Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - Chapter 84

Chapter 84

The swirling pool of water continued to devour and absorb everything on the surface.

From above, it looked like a mundane pool of water, but once submerged, it revealed itself to be like a giant musical snow globe buried underground.

The current state beneath the surface was as if someone had violently shaken the globe, sending a tornado-like vortex of water spiraling through the sphere.

Inside this crystal ball, everything-the snowflakes, the sequins-floated and spun with the current, save for a single decorative tree fixed firmly in place.

The shriveled, withered tree at the bottom had absorbed enough “nutrients” to grow into a lush, sprawling giant.

However, its extended branches bore no leaves. Instead, they were laden with the remains and torsos of countless humans and various creatures.

Heads, arms, feet, ears, teeth, eyeballs…

They hung heavily from the thin twigs branching off the thick boughs, like fruit ripening on an apple tree.

The outlines of these “fruits” emitted a faint, dim red glow, swaying and waving like seaweed in the tornado-like current.

Beili held her breath, her red eyes wide with shock.

The hellish scene before her left her deeply shaken, a bone-chilling sensation spreading through her entire body.

The force on her wrist was still dragging her down, sinking her deeper.

That crazy Miss Moth must have been carrying some powerful magical tool. Even from a significant distance, it acted like the Star-Sucking Technique, pulling and dragging her so forcefully that she couldn’t break free.

Before the closing Hunt Banquet began…

No, even earlier, before the Holy Island Competition started.

Back then, she had only learned Beast Transformation in the Dream Corridor and happened to get a taste of another kind of Mana; she hadn’t yet absorbed Death Mana.

So, when she was choosing her magical tools at the time, she had made her decisions based on her current situation.

After trading with Cyril and using him to increase her chances of winning, her entire plan for the closing Hunt Banquet was to stay in the shadows and play it safe.

Beili felt that while her plan was a bit rough, it was highly feasible.

But plans often fail to keep up with changes.

She hadn’t expected so few prey students to participate, she hadn’t expected the Academy to release prisoners from the Confinement Room into the arena, and she certainly hadn’t expected a simple closing event to unknowingly escalate into a confrontation between three kingdoms.

And what she expected least of all-

Among the top ten of the Holy Island Competition, among these arrogant and reckless students, there was someone just like her: someone who played dirty and stayed low.

And they were singling her out specifically!

Beili was fuming.

She felt like she was about to have a stroke from the sheer frustration.

The dim light made everything in the water look eerie and sinister.

Beili knew how to swim and could hold her breath for a while, but she couldn’t last forever.

She wouldn’t give up, though.

Even in the second before she drowned, she would struggle with all her might.

Dragging her heavy, sinking wrist, she paddled hard with her other arm, fighting against that invisible force.

Gradually, the pulling force on her wrist weakened.

Beili didn’t know if it was her persistence that caused the curse-like suction to dissipate, but finally, she could move both arms.

Treading against the swirling current, the young girl swam toward the surface with all her strength.

The surrounding water turned bone-chillingly cold.

It felt as if countless thorns were wrapping around her body, stinging her skin.
Her limbs gradually grew limp and weak.

She felt as if the water surrounding her had turned thick and viscous; every stroke of her arms became an agonizing struggle.

Slowly, her hands and feet lost the strength to extend, leaving only the dull, aching tremors of her joints.

Then, as if she had reached the absolute limit of holding her breath, her throat suddenly gave way to an uncontrollable heave.

A string of transparent bubbles escaped her lips.

She began to gasp rhythmically, her chest heaving in fits like hiccups.

Every attempt to draw breath only resulted in the agonizing sensation of water flooding her mouth and nasal cavity.

The feeling of suffocation intensified.

It felt as though a pair of invisible, giant hands were deathly tight around her throat.

At this moment, Beili desperately wanted to use magic.

Even though Cyril had warned her with a dark expression and a bone-chillingly cold tone.

But only one thought remained in her mind: use magic.

No matter what terrifying thing happened afterward, it would be better than drowning.

With that thought, she closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down, casting aside all distractions as she prepared to mobilize every last drop of Mana remaining in her body.

In the next second.

Beili felt someone suddenly cup her face.

Something even colder pressed against her numb, freezing lips, grinding down hard before easily prying open the teeth she had loosened from choking and gasping.

Like a serpent, the person entwined with the softness behind her teeth, delivering the oxygen she needed most.

Beili clung to his neck and shoulders like a drowning person clutching a piece of driftwood, greedily stealing the oxygen from his mouth, terrified of being abandoned at this moment.

If he truly left her now, having these two breaths would at least give her a better chance of swimming to the surface.

Perhaps sensing her desperate, life-clinging initiative, the person wrapped an arm around her waist, his chest vibrating slightly.

It felt like he was laughing.

Then came a steady, upward force.

They sliced through the thick pool water like gliding blades.

Beili felt herself being hoisted by the waist as they broke the surface.

She barely had time to cough out a mouthful of cold pool water before someone above grabbed her firmly by the back of her collar and hauled her onto a hovering Magic Carpet.

…

Beili knelt on the Magic Carpet, coughing fitfully.

Having just escaped the clutches of death, her knees were weak and trembling. Her head spun, and her vision was a blurred, dark haze.

Her clothes were soaked, water dripping steadily from them.

Her long, silver-gray curly hair, which had been tied up, was now a tangled mess, clinging to her back and shoulders in wet clumps.

A hand, carrying a slight chill, suddenly gripped her shoulder.

The person on the Magic Carpet pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly.

“It’s okay… it’s okay…”

He repeated it over and over, his voice trembling at the end, though it was unclear if he was comforting her or himself.

“You did it… Bartholomew…”

From his working throat came a raspy, chaotic whisper.

“You… brought me a miracle…”

Cyril rested his head against her shoulder, breathing heavily as he struggled to regain his composure.

“Don’t be afraid… don’t be afraid… we’re leaving this hellhole right now.”

Raindrops fell onto the tip of Beili’s nose and the corner of her lips.

As her mind cleared, she recalled the experience she had just endured.

Dazed, she looked back at the swirling surface of the pool beneath the Magic Carpet.

Aside from the rapidly spinning ripples, there was no sign of anyone else.

The pupils of her ruby-red eyes contracted slightly.

Beili’s lips parted a fraction, whispering a name so softly it was almost inaudible:

“Ashera…”