That was when Jonathan had a sudden realization.
What does she mean by that? She makes it sound like I'll peek at her if | don't step outside when she's showering! This is an insult to my integrity! Oh, who am | kidding? Jonathan, you know you'd peek at her for sure if you didn't step outside! Of course, Jonathan kept those thoughts to himself. As he had already prepared his change of clothes yesterday, he grabbed them and went straight into the bathroom.
Although he didn't get to peek at Lailah in the shower, he still felt weird knowing she was just outside the bathroom while he showered.
After taking a shower, Jonathan looked rather fresh as he stepped out of the bathroom in a black T-shirt and jeans.
“I've already accepted the mission. You should accept it for yourself as well,” Lailah said without even looking up at him.
Since this was work-related, Jonathan had no reason to
reject. He then made his way over to her and sat down on the corner of the bed. Lailah handed him the laptop, and he clicked on the button to accept his mission.
Jonathan then received a text message on his phone seconds later.
The unique logo of Divine Realm appeared on the screen when he tapped on the message, and it prompted him to input his mark in order to access its content.
Jonathan then scanned the mark on his arm and tapped on the button to display his mission.
It was a dual-level mission that required Jonathan and Lailah to search for the Sinai Bible.
As they only had one month to complete it, time was most certainly of the essence.
“Did you see the note for this mission?” Lailah said.
“No. What does it say?” Jonathan asked.
“Third Sacred Temple,” Lailah replied.
Jonathan frowned in confusion. “Third Sacred Temple?
What does that mean?” “King Sergiu's temple was known as the First Sacred Temple. That has been confirmed by the Irethielian Cultural Heritage Administration. According to them, the First Sacred Temple did indeed exist. I'm not too sure what "Third Sacred Temple' means, though.” “Could it be that the Sinai Bible isn't in the First Sacred Temple? Could there be a third one that we don't know of?” Jonathan asked.
“There hasn't been any rumors about a Third Sacred Temple.” “Even so, this is a clue. We should start by looking for the Third Sacred Temple.” Lailah turned to look at Jonathan as she asked, “How do you plan on doing that?” “We don't know anything about King Sergiu's Sacred Temples, so I'm planning on checking out the ruins of the shrine tomorrow. We'll see if we can find any clues on the Sacred Temples. After that. we'll go ask around and
hopefully get more information,” Jonathan replied.
“All right, we'll do it your way.” Lailah then paused for a few seconds before continuing, “From what | know, countless people have come to Yeringham looking for King Sergiu's treasures over the past hundreds of years, but none of them managed to find anything. I'm afraid it might be difficult for us to get any information by asking around.” Jonathan let out a chuckle. “Oh, it's definitely going to be difficult. The three Ninth Immortality Pills are priceless treasures, after all. They wouldn't be priceless if it was that easy to obtain them.” Lailah nodded. “That's a good mindset to have. Just don't blame me if we fail and get sealed off for ten years!” “I'm an adult, and this is my decision. It's only natural that | take responsibility for what will happen!” Jonathan said with a smile.
Lailah returned his smile before changing the topic. “How do you think Lucio would react?”
“He wouldn't dare make a move on his own now that I'm with you. He'd only come after us if he is very confident in taking us on, which means he must've found someone to help him out.” “You would be right to say that.” “He probably knew we were coming for the Sinai Bible the moment we boarded that plane. | bet he has already come up with a plan and is making his move as we speak.” Those words had barely left Jonathan's mouth when a notification tone came from his phone.
“See? What did | tell you? He's here now!” Jonathan said.
As Jonathan and Lailah were on the same mission, they both received the notification.
The two of them pulled out their phones simultaneously and scanned the marks on their arms to display the content.
Jonathan was a little surprised to see that Lucio had been added to the mission, but Jeremy wasn't.
He had assumed both Lucio and Jeremy would join
together.
The look on Jonathan's face soon changed as yet another person was added to the mission.
That person was none other than Gabriel himself.
“What the... So, this b*stard really is alive!” Jonathan mumbled to himself. This has got to be him! There's no way this is another person who just happens to share the same name.
“What's the matter? Is there something wrong with Gabriel?” Lailah asked when she noticed his strange expression.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtJonathan nodded. “Gabriel is a really weird guy. | have ‘some history with him.” Lailah felt a little speechless when she heard that. “You sure have a lot of enemies for a nobody.” “Hey, this really isn't my fault! Let's just say Gabriel isn't exactly a very nice guy, okay? Still, | am curious, how did someone like him even qualify to become a member of
Divine Realm?” Jonathan protested.
“I'm not sure about that, but | can try to look into his files,” Lailah replied.
