Chapter (3) 60

It took two hours for all the girls to come back. In these two hours though, me and the elf had already finished eating, there was however still enough for the three other girls…however the moment they came, I was receiving some…unfriendly gazes.

Well especially from Haruka…

“W-what were you two doing when we were fighting for our lives!” said Haruka while her face was reddened…

Does she have a fever?

Haruna also had the same expression, while Misaka was only turning away shyly.

“What is the problem I asked?”

“W-why is Elia sleeping on your lap!”

Ah, that…

Well, after having eaten she felt tierd, and dozed off, coincidently I was close to her and she found my lap to be comfortable…I don’t really think that is something to fuss about though.

“She was feeling sleepy…there is nothing wrong with her sleeping on my lap, or do you have an objection?”

“I-…No” she said and sat down pouting…

The only source of light in these open plains were my chains that glowed in the dark as if they were lit embers.

Surprisingly all three girls brought the head of one monster with them…they found monsters of level 500 it seems.

“What kind of monster you hunted?”

“Well…most of the monsters here were low leveled…actually the only thing that was high enough was this gorilla like beast. Though it is strong…it is really dumb. Its only redeeming quality was the toughness of its hide, but a well-aimed pierce to the eyes is enough to kill it.”

 Said Haruka.

The other two had the same type of monster remains with them…though Haruka had a weapon I wonder how they managed to kill theirs.

“How did the two of you kill your prey?”

“I summoned a ball of water and drowned it to death with it…”

Oh…smart

“And you Misaka” I said

“I…I used my blood gift to do it.”

“Blood gift?”

“Yes…you must have seen it before, I can somehow control blood, and I earned an upgrade to my ability in the last fight against the soul eater…”

“Show me.”

“O-okay” she said and approached me…she looked to be trembling a bit…probably still scared from me…

Blood Gift:

Blood control.

Giving up on a portion of the user’s own blood, the user will gain momentary control over the target’s blood. 

I looked at her right hand and saw that it was covered in a band aid…

“You need to cut yourself to activate this ability?”

She nodded

It’s similar to Haruka’s self-harming power up…

“Then what did you do after using the ability? You need to bleed the enemy first before you can bleed them out?”

“Not necessarily” she said. “If they are already bleeding, I can just force a blood loss and make the blood pump out from their system faster. But if they were still unharmed, I can control a small portion of their blood and make it coagulate into small masses, once these masses reaches the heart or brain, it will block the flow of blood, resulting in various ailments and a heart attack if not treated immediately…the best part is, the target will not know what is happening to them until they fall down.”

“Oh…quite the dangerous ability…but you should know, this ability only works on living beings, you will need something else to defend yourself if you end up in a situation where your enemy is not a living being…”

She then nodded in acknowledgement and quieted down…

Misaka sure has changed…after all her attitude took a 180 degree, from the haughty and arrogant self, to this docile creature…huh, power can change people, its lack or its abundance.

“Very well, you proved capable of fighting alone against higher leveled enemies, you should know that we will probably have a serious problem soon…if what this elf- I said while pointing at the elf still sleeping on my lap- is saying the truth, then Famine is going to be our new enemy, of course if we can avoid the whole thing it would be much better, but if the elf queen decides to trade the cure to the curse for the defeat of Famine then we will have no other way…as you know, I am afflicted with the same curse, My combat efficiency dropped by 50%...so I am quite weak right now. So it’s more reasons to try and solve this problem in a peaceful manner…”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“What if this Famine guy, decides that he doesn’t want to solve this problem in a peaceful manner? Will we be forced to fight against it?” Said Haruna.

“No, not you at least, you are too weak to fight against an idea…”

“Idea?” said Misaka

“Yes,” then I began explaining the whole thing like Kronos had told me.

It took them a while to get the whole picture and once they did

“I don’t think we can possibly do this…I mean…this idea you are talking about…I think I know its origin…” said Misaka

“What do you mean?”

“Do you know the four horsemen?” she said

“The four what?”

“The four horsemen of Armageddon…they are mentioned in the holy book as the harbingers of the doomsday, you said you already Met Death…I won’t find it surprising that Famine is his brother…these ideas you speak about, already exist in our text books…but now…I wonder which one is the original…”

“Let’s not get over our heads here, so if this Famine is even half as strong as death…we stand no chance…” I said

“Why?” Said Haruka

“You should have seen death…that dude is strong. No, strong doesn’t give him his right, not by a long shot…he is the reason behind my change of race…and the reason behind my undying gift, or curse…so if these four horsemen are as you had said…this journey will probably be for naught…shit.”

