The Talentless Inheritor

"Huff—"

Sebastian lowered the bow in his hands and walked up to the corpse of the Ant Primate. He took out a knife from the scabbard on his back and cut the primate's stomach open.

Without any hesitation, he delved his hand deeper into its body and pulled out a small red crystal.

"That's the last one," Sebastian muttered. He used his stigma to create water and wash off the blood from the crystal before putting it into the pouch tied to his waist.

He wore a brown hood and cloak while his face was covered by a featureless white mask. He had two small eyeholes to see from and there were vambraces covering his forearms to the back of his hands.

—It took you two weeks to gather all the ingredients. You've also made quite the sum in the process.

"I don't think this money will be enough though."

Sebastian answered Balanos while checking his loot. Monster parts could be sold for money and the Ant Primates weren't exactly one of the monsters with high prices. Still, he had killed many monsters over the span of a fortnight and amassed enough money to alleviate some of the damage done to his monthly allowance.

"I've got to order more arrows from Pine soon. Maybe he can make my arrows from the bones of these monsters?"

Sebastian took a quick glance around him. With the exception of the Ant Primates which took the majority of the corpses, there were also several other species of monsters scattered all over the place. Most of them were killed with an arrow to the head while the unfortunate ones who had tougher armor were skewered.

—You can only take a few of the bones at most. It's incredibly inefficient.

"I guess you're right."

He was just one person after all. There was a limit to what he could carry at once.

Once Sebastian finished checking his loot, he followed the marks he left on the trees. For the past couple of weeks, he had been going in and out of the forest under the guise of taking the Mercenary Guild's request and gathered the ingredients that Balanos had told him about.

He spent the time following the marks by talking with Balanos. She had been giving him more and more information lately. Was it because she was his guardian and she had to make sure he wouldn't die in the battle against Gilbert? Or did she have another motive?

Sebastian didn't really mind if it was either reason. What mattered was that right now, she's helping him to go against Gilbert.

He had a little less than a month and a week left to the date of the duel. He couldn't afford any more delays. The trump card that Balanos had talked about would really increase his chances against Gilbert by severalfold.

Right now, Sebastian's power was about halfway to becoming an Apprentice. His progress was terrifying compared to normal 『Inheritors』 but it wouldn't matter if he were to lose the duel in the banquet of the four major houses.

"Balanos, I need to get even stronger."

—You're already reaching the limit of your body. You train every single day without rest and at the same time, hunt monsters in the forest. It's a miracle when compared to your old self who could barely run.

Sebastian didn't respond. It was true. Exerting his body this much would just give the opposite result of what he wanted. Even though his lean arms now had a little bit of muscle from using the bow and his stamina had improved by leaps and bounds, he was only at the level of an a.d.u.l.t at most.

—You might have to rely on medicine during the duel. That boy was at the level of an Apprentice two weeks ago and you had shown him a fraction of what you can do. It's obvious that he'll create countermeasures to assure his victory, there is too much at stake for him in this duel.

Sebastian didn't care much if he had to resort to such underhanded methods. The opponent was many times stronger than him and he wasn't chivalrous, to begin with.

"Then should I use the—!"

"CAAAAAW!"

Before Sebastian could finish his question, a loud roar that sounded as if it had come from a giant stopped him dead in his tracks.

"...That sounded very near. Balanos, do you know where it's coming from?"

—Run!

Sebastian heard the urgency in her voice and began running while following the marks that he had left behind.

"What is it?!"

—A beast that requires several Adepts to subjugate. You have absolutely no chance of surviving if it spots you. To make matters worse, it's a bird. You have to keep yourself covered with the trees.

Sebastian was about four or five hours into the forest. Even if he ran back without rest, he'd still need two or so hours. On the other hand, a bird Adept-level beast could traverse that distance in a few minutes.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for trouble to come in the form of another beast. In front of him was a tiger-like beast but with red eyes and a larger stature.

"It's an Apprentice-level beast!" Sebastian exclaimed while retrieving the arrows from his quiver and pointing it at the tiger.

He couldn't show any weakness or it would lunge towards him. The same would happen the moment he turned his back. The only chance he had of delaying the confrontation was to challenge it.

"CAAAAAW!"

"F*ck!"

He unintentionally cursed as the bird-like beast's loud caw alerted both him and the tiger. The tiger quickly lunged at Sebastian while roaring.

