Chapter 480: Chapter 480 Back To The Present

The locust swarm beneath the barrier erupted into frantic motion, as if sensing the danger carried by the mist. At first, the captain and his subordinates allowed themselves faint smiles; they thought they had succeeded.

Then those smiles vanished.

The swarm turned violent.

The Locusts slammed into the barrier in a frenzy, thrashing and swarming mindlessly as they tried to break through, the air churning with their maddened assault.

Soon, the mist rose and spread, covering the entire area enclosed by the barrier until it formed a dome of swirling fog. From time to time, members of the locust swarm hurled themselves at the barrier, slamming their bodies against it in desperate attempts to break through, only to be crushed on impact. Their bodies burst into smears of greenish blood that splattered across the barrier’s surface.

This happened on every side.

From their vantage point, the guards had a clear view of the chaos unfolding within, and their hearts nearly stopped. The swarm’s collective assaults were relentless, the force behind each impact far from light. A terrifying thought crept into their minds: ’What if the barrier really breaks?’

If that happened, they feared the princess and the others on the ground wouldn’t be able to outrun the spreading mist.

From above, they watched as a flock of birds burst into the sky the instant the first biochemical agent struck. Moments later, even the small animals that hadn’t been driven out of the territory emerged from their hiding places, fleeing in blind panic. Insects and bugs followed, surging upward in such numbers that the sky seemed to darken for a brief moment, every living creature scrambling to escape.

The guards’ fear spiked. A bird flying blindly into the hot air balloon could tear it open.

With no other choice, they released their predator’s aura, forcing the birds to veer away and scatter in another direction, keeping them from crashing into the balloon.

As they focused on driving the flock back, the captain, still linked to the team on the ground, suddenly spoke.

“Brace yourselves.”

The others didn’t have time to ask why. Instinctively, they grabbed the sides of the basket. A heartbeat later, a violent disturbance rocked the hot air balloon, sending it lurching midair. Had they not been holding on, someone might have been thrown off balance, or worse, knocked over the edge.

They soon felt the pull as the hot air balloon began to drift. When they glanced at the other balloons, they saw that all of them were being tugged in the same direction. Looking down, they realized the reason: the princess and the others had already put more than a kilometer between themselves and the drop zone, sprinting at full speed, the balloons dragged along behind them by the ropes.

Then it happened.

The barrier beneath them shattered like a glass dome.

The mist burst outward in a violent surge, spilling across the land, and with it came the locust swarm, lunging out the moment the opening appeared. The guards’ hearts nearly stopped. From above, it looked as though the swarm had broken free unimpeded.

For a terrifying instant, they were certain the biochemical agents had failed.

From above, they watched as the locust swarm leapt across the ground like oversized grasshoppers, violently shaking the mist from their bodies and wings. The guards’ throats clenched, their hearts sinking, hope slipping away by the second.

Then something changed.

After hopping or flying only a few feet, the locusts began to falter. One by one, they dropped to the ground. From their vantage point, the guards saw patches of red spreading below, slowly swallowed by the advancing mist, like crimson flowers blooming within the morning fog.

Only then did they finally exhale in relief.

But the moment was fleeting. The mist was still expanding at an alarming speed, and it could catch up to the princess and the others at any moment. There was no time to truly relax. Their emotions, and even their heartbeats, rose and fell like a rollercoaster as they continued to watch the fate of those below unfold from the sky.

Zion and Levi ran without stopping, even as their legs began to burn and tremble, exhaustion threatening to tear their muscles apart. It felt as though their limbs might give out at any moment, but neither of them slowed.

Whenever they noticed the warriors behind them starting to lag, Levi would let out a sharp growl as a warning. Zion was even more ruthless. He released his Alpha aura without restraint, a crushing pressure that barked a single command into their bones: ’keep moving.’

There was no room for hesitation.

The moment anyone slowed, even by a fraction, the mist would catch up. And if it did, none of them would make it out alive.

「Back To The Present…」

“Wait, are you saying Addie is mated with that Chase guy now?!” Zion snapped.

“Wait, are you saying Addie used the power of light?!” Maxwell blurted out at the same time.

They froze.

Then, slowly, their heads turned toward each other, expressions perfectly mirroring the same thought: ’Is that really what you’re focusing on right now?’

Levi watched the two grown men bicker like children and didn’t bother reacting at first. He simply shook his head.

“Yes,” he finally said after taking a steadying breath, “and yes.”

“Wait, how is that even possible?” Zion spoke first, his voice tight with disbelief. “I can understand Addison using the power of the Light Fairy. She made a contract with it back in the forbidden forest, after all. But Chase? How could he be one of her fated mates, too?”

His jaw clenched. “What if he’s deceiving Addie with some kind of dark magic?”

The thought alone made his chest tighten. Addison’s list of mates seemed to be growing, and the sense of crisis gnawed at him. Worse still, he could feel how strong Chase was. If that man was a fraud, if he harbored ill intentions toward her, Zion feared Addison would be the one who paid the price.

Meanwhile, Maxwell’s concern lay elsewhere, on Addison’s use of the power of light.

“Addison has only just begun using the Light Fairy’s power,” he said gravely. “That explains her current condition. Her body hasn’t fully adapted to it yet, nor has the power completely assimilated with her.”

He paused, organizing his thoughts.

“Under those circumstances, overdrawing her power was inevitable. She pushed herself too far, and her energy core was either completely drained or worse, it may have suffered internal damage or fractures. That’s why the healers couldn’t locate it when they tried to channel their energy into her. To them, it felt like pouring power into a bottomless pit.”

Maxwell’s expression softened slightly.

“But that same phenomenon is also reassuring. The Light Fairy’s presence within her is protected by a barrier, one that conceals it from detection. No one can easily sense or interfere with it. In a way, that barrier may be Addison’s greatest protection.”

Maxwell paused, his gaze settling on Addison. He gently took her hand before continuing.

“But she’ll need time to heal,” he said quietly. “Using another being’s power isn’t as simple as borrowing it or acting as a medium. The backlash always falls on the user. She bears the full weight of that power, and right now, it’s too much for her body to handle. That explains her condition.”

He lifted his head and looked at Levi and Zion, his expression grave.

“We cannot allow Addison to keep using the power of light until she fully adapts to it and makes it her own. At this stage, she’s like a child trying to wear an adult’s shoes. She’ll stumble just trying to walk, let alone run. If she pushes herself now, the consequences could be severe.”

His voice softened slightly. “I hope you understand what I’m trying to say.”

In truth, Maxwell’s mind was still occupied by this issue. He hadn’t even begun to process Chase’s sudden status as Addison’s mate. Levi, for his part, had brushed past the topic during his recounting, making it clear he had no intention of dwelling on it either, for now.

But unlike the others, Zion was different; he remained fixated on the issue of Chase being Addison’s mate. Yet, after Maxwell reminded him of Addison’s condition, his frown deepened. He was astonished to realize that, even without their guidance, Addison had managed to uncover and resolve the problem with the demonic insect, albeit with Chase’s cryptic warning. It was impressive that she had handled it and prevented a catastrophe from happening, and that could have derailed their enemies’ attempts to sow chaos and fear in their kingdom.

At the same time, Zion couldn’t shake the feeling that the danger mounting on Addison’s back was getting out of hand. He wasn’t sure whether Chase being her mate would truly help her or only put her at greater risk.

He had heard Levi’s explanation of Chase’s current situation and also his suspicion that Chase might be using dark magic to confuse Addison’s senses, making her believe he was another fated mate.

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