Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Roza raised her eyebrows in surprise upon hearing the history behind the Whiteraven ale.

She felt that after such a story, the drink had somehow become even more tantalizing.

"This…" Roza was left speechless after taking the first sip of the Whiteraven ale.

The taste of the drink wasn't particularly extraordinary; it went down smoothly on one's palate. However, the effect it had on her body exceeded her expectations.

Roza felt as though she had swallowed molten lava that was slowly trickling down her throat. Her mana circuits seemed to ignite, and the flow of mana within her body became restless.

As she gazed at the ever-restless waves, she sensed a similar turbulence within herself. Her mana core felt agitated, spinning rapidly before beginning to absorb the surrounding mana.

"Enjoy the effect while it lasts, Roza," Eren said with a smile, though he didn't look at her. He could discern what was happening to her and reassured her.

"This ale stimulates one's Path to Power to some extent. It can bring great benefits to one's Path if consumed for a period of time.

Unfortunately, repeated use of the drink yields diminishing results until it ceases to work altogether.

I can't produce this kind of ale in Labh Salem due to logistical issues. But I also don't wish to. This drink—its flavor belongs to my homeworld.

It's my gift to the place of my birth," Eren explained as he took another sip.

The butcher had long been immune to the Whiteraven ale's beneficial effects, and the drink no longer stimulated his mana circuits. Nonetheless, that didn't stop him from enjoying it.

All of a sudden...

"Ugh!" Eren doubled over in pain as a sudden bout of agony washed over him.

"Aaaaaah!" he screamed, releasing threatening waves of mana with himself at the center.

His Elemental Attainments leaked out, affecting the surroundings. The sea waves grew tumultuous as if a storm was brewing in the depths.

They surged higher and crashed onto the shore, washing over everything in their path. The force of the waves threatened to reach Eren's position, despite his sitting well back on the beach, away from the shoreline.

The night sky seemed to fracture under some unknown force, as if it were merely a reflection on the surface of a vast, fragile glass, on the brink of shattering into a million pieces.

The multifaceted Sin Series mana was summoned in the surroundings as if ready to do anything and everything at their summoner's simple command.

"My liege," Roza was startled by the sudden changes. However, before she could set her drink down and tend to Eren, he had already straightened up, the painful expression gone from his face.

The world returned to its normalcy as if everything Roza had observed around her were nothing but figments of her imagination. A cold drop of sweat ran down her neck as she realized that the phenomenon had disrupted her perception of time as well.

"I... I am alright. It's just the early signs of my S-Rank breakthrough," Eren took a deep breath and explained.

"My Ranker's Calamity is drawing closer. I am essentially suppressing my breakthrough at this point. This—this is not the right time to create a ruckus," Eren said casually as if it were no big deal.

Roza murmured to herself, still in a daze, contemplating the implications of Eren's S-Rank breakthrough. A subconscious hint from one of the 72 Ars Goetia Demons within her suggested that his Ranker's Calamity might defy all established standards set for Rankers by the rules governing the boundless cosmos.

Calming herself, Roza observed that Eren had returned to normal.

She noted how his powers had been rapidly growing ever since he acquired Rootless Tantra. His mastery over the elements of nature had increased exponentially. Slowly but surely, he was fulfilling the promise of becoming the Lord of the Elements, as the Rootless Tantra had foretold.

"No wonder the sea is quite restless tonight," Roza remarked, glancing at Eren and then out at the turbulent sea. With Eren's God Spark being related to water, his mere presence seemed to exert some influence over the sea, even when he didn't actively intend to do so.

Eren chuckled softly upon hearing Roza's observation.

"In Anfang, I seldom had the chance to witness the ocean's beauty," he reflected, his gaze fixed on the sea.

"Our habitable regions were landlocked due to the Badlands, where ferocious mana beasts and bloodthirsty monsters kept most Rankers away from the shore. It wasn't until the Great Shattering that I truly got to see the ocean's majesty.

When I first saw it, to me, the sea seemed boundless and eternal—like a true Immortal within nature.

The sea is much like the sky, right? Yet it offers a sense of closeness without losing one's grounding. You don't have to fly. You don't have to jump. You just need to take steps in the right direction to meet this monstrous presence that surrounds all life.

The sea is perhaps the closest thing to an Immortal being for many of us. Its untamed nature awakens something profound within us if we allow it to. Its high tides wash away feelings of loneliness, while its seafoam erases the burdens of the past.

The debris it casts ashore serves as a reminder of the transient nature of all things. It helps cleanse the soul of regrets and unfulfilled desires, one wave at a time.

And the ceaseless rhythm of the waves soothes the mind, bringing solace.

So when this same sea becomes an unstoppable force of destruction, one can't help but wonder how many troubled souls it has embraced over time, before succumbing to turmoil," Eren mused, addressing both Roza and himself simultaneously.

Eren's words carried a simplicity that belied their profound impact on Roza. She longed for an Array Disk to capture his every utterance, to replay them in solitude and savor their depth.

It seemed as though with each word, Eren was refining his divinity, delving deeper into the essence of his God Spark. Each memory he stirred within himself served to illuminate his understanding.

"My liege... he is honing his divinity, akin to the Immortals.

Perhaps… He... he will transcend the realm of a mere demi-god soon," Roza pondered silently, struggling to retain Eren's words in her mind.

Yet, they magically slipped away from her mind like the ebb and flow of the sea before her, lost to the endless expanse of nothingness.