The thought left me uneasy.
But then again, would a high-class noble family risk offending a Great Noble Family just to deal with me?
Somehow, I doubted it.
Besides, there was another more plausible explanation.
There was a Great Family, or perhaps a great figure within the Roman Empire, who opposed whatever the Great Family behind the scenes sought to accomplish. And as a result, they wanted me dead.
The realization was unsettling, to say the least.
"Scheme upon schemes," I muttered in exasperation.
Massaging my temples, I slowly exhaled.
With the little clues I had gathered, I had no idea which Great Family could possibly want me dead. Not like knowing would make any difference. But still... If I could figure out which noble family or figure it was, maybe I could use their past actions and behavioral tendencies to speculate on the plots they might devise against me.
Even if I knew such information would be almost impossible to uncover here in the pits.
There was, however, one consolation to it all.
The fact that they hadn’t simply sent an Ascendant, or even a Transcendent, to snuff out the life within me suggested they had certain reservations — or perhaps were simply restricted in one way or another.
If it were the latter, I couldn’t help but wonder just what could possibly restrict them.
"Hah..." I exhaled.
The thought of an unknown threat hanging over my head didn’t really sit well with me. But unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about it.
And that only made it all the more frustrating.
"Curses!"
Groaning, I rose to my feet and muttered under my breath.
"I will have to take things one step at a time."
My gaze shifted toward the aegis field. "But first things first, I should probably find Azrael."
The fact that the young Terrisman hadn’t dropped by, even after the perilous ordeal, was rather unsettling. That was very much unlike him.
The thought only deepened the frown on my face.
Creak—!
I was about to step out of the cave room when a terrifying force suddenly bore down on me, rendering me immobile and defenseless.
"Ugh!"
My expression darkened as I raised my head with great difficulty. I took in the grim sight before me, my face turning pale.
A figure had just stepped through the aegis-field, accompanied by three pit soldiers, each unlike those stationed in the Aberrant Pits.
Valerius looked down on me, his gaze cold and condescending. For a while, he said nothing and simply let the silence simmer.
Click. Click.
The seconds ticked by agonizingly slowly.
He took in the macabre sight before him, a faint frown forming on his face. Eventually, his gaze settled back on me, a hint of amusement in his eyes.
"You killed three True Awakened?" he said. "Perhaps it’s time I reassessed your evolutionary potential."
A sinking feeling settled in my chest.
Valerius took note of my blank expression and shook his head. "Doesn’t matter. The higher-ups can deal with that themselves."
I suppressed the urge to exhale in relief. Stifling a groan, I replied through gritted teeth.
"Barely so."
His gaze shifted toward the remains of my assailants. "Yeah... I’m sure it was."
I could sense the dry sarcasm in his words. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about the suspicion that had now settled in his heart.
It was at that moment that a chilling realization dawned on me.
I froze, my breath catching in my throat.
The assailants dispatched by the Great Family had been given two tasks, and regardless of what happened, they would’ve accomplished one of them.
Either they killed me or... I somehow survived the perilous ordeal, thereby revealing that I had hidden my true latent potential.
My face paled.
’I was indeed too naive. How could I have hoped to outscheme those cunning nobles,’ I thought with a hint of self-deprecation.
For a few moments, I was in a dark mood. Eventually, however, my eyes narrowed.
...Or perhaps I am being too paranoid. After all, a skilled, fully saturated Awakened like the Aberrants might have been able to survive such an assault.
Still, regardless of whether that was the case, they certainly now had reasons to doubt my evolutionary stat assessment — however slight those doubts might be.
The only thing saving me now was my earlier restraint. My advanced A-ranked evolutionary potential gave the Romans enough of an explanation to account for my survival, no matter how improbable it seemed.
But if I had ignored my intuition back then and gone any lower, they would’ve seen through me by now.
My expression darkened.
That I had come so close to exposing myself only reinforced how careful I needed to be around the Romans.
Valerius tore his gaze away from me and gestured to the soldiers. The next moment, he stepped out of the cave, the oppressive pressure gradually easing. The three guards didn’t forget to give me one last cold glance before following behind him.
I stood there blankly until I could no longer sense their presence. Exhaling heavily, I slumped onto the ground.
"Hah... Hah..."
The pressure bearing down on me moments earlier had been unbearable. It made me wonder how strong Valerius really was — and whether I would eventually have to face him.
My face paled at the thought.
’If such a day really was going to come, I sure hoped it wasn’t anytime soon,’ I thought grimly.
Lost in my dark thoughts, I almost failed to notice the presence of a few guards. They said nothing as they glanced at the macabre sight before them. Eventually, they set about cleaning the room, making use of various technological devices and soul-core-borne abilities to hasten the process. Before long, amidst the drowsiness that was beginning to overwhelm me, they finished cleaning and stepped out of the cave room.
A few moments later, three guards, each radiating far more energy than the earlier ones, were stationed outside the cave room.
’Well... that was great,’ I thought weakly.
As the heavy drowsiness weighing on me became unbearable, a figure stepped through the aegis field and appeared within the cave room.
"Uh?!"
I struggled to open my eyes.
Yet my vision continued to blur, the approaching figure fading into the darkness that gradually swallowed my sight.