My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 243: Dryad's Prayer

The skeletal hands closed in. However, Kace did not give up. He kept fighting against the current. Determined to do all that he could. Just as the hands were about to grab him, he felt his mind go blank. In the next moment, he gasped for air as his eyes shot open. The blurriness dissipated to show him that he was in the hollowed out room.

Elderbeard watched on with a concerned expression. The smell of cooked meat permeated Kace's senses drawing his attention to its source. Lilly stood on the other side of his bed, holding a plate with delicately cut slices of meat. Her expression looked terrified for a fleeting moment before she suppressed it when she realised that he would live.

"You need to eat," Lilly said with a concerned expression. She picked up a slice of meat and attempted to feed it to Kace.

"Go ahead. If you don't, you might not survive." Elderbeard encouraged with a grave expression when he saw the confused expression on Kace's face.

Kace had many questions running through his mind right now, but he could tell that his body was weak. The cold feeling was still spreading, but now it seemed to be directing itself towards his heart. Kace eagerly opened his mouth to allow Lilly to hand feed him. 'It could be worse.' Kace thought as he considered that it could have been the likes of Vaskra doing this for him.

The meat was juicy and tender as he chewed on it. They were perfectly bite-sized, which allowed his fatigued body to deal with them. All in all, he could only describe them as delicious. He was halfway through the plate when he realised something. Lilly was eagerly trying to feed him another slice as Elderbeard continued to monitor him with a worried expression.

"This is the Hydra meat. Right?" Kace sighed.

"Yes," Elderbeard replied, he did not bother to hide the concern in his voice.

"What will happen if I fail to absorb it?"

"You shouldn't think about that right now. Just eat."

'So I'll probably die.' Kace thought after looking at the duo who were taking care of him. It was obvious that they were becoming scared with each slice of the meat he ate. His body had not activated its abilities to absorb the Hydra's DNA chain. 'The cold feeling in my body is it dying. When it reaches my heart, that will probably be the end.'

"Lilly?" Kace looked the Dryad with a determined expression. "Just give me as much as I can handle. We don't have the time for me to eat it one by one."

Lilly blinked back the tears that were forming in her eyes as she nodded resolutely. Kace knew his own body better than anyone. So if he thought they were running out of time, then they had to take it seriously. She started to grab handfuls of the Hydra's meat and helped Kace stuff it in his mouth.

Kace frowned as he struggled to chew and wolf it down. The cold feeling was still reaching for his heart, and his ability had still not kicked in yet. At this point, he was concerned that his luck was not good enough to trigger it in time. Tears began to flow freely from Lilly's eyes as she sobbed. She grabbed the last handful and gently placed it in Kace's mouth. 'Please work.' She silently prayed.

A new scent was released from Lilly at that moment. If grief and hope had a smell, then this was what it would smell like. There was nothing else that Kace could compare it to as he chewed the last of his food. 

[System Notification: You have received a temporary buff. Dryad's Prayer: +100 points of Luck for 5 minutes.]

Kace's eyes narrowed in like a hawk on the sudden development. 'Lilly I could fucking kiss you right now!' Every little thing helped right now, so he eagerly swallowed the half-chewed meat in his mouth. Silently he prayed alongside Lilly for her timely buff to be enough to tip the scales. A few minutes passed after he swallowed and still nothing changed. At this point, all three of them looked hopeless.

[Digestion: Activated. +30,000 exp.]

[System Notification: You have reached level 11! Congratulations!]

[Assimilation: Activated. +100 HP]

[System Notification: You have successfully gained the Hydra DNA chain! Congratulations! Awarding +50 DNA points!]

Kace's eyes went wide as he stared at the notifications. He took a quick glance at stat upgrades that came from his level up. Each stat had gained a comprehensive upgrade of around 10%. Giving him a small but much-needed boost. The most noticeable change was that the cold feeling was slowly withdrawing from his vital areas.

"It worked!" Kace yelled in delight, startling his companions. 

Elderbeard quickly went into action. Using his roots, he carefully went over every inch of Kace's body several times before releasing a sigh of relief. Seeing that her grandfather no longer looked worried, Lilly allowed herself to let out an excited squeal. She took Kace by surprise by throwing herself on top of him to hug him tightly.

Kace felt his cheeks go red in embarrassment. He had to strain himself to stop his body from showing its arousal. Especially since he was naked and Lilly's dress was so tight that it was as good as her naked body pressed against him. Luckily, Elderbeard realised the awkwardness of the situation and let out a subtle cough to bring Lilly back to reality. 

Her own cheeks turned red from innocent embarrassment as she peeled herself away from Kace. 'That was close! I thought my heart was going to explode!' Lilly quickly covered her face with her hands before rushing out of the room. Kace wanted to stop her, but Elderbeard gave him a look that said to let her be.

"Now that you are safe, I'll take my leave. You should get some rest and take the time to get used to any new changes." Elderbead's tone was gentle as he gave Kace some sound advice before disappearing.

Now that he was alone, Kace contemplated how close he had come to death. His concern only lasted for a moment before it turned into excitement. 'Now! Let's see what goodies I can get with these new points!'