Chapter 142: The Mask

The journey to the surface was awkward. Dante walked with Ruby silently, and although Ruby had tried to console him many times, he never responded to her.

Seeing her caring about him so much because of the sigils only made him feel worse. Every soft smile, every whisper, and every act of hers were a psychological hell to his heart.

But eventually, Dante and Ruby reached the surface without any trouble. Although there were a few beasts, Dante had killed all of them with a single strike.

’Is that couple still not here?’

Dante suddenly remembered the real reason he was here to begin with. Back then, he was forced to run!

He had planned to lead them to a trap, using the vibration to lure as many beasts as possible to attack Beatrice’s son and his wife.

But now, he didn’t feel like he would need to do anything like that. He could likely overwhelm both of them with only his raw strength if they had to fight again.

“Ruby, when we leave this place, you should leave me and hide. I’ll give you enough food to hide for a few days.”

“Yes, my lord!”

Ruby understood that, even with her new strength, she’d be just a liability on Dante’s shoulders. That feeling hurt her heart, but for her lord’s sake, she had to accept this truth.

After leaving the White Abyss, Ruby didn’t hesitate to run away with a plant bag filled with food, leaving Dante alone as he waited for the couple.

He only sat on the ground and waited under the snow, his expression unreadable.

However, even after two days, they didn’t appear.

’What’s wrong? Did they give up? Or did they follow me when I was in the White Abyss and encountered something dangerous?’

It was truly strange. Remembering how Adrian had been looking at him back then, Dante felt that he wasn’t the kind of person not to rush for his revenge.

There was certainly something wrong, but Dante couldn’t know it.

Feeling that his emotions were a bit more stable, Dante finally decided to do something that he had been delaying for so long.

With a heavy heart, Dante summoned a relic. Instead of seeing sparkles of light, he noticed a shadow crawling from his face to his hand.

The shadow gathered itself into a ball, then the ball shaped itself into a blank mask that seemed to be unaffected by the light.

Next, Dante took off the glove on his left hand, seeing his new draconic hand and the scales covering it.

With a single thought, his hand suddenly changed, turning into a normal human hand.

It was just like before, pale white and smooth. His fingernails didn’t look sharp, and his skin didn’t look like natural armor anymore.

Or at least, that was how it looked.

Because when Dante pressed his fingernail on his clothes, it was easily torn by the pressure. His fingernails were indeed as sharp as before.

That was the first passive ability of the mask, Nobody.

So long as Dante didn’t want to reveal something, whether it was physical or spiritual, it would remain hidden.

He immediately hid the scales and exoskeletons covering his body. He also turned his organs, even though he couldn’t see them, into normal-looking organs, and he even turned his segmented demonic arm into a normal arm.

Dante took off his blindfold, stored it in his ring, and took an ice shard from the ground.

used it as a mirror and looked at his reflection, where he saw a sight that he had never expected to see until now.

He saw a handsome boy with pale white skin tone and shoulder-length silky black hair. His facial features were extremely refined, giving an invisible aura of charm and beauty.

Looking at his forehead, he saw a normal forehead without any marks, and seeing his eyes, they were a pair of abyssal black eyes with dark circles under them.

His eyes didn’t scream of silver Ether.

They didn’t look draconic.

They weren’t demonic.

And he had no Crown of Existence to turn him into a target.

Yet, the boy in the mirror didn’t show any happiness. He stared at the boy holding the mirror with a deadpan expression, as though he didn’t care about what would happen anymore.

’I look terrible.’

The next moment, he wore the mask, which clung tightly to his skin like a second layer of his face.

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Dante didn’t see any change, but he knew that the second effect of the mask, A Passing Shadow, was active now.

Supposedly, he was now hard to notice. It was another touch to his stealth, though he didn’t feel he’d need it any time soon.

Letting out a sigh, Dante dismissed the mask, feeling it returning into his body instead of turning into shining particles like any normal relic.

