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“Returning to the surface is a must, but I’m not too concerned, not with an Earth Spirit Contractor around,” Helia replied.

Death by suffocation would have been a big concern.

However, Vaan’s contracted earth spirit changed everything. Even if they were buried under several hundred feet of the earth, they should be able to make it out in time.

“Can you clear the way for us?”

“Kyuu!”

After receiving Vaan’s request, Topaz answered affirmatively before she quickly got to work, drilling a path back to the surface.

Meanwhile, Helia had been receiving the silent stare of another person in the underground shelter.

“Don’t you have anything to say to me, Lord Helia?” Aeliana glared without any intention of hiding her hostilities.

Helia had avoided Aeliana.

But after the question was raised, Helia had no choice but to respond to her._.

“You’re right, Lord Aeliana. I do have a lot to say to you.” Helia nodded and said, “Although I don’t know how you managed to recover from your berserk state, allow me to congratulate you on making it back. It must have been hell.”

“You’re right. It was definitely hell. And during that hell, there were several people I wanted to tear apart with my own hands!” Aeliana stated.

Her eyes glinted dangerously with intense bloodlust and killing intent that wasn’t inferior to a killer of ten thousand humans.

Helia was surprised Aeliana could emit such intense bloodlust and killing intent.

After all, she knew Aeliana couldn’t have killed so many humans, whether it was prior to the berserk transformation or after it.

‘How did she accumulate such a powerful bloodlust and killing intent without actual killing? Is this a side effect of being an Abomination for three years?’ Helia briefly wondered.

Nevertheless, she furrowed her brows in the next moment.

“If you are blaming me for what happened to you, then you are being unreasonable, Lord Aeliana. You won the magic flower fair and square, and what happened after wasn’t something anyone could have guessed.”

“But the magic flower was made by your elder sister, Elvira Ashenborn, the Fallen Witch who tortured me for the past three years! I want nothing more than to erase your entire bloodline! Maybe that will prevent the birth of another Fallen Witch from your household!”

After Aeliana blamed her entire bloodline, Helia frowned with growing anger. Even so, she forcefully held it in. She didn’t want to deal with Aeliana’s issue in their present situation.

“Rein in your feelings, Aeliana. Now is not the time to settle your vendettas.”

“If that is your command, my Lord.”

Vaan’s words dispelled Aeliana’s surging bloodlust and killing intent in an instant as she replied to him with a happy smile.

The sharp change in emotion amazed Helia and Astoria for various reasons.

Nevertheless, Astoria’s eyes brightened with adoration and reverence in the next moment as if her doubts had been verified.

‘Lord Aeliana’s recovery had something to do with Teacher Raphna!’ Astoria determined.

At the same time, the three Aura Grandmasters and four Senior Witches erupted with their private gossip.

“I can’t believe it. I did think she looked somewhat familiar, but it turned out to actually be Lady Aeliana, the Lord of Sunpeak Town.”

“Lord Aeliana turned into a Plant-type Abomination three years ago, but here she stands before us, back in her former self. This is a ground-breaking discovery!”

“Right? Lord Aeliana’s recovery gives hope to all the Abominations out there, as well as future Abominations! It’s possible to recover from the berserk transformation!”

As the Aura Grandmasters and Senior Witches quietly chatted, they followed the upward path created by Vaan’s contracted earth spirit.

Vaan supported both Aeliana and Astoria on their way up the slope.

Sometime later, everyone saw the sunlight as they made it back to the surface and saw the devastation all around them.

An entire side of the mountain and several areas connected at the foot of it had collapsed like an enormous sinkhole of seismic proportions.

Not a single tree could be found standing within the collapsed region.

“Such destruction to the land… The others are unlikely to have survived the collapse,” Helia stared at the devastation with a blank look.

So many good aura users and witches had died on this punitive expedition.

“Even the camp had been swallowed… Wait, the people at the camp have a much higher chance of survival. There could be some survivors over there!” Helia quickly guessed.

As their location wasn’t too far from the camp, she quickly made her way over to search the area. The Aura Grandmasters and Senior Witchs followed after her.

Vaan also helped Aeliana and Astoria head over as he held them up, one in each arm.

“How is your body’s condition, Headmaster Astoria?” Vaan inquired.

“I’m doing better now, but I still need more time for a full recovery. Some of my bones are still broken,” Astoria calmly replied.

However, Vaan could see that her cheeks were slightly red.

‘Blushing, perhaps…?’

“Lord Aeliana, allow me to assist you,” an Aura Grandmaster turned back and offered.

He thought it was a good idea to build a good impression and earn the Lord of Sunpeak Town’s favor now that she was back.

However, Aeliana immediately snapped at the Aura Grandmaster as he reached his hand out toward her with a smile.

“Keep your filthy hands to yourself, mongrel! I did not give you permission to touch me!” Aeliana glared at the Aura Grandmaster with a sudden spike in her bloodlust and killing intent.

The Aura Grandmaster immediately froze before he retracted his hand awkwardly. At the same time, he glanced at Vaan with a wry smile.

Evidently, Aeliana’s goodwill exclusively extended to Vaan and Vaan only.

“I apologize if I had offended you, Lord Aeliana,” the Aura Grandmaster expressed before excusing himself to rejoin the others.

As they searched the area, they found a small group of aura users and witches helping others escape from piles of rubbles, logs, and broken tree parts.

…

“Lord Helia, you’re alive!”

Multiple Aura Masters and Senior Witches in the buried camp area rejoiced with pleasant surprises when they spotted Helia approaching.

Nevertheless, Helia replied with furrowed brows, “Are you cursing me to an early grave?”

“N-not at all, Lord Helia!”