Chapter 202: I’m a Sucker (1/2)

With hope in my heart and dreams driving me forward, I chased after the shadow of the Cerberus. Every now and then, the Cerberus would turn around to check if I was still following it. Whenever I lagged behind too much, he would call out to me and rush me along. If I stuck close to him however, he would merely continue onwards without saying a thing. Like that, we ran for roughly five to six minutes before coming upon a black mountain roughly a hundred meters high.

The Cerberus brought us right up to the mountain base where I found a cave right ahead that didn’t seem too deep. Upon reaching that cave, the cerberus hurriedly brought his kid into the cave without once turning around to check on me as if he was in hurry to be somewhere.

‘Legendary treasure trove, here I come!’

With that thought, I took my first excited step into the cave and then I had my mind blown. ‘Where’s my divine weapon?! Where’s my miraculous encounter?! Did I miss a flag somewhere?’

What I saw instead was a prone Cerberus with a half revealed belly. There I saw a hideous gash that leaked out blood each time the Cerberus breathed. Judging by how the pitiful hellhound laid there in a pool of its own blood, gasping for air and in an extremely weakened state, it wouldn’t be long before that hellhound died.

“Wooof wooof…” The male Cerberus lowered his child right next to the body of his injured kin and there the little puppy cried. Even though the puppy was a newborn, it wasn’t dumb. It clearly understood something the moment it laid eyes on that injured Cerberus. Though its wailing was soft, the grief within it was deafening to me.

Seeing that, I roughly got the gist of the situation.

‘An injured b*tch…err, I mean Mama dog…I’m not trying to cuss anyone here…yeah, let’s go with Mama Hellhound from now on.’ Mama Hellhound must’ve gotten seriously injured while giving birth to her child. Most likely that egg was the result of a premature birth and that explained why it kept leaking life force.

Dog Daddy…Papa Hellhound brought the egg to one of the platforms floating on the lava lake because there was an abundance of fire energy there, unlike the cave we were in right now. Using those energies, he planned on breathing fire while recovering his mana at the same time. Like that, he managed to maintain his breathing for a much longer period of time.

While my brain filled in the gaps, Mama Hellhound tenderly extended her head out to snuggle against the baby hellhound. Unfortunately, that simple act caused her wound to tear slightly, sending ripples of pain rushing through her body in an instant.

‘I wonder how long has she been in that state…’

‘So this isn’t a treasure trove of divine weapons…it’s actually a giant pit waiting for me to jump into it…all that talk about Papa’s instincts is nothing but a load of hogwash…based on that fact, I can at least say that I’m still a man.’

‘After all, a man’s sixth sense will never be able to compete with a girl’s.’

“I thought our child would never be able to survive…there must’ve been some special reason for that…I can roughly guess who is responsible for that already…you have my thanks…beloved guests…” Mama Hellhound spoke, in fluent devil’s tongue no less. The fact she was able to speak so fluently had exceeded my expectations, but not by much seeing as Violet Snow had already set a precedent for that.

Seeing my lukewarm reaction, Mama Hellhound opened her mouth in what looked like an attempt at a toothy grin: “Even though I wish to say that I’m happy…seeing as my child’s life is safe…but I’m afraid I don’t have much time to live…”

“Your wounds aren’t able to close up?”

There was no need for formalities between us right now because I already knew Papa Hellhound’s motive for bringing me here: he wanted me to save her.

“I was injured by a slash from a Purgatory Warhorse’s horn…my child was birthed prematurely because of that…that childbirth drained too much of my energy…my body is…at least the child managed to survive…our child looks so healthy…I thought that even if we our child survived…” As she said that, tears rolled down all of her cheeks. However, she immediately apologized upon realizing how rude it was for her to cry in front of her guests: “I’m sorry…I couldn’t control myself there…”

Seeing his wife cry like that, Papa Hellhound gave a couple of mournful ‘woof woofs’ and gave me an expecting look. What he was thinking right now was extremely clear to me.

Fortunately for him, I rather liked hellhounds thanks to my time with Violet Snow. To be exact, I liked all kinds of tiny animals, cats, dogs, whatever. Hellhounds were completely different from devils, they were hounds. Engraved in their bones was a sense of loyalty to their masters. Even if they possessed an intelligence equal to a human’s, they would never strike out against their master.

Since I was here already, there was no way I would leave her to die like that.

“Will a Red Lotus help?” During our journey eastward, we managed to harvest quite a number of Red Lotuses. The majority of them ended up in Mo Na’s belly but I made sure to keep a reserve just for such emergencies. I had Mo Na take out our emergency supply; there were three fruits left. “I’m sure you know better than I do what these can do for healing wounds.”

“I’m extremely grateful for the gesture…but…please take them back…they…are no longer able to help me…”

From the looks of things, Mama Hellhound must have already eaten quite a number of them but to no avail.

“Wooof…” Papa Hellhound lifted his heads and howled at the tiny box attached to Mo Na’s waist.

“Are you referring to this?” I had Mo Na take out the last remaining core stashed in the box. That was probably the real reason why he brought us here.

Turning my head to face Mama Hellhound, I gently placed the Five-stars Fire Elemental Core in front of her: “If it’s this, I think it might just be able to heal your wounds.”

“That’s a fire elemental core!” Seeing the crimson pearl brought before her like that, her hope was rekindled in an instant. Voice trembling, she asked: “Is this really for me?”

I nodded my head before giving her a faint smile: “ I’ve already taken it out so there’s no way I’m keeping it again. Besides, I’m an obsessive compulsive person, unless the ending’s perfect, I can’t settle down at all.”