Heir Of The Supreme
Chapter 66: A Weakling’s Resolve (5)

Chapter 66: A Weakling’s Resolve (5)

After an exhaustive sermon, Cecelia managed to eke a reluctant, half-hearted promise from Blaine to never fish again. Or grab a fishing rod ever again, for that matter.

Yet... For some reason, she could sense the boy didn’t truly mean what he said.

It was strange; Blaine treated his own safety with reckless indifference, yet he had a deep, almost unnatural attachment to fishing as if he couldn’t live without it.

If the contrast wasn’t so strange, it would have been unnerving.

Cecelia had never encountered such an obsessive relationship with something so seemingly trivial.

However, the auburn-haired boy was anything but normal.

After all, he brought a portable stove to make his own food, and that too during a top-secret military mission, no less.

While she felt terrible about doing it, for the sake of their continued survival, she had to put a stop to his destructive hobbies.

She had briefly considered trying to fish herself, wondering if perhaps Blaine alone was cursed.

But after what had happened last time, she wasn’t willing to take any risks... There was no telling what else lurked beneath the river’s deceptively inconspicuous surface.

With fishing no longer an option, they were back to square one.

Cecelia’s stomach groaned in protest, the dull, twisting pain a constant reminder of their current predicament.

She let out a weary sigh and slumped onto the cold, damp ground, pressing a hand against her empty stomach.

Closing her eyes, Cecelia tried to ignore the hunger by distracting her mind.

Luckily... The recent events had given her a lot to process.

Not only had she somehow managed to slay a monster, a Rank 2 creature at that, but she had awakened a Mana Art seemingly out of nowhere.

The whole thing made no sense.

Mana Arts were granted through the sacred baptism following a Trial. And yet, hers had manifested spontaneously long after she had completed her Trial and walked away empty-handed.

But... Why? What was the cause?

Had consuming the creature’s Mana Core been the trigger?

No, Cecelia had already attempted that before with no results. In fact, that was one of the very first things she tried.

Then what else had changed?

The only other thing she did... Was kill the grotesque nine-eyed monster.

Had she only awakened her Mana Core because she had finally taken a life with her own two hands?

The realization sent an icy chill down Cecelia’s spine.

Was this some cruel joke from the gods? A twisted form of punishment for not as much as lifting a finger during her own Trial?

Had all those years of suffering, self-loathing, and regret been for nothing?

Was the answer really just that simple all this time?

Cecelia’s fingers curled into fists, nails digging into the dirt beneath her.

’For someone people call a genius... I sure am stupid.’

If only she had known earlier.

She exhaled a long, slow breath, trying to push away the whirlwind of emotions threatening to consume her.

Blaine sat a short distance away, his gaze locked onto the rippling surface of the river. The dim glow of the cavern lights reflected in his sharp eyes, but his expression was unreadable.

His injured shoulder throbbed with a dull, persistent ache.

It would take at least a day or two to begin properly healing.

Right now, with his combat ability hindered, hunting for food would be far more dangerous.

If it was just a Rank 1 monster, Blaine was more than capable of killing it with a single arm.

But a Rank 2? Definitely not.

For those, Blaine would need to use every advantage he could get his hands on.

Naturally, this included the poison-producing dagger.

Except... using it would render the meat inedible with poison.

They’d be right back where they started.

Wait... Poison...

Blaine’s eyes widened slightly as a thought struck him.

Without hesitation, he pushed himself up and strode toward the mangled corpse of the Unknown.

Cecelia, catching his movement from the corner of her eye, tensed immediately.

’No way... He’s not going to try fishing again, is he?’

After the last catastrophe, she was rightfully wary.

But this time, Blaine wasn’t reaching for bones or sinew to fashion another fishing tool.

Instead, he crouched beside the corpse and, with practiced efficiency, carved out a chunk of pale grey flesh from one of the Unknown’s rubbery limbs.

Cecelia watched in uneasy silence.

Then... he did something even stranger.

Drawing his dagger, Blaine stabbed the hunk of flesh and channelled a portion of his remaining mana into the blade.

The Artifact pulsed with energy, releasing a thick, viscous purple toxin that seeped into the meat, saturating it with all of its lethal potency.

Not stopping there, Blaine methodically smeared the blade over the exterior, ensuring the poison coated every inch of the meat slab.

Satisfied, he treated the dagger like a makeshift handle and used it to lift the hunk of flesh.

Cecelia’s curiosity warred with apprehension as she watched him stride away from their camp, moving deeper into the cavern’s eerie shadows.

Going as far away as he could while maintaining line of sight with the camp, Blaine dropped the poisoned slab of meat on the ground.

Then, summoning the last dregs of his remaining mana, he crafted a series of unstable, misshapen constructs in the air around him.

As the constructs began to fall from the air, Blaine bolted away, sprinting in the direction of the campground at full speed.

Blaine ran with everything he had, reaching speeds fast enough that the air lashed against his skin, and the ground blurred beneath his feet.

Moments after he left, a violent explosion of shattering glass rang out behind him, the sound slicing through the cavern like a thousand splintering shards.

Not a heartbeat later, a bestial scream erupted from the cavern’s depths.

"SCREEEEEH!"

Though his face remained impassive, a ghost of a smirk flickered across Blaine’s lips.

’Jackpot.’

He didn’t need to stop and look back to confirm it. Blaine already knew his plan had worked.

Now, he just had to ensure he didn’t squander this opportunity.

Reaching the camp, Blaine pivoted sharply, skidding across the dirt as momentum carried him. Dust swirled in the air around him as he steadied himself, his gaze locking onto the scene beyond.

And then... he saw it.

A hulking creature emerged from the cavern’s depths, its round, stocky body supported by thick limbs. Two elongated, ear-like protrusions twitched atop its head, scanning its surroundings warily.

It was one of the long-eared Magical Creatures they had glimpsed earlier.

Perhaps a member of the same species.

The monster sniffed the ground, nostrils flaring as it caught the scent of fresh meat.

After a moment of hesitation, the creature took a tentative nibble.

One bite.

Another.

Then, a third.

The poisoned flesh vanished into its maw, entering into the depths of its stomach.

Yet even as it finished, the creature continued to search, glancing around in greedy expectation, looking to see if there was any more free food lying around.

Unfortunately, that would be the last thing it ever did...

Suddenly, the monster’s body jerked. Its limbs wobbled as if made from noodles, and its strength rapidly drained in real-time. The beast’s eyelids grew heavy, and its movements became sluggish and disoriented.

It began to sway in a desperate struggle to stay upright; however, it soon lost that battle. The monster collapsed to the ground, its legs folding beneath it.

Moments before losing consciousness, the monster saw something from the corner of its rapidly dimming eyes.

An auburn-haired boy was slowly approaching it, holding a sharply glimmering dagger.