Chapter 315

Chapter 315

"Pant. Pant."

Night had fallen. A shallow, exhausted breath could be heard rushing through the dark forest.

"Please wait for me, Simon."

Camibarez was covered in cuts and bruises, her face pale due to a lack of blood. However, she pushed through, making her way back to Simon.

The net she was dragging along was filled with berries, herbs, and monster corpses.

"I'll definitely save Simon!!"

She was almost there.

Pushing her way through the dense bushes, she stopped near where Simon was lying down.

The little color left in her face vanished. What if something had happened to Simon while she was gone?

'This isn't time to act stupid!'

She wiped her blurry eyes with her sleeve and sprinted to Simon's side.

"Simon!!"

Thankfully, Simon had stayed right where she left him.

She dropped the net and ran over to check on Simon. First, she checked if he was breathing properly, put her ear to his chest, and placed her hand on his forehead.

"...Huh?"

Somehow...

He was in much better shape than before. His eyes were still closed, but his breathing was calmer, and his complexion was much better.

'Wh-What tremendous vitality.'

That was all she could say.

Now that Simon was holding up as best he could, it was time for her to take charge. She pulled up the net, prepared the ingredients, and got to work.

Crackle.

Red embers smouldered in the firepit, seemingly prepared by Simon in advance. She stoked the flames and blew on them to get it going again.

Thunk. Thunk.

Using a large rock nearby as a cutting board, she mashed the fruits with a knife to extract the juice. Next, she finely chopped the herbs and set them in a corner, and then she dragged over the corpse of a dire wolf she'd just hunted.

There were no werewolves in this forest, so this was the substitute she found.

Slash!

She had never even thought of butchering a monster back in the Island Survival performance assessment, but with Simon's life on the line, any hesitation or fear was a luxury. She boldly cut open its belly and took the necessary organs.

All she could think about was saving Simon.

Finishing up quickly, she pulled out a small, simple magic cauldron from her antidote kit. She grabbed two, including Simon's, and ran.

"Water, water!"

There was a river nearby. Running so hard that even the air she was trying to breathe couldn't keep up with her, she scooped up river water into the cauldrons, and dashed back.

"Ahhh!"

But she tripped over a vine and fell with a thud. All the water in the cauldrons had spilled out, and she shivered with sadness and exhaustion. However, she didn't have time to just sit there.

She ran back to the river to fetch more water.

"I'll save you, Simon!"

Muttered Camibarez, a constant reminder of what was at stake.

When she returned safely, she placed the magical cauldrons on the fire. Setting one directly over the strong fire and the other a short distance away, she started to brew the concoction.

Referring to her textbook for every step, she added berries and herbs in a set order.

With the mixture ready, Cami blew on the fire to get it as hot as possible, and then scooped out the hard ingredients with a ladle.

Putting even more wood on the fire, Camibarez heated it as much as possible and carefully added the dire wolf gallbladder.

With just over an hour to go before the end of the test, she had finally finished the antidote.

'Now all I have to do is feed it to Simon!'

She approached with the entire magical cauldron. She knelt modestly beside Simon's head and took a deep breath.

Ba-thump! Ba-thump! Ba-thump!

Her pounding heart filled her ears, drowning out all sounds of the forest and self-doubts.

In front of her was a blue-haired boy lying defenselessly with a slight frown on his face.

And above all, this angle...

From this angle, she could clearly see his neck.

'I-I need to focus.'

She temporarily screwed her eyes and focussed on her breathing. Then, she scooped up a spoonful of the antidote from the magical cauldron and brought it to Simon's mouth.

Shiver.

But her arms started trembling again, and she spilled half of the antidote.

'Wh-Why am I shaking so much?!'

'I can't believe I'm doing this at the end, after going through all that to make the antidote!'

Still, she mustered up the courage to scoop up the antidote again, this time with both hands and put the spoon in front of Simon's mouth.

'But how am I supposed to feed him here?'

