All, One, Everything.

Chapter 21: Aftermath

Preview: Oo? Delicious.. But.. Why can't I swallow it? The sunflower had a strange thought as a new taste penetrated its roots. This time, the taste was very good. But it couldn't digest and break it down. It was as though it was stuck in its tongue and kept melting like a sweet piece of candy.

Rustling sounds echoed and the Little Sunflower woke up from its momentary stupor. It forgot about the reason why it couldn't digest the mana but could barely use it.

The vague feeling of control occupied its mind and it couldn't help but try it out.

Severed roots and open wounds were covered by a thick darkness. Coolness swirled around the wounds and the bleedings stopped. Vaguely, the injuries left behind by the Shadow Hound were recovering quickly.

The Little Sunflower quickly got the energy to stand up with its remaining roots and awaited the owner of the sounds.

Pendra scuttled joyfully among the debris and destruction left behind by their battles as he had a strange thought in his mind.

What if master died? Does that mean that I get to regain my freedom and all these trophies are mine? Wouldn't that make me.. Very strong?!

He had a strange rebellious thought as he kinda looked forward to it. Although he was aware it might just be false hope, he still could not help but fantasize about wonderful things.

His scuttlings paused as he looked at his master's body being covered in darkness in some parts. A shiver ran down his non-existent spine as he felt the world going dark. It wasn't that the world really became dark, but the aura emitting from its master at this time made it felt that way.

Heavy darkness pressed on him as negative emotions appeared. Fear, confusion, anger, greed, lust, wrath, sloth, gluttony, envy and more. Thankfully, the emotions that appeared were meagre and could hardly be classified as real. Therefore, their effects weren't too lethal and Pendra managed to shake them off quickly.

But the sudden shift of emotions still froze it for a moment as it felt the emotions play out. It felt fear towards its master being still alive and knowing its preposterous thoughts, confusion as to how it was still alive, anger as it was still alive, greed etc. directed towards the Little Sunflower.

The sudden event caused it to pop the bubbles of dreams it had in its mind and continued to be more realistic. Although the sunflower looked badly beaten up at this moment, it could still stand and possessed a certain amount of combat strength.

If they really fought, he knew he wouldn't win and even if he did, he'd most likely get buried with it. Even though he did kill the Shadow Hound, it relied purely on luck, situation, terrain and all kinds of factors that weakened the Shadow Hound.

What's more, the Little Sunflower's the control it had over its mind. Even though the soul branding that was casted upon it was only imitated and was very crude, it was still enough to keep it under control at the moment.

Thus, it gave up fancy thoughts and happily scuttled towards the sunflower and said in a flattering tone.

"Master! I killed that bastard! Look! You can absorb him now and recover quickly!"

His words full of flattery pleased the mentally exhausted sunflower as it gradually relaxed.

The newly recovered roots quickly spread like a dense web of spiders and engulfed whatever was closest to recover faster.

Just the mana absorbed and used efficiently from the Underworld wasn't enough to heal it to keep up with the situations. Especially in a place like Hell, any moment would give one a run for their money if they let their guard down while injured.

Sanguine and baleful aura flowed through its roots and rejuvenated the wilting sunflower. Immediately, some of the lighter wounds closed and healed swiftly.

Although mana from Hell did speed up the recovery, it was too difficult and heavy to utilize. And it wasn't really meant for recovery, but destruction. And thus, the sanguine and baleful aura that are present in the flesh and blood of the demons were still better tonics for recovery.

By directly devouring their vitality, it is equivalent to stealing one's life to supplement yours. The vitality from the blood and sanguine baleful aura healed and strengthened its body at the same time.

"Aaah, how comfortable. This is so refreshing! A meal after a fight! Delish!!"

The Little Sunflower felt great. Even though the taste was so-so, eating after being completely exhausted from the near-death battle made things feel so fresh and good.

It was a weird phenomena of the mind tricking the body by rewarding the body with happy hormones after doing something hard to encourage itself to keep doing similar things in the future.

"Yes. I have prepared these offerings in order to help you recover quickly, master! I hope the meal will satisfy you!"

Pendra spoke b*llshit as though he was the one who killed these prey. The only one he killed was the Shadow Hound which was on its last tether and hid the entire time. At this moment, his sucking up skills leveled up quicker than his actual level.

The Little Sunflower was very happy hearing that and laughed cheerfully. The cute laugh sounded like chimes ringing when the wind blew from the east, it was pleasant to hear.

"Hehehe! That's right! I love these! I wish I could eat more! In fact! I wanna eat everything!"

Although the voice was adorable, the words made Pendra shudder in fear. His thoughts ran wild as he imagined the strange plant-type demon exploring the vast First Level of Hell and causing an extinction level calamity to the population native here.

He didn't say anything as he just reluctantly stepped aside and watched his master eat the large amount of remains. He could feel the power surging in his master's body as flesh and blood were consumed cleanly.

He felt regretful he did not take some bites before coming over earlier when a cheerful sound echoed from ahead.

"What are you doing standing there? Come and help me eat!"

He didn't expect to hear these words as he froze.

"What? Weren't you the one who helped me at the end and killed the Shadow Hound? You can eat as much as you want from the meat of normal hounds here! But I, as your master, will get most of the Shadow Hound and the rest is yours!"

His last words made Pendra incredibly happy as he didn't even have the thought of tasting it because he only dealt a sneak attack at the end.

"Yes!"

He felt endless joy struck him and felt that maybe things weren't as bad as it was. Perhaps there was no need for him to think too much about it and just enjoy the life he currently had.