CHAPTER 82: CHAPTER 82 - CRUEL NATURE

The panther roared, thrashing around wildly as it tried to get rid of the flames inside its body.

Eventually, it fell to the floor, whimpering until the flames visibly melted its head.

The mist around them slowly faded as the panther could no longer supply it with mana, finally allowing them to see each other clearly again.

Logan felt exhausted from using so much mana.

Glancing at Livia, he gave her a simple nod.

’We’ll talk about that voice later,’ he thought, searching for Derek.

Frowning, Logan looked around, eventually finding him near a cracked cave wall.

’Looks like he took a heavy hit,’ Logan thought, raising an eyebrow. ’Was I wrong about him?’

Before Logan could walk over, Derek shook his head lightly, letting out a grunt as he lifted himself up.

’’Are you alright?’’ Logan asked, moving closer to him.

’’Shut up, orphan,’’ Derek muttered, stumbling dizzily. ’’I don’t need your help.’’

Logan shrugged. ’’Whatever suits you.’’

’Never mind,’ he thought. ’He’s still the same.’

Hearing whimpering noises, Logan turned around to the panther cubs.

Four small panthers rushed over to their mother’s corpse, whimpering as they circled around her.

Two of the cubs ran back to the corner where they’d been hiding, grabbing their two dead siblings and dragging them over to their mother’s corpse in the hopes that either of them would wake up again.

’That’s just sad,’ Logan thought, pitying the cubs. ’Seems like two of them got hit by icicles during the fight.’

He wasn’t the only one caught off guard by the scene.

Livia also held pity in her eyes as she glanced at the cubs.

’’Nature is cruel,’’ she mumbled, shaking her head.

’’Let’s go now,’’ she added, giving Logan a soft tap on the shoulder. ’’There’s nothing more we can do for them.’’

’’From here on, it’s up to them to survive.’’

Logan gave a small nod, the scene etched into his mind.

Turning around, Logan glanced at the melted corpse of the snow panther they’d killed.

’It really was a far more difficult fight than I’d expected,’ he thought, walking up to it.

Digging through its bones, Logan found its raw mana core.

’It was more than worth it though,’ he thought, storing the core in his space ring. ’I’ve learned a lot.’

Looking down at his combat suit, Logan got slightly worried.

’I need to check how badly it’s been damaged in the fight.’

He’d not only taken the hit from the panther’s icicle, but he’d also radiated immense amounts of heat.

Before he could continue thinking, his eyes landed on Derek.

’’What are you doing?’’ Logan asked, frowning as he saw him approach the cubs gathered around their dead mother.

Derek didn’t respond, eyes fixed on the mother’s corpse.

One of the cubs stood in front of him, whimpering while letting out a few small roars to protect their mother’s corpse.

Derek showed no reaction, kicking it aside without a hint of emotion.

’’Hey!’’ Livia shouted, her voice filled with anger. ’’What the hell do you think you’re doing?’’

Without responding, Derek plunged his hand inside the mother’s stomach.

Logan’s eyes narrowed as he approached Derek.

Before he reached him, Derek pulled his arm, which was now drenched in blood, out of the mother’s stomach, holding a smaller raw mana core.

Derek glanced at Logan and Livia before tossing the core to Logan.

’’You wanted to win,’’ he said coldly, standing up. ’’Why would we let extra points stay here?’’

Catching the core, Logan glared at him. ’’You didn’t need to kick the cub.’’

’’They were just mourning their mother’s death.’’

Derek scoffed, staring at him coldly. ’’They’ll be dead in a week anyway.’’

Logan didn’t respond.

He knew the cubs were just beasts that might one day grow up to kill humans.

But in that moment, he could only feel pain watching them grieve.

’’Let’s get out of here.’’ Livia’s voice broke the silence.

Logan glanced at the cubs one last time before giving a small nod.

Turning around, he quietly followed after Livia and Derek, hearing the whimpers from the cubs fading behind him.

They moved a safe distance from the cave before sinking to the ground, utterly drained.

’’That was a very experienced panther,’’ Livia remarked, sipping a bottle of water. ’’I never counted on that.’’

"Me neither," Logan said, chewing on one of the bland food pills he’d packed. "It moved like it had fought humans before."

’’At least we have two cores for our trouble,’’ Derek remarked, surprising Logan with his sudden comment.

Glancing at Derek, Logan found his expression to be oddly positive.

Silence fell over them, all of them resting to regain as much energy as possible.

Closing his eyes to rest for a few minutes, Logan was startled as he heard Livia’s voice in his mind.

’’Logan,’’ she yelled.

’’What?’’ Logan said, jumping up as he looked around.

Livia started snickering while Derek looked at him weirdly.

Before he could ask Livia anything, he heard the voice in his mind again.

’’Calm down. Don’t say anything. Derek can’t hear us.’’

Logan blinked, remembering hearing her voice during the fight as well.

’’It’s my first affinity—psychic,’’ he heard again.

Sitting back down, Logan saw her amusement by the small smile on her face.

’’Don’t ever mention that I have this affinity to anyone else,’’ she said again. ’’If our lives weren’t on the line, I would’ve never shared this with you.’’

Logan understood her concern—psychic was already rare and peculiar, let alone one at SSS-rank.

’I might have a large price on my head,’ he thought. ’But she has an even larger price on hers if that comes out.’

The corners of his lips raised slightly. ’It seems like she trusts me.’

They took their time recovering—eating, drinking, and getting what little rest they could before moving out again.

’’It’s time to head out again,’’ Livia said, standing up. ’’We need to kill at least five or six more C-ranks before I feel slightly comfortable about our chances.’’

Logan shook his head, still groggy from his nap, with a little over three-quarters of his mana restored.

’’I want to rest a little longer,’’ he said, yawning. ’’We don’t know what’s waiting for us out there. It’s better if we can regain our mana completely.’’

Livia shook her head. ’’We can’t wait,’’ she said, a slight hint of desperation in her voice. ’’We’ll fall behind other teams and lose our chance to go to the locked dungeon.’’

Hearing the desperation in her voice, Logan couldn’t help but wonder what was inside the dungeon and why it meant so much to her.

Even so, he couldn’t agree to rushing in blindly.

’’I get that,’’ Logan nodded. ’’But if we find ourselves in a similar situation, I’m not confident we can survive if we aren’t in our best shape.’’

She studied him for a moment, also taking a quick glance at Derek, before letting out a sigh.

’’Fine,’’ she said. ’’Twenty minutes. After that, we move out even if our mana isn’t full.’’

Logan smiled faintly, giving a nod before continuing.

"Do you have a plan for where we’re heading?" he asked, curious.

Livia opened her map and pointed to a precise spot.

’’We’ll go near their hunting ledge in the south,’’ she said, enlarging it. "There should be plenty of them, scattered across a massive area."

Logan frowned, glancing at the frozen lake near the top of her map.

’’Aren’t we dangerously close to their breeding grounds then?’’ he asked, knowing they wouldn’t survive an assault from multiple C-ranks at once.

"It’s dangerous," she admitted with a nod. "But as long as we avoid mistakes and stay away from the ledges, the risks should be manageable."

Frowning, Logan looked at the map. ’No mistakes, huh.’

The uneasiness in his stomach returned.