back when he faced the Primordial Gods in Hortus, but the feeling was the same. He couldn't mistake it.
The gaze of a god was upon him.
As if feeling his stare, a ripple occurred in the void.
Then, as if a telescope was placed, he could see a lot more.
The world tree's roots over the Lost Spiral. The huge base of the World Tree. The endless darkness stretching into the infinite expanse of space. The World Tree itself which would cross tens of thousands of star systems by itself.
And a coil…
"W-What?"
Something coiled around the World Tree.
With pitch black scales, each scale as large as the face of a moon itself, a body so enormous that Varian couldn't comprehend its extent.
The body of a god.
From the top of the World Tree, the Snake Of Chaos opened its eyes and stared down at the World Tree.
Into the Lost Spiral.
Varian's blood stopped flowing and his face paled.
Lost Spiral itself blocked the interference yet, he…
"W-What's the price to get out of the tower from here?" Varian didn't notice that his voice was shaking and his hands were trembling. "Can two or three of my ranks suffice?"
[No.]
Sarah noticed his abnormality but didn't want to waste time anymore. Moreover, even though she couldn't feel the gaze of a god, she couldn't stop having a feeling that something was going to go very, very wrong if they stayed here.
"W-We'll sacrifice the corpse of that thing." Sarah pointed to the fallen body of Harvester.
[Very well. But the weight of your payment is a bit more.]
Sarah wanted to ask for a method that could save Sia but Varian had a more pressing issue.
"Instead of sending us right outside the tower, send us as far away from Nexus Empire as possible."
[You will cross a hundred and thirty-nine light years.]
Varian wanted to say yes but he hesitated a little and asked. "Can you cut the distance a little and add a powerful stealth on us?"
[How strong?]
"…Enough to hide from a divine ranker, just for a moment, I mean, a microsecond."
[Thirty-nine light years.]
The distance was cut by a hundred lightyears right away.
But Varian didn't hesitate and nodded.
"Please do."
He gripped Sarah's head with a trembling palm and a light enveloped them.
The next thing he knew, they were on top of a random star.
Varian already fused his paths, cast the time power on himself and pushed his reaction speed to the highest.
The moment they were out of the tower, he used his connection with Hortus.
Space cracked, about to form a door. But he didn't even wait and jumped in, dragging Sarah with him.
The space crack closed right away and everything returned to normal.
Exactly one second later, a snake that could coil around the entire solar system a thousand times or maybe a million times appeared.
Its huge head, larger than any stars or planets, looked around in suspicion before it flew ahead.
