338 Chapter 338: Den of Dragons 2 (1/2)

”Ugh…”

The moment I woke up, I immediately winced as a splitting headache lanced through my skull. Holding my head, I tried to sit up, only to collapse back down from the intense throbbing.

”Ara? Are you awake?”

A gentle voice spoke up above me. For a moment, the throbbing abated slightly and I realized there was something soft cradling my head.

Blinking my eyes open, I tried to look upward, only for my vision to be slightly blurred when I realized my glasses were gone. Even with my sense of sight impaired I could make out Anastasia's pretty face staring at me from above.

”…Ana?”

”Oh, good. You recognize me. Seems like the injury to your head isn't that bad after all.” Anastasia nodded, pleased. ”You were really lucky. To have survived even after being carried off by the blizzard like that.”

”…blizzard? Did they carry me off to Blizzcon? Are they going to announce Starcraft 3?”

Anastasia rolled her eyes. ”Yeah, you're definitely all right.”

”I guess.” Closing my eyes again, I savored the soft sensation below my head. The pain was dissipating slowly as I gathered mana to reinforce and repair the damage dealt to my head, and I suddenly realized the reason why I was feeling so comfortable.

Anastasia was giving me a lap pillow. She had my head nestled on her lap, while the rest of my body was spread out on the ground. Presumably to ensure I didn't have any broken bones or whatever. Fortunately, everything seemed to be in order. I tested my limbs to make sure they were fine, and other than a few bruises, cuts and scrapes, I was virtually unscathed.

That was a lot better than I expected. I had thought I would at least wake up with one leg heavily bandaged because of a sprain or something. As it turned out, I didn't even need anything for my head.

”Whoa, I managed to survive a blizzard without suffering much serious injury?” I raised a hand to my head as I sat up, not wanting to exploit Ana's kindness further. ”Well, it seems like I have one hell of a concussion, though.”

Fortunately, with mana, I should be able to accelerate my healing. It wasn't healing magic – all mages were capable of speeding up their body's recovery processes. The more serious the injury, the longer it took to heal, which was why healing magic was so vital – also, healing magic helped restore lost limbs, destroyed organs and other stuff. It was a miraculous kind of magic that was capable of doing almost everything just short of reviving the dead.

It wasn't my calling, though. I personally knew I didn't have the aptitude for it. I did take a healing class once in Jing Tian High, and dropped out almost immediately. If I had continued, I would have completely flunked it.

”Where are we? How long was I out?”

”The Den of Dragons,” Anastasia replied ominously. She glanced at her smartphone. ”Hmm, I'd say you were out for a couple of hours at most. Not too long.”

”Thanks.” I struggled to sit up as I continued to massage my temples in an attempt to coax the annoying headache away. Fortunately, the pain was gradually subsiding. ”You saved me.”

”No, actually…I didn't.” Anastasia gave me a look. ”You got blown here. I followed you into the Den of Dragons, found you here, and decide to take care of you until you wake up. But I didn't save you at all.”

”Huh?”

”You were fortunate to fall into this chasm.” Anastasia pointed upward and I saw that we were surrounded by ice walls. ”I doubt the dragons will bother looking into here. Even if I hadn't shown up, you would have been fine if left alone. You'll just wake up and get out of here by yourself.” She nodded and raised both of her hands. ”So technically, I didn't intervene. You're still in the qualifiers. That is to say, you're not disqualified yet.”

”Hmm, okay. Thanks, though. I still appreciate you comng down here to accompany me.” I glanced up, but I couldn't see anything beyond the sheer ice walls. Perhaps I should summon Corvus and send them flying up to take a look. Not that they would be able to spot my team. ”What about my friends?”

”From what I know, they are safe and sound. They will be moving on to Olympus City. I've assured them that I'll keep an eye on you, so they will go on ahead of you.”

”Wise choice.” I nodded. Harrison would know how to lead the rest of the group. There was a reason why he was the captain. As for me…

I caught sight of a few of the Horned Boariceratops lying motionlessly in the abyss. Evidently they had been blown into this chasm by the blizzard, but unlike me, they didn't survive the fall. Yeah, well…I couldn't blame them. If this was a game or story, they were ”mob characters” (a term I really hated because it just disregarded every living thing in this world and condemned them as insignificant), and I had plot armor protecting me.

Honestly, there were no such thing as mob characters, no matter how much Meatballs insisted. Each monster was a potential threat, especially if I let down my guard. Similarly, the people in this world did not exist for me to beat up and defeat, no matter how much readers like Meatballs insisted they did. That was blatantly disrespecting them, and completely unrealistic.

Unfortunately, that didn't change the fact that they were dead, so I clasped my hands, uttered a prayer (to God for Christians, to Buddha for Buddhists, to Allah for Muslims), and then summoned Gemini to begin carving them apart.

”Oh?” Anastasia sent a curious gaze in my direction.

”No point letting the meat go to waste. And we should eat before we leave.” I turned toward her. ”You joining me for a meal doesn't count as intervention, right?”

”Nope,” Anastasia confirmed with a shrug. ”Well, this is an emergency, so we have quite a lot of leeway as to what we can do in this particular situation.”

”Okay.” I nodded, and grabbing a few branches and twigs that had scattered into the abyss along with me and the Boariceratops, I created a fire. I wasn't as skilled as Dong Fang Yue Chu or Bu Fan, but I at least knew the most basic of fire spells. It literally took me just a snap of my fingers to create a small spark and set the dry wood ablaze.

After that, I went to work on skewering the pieces of meat. Feeling awkward when she just sat there doing nothing, Anastasia joined me and helped with roasting the meat over the fire. She giggled as she watched the meat slowly change color.

”Boariceratops meat is supposed to be highly nutritious.”

”Oh?” I glanced at her. She shrugged.

”That's what I heard.”

”Hmm…”

Even though I read quite a bit on monsters from various encyclopedias, none of them mentioned monsters as delicacies. So my knowledge regarding their nutritional value or taste was sorely lacking. On the other hand, Anastasia had been rasied as an Assassin, and no doubt a major part of her training involved throwing her out into the wilderness and leaving her to fend for herself. She must have needed to hunt monsters for food in order to survive.

That was also the reason why she was so good at tracking my team and keeping an eye on us. If she hadn't shown up to help us against Rei and his disciples, I would never have known that she was following us the entire time.

”…outside influence, huh?” I murmured. ”I suppose the blizzard counted as external influence?”

”That's right.” Anastasia nodded before she nibbled away at a chunk of warm meat. ”That's why I have a lot of leeway in helping you…until you rejoin your team. Well…to a certain point. The moment we leave the Den of Dragons, you are on your own.”

I nodded. ”Fair enough.”

A distant roar rumbled from somewhere above, and the both of us tensed. Taking a deep breath, I turned the skewered meat over in my hand as I felt a sense of dread crawl over me.

”This isn't going to be easy…”

*