Stray

Chapter 246: Gods and Beasts

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Adrian Cross firmly believed that he was dead.

He had seen so many deaths that the pain and numbness in his chest pierced his brain along the nerves, and he saw his future clearly.
The second before he lost consciousness, he didn’t have any half-hearted feelings of disbelief, or unnecessary hope.

This was the end of his life.

As the commander of the Knight of Judgement, he struggled to move forward in the blood and fire.
Adrian had anticipated his own death many times and was prepared for it.

It was just that one thing was different from what he expected.
The relief of the end of the mission didn’t come but was replaced by a faint reluctance.
It wasn’t that he had any unfinished wishes.
He just cared a little.
What will happen to Jesse Dylan after that?

Darkness followed, engulfing his consciousness.

Perhaps after a few seconds, perhaps after countless years, the darkness in front of him revealed some orange-red color, like the sunlight passing through his eyelids during a nap.

His body seemed to be floating, but Adrian couldn’t feel it.
He didn’t know how long this hazy state lasted.
A little warmth from a distant place percolate over.

Something unknown that was cold and moist was pressing against his cheek, and the warm air flow was sharply slapping his face.

Why could he still feel his existence?

Although he believed in Zenni, Adrian himself had always been neutral about the ideal paradise that the fanatics had talked about.
He didn’t believe that as the ruler of mankind, he had that kind of ability— Morality and laws were ever changing, and “good” and “evil” was set by a few humans.
Could something like that actually send the deceased to an ideal land of God?

Taking a step back, even if paradise existed, he didn’t need it.
Adrian had long forgotten that there was any desire in his heart that “belonged to him” and “would bring him happiness”.

Even if he really had a few subconscious wishes, it would be hard to pull him into an ideal paradise.
It was impossible for his wishes to include the item “to have his faced rubbed by something cold”.

Before he could successfully open his eyes, Adrian waved his hand out, weak but decisive.

Then he grabbed a lot of fur.

As if he was suddenly splashed with ice water, Adrian forced himself to open his eyes.

A huge and moist black nose blocked most of his vision, and it spewed warm breath, as if sniffing his face.
Adrian turned his head and saw the head of a huge beast…

The icy blue eyes gleamed, the snake-like vertical pupils shrank slightly, and the golden horns almost poked into the sky.
The huge beast curled up and half wrapped itself in its fur as it laid flat on its back.

Adrian poked the long white fur as soft as clouds with his hand and stared straight into those eyes.

This time, in addition to banter, there were more emotions in those beast pupils that he couldn’t understand.

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“Mr.
Dylan.” Adrian’s throat was terribly dry, and he almost called out in a breathy voice.
“You’re going to collapse the bed.”

Now Adrian had completely accepted the reality— For some reason, he hadn’t managed to die.
Even though he was naked, lying in the middle of a soft and comfortable bed, everything around him was luxurious and exquisite like a dream, this was by no means paradise.

Because Mr.
Dylan bit the quilt, pulled it down ill-willingly, and then pressed a huge paw on his chest.

The behemoth didn’t use force, and its claws covered most of Adrian’s bare chest.
The former knight commander was very sure that if the other party used a little bit of strength, it would be enough to squish his chest into mud.

But at this moment, he could only feel the soft meat cushion under the paw and the tip of the nail scratching the skin.

Adrian raised his head helplessly and continued to look at the huge beast looking down at him.
His nose was filled with the faint aroma of berries mixed with milk, a smell that was no different from his memory.

“Mr.
Dylan… we need to talk,” clearing his dry throat, Adrian said as clearly as possible.

The beast just looked at him in silence, licking the tip of his nose with his bright red tongue.
Between the mouth that opened and closed, a row of sharp teeth was exposed.

It was wonderful that Adrian didn’t feel any halfhearted fear.

Although Jesse Dylan covered his chest with his paw, Adrian still had time to cast a glance.
The skin on the left side of his chest was flat and smooth, with no scars left, as if he had never been injured, but the attack that pierced his heart in his memory was by no means an illusion.

Even the craziest dogma had never stated that God would bring back a life lost.

Adrian could feel his heart beating wildly under his ribs, and his face was silent, just clenching the long hair in his hand.

“Jesse.” This time he changed the name.

The behemoth smacked his lips, and a flicker of smoke rose from the sunny room.
A few seconds later, the smoke dissipated, and the Jesse Dylan he was familiar with reappeared.

Jesse’s right hand was still pressed on his chest, and the other hand was propped on his pillow.
The beast pupils in the blue eyes hadn’t yet returned to their human appearance, and his long golden hair was completely scattered, sliding across the beautiful face, and the tips of the hair swept around on the skin of Adrian’s chest.

