The Caliginous Villainess

Chapter 25

 The bright lake seemed to be normal. I morphed right next to the riverbank. Medi was crouching down. I tapped on her shoulder lightly to ease her down. A few tears were flowing down her cheeks. The snakes on her hair were badly affected.

They all looked at me with their emerald eyes in a sobbing manner. I swiped my black stripes and calmed them down by touching their gems. I realized that every animal in this world has a gem on their forehead, which is most likely hidden away.

I can control or communicate well with them because of the dark attribute. But, it also limits me to talk only with omnivores and monsters. I assumed that it's impossible for me to talk to holy creatures. Come to think of it, the book mentioned that Lily could converse with holy creatures. Am I her polar opposite then?

"I will never forgive them. These rat bastards think they own the world. The hypocrites are the real evil, not the descendants. I swear..." Medi said with a vexed face.

I sat down next to her. She was mumbling some very adult-like words. Then again, she has lived aeons and aeons. I wondered how old the real medusa would be if Medi was this old.

Her green emerald eyes along with the snakes looked disrupted. Medi pointed her index finger towards the lake. I craned my neck to see the show.

The lake had a type of powder on its surface. I assumed that it was moss but apparently, it had spread everywhere and was now blocking the sunlight from entering it.

"It's poisoned! My home is poisoned!!!" Medi cried out.

My ears picked up some rough sounds. It was as if a herd of horses were galloping towards the lake. A sudden bang startled me. An arrow swooped near my ear and flew right towards a tree.

A group of men wearing black outfits covered fully up to their eyes came into my vision. They had bows and arrows in their hands. Moreover, Erebus informed that the bows and arrows were drenched with poison.

They accelerated towards us at an alarming speed. One of them took out an arrow and aimed it at me. In hindsight, I realized that it was an assassin group. We were under attack.

I drew out my sword at a flashing speed and held it vertically for the arrow to dodge and bounce off. Medi, got up, alarmed. The black-coated group all aimed their arrows at me. They held it for a mere seconds before releasing all of them. I dodged all their meek attacks with ease. 

I looked around me to see if Medi was injured by the shower of arrows but she had created an ellipse-like bubble. She quickly motioned me to enter it. I refused and tried to analyse the situation.

Apparently, the assassins couldn't see Medi. They were all aiming at me. Someone ordered them to kill off the Duke's adopted daughter. This was not a spontaneous attack.

'Erebus, how many are here?'

'Excluding us, the group has a total of twenty five men. To you, this is a piece of cake.'

'Is there anyone watching?'

'Not that I can detect. No one from the duchy for sure. Are you suspecting someone?'

'Not at the moment. What is the quickest way to finish them off?'

'Uh—Kill them?' He deadpanned. I scratched my chin with a smirk.

My mind was running through all the nobles who could plan such an attack. I got to give them credit. They really thought this through. Dragging the vile daughter out of the estate to make it seem like an accident near the river. I'm sure they were planning to dump my body in the lake.