Chapter 867: A mere second sometimes meanstoo late

A week later.

Inside a cave deep inside a mountain, a group of three people and a mutant beast were sitting around a campfire while enjoying their dinner.

"Oh!"

One of them exclaimed with a scream that made the female jump in fright at the sudden outburst.

"You!"

"Oh... Sorry, ahem... It's just that this meat is really delish."

Apologized the guy.

"To you everything is delicious, isn't it? You always make a big fuss over everything even if it's just a fruit that fell off the tree."

The young man cleared his throat and wriggled a little uncomfortably. He wisely decided not to pursue the matter further but instead took another bite of the roasted kebab in his hand as he mumbled through his teeth.

Bai Zemin looked at Gu Lim and the princess of the Lidora Kingdom in silence as he enjoyed his dinner.

It was Sn*rl*x meat that was surprisingly not only delicious but had the effect of restoring 5 Stamina points per second every 100 grams of meat for 30 seconds as long as it was not eaten in the middle of a battle and the consumer was comfortably seated enjoying a meal.

As expected of a lazy slacker who only knew how to eat and sleep.

Seven days had passed since Bai Zemin killed the demon general Kigdraug and the demon general Orzon.

Princess Bianca had awakened two days after she had fainted from being slapped by Kigdraug. Although her physical body did not have any injuries worthy of leaving her in a coma for 48 hours, her mental condition was not good so that was probably the reason why she only woke up two days after the great battle was over.

When Bianca woke up days ago, her reaction was not at all as Bai Zemin expected but from a certain point of view, it was not too far off either. Her beautiful face wrinkled and her eyes pursed as well as her lips before she burst into tears, throwing herself at him like a bullied little kid looking for the reassurance of her family.

Bai Zemin once had the intention of pushing her away, but with Lilith's support and his prompt understanding of how difficult Princess Bianca's situation was, he simply let her cry as she hugged him. At the end of the day, she could only rely on him and Gu Lim until she was reunited with her father and the other soul evolvers who had come into the dungeon.

As for Gu Lim, he awoke exactly one day after the princess of the Lidora Kingdom opened her eyes.

Although Gu Lim's injuries were of medium grade, he had absorbed a certain part of the Soul Power of the demon general Orzon after Bai Zemin killed him, therefore, his level had leveled up and he surely received a natural boost in his Health stat that increased his healing rate.

At that time, Bai Zemin had planned to separate from the duo and continue his own path, even ignoring Princess Bianca's implores. However, it was Gu Lim who managed to change his mind.

At that time, Gu Lim said the following, "Big brother, how about teaming up?"

"No. Besides, you are older than me. Don't take years off in an attempt to look youthful." This was Bai Zemin's reply.

"I'm just 27!" Gu Lim defended himself before quickly continuing, "Be that as it may, big brother listen to me first."

... and for a whole hour, Bai Zemin listened to the thousand and one reasons Gu Lim had to convince him to team up.

Of course, Bai Zemin ignored the reasons like "I am extremely handsome" and "I will surely attract beautiful girls for you, big brother!" but focused on the few crucial points that were true.

1) Gu Lim was strong, he only needed a Second Order Soul Stone to be able to restrain a demon general for a few minutes. If he had a Third Order Soul Stone he might even be able to fight on equal footing against an existence on the level of the killed demon general Bel'gos.

His help would certainly be more than welcome in combat, especially in the final battle that would surely break out for the treasure.

2) Gu Lim had his winged mouse. Although the winged mouse did not have any outstanding ability compared to the dangers inside the dungeon as it was only a level 51 mutant beast, the mutant beast was surprisingly really agile and speedy in the sky; this was a fact that Bai Zemin had checked for himself when he carried Gu Lim and Bianca on the mouse's back after killing the two demon generals.

Bai Zemin could avoid several headaches and would have a better view of the whole world if he had the flying mouse with him. Realizing this fact made Bai Zemin regret a little about leaving the bats behind.

As for Princess Bianca.... Bai Zemin wasn't cruel enough to kick her out of the party after what she had just experienced not to mention the fact that she definitely wouldn't manage to survive for long now that they had gone so deep into the dungeon and the level of the enemies was getting higher and higher.

Besides, Princess Bianca was surprisingly very good at cooking; even better than Qin Ming, Bai Zemin's housekeeper and even better than the castle servants of the royal family of Gales. She prepared the most delicious meals he had ever tasted in his entire life.

Having a good chef in the group certainly wasn't that bad, besides, it wasn't as if Bianca was useless in combat since she was a level 57 Second Order mage whose purity of Soul Power and magic power made her comparable to a normal Second Order soul evolver at level 80 not to mention that as a mage she possessed skills capable of taking down numerous enemies in record time.

