Chapter 353: Alden No Share Food! Aemirya Smash! (The Consequences of Not Listening)
"Damn, that’s delicious."
Alden cheered, taking another bite of the gigantic snake Aemirya and he had cooked. It had been nearly two months since they had gotten stuck in this forest together.
During that time, they had wiped out hundreds of dragons. According to Aemirya, not many were left anymore. Once they dealt with the remaining ones, they would finally be free from this green hell that was starting to feel almost like home to Alden.
He took another bite of the meat as his thoughts wandered over the past few weeks.
Meanwhile, Alden and Aemirya had grown comfortable enough with each other that they now cooked a single animal to share instead of hunting and eating separately.
He felt she had lowered her guard around him considerably. It wasn’t as if there had been any dramatic change, she hadn’t suddenly started smiling at him, but at least she no longer greeted him with that constant cold glare.
From everything he had learned about her, she was a loner through and through. Even worse than the kind of loner he was.
She was a half-dragon and the granddaughter of the Dragon Queen Bazook. Because her mother, the queen’s daughter, had died giving birth to her, much of dragonkind hated her. They called her accursed and the child who had killed their beloved princess.
Which made making friends rather difficult.
Although she had never explicitly shared those details, the little snippets she let slip during his daily information lessons had been useful.
If that wasn’t all, the two of them also sparred regularly in their free time. While she was still a tough opponent for the current him, she had helped him a lot in slowly getting used to his strength.
He could now last much longer while using his mana without completely destroying his body. Though he was still far from having perfect control over his current condition.
During this time, he had even tried learning some Eclipse-related spells. Unfortunately, he didn’t have much knowledge to work with, so his attempts had mostly ended in failure because in the first place he didn’t know what features his Eclipse even had.
Still, recently he felt as though he was on the verge of comprehending a spell.
He took another bite of the meat in his hand, his frustration with his growth clearly visible.
Aemirya, who had already finished her meal, watched him for a moment before opening her mouth.
"Now that we are nearing the end of the competition, there are a few things I must share with you. About the remaining opponents, as well as how I plan to get you out of this forest."
Alden looked at her while stuffing another chunk of meat into his mouth.
"Mmhyeah, dell me." He said through a mouthful of food. "Ahm lishenin’ tuh ya."
Aemirya’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything because she had grown somewhat used to this barbaric and perverted human by now.
She shook her head and continued.
"From my estimates and the remaining duration, I believe only ten or so dragons are still left in the ceremony. Every one of them is a monster equal to my strength or far stronger at a similar level to Minerva."
"Mhm." The boy’s voice came.
"Minerva belonged to one of the Twelve Founding Dragon Families of Dragothoria and a total of eight participants from those families entered the ceremony this year. Aside from her, whom we eliminated, I believe the others are still here."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"All of them are at the peak of the Ascendent Rank, and unlike me, their draconic forms would be fully complete. We only managed to defeat Minerva because her brutish nature made her careless but others won’t be so easy. We need a proper plan."
Her expression darkened slightly.
"Besides them, two of my cousins, the direct descendants of the Dragon Queen, are almost certainly still here as well. The forest is vast enough that we haven’t crossed paths until now but as we enter the final stretch of the ceremony, the area of activity will gradually shrink."
"Mhm."
Her red eyes narrowed.
"And when that happens, we will inevitably encounter them and trust me... they won’t pull their punches."
"Mhm."
She slowly raised her head, hoping to see a serious expression on the human’s face. After all, while he had his tricks, he wasn’t stronger than her, let alone the monsters who could toy with her.
But instead...
All she saw was the boy munching on his meat with a completely vacant and unserious expression, as though none of the details she had just shared had anything to do with him.
A frown appeared on her face as a vein twitched near her temple.
"Along with that, the northern winds are quite chilly for a pervert like you to roam around naked in. I hope some dinosaur bites your head off along the way and liberates the world from your presence."
She deliberately said it to test his response.
"Mhm."
He replied with the exact same approving sound.
Snap.
The wooden stake in her hand split cleanly into two.
This bastard...
She hurled the broken stake at him with all her strength. Only then did Alden finally look up while tilting his head ever so slightly, he let the stake whistle past him harmlessly before it slammed into a tree behind him, snapping the thick trunk cleanly in half.
His eyes narrowed.
He looked at the broken tree then at Aemirya then down at the food in his hand and then back at Aemirya again as a frown slowly formed on his face.
"I am not sharing my food." He turned his body away from her protectively and resumed munching on the food. "If you’re hungry, go cook something yourself."
The veins on Aemirya’s forehead became even more prominent now as she got up.
"You bastard..." Her voice trembled with rage. "I am going to kill you before those damn dragons get the chance."
Without the slightest hesitation, she transformed into her draconic form. The air trembled and a moment later, draconic breath erupted from her jaws.
Alden’s eyes widened.
"What the—!"
He instantly jumped away from his spot as the beam tore through the ground where he had been sitting only moments ago, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
Landing several meters away, Alden stared at the devastated patch of forest before slowly turning toward Aemirya.
"You crazy bitch!" He pointed at the destruction, his hand trembling in anger and annoyance. "Have you gone mad or something?"
Then he pointed at the meat still clutched in his hand.
"Just ask nicely! I would’ve shared some!" His expression turned increasingly incredulous. "Are you seriously trying to kill me over food?"
