Chapter 257: The Return

Hearing the sound of a horse galloping, I turned my gaze to the sky. What I saw was beyond my expectations.

“Don’t tell me he actually did it,” Mariah asked in disbelief.

What we saw at that moment was the dullahan. The demon raced through the night sky. From such a distance, it looked like a mere silhouette, but I could tell that he was holding something in his hand. It was round, almost like a ball.

The horse went on its hind legs, and the dullahan raised the object as if raising a trophy.

“Did it really manage to pull it off?”

Mariah was in disbelief.

“I guess we’ll see,” I replied.

There was nothing we could do but wait until the dullahan descended from the sky and landed before us. Only then could we get a clearer picture of what he was holding. I also noticed that the dullahan wasn’t in the best shape.

His right arm, along with the right side of his chest, was completely ripped off. His armor was covered in his blood, and there were several holes over his body. Yet, despite his injuries, the dullahan leaped from his horse and staggered towards me.

His movements reminded me of a knight as he went down on one knee and bowed. His left arm gripped the fruits of his labor. He then raised it towards me so I could get a proper view. What I saw was the severed head of a beautiful red-haired woman.

“It’s actually her. I recognize those features anywhere,” Mariah mumbled.

“Yes, you’re right.”

I didn’t have to inspect the head. One look, and I instantly knew that it was her. Her head was cleanly cut off, and what remained of her face was pale.

I’m guessing the dullahan’s injuries must have come from the witch of greed. The holes on his body looked like bite marks, and the more I looked at his arm, the more it looked as if something had bitten it off.

I remember the witch of greed being able to summon a serpentine dragon the last time we fought. She considered Aphrodite to be her sister so I understood why she would lash out.

“Is your demon going to be alright? His wounds look pretty bad,” Mariah asked.

“I’m sure he will heal. He looks as if he’s healing already, but his regeneration isn’t as fast as mine.” I reached out and placed my arm on the dullahan’s left shoulder.

“You did good today. Thank you for your help. Now you can go rest up.”

Saying that, my shadow began to swirl on the ground as it sucked up both the dullahan and his horse. They were transported back to the shadow realm where Cerberus and the others were.

Watching the dullahan go, I couldn’t help but feel satisfied by his performance today. Aphrodite was a powerful opponent. When I sent him after her, I half expected him to fail. I partially wanted to gauge his strength since he was holding back in the fight with me.

I could confidently say that his strength level was as strong as, if not stronger than, the queen witches in this city. His help in the future would be immeasurable.

With everything settled, the only thing left to do was go back home, so Mariah and I said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, for now.

When I got home, I realized that Sylvie was at the gate once again waiting for me. She was curled up on the ground sleeping. The guards gave her a blanket and made the area where she slept comfortable.

I told them to do so whenever she came here to wait for me. I approached where she was sleeping and gently stroked her hair. She was sleeping soundly, so I decided to lift her up and carry her back to my room.

“Lee… I… comph… with…”

She mumbled something inaudible in her sleep. She seemed a bit heavier than I remembered. I brought her back to my room and tried to place her down on the bed, but then suddenly her hand tightened around me.

I tried to pry her hand off and place her down, but her grip was too tight. I then began stroking her head while whispering to her, and like clockwork, her grip began to slacken, and I managed to place her down on the bed.

Immediately, she curled up into a ball and hugged her tail. I lay beside her and began stroking her head as I took in how peaceful she looked. After a while, I finally retrieved Khalissi from the shadow realm where I had kept her for the time being. She was still unconscious, so I placed her on the bed beside Sylvie and me.

I still needed to talk to her about the dullahan. There were just too many unanswered questions about what happened. Lying beside her, I then took a look at the wound on her forehead. The good news was that it was healing; the only problem was that it was healing slowly.

The dullahan had done a number on her. She had scratch marks on her knuckles, which surprised me, seeing that Khalissi wasn’t a close combat fighter. She must have fought with everything she had to keep the dullahan at bay.

But in the end, she just couldn’t match up to its strength.

“Lee…”

As I was about to doze off, I heard her soft voice call out to me. I reopened my eyes to see Sylvie’s big round eyes staring at me. She wagged her tail excitedly and called out to me again.

“Lee! You’re back!”

“I am, and you’re awake,” I said, still feeling a bit groggy from almost dozing off.

Sylvie then fell onto me and rested her head on my chest.

“Then how did Lee’s mission go?”

“It went well. Better than I thought it would be.”

It was funny to think that I went out with the intention of getting rid of Mariah if I had to, but instead, I ended up gaining two allies. Sylvie was eager to hear of what happened, so I recounted everything while she lay comfortably on my chest. We spoke until eventually, the two of us fell asleep.

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