The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 223

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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 223
“The door’s been destroyed!”
“That was when you were dragged away by Orpheo before…….”
Iandros’s expression hardened as he tried to explain that it had been damaged because of them. The door was shattered far more severely than it had been then.
This destruction wasn’t caused by Iandros, Ferdi, and Ludian. Iandros and Tiel rushed urgently into the Underground Prison.
But Rowen wasn’t there. Had she regained consciousness and escaped?
“We have to find her quickly—saving Rowen is how we stop Orpheo!”
“Save Rowen? Why?”
“He sees her as expendable. A tool to be used in his plan…… If Rowen falls into his hands, she won’t survive it. I’m certain of that.”
Tiel spoke with quiet conviction.
She didn’t like Rowen. Though she’d been away from Nestian for a long time now, the memory of it still left her suffocating with resentment.
And Rowen had tried to steal her position in Arcadia, had taken her Ability…….
‘But that doesn’t mean she deserves to die.’
Did Rowen even know she was being used by Orpheo?
If she did know, then there would be no harm in dealing with her later. But if she was unknowingly being manipulated……?
For now, saving Rowen was the priority. Tiel swept her hand and conjured another leopard—identical to the one she’d created before.
Tiel’s Ability had grown even stronger since escaping the Subspace.
The Light Leopard she’d newly created was larger than the previous one, and it blazed with even brighter radiance.
Tiel whispered to the leopard.
“Can you find where Rowen is? She was here just a moment ago. Since she uses the power of darkness, she should be easy to track.”
Tiel’s Ability was light. The power Rowen currently possessed was a chaotic blend of light and darkness.
Light could discern where darkness dwelt, and darkness could sense where light lay hidden.
Because darkness was mixed into Rowen’s power, Tiel decided to rely on her leopard.
The leopard conjured from Tiel’s Ability hesitated for a moment, then bolted away in a direction.
Tiel seized Iandros’s hand and chased after the leopard.
“Come on, it knows where to go!”
As Tiel ran, Cassius—the man who had locked that one away before descending into the cellar after her—ran alongside them. Together, they chased after the gleaming form.
But light moved far faster than they did! Even when Tiel commanded it to slow, it was still far from leisurely. Eventually, exhaustion caught up with her.
“Tiel, you…….”
Iandros noticed Tiel was tiring and slowed to a stop. But Tiel didn’t stop; instead, she pulled at his hand, urging him forward.
“There’s no time to stop—come on!”
Cassius wanted to carry her, but Tiel shook her head in refusal. Both Cassius and Iandros might have to fight soon. She couldn’t afford to have them waste their strength on her account.
The leopard charged northward across Arcadia and suddenly came to a dead halt.
It seemed to have lost its way. The Light Leopard paced back and forth, clearly confused.
Tiel approached and gently stroked the leopard’s neck, asking softly.
“Can’t find her anymore?”
The leopard flared with light. Tiel understood it as its answer. A look of distress flickered across her face. What was she going to do now?
That was when the leopard suddenly lifted its head, having found the scent again.
It bolted forward once more. Cassius decided enough was enough and unleashed his Ability at the ground beneath them.
Whoosh! Flames erupted. Above them, a Flame Chariot materialized. He placed Tiel and Iandros inside, then climbed aboard himself.
“Why didn’t you use this from the start?”
Iandros gasped out the question. Cassius answered.
“I’m not sure why, but my Ability has grown considerably weaker. Creating something like this takes a great deal of strength.”
Cassius made flames ignite in his palm as he spoke. To Tiel and Iandros, his Ability seemed as formidable as ever, but Cassius himself could feel the difference.
His power was weaker than before.
Could it be those Cracks? Were the Cracks draining their ‘power’?
He couldn’t say for certain what the cause was. They rode the Flame Chariot Cassius had created, racing forward.
The leopard finally came to rest in a desolate clearing. It was a barren expanse where not a single tree grew—strange, considering that every inch of Arcadia’s land was normally thick with trees and vegetation.
They descended slowly from the Flame Chariot. Cassius kept watch around Tiel, wary of any harm coming to her. Iandros did the same.
“She’s here?”
Tiel whispered the question, and the leopard nodded. But there was no sign of Rowen—not even a hem of her dress.
Tiel regarded this strangely and began to take a step forward.
“Tiel, don’t!”
Cassius called out urgently and pulled his daughter into his arms. Tiel didn’t get to take even one step; instead, she found herself cradled against his chest.
Iandros, hearing Cassius’s warning, remained motionless where he stood. Cassius created a single Salamander in his palm and sent it walking forward.
The Salamander took two steps before vanishing without a trace. Tiel and Iandros’s eyes widened simultaneously.
‘An illusion!’
Previously, they’d learned that the man who traveled with Je possessed an Ability of a similar kind.
He knew how to make people lose their way, and how to make the real seem as if it didn’t exist.
But he was dead—so how could this power still remain? Was there another who possessed the same Ability?
For now, they didn’t move hastily. Since nothing happened where they stood, it seemed safe enough.
But the true problem was this clearing itself.
Through the Salamander, they’d just discovered that this clearing was no ordinary expanse of earth. Which meant something could be hidden anywhere within it.
“Do you know where Karl Eberard is?” Cassius whispered to Tiel.
Tiel searched her memory for a moment, then shook her head.
When they’d first been thrown out of the Subspace, she was certain she’d been with him, but at some point he’d vanished without a trace.
“The Asterian Knights?”
“They’re heading here now.”
Cassius pointed to the path they’d traveled. Two long, scorched trails marked the ground behind them.
The tracks were left by the Flame Chariot tearing across the earth. By now, they’d certainly be following these wheel marks to reach them.
“They’ll arrive soon?”
“Likely so.”
Iandros drew his sword from his scabbard. He gazed out across the barren clearing.
The blade gleamed with pale blue light.
‘Can I do this?’
Iandros hesitated for a moment. The power he was about to use was something he’d never fully wielded before—a strength he’d honed through his own Ability.
He’d heard that when they’d dispelled the illusion before, Tiel’s Ability had played a crucial role.
‘But now, even with Tiel’s leopard, the illusion hasn’t lifted.’
The leopard Tiel had created was almost a crystallization of her power.
For an illusion to resist even with that leopard present meant either the power was far greater than Tiel’s Ability, or the illusion was of a kind her Ability couldn’t dispel.
Iandros took a measured breath and nodded to Tiel and Cassius.
“Step back.”
Iandros swung his sword in a wide arc. The blade cut sharply through the air. At the same moment, the distant sound of Ferdi, Ludian, and Olivier rushing toward them reached their ears.

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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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