Rivers of the Night-Chapter 269: Dome

The old man had been looking for Theron for quite a while. But what he didn't expect was to be sent on a wild goose chase, only to realize that Theron had actually returned to the capital on the very same day he thought he had long left it.

Theron smiled. "Long time no see, old man."

"Cut the act before I force you to swallow that smile."

"You don't plan on doing that already? You're kinder than I thought you would be."

"How did you know my name?"

Theron shrugged. "I guessed. There are only so many assassins that could both have your level of skill and control over sound."

"Skill? If I had skill, I wouldn't have let a little boy lead me by the nose."

Theron smiled. "On a scale of one to ten, how injured are you right now? Do you think you could take my wolf on? Or do you think I can take your head right now? Want to bet on it?"

There was something particularly biting and cold about Theron's words all of a sudden. The old man didn't seem to have threatened him just now and even seemed to be quite self-deprecating…

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But the two of them were very sharp.

The air carried with it a deathly intent as a spar occurred between the two in silence.

The Cadence of the Crypt's eyes narrowed as he looked up to the Lightning Blood Hound high in the trees for the first time, only to realize he couldn't see through the animal at all.

In fact, it wasn't until Theron pointed it out that he felt the slightest bit of pressure from it at all. What kind of Mana was that? Why couldn't he sense it clearly? Wait, was it even Mana at all?

"… You seem quite confident that I am injured…"

"I'm not just confident that you're injured, but I'm also confident that I have your weakness right in front of me. It's odd that you would put such information on a silver platter for me, and you only appeared just now because you don't have the confidence to stop me if you continued to hide."

"Is there a need for all of this?"

"I also don't believe that you're weak enough to be begging me to negotiate with you either, so you don't need to act as though you're on your last leg. Right now, we're just at a bit of an impasse."

Aliza looked over toward her grandfather, confusion on her face. What did the old man mean? If she had known the Cadence of the Crypt was her grandfather, she would have never reacted so fiercely to the name. Clearly, all of this was news to her.

"There is no need to look at me like that, little girl. I really am your grandfather. Your grandmother is a real piece of work. She knew I was here, that was why she sent you on such a dangerous mission all on your own. But I guess you've done decently well—just not as well as him."

There was another odd silence that hung in the air until Theron spoke.

"What do you need talents like Raiden for?" Theron suddenly asked.

The old man looked to Theron, unamused. "You're asking me that after you killed him?"

"I don't like to leave threats alive."

"You don't like to leave threats alive? Or you couldn't bear to part with your treasure? Which is it?"

This time, it was Theron's turn to narrow his eyes.

"There's no need to get so defensive," the old man said with a sneer. "I know a Blood Locked Treasure when I see one. That thing would be useless in anyone else's hands… well, almost anyone else's. I'm sure there would be quite a few people interested in it, and they would also be quite interested in knowing how many more such treasures you're hiding away."

"But you aren't."

"My goals are different, and my ex-wife doesn't seem to understand that. She's never understood that. Chasing after power that isn't your own will only lead to empty gains. I am only interested in one thing…

"What lives is my knife strong enough to take on its own?"

The temperature seemed to drop further as the two men stared at one another in silence. Or maybe, more accurately… one boy and one man.

"… I am very interested in knowing what this goal is."

The old man grinned a yellowed, toothy grin, pointing up to the skies with a wrinkled finger.

"Piercing the Dome of the Heavens, of course."