Hellbound: Rebirth Of The Strongest Slayer.-Chapter 55: What could a baby possibly do? (2)

Chapter 55

"What are you trying to get at, dear?"

Calack’s rough but cheerful voice broke the tension as he sat beside Selene, roasted meat in hand.

"You can’t seriously believe our cute Rayden was behind that," he said lightly. "He is just a baby. For crying out loud, what could a baby as adorable as him possibly do?"

Selene did not look convinced.

"If he knew nothing about the fire, then why was he found there?" she shot back. "From here to that place is several km apart. How does a baby even get there in the first place?"

Her gaze hardened.

Rayden’s instincts screamed again.

This was clearly not ending soon.

Calack froze.

Why did he not think about that?

"Well... you do have a point," he said slowly. "But there could be various coincidences that caused this. You are not really insinuating that our child is a demon, or a devil, or some kind of abomination... right?"

"No. That is not what I am saying," Selene replied sharply.

The argument continued, going back and forth.

And the culprit behind it all sat quietly to the side.

Rayden watched his parents, expression blank, while sighing internally again and again.

That was close.

Seriously close.

Being a baby really had its benefits. If not for that, those two might have already uncovered his deepest secret.

Rayden frowned slightly.

Why did he even feel compelled to answer his human mother truthfully earlier?

Annoying.

It had to be the baby factor. He needed to grow up fast. Really fast. Before another mishap like this happened.

From the argument alone, Rayden learned something important.

The destruction he caused with Ember of Will was far worse than he thought. The fire had spread unnaturally, consuming almost half of the massive forest. Many powerful beasts died in that inferno. Even the heavy rain from before failed to stop it.

If not for sheer luck, there might not have been a forest left at all.

Many of those beasts were far too strong for Calack to handle.

Yet Rayden killed them.

All of them.

I see.

No wonder the Soul Remnant Energy bar jumped by two thousand.

So that was how it worked.

The more he killed, the more Soul Remnant Energy he gained. The more energy he had, the more he could use his skills.

Interesting.

Almost immediately, a system notification popped up.

Due to sudden activation of Hellfire within the soul, temporary skills will now have usage limits.

Some skills will remain locked for several months.

Rayden shrugged internally.

Whatever.

The system always found a way to annoy him. He was not surprised anymore.

Instead, his thoughts drifted elsewhere.

How much destruction could he really cause?

How powerful could he become?

Even as a baby, if he used the ten skills with perfect accuracy and proper planning, then out of the three of them...

He was the strongest.

Rayden smiled faintly.

Good to know.

Eventually, the argument died down. Selene accepted the obvious truth. A baby could not orchestrate something like that. How could a child who had not even formed coherent thoughts yet do something so monstrous?

The trio continued their journey.

Over time, Callack broke through again and became much stronger. How he did it, Rayden did not know. What he did know was that his father was far stronger than before they began the journey.

Selene had also started cultivating under Callack’s guidance. She stepped onto the cultivation path herself.

They were doing well.

Rayden was grateful for that.

The stronger they were, the better his chances of surviving long term.

Using the Hell skills now was more of a gamble than anything else. With Soul Conduit locked for months and other skills limited by time, he needed efficiency. Precision. Control.

So he adapted.

He combined his deep battle knowledge with his skills and developed a new battle art, one that chained his several abilities together seamlessly.

With it, he was fairly certain of one thing.

If he and his father ever fought seriously, he would beat him into the ground.

Near effortlessly.

Not that Rayden planned to turn his own father into a punching bag.

Of course not.

But knowing he could?

That felt good.

And do not think for a second that he was holding back because he was already suspected of being abnormal.

No.

That was not the reason at all.

The journey dragged on for days. Then weeks. Callack and Selene handled most of the danger along the way, while Rayden helped only when necessary, and even then, as subtly as possible.

He did not want unnecessary attention. He did not want more questions.

Honestly, he was perfectly fine being the adorable baby boy Selene kept calling him.

At the back of his mind, though, there was another concern.

If he got exposed, the divine milk supply might stop.

Now that was unacceptable.

That alone was enough to make him behave.

For the sake of the milk, Rayden focused and acted as well behaved as a months old child possibly could. But that did not change the fact that he still occasionally slipped away to burn some snakes or kill a few wolves using his new battle art.

Hell Baby Wrath Art.

The name was lame.

He knew it.

He did not care.

This time, however, he was extremely careful not to cause another accident like before. Because of that, not only was his control improving, his body itself was changing. Stronger. Tougher. More resilient than any baby his age had the right to be.

Things were going fine.

No.

They were going extremely good.

They blazed through the forest, searching for any sign of humans. They had been there for months now, getting close to a year, yet they still had not found a single settlement.

And then, without warning, everything changed.

Several months had passed since the group entered the forest. They never stayed in one place for long. Their goal was simple. Find a human settlement and settle down.

Despite their experience in the final moments of their old kingdom being far from pleasant, it was still not enough to make them want to live like hermits forever. So they kept moving. Traversing several meters upon meters of land every day. When night came, they found shelter. Then continued the next morning.

The routine repeated until it became second nature.

If they could not find a settlement, they would live in the forest for now. Who knew. Maybe when they became much stronger, they could cross the Great Sea again and reach another land.

Fate, however, had other plans.

Soon after, they encountered their first human.

A man dressed like a farmer.

The way he carefully picked herbs, glancing around nervously every few seconds, made it obvious he was terrified of being in the forest. He was ready to flee at the first sign of danger.

Minutes passed.

Nothing happened.

The man visibly relaxed and finished gathering the herbs he needed. He looked at them and smiled.

This should be enough to cure a lot of people. And fetch a decent amount of money.

Now time to lea...

He never finished the word.

A massive boar, nearly three times his size, flew straight toward him.

The man froze.

Every instinct screamed danger.

His heart nearly stopped as he watched the monster crash into the bark of a hardened tree, smashing it apart instantly.

He stood there, unable to process what he was seeing.

Then he saw another figure.

A man flew in from the side, stepping forward calmly, two short swords in his hands. There was a small smile on his lips.

Wait.

Is that man smiling at a great boar?

Does he know how dangerous that thing is?

The farmer’s mind struggled to keep up.

Then a familiar voice rang out.

"Hey, Selene. Should we use our combo hit to finish this big dinner of ours?" Callack asked casually.

"That sounds like a really fun idea," a sweet female voice replied.

Another figure landed smoothly, stopping despite her earlier momentum. She gently placed a small bundle, a child around a year old, onto a nearby rock.

Then she pulled out her weapon. Crude. Heavy. But thick enough to get the job done.

"Well " Selene said softly. "Let’s do it."

To be continued...