Chapter 611: Book 5: Chapter 210: Meeting Again

Erica slowed her pace. Although she had pushed her vision to its limits, the darkness stretched ominously beyond ten meters, stressing her out rather badly. She wasn’t in her own body, limiting her ability to harness its full potential in case of danger.

Furthermore, she was hindered by Lilith, whose severe injuries rendered her helpless. In these uncharted waters, they must remain cautious.

Suddenly, the water around them stirred unnaturally. Erica froze, heart racing, only to see a huge fish glided past.

“Oh… it’s just a fish…”

It was larger than both Lilith and herself combined, fat and slick like the catfish she often ate, seemingly harmless and not predatory. Despite this, Erica couldn’t shake off her anxiety.

She waited until the fish was well out of sight before preparing to descend further, but Lilith, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up in a faint whisper. “Don’t… go this way, change direction…”

“Huh?”

“There’s something… really big down there. I… can’t see it, but… I can hear its heartbeat…”

“What… how big is ‘really big’? And which way should we go?” Erica was about to press for details when she realized Lilith had slumped against her shoulder, unconscious.

Blood had hardened in her hair, and her face occasionally contorted with pain, causing her thick, long lashes to tremble slightly. It was heart-wrenching to see her lovely and delicate face turn so pale.

Erica remembered the first time she met Lilith, who exuded endless confidence. Despite occasionally having a vacant stare, Lilith’s eyes always shone brightly when speaking, as if every word she uttered was a profound truth meant for this world.

Weakness was something that didn’t suit her at all. Although she stood just over a meter tall, with her chest as flat as a plain and a bit of baby fat on her face that lent her a childish look, she could make anyone feel safe just by being around them.

This was the reason why Erica had trusted Lilith so easily. But now, Lilith appeared disheveled, weak, and helpless. She resembled a swaddled infant, utterly vulnerable to the storms of the world.

“Just wait, Lilith, we’ll survive this!” Erica declared with determination.

She adjusted Lilith’s position gently, ensuring she lay comfortably on her back. Instead of continuing downward, she chose a different direction and swam away.

“Yo, long time no see.” Lilith opened her eyes to see herself leisurely sipping tea, smirking as she glanced over.

Huh? How could I see myself?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Shaking her head vigorously, Lilith snapped out of her groggy state. The figure before her wasn’t her own reflection but another being that looked like her.

“Oh, it’s you, Dragon Eater.” Lilith’s face remained expressionless, though she felt a distinct aversion to this doppelganger.

Every encounter with her meant another defeat. Although each loss came at the hands of an opponent she couldn’t yet best, it was nonetheless frustrating.

Rising effortlessly, Lilith felt light as a feather. Spirit lacked physical weight, yet the sensation of having her limbs intact lifted her mood considerably.

“Tea for you?” The Dragon Eater took out a steaming cup of tea out of thin air and offered it to Lilith with the grace of a hostess.

“I think you could use a cup of hot tea right now to calm your nerves, especially after being reduced to just a torso. Not everyone could experience that.”

Lilith silently locked eyes with the Dragon Eater, searching for any sign of malicious intention in her gaze. But she found none—only a pure, sneering derision that ridiculed Lilith’s weakness and pathetic state.

But being a limbless torso right now, she wasn’t afraid of being mocked. Lilith took the teacup and downed its contents in one gulp.

“Ugh… there’s no flavor at all,” she complained, slamming the teacup onto the table angrily. “This isn’t tea; it’s plain water.”

“That can’t be helped,” the Dragon Eater responded with a gentle wave of her hand, making the teacup and the table vanish.

“Everything here is a product of my imagination. I haven’t tasted tea in… a long time. I’ve forgotten what it tastes like.”

In those words, Lilith glimpsed a trace of ancient sadness in the eyes of the entity so many called a monster. “Do you also fear loneliness?” Lilith asked out of the blue.

“Loneliness? Who wouldn’t fear it?” The Dragon Eater took another sip of the bland, tasteless tea, her expression seasoned and calm. “Even gods, if left alone for too long, must resort to a slumber of ten million years to escape the suffocating eternity. You’ve already seen it with your own eyes, I believe. It’s a pity I’m just a soul; I can’t even sleep.”

A soul?

Lilith felt she had stumbled upon a crucial piece of information. “Then you’re not as powerful as I thought. To think you’d still carry the delicate demeanor of a soft girl,” Lilith taunted mercilessly.

“If I were really that powerful, I wouldn’t be stuck here, unable to even drink a cup of hot tea,” the Dragon Eater replied. Her fleeting sentimentality vanished, replaced by a laugh. “But no matter how weak I may be, I’m still quite a bit stronger than a certain someone who was all chopped up hehe…”

Lilith became irritated. “You just had to repeat that, huh?!”

“Yeah, it was fun,” the Dragon Eater admitted gracefully, her face twisting into a sneer. “Obviously, I’ve sent Cornelia to your side —a loyal puppy of the Divine Realm. Yet, someone else still manages to beat the s̲h̲i̲t̲ out of you… Is there anything more amusing and entertaining in this world?”

Lilith was silent. She couldn’t argue; it had indeed been a rough beating this time. “Speaking of which, why did I come in directly this time?” Lilith asked, glancing at the other side of the room.

Usually, there was a transparent, glass-like screen that separated them. Though it was useless against the Dragon Eater—who could pass through it at will—it made her appear as if she were a prisoner.

But this time, there was no barrier between them. She was face-to-face with the Dragon Eater, even sharing the imaginary hot tea she provided. It made Lilith feel very insecure.

“What are you talking about? We’ve both been through hell so many times… yet you still want to act like a stranger?” the Dragon Eater said, winking enchantingly at Lilith. “If you keep this up, I’m going to get mad, boo-hoo,” she teased.

“Oh, f̲u̲c̲k̲ off,” Lilith retorted.