Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires-Chapter 317: Fragment of Power

'Sworn enemies of the elves? Isn't that a bit exaggerated? But if I take her words at face value... then she sees me as an enemy.' Zaroth's mind raced. Of all the ways his first encounter with an elf could have unfolded, this was the last scenario he had imagined.

Clearing his throat, he struggled to keep his emotions in check. "Why do you think that I am a part demon?" he asked, managing to make his voice sound calm and composed.

Without saying anything else, the elf extended her index finger and pointed it at Zaroth's palm.

As if responding to the gesture, the symbol appeared and began to glow with its eerie crimson light.

Zaroth stared at the back of his hand in disbelief. 'How the hell did she make it appear? Isn't it only supposed to react if I will it, or if it touches holy water?'

"There are very few things that can escape my gaze," she spoke calmly as she got off the table that she was sitting on.

At that moment, Zaroth realized the elf stood taller than him—an imposing figure nearly a meter and ninety centimeters high.

He hesitated, then said, "Okay, you got me. I am part demon—more accurately, a vampire. But then why are you looking at me like that? If what you said is true, you should find me… threatening ." He was referring to the curious smile tugging at her lips.

It was bizarre—she was the one chained, and he was the one holding a weapon, yet there wasn't the slightest hint of fear on her face.

"The thing is," she replied, "Our enemies are true demons. Not things like you. Besides… why would I feel threatened by you?"

She couldn't help but suppress a small scoff.

"After all… you're weak."

Silence.

All the things that she could have called him, she chose to call him weak.

Zaroth didn't consider himself powerful by any stretch, but he couldn't remember the last time anyone had dared call him that.

"I… weak?" he muttered.

"Don't misunderstand me," the elf continued. "You are stronger than the average, but what I am referring to is the thing that is in you. With it, you should be much stronger than this…"

Shaking his head, he frowned, "Now slow down, you are not making any sense. What are you talking about?"

While he asked the question, he silently panicked. 'She doesn't know that I have Luna, right? I haven't summoned her, so there is no way for her to know… but then what was she referring to?'

The elf was visibly surprised when she heard his question. "Wait, you are telling me you have a Fragment in you, but you are not even aware of it?"

"Fragment?" Zaroth repeated, confused. It was the first time he'd heard of anything like that.

'Luna, do you know what she is talking about?' Just to be sure, he asked his trusty dragon companion.

'No,' she immediately replied. 'But… Zaroth, be careful around her,' Luna warned.

'Why, Is she strong?' he replied.

Luna stayed silent for a few moments.

'That's the problem. I don't know.' she replied honestly.

He was taken by surprise. 'But I thought you could easily gauge a person's power,'

'Normally, yes. I sense their mana. But her? There's nothing. Not even the tiniest amount of mana in her body. I don't know how that's possible… she shouldn't even be alive right now.'

While Zaroth was having his silent exchange with Luna, the elf muttered to herself, "He bears a Fragment, yet knows nothing about it…? So he's not one of the Fated Ones? If that's true… then he's an anomaly."

"Whatever," Zaroth suddenly spoke up, "Here's what's clear—you're trapped by those chains and need to be freed. In return, I want you to teach me—"

"No. I will not be teaching you anything about our runes," she cut him off.

He was stunned for a moment. "The hell do you mean you won't? You're literally a prisoner right now! If you want me to let you go, I want something in return. That's a fair deal!" he reasoned.

"If you want to learn how our runes work, the only way is to travel to our continent and be taught by an elder," she said plainly.

Frowning, he began to scratch his head. 'Is she an idiot? She obviously isn't in the position to be arguing! Now I have to somehow convince her to teach me how runes work; otherwise, this trip will have been a waste!'

While he was deep in thought, the elf stared at him in silence, then something clicked in her expression.

'Wait… if he doesn't know what he has, then even the gods don't know… That means he could be useful.'

"Tell me," she said suddenly. "Have there been any strange occurrences around you lately? Things that can only be explained by divine influence?"

"Why should I tell you anything?" he snapped.

Tilting her head to the side, she flashed him a smile. "Because I will be grateful."

Seeing no harm in toying with her, Zaroth smirked. "Yeah, actually. A man sacrificed hundreds of thousands just to obtain the body of a Demigod. Unfortunately for him, he's not around anymore—I killed him. That answer your question?"

He expected her to be offended, to call out his obvious lie. But to his surprise, she looked genuinely thoughtful. "I see. That makes sense," she said, nodding slightly.

'Wait, she believed that?!' He was surprised by her response.

Before he could form another thought, a loud shout echoed in his head. 'ZAROTH!' It was Luna, and until now he had never heard her being that panicked. 'GET OUT OF THERE NOW!' she warned.

He arched an eyebrow behind the mask. 'Huh? Why, what happened?'

'Something is wrong with the space around you—get out of there now!' she repeated, her voice sounding more and more urgent.

"I must thank you. I've gained far more from this short visit than I ever expected," the elf said calmly.

Right in front of him, the titanium chains binding her shattered into countless jagged shards.

"How did you do that?!" Startled, he got into a fighting stance with his odachi pointing forward. He thought he was the one in control, considering that she was being restrained by titanium chains. Yet they broke that easily? Even he would struggle to break them with all his might.

'Crap, do I have to fight her now? My mana core is drained from the last fight!' he cursed in his mind.

A shiver went down his spine as he remembered Luna's warning.

"Wait," the elf spoke and appeared right before him. She moved so fast it was almost like she had teleported herself… maybe she indeed had.

What caught Zaroth's attention more, however, was that she was gripping the blade of his odachi with her right palm tightly—and there was not even a speck of blood coming out of her skin.

He tensed his muscles, trying to pull the odachi out of her grasp, but it proved futile—it was stuck, as if overwhelming power was holding it in place.

"Now, now… there's no need to fight, is there? I only want to ask you a few questions," the elf said, her smile growing unnervingly wide as a sinister glow flickered in her eyes.

At that moment, Zaroth recalled what Elysia had taught him about the elves back when he was still at the academy. It seemed he might have bitten off far more than he could chew.