Talent System: I Instantly Master My Opponents Skills
Chapter 63: Felt Little

Chapter 63: Felt Little

Hereon’s mind raced against time as he formula an answer, his heart still pounded in his chest and his emotions were in turmoil.

The weight of the question pressed down on him.

"The sub-boss." He said silently, his voice matching his emotions.

There was no way he could reveal that he was the one that killed Jason, not when Zane’s intense gaze bore down on his very being.

"The Giant Arachnid Spider?"

"Yes."

"The same sub-boss that he had killed?" Zane questioned.

"Yes."

Hereon’s heart pounded in his chest.

"How did it kill him?"

"One of its legs pierced through his chest, it stabbed through his heart and killed him." Hereon’s eyes searched Zane’s face for something, something that would let him know if the boy in front of him wasn’t skeptical.

An expression that would alleviate his worries.

But Zane’s face was unreadable.

"I find that hard to believe."

"What do you mean you find that hard to believe? It was the one that killed him! I didn’t do anything!" Hereon’s raw emotions poured out as he spoke, his frustration and sadness mixing into a perfect harmony.

"Strange." Zane muttered to himself.

He turned back to Hereon.

"Hereon."

"I think you misunderstood something."

"I didn’t come here to listen to lies." His fingers crackled with electricity, showing that he still had enough mana left in him to roast him alive.

Hereon shuddered unconsciously.

"It wasn’t me!" Hereon shouted, his voice raw and words with fervor, they tumbled out more passionately than he would have had them to.

"Then who?"

"The sub-boss."

"The sub-boss?" Zane repeated, his tone flat, seeming as if he scrutinized every syllable of the word. "You and I both know that’s not what I meant."

Hereon paused, came out of his mouth.

"So it was you?"

Hereon didn’t retort, it was useless arguing with someone like him.

"Was it you? Hereon?" Zane asked again.

"NO!"

Zane stopped, shocked.

He stopped questioning Hereon.

"I believe you." He finally said, the electricity crackling at his fingertips dispersing.

A lump formed in Hereon’s throat. Memories of the events that led up to Titania’s death crashed over him like waves – The treasure’s noise ringing in his ear, the look on his sister’s face as she was stabbed, and his own pitiful self unable to help her.

The guilt clawed at him.

If he was just a little bit more sensible he could have survived all of this, Titania wouldn’t have had to die.

’Its all because of me.’ Hereon thought.

The next instant a torrent of tears poured down his face.

"What difference does it make now that I cry over it?! She’s dead, because of me." His voice was barely a whisper in the silent cavern.

"Was it worth it?" Zane asked.

Hereon looked up in surprise, worth what?

"Worth what?"

"Was her death worth it?" He repeated.

"No." A single word that conveyed all his dissatisfaction.

"If so, there’s nothing you can do about that." Zane got up from the ground.

Hereon watched Zane’s departing figure.

’It wasn’t worth it.’ Hereon thought.

... (Zane’s Perspective)

Zane moved away from Hereon.

He had been there when Hereon was stabbed through, there when Titania’s leg was cut off, there when Hereon was hit the wall, there when the boss killed her.

Yet, he still chose to come at the time he came.

He turned his attention to the remains of the once formidable sub-boss, now reduced to just charred flesh. The faint smell of charred flesh wafted through the cave as he stood next to the corpse.

He switched his dagger to the right hand and began tearing through the skin of the giant boss, it was much easier to cut through it due to its burnt state.

He finished, the giant heart now in his hands before he took it into his space ring.

"To think that he died against a rank 4 sub-boss."

Maybe it was because he wasn’t a normal child, or maybe it was because of his attitude that he felt little at Jason’s death.

He was only interested in knowing who killed Jason, now that his curiosity was satisfied he felt little.

Jason was his only friend.

But he couldn’t bring himself to cry at his death, he felt oddly detached from the emotional weight that he was supposed to feel from the loss of a friend.

Jason had been ambitious, and reckless in the pursuit of his goal, his only goal was to become stronger.

Zane wasn’t envious of him, even though Jason was strong he had no mana, the defining quality of each and every individual.

There was no time for mourning, he could only move forward. There were many things that laid ahead for him.

’Perhaps when we leave the dungeon, I’ll mourn him.’ Zane mused, it was a passing thought, one that he would forget about soon.

His hand was soaked in blood, but he didn’t feel like washing it off.

He turned back to Hereon; the boy was muttering incoherent words to himself, the loss of his sister was eating him alive, his hands were on his hair and he seemed hell-bent on pulling his hair out.

He walked back to Hereon.

Just then, two people came out of the walls.

Two boys.

They looked around confused, not understanding how they had gotten to the distance. And in front of them were Hereon Hachiman and Zane Hachiman, two people you didn’t want to annoy.

They didn’t advance forward.

Three other people followed after them, three girls. Their features clouded by confusion.

"They finally decided to come." Zane remarked.

If people were coming, and all those who still survived and had entered the dungeon had come, then he would have something to do with them.

Namely, killing the dungeon boss.

He turned his attention back to Hereon, the youth’s body tensing up as he felt Zane’s gaze upon him.

He sat back down and closed his eyes.

"Hereon."

He didn’t wait for the boy to respond.

"Gather everyone up, I have something that I need to say... One that requires, everyone’s cooperation."