And I don’t even have my full strength…I doubt that even aging the dragon more will help us against this idea if it turns out to be hostile…shit…

I don’t want to ‘ask’ the pontiff to help cure Haruka…it might get complicated, considering the fact that like I have seen in Haruka’s memories that the cardinal was able to brainwash their classmates…the pontiff should also be capable of doing that, if he manages to get his hand on Haruka…he can try to force my hand…so many complications…

“It doesn’t matter” I added “We will be going to the elven kingdom anyway…at least to see what the problem is, once there I will decide our course of action. Now you need to rest, we have few more hours before sunrise…it should be then when Nemu comes back…”

The girls took off their armors and began preparing a tent of sorts, something they had in their inventory. They managed to set it up almost instantly, then rested inside. The elf was still sleeping on my lap, almost if it was the most comforting place in the world…

Sigh…

I entered a meditative state, replenishing whatever mana and stamina I could. Though the regen was quite slow, with meditation I could increase it a bit. By the time the sun rose, Nemu was already back, and the girls woke up.

Nemu had blood all over his face while he grinned almost happily.

“You seem in a good mood”

“Yes, it’s been a thousand year since I last went out hunting…I was forced inside that cave for a long time…the pact I made with the forest guardian was that he would bring me food every now and then so I don’t ravage through the forest…but the thrill of the hunt is incomparable…”

Huh, a natural born predator will always favor the hunt over free food…this dragon stands up to his reputation.

“Very well, let’s move now” I said as I carried the still sleeping elf, in a princess carry…hang on, she is a princess…so what do we call this?

The girls got out of the tent, they still had the signs of sleep on them, Haruka was yawning even, but once she looked at me she froze.

Her demeanor changed and her shoulder slouched, even her pout was back on, but she didn’t say anything.

“Let’s go.” I said then shadow stepped on Nemu’s back.

The girls followed suit. Haruna and Misaka got up first, it only took them just a jump to get on the back of the dragon.

“Hurry up” I said

“Ah right!” said Haruka then got up, jumping in a more refined manner than the other girls. After all she has a finer control over her body, considering her upbringings. She belonged to an old house of swordsmen, and was trained since her childhood as I had known. The Kusanagi house is one of the oldest and most respectable in our former country after all.

Once up I heard Nemu grumbling about something unfair and humiliating…I didn’t pay it any mind and we rose to the skies like a shooting star.

“I could increase your age even more if you wish, Nemu” I said

“No need, At least not for now, my very nature is scaring anything away from me…if I grow even stronger, nothing would even want to leave its hiding place once I am nearby…I want to enjoy the hunts even more.”

“Right, then so be it. Whenever you wish to grow, you just have to tell me.”

The dragon didn’t reply but I understood that he got the point.

Four hours of flight, nothing but grasslands…I can’t imagine the distance we crossed to get here…

Looking at things, the elven princess never woke up, I inspected her to know the reason…and I understood why.

Elia Grimory

(Slave bound to Daiki Genkaku)

Elven princess

Level 361

Unconscious (Mana deficiency)

So she went into an unconscious state…

Sigh…

“What is with that look on your face Daiki?” said Haruna.

I turned around and sat down, carefully placing the elf on the back of the dragon.

“She lost consciousness, this can only mean one thing…the predicament at the elven kingdom must have grown. We need to hurry up…”

As if Nemu understood what I was hinting at, he increased the speed several folds.

He tore through the wind like a comet.

“Does any of you have a mana potion?” I asked

None had…

Sigh

I then placed my right hand on her head and channeled my own mana towards her.

Blue particles were released from my palm and were directed at the unconscious elf.

It took about two minutes before the elf woke.

The affliction was removed and she regained consciousness.

“My family!” was the first thing the elf said…

“We reached the land of the Elf, Banished one!”

Said Nemu and as I turned I saw an amazing sight.

A tree was in the middle of the grasslands, well a tree is an understatement.

This tree was the size of a mountain, too large too wide, and too tall. Yet it was darkened, and leafless. It was a shriveling tree…a dying tree.

Under it, and near its roots was a small forest. The tree was easily penetrating the clouds…

“This is it…The tree of life...”

Huh, a tree of life that has no life in it…

“Down! We need to get down now! My mother! My mother is dying!” said the elf in a crying manner.

And we descended at a fast rate.

But before we could reach the ground a voice shook the very world as it spoke saying

“More! More magic! Come! Feed me more!”

Turning at the direction of the voice we saw it. A pale giant being that began to emerge from nothingness, it was almost the size of the tree…. Though it looked humanoid, it had no face, and no hair, a wide gap instead of a mouth, and no eyes. It had a chest made of pale skin, and a bloated belly as if it had eaten more than it should have. Its hands were bony and none proportional with its size…It had no legs but would drag itself using its hands…a creature of horror was upon this land

Famine

One of the four major ideas

Level N/A

The very representation of everlasting hunger, gluttonous and never satisfied.

With the presence of this being all shall lose their ability to generate mana.

Famine, without wait or pause swung at us, though Nemu managed to dodge. But the strength behind that swing managed to shake him, causing Haruka to lose her balance and fall from the back…

She fell, with a look of desbelief on her face…the distance to the ground was still too far to survive the impact…she was a goner…

‘God damn it! We just got here and it already turned out to shit!’ I swore under my breath as I jumped after her…