"S-Simon? Please say, 'Ah...' "

As if he understood her, Simon actually opened his mouth. Camibarez quickly poured in the antidote.

Simon closed his mouth once more, and she scooped up another spoonful.

" 'Ah...' !"

Said Simon, dropping the golem's core to the ground. Around the core, the pre-prepared Cloud swirled around.

"Blood golem."

The golem's core and the cloud fused together in the center, and two huge arms rose up to block the charging scorpion head-on.

Creeeaaak!

Quickly, a torso , legs, and face formed. Slowly raising itself up, the blood golem pressed down on the scorpion, grabbing it with overwhelming strength.

Shk.

Simon moved his arm. Then, the blood golem pinned down the scorpion's face with only one hand, slamming into the scorpion's carapace, shattering it and driving its fist into its bare flesh.

Blood gushed out from the wound, and Simon's injuries began to heal from the 'life steal' effect.

Swish!

Meanwhile, Camibarez was dealing with the other scorpion. She was ducking and weaving as she prepared her own dark magic.

{Blood Thread}

Once again, the binding skill of hemomancy was activated.

Simon also charged in from the opposite direction, pulling out the remaining Cloud that he didn't need for the golem.

The two of them moved like intersecting flashes. Red and blue lines wrapped around like ribbons, entangling the two scorpions.

The scorpions also moved their tails to aim at them, but it was no use.

'Duck!'

Because they fought them before, they were used to the patterns and knew how to dodge them. The enraged scorpions next sprayed their poisonous mist, but the toxins didn't weaken them now that they had taken an antidote.

And...

'It's done.'

As he frantically dodged the attacks, Simon completed his new curse.

He turned to the side and shouted,

"Cami! Back off, now!"

"Okay!"

Camibarez backed away, and Simon activated the curse magic circle. It was shaped like a yin-yang symbol, with two magic circles adjoined.

Simon tore them apart and attached one to each scorpion.

{Hostility}

The curse activated.

The two scorpions attacking the humans were now facing each other and began to fight themselves, shrieking out horrible cries.

Crush!

Their tails smashed each others' carapaces, their claws grabbed at limbs, and their bodies slammed together in a fierce struggle.

"S-Simon! This is...?"

"This is the Curse of Hostility. It's based on the Curse of Confusion."

It was one of the four curses Bahil had taught him.

It consisted of two magic circles, and when attached to different targets, they would feel extreme hostility toward each other and fight each other.

It was practically a curse for monsters.

Of course, it could also be used on humans to spark hostility, but it was far more unlikely for allies to fight if they realized they were cursed.

However, Bahil explained that, if you succeeded in casting the curse without being noticed, you might be able to drive a wedge between them.

So while the scorpions fought, exchanging blows, Camibarez used the Blood Thread to bind them together.

"Come back, blood golem."

Simon also moved on to prepare the finishing touch.

The blood golem melted like an ice cream, dropping its core. Its body reverted to the Cloud and returned to Simon's magic circle.

Next, Simon distorted the ratio of blood and jet-black in the Cloud in the magic circle, drawing back a dark-blue bow and arrow.

{Simon Remake - Blood Arrow}

Simon notched the arrow and aimed at the scorpions.

The scorpions, bound by Camibarez' binding skill, came to their senses as the curse wore off, but...

'It's too late!'

Simon released the string, and a dark line of destructive power converged into a single point and sliced through the scorpions.

Flash!

The world turned dark.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrumble!

A dome of death enveloped everything, drowning out all noise and light. Ripples of dark-blue shimmered from where the arrow landed, ripping open hard carapaces and tearing sinew until the scorpions were nothing but shredded meat.

Simon and Camibarez had to cover their faces as the sand erupted into a fountain from the aftershock, covering them head to toe.

"Pheeww."

Simon let out the breath he'd been holding as he scattered the bow of jet-black into the air.

Camibarez smiled broadly.

"W-We did it, Simon!"

"Good job, Cami!"

The two finally laughed and high-fived.

They barely cleared the test, having only five minutes to spare.

——