Chapter 439 - 435: Exposed To Goddess

"Already at level seventy. Is it just I, or his growth is faster than me?" Ryder muttered as he observed the Diamond Tiger Beast.

"He is already at level sixty. Not bad at all," he observed as the Diamond Tiger Beast's star remained open before him.

While Ryder was staring at the status screen of the Diamond Tiger Beast, a red pair of eyes was watching him from the shadows.

"Hmm?"

Rale sensed something. He had a feeling that someone was watching them.

He moved the center of his body and turned back to gaze in the direction where he had a strange feeling coming from.

Swiss!

The dry leaves could be seen flying that had fallen from trees. Other than that, there seemed to be no movement. There was no one there either. 

'Was that my misconception?' he thought as he squinted his eyes. 

Ryder closed the status screen of the Diamond Tiger Beast as he glanced back.

He could see Rale looking solemn as he gazed into the distance.

"What happened? Did you notice our next prey?" Ryder inquired, smiling.

"It's nothing. I just had a feeling that someone was watching us," Rale answered, shaking his head. He seemed out of focus.

Ryder also looked in the direction where Rale was looking. He placed all his focus there and even used All-Seer, but he couldn't find anyone. He replied, "There seems to be no one there. Let's continue finding prey. I want the Diamond Tiger Beast to reach level hundred as well. I should be able to reach level 150 too."

"That does depend on us finding prey at the right time, though since we only have one day here," he continued.

"We can hunt at night as well if Your Highness wishes," Rale suggested. 

"We can't. We can only hunt until the evening," Ryder answered, refusing him.

'If I stay here at night, I won't be able to accompany Alice in the day. It's our holiday. She would kill me if I am not accompanying her,' he thought as he imagined the consequences of not spending the day with her.

"Let's continue finding the beasts then," Rale agreed.

"There is a lake nearby. We should be able to find plenty of beasts there," he suggested.

"How strong are the beasts we can find there?" Ryder inquired.

He knew that level thousands of beasts were morning before Rale, but they could quickly kill Ryder and make him suffer an unintentional revival by time travel of 24 hours. That was the worst penalty for him, so he was vigilant.

"We're far away from the core of the forest. The core is where the stronger beasts reside. They have different sources of water than the pond I am talking about. The pond that I'm talking about is on the outskirts of this forest. So we should be seeing weaker monsters," Rale answered. "It's at a walking distance. We should be there in a few minutes."

He started walking towards the Pond. Ryder also followed him.

The Diamond Tiger Beast walked beside Ryder.

The red pair of eyes once again appeared in the darkness, watching Ryder.

It was difficult to see who these eyes belonged to as the place seemed awfully dark.

"Compared to the Dark Poisonous Snake we faced just now, how strong will the enemies be? I'm thinking about fighting against many at once," Ryder asked Rale.

"They should be slightly stronger than the Dark Poisonous Snake," Rale answered.

Ryder nodded his head as he gazed at the Diamond Tiger Beast. 

'Slightly stronger, huh? That's good. I should be able to handle them. As long as the 'slightly' of Rale is not a couple of hundred levels,' he thought.

****

The Goddess of Life and Death was walking back and forth in her place, seemingly lost in thought.

"It can't be. No matter how much I think about it, this doesn't make sense. I have warded Asteria. Even if it's Janus, he should not be able to sense Asteria unless he was intentionally searching the forest where Asteria is staying," she thought, frowning.

"That can be the only way he could sense Asteria. That raises the question. Why would Janus be looking at a forest in that place? What could be his reason? What changed in that forest?" She wondered.

"I should check myself as well," She decided.

"If I go down now, the other gods might sense me, and that would be proof that I was with Asteria. If Janus has told the other gods, my going there would basically be a confession. I can't go down, but I can still see. Let's see what special that place has that attracted Janus."

The Goddess of Life and Death raised her right feet. She lightly touched the floor with the toe of her feet.

The floor that was pure white turned transparent as if it was a glass.

If someone were to stand at the green-haired woman's place, they would have thought that they were standing in space with just a piece of glass between them and the earth that seemed like it was a tiny ball.

She waved her hand, and the scene in the glass changed. It started showing a dark forest.

*****

In his own Palace, Janus was doing the same thing. The only difference was that he was using a pond to see.

While the Goddess of Life and Death was looking for something suspicious, Janus was looking for Asteria.

"This... I was right. He is here. He is behind him!" Janus let out as he noticed someone keeping an eye on Janus.

"Asteria!"

*****

"There he is. Why is Asteria not in the core of the forest, though? What's he doing in the outskirts?" The goddess of life and death muttered as she noticed Asteria. 

She knew that Asteria stayed in the core of the forest, so she found it strange that he was outside now.

She didn't understand why he would be out. She looked around him to see who he was looking at and soon she saw two men and a small tiger-like beast. 

The first person she noticed was Rale, as he had the strongest aura of all the people.

'Is he watching that guy? Could it be that he is intimidated by that guy? It's good that he keeps an eye on intruders,' she thought as she shifted her focus to the second man who was walking behind him.

As she was seeing the top view, she could only see the top of Ryder's head. She couldn't see his face.

"This second guy also seems strong, but the first guy is stronger. Why is it that this guy feels more... Intimidating now that I observe him? It can't be my misconception. His strength is low, but there's just something about him that I can't put in words," She muttered. She had a strange feeling as she was watching Ryder. She still didn't see his face.

"Let's see his face," she decided as she snapped her finger. 

The angle changed as the front view appeared. She could see the face of both the guys. The first person she saw was once again Ryder, who felt like any normal stranger.

She was more interested in Ryder, though.

She shifted her focus to the second guy.

There was a calm look on her face.

"W-what!"

Her face turned pale as she saw the face of Ryder.

She unintentionally took three steps back, eventually falling down, but she still kept dragging her body back in disbelief.

"H-he!"

"...is alive?!"

Her heart was beating rapidly as if it was going to jump out of her chest.

Her face seemed completely devoid of blood as she refused to believe her own eyes. She wanted to see the face again to make sure, but she didn't dare to.

She placed her hand on her chest as she stood up slowly. Her heart continued thumping as she took a few steps forward and gazed at Ryder's face once again.

She clenched her fist as she dropped to her knees.

"It's him..." She muttered as she closed her eyes.

She inclined her head a little as she looked towards the roof.

She took a deep breath before she closed her eyes.

"Janus!!!"

She screamed as loud as she could in rage.

"You bastard!!!"

Even though she screamed so loud, the voice didn't leave the hall.

"So this was why you agreed to attack your brother! This was why you were the last person to stab him and kill him! It was all you! You are really a bastard!" She said strongly as tears appeared in her eyes.

The tears trickled down her cheeks, leaving a wet mark on her beautiful skin.

Her fists were still clenched. Her heartbeat hasn't calmed down at all, even after all this time.

"So that's why you were watching the forest now! That's why you sensed Asteria! You... You are really a good actor!" She muttered softly as she gazed at the door.