Chapter 90: Your body is burning up

Lucien didn’t respond to Zephyr’s concerned voice. Feeling the strange heat pooling in his lower abdomen, his face flushed slightly, and his heart skipped a beat.

What was going on?

Why was he still feeling so hot?

The burrow leading to the underground chamber was clearly filled with a chilling cold!

Zephyr didn’t hear a response from the person above him. He unconsciously reached out and grabbed Lucien’s ankle, only for Lucien to flinch and speed up as if he were running for his life. For a moment, Lucien almost felt as though he had been scalded, even though the fingers that enveloped his ankle were cool and dry.

Zephyr blinked, confused.

"?"

Due to Lucien’s sudden movement, Zephyr let go of his ankle, only to rub his fingers together after noticing that the skin he had just touched was unusually hot, almost burning.

His eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he calmly followed after the escaping figure.

Soon, the two emerged from the burrow and stepped into the underground chamber, where, just as Zephyr had sensed earlier, the skeletal remains of a massive creature and two fist-sized glowing cores floated in the darkness, dimly illuminating the scene.

Instead of feeling excited at finally finding the treasure he had come for—the treasure that had originally belonged to Erick in the novel—Lucien tugged anxiously at his collar.

Panic was beginning to rise within him.

The heat he had been feeling earlier was growing more intense with every passing second. It spread throughout his body, making his face burn and his vision grow slightly misty and blurred. He felt so overheated that he almost wanted to tear off his clothes just to find some relief.

Yet he forced himself to keep moving.

Ahead of him floated two shimmering, spherical cores, one blue and one dark, suspended within the skeletal remains.

His limbs trembled slightly.

Then, at last, a realization struck him.

It was probably because of those mana berries!

In the original story, Erick had been the one who discovered the berries. However, by the time he found them, there weren’t many left on the tree, only a handful. He had eaten only a few, sharing the rest with Nana after noticing the mana radiating from the fruits.

Afterward, the two had rested for a while.

That was when Nana had suddenly moved closer to Erick and clung tightly to his body. Erick had been amused by her unusual behavior and, for the first time in the novel, had indulged her. That had eventually led to their first kiss and a moment of unexpected intimacy between them.

But the novel had simply attributed their sudden change in mood to the atmosphere and the circumstances around them, claiming that they had finally revealed their feelings after suppressing them for so long. After all, the two had been trapped alone in the Second Disaster-Level Dungeon after becoming separated from the others.

It had never mentioned that those damn mana berries could have such an effect!

Lucien’s expression twisted.

Hehe.

And he had so confidently told Zephyr earlier that the berries had no side effects.

What a joke.

To make matters worse, unlike the protagonist and female lead, who had only eaten a few berries each, Lucien had practically emptied the entire tree!

"Damn it!"

He wanted to find that damn author who had written this story and demand a fucking explanation.

How could they leave out such an important detail?!

If he had known the berries had this kind of effect, he never would have eaten so many at once. Naturally, he would still have eaten them. Not eating them wasn’t an option.

"Ugh..."

Groaning as sweat trickled down his forehead despite the chill around him, Lucien cursed the author and their entire bloodline in his head, unleashing a string of profanities far too foul to say aloud as he finally reached the two floating cores.

His steps became unsteady, and he nearly staggered. But he quickly clutched the front of his shirt and forced himself to remain upright despite his harsh, strangely coarse breathing.

He didn’t touch the dark core.

He knew exactly what it was.

Even Erick hadn’t been able to take it in the original story. The dark core contained a fragment of the dormant consciousness belonging to the beast that had died within this chamber. If anyone attempted to take it, the remnant of its consciousness would immediately materialize and attack them.

Erick had been badly injured by that attack in the original novel.

If even Erick had suffered that much, then Lucien, who had only recently gained some power after eating the Golden Might Fruits and those damn berries, would probably die if he tried to take it.

So Lucien ignored the dark core and instead stretched his trembling hand toward the blue one.

The blue core looked almost pure, its surface glowing softly in the darkness.

