The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 214

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 214
The massive explosion that echoed from the direction of the Temple meant only one thing.
“Rowen!”
Tiel cried out. At the same moment, Ferdi and Ludian, who had sensed the omen, lifted their heads as well.
“Tiel, your Ability—how is it? Since you left part of your Ability behind with Rowen, you should be able to sense if she’s escaped.”
Ferdi grasped Tiel by the shoulders and explained calmly.
What Tiel had created just moments before was not merely a light in the shape of a snow crystal, but a ‘fragment’ of Tiel’s Ability.
She had separated a portion of her Ability and left it by Rowen’s side.
In such cases, the fragmented Ability would scatter and return to its master when subjected to a massive impact, and Beast-kin with Abilities could discern whether the Ability had returned or remained absent based on whether problems arose.
Following Ferdi’s instructions, Tiel carefully brought her hands together and sensed the flow of her Ability.
But.
‘I can’t tell.’
Had the Ability returned? Or had it not?
Tiel tried to feel the flow of Ability coursing through her body, but she could not sense whether a portion of it had returned or remained absent.
And for good reason—Tiel’s Ability was unlike that of other Beast-kin.
Where other Beast-kin’s Abilities were like a well, and one could easily tell if a bucket of water had evaporated, Tiel’s Ability resembled an ocean.
Would a single bucket of water disappearing from the ocean even register?
Even if thousands of buckets vanished, it would leave no trace.
Tiel’s Ability had always been vast in quantity, but after ‘that incident’ in the Temple, the amount of Ability she possessed had grown even more immense.
Because of this, Tiel could not tell whether her Ability had returned or remained absent. She lifted her head.
“I can’t sense it clearly, brother. I think we should hurry and go look.”
“All right, then let’s go at once.”
Ferdi nodded in agreement.
Cassius and Alpheus had briefly left their side to attend to other matters, but with the explosion sounding from the Temple, they would certainly be heading there as well.
Fortunately, they were not far from the Temple, so they arrived at its entrance in short order.
But then.
“……It looks fine? Did the inside collapse?”
Iandros murmured in confusion. Tiel’s brow narrowed.
The enormous roar that had echoed suggested the entire Temple had exploded, yet from close up, the structure appeared perfectly intact.
There were cracks in places, but those had not been caused by the recent explosion—they were from when Rowen had run amok.
Moreover, Alpheus’s Ability, which had been infused into the Temple to prevent its collapse, still flowed smoothly and without interruption.
That meant there was nothing wrong with the Temple at all.
“Then where did that sound come from?”
Ludian murmured. Tiel carefully stepped into the Temple first.
The interior was no different from the exterior. Nothing appeared to have been damaged, and Alpheus’s Flame remained intact.
They descended cautiously into the Underground Prison, examining the Temple as they went.
As they opened the prison door and stepped inside, the first thing that caught their eye was Rowen, unconscious and prostrate on the floor.
Beside her lay a leopard, which spotted Tiel, let out a sound of delight, and padded over to press its face against Tiel’s abdomen.
“Oh, that tickles……. But brother, this place looks fine too, doesn’t it?”
Tiel scratched under the leopard’s jaw as she spoke. Creatures formed by Ability typically lack consciousness and obey only what their master commands, but the creatures Tiel’s Ability produced moved as though they possessed genuine awareness.
So Tiel had to continue scratching the leopard’s jaw. Ludian, Ferdi, and Iandros all furrowed their brows in equal confusion.
“The sound didn’t come from the Temple, then?”
“But it definitely came from the Temple! We weren’t far away at all—how could we have gotten confused about that?”
Ludian protested. He was right. They had been positioned too close to the Temple to be mistaken.
At that distance, confusion was impossible. Utterly impossible. Tiel sensed something was amiss and turned to leave.
“Let’s go out for now and check whether the explosion occurred somewhere else. It may have come from the Eberard Mansion, where the foundation has collapsed…….”
It was the moment Tiel reached for the prison door.
…….
Dense, pitch-black darkness gathered behind Tiel’s back. Iandros’s pupils contracted instantly. Had that corridor always been that dark?
When they had first entered, it had been dark from neglect, but after Rowen was imprisoned, Asterian’s knights had installed torches and lanterns, so it had not been dark at all.
Then why was it so dark behind Tiel now?
Tiel turned her head to look at Iandros as she continued speaking, her hand still gripping the door handle.
“Let’s go out and find Karl and…….”
Ferdi’s and Ludian’s hair stood on end. Their pupils contracted simultaneously. They sensed instinctively that something had gone terribly wrong.
Only Tiel seemed not to have sensed it. Ferdi’s and Ludian’s Flames surged toward her at once.
The column of fire transformed into a giant hand-shape and lunged at Tiel. Iandros also reached out to seize her. Tiel’s eyes widened.
“What, what——”
Ferdi, Ludian, and Iandros rushed at her simultaneously to snatch her away. But in that instant.
[Caught.]
A low, terrible voice sounded from nowhere. At the same moment, pitch-black darkness covered Tiel’s eyes.
The darkness swiftly bound her ankles and wrists. Tiel’s mouth fell slightly open. Everything happened so fast she could not even scream.
Whoosh!
Something of unknown nature yanked Tiel into the darkness. Ferdi, Ludian, and Iandros rushed toward ‘it’ at once.
As they all lunged toward the door together, it swung open with a thunderous bang!
But Tiel was gone, and only the bright, well-lit corridor and the luminous stones adorning it greeted them.
The moment Tiel had grasped the door handle, the space behind her had been so dark it defied description, yet now this underground passage was so bright and clear it was hard to believe it was even underground.
The leopard formed from Tiel’s Ability emerged behind them, anxious. It lifted its head and moved about, searching for its master, but the effort was in vain.
“Damn it! What is this?”
Ludian spat a curse. He lurched to his feet and bolted down the corridor’s end.
He meant to pursue Tiel. If the culprit was a Beast-kin, they would have fled through the Temple and out by now. Ludian was fast—perhaps he could catch them.
But Ferdi and Iandros did not move. They had a vague inkling of what ‘being’ had taken Tiel.
“Iandros.”
“Yes.”
Iandros replied. What had opened behind Tiel just moments before was unmistakably a Subspace.
But how?
A Subspace could only be reopened where it had existed before, and its entrance and exit were one and the same. One could only exit from the entrance and enter through the exit.
Then how had someone opened a Subspace behind Tiel’s back? Without revealing themselves at all?
Yet one thing was certain: the place to which Tiel had been dragged was the Princess’s Subspace. They vividly remembered the black darkness that had completely engulfed Tiel’s white hair and limbs.
“How in the world are we supposed to…….”
Ferdi murmured in a voice of despair. He laughed hollowly at intervals, as if he were on the verge of madness.
Only the master of a Subspace could open and close it.
Which meant there was no way to retrieve Tiel from inside that Subspace once more.
Iandros knew it. Ferdi knew it. And Ludian—that fool who had charged out of the Temple vowing to pursue Tiel—he knew it too.
A terrible helplessness seized Iandros in an instant. His emerald eyes turned pitch-black.
The Bond carved on his nape with Tiel glowed faintly.
Iandros, who had been staring down at the unconscious Rowen, summoned Tiel’s leopard with a gesture.
Tiel was Bonded with Iandros, so now that her master had disappeared, her Ability recognized Iandros as its other master.
“I’m done with Rowen.”
Escape, or simply run amok and die. Rowen mattered no longer…….
“I will find the Princess.”
Iandros moved forward as he spoke. Tiel’s leopard followed softly behind.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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