Blessed By A Yandere Goddess

Chapter 45: Double Suspicion?

The warehouse was exactly the kind of place Ronan expected. Rusted beams, cracked concrete floors, and a portal humming in the center of it all.

The gate was small by dungeon standards, but that hardly mattered. Compared to Tartarus-B, this one should be easy.

What interested him more were his new party members, or allies, depending on how this arrangement played out.

And they were already waiting.

Ronan approached with Sarael at his side and Sebastian trailing a step behind, the summon’s eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses Ronan had grabbed from a pawn shop on the way over.

Sebastian moved like a human, walked like a human, and in the warehouse’s dim lighting, even the faint violet tint of his hair was easy to miss.

Ronan didn’t really need to hide the fact that Sebastian was a summon. He did, however, need to hide the fact that Sebastian’s face looked far too similar to a now-dead hunter’s.

"Are you going to be clearing this one with us?"

One of the figures stepped forward. Brown jacket, cap pulled low, and a bandana to cover the rest.

The other hung back, a woman with a spear strapped across her back and eyes hidden with absurd star sunglasses.

Ronan nodded, his own and Sarael’s face obscured by a white mask inspired by what Zero had worn in their meeting.

He’d learned his lesson after that. No more showing their faces to strangers, no matter how trusted the fixer claimed they were.

"What do you think, Dean?"

Yeula approached him and whispered into his ear as quietly as she could, relying on Tristan’s absurd A-rank hearing.

"A man and a woman, both covered... and a figure that looks like a summon. They match the shadow theme, but summoning and being married? That doesn’t fit any description."

"So... you think this really is a bust?"

"Probably. But let’s just play along. It’s not like we can just leave anyway."

✧ ✦ ✧

The gate opened into a forest. Not the dead, brittle kind Ronan had trudged through in Tartarus-B; this one was actually alive with vegetation.

The five of them had entered without another word. Both groups had their own reasons for staying quiet. freёweɓnovel.com

Ronan was... well, obviously cautious, given his status as a wanted man. As for Tristan and Yeula, they had no intention of blowing their cover.

It would be better to gather evidence while they were still inside the portal.

They needed to see their "ally’s" abilities firsthand, and determine whether they revealed anything else that felt familiar.

"Dear, please scout ahead."

Ronan spoke calmly, using the nickname they had agreed on hours earlier during their mission briefing. It was a nickname Sarael herself had suggested while giving Ronan her best puppy-dog eyes.

"Of course, dear~"

She clearly loved it, her shadows already crawling forward to scout the path ahead.

But the moment Tristan and Yeula heard her voice, their eyes widened.

They had definitely heard it before.

It was the same voice as the laugh in the recording left behind at the crime scene.

"D-Dean..."

"Shut up. Let’s observe further."

The two whispered to each other, unaware that Sebastian was already eavesdropping. His ears were sharp, primed and listening intently from his position directly between the two pairs.

They clearly didn’t expect him to be sentient.

After all, why would a summon possess a mind of its own? Unless they were dealing with an S-Rank summoner, that should have been impossible.

’Interesting...’

Sebastian grinned to himself.

’That’s definitely something worth reporting to Master later.’

Sarael’s shadows returned to her feet a moment later, then tilted her head toward Ronan as she processed what they’d found.

"A pack of creatures ahead. I’m not sure, but I think they might be wolves, either that or dogs..." freewebnoveℓ.com

"Numbers?"

"Six? Maybe seven? They’re clustered together, so it’s hard to get an exact count without sacrificing speed."

Tristan adjusted his cap and stepped forward, his voice carefully neutral.

"We should hit them while they’re resting. If we let them scatter, we’ll be chasing them through unfamiliar terrain."

Yeula pulled her spear from her back.

"Agreed. Flanking formation?"

Ronan shook his head.

"No need. Shadow, you’re up."

The summon stepped forward without hesitation. His new nickname was also suggested by Sarael a few hours ago.

And compared to before, he wasn’t allowed to talk. While Ronan wasn’t going to hide his full-kit anymore, he still wasn’t going to reveal everything he didn’t need to.

That included his summon’s intelligence.

"Take them out."

Sebastian smiled at his master’s order, raising one hand, and fire kindled in his palm.

But not the marble-sized flame he’d used on the bucket. This one grew, swelling into a sphere the size of a basketball, then larger, until it cast flickering shadows across the entire clearing.

He hurled the fireball into the trees.

The explosion shattered the quiet. A pillar of flame erupted two hundred meters north, and the screeches that followed were high and piercing.

If they weren’t awake before, not they definitely would be.

RUSTLE!

FWOOSH!

The first creature burst through the underbrush a heartbeat later. A wolf that was clearly in the middle of a fresh meal before Sebastian’s fireball had set half the undergrowth ablaze.

Its jaws unhinged as it lunged, revealing rows of teeth that looked sharp enough to shear through steel.

Looks like it was so irritated that it literally abandoned its pack through sheer desire for revenge for disturbing its meal.

But Sebastian didn’t flinch.

His sword materialized in his grip, the same broken-tip longsword, and he sidestepped the lunge with a casual grace that bordered on lazy. The blade swept upward, and the creature’s head separated from its body in a single clean stroke.

SLASH!

[Soul Absorbed: 200 EXP]

The rest of the pack followed. Five more creatures, identical in shape but varying in size, all fanning out in an attempt to surround Sebastian in a loose semicircle.

"Now!"

Ronan barked out.

Yeula moved first. Her spear drove through the nearest creature’s eye socket before it even registered her presence. Tristan followed, lightning crackling along his knuckles as he closed the distance.

Ronan watched. He didn’t join the fight. Not yet. His eyes tracked the way Tristan moved, the way his lightning flared with each strike, the way Yeula’s spear traced silver arcs through the air.

These two were good. Better than the B-Rank labels Zero had described them as. Their coordination was too smooth, their reactions too fast.

They were far more skilled than underground hunters should be.

Sarael’s voice whispered in his ear.

"Is this level of skill common for B-Rank hunters?"

"No, definitely not..."