Obviously, Jesse was too lazy to change into complicated clothes for himself.
A thin white nightgown was casually placed on his body, and it was wide open at the moment, revealing a large area of snow-white skin on his chest.

Without the cover of that huge paw and long hair, Adrian’s upper body was completely exposed at this moment.
The healthy wheat-colored skin glowed like golden honey in the sun.
Looking at the scene alone, the atmosphere was extremely ambiguous.

Adrian’s first reaction was to frown— There was no smile on Jesse Dylan’s face.

“Jesse, you…” Before he finished speaking, he was pressed to his lips by a cool finger.

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“Cross, have you—” A familiar female voice sounded, the door was slammed open, and the excitement quickly turned into embarrassment.

“……Woken up?” Ann muttered, pulled down her face, and barely spit out the question that had been stuck for a few seconds.
“Well, it seems you’re awake.
There was nothing wrong with the array, but what happened to this guy? Hey, Dylan, are you crazy?”

Ann scratched her short hair irritably.
She was still wearing the ordinary cloth robe of a commoner and didn’t have her hunting spear.
Except for a calmer temperament, the female warrior of Tumbleweed didn’t seem to have changed much.

“Let’s not talk about the fact that it’s still daytime.” She half-jokingly grabbed the back collar of Jesse’s robe and yanked him away from Adrian.
“Cross is still wounded, so get the hell away from him.”

Looking at the luxury and decoration style of this room, as well as the spectacular scenery outside the window.
Adrian, who was now fully awake, could guess where he was.
This was the capital of Alban, the royal castle where the Alban royal family lived.

Ann Savage’s ability to walk freely here could only explain one thing…

“It’s okay.” Adrian propped up his upper body, picked up the glass jug at the head of the bed, and poured himself a glass of water.
“He didn’t mean anything else, Your Majesty.”

“Uh-huh.” Ann raised her eyebrows and let go of her hand, and Jesse, who was tugging at her hand threw himself back on the bed.
“If you call me “Your Majesty” again, I’ll charge you for the room, as a guest from Garland.
Seriously, how do you feel?”

“I’m fine, Ms.
Savage.” Adrian subconsciously pressed his left chest with his hand.

More than fine.

Vigorous power surged in his blood vessels, bringing a satiating acidity, and a light feeling of fullness.
Adrian took in a hard breath, stretched out his hands, and a milky white halo ignited between them.

“Wow.” Ann touched her chin.
“This is an unexpected joy.
I don’t sense spiritual sacrifice.
Is this your own power?”

“No.” Adrian replied honestly.
He glanced at Jesse by the bed meaningfully and extinguished the light.
“…This is stronger than my previous strength.
Ms.
Savage, can you please turn around? I need to change clothes.”

“I think someone needs to turn around more, but okay.” Ann rolled her eyes and turned her back.
“Having said that, do you know what happened to Oliver?”

Adrian’s fingers stayed on the button for half a second, and he looked at Jesse Dylan again.
There was still no smile on Jesse’s face, and he didn’t seem to have any intention to speak.

“Sorry, I don’t know.” Adrian could only answer like so.
“My memory lasts until the provocation of the fanatics.”

“Oh, I heard about that.”

After making sure that the other party had put on his pants, Ann turned her head, and the relaxed expression on her face dissipated a lot.

“The Preceptor Bishop personally wrote an apology, but to be honest… it was just full of the usual Laddist rhetoric.
I guess the only phrase ‘Adrian Cross was seriously injured’ was true.
That group of fanatics happened to be tainted by a deadly curse of the Abyss, so they attacked Cross after leaving? Honestly, the letter was more like it was written to a group of nobles.”

No, in fact, even that sentence wasn’t true, Adrian thought.
He was indeed killed right at the entrance of the Abyss.

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“After all, he specifically emphasized at the end of the letter, ‘You can ask your companion for details’.”

Ann raised her arms and swept her sharp eyes at the silent Jesse.

“I heard that you have returned to the surface, so I specially appointed two groups of people to pick you up.
As a result, only Bagelmaurus and the two of you were received.
Where did Oliver and Nemo go? I tried to find Oliver, but that kid didn’t bring a communication crystal.
The Moonies and Laddists didn’t mention anything, and I can’t get in touch with Horizon.
Now it seemed that there may be only one person who knows— Dylan, you should know, right?”

Seeing that Jesse Dylan uncharacteristically didn’t answer, the female warrior’s voice became a little more nervous.