After a few minutes of typing on the laptop, she was able to find some information on Gabriel. “It looks like Gabriel was accepted into Divine Realm on an exceptional basis by Master Oswald. He is now a disciple of Master Oswald and in the inner circle like me.” Jonathan let out a sigh. “I passed all those tests and went through life-and-death situations, and yet, I'm only a Bronze member of Divine Realm's outer circle. That's the lowest level, for goodness’ sake! How is Gabriel able to become an inner disciple...” Lailah was really curious about Jonathan's identity. “What happened between you two? There must be something special about Gabriel if Master Oswald made an exception and took him in as his disciple. I'm guessing he's the one backing Lucio up. Otherwise, he wouldn't have joined the mission, knowing full well that I'm in it.”
“So, what happened was..." Instead of trying to hide the truth from her, Jonathan told her everything about him helping Felicia and his grudge against Gabriel.
“In other words, luck was what saved you from dying at Gabriel's hands?” Lailah asked.
“That's right. But | broke both of his legs and threw him off a cliff, so I'm not sure how he survived that fall and got out of there,” Jonathan replied.
“I'm not too concerned about Lucio, but | have a very bad feeling about Gabriel. We have to kill him if we get the chance to,” Lailah said.
Jonathan nodded. “We are in complete agreement on that matter.” “Be on your guard when you sleep tonight. Logically speaking, they should still be in Lostaria right now.
However, it is also possible that they may have followed us here. For all we know, they could be waiting to kill us the moment we accept our mission,” Lailah reminded him.
Jonathan felt a shiver down his spine when he heard that.
“Got itl" “I'm going to bed now.” Lailah then pulled the blanket over her shoulder and went to sleep.
As the air-conditioning in the room was switched on, it felt really comfortable sleeping with a blanket on.
“What should | do?” Jonathan muttered under his breath as he felt uncomfortable sleeping on the bed with her.
Oh, screw it! My body is really fit and tough, so | should be fine! Eventually, he decided to just lie down on the floor beside the bed.
Unbeknownst to Jonathan and Lailah, Lucio and Gabriel were already staying in the Grand Yeringham Hotel. In fact, they had arrived in Yeringham and checked themselves into the hotel a day before.
Jonathan got careless as he forgot about Gabriel's ability to see the future with uncanny accuracy.
Meanwhile, Gabriel was sitting in a wheelchair in the presidential suite.
Despite Lucio's old age, he was still Gabriel's subordinate and had to serve him at all times.
The lighting in the living room was gentle and warm.
Gabriel casually sipped on a glass of red wine with ice cubes and a slice of lemon added to it.
“Gabriel, how do you plan on defeating Jonathan and Lailah?” Lucio asked while standing next to him like a servant.
Gabriel made a shushing motion at him as he replied, “It won't work if | tell you.” I'm not even sure if we can take those two on, and Gabriel still insists on being all mysterious about his plan? Urgh, this suspense is killing me! Despite feeling incredibly anxious, Lucio could only keep his mouth shut and his thoughts to himself.
“Relax, Lucio. Your hatred toward Jonathan is nothing
compared to mine. He was the one who broke my legs and put me through the ultimate humiliation of my life. He even destroyed everything | had in Crimson Onyx Sect,” Gabriel said, looking as charming as always.
Lucio gasped in shock when he heard that. “What? He's the one who broke your legs?” And here | thought Gabriel was a really powerful and capable man! I'm not sure how | feel about our chances now that | know he lost to Jonathan...
“I know what you're thinking, Lucio. You think we can't defeat Jonathan because he beat me in the past, right?” Gabriel asked with a faint smile.
“0-Of course not!” Lucio replied with an awkward chuckle as he didn't dare admit to it.
Aterrifying, cold glint appeared in Gabriel's eyes as he said, “It's perfectly normal for you to have such thoughts.
Just know that | didn't lose to Jonathan because of his capabilities or his wits. | only lost because my master set me up, that's all. Now that my master is gone, taking Jonathan out will be a piece of cake. No miracle will be able to save him this time!”
Noticing his extreme hatred for Jonathan, Lucio asked, “When will we make our move, Gabriel?” “Not now. Don't forget, we need Jonathan to locate the Sinai Bible. If we're lucky, he'll lead us to the Holy Chest too. Master Oswald might just let you into the inner circle as well if he is pleased with the results!” Gabriel reminded him.
His words were so persuasive that Lucio got all excited and started looking forward to it.
As Gabriel fiddled with the magic ring on his finger, his mind was flooded with memories of the humiliation Jonathan put him through.
“l only lost to you because of a miscalculation on my part, Jonathan. This time, | won't repeat that mistake again. I'm going to torture you to my heart's content, so try to stay alive for as long as you can,” he mumbled to himself with a gloomy look in his eyes.
