Chapter 201: An Offering (1/2)

Hellhounds were purely devils of the fire element. In order to treat their ailments, providing them with fire mana was often the most effective treatment method. However, the black egg was in its most primal form…it probably didn’t possess the ability to convert mana into energy, at least that’s what I thought. In other words, all that flame breathing was probably in vain.

Still, the heart wrenching scene continued for another ten minutes or so till the Cerberus finally ran out of mana and was unable to continue. As it laid on the floor, the fatigue it had was laid bare for all to see. Even amidst all that however, the grief reflected in its eyes overwhelmed any sort of tiredness it felt, and stabbed into our hearts like a burning knife. It gave out a string of ‘woof woofs’ as if it was crying, all the while rubbing its three heads against the black egg. From time to time, it would give the egg a tender lick reminiscent of a kiss…

Seeing that, my already broken heart shattered even further. The pitiful sight of it laying there and crying reminded of Mo Ci long ago. Back then, she didn’t have to die at all; she simply had to give up on that devil egg and she would have survived. However, she didn’t do that, instead choosing to give birth to that egg in a pristine condition. For that, she ultimately gave up her life…

Was that a mother’s love? Most likely. In order to protect their children, mothers were willing to do anything after all. If that wasn’t love, what was?

‘Perhaps there was something I could do to help it? That egg might not be of the same species as me, but it’s still a child. Speaking of children, Ancarin’s belly must be pretty big by now. By my estimation, there shouldn’t be much time left before it’s born…’

“Sweetie, pass me one of the elemental cores.”

“Here you go, Mama.” Prior to this, I fashioned a tiny box for Mo Na to store those cores for the sake of convenience. The little box came with its own bone chain to prevent any accidental loss, and was attached to Mo Na’s waist. The moment I gave it to her, Mo Na instantly fell in love with the box fashioned out of Flame Devouring Fish bones, and would often play with it.

Opening up the box, she passed me one of the Five-stars Fire Elemental Cores. “Mama, are you going to give this to it?”

“That’s right, even though we had some unpleasantness between us just now, I can completely understand its desire to protect its child no matter the cost.”

Such was my personality in this world and even back on Earth. Often I would do things that people found inexplicable simply because of my sentimental nature. Even after sacrificing my own interests to help a complete stranger, I wouldn’t leave my name behind. That applied to people who were most likely out to scam me as well. Despite knowing that the other party was most likely a con artist, I couldn’t bring myself to ignore a person asking for help. What happened if he really needed help? That was the biggest fear I had even amidst my fear of being cheated.

Those who knew me would often joke about me embodying the term ‘good samaritan’ more than the words themselves.

After all, I never left my name behind on purpose or even made a note of it.

(TL: A reference to some Chinese drama figure was omitted here since it wouldn’t translate well. The meaning was preserved though. )

The cores were supposed to be given to No.3 and Big 4 but because of trust issues, I decided to keep them in reserve till now. Seeing as this mother was in dire straits right now, giving it to her was as good of a use for them as whatever I had planned before. Simply put, this was my way of showing respect for a mother’s love.

I received the elemental core from Mo Na and placed it beside the Cerberus.

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“Woof…”

It listlessly stared at me but as soon it felt the surge of fire energies from the core, it abruptly stood up and gave me a disbelieving stare. It probably thought of devils like me as devious and the complete antithesis to the word ‘kindness’. Such a figure actually showed such generosity to a stranger and an enemy no less! That was something the Cerberus simply couldn’t comprehend no matter how hard it tried.

The Cerberus gingerly probed the core with its claw; perhaps it wanted to confirm whether or not the core was safe or perhaps it simply wanted to check if I was messing with it.

“That’s for you, it might just be of use to you.” I pointed at the core before pointing at the almost lifeless black egg. “That’s a Five-star Fire Elemental Core, I’m not entirely sure what it can do but it should at least be able to replenish energy.”

Hearing that, the Cerberus gave me a grateful look before promptly pressing the egg against the core.

Then, something miraculous happened. The moment the core came into contact with the black egg, the energies within the core flowed into the egg even without needing any sort of guidance.

‘The egg knows how to absorb those energies by itself? Or was the core sending its energies into the egg automatically?’

I had no way of knowing which of the two it was but that really didn’t matter now. As time passed, the energy within the core decreased while the life force within the egg increased almost to a breaking point.

The moment the energies crossed that threshold, we heard a crack echo throughout the air. Soon after, a tiny little puppy’s head could be seen sticking out of the egg.

It was a black puppy that was completely jet black all over except for some red patterns running through its fur, and looked remarkably similar to a chinese farm dog.

“Bark bark bark bark!” The little puppy’s clarion call was filled with life, completely different from the dying wreck it was just moments ago.

The puppy surveyed its surroundings for a moment and upon noticing that Cerberus lying on the floor, it excitedly barked.