“Those two guys are as strong as monsters.” She gritted her teeth and continued.
“That unlucky goat is still fine, yet the two of them… Don’t put on an act, Dylan.
I finally got rid of Salter— That bastard ranted on for two whole hours— and I don’t have much time for jokes now.”

“You can ask Oliver Ramon himself.” Jesse finally put on his usual smirk.
He didn’t look at Adrian anymore, just looked at the door.

Ann took a deep breath.
It seemed that she was having a hard time holding back the urge to beat him to a pulp.
“I just said—”

The door of the room was opened again.

Oliver Ramon walked in.
Ann habitually looked behind Oliver, but there was no one behind him.

‘Something’s wrong,’ she thought.
Even with advance notice, her own people wouldn’t stop Oliver from entering the castle, but there were countless magic formations set up inside the royal castle to suppress detection, and the king’s whereabouts wouldn’t be easily exposed.
How did Oliver find her?

Ann narrowed her eyes and looked at her team leader, deciding to put this issue in her heart first to make room for more important issues.

Oliver was wearing the black armor that lacked a cloak, and the skeleton helmet was firmly pinned to the armor.
He glanced at the situation in the room roughly, and finally nodded to Ann.

“I went to the holy land of the Laddism Church to make a mission report,” Oliver hesitated for a few seconds, and finally said dryly.
His facial muscles a little stiff.

The leader of Tumbleweed lowered his gaze and his throat bobbed up and down.
He seemed to have a lot to say, but he didn’t know what to say first, and finally picked the least important one.

However, this couldn’t be concealed from Ann Savage.

The relaxation on the female warrior’s face completely disappeared.
The hand holding her arm squeezed the flesh of her upper arm with force, and she raised her face solemnly.
She had never seen Oliver show such an expression before, and an ominous premonition clutched her lungs, making it difficult to breathe.

“Oliver, where’s Nemo?” Ann asked after a pause.

Oliver didn’t answer her, he just took off the black badge on his front lapel and pressed it on the table next to him.
The task light screen that hadn’t been seen for a long time appeared, and after being enlarged by Oliver, the prompt text on it was particularly dazzling.

[To Oliver Ramon, leader of Tumbleweed: We have received testimony from both the Laddism Church and the Horizon Mercenary Group that Nemo Light has been confirmed dead during the reconnaissance team’s escort mission.]

[Please note, if you don’t register a new member within a week, your team will be deprived of your name due to insufficient personnel.
It’s recommended to replenish team members in a time manner.
You can go to any branch to register.]

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“I don’t believe it,” Ann responded almost immediately, her voice fluttering uncontrollably.
“Nemo is a superior demon, and the Abyss is that kid’s home turf.
Oliver, what the hell—”

“He’s not dead.” Oliver’s voice is very smooth, but his smile is very reluctant.

Oliver looked at the former commander of the Knight of Judgement.
His eyes stayed on Jesse for a short while, and finally stopped at Ann.

What a difference.
The Queen of Alban took a deep breath.
When she first picked up the two little bastards, Oliver Ramon’s eyes were clear and pure, with a carefree happiness.
There was nothing left of that happiness at the moment; only a sad vicissitude remained, like two deep wells.

Oliver retracted the black badge, closed his eyes, and breathed slowly.

“If you are free, I want to hold a team meeting immediately.
Ann, is Bagelmaurus here?”

“Yes, its situation isn’t right.
I still want to ask you— It keeps smothering itself into the sofa and won’t come out to talk.”

“I know you have a lot of questions to ask, Ann… but now, please tell me where it is first, and I will pick it up.
It won’t refuse.”

“Although I really want to say, ‘Yes, Captain, I’ll get people to prepare the room, tables and chairs’, Oliver Ramon, please answer my question positively— What’s going on with Nemo?”

“I don’t know how he is.” Oliver’s speed of speech was very slow, as if every word was consuming his strength.
“That’s the problem.”

“Ann, I made a promise with Nemo… When we get back from this mission, he wanted to have a good talk with you, and I’ll be there with him.”

Oliver put his hand on the door handle, he turned his back to Ann, his voice was very soft.

“Now I’ll fulfill this agreement for him.”

Ann didn’t ask any more, she glanced at Oliver deeply.
“…Since you said this.”

Oliver went to pick up Bagelmaurus, and the queen went to prepare the room, while Adrian Cross tightened the buckle on the turtleneck monk’s uniform and stood up a little unsteadily.

“I guess we still have a little time before the meeting.” The former knight stood in front of the window.
His dark brown eye was shining like clear amber in the brilliant light.

“I have a question for you, Jesse.”

After that, he smiled and opened his mouth again.

“…No, I have a question for you, Zenni.”