Chapter 327: 327

Michelle looked at the worried expressions of Eleanor and Asher and knew that if she suddenly showed the ability to run away or fight the monster, she would be highly suspected.

But there was still something she could do while staging as Ana.

“You two go, and I’ll conceal myself,” she whispered.

Eleanor looked at her like she was a fool, but the next moment, Michelle retracted her shadow essence into her shadow, and Eleanor was shocked to realize that she could no longer see her.

Her new Junior Sister was indeed formidable when it came to concealment.

While Eleanor was still in shock, Asher grabbed her by the arm, pulling her into a run with him.

Concealed, Michelle smiled a bit as she watched the monster.

Nearly instantly, when Asher and Eleanor ran from beneath the boulder, it noticed them and rushed at them.

Eleanor, who originally did not want to leave her Junior Sister behind, was forced to put all her strength into running, hoping the monster would not suddenly stop somewhere to devour Ana.

And to her relief, it did not.

It just kept chasing her and Asher for a long time until they led it into the parts of the ravine where cave openings were.

Asher and Eleanor ran into one of them, knowing the monster was too big to follow them inside.

A deafening roar spread throughout the ravine, making Asher and Eleanor cover their ears.

The roar echoed through the caves, causing ringing in their ears.

The whole time the monster was running after Asher and Eleanor, Michelle was keeping up, running at the monster’s side.

Concealed, she went unnoticed.

But that was only while the monster kept its focus on Eleanor and Asher.

As Alexander had told Michelle before, monsters and Shadow Masters were not as affected by the Heavenly Law as normal people.

So Michelle’s concealment was not foolproof.

The monster was still able to detect her, though with some trouble.

After letting out the deafening roar, the monster started sniffing the air, turning its head from side to side to spot where it was smelling its potential prey.

Then, after a while, its huge eyes locked onto Michelle, standing at its feet.

Michelle locked her gaze with the monster.

Its single eye was the size of half her body.

To such a humongous creature, she would not even be considered a snack.

That made her wonder.

Why was it interested in Asher and Eleanor in the first place?

While staring the monster in the eyes, Michelle could see that it was intelligent.

Definitely intelligent enough to use the memory manipulation skill.

Also, the fact that it was not attacking her right away was proving that it was observing her first.

And that made sense.

While looking like a human, Michelle was able to stay undetected for a long while just at its feet.

If she wanted, she could have sneaked up on it.

The monster was maybe suspecting that since she had such concealment abilities, she could maybe even fight it and hurt it.

It clearly was not a reckless creature.

Michelle and the monster stared at each other for a long time in silence before something unexpected happened.

The monster stepped back.

Just a single step, but it stepped back.

In front of a little creature that looked like a human.

The next moment, Michelle understood why the monster did that.

It needed space so it could look at her properly.

And to look at her closer, it lowered its body and ended up lying on the ground.

Michelle still had to tilt her head up to see the monster’s eyes, but at least her neck was no longer aching.

But there was one new thing that bothered her.

The monster’s breath was extremely hot.

The Everfrost Mantle was keeping Michelle cold, but every now and then, a small gust of the warm breath would get under it, making her skin itch and crawl.

As an ice-element Spirit Master, hot air was highly repulsive to her.

Even with its head on the ground, the monster did not lose its majestic presence.

In her new life, Michelle had only met a few who had more powerful presence than the monster.

Namely Rivenaar, the purple monster with silver eyes that had passed its memory to Michelle, Mavreth and Lavreth, and finally David Elether and Alexander Terce.

Even the presence of the shadow guards was lower than that of the monster, but that was logical because as figures that operated in secret, they were forcefully keeping their presence as small as possible.

Staring up at the monster, Michelle knew that if she was not used to Mavreth’s and Alexander’s presence, she would have been overwhelmed by the monster’s presence.

Even when used to strong presences, she still felt small in front of the monster.

While the monster was suspecting whether Michelle could hold her ground against it in a fight, Michelle herself was sure that if a fight broke out, she would have died after a single move of the monster.

Maybe, just maybe, she had been a little bit reckless when she decided to run after the monster…

After watching Michelle for long enough, the monster opened its mouth and breathed out like it was a smoker puffing out cigarette smoke.

