Delve - Chapter 220: Expanded

*Slow Burn Historical Fantasy Novel*

Elise had about to change into the dress that was lying on the corner of her bed when she heard a knock lightly calling from her door. Curious, she turned the door knob only to have a tall man towering in front of her.

“Master Ian!” She called.

Ian smiled with the usual mischievous smirk that he always used. His crimson eyes trailing a little over her room and spotted the black dress over her bed and shifted his eyes over to the woman in front of him. He stepped forward and spoke. “Where did you acquire that dress?”

“Mr. Harland gave it to me.” Elise replied and strained her neck to see Ian’s brows knitted in its elegance.

“Do you know why a man would love to give a woman a dress?” He gave the riddle that she always had to think twice before replying. But this time, she found no answer and instead shook her head. “I don’t know.”

His grin grew bewitching as though something had stirred deep inside the scarlet eyes that he had. He slowly slid his hand over the collar of her dress, sending a cold shiver that startled her for a moment due to its freezing temperature. After unbuttoning the first two buttons on her collar, he tilted his head down, whispering to her ears. “Because they want to be the one to undress the cloth.”

He paused and kissed her neck, turning the pale skin to red before retracting his move to fix his eyes on her and leisurely replied. “Unfortunately, you can’t wear the dress over there with this.” He chuckled and passed a box over to her hand. “And the fortunate news is I prepared a dress for you.”

Elise was a cursed little girl who could see ghosts. Her family hated her and threw her from one adoptive family to another. However, misfortune didn't act alone. When she was brought up by her aunt, she was sold as a slave. When she had thought she would become nothing but a sacrifice to the sorcerer, she was saved by a man whose identity was far different than a normal mythical being.

“Devouring Lifespan to grow stronger!!”When Ricky Stormwind—a washed-up office worker—drank himself to death, he expected eternal nothingness. Instead, he awoke in a new world… as a mosquito.Weak as an ant. Fragile as a piece of paper. Prey to everything.But this world is no ordinary one. Magic, monsters, and powerful beings dominate the land, with ruthless forces waging war for supremacy. And Ricky? He possesses a terrifying ability—he can drain lifespan from any living creature and use it to evolve.A single bite can grant him hours. A feast?..... Years!!Now, in a forest filled with predators and beside a village on the brink of destruction, Ricky must climb the evolutionary ladder—from insignificant pest to a calamity that could devour the world itself.But when his first real meal triggers a mass sacrifice, the world mistakes him for a rising Demon Lord. Bounties are placed on his head. Armies march to hunt him down. And lurking in the shadows, a forbidden power calls to him, promising a path beyond mere survival—one that could reshape reality itself.In a world where everything is prey to something greater, something horrendous… he will rise to become the apex.

She, a 21st century mercenary queen, had crossed over into a tragically betrayed body of a waste. Waste? She will show them what it means to be a waste! Betrayed? With the Ancient Manual in her hands, she will astonish all the despicable men and cheap women!

Wait! Didn’t everyone say that she was an evil woman which everyone feared? Why is his Third Highness, full of mystery and charisma, so interested in her?

- Description from Novelupdates

On the dawn of a fresh New Year, an ominous figure emerged, shrouded in a guise of an angel but harboring the malevolence of a devil. With a chilling voice, it proclaimed, [Every month, you humans will be thrust into a perilous quest. Your survival hinges on overcoming 20 grueling rounds.]Suddenly, I found myself ensnared in this dangerous survival game, a grotesque merry-go-round where every turn carried the stench of death. Yet, I was not without any defenses. I possessed an unusual power: the power to regress 100 times, a chance to rewrite my fate.I stand on the precipice of my final regression, and I swear, ‘This time, I will conquer it. I will emerge victorious.’I’m no longer the insignificant shuttle that I once was. Today, I shed my former self, the one who had reached the pinnacle of power. Today, I am reborn for the last time as Black Scythe, a rookie player, a novice that once again will be become the Grim Reaper!