178 I Couldnt Care Less (2/2)

The minute the mana began to flow through his veins, his body began to heat up once again. A sigh of comfort escaped his mouth. In the midst of his recovery, he finally heard the snow crunching near him as someone walked closer.

”You're alive? You managed to defeat it? Ugh... why do you smell as if you dumped my perfume on you?” When he heard that familiar voice, Greyson could not help but grind his teeth in anger. However, he was still weak, so he focused on recovering. He did not even deign to answer her at this point.

”Hello? Are you alive? I know you are because I can feel the mana gathering.” Cherell continued to both him.

”I have to wonder if I'm truly the blindfolded one. Clearly, I'm injured. So just shut up and wait for me.” Greyson had no patience or politeness left in him.

His words seemed to work for once, as he no longer heard her annoying voice buzzing around his ears.

Their silence continued until the sun began to set and the sky grew dark. Both of them were silent as they both knew that they only had one morning left to try to pass the test.

”Are we going to try to hunt in the morning?” Cherell finally broke the silence.

”Yes, we are getting up at the break of dawn and working until the very last moment. You better work hard if you don't want to be punished by the Duke.”

...

And they did just that. However, it was to no avail. They only managed to kill and catch six at the end. Greyson's face did not change expression the entire time. Cherell could not tell if he was angry or not, but she still felt afraid of his brooding.

The two finally made it back to the edge of the forest where the rest of the representatives were waiting.

”Greyson, you look terrible, just what happened?” Aphina spoke out in shock.

Truly, Greyson changed his clothes, but not all the bruises had healed yet. He did not want to waste his mana on healing flesh wounds. He just needed to be able to hunt.

”A lot.” He just sighed.

”Well, you all can take off the blindfolds now.” The Duke announced.

As if finally freed, the four of them ripped off the blindfolds. The first thing Greyson did was glare dagger at Cherell.

”I already know the results, but I shall announce them here. All groups have passed except from the Greyson-Cherell pair!”

The seven other pairs of eyes all turned to look at Greyson and Cherell. Aphina and Braiden held a special amount of pity in their eyes.

”I accept whatever penalty. You can even add on an additional punishment.” Greyson cooly responded.

”Additional punishment for what?” Aphina interrupted in confusion.

However, Greyson did not answer her. Instead, he turned towards Cherell and immediately acted. Before Cherell could respond, he sent her flying with a flaming kick to the torso. She screeched in pain and spit up blood.

”What... are you doing?!” She managed to squeeze out amidst the pain.

”What I have been dying to do since the beginning!” He sneered before sending another fireball at her. He limited himself to the fire element because he didn't want to kill her. Only the fire element would do less damage even if he hit her directly.

”You only know how to bully women, you brute!”

”Please, then I could say that you only know how to rely on children, you imbecile. A blind one at that. Plus, if you are really going to join us in the competition, you need to know how to fight and not just hide behind the stronger ones. Who knows if the enemies will care if you're a woman or not? I know I sure don't care. Usually, they only go easy on the pretty ones, so you are pretty much doomed anyway.” As if he was finally exhaling the fire he was holding inside, Greyson could feel the anger dissipate. He beat her down into the ground again with one last fireball before stopping. He turned to the Duke, instead.

”Instructor, if you wish to punish me for attacking a teammate, I will accept it.” He could not care less about punishment or penalties. He was just happy to finally teach her a lesson.

The Duke looked at him for a moment with his brow raised with a hint of smile visible.

”Well then I will now announce your punishments:

Cherell, you will go to the criminal fighting arena. You must fight 5 death row criminals of the same level as you.

Greyson, you will have extra training with me every day at the crack of dawn.”

The moment he finished, everyone grew silent. The other representatives couldn't help but wonder: what exactly had Cherell done to piss off the Instructor so badly?