At first, Michelle did not think much about it until she suddenly felt a wave of heat wash over her.

She nearly fell over when she felt that.

Looking down at her arms, she saw that her Everfrost Mantle, which she was constantly keeping in an invisible state, was now visible and full of holes.

In such a state, it no longer worked.

The monster’s breath could destroy artifacts.

Seeing how the little creature, Michelle, reacted to its breath, the monster let out another puff, which washed over Michelle, making her feel like a wave of lava crashed into her.

Her skin, used to constant cold, flushed red from the heat, and she gasped for breath.

“Stop!” The monster froze when it heard a voice ring within its mind.

Closing its mouth, it stood back up, arching its neck above Michelle to look at her from all sides.

“You look like a human, so how are you able to use a monster’s skill?” Just like Michelle used the memory manipulation skill to make her thoughts ring in the monster’s head, it made its thoughts ring in Michelle’s head.

With the monster’s head so high up, Michelle was relieved a bit.

But without the cooling of her Everfrost Mantle, she was confronted with how hot the ravine was.

The ravine was deep in the ground, so it was supposed to be cooler. Also, it was on academy grounds, and the academy was high up in the mountains, so it was supposed to be cold.

But Michelle still felt like it was hellishly hot.

Still, when she thought about how others dressed, she knew she was the one being weird.

Both Eleanor and Asher had multiple layers when they went to the ravine.

And back in the academy, the teachers also nearly all wore items to keep themselves warm.

Of course, those of the ice element kept items to keep themselves cool.

Just like Michelle had her Everfrost Mantle.

Michelle did not have the time to think about trivial thoughts. She was facing a monster that could stomp her into a puddle of blood at any moment.

“A monster passed the skill onto me,” she answered truthfully, naturally using the memory manipulation skill.

With a willing communication partner, in other words, one that was not resisting the flow of information, she did not even need to be in direct contact.

She could just send the information out using her spirit energy, and the monster absorbed it.

“So you are a human?” the monster asked.

Michelle shook her head. “I used to be, but not anymore.”

The monster did not conceal the fact that it was confused by Michelle’s words.

“How can a human stop being a human?”

Michelle shrugged.

“The Heavenly Law rejects me. Apparently, I do not exist.”

The monster did not exactly believe Michelle’s words.

It could see how little, or in other words nonexistent, her presence was, so it understood that the Heavenly Law was somehow involved.

But it did not believe that was all.

“What did you do to achieve this state? The Heavenly Law does not just decide to name someone nonexistent!”

Michelle expected to be seen through when she spoke about the Heavenly Law. Intelligent monsters usually understood the Heavenly Law to some extent.

So she answered truthfully: “Since I appeared in this world, even though I was a human, the Heavenly Law viewed me as a monster. When I tried to cross its barriers, I had to prove my humanity. So I decided to test its limits by becoming what it thought I was. I put a mid-sized Life Stone into my blood.”

The monster lowered its head once again, until it was just above Michelle’s head.

Then, it took in a long sniff.

“You do smell like a monster…” It raised its head once again.

“But not like one. You smell of multiple monsters.”

Michelle raised a brow.

“That can be smelled?” she asked, surprised.

“Then how come you thought I was a human if I smell like multiple monsters?”

The monster stared down at Michelle.

“You do not have to be a monster to smell like one. Hunters who specialize in killing certain species of monsters quite often get the monsters’ scent rubbed onto them. It was natural to assume you were a hunter.”

After the monster’s explanation, Michelle nodded. That information could be used for even better concealment.

But she was sure that humans already knew that, and hunters used it to get unnoticed into the territories of the monsters they wanted to kill.

The monster saw that Michelle was deep in thought, but it still was not done questioning her.

“How come you smell of multiple monsters?” it asked through the memory manipulation skill.

Michelle snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the monster again.

“Do you know the Orange Widow spider?”

The monster’s jaws opened before clamping down empty. It clearly knew and did not like Orange Widows.

Seeing that, Michelle continued: “So, after absorbing the first Life Stone, I realized it must have been the Life Stone of an Orange Widow. Because I gained its ability to absorb Life Stones of my elements.”

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