Chapter 46: Breakfast wings

He fell asleep fast as the cold stone felt like he was being pierced apart on his back.

Only being woken by the sun shining on his head, he opened his eyes to the clambering of something.

Merency was already awake and prepared some food as she seemed to notice his awakening.

"Up so early already, did you sleep well?" She asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"It was manageable," as he was already inspecting what she was preparing.

"Oh, that’s nice; same thing for me, the floor was hard, but I managed to fall asleep quickly." She sounded too casual for him.

He was sure she knew he had been missing yesterday, but she acted perfectly normal.

"Really? I thought I heard you last night." He asked, trying to bring her to contradict herself.

"Probably just some sleep talk; my guard told me I do that from time to time." She once again answered casually, bringing Steven to the brink of madness.

Stepping around her, he tried to look into her eyes, but she was only focused on the flaming torch.

"What’s up for breakfast?"

"Just some basics, nothing more."

Every new answer only confused him more than the last, so he decided to give up.

He couldn’t risk her leaving early because of him; she might be important when all the altars were destroyed until Elizabeth and the rest arrive.

They sat down eating silently as Steven was already thinking about where to find his next location without raising suspicion.

But she interrupted his thinking, "I think we should try to find a diamond-class monster in the forest."

Steven’s eyebrow curled upward. "Why should we do that? We could just find June or Lucy for points."

"Steven, do you really think they would just reveal themselves to you?" Hearing that Steven nearly choked on his food. "They need points themselves, and as the weaker side, they will avoid us."

He hadn’t even thought about that, but she was completely right; there were two necessities for them to pass.

One was to stay out at least two days, of which they had already done one, and the other was to gain as many points as they were worth.

And the other won’t engage in combat with him. Lucy knows she couldn’t win without blowing her cover, and June is probably completely useless right now.

After all, what is a rune and magic technology genius outside a lab, especially without any preparation?

Overall this challenge was more than just unfair, which is most likely why the monsters had been added.

Being lost in thought, he only realized Merency had been staring at him, waiting for his answer.

"Won’t it be more effective to gain points tomorrow or even later when we are the last standing?"

"There is no reason to stay for that long; we could just gain the points and leave after two days are over."

His answer was cold but calculated; even if he didn’t like it, it would’ve been the smartest way to avoid them losing their points.

But even if he wanted that, he couldn’t; he had only destroyed one of the altars yet.

"You can leave if you want; I will stay until the end." He had to convince her to stay. "But being alone would be boring."

She opened her mouth to protest but closed it again just after. And so easily he won their debate.

"So we are going to find monsters later?" Her disappointed tone spoke more than any words.

"Nah, nah, I’m growing bored, so I would be up for some monster hunting." He was lying, wishing nothing more than to rest right now, but he had to find the other altars quickly.

She only nodded in agreement, quickly finishing her food as she rose to her feet.

"Then finish up; we should take the chance when not too many people are around." Speaking while she was already picking up new clothes from the supply box.

Eating his last bit, Steven walked over to the cliffside, staring down, waiting for her to change clothes.

He even deactivated his mana sense so he couldn’t feel anything behind him.

Only focusing on the trees moving below, he felt like he was in a trance.

She seemed to take her time as a shadow was suddenly cast on him.

Snapping out of his trance, he stared around. Had the mountain moved, or was what was happening?

But sadly it wasn’t the mountain suddenly becoming athletic; instead, he found a giant bird lingering just over him.

Before he could even react, it already moved, trying to swallow him in one bite.

Its powerful beak easily shattering his barrier into pieces, he had nearly enough time to hold it from snapping him in two.

Grabbing onto the razor-sharp ends of its beak, he could feel them penetrating skin.

But he had gained himself enough time, as with a powerful kick he managed to hit the bird’s head while spinning himself.

Finally letting go of him, he already readied himself to cast a spell as something collided with his side, throwing him down the cliff.

Looking upwards while falling, he saw two birds hovering around their cave entrance.

"Really two of them?" He yelled, his voice being lost in the current of the wind.

As midfall, something grabbed him, hitting down on his chest as if trying to rip him apart.

He couldn’t believe it; there were really three of them trying to eat him, and they had even waited for him to zone out to attack.

And he couldn’t fight back; he was still not allowed to fly, or else the alarm would give away their location of the supplies.

Activating his mana sense again, he felt the two of them at the cave slowly entering towards Merency.

Steven took a deep breath.

Trying to control his rage.

As he raised his free arm.

Sending it down ward like lightning.

Hearing the birds’ beaks break under the pressure.

He was going to kill them all.