"You mean we can leave this place? You found a way?"
After an hour of embarrassment, Sarah was able to face Varian and Enigma properly. She was originally prepared to distract them and bring some other topic so they don't question her previous behavior. But Varian spoke first and dropped a bomb.
"Yeah. I still have memories from when I was an...Undead. I roughly figured a way out." Varian felt uncomfortable when recalling his 'dead' past, but it held the key for their escape.
"But the border turtles are too strong." Enigma frowned. "Even if you use that special power, you can't kill them all."
"We're not going to kill them all. We don't even have to. We just..." Varian explained the details of the plan to the two.
Sarah was unsure about the success rate while Enigma focused on retreating in case the plan failed.
Either way, their main focus was on survival rather than leaving this place.
"Even if we fail, we can retreat safely. The biggest danger here, the Undead, aren't chasing us anymore."
"They can't. Varian slaughtered most of them here." Sarah rubbed her forehead with a complicated expression.
The knowledge for escape was gained from his time as an Undead. And the reason they're not worried about staying at the same place for a day or even several days was the slaughter done by the Undead Varian.
So, in retrospect, was it a net positive?
Sarah sighed deeply and tried to erase the image of 'that' Varian from her mind. But like a nightmare that won't leave, it lingered.
Everytime she closed her eyes, it was reminding her that her lover died. That she saw him die. And that it's only luck that he's still alive.
'I don't want him to risk like that again.' Sarah bit her lip and said. "Let me take the lead in the plan."
"No." Varian refused without thinking.
Sarah would rarely argue with Varian. But this time, she didn't want to budge. Even if she would piss him off. "I've seen enough, Varian. You took all the risk last time. You died. You literally died! It's sheer luck I'm talking to you again. I'm not pushing into the fire pit again. Whatever risk there is, let me take it."
"There isn't much risk."
"Great. Then I won't be in danger."
"..." Varian glanced at Enigma for help. The silver-haired girl maintained an expresionless face but the corner of her lips seemed to twitch upwards.
'You're holding back your laughter? Damn it!'
Varian grabbed Sarah's delicate shoulders and looked into her eyes. "There won't be much risk if it's me. If it's anyone else, the risk will be greater."
Usually, this would've worked.
But this time, Sarah simply shook her head. "Nope. I am not--"
"Listen Sarah, this isn't a one time activity. We might fail multiple times before we succeed. It might take several days or even weeks. If you risk yourself and something happens to you--"
"What if something happens to you? No, something already happened to you!" Sarah wasn't ceding ground.
But Varian grasped the core of her argument.
"Your safey will ensure my safety. If something happens to you, I'm doomed." Varian said.
"W-What?" Sarah raised her head at him and blinked in confusion.
"We can move freely only as long as the Undead aren't chasing us. There aren't many Undead to chase us now. They all reincarnated as living beings. But the living beasts will fight. The previous balance will be restored. In a week or two at most, there will be many Undead here." Varian said with a serious expression.
Enigma's expression turned serious at his words. Sarah, on the other hand, grabbed Varian's hands reflexively. "Then your death strand..."
"50% of it is gone due to the consumption I did as an Undead. But the remaining 50% isn't going off easily. If the Undead appear in my proximity long enough, it'll flare up again. We'll be back to square one."
"T-Then what should I do..."
"If I lose the boost of your time powers when the Undead come, my condition will deteroiate much faster than last time. Even with only 50% of the strand, I won't even last a week before fainting." Varian said.
"T-That..." Sarah was now tangled.
Varian hugged the trembling girl and said softly. "It's okay. There isn't much risk for me. I died once. I don't want to die again. So, please let me take the lead."
Sarah wanted to be stiff but under his sincere words, her body softened and she fell into Varian's arms.
Resting her head against his chest, she complained. "Wuu, I can't win against you in any argument. It's not fair."
Hearing her complaints, Varian laughed for a while but his eyes remained on the blue screen that was only visible to him.
[Superhuman L9: 20k/50k (+16k)
Space L9: 5k/50k (Advanced, +5k)
Lightning L9: 20k/50k (+20k)
Plantae L9: 16k/50k (+14k)
Psychic L9: 5k/50k (Advanced, +5k)
Macrokinetic 5k/50k (Advanced, +5k)
Water L9: 10k/50k (+10k)
Time L6: 4900/5000 (Advanced, +4900) ]
Compared to earlier, there was a ridiculous increase in his divine paths.
It should've been higher but for some reason, the death strand forcefully raised his divine paths slowed down his growth.
Still, the scale of Varian's power completely changed.
All of his divine paths, except the time path reached level 9. Even the time path was on the verge of reaching level 7.
What's more, three paths were mid level 9!
Overall, Varian didn't think he had any problem fighting dozens of high level 9. Even fighting a peak level 9 wasn't an issue.
The Sovereigns still remained a problem, however.
'But after I get to peak level 9, I can deal with the Sovereigns.'
He toyed with the Undead Sovereigns as a peak level 9. But these Undead beasts couldn't think or act properly. So, their strenght was greatly reduced.
A battle against a living Sovereign would be much tricker.
'But I'm confident I can do it.'
