Chapter 98: Desperation.

Timing was all about being in the perfect place at the perfect moment.

But for a screwed-up guy like me, “perfect” and “location” rarely existed in the same sentence.

And yet… somehow by some divine miracle or cosmic mistake, I actually arrived at the perfect spot.

Just a few moments ago, I was sprinting through the second layer of the forest like a madman, desperately trying to find the goat monster that could swallow me whole.

When I finally found that ugly bastard which looked very much like a goat, I didn’t hesitate and jumped straight into its mouth without a second thought.

Thankfully, the beast seemed to enjoy my flavor as it didn’t resist and just gulped me down like an appetizer.

Inside its stomach, I found the same kind of portal that had dragged me into the second layer in the first place.

The portal worked almost exactly like the one at the entrance.

It teleported whoever used it to a completely random location within the First Layer of the Forest.

And no, I wasn’t stupid enough to hope I would end up anywhere near Bearlo.

I mean, I knew that shitty bitch, Luck, far too well for that kind of optimism.

If anything, I fully expected her to pull her usual stunt to play the victim and “accidentally” drop me straight into the mouth of some dragon.

But thankfully by some miracle, I wasn’t dropped anywhere strange.

…Okay, correction.

Maybe somewhere completely strange because the place I had landed in was definitely, without a doubt, strange.

I didn’t know what… but something about this place creeped me out.

I looked behind me, a corpse of an overgrown orc sprawled across the ground, its head missing and its body still twitching faintly.

Green blood pooled under that bastard.

That pig had galls to try and attack me right after I teleported.

I mean, wasn’t that a little rude?

Who greets someone by swinging a club the size of a tree at their face?

So, naturally, I did what any sane, rational and undeniably handsome human being would do.

I chopped its head off for lack of manners, hoping it would learn some in its next life.

Then my gaze locked onto the woman currently clinging to me and very much rubbing her assets all over my body like I was her personal stress ball.

The supposed Princess of the Empire was trying to seduce me for her survival and man. And, gods… she was an absolute noob at it.

Her technique was clumsy, her timing worse and the desperation in her eyes killed whatever charm she thought she had.

I mean, it made sense.

What kind of princess would ever need to learn how to seduce someone?

She wasn’t trying to be seductive, she was just desperate.

And in that desperation, her mind had clearly screamed at her to do something, anything,

to make the person who had just saved her stay close.

Classic psychological behavior.

There was a name for it… something scientific-sounding.

But honestly, I never bothered to remember names.

I pushed her back.

I didn’t want to be rude, but, Gods, she reeked.

She was covered in blood and smeared with some kind of green moss that smelled like a swamp had crawled onto her and died.

Her once-radiant platinum hair was a tangled disaster and her golden eyes trembled as they met mine nervously.

I understood the situation instantly.

The poor girl had abandonment issues. Severe ones, at that.

She was exactly the kind of person who could be used, a perfect pawn, easy to manipulate and desperate to belong to someone.

But unfortunately for her…

I had no interest in carrying burdens that couldn’t pull their own weight.

Otherwise, maybe, just maybe… I would have made use of her.

“Where are we,” I asked flatly, “how much time is left before the exam ends?”

I didn’t utter a single word about the fact that she had just tried to do something unholy.

I had to find Bearlo first and from what I could feel, he was somewhere in this cave.

The faint pull from the Cloak was still there, tugging gently at my soul like a reminder that my investment wasn’t dead… yet.

“We… we are in a cave.” Seraphina whispered, her voice low and dry.

Like, I didn’t know that.

My face twitched but I held back the urge to curse.

The girl was just nervous—no need to scar her delicate royal pride again.

I stayed quiet, letting her continue. Hopefully, she would at least say something useful.

“It’s been six days since the start of the exam,” she murmured after a pause. “Today… is the last day.”

I saw, so I came out at perfect timing.

Time had gone completely blurry for me inside the second layer. It was hard to keep track when you’re being tortured by an overgrown lizard with anger issues.

“Have you seen my assistant around here?” I asked flatly.

She had seen Bearlo before we entered the forest,

so I didn’t bother explaining further.

“Y-yes…” she stammered, voice trembling slightly. “I saw him before I split with my group.” she said, her eyes flickering with unease.

“Which direction?” I cut in, not bothering to ask about anything else.

Seraphina hesitated for a heartbeat, then slowly pointed toward a narrow passage half-buried under a mound of rubble.

I’ll be damned.

Now… how the hell am I supposed to cross that?

The section I was standing in had only one entrance and the other side was sealed off by a solid wall of stone.

Just my kind of luck.

My mind raced trying to find my way through the rubble… just then a ridiculous idea came to my mind.

My affinity.

According to the description, I could control its temperature, right?

So, what if I just melted the stones?

…In theory, it sounded genius.

But was that even possible?

I had no idea but oh well, it’s worth the try.

—

Meanwhile, within another part of the cave, Bearlo gripped his hand tightly, it bled as he leaned back on the cold cave wall.

The cloak draped over his shoulders fluttered faintly as if concerned for his condition.

But Bearlo couldn’t focus on it.

A boy lay unconscious beside him with his breathing shallow and uneven, his condition no better than Bearlo’s own.

Cedric.

Bearlo had come to this cave to retrieve an artifact, following the orders of his liege.

And he had made it to the deepest part of the cavern.

The final chamber.

Dozens of artifacts floated silently in the air.

But Bearlo’s eyes were fixed on one object alone, a crimson mask suspended in the center of the chamber.

That was the artifact his liege had commanded him to retrieve.

And that was when he stumbled upon Cedric and his party.

They seemed to have entered the cave from some other entrance.

Cedric had been surprisingly welcoming, asking if Bearlo had been separated from his liege and even promising to help him find his way back.

After some discussion, they decided to divide the artifacts among themselves.

And Bearlo had agreed.

He didn’t care about the others as long as he could retrieve the artifact his liege had ordered him to.

But just then… one of the party members of Cedric’s party started acting strange.

He lunged at one particular ominous black scroll and snatched it midair before muttering incomprehensible words, his voice cracking with a madness that didn’t belong to him.

Cedric tried to stop him.

But before he could, the air split open with a deafening roar.

The ground quaked violently as ancient runes across the walls flared to life.

The entire cavern began to fracture as a shockwave of ominous energy swept through the surrounding.

And in the chaos, Seraphina—the one who had been with Lady Viola before entering the forest—was swept away, separated from the rest.

The boy—Lucien—who had touched the strange scroll started leaking an ominous dark energy.

He started attacking everyone.

The other girl—Seles—was caught in the first attack and was shredded into pieces before she could even scream.

Cedric froze where he stood with his eyes wide, unable to move or breathe.

Bearlo gritted his teeth, forcing down the instinct to kneel under the crushing pressure of that dark aura.

Without a word, he grabbed Cedric by the collar and ran.

But escape came at a price. They hadn’t made it out unscathed.

Lucien—if he could still be called that—had chased them through the collapsing tunnels like a beast driven by pure madness.

Now, they were cornered.

A dead end of jagged stone stood ahead.

Bearlo could feel the presence inching closer with every moment.

But even in this desperate moment, he only had one thought.

I am sorry, my liege. I couldn’t be of help to you until the very end.

—-

Author’s Note:

Maybe it’s just me overthinking (again 😅), but something feels a little off. I’ll probably tweak this Chapter later — for now, I hope you still enjoy it 💫

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