Chapter 326: Next Morning. (1/2)

The night passed without much noise after that incident.

Those blasting sounds of spells could have alerted people from miles away, but it seemed that no one wanted to be the one to check out what had happened here all night.

Until it was morning, everyone slept soundly.

Raven was the first to open her eyes, feeling quite refreshed despite being unconscious on the ground all night after she was poisoned to near death.

The warm wetness on top of her eyelids and the forehead caused her to jerk awake as she quickly stood up to survey her surroundings.

Finding herself surrounded by the familiar sight of trees and craters of all kinds here and there amidst which there were two familiar men lying there as well, Raven calmed down a little.

It was only then that it hit her.

The head-splitting pain above the spine and around the temples almost caused her to stumble back to the ground.

Then came the vivid memories of all that had transpired last night. Her first reaction would have been to look for Ozul if not for the sight of an unfamiliar body on the ground, lying only a few feet away from Blaze.

She didn't need to thoroughly examine the body to notice that the man was killed only recently, if that severed head and the scarlet blood gushing out from the neck was anything to go by.

Raven instantly figured out who might have killed this man, and he was currently atop a tree to her left.

As she located him on the tree, he jumped down himself, ”I waited till the last moment one of you guys woke up before killing him. This one didn't even realize my presence.”

Raven smiled internally at the trace of disappointment in his voice. Though she maintained a calm exterior, Ozul could see that she was amused for some reason.

How could Raven not find it amusing? She had already started noticing the changes in Ozul. Before, the extent of emotions he would express was mostly limited to tired sighs and even disappointment only materialized in extreme cases such as when it concerned himself, her, or even Blaze.

It wasn't like that when she had first met him. Even back then, he used to express himself more.

She didn't know when he took upon more of a colder attitude, but her guess was after Grandma Carol's death.

After that, his behavior fluctuated quite a lot. Only now had it stabilized a little as even though he wasn't completely open about it, she could still tell traces of emotions mixed within his scarcely spoken sentences.

'He usually doesn't even pause between mid-sentences now...' Raven thought to herself, feeling herself getting lost in the nostalgia.

Unknown to Ozul, the amount of time Raven had spent growing up with him and noticing his every little action had made her quite an expert in reading him.

Even a slight change in his tone that would usually be ignored would instantly be noticed by her.

”What are you smiling for?” Ozul squinted his eyes at her even though she wasn't smiling on the outside.

As always, it caught her off guard, but before she could think of anything, Ozul spoke again.

”Anyway, it's time to move. Wake them up,” he pointed his finger at the dome of shield which had somehow moved closer to them.

”Is he going with us?” Raven asked while staring at the overly sickly appearance of the purple-haired man beside Blaze.

”He saved Blaze's and your life. He was the one to help with your poison.”

Ozul didn't need to tell Raven again to wake Zier up as well since she knew when to be grateful more than anyone else.

Although it was hard to accept, she didn't doubt Ozul. If he said so, that weak man must have done something to save their lives.

And no matter how ruthless she was when given orders directly from Ozul, Raven would usually sympathize with the innocent people. And since this man had saved not only her's but even Blaze's life, the least she could do was to accept the fact that he was leeching off of them.

She cast the spell to clean off the blood on her forehead before she reached to wake the two men up. However, that proved to be unnecessary.

*Yawn!*

”Mhmm... It's been months since I slept so comfortably-” muttered the man, who clearly looked more drained than he did yesterday. Yet, the mirth in his voice conveyed that he actually enjoyed the sleep last night.

On the other hand, the cyan-haired man covered all over with straps from the Ball of Purity had a completely different response than Zier,