Chapter 100: Recklessness

Slowly, a few more incredibly long days passed, and nothing much had changed during this time.

Lia still couldn’t access her fire affinity, couldn’t even manifest a small spark.

Meanwhile, Seraphina seemed to have been making steady progress herself.

Even though she didn’t try to boast about it, just looking at the ice manifestation, at the small shard forming in her palm was enough to make Lia’s chest tighten in frustration.

More at herself than at Seraphina.

Seraphina had begun to understand more about her affinity, and she was able to materialise her ice powers more properly, even being able to create small, simple structures.

Her progress was going consistently, every day improving as time passed by.

While Lia—

Lia hadn’t even been able to feel her affinity.

She hadn’t even crossed the first step—or maybe she was even below that.

Lucian and Seraphina could see the irritation and self-blame clearly plastered on Lia’s face.

Seraphina even went to her, trying to help her—trying to explain her everything she knew, as clearly as she could.

She tried to make it simpler, the process clearer, despite finding it difficult to do so herself.

But that didn’t help her much, aside from one small improvement—the fact that Lia was now able to feel the mana inside her body.

She could faintly see its amount inside her.

Not that it changed much of her progress.

Day by day, she was becoming more frustrated, and they couldn’t even do anything about it.

Lucian wanted to go out more than once, wanting to find more monster cores, but he had to wait until his injuries healed before doing as he wished.

And even if he could move despite the discomfort, he didn’t, since he was certain that if he did—

Then both of the women before him would tie him up and lock him inside the basement.

As time slipped by, strangely, the silence outside remained undisturbed.

There hadn’t been any monster entering their house during this period, which made Lucian wonder if they had vanished—though he knew that wasn’t the case.

They were still out there, waiting, lurking for prey to fall into their claws.

***

The road was dark, and the faint moonlight barely lit up the surroundings.

There was a tense silence, broken only by the soft, echoing footsteps of a woman walking alone, heading in a seemingly random direction.

Her body was tense, and every few seconds, her head turned again and again, glancing over her shoulder as she scanned the darkness around her, afraid that something—or someone—might come near.

The air smelled of dust and a faint metallic scent that made the woman nauseous.

‘Again…’ she thought, feeling her throat parch, the same dryness returning, along with her stomach twisting with hunger.

The hunger she had ignored for days had been increasing with each passing day.

She held her head, ruffling her black hair, her fingers pressing against her temple as her bright brown eyes scanned through the surroundings nervously.

‘Why did I even come here…?’

The question came out too late, and for a moment, she wondered what her purpose in coming out of her house had been.

Her thoughts halted abruptly, hearing a sudden sharp sound that made her flinch.

Her head snapped towards it instantly, only to see a dark, black bird—seemingly a crow—standing over something.

Her body froze for a moment before her eyes narrowed, and her pupils constricted to focus.

She couldn’t see properly in the darkness, and it took a few seconds for her to notice what the crow was standing on.

Its head was dipped down, its beak poking into the flesh, tearing it as it ate.

Her breath got caught in her throat, as she clearly saw it.

The human carcass the crow was feeding on, tearing into the man’s dead, pale face, the skin already torn, as if it had been eaten before.

The body was slightly rotten, partly decaying, and she could even smell it.

The wet, sickening sounds echoed as it tore into it again, pulling at the flesh and feeding into it.

She gulped a mouthful as the metallic, rotten, and decaying smell assaulted her nose.

Soon, she turned away, running away from there.

Her footsteps echoed louder, more uneven than before, as she moved away from the overwhelming, horrifying sight.

She didn’t know where she was going, and only knew that she wanted to find something.

Something that would make her stronger after killing it.

To anyone who still didn’t understand who the woman was…

It was Lia, and she was here to find a monster, to kill it.

Her brother had been injured for days, and others were dying outside, some maybe even fighting or hiding from the monsters.

And she couldn’t stay behind any longer.

She wanted to get stronger too, but she could only do that with the use of monster cores, which she couldn’t get in their house.

So she had come out, over here, alone.

She was being reckless, yes.

She clearly knew that.

But she couldn’t stop herself.

Because staying felt worse.

It had been days since she had eaten properly, and she couldn’t even handle the gnawing hunger that was growing stronger and more unbreakable with each passing moment.

Lucian and Seraphina both were growing worried by her fasting.

At first, Lucian was the one who told her not to force herself, not to eat if she didn’t want to.

But after a few days passed and nothing had changed, it wasn’t the same anymore.

The disgust on her face whenever she looked at anything edible was still clearly visible—it was becoming concerning.

Because a human body couldn’t last without nutrients for so long.

So, to reassure them, all Lia could do was eat—more like force some of it down in front of them, swallowing it despite the violent urge to throw up, and then, later, when she thought they wouldn’t notice, she would throw it all up.

It was taking a toll on her body, and on her mind as well.

And now—standing here, alone in the darkness—she herself didn’t fully understand why she was out here, away from them, without even informing them.

There was a chance she could die here, torn apart by the hands of monsters.

But for some reason, she felt compelled to be here—to hunt the monsters, to grow stronger, and to finally have a chance at using her affinity.

The affinity shouldn’t have mattered this much to her, yet something deep inside told her it was vital to her very existence—something she couldn’t ignore, even if she wanted to.

There was even the thirst she sometimes felt all of a sudden—like a seizure that would abruptly come over her.

She was feeling it now, too.

Her gaze turned to another corpse, to the dried blood spreading beneath it, staining the ground.

Her eyes lingered there for a long time before she forced herself to turn away.

She was wearing normal clothes—loose pants and a simple, plain white T-shirt.

In one of her hands was a dagger that looked more like a kitchen knife—as it was one.

She hadn’t come out with any proper planning, only with the reckless determination to get stronger.

Now, whether that determination would become her demise… she didn’t know.

Soon, she spotted a green, wiry, short creature crouched over another corpse, its mouth chewing through flesh.

Lia’s steps halted.

Her entire body froze, then trembled faintly at the sight of the creature feeding in the dark.

Lia’s breathing hastened, and her fingers tightened around the dagger, turning her knuckles white.

‘Calm down, Lia, calm down…’ she repeated to herself, trying to stop her body from trembling—which barely worked.

The trembling didn’t stop.

It only lessened.

‘Brother said… goblins are the weakest among F-rank monsters,’ she remembered Lucian’s words.

Lucian had tried to explain many things—especially about the monsters—as much as he knew.

The thought steadied her just enough.

Slowly, carefully, she walked toward the creature, each step deliberate, as silent as she could make it.

The distance between them closed gradually.

‘Don’t move… don’t move…’ she quietly chanted in her mind, hoping the goblin wouldn’t turn toward her.

Her breathing turned shallow, and her grip on the dagger tightened as she closed in on the monster.

She shakily raised her hand.

The goblin was too focused on its meal, not reacting to her at all.

She lifted her trembling hand—before bringing it down with full force, plunging the dagger straight into its back.

“Gk—kiiiii!”

The goblin screeched, its body jerking violently as it twisted back toward her, its claws snapping directly in her direction.

Lia’s eyes widened as she barely managed to move back, pulling the dagger out just in time, ripping it free from its flesh.

Her pupils trembled, and her body shook, almost causing the dagger to slip from her violently shaking hands.

Her breathing hastened further, turning erratic.

Her heart pounded against her chest.

The goblin didn’t wait for her.

The moment it looked at her, a guttural growl tore from its throat, its eyes burning with pain and unfiltered anger.

It lunged forward.

Lia’s mind instantly snapped back into focus.

Time seemed to slow down as she clumsily sidestepped, almost stumbling over her own feet as she barely avoided the attack.

“Ha… fuck…”

Her breathing came out shallow and panicked.

The creature pressed forward immediately, its claws slashing toward her again.

Lia brought her hand up, hoping to protect herself from the incoming attack.

But she forgot something.

The goblin wasn’t trying to punch her—it was using its claws.

And the claws—

They were sharp.

“Aaaahhh!!” Her scream tore from her lips.

Sharp, intense pain shot up through her forearm, searing as the claws tore into her flesh, ripping through skin with brutal ease.

Her body jolted.

Her mind blanked.

A sudden fear gripped her heart—

The cold, dreadful fear of dying.

Right now.

Her eyes trembled, her body shook violently.

‘No… no, no, no… I can’t die right now.’

Her heart tightened, making her clench her teeth.

Before the goblin could attack further, Lia’s eyes widened, and her leg shot up instinctively, her knee slamming into the creature.

The goblin staggered, giving her a few seconds to breathe.

Lia’s eyes burned.

“Ughh…” she groaned, biting her lip as pain throbbed through her arm.

Her eyes turned moist.

The flesh burned along with a sharp sting, as if her arm had been set on fire.

Seeing the goblin move again, she stopped thinking and moved her other arm, tightening her grip on the dagger—

And plunging it directly into the goblin’s neck.

The creature’s eyes widened suddenly.

Its body stiffened, before, in its last dying attempt, its claws lashed out again, desperately slashing toward her.

Lia’s vision sharpened.

She tilted her head sharply.

The claw passed by—close enough to slice through a few strands of her hair.