"However, this meat is really mouth-watering." Bai Zemin couldn't help but nod. "I have eaten this meat before meeting you for several days and it didn't taste this good. My cooking abilities aren't the best but at least my Cooking skill is at First Order level 4 right now."

He looked at Princess Bianca in a slightly better light than before as his impression of her was far from positive having seen her slap a maid in the back of the castle back in Gales.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive big brother. My skill Cooking is barely Unclassified level 3." Gu Lim casually commented as he wiped his mouth with his palm before taking another bite of meat and starting to speak with his mouth full, "I really don't understand how someone as strong as you can have time to cook. I barely even shower."

"Pig." Bianca snorted under her breath.

"We're soul evolvers, aren't we? It's not like we have to shower often!" Gu Lim argued back.

Bianca rolled her eyes. At first, she had done her best to respect Gu Lim, because it was largely thanks to him that she was still pure, however, every minute he spoke made Bianca's image of the knight in golden armor crack more and more. Now, four days after meeting and interacting with each other, the image of Gu Lim in her eyes had shattered like a mirror falling from a twenty-story building. Even then, she respected him considerably and felt extremely grateful to him.

She looked at Bai Zemin and said a little embarrassed, "Actually.... I really like cooking so since I was little I've spent a lot of time in the kitchen together with my mother."

"Oh? That's quite surprising. To be honest, I didn't expect it." Bai Zemin raised an eyebrow. He was really surprised, the image of Bianca in his mind was that of a snobbish brat but at least she knew how to cook and strived for her goals in her own way.

Bianca forced a smile and said in a low voice, "I know my image to you is not the best, and you have all the reasons in the world. However, I'm really trying to change for the better now."

"I see. I'm happy for you." Bai Zemin nodded without much interest.

At the end of the day, whether Bianca became a better person or not was up to her and Bai Zemin wouldn't be affected by her actions anyway.

"Princess, may I know what level your Cooking skill is at?" Gu Lim asked without stopping eating the meat. "My god, this meat is the delicacy of the gods!"

Bai Zemin looked at him and felt a little speechless. Although the skill Cooking had little to do with one's combat strength, asking so casually about another person's skill level was not seen as a good thing and in fact, it was considered impolite not only on Earth but also in this world.

Surprisingly, Bianca didn't say too much this time and instead answered honestly and with some pride in her voice: "My skill Cooking is currently at Third Order level 3. I can even add positive side effects to some potions at this point."

"Pfffft- Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough!...." Gu Lim spat out the meat and almost choked to death.

Bai Zemin also froze for a moment and looked at Princess Bianca in increasing surprise.

He had cooked for himself for a long time so he knew that the skill Cooking did not level up simply by cooking. The fact that Princess Bianca had managed to raise her skill to the point where it could even slightly affect another field which was alchemy was a truly impressive feat!

Just at that moment, a clear explosion resounded in the distance and everyone's expression abruptly changed.

Gu Lim put down the meat he was eating and quickly walked to a corner where he immediately began to put on his combat suit armor. He didn't rely on his personal strength, therefore, he felt more comfortable in his armor even if he didn't activate its power, especially in such a dangerous place like this.

"I'll go first."

Bai Zemin turned into a blur without waiting for anyone and quickly disappeared.

Princess Bianca followed him and moments later so did Gu Lim who despite being able to run faster stayed relatively close to her just in case.

...

Bai Zemin sped up more and more as he began to feel a bad premonition in his heart. The sound of explosions was becoming clearer and clearer, which meant that he was getting closer and closer to the battlefield.

However, when Bai Zemin finally reached the area covered by craters and smoke, as well as bright flames burning all around, he froze and looked forward with eyes wide with disbelief.

There was no more battle, there was only a dying person on the ground.

No... In fact, there was never any battle in the first place. Bai Zemin realized from the amount of missed attacks and the wounds on the dying person's body that this was more about someone running away from someone else's chase.

As for the other existence, he or she fled immediately after sensing Bai Zemin's presence charging towards them. Thanks to all his space law-related skills, especially his Super Warrior skill, Bai Zemin was sure that the other party had activated a teleportation skill or used some treasure since the space in the surroundings was slightly unstable.

Bai Zemin knew the person who was dying, and the other person also recognized him immediately.

However, it was natural for the two of them to recognize each other. Not only had they come all the way from the distant Gales Kingdom to enter this dungeon, but she was someone who in her own way had been on the same battlefield with Bai Zemin against the demons on the outskirts of Bearcrest City.

What made Bai Zemin feel worse was that he had arrived seconds late.

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