Lailah saw Jonathan sleeping on the floor when she woke up in the middle of the night. While most other people would feel sorry for Jonathan and ask him to sleep on the bed, that was clearly not the case with Lailah. Oh, he's tough enough to sleep on the floor! | shouldn't have to feel bad for him at all! With that in mind, Lailah smiled faintly and went back to sleep.
Little did she know, Jonathan actually had sexual fantasies about her before he fell asleep.
Although he was a very honorable man, he still found himself being tempted when faced with Lailah. That was especially the case in intimate situations like these.
Even so, Jonathan had his limits and wouldn't act upon his sexual fantasies regardless of how strong the temptation was.
While having such urges was perfectly normal for a healthy young man like Jonathan, he was able to suppress said urges and keep his thoughts to himself.
Had he been the kind of guy who acted upon his impulses, he would've taken advantage of Jennifer long ago.
Jonathan ended up having a nightmare in the middle of the night.
In his dreams, he saw Gabriel sitting in a wheelchair and staring coldly at him while rotating a magic ring on his finger.
It looked as though Gabriel was trying to tell him that no miracle would save him from death this time.
“What the f*ck?” Jonathan yelled as he sat bolt upright.
Having been woken up by his sudden outburst, Lailah sat up straight and glanced at him in confusion. “What is it?” Jonathan rubbed his eyes and asked, “Huh? How did | end up on the floor? Did you kick me off the bed or something?” “Haha. Very funny, Jonathan,” Lailah replied coldly.
After giving it some thought, Jonathan recalled he had been sleeping on the floor all along. He then tried to change the subject by saying, “I had a nightmare. | dreamt of that b*stard Gabriel sitting in a dark corner and staring at me.” Lailah rolled her eyes at him in response. “You defeated Gabriel, didn't you? Why are you so scared of him that you're having nightmares before he even shows up?” “Please, I'm in the final stage of Nascent Soul! I'm only a step away from reaching Celestial Soul, for goodness’ sake! My mental state is incredibly strong, so there's no way I'd have nightmares! | bet Gabriel is in this hotel right now. He must've cast one of
those illusion spells from the Crimson Onyx Sect to try and intimidate me,” Jonathan replied.
Instead of coming up with a snappy comeback, Lailah froze and fell silent after hearing that. Being a powerful individual herself, she knew full well that Jonathan wouldn't possibly have such nightmares.
“If this really is Gabriel's doing, then his spiritual energy must be unusually powerful,” Lailah said after a brief pause.
“That guy has the ability to see the future. How about we go check with the staff at the front desk and see if Gabriel is staying here?” Jonathan suggested.
“It'd be pointless to do so if he's able to see the future,” Lailah replied.
“That's not necessarily true. He can only see a bit of the future, not every single detail. If we're able to find some information on him, we might be able to get the drop on him and take him out right away. What do you think?” “I think you're still dreaming. Master Oswald wouldn't have sent him here if he were that easily killed. You know, you
really should stop underestimating Master Oswald.” “I don't care. I'm going to try asking the front desk. You're free to come with me if you're afraid of Lucio jumping me!” Jonathan said as he got to his feet and made his way toward the door.
What if he's right? What if this is all a trap? What if Gabriel deliberately gave him that nightmare to flush him out of his room? Letting him go on his own would just give Lucio the perfect opportunity to Kill him! Not wanting to take any risks, Lailah let out a helpless sigh as she got off the bed and left the room with Jonathan.
Unbeknownst to her, Jonathan only dared leave the room on his own because he knew she would tag along.
He had actually been feeling rather depressed throughout the past two months. | felt unbeatable after achieving Neutralizing Force when | was in the Smealand woods. | honestly thought I'd be able to have my way after returning to Horington, only to realize this is where the truly deep waters are. Even after achieving the final stage of Nascent
Soul, I'm still considered fairly weak and easy game to most of the “big fish” here! F*cking hell! | can't even leave my d*mned room without fearing for my life! I'm going to defeat Lucio, or my name isn't Jonathan Lawson! Atter leaving the hotel room, the two of them were making their way through the corridor when Jonathan suddenly stopped in front of room 804.
Lailah shot him a puzzled look in response.
“Do you think they're inside?” Jonathan whispered while pointing at the door.
Lailah smacked herself on the forehead and let out a sigh.
“You're a genius, you know that?” Those words had barely left her mouth when Jonathan kicked the door open and rushed into the room.
My goodness... Does this guy's recklessness know no bounds? Lailah shook her head helplessly as she followed him inside.
The room was dimly lit by a lamp on the nightstand, and the first thing Jonathan saw was a naked couple having sex in
bed.