Of course, there were two active abilities that Dante hadn’t tried, but unfortunately, they weren’t the kind of abilities to be tested lightly.

They both seemed to be related to the Fate Aspect, which was logical, considering that Greed had that aspect.

The second ability could be used only twice a month, not once every 6 months. If he used it now, he would have to wait for an entire year in order to get two uses again.

From the knowledge in his head and what he read, that ability could erase the existence of Dante from a recent event.

If he killed someone, he could use it to erase the existence of himself in this event. The witnesses would remember that a mysterious person had killed that individual, but they wouldn’t connect that mysterious person to Dante.

It was truly a good ability if used well, and a terrifying one in the wrong hands.

If that relic was a part of Greed, didn’t that mean that ability belonged to him when he was alive? How many events in the past did he erase himself from?

Only the thought of that was enough to send a shiver down Dante’s spine.

The first ability seemed to be about stealing the fate of others, taking their identities for a specific duration. From what Greed had said, he wanted to do something similar to Dante while possessing his body, but Dante, being fateless, caused Greed’s plan to fail.

Unfortunately, it could be used only once a month. That wasn’t something that Dante wanted to “test”.

’On top of that, the ability is truly suspicious.’

The skill required a person to be Fateless, which coincidentally Dante was.

But Greed wasn’t, not before turning into Dante’s relic.

So the question was…

’Why did you create a relic with an ability that requires being fateless?’

Wasn’t it strange for a demon with fate to create a relic that needed someone like Dante?

It was either that Greed had a way to become fateless, or…

’Did he expect me to be fateless and that he’d fail?’

That theory was horrifying. However, Dante didn’t dare to ignore it.

After all, Greed had already proved that he did consider his failure. The knight that was controlled by him was everything that Dante needed to confirm his suspicions.

Greed indeed made his second part suitable for Dante!

’Am I even the only preparation he made to revive himself? What if there are other people stuck with versions of Greed?’

“You got it right, boy.” Greed suddenly materialized around Dante’s neck, saying with a mocking tone: “I have already revived myself a few hours after I failed to possess your body. I’m just enjoying my time here before my new body comes from the Central Region and takes me from you.”

Dante looked at Greed suspiciously before sighing. Knowing Greed, what he had just said might be real rather than a joke.

And if it was… Dante might really be in trouble.

In any case, Dante didn’t think so much about it and just kept waiting for the couple.

He didn’t sleep, and he did nothing but eat. After feeling that he had spent 4 days waiting for no reason, he stood up and went to Ruby.

“They didn’t appear?” Ruby asked in confusion, though her focus was fixed on Dante’s face.

That was the first time she saw him without a blindfold!

Dante nodded: “Yeah, so we’re going back now. If they attack the treehouse again, I’d know with the help of the shadow formation.”

After he said that, Dante channeled his mana, demonic energy, and spiritual energy, casting a demonic version of a spell that he had gotten from the World Runes.

Demonic Shadow Spell — Demonic Shadow Pyrofang!

A giant demonic shadow wolf appeared out of nowhere, standing heavily on the ground.

It looked like a bigger version of the usual demonic shadow wolf, but its body was armored with a black, segmented exoskeleton.

Other than its size and exoskeleton, the noticeable things about the wolf were its mouth and eyes.

The Pyrofang had four sharp, piercing eyes, almost giving Dante a headache from the strange vision.

As for its mouth, it had rows of sharp teeth with four flaming fangs, filling its mouth with shadow flames.

However, there was one additional, non physical detail that caught Dante’s attention.

’I have used demonic energy, but it doesn’t show any traces of it.’

The demonic energy that Dante had used was blue, looking identical to mana. That was caused by the first ability of Dante’s mask, Nobody.

Dante could now use his demonic energy freely if he ignored the corruption, but the same thing couldn’t be said about Fafnir.

After a few moments spent adjusting his senses to get used to the wolf’s vision, Dante and Ruby climbed up the wolf’s back.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep