Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix - Chapter 432

Chapter 432: The Troubled Princess

Asura stood at the entrance of the mine, with his shimmering eyes watching the tunnel. He could sense them; more than a dozen people inside the mine, likely miners from the empire.

Without a moment passing, he held his palm towards the tunnel, creating two magic circles, one the colour of earth that began to create a stone wall blocking the entrance. The other was a crimson colour that became jet black before spewing the flames of destruction into the mines, with immense power spreading its flames to the very depths.

Deep in the mines, his enhanced hearing could hear their cries and screams of agony. They begged the goddess to save them. However, Asura felt no pain or mental anguish from their tortured cries as they burned and suffocated to death, his stone wall blocking them inside.

‘They should die quickly after this…’ He thought to himself before snapping his fingers. The sudden sound evoked over seven magic circles inside the mines that continuously spewed more flames while he sealed the entrance completely.

“Asura, are you alright?” Lucia’s voice came from his back. The same beautiful voice and her black eyes, like the void, watched him with sincere worry.

Maybe if it was before the day he thought Ignis died, Asura might have felt pain doing this act.

However, at this moment, he felt nothing but satisfaction that Rasha and her city would be safe. If only for a few more days or weeks.

Asura believed that without this iron, the Empire would not recklessly attack the forest with a large army. Though he wouldn’t take that risk, despite that, the women behind him gazed at his back as if Asura was suffering or enduring something.

“Are you alright, Lord Asura?” Rasha’s lovely low voice sounded as she skittered closer. Her legs tapped the ground while she fiddled with her long, delicate fingers, occasionally gazing at Asura with worried eyes.

‘Everything is alright…’

“I am fine, Rasha. But when did you start speaking so polite? Aren’t you always speaking down to me like a kid?”

“Huh.. I mean… It is… That…” She mumbled, trying to explain herself with an expression of panic.

“You need not worry, Rasha. I just didn’t want you to dirty your beautiful legs, killing these people, okay?” Asura’s crimson eyes gazed at her shimmering black legs with the fair white hairs leading to her back. He felt regretful that his request stained them with the blood and flesh of humans.

Even if he knew this was something, she needed to stand beside him. It made him feel irritated and his chest became tight seeing her look of sorrow. Her eight eyes were like a collection of beautiful gemstones, all glistening and watching him alone.

“But I can kill, Lord Asura. If it’s for you, I will slaughter any foe, human or Demon.” Her words came out calmly, yet her eyes looked determined.

As she glanced at her body covered in a dress, she didn’t hesitate to pull the cloth up to her waist, revealing the smooth connection of her human and spider forms.

Maybe it was something that she feared to show. He remembered now that all arachne women seemed to hide the part where their human and monster parts mixed into one.

“Don’t get too full of yourself,” Asura teased her. “Or do you want me to tell your mother about our little secret?”

Rasha’s face became red, and her cheeks puffed; she bit her lips before her hands dragged the cloth down. The way she looked at him showed her embarrassment, making her eyes look away while her pale face was a bright red. “Hmph! Mother will find out eventually, so I don’t mind.”

“That’s true,” Asura replied before pulling her into his embrace and stroking her silky white hair. As the lovely arachne trembled slightly in his embrace, Lucia watched everything with her dull gaze, hardly showing a response, at least to the naked eye.

However, Asura could see that all of her shadows were hugging him tightly from all sides, their faces bright red and pouting.

‘It looks like she improved her skill with those shadow clones… All I can do with mine is overlap them with myself and increase my physical strength…’

Asura, unable to help himself, gently kissed the top of Rasha’s head. Though his cold and calm eyes had always seemed full of a certain darkness, they were soft and gentle, making him seem like a completely different person.

Over the past year, Asura himself felt that he no longer resembled the man he was in the past, be it the Asura from his previous life or the man who met Xavida at the gates of the academy.

His path and changes were so great that he sometimes didn’t understand who he was.

‘Well… The fact she shows her emotions better is fine with me.’