The two of them were going at it pretty hard, even though it was really late at night.
Jonathan bursting into the couple's room all of a sudden scared the living daylights out of them.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThe two of them quickly pulled the blankets over their bodies to cover up. The man, who was from Anglandur, yelled in Ustranasian, “Whoa! What the f*ck is going on here?” Realizing that he had made a mistake, Jonathan put on his most authoritative voice possible and asked, “We're from the Global Police Force, and we're currently investigating a human-trafficking case involving young women. What's your relationship with this woman next to you?” The look on the man's face turned pale the moment he heard that, which made it obvious that he was having an affair.
“You know what? Never mind. You don't look like you've got
the b*lls to do something like that anyway,” Jonathan said and walked out of the room.
Feeling relieved that he was let off without any trouble, the man didn't even dare confront Jonathan about it.
As Jonathan continued down the corridor, he stopped in front of yet another room door. Afraid of what he might do, Lailah grabbed him by the arm and shouted, “Hey! Don't go barging into the room again, genius!” “Don't worry; | was just messing with you!” Jonathan replied with a mischievous chuckle.
Lailah rolled her eyes in annoyance as the two of them took the elevator down to the main lobby on the first floor.
The entire lobby was brightly lit, and a lady was stationed at the front desk.
“Hello, sir. Is there something | can help you with?” the lady asked with a smile when she saw Jonathan and Lailah making their way over.
“I just received word that someone is going to plant a bomb here! Could you help me check if a person by the name of
Gabriel Carter is staying in this hotel?” Jonathan asked anxiously.
The lady went pale with fear when she heard that. As she wasn't sure if Jonathan was telling the truth, she decided to escalate the matter and said, “Hold on, I'll give the security manager a call!” Jonathan nodded. “Please hurry!” After making the call, the lady put the phone down and asked, “The security manager will be here shortly. Could you tell me who you are and how you know about this bomb?” “Gabriel is an enemy of mine. He followed me here and sent a text claiming he had hidden a bomb in this building.
That's why | need you to hurry up and find out if he has checked in to this hotel. We might just be able to avert this crisis if we catch him in time!” Jonathan replied.
After hesitating for a bit, the lady at the front desk clenched her teeth and began searching through the records.
Well, | suppose that can be a useful skill to have in situations like this! It wasn't long before the security manager showed up.
He was an Irethielian man with really dark skin and a huge, muscular frame. The security manager shot Jonathan a confused glance before speaking to the lady in Irethielian.
Since Jonathan didn't speak the language, he couldn't understand a single thing they were saying.
After translating the security manager's message in her head, the lady told Jonathan, “He would like to know your identity.” “We don't have time for that right now! The explosion could kill everyone in this building if we don't find Gabriel in time! | just need you to tell me if he is staying here!” Jonathan yelled in her face.
The lady was so shaken up by his sudden outburst that she gave in and said, “Yes, he's staying in room 708!" Jonathan and Lailah exchanged glances before running toward room 708 as quickly as their feet could carry.
Although they took the stairs instead of riding the elevator, they were running so fast that they got to the seventh floor in less than a minute.
That was most certainly a lot quicker than the elevator.
After arriving outside room 708, Lailah motioned at Jonathan to stay put and listen for any activities before planning their next move.
However, Jonathan simply kicked the door wide open and charged in just as he did with the previous room.
Lailah smacked herself on the forehead as she followed him into the room.
The room was brightly lit, but there was no one in sight.
Jonathan found a laptop on the coffee table and went over to switch it on.
A video file popped up on the screen with the words: Please watch this, Jonathan.
Lailah sat down beside him as he clicked on the video.
At first, all they saw was an unsettling, pitch-black
darkness.
Seconds later, Gabriel slowly emerged from the darkness in a wheelchair.
He was casually rotating the magic ring on his finger as he made his way forward.
It was exactly what Jonathan saw in his nightmare earlier.
Jonathan shuddered as he told Lailah, “This is what | saw in my dream earlier!” The look on Lailah's face turned gloomy when she heard that.
That was when Gabriel spoke up all of a sudden. “Hey, Jonathan. Are you surprised to see me? Who would've thought we'd cross paths again, eh? You thought you were being smart by asking the front desk about me, but it was completely futile. You wanted to kill me because you were afraid of me, so you asked the front desk for my room number and came looking for me all the way here. That's why you're watching this video right now, Jonathan. Did you realize that you literally just walked right into my trap?”
His statements made such perfect sense that Jonathan and Lailah found themselves at a loss for words.
Gabriel continued, “I suppose you're wondering why | led you into this room. Well, do you two feel your bodies getting hotter? That's because | installed a—"