Supreme Hunter of Beautiful Souls-Chapter 483: Taste of Life

Kael was still sitting on the bed, leaning against the headboard as he tried to reorganize his thoughts after the absurd sequence of events that had occurred in less than five minutes. The sudden fall, the revelation that Umbra now possessed a physical body, and the almost irritating nonchalance with which she seemed to handle it all created a strange mixture of disbelief and curiosity in his expression. He ran a hand through his dark hair, taking a deep breath before finally looking at Umbra again with a more attentive and serious gaze.

Umbra, on the other hand, seemed completely comfortable sitting on the bed, as if it were the most natural place in the world for her to be at that moment. The soft shadows in the room seemed to subtly react to her presence, shifting slightly along the edges of the walls as her energy settled into the physical plane. She rested a hand on the mattress and leaned back, observing the two of them with a small, satisfied smile that clearly betrayed that there was much she wanted to tell them.

"So..." she began, drawing out the word as she mentally organized the sequence of recent events. "After I disappeared, I woke up in the Umbral again. I have no idea how it happened, but suddenly I was just there."

Kael narrowed his eyes slightly, but didn’t interrupt.

Umbra continued speaking in the same casual tone, as if she were narrating something relatively simple, despite everything she described involving primordial dragons and entire dimensions.

"First I realized something was wrong with Nidhogg’s prison," she explained, gesturing slightly with her hands as she spoke. "She had escaped and was basically destroying half the underground structure while trying to devour the roots of Yggdrasil."

Inari raised an eyebrow slightly upon hearing this, clearly interested in the direction the story was taking.

Umbra tilted her head slightly as she continued.

"So I went to the roots to solve the problem. She was there, gigantic, extremely angry, and chewing on pieces of the world tree as if they were snacks."

Kael let out a small sigh, running his hand over his face again as he imagined the scene.

"Of course it was," he murmured.

Umbra continued as if it were perfectly normal.

"We fought for a while. She’s big, but not exactly the most intelligent creature in the universe. After a while I managed to knock her down and restrain her again using chains from the Umbral itself."

Inari rested her chin on her hand as she listened, clearly engrossed in the story.

"You always solve your problems in the simplest way possible," she commented with a small smile.

Umbra shrugged. "It works."

She then continued the narrative with the same calm.

"After that I realized I needed to come back here. So I had the idea to use the fragments of the roots she had devoured. I entered her stomach, searched for intact pieces of Yggdrasil, and used their essence to draw a dimensional circle."

Kael blinked slowly. "You entered the stomach of a primordial dragon."

Umbra nodded as if it were just a technical detail.

"Yes." She paused briefly before continuing. "I found several interesting things inside, including ancient weapons and some elves who clearly made some very bad decisions at some point in their lives."

Inari let out a small, muffled laugh.

Umbra continued. "After gathering the right branches, I used their essence to open a dimensional portal. The idea was simple: use Yggdrasil’s natural connection to the planes to create a passage directly to where you were."

Kael blinked again. "And apparently it worked."

Umbra smiled slightly. "Yes. It worked perfectly."

She made a small gesture towards the bed where she had literally fallen a few minutes earlier.

"Perhaps a little too precise."

Inari chuckled softly.

Kael stared at the ceiling for a moment, clearly trying to mentally process the fact that his night had been interrupted by an Umbral entity dropping onto him out of nowhere after battling an ancient dragon and traversing dimensions using pieces of the world tree.

After a few seconds, he looked back at her.

"Okay... but wait." Umbra tilted her head slightly.

"What?" Kael crossed his arms, now clearly focused on a specific part of the story.

"You said you woke up in the Umbral suddenly."

"Yes." He narrowed his eyes.

"But how did you get back to the Umbral in the first place?"

Umbra was silent for a moment.

The question seemed to have caught her off guard.

She blinked a few times, as if she were really trying to remember that specific moment.

Her eyes moved slightly to the side as she thought.

A few seconds passed.

Then she simply shrugged.

"I have no idea."

Kael frowned.

Umbra continued, completely sincere.

"I was here... and suddenly..."

She made a small gesture with her hands, opening her fingers in the air.

"Poof."

Inari tilted her head slightly.

Umbra finished the sentence with absolute naturalness.

"I was in the Umbral again."

