Chapter 664 CrossRoad · Solipsism · Two - I
I’m really scared of being hungry.
When I was little, Dad was the best hunter in our village. He made sure we had enough to eat. Marli and Mom always gave me their meat. It’s embarrassing, but… even then, I never felt full. Not once.
Later, Dad got really sick. He couldn’t hunt anymore. We had to live on Mom’s tiny income. Dad’s medicine cost a lot too. It was already hard to fill our tummies, and then we were always hungry.
Being hungry hurts so much. Your tummy’s empty, but it feels like there’s a monster inside. It scratches and claws. The worst part? Even when you eat something, the monster doesn’t quiet down. It just gets angrier and scratches harder.
So when I was… um, seven or eight maybe? I can’t remember. But around then, I went on my first hunt.
It was a hurt wolf, almost dead.
I saw it lying in the forest. Its belly was cut open, guts hanging out. I thought it was dead and tried to drag it away.
But when I got close, it jumped up! It knocked me down. Its bloody teeth almost bit my throat! Luckily, I held its mouth open with both hands.
Even a dying wolf should’ve been too strong for little me to hold its mouth. It hurt so much, and I was so scared… I should’ve died.
But I didn’t. Instead of just holding its jaws, I tore its head in half!
The monster in my tummy woke up.
— I can’t die here. I won’t be the one eaten.
When I dragged the wolf back, everyone in the village was shocked. Mom almost fainted. I didn’t feel much, but I kept thinking… that wolf was so tough.
Even dying, it tried to take one last bite of its prey.
My wounds healed fast. Sadly, we couldn’t sell the wolf. Dad said good prey needs to be whole to sell for a good price.
Our family had a big meat dinner after so long. It was the first time I felt full. But that full feeling didn’t last very long.
Later, Dad started teaching me to hunt. I learned super fast, like I was born for it. Soon, I became the best hunter in the village. I was quicker, sharper, and… stronger than all the hunter uncles.
The Dark Water Forest is huge. Most hunters, even from Dark Water City, only hunt on the edges. But when I was 8 or 9, I could go deep inside. The prey there sold for lots of money.
I did the hunting. Marli and Dad took the prey to the city to sell. For a few years, we lived really well. I could feed the whole family by myself. Everyone said I was amazing. Back then, I was really proud.
But now… I don’t think I’m that special.
The first time I ran into the forest to hunt, I didn’t think about my family at all.
I just didn’t want to be hungry anymore.
Later… maybe two or three years passed? During that time, thanks to my skills, we weren’t always full, but we weren’t hungry anymore.
But even though we had enough food, I always felt like eating more. It wasn’t to fill my tummy. I don’t know what I was trying to fill.
When I was 12, I met Teacher Polonia in the Dark Water Forest. She said my talent shouldn’t be wasted here. She asked if I wanted to go study at some tower. Of course, I didn’t want to go. What about Mom, Dad, and Marli?
But Teacher Nia talked to Mom and Dad for a long time. In the end, they decided to send me to study, to learn how to be a real extraordinary being.
Teacher Nia didn’t ask for money, but Mom and Dad gave her all their savings, keeping just a little. Later, Teacher Nia told me she wouldn’t keep the money. She’d save it for me until I finished my first year of school. She hoped I’d work hard.
She also told me that Mom and Dad had thought about sending me to serve some lord forever. But they worried about my personality and other problems. So they let me hunt in the village instead. She said I shouldn’t blame them.
How could I blame them? They were so right. And I didn’t want to be a servant anyway.
So, Teacher Nia took me to that what what tower. She said she’d protect me and I shouldn’t worry. If I studied hard and grew stronger, I’d be the best.
I did become the best. Teacher Nia was happy every day, telling me I broke this record and that record. But I wasn’t happy.
Everyone here is so annoying.
Ansel says it’s because I was too full of myself back then. He says I looked down on everyone and turned away all the kindness they tried to show me. But… was it really like that?
Did even one person truly care about me, a girl from a far-away village?
I was only twelve then. I didn’t know anything and I was so stupid. In the whole school, I was probably the easiest to trick and control. So whether people were nice or mean to me, it all felt the same.
But there’s another, more important reason.
I found that hungry feeling that was hiding somewhere inside me.
I wanted to get stronger. I wanted more power.
And because I wanted to get stronger, and I kept getting stronger, I couldn’t stand those guys. Find your next read on My Virtual Library Empire
If I’m stronger than them, why should I care what they think?
I have to get… even stronger!
*
Seraphina, in a frenzied state, raised her head and roared. The spectral demon wolf behind her swelled to its limits, reaching a towering height of five meters even at half its full size. Its form grew increasingly vivid, with the boundless crimson-black aura entwining its ferocious lupine body morphing into stark black serpents.
Within the bloodied radiance, its enormous pupils, like Seraphina’s, had become vertical slits akin to those of a snake!
The demon wolf, echoing Seraphina’s wrathful howl, joined its claws behind its back. The crimson-black aura, which had blanketed the entire arena’s ruins like a vast lake, spiraled and converged at the tips of its claws. The ice-blue dragon, which had been ignoring Seraphina until now, seemed to finally notice something peculiar about the diminutive being beneath it — a pure, savage ferocity…
a provocative greed, as if from another beast entirely.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The demon wolf’s claws, wreathed in a murderous aura, collided with the ice-blue dragon’s scales, yet appeared unable to breach this defense more formidable than iron walls. The enormous vertical pupils of the continent’s mightiest creature gleamed with unmistakable disdain. It had considered sparing a moment’s attention for this insect below, but that seemed pointless now.
However, just as it gathered its strength once more, preparing to unleash its fury upon its foe, a slight twinge of pain abruptly halted the power coalescing in its throat.
What followed was an agony it hadn’t experienced in ages!
The excited howl of the demon wolf merged with the dragon’s enraged roar. The murderous aura, ceaselessly devouring and gnawing at the ether, had somehow managed to bite through the dragon’s innate supernatural defense… a draconic gift far surpassing even the fortification spells cast by fourth-stage sorcerers!
In the instant the wolf pack tore open that breach, the claws, brimming with immense killing intent, struck the scales heavily, instantly creating a network of fine cracks. These fissures allowed Seraphina’s murderous aura to penetrate, swiftly eroding the scales’ defensive strength and enabling those savage, brutal claws to expand the cracks infinitely until they pierced through!
The claws, having completely punctured the scales, drove deep into the dragon’s flesh with their backs joined together. Slowly but resolutely, they tore outwards, carving a bloody furrow into the mighty dragon’s body!
Seraphina, her dark red serpentine eyes brimming with boundless greed, had half her face splattered with the legendary dragon blood. She made no move to wipe away the scalding hot liquid, her feral expression lending her a bewitching air. The wolf-like Seraphina, now resembling a demonic enchantress, let out a wild howl as she drove her fist into the bloody furrow torn open by the demon wolf.
Without reservation, she poured all of her crimson-black murderous aura and the endless wolf pack surrounding her into the dragon’s body!
The shattering of a few scales meant little to the dragon, and even the gash torn by the demon wolf was but a trifling wound. However, to shatter a dragon’s scales with a third-stage body, without any alchemical tools, weapons, prior preparation, or high-level magic ambush, was a miracle that would pique even the empress’s interest.
Yet Seraphina was far from satisfied. Her goal was to kill… to utterly annihilate this beast that dared to taint her hunt for supreme love!
Devour… devour more, consume even more!
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