I Only Summon Villainesses

Chapter 123: Procrastination Even When We Tryna Grind. The Struggle Is Real Guys, Don’t Let Those Lame Heroes Lie To You. This Shit Isn’t Easy!!!

I stood at the edge of the forest, looking at the cave, confused, unsure, reconsidering if I truly wanted Kassie to continue teaching me at this point.

Was this master-student relationship really the best way forward?

At the same time...

I knew.

I was just being a chicken.

If this was what it was going to take for me to become stronger, then it was what I needed to do. That fundamental truth hadn’t changed about me. The drive was still there, buried somewhere beneath all my complaining and deflection.

It was just...

’Can’t we just start tomorrow?’

When I read novels and saw the heroes powering up, I had always thought I related with them. It was now, standing here with my feet refusing to move, that I truly understood I didn’t. These things were easier said than done. Those bastards made it look so easy.

Get pissed on, power up, and get back at everyone.

Granted, I wasn’t so much about that life. I had just concluded that as I avenged Lira’s death, I was also going to be doing this world a great favor. Two birds, one stone. The math worked out nicely when I framed it that way.

In order to protect my loved ones, I needed to do this.

I exhaled and looked at Kassie. She was staring into the cave, her gaze fixed on something in that darkness that I couldn’t perceive. Her expression hadn’t changed, but there was an alertness in her posture that made me wonder what her senses were picking up that mine weren’t.

I readied myself internally and eventually sighed, turning to her.

”Alright. Let’s get this over with.”

Kassie turned to me with a smirk.

”Thought you’d never ask.”

She truly looked happy.

’She’s happy because she’s going to be putting me through hell.’

And I took the moment as one hell of an opportunity to prove her wrong. Who knows, I could truly impress her and win a fortitude point for myself. Stranger things had happened. Probably. Somewhere.

Kassie went first. She leaped off the edge with no warning, her graceful figure blotting out the sun as she descended. She landed on the sloped terrain with enough force that trees trembled and stone shards scattered in every direction, clattering down the incline like startled animals.

Then she continued sliding down as though she had an invisible skateboard infused to her boots. It was all effortless, elegant and utterly unfair!

As for me, I slowly stepped down, testing the waters with one foot first. With these slopes, one had to be very careful, else I would turn into a ball and start rolling down. I couldn’t afford such embarrassment. I might be willing to accept some humiliation for the occasional piggyback, but that didn’t mean I was addicted to perpetually making a fool of myself.

’And really though... when did I ever make a fool of myself?!’

All these things were perspective.

Crawling on all fours — with my hands carefully planted in front of me — I made my way downward. Kassie was waiting at the entrance of the cave, arms crossed, watching my glacial progress with an expression I chose to interpret as patient admiration. I finally reached the bottom and stood up, dusting my hands with a shy chuckle.

”Strangely took longer than I expected. But don’t worry, killing the Spirit Beast won’t.” I flashed her what I hoped was a dashing smile.

I tried. Could only hope my charm was why she just ignored me and turned around, giving me her ass to look at as she led the way into the strange darkness of the cave.

I followed with no complaint. The view was nice over here.

As we stepped deeper into the cave, the darkness thickened. It was strange — it curled around us with an almost physical weight, pressing against my skin like it wasn’t just afternoon outside. The air grew colder too, damp against my face, carrying a faint mineral smell that reminded me of wet stone and something else, something organic.

At some point, seeing became impossible, but I hadn’t undone the enhanced hearing Kassie had taught me. I used it to pay attention to her almost-silent footsteps and made sure I kept close, matching her pace, refusing to lag behind.

Every time I had to depend on Kassie, I was reminded of my own inadequacy, even though I deflected with humor. Sometimes, things were too pathetic to joke away.

This darkness was one such time.