Silence.

Kael stared at her for a few seconds.

Then he took a deep breath slowly.

"So let me see if I understand."

Umbra observed him curiously.

"You disappeared out of nowhere."

"Yes."

"You ended up in the Umbral."

"Yes."

"You fought a primordial dragon."

"Yes."

"You entered its stomach."

"Yes."

"You stole pieces of the world tree." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"Technically, I recovered them."

"You made a dimensional portal."

"Correct."

Kael closed his eyes for a second. Then he opened them again. "And you have no idea how all this started."

Umbra thought for a moment.

Then he calmly replied, "No."

Inari smiled slightly, amused, as he observed Kael’s tired expression. "I admit that makes it all the more interesting."

Kael was still sitting against the headboard, looking at Umbra with that tired expression of someone who had given up trying to find logic in half the things happening around them. The room was silent now, illuminated only by the soft light coming through the window, and the initial chaos of her arrival was slowly beginning to transform into something much calmer.

Umbra, for her part, seemed to have completely lost interest in continuing the detailed explanation of her adventure in the Umbral.

She simply let out a small, long sigh, like someone who finally realizes their own exhaustion after finishing something extremely tiring.

Then, without any ceremony, she moved.

Umbra slid across the soft mattress and settled on the opposite side of Inari, positioning herself so that the three of them now occupied the center of the enormous bed. Kael ended up literally between the two, something he realized a few seconds too late to make any comment.

Umbra turned her body to the side, resting her head on the pillow as if that had always been her reserved spot. Her long, dark hair spread across the sheet as she settled in with a small, satisfied sigh.

For a moment she stared at the ceiling, blinking slowly, as if simply enjoying the sensation of lying on a real mattress.

Then she spoke.

"I think I’ll sleep a little."

The sentence came out with an almost lazy tranquility.

Kael turned his head slowly toward her.

"Sleep?"

Umbra nodded slightly as she pulled a part of the blanket up over her body.

"Yes."

She let out another tired sigh, this time deeper.

"Fighting Nidhogg is surprisingly tiring."

Inari, who was still sitting on the other side, tilted her head as she observed Umbra’s expression with curiosity.

"You’ve never complained of tiredness before."

Umbra turned her face slightly to look at her.

For a moment she seemed to reflect on that.

Then she replied with a small, thoughtful grimace.

"Before, I didn’t have muscles."

Inari gave a small, amused smile.

Umbra slowly raised an arm, looking at her own hand as she closed and opened her fingers a few times, as if still getting used to the sensation.

"Now I do."

She then rested her hand on her chest for a moment, feeling her breath rise and fall.

Her eyes shone with an almost childlike curiosity.

"Lungs."

She murmured.

Then she placed her hand on her stomach.

"Heartbeat."

Kael watched this in silence.

Umbra turned her head back to the pillow.

"My whole body feels strange."

She paused briefly before adding, with a small, satisfied smile.

"But strange in a good way."

Inari crossed her arms as she watched.

"You’re very much alive now."

Umbra nodded slightly.

"Yes."

She pulled the blanket up a little more as she settled more comfortably against the soft pillow.

"And apparently this little body needs rest."

She stretched her legs slightly under the sheet, settling comfortably.

"Who would have thought that physically existing requires so much effort."

Kael let out a small, tired sigh at hearing that.

He looked at Umbra to one side.

Then at Inari to the other.

Then he let his head fall back against the headboard.

"I definitely should have stayed asleep."

Inari let out a small, low laugh.

Umbra, however, already seemed to be almost truly asleep.

Her eyes were half-closed now, her breathing slowly becoming more stable as her body finally relaxed after the absurd sequence of events she had gone through.

Still, before closing her eyes completely, she murmured one last thing. "Ah... Kael."

He turned his head again.

"What?"

Umbra opened one eye lazily.

"If the dragon appears..."

Kael blinked.

"What dragon?"

Umbra answered with absolute tranquility.

"Nidhogg."

Inari immediately raised an eyebrow.

Umbra then closed her eye again.

"Don’t worry."

Kael stared at her.

"...why?"

Umbra answered, almost asleep.

"Because I tied her up very tightly."

A few seconds of silence passed.

Then she added, her voice already slurred with sleep.

"Probably."