Chapter 384: What about Nine?
Kyle halted in his spot as a pair of arms wrapped tightly around his neck, pulling him into a tight embrace. But his initial surprise quickly transformed into a soft sigh. He hesitated for a split second, before wrapping his arm around Yue's waist. Kyle noticed with a hum that Yue's body felt warm against his cold one.
The elves floating behind Anlee stared at the scene, their jaws dropping in disbelief. They couldn't believe their eyes as they witnessed their beautiful Queen, who had always been so graceful and composed, embracing someone else in front of so many eyes.
Anlee let out a faint chuckle and shook his head. He knew Kyle didn't particularly like him. After all, he had observed the kid before and noticed that Kyle tended to hold grudges. Yet, he couldn't help but smile at the scene unfolding before him.
'Kyle may not be the strongest, but he is strong. It's good to have a connection with him, especially in such a dangerous situation...'
Yue paused when she finally realized what she had done in front of all those people. She blinked, once, twice, and slowly, wanted to back away, but the arm around her waist tightened. Her grip on Kyle's neck loosened... the moment she saw him, she couldn't hold back and just wanted to touch him to make sure he was really there.
She tilted her head back and raised her eyes, only to find a pair of bright green eyes staring right at her.
Kyle smiled, but he noticed the slight moisture in her eyes. He tapped her nose with his finger. Despite not exchanging words, he understood that she had gone through a lot. It wasn't just Yue, but all of his friends. They had gone through a lot during his absence.
"So, do you need help?"
Yue blinked and opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. The arm around her waist held her tightly, and she felt the familiar cold sensation on her skin, but it didn't feel bad.
Suddenly, a loud bang echoed beneath them, and Kyle looked down at the large three-tailed monster that had just disturbed him. Yue noticed the faint annoyance in his eyes and blinked once again, unsure if he was the same person who barely talked to her before.
Kyle furrowed his brow as he sensed the monster's rank. It was only an (SS+)-Rank, but the numerous monsters surrounding it were a bit troublesome, just a bit though. He finally let go of her waist, and the beautiful elf floated back a bit to create some distance between them.
"I know you don't need help, but just give me a moment..."
Yue looked at him, but he disappeared suddenly. She couldn't help but touch her nose, feeling the lingering cold sensation. All the elves floating behind Anlee gasped at the figure that suddenly appeared above the three-tailed monster. Then, they frowned because how could one person defeat so many monsters?
That's why they wanted the queen to join because they knew they all together couldn't handle it. After all, recently the monsters have gone crazy and gotten even more aggressive. But what happened next left them stunned. Even Anlee was shocked to see that instead of getting weaker, Kyle had gotten stronger... not just a little, but a lot stronger.
Kyle looked at the monsters, and instantly, the (SS+)-Rank monster leaped out to attack him. But instead of fighting back, blue flames emerged out of thin air and scattered in all directions, covering everything around him.
All the monsters near the flames cried out, but Kyle frowned when he saw that instead of retreating, they actually jumped toward the border even more furiously.
'There's something wrong with them... I know low-rank monsters lack intelligence, but they all retreat if faced with death.'
He looked at the howling three-tailed monster, and suddenly, countless ice spears appeared in the air. The spears shot out and pierced the monster's massive body from all directions. Kyle glanced around and all the low-rank monsters around him froze into glistening statues when the flickering blue flames touched them.
After just a few minutes, the battle that would have probably taken hours to finish was over. The air was filled with bright particles, floating away with the breeze.
Kyle appeared beside Yue, who had a faint smile on her face. The elves standing behind Anlee stared at him with shocked and wary eyes. But they were glad to have another strong person to protect them. Kyle ignored their presence as if they didn't exist and focused on Yue. He needed to know the situation before taking any action. He couldn't fight the enemies alone in a full-blown war, right?
Yue led him to the nearest resting place, and they sat face to face. She began telling him about what was happening on the Continent. Alec, Jian, and Carcel were trying to call the guardians from the tower of opportunity because the enemies suddenly quieted down last month. She wanted to tell Kyle about the power structure above (SSS+)-Rank, but to her surprise, he already knew about all of that.
"I think Diora and her companion Hay have already reached the Divine rank. Last time they attacked, they just watched from a distance as their army fought against us."
Kyle listened attentively. He asked about Bia, only to find out that the phoenix is currently fighting alongside Mia near the human Kingdom.
Yue hesitated as she spoke her next words.
"King Istalian... the current King of the human Kingdom asked Bia for her blood. I don't know why, but he gave her a lot of resources in return."
Kyle furrowed his brow. Bia was influenced by his bloodline, which is why the phoenix's talent increased to the divine rank.
'Does she have divine energy in her body?'
The celestial essence inside him had only given Bia a small boost in her talent. She's still far from reaching the true divine rank.
'Maybe, like me, she also has a little bit of divine energy in her body even before reaching the true divine rank.'
But regardless, why on earth did Istalian want Bia's blood? Kyle mentally marked the man, even though he politely asked Bia for blood in exchange for resources. It could be because Bia got strong, and now Istalian can't easily mess with her. Not to mention the dark shadow Kyle saw with Istalian.
After talking for a while, Kyle finally asked the question he had been wanting to ask.
"What about Nine? And the Sea Continent? You haven't mentioned anything about them?"