Chapter 27 - The Wit

Chapter 27 - The Wit

Leo landed on the cell with a single leap before staring at the place that was suddenly silent. He turned his gaze to Argon's cell and he'd realize that it was empty.

"So it's already noon?" He wondered, mostly since he felt like the time he'd spent in the cat's lair didn't last to an hour. The tiger-like creature appeared in front of him once his mind was settled and he had to choose another spot for the beast to dig into.

Leo pointed to a spot far away from the hole and he watched as the beast diligently dug into the ground, he remained silent while he waited for the depth to reach a few more feet before he was finally going to jump in.

"Hey, you over there! Halt." A voice shouted from outside Leo's cell instantaneously, and he abruptly turned his gaze to armed, and heavily armored men, visibly the guards. One of the guards had suddenly drawn out a large crystalline-looking orb from a leather bag that crossed over his shoulders.

It was the key to his cell, and if he was to be caught, he'll most definitely be executed immediately.

He growled at the men with a chilling gaze that had, however, failed to terrify the guards who poured all of their attention into attaching the orb to a spherical hole having to shape the orb.

"I'll not hesitate to rip your throat from your necks once I'm out of here. Beware!" He flee into the hole that was deep enough, and the beast diverted its direction and punched into the wall behind, creating a tunnel that Leo hoped will lead to the forest.

The guards followed after once they made their way into the cell and did not think twice before jumping into the hole, and suddenly, a game of chase began between the guards and Leo.

Luckily for Leo, the beast's speed was tremendous and its distance from the guards leaped bounds beyond bounds.

A couple more similar beasts appeared in the narrow tunnel and began to dig in a random direction... Of course, with the permission of Leo who aimed at distracting the pursuers into a confusing situation.

Many minutes later, the beast dug into a plain land and disappeared once Leo stood on the surface of the green earth. Leo had luckily dug his way out of the cell and now stood in his favorite training spot, the plains of the Acred forest, only a few kilometers from Bel's lair.

He stared at the area for a brief moment and a faded smile appeared on his cheeks. Leo looked behind the hole and he felt pleased hearing the terrific shout of the men who were probably lost in the small maze he'd created. He zoomed into the sky soon enough.

Leo arrived in the lair. He looked disgusted seeing Bel's humanoid figure sitting nonchalantly on the ground with a carefree expression scorched on his face.

"I heard you were arrested how did you escape?" Leo looked dumbfounded after hearing the words from Bel. He felt like landing a hard slap on Bel's cheeks for those words that came as a tease, but unfortunately, hitting Bel was only a suicide mission.

"Or... Did you somehow dig yourself out?"

"Maybe, but at the same time, I discovered an underground living creature...and a cave."

"So..?"

"Really?" Leo shouted in response to Bel whose unconcerned voice tone got more provocative than ever, "You look uninterested, it's vivid you notice I've encountered a creature richer, or maybe even more powerful than you are!"

Bel eyed Leo for a brief second with a face visibly vexed by the statement, "Trying to make me talk ehn, not even the king's vault is richer than this place!"

Bel pointed at the heap and pile of gold coins that were arranged in different corners of the lair. His voice came out boastful as he felt proud of his wealth that of a truth was far more superior to that of the king.

"And yet, the cave is richer and more valuable than both your wealth and that of the king combined."

"You must be kidding, I have gathered all of these for dozens of centuries, and here you are boasting a cave is richer than mine!"

Bel's enraged voice continued, "Tell me, what does this creature look like, how did you find it?"

Leo nodded and immediately began his narration, starting from how he was imprisoned, to his present situation.

Many minutes later before the narration ended, Bel however still sat on the ground, dumbstruck by the words he had heard from Leo.

But within a few more minutes, he shrugged off his awestruck feeling and simply answered, "You must have been hallucinating, if you're referring to a creature that backward time and causes deja vu, then it must be a Wit..."

"What's a Wit?"

"You'd know if you let me finish!" Bel thundered with a voice that also trembled as he panicked for some unknown reason,

"The Wit is only a nickname for your described beast. They are as old... if not even older than the sun."

"How old could the sun be, is it up to a thousand years?"

"Are you mad?" Leo was stunned and frightened at the thundering voice of Bel. The vulgar and direct curse from him could only make Leo wonder what gravity held behind the creature.

"I have lived for more than one millennium, and I did not experience the creation of the moon, let alone the sun!"

"Don't try to exaggerate the creature, now tell me, if you and the wit fight, who would win?"

"Oh! Against that creature, I'll win... But, not everything is all about strength. It can backward time Leo, so it can technically control me, predict my movements, and I can't even subdue!"

Leo shrugged with a calm look on his face, although, he was not expected to shiver at the calling of the beast, his expression looked intrigued, "Okay! But I'm more concerned about all the artifacts in there, look, it gave me this ring as compensation for me to leave his lair."

He showed Bel the object that was tightly fixed on his middle finger, "You see, how can we get more things like..."

"Shush!" Bel interrupted with a gaze that keened on the ring. Slowly, a bewildered smile plastered his face, and it made Leo's brow fuse together.

"What? You saw a ghost." He asked after some minutes of staring at Bel's awkward and bittersweet smile.

"This is an abyss ring, and a higher version of my spatial ring," He raised his palm for Leo to glare at, and out of the blues came a black ring that tightly wore on his finger.

"Has that ring been with you ever since?"

"I course, how do you think I bring food from Nonius, down to the lair."

He continued, "Your abyss ring has infinite storage, and may be able to store live creatures!"

"Useless! Why did I not take something even better?" Leo cursed at Bel's revelation while staring at the ring with uttermost dejection, "Bel, tell me something important, how does the wit's deja vu works?"

"How should I know, those creatures are legendary, and they have never used that ability on..."

Bel paused almost like he'd remember something. He snapped his finger with a smiling face after some seconds,

"The wit used its ability on me, once, and I think the ability works on a specific range, and you'll become immune after some time. And by the way, you can avoid it by shutting your eyes from the light."

"Wow!" Leo felt he could only jaw-drop at the detailed explanation from Bel. He nodded with a hard gulp of his saliva, and he finally spoke, "But... Isn't the light from the wit brighter than usual, is it possible to avoid the light?"

"You could blindfold yourself with a leather cloth, or rather... Your illusion will be the perfect par."