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Chapter 701 Astral Blessings

　　Layla stared at the man bleeding before her. It was no other than Rattlesnake, the man responsible for many of her troubles. He was bleeding from different parts of his body with his face badly burned by the fire after falling on it.

　　"I healed him. Is he a friend? At this rate, he will die. Oh, he is trying to regenerate the wounds using his stamina. I can't have that until I get an answer." Ai placed her down on him again, and the man started screaming. "I will keep them reopening."

　　"No, not a friend. However, there is no need…" said Layla as she snapped out of it and grabbed Ai's hand. The healer paused and turned to look at her from behind the veil. Layla thought she saw the firelight reflecting beneath the veil in her big, confused eyes. "There is no need to taint your hands with murder."

　　The reason Layla gave was absurd. In this world and time, not killing was considered a privilege of the wealthy. All of the rest had to defend themselves. However, she didn't want to see the sweet healer she met turn into a cold-blooded killer.

　　"He was about to kill you," said Ai with confusion. "Are you that forgiving?"

　　"Forgiving? No. I just want to be the one to finish him off," whispered Layla while letting go of Ai's forearm and holding her hand instead. "He is too filthy to die by your hands."

　　"I… okay…" Ai nodded with confusion as she squeezed Layla's hand. Then, Layla helped her stand beside the bleeding man. Then, the two walked away from the fireplace until they were inches from the boulder.

　　"Look at this wall for a second until I'm done," instructed Layla, and Ai nodded. The healer faced the wall as Layla went back toward the barely-breathing man.

　　"Plea..se.. no… more…" he was begging with a hoarse voice. However, his wounds were regenerating. Layla had to strike before he had the strength to attack again. "Agh!" roared the man with agony as Layla stabbed the sword into his thigh and twisted it.

　　"Tell me the reason you wanted to kill me. It can't be because of the sign. We worked together before, and you had no problems with that. So who is trying to kill me?"

　　"I… don't…."

　　The man was about to deny, and Layla pulled the sword out and pressed it against his crotch. The man whimpered in place as he knew that his following words would decide whether he lived in unimaginable pain.

　　"It was revenge for what happened a year ago… The man behind it is… Erin… Voldor…" The man confessed, but it made Layla confused. Is it possible that the prince was this petty?

　　"What are his reasons?"

　　"It was a threat… for that old geezer, I think, and he didn't comply," said Rattlesnake before he reached toward his sword in one swift motion. However, Layla was already ready, and her sword pierced his neck.

　　The man struggled as he bled to death, but it was over in a few seconds. It was scary to see an animate object turn inanimate in nothing but a moment.

　　"Miss Ai, it's over, but the sight might be too much for you," said Layla, but Ai turned without hesitation. She walked to the corpse and started healing it until Rattlesnake was without a single injury. Fortunately, however, he was still dead.

　　"No one deserves to live with scars, not even the dead," said Ai as she stared at the man. "I heard what the two of you talked about. Is the man who tried to kill you capable?"

　　"He is very capable," Layla admitted while shaking her head. "However, it doesn't matter. He won't lay his hands on me if I join the Holy Knights."

　　"And what about the person you want to save?" asked Ai, and the sword trembled in Layla's hand. Ai seemed to notice that, and she stood up before grabbing the sword-holding hand and moving it to sheath the blade. "Look at me, Layla," ordered Ai as she held Layla's face with both hands. "Everything will be fine. I promise."

　　Layla stared at the veiled face and again believed a pair of eyes were looking at her. However, the warmth on her face was all she needed to feel better. She nodded before wiping away tears from her face.

　　"Let's sleep," said Ai before the two of them leaned on the boulder, should to shoulder, and closed their eyes. "I'm sure tomorrow we'll get out of this place."

　　***

　　The subsequent trials were where corpses began to appear. Each time Layla found herself on the verge of death, Ai was there to heal her back to her best shape. It made Layla feel like she had a reset button that she could use to go from trial to trial without any wounds.

　　Ai wasn't that chatty, but Layla bombarded her with questions. However, most of the questions about her homeland were shot down. All Layla managed to make out is that she lived in a village, but it was attacked, and then Ai joined some sort of religion.

　　It might have been a desperate attempt to get close to Ai, but Layla found herself talking about everything she could think. As long as Ai listened, it didn't matter what she was saying.

　　The healer didn't fight much after what happened with Rattlesnake, whose corpse was left inside the trial ground. Layla didn't ask her to do any, either. Even when surrounded, Layla ensured that Ai didn't get involved.

　　"It's not that I don't trust you, but I think you are already doing a lot just healing me. You don't have infinite mana, so you are doing more work than I am since my mana gets refilled after every fight," explained Layla.

　　"There are conditions to using my abilities, too," said Ai. "If the enemy hasn't been injured in the last weeks, I can't do anything against them. However, I can ensure that every strike of yours keeps hurting them repeatedly."

　　"That is scary and helpful, but no," said Layla as she patted Ai's head. "I can take care of this. This trial is to sharpen my skills. The healing you do for me… is something I can never repay."

　　"I'm doing what I want to do, no more, no less," said Ai while she stared at the blue sky. "How many trials are left? This dungeon is far more difficult than I thought it would be."

　　"It's not a single dungeon. Otherwise, we could have left. Instead, this place results from countless fissures appearing simultaneously, creating a path of challenges that resets every three days."

　　"Every three days?" wondered Ai aloud and counted. "It has been two days since you entered this place, which means we must finish the rest of the trials in a single day."

　　"There are no trials left, just one," Layla said. "However, it's the most difficult one. We call it the Trial of Souls because it's a spiritual one."

　　"Then, what are we resting here for?"

　　"Listen, Ai. This trial is different from the rest. I can't protect you as I did before, so you must pass it yourself. I researched for a long time about this trial because most of us die here. Once we enter, we'll be separated and challenged differently by an Astral Being."

　　"An Astral Being?" asked Ai with surprise. "Are you saying that we need to defeat an Astral Being? This is more like a suicide rather than a trial!"

　　"You seem agitated," asked Layla with surprise. "Have you met one of them?"

　　"I… I have the memory of their presence," Ai said while holding her shaking hand. "Listen, Layla. There is no way for us to win this against an Astral Being. These creatures transcend when an Astra-ranker can summon them. These are true gods!"

　　"Calm down, Ai. We are not going to defeat them. Otherwise, we wouldn't need this trial to grow stronger. Instead, we will need to seek their strength and approval. It is called the Trial of Souls because we will leave our bodies to seek a contract with them."

　　"A contract?"

　　"We call it Blessings. This is the real reason that this Land of Trials is so expensive. Anyone who can receive an Astral Blessing before reaching the Astra-rank will grow tremendously powerful."

　　"Blessings," repeated Ai. "It is befitting since those beings are the gods themselves. Are you saying that I need to do it too?"

　　"This is the only way to leave this trial ground. Otherwise, you will be stuck here forever. However, I learned a method to train spiritual powers. So, on this leftover day, I will teach you how to use it for the both of us to leave."