Sebastian released his grip on the bowstring and let the arrow loose but the tiger's skin was too thick and other than a minor cut, it didn't manage to do much.

He quickly used the stigma to propel himself backward and fire more arrows but the tiger continued its assault in a frenzy. It could deflect the arrows with its hard paws and the arrows that did manage to hit couldn't do much.

—Get yourself up a tree and kill it from there. It's the same situation with the goblin lord, only the eyes are weak enough to be pierced.

What Sebastian lacked in battle experience, Balanos made up for in advice.

The trees in this part of the forest were taller than normal trees so the tiger wouldn't be able to go up even if it were to jump and in the case that it did, Sebastian could just knock it back down.

After firing a couple more arrows, Sebastian used the power of the stigma to propel his body upward using wind and pulled himself up the tree branches.

The tiger—having lost its target—roared in anger at the tree and didn't give up on chasing Sebastian. It started to climb up but when it realized it couldn't do so, it began attacking the tree.

"Huff, huff..."

Sebastian panted in exhaustion. He had been running for several minutes and suddenly had to fire arrows, dodge attacks, and climb up a tree. With his meager stamina, it was definitely too much.

Still, he knew that he couldn't rest until the tiger was dealt with. Once his breathing was stabilized enough to fire shots, he steadied himself on the tree's particularly thick branch and began firing off arrows aimed at the tiger's eyes.

"ROAR!"

The fifth or so arrow had finally hit its mark and the tiger was forced to stop attacking the tree.

Once the tiger had stopped moving for an instant, Sebastian retrieved the single black arrow from his quiver, positioned it in the bow, held his breath, and released.

As expected, the black arrow still had yet to meet its match and pierced through the tiger's eye. At the angle Sebastian was firing, it was definitely a difficult shot but if he was this close, it was impossible for him to miss.

Sebastian jumped down and cushioned his landing with the stigma and retrieved the black arrow from the tiger. Even though he was in a hurry, he didn't forget to take one of its most important parts, the fangs. If he had time, then the pelt would've sold for a lot but all he can do right now is try and break a fang.

—Your greed will kill you someday.

"Arrows made from this beast's fangs have definitely got to be strong. It was able to bite off a chunk of the tree after all."

Sebastian didn't take much time with his knife. He couldn't cut it off but he was able to remove them from its gums. He stuffed the large fangs into his pouch and began jogging back. He had expended quite a bit of energy and the bird didn't show any signs of chasing after him so he took the time to rest.

"The stigma only has a few uses left," Sebastian inspected the fading black mark and sighed. His strongest card when it came to fighting close was the stigma. He had terrible coordination but excellent control. In the two weeks, he had gone in and out of the forest, he managed to make it so that the stigma can propel him into the direction he wants using wind.

He couldn't do it for very long so flight wasn't an option but he could use strong winds in short bursts to push his body. The only reason he wasn't mauled to death by the tiger was precisely that he dodged them all using the stigma. Now, he was nearly out of energy to use and he still had a ways to go to reach the exit.

Sebastian placed his quiver in front of him and began counting the leftover arrows. He typically killed beasts in one hit but most of the arrows break after piercing through the monsters' skulls.

"A dozen left..." he furrowed his brows and took gulps from the leather canteen. There wasn't much left in it either.

As long as he didn't encounter any more beasts on the way then he should be fine but the cries from that beast have practically turned the forest into a pen full of panicked, vicious animals.

"Balanos, I'm going to have to rely on you again," Sebastian spoke and heard a snort.

—When have you not relied on me? Quit talking and start moving.

"..."

Sebastian couldn't offer any words of rebuttal and began following the trail once more.

Although there were a few beasts along the way, he managed to avoid detection and after two hours, he had finally found the stream that signified he was only a fourth of the distance away from leaving the forest.

The stream wasn't particularly rocky but it was very long. Sebastian couldn't even see where the ends of the stream were but no doubt, they led deeper into the forest.

He lowered the leather canteen to take more fresh water but...

—Move!

Balanos' urgent shout made him subconsciously turn around. He saw the figure of a giant bird, a hawk, baring its talons at him.

He didn't have any time to react. At first, it was far but in just the few seconds that he was in a daze, it was close enough that he could see its features clearly.

He tried to stand up but accompanied by another cry from the hawk, he saw red liquid splatter the ground while his vision slowly turned towards the sky.

He didn't get to see what happened before he blacked out, he only felt the entirety of his body being submerged in water.