He always worried about Lucia after she became a shade because her emotions and previous self changed drastically. Though he was thankful, she stopped being flirtatious or heading down that path. Asura wondered if he had caused her to change too much and felt guilty towards the beautiful instructor who used to chase him so ardently.

“Rasha, we should go back and inform your mother. I have a feeling that the empire will probably attack again…”

Asura glanced up and down her body before continuing. “And we need a bath. Let’s go.”

“Okay!”

As Rasha’s cheerful voice echoed, he watched her smile as he released her. The small arachne then rushed towards the previous mine, using the trees and her webbing to rush through the forest with ease.

“Lucia, are you jealous?”

“Nn…”

“Come here, I will make you feel better.”

A small, embarrassed voice came from his shadow. “But the princess is waiting…”

‘This girl pretends to be caring, but her shadows cling to me like abandoned lovers…’

“Then let’s not keep her waiting.”

Lucia’s pouting face appeared from a shadow. Her eyes were glaring at him before she vanished. Though it might seem that he was rude to her, in reality, Lucia’s number one enjoyment was to linger inside Asura’s shadow.

He only learned this after a month of spending time together and catching her delighted and obsessing eyes, watching him from the corner of his eyes sometimes.

‘If only she wouldn’t think this way when I say things like that…’

‘But it’s fun to tease her. It’s like training…’

He pondered as he began to walk while Rasha waited for him in the distance.

“Lucia, I love you,” He whispered.

Asura didn’t notice, but the moment he spoke, the shadow behind him transformed into a monstrous figure for a moment before the eyes and faces of the various Lucia appeared with bright red faces as all of them reached for his back, like demonic hands stretching from the depths of hell.

If asked, though, maybe he would still refer to this as her charm.

***

The sky turned dark red as the sun started to fade by the time they returned to the city, a beautiful hue lighting the elegant and exotic city filled with culture and architecture that looked different to Silvara and the other nations.

‘To think this city would look so pretty thanks to the high-class silk used to make their decorations…’

Although ordinary silk had many drawbacks, the ones created by high-ranking arachne were resistant to high and low temperatures, water and most of the natural elements of the outside world.

Rather than cloth, their main product was, in fact, silk. There were too many uses for monster silk. The arachne mixed their roads with a special type of silk—the slimy and sticky type was cooled and mixed with stone to form the paths and roads. It felt like they were walking on the smooth road of hardened silk, creating a cool sensation under their feet.

Even the people and arachne moving about the street wore clothes made from high-quality silk that covered their bodies elegantly. The citizens also carried different objects with them, such as sacks of goods or children wrapped in silk cloth, making it look like a unique type of baby carriage.

‘What would this place look like if the empire took over?’

He felt that the way their culture used silk was a little extreme. Nevertheless, if it worked for them for thousands of years, who was he to doubt it? However, he believed there must be a way to improve their kingdom and use the silk with modern techniques that the dwarves and Silvaran technicians created.

“Are you alright Rasha? You seem quiet.”

“I’m fine, it’s just… I am so happy to see my people smile once again, even if there is a chance of another war or battle. I want them to enjoy this moment of peace a little longer. It’s been so harsh for them…”

Asura quietly listened as Rasha talked. When he accepted her and Yufa’s desire to travel to the East and help them, he never intended for things to become this drastic.

“In a few weeks, or even months, I will leave and will not return to this place for a long time, so it worries me.” Rasha’s hand clasped Asura’s palm tightly; unlike before, she wasn’t acting bratty—instead, her beautiful eyes gazed upon the city from the walls and made Asura see her as a princess for the first time.

“I won’t rush you, let’s remain here and help your people and ensure the empire won’t attack again. Then when you are ready to say goodbye. I will take you, with everyone offering you a warm farewell.”

“Really? You’re not just saying that to bed me right?”

“If I was that horny, I have many women who already share my bed, you know?”

“Fufu~ that was right, you have many women already. I forgot, okay then~ I will trust you this once, please my prince. Don’t forget your word.”

“I won’t, let’s go see your mother.”