The moment his fingers touched it, the core instantly melted into his hand.

A wave of coolness flowed through his fingers and seeped into his body, spreading throughout him before vanishing beneath his skin.

The sudden burst of coolness was almost overwhelming against the unbearable heat raging through his body.

Lucien let out a soft cry and immediately dropped to his knees, pressing his thighs together as his entire body trembled.

It was at that moment that the person who had been silently sensing his every move finally spoke. His voice was low and calm, echoing through the quiet surroundings.

"Cien?"

Zephyr stepped forward and stopped behind Lucien, who had dropped to his knees. His brows furrowed slightly, though his expression remained composed. He already had a fairly good idea of what was happening.

Even he was surprised by how quickly his mind had connected the pieces. Was it because his intelligence was increasing as he absorbed more of the knowledge Gaya System had left in his mind? Or was it simply because it involved Lucien?

He didn’t know.

Regardless, he still reached down and placed a hand against Lucien’s neck.

The moment he felt the intense heat radiating from Lucien’s skin, Lucien shivered beneath his touch.

Zephyr paused for a moment before asking in a calm and concerned tone. However, the emotions in his gaze remained unreadable.

"Is this because you ate so many of those small fruits? Your body is burning up. Should I take you out of here?"

Naturally, he didn’t ask whether he should use his Healing skill to help him out and clear the side effects of those fruits. His mana was tightly wrapped around Lucien’s body, carefully monitoring his condition.

He could sense that, despite the intense heat radiating from his entire body, Lucien wasn’t in any kind of danger. While Zephyr was caught between conflicting thoughts that made him feel a little guilty, Lucien suddenly turned toward him, grabbed his hand, and rubbed it against his burning face. A breathy murmur escaped his lips.

"You feel so cool... and comfortable."

Immediately, the little bit of guilt Zephyr felt was thrown out the window. He blinked, then leaned down, his voice dropping into a low, almost seductive whisper.

"Really?"

"Then you can touch more."

Lucien froze.

For a fleeting moment, the fog in his mind shattered, leaving him acutely aware of the handsome face hovering just inches away.

Zephyr’s silver hair framed those gray eyes—void of light, yet burning with an intensity that sent his heart pounding wildly against his ribcage. Their lips were so close that their breaths were mingling with each other.

His breath hitched as the heavy, molten heat pooling low in his belly intensified, becoming so intense that, for a moment, Lucien was almost unable to suppress it.

Even knowing exactly what he was doing, Lucien found himself unable to let go of Zephyr’s hand. His fingers even tightened.

Still, he managed to force out a few stammered words, desperately trying to explain himself despite the overwhelming urge to simply give in to the temptation.

"N-No, I m-mean..."

Zephyr leaned in closer and, almost as if by accident, brushed his lips against Lucien’s, letting out a faint, calm, questioning sound.

"Hmm?"

Lucien’s mind buzzed, and the next second, he pounced at the person so close at hand.

This person was clearly seducing him! He wouldn’t be a man if he still held back! He wanted to bite him to vent his frustration!

Zephyr was taken aback by the sudden action and failed to react in time, causing him to misstep and fall onto his back.

If not for him instinctively using his Psychokinesis skill to stop himself before he hit the scattered bones beneath him, he was sure he would have been injured.

He quickly cleared the area beneath him with his skill, only then allowing himself to fall. His arm wrapped around Lucien’s waist as he let the person above him cling to him.

But then, realizing what he had just done, Zephyr froze. He could use his Psychokinesis skill like this too?

He had always thought it only worked on non-living things. That’s why he had never tried using it to make himself float or restrain another living creature.

Ah... it seemed this S-Rank skill still had a lot more to offer.

His thoughts were interrupted, and he hissed softly when a faint, stinging pain came from his neck. Lucien had just bitten him. But the bite was only the beginning; the person above him seemed unsatisfied, trailing wet, lingering licks across the spot he had just bitten, nuzzling into the crook of his neck with hungry desperation.