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Heir of the White Lotus (Web Novel) - Chapter 2138: More Than Just Words
Chapter 2138: More Than Just Words
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There was a reason Genevieve had deliberately chosen this location to finish the monster.She wove another set of hand seals and pressed her palms against the cliff. The earth trembled. The unstable rocks on the cliff’s wall began to give way.
One boulder after another broke loose and came crashing down.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The giant stones struck the edges of the pit, then collapsed inward, burying the drake beneath tons of rock. Genevieve watched carefully, her cerulean eyes taking in everything.
The plan was simple. Immobilize the creature. Restrict its movement. Then bury it before it could break free.
She drew back several meters, her eyes never leaving the pit that was now covered in boulders.
In her mind, she began a countdown.
By now, she had run out of all the arrows she had prepared and secretly stashed throughout her hunting ground—all but two.
She retrieved one, nocked it, and bent down on one knee.
The ground rumbled. The vibrations were faint at first. Then violent.
A deafening roar shattered the silence of the clearing as stones and boulders erupted from the pit.
The drake emerged, furious beyond reason. Many of its scales were dented, but still, it did not bleed. It immediately locked onto Genevieve, the architect of all the pain and suffering. Its amber eyes seethed with hatred and venom.
It leaped from the pit and opened its maw wide, attempting to devour her. But in its rage and the cloud of debris blocking its vision, it failed to see that its prey had now turned into the predator.
THWOCK!
Guided by [True Aim], a divination spell, the arrow found its mark. It viciously penetrated one of the drake’s eyes, driving so deep that only the fletching remained visible.
The drake fell motionlessly, its momentum carrying it toward Genevieve.
She rose to her feet and nocked her final arrow. She looked at the drake and felt a flicker of pity. One eye had been shredded and was bleeding. Its remaining eye was filled with shock and horror and pain. Tears trickled down from it.
"Rest now," she whispered.
THWOCK!
She fired the final arrow into its other eye. She watched as the life in those intelligent eyes was snuffed out in an instant.
Finally, the beast was dead.
She waited almost a minute before stepping forward and retrieving the two arrows. They were covered in blood, grime, and grey matter.
The Genevieve from a year ago might have found it repulsive. But now, she simply cleaned the arrows with her tunic and stored them in the quiver.
She placed a hand on the drake’s head. The scales were still warm. She muttered a silent prayer for the beast, hoping it found peace in the afterlife.
Then she turned and slowly made her way back to the temple.
***
Genevieve emerged from the forest into the clearing.
The crude bandages wrapped around her abdomen, shoulder, and left side of the face were soaked through with blood, crimson stains spreading across the torn cloth as her reopened wounds bled freely.
The scar crossing her left eye was still hidden beneath another bloodstained strip of cloth. Her exposed arms were covered in fresh cuts, thin lines of red running across her skin from the branches and thorns she had torn through at full speed. Several deeper wounds still oozed blood.
Her clothes were little more than rags now, shredded by claws, thorns, and the countless battles she had fought through the forest. Her fingers were stiff and numb from firing arrow after arrow. The skin around her fingertips had split, and blood clung to her hands.
Every step sent another wave of pain through her battered body. And yet, she walked with an aura of confidence. Her back was straight. Head held high.
She climbed the steps of the temple in silence. When she finally entered, she found someone already waiting for her.
Genevieve blinked in surprise. The aura of the huntress disappeared in an instant, replaced by the demeanor of the gentle and polite girl from Sapphire Tower.
"Custos!" She lowered her head in respect.
The old guardian studied Genevieve in silence for a long moment.
"You were cautious," he said at last.
"Throughout the trial, you did not once rely upon strength alone. You studied the enemy. You prepared the battlefield. You laid your traps, weakened your foe, and only then did you strike the killing blow."
Genevieve remained silent as the Custos delivered his judgment.
The old guardian continued:
"Even when wounded, you did not allow desperation to cloud your judgment. When one method failed, you adapted and proceeded with another."
He nodded in approval.
"Very careful. Very cautious. That is a good quality to possess. A warrior who knows his own limits and refuses to fight recklessly shall live far longer than one who mistakes courage for foolishness. But..."
The Custos paused, his expression becoming more solemn. "Caution alone is not enough."
Genevieve raised her head and glanced at the elderly man with a questioning look in her eye.
"You must also learn to be bold, child," the Custos continued.
"There shall come a day when preparation is impossible. When there are no traps to lay, no escape to seek, and no time to weigh every possibility. When that hour comes, you must be willing to step forward and wager everything upon a single strike.
"Fortune does not favor those who merely wait for the perfect moment. Sometimes, you must have the courage to seize it. So remember this, child. Be cautious when caution serves you. But when the time comes... be bold."
Genevieve mulled over his words for a few long seconds, thinking whether her House’s words were more than just words.
Fortune favors the bold, she thought to herself.
"Come." The Custos turned around and headed deeper into the temple. "Your rewards await you. But first, let us mend your wounds."
What followed next was like a dream.
The Custos guided Genevieve into a pristine white chamber, occupied only by a floating bed in the form of a capsule. Instead of a mattress, there was a viscous green liquid inside.
Under the old guardian’s instructions, Genevieve got into the bed. The green liquid covered every inch of her body. It seeped into her flesh, reaching down to the muscles, the bones, and the organs.
She fell into a sort of trance.
When she awoke, she was no longer the same.
