Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest novel Chapter 359

Chapter 359 83.2 - Damsel?

?"Hmm....."

As Irina slowly regained consciousness, she found herself engulfed in darkness.

'Where am I?'

Panic surged through her as she struggled to make sense of her surroundings, her heart pounding in her chest.

For what felt like an eternity, all she could perceive was the suffocating darkness that enveloped her. But gradually, her vision began to clear, and she realized that she was in a dimly lit room.

'A room?'

Faint candlelight flickered across the walls, casting eerie shadows that danced around her. The air was thick with a musky scent that made her nose wrinkle in discomfort, and she found it difficult to draw in a breath.

Fear gripped her as she realized the gravity of her situation. She was trapped in this dark, unfamiliar place, with no idea how she had gotten there or what awaited her.

Struggling against the restraints that bound her, Irina attempted to free herself, but her efforts were met with little success. The bindings held firm, leaving her feeling helpless and vulnerable.

'Mana....I can't feel my mana.'

Then, slowly, everything came crashing. Her memory was recovered.

She had been abducted by that girl whom she had seen before but couldn't remember her face. However, as her memory came back, she also noticed someone in the shadows.

Since her access to mana was limited, she was no longer any different from a non-awakened. After all, she was a mage, and even her senses were trained by mana, and without it, she was hopeless.

That was the reason why it took her this long just to recover.

In any case, as she gradually recovered, she looked at the scene before her. The silhouette was doing something on the ground right before her. Her arm was moving constantly as if she was drawing something onto the ground.

"You are finally awake."

But then the voice turned her head to her. Even in the darkness, Irina could see the dark brown eyes. It was a subconscious feeling transmitted to her by the source. With her experience, Irina could tell such things.

Her brain was warning her instinctually.

Irina's heart raced as she struggled against her restraints, the gravity of her situation sinking in. But she knew that she had to remain calm, to find a way to reason with her captor.

After all, this was not the first time she had been abducted. She needed to cool her heart down.

"Release me," Irina began, her voice feeling arrogant. " Whatever your reasons for bringing me here, I can assure you that I mean no harm to you. If you let me go, I promise that I will act as though this never happened."

Her words were sincere, but she didn't speak them with the hope that the girl would believe in her.

They were true; after all, making an enemy out of an Emberheart was a grave mistake, one that could have dire consequences, but at the same time, the girl would know that she had already made an enemy out of the Emberheart.

This was to instill the idea of the fact that she was just a na?ˉve, arrogant girl in her head so that she could lower her guard.

"Heh..." And just as she expected, a snicker left the girl's mouth. Looking at her with a somehow hateful gaze, the girl continued. "Do you think I will be fooled by such words? The moment I release you, you will burn me alive. I know at least this much about you."

Somehow, the girl's words made Irina a bit proud, even though it was stupid to feel like that in such a situation. After all, it implied that even people like this girl feared her prowess and character.

"You are so stupid that you got caught in such a situation," the girl continued, her voice laced with disdain. "And then you still rely on your household. I hate people like you, who have everything from the start just by being born."

Irina gritted her teeth at the girl's words, feeling a mix of frustration and resentment welling up inside her. How dare this girl speak to her in such a manner?

'I had everything just by being born?'

Of course, from the outside, everything looked like she was born lucky, with the talent to be the strongest fire user and the resources of a noble family like Emberheart.

Who wouldn't want it, right?

"You were born beautiful, born with talent, born with the resources. You had everything under you as if the world was ready to give you the red carpet treatment."

But as the girl spoke, Irina's attention was drawn to the faint smell of metal that permeated the air. It was a scent she knew all too well--the unmistakable odor of blood.

Her gaze narrowed as she surveyed the room, her eyes falling upon the intricate symbols that the girl had been drawing on the ground.

With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Irina realized the true extent of her predicament.

'A ritual.'

What this girl was doing was clearly evident from her actions. She was preparing for a ritual. Even though Irina didn't know many details about the ritualistic magic since it was rather disgusting and was used by evil people, she had the basic knowledge.

And she knew most of them used blood as the conjunction point.

As for what this ritual meant or what those symbols meant, she wasn't completely well-versed in that topic.