Chapter 1 - You are not needed anymore

The continent of Gaianthra was basically one big woman’s playground. A giant, shining stage built by the gods for female adventurers, empresses, and priestesses to strut around, wave their enchanted swords, and look down on every man like he was a dirt stain on their boots. If you were born a guy here, your destiny was already decided—serve, support, or disappear.

So naturally, I ended up in the Hero Party.

Yes. That Hero Party.

The one handpicked by the Oracle of Light to slay the Demon King. The one people prayed to every day. The one with four S-rank beauties, all strong enough to kill you with a sneeze and look good doing it.

And then there was me. Kira. Professional dead weight. The beast tamer who couldn’t tame anything.

Not anymore.

We had just returned from a dungeon crawl. The others were laughing around the fire, passing roasted wyvern meat and wine conjured from magic. I sat in the corner with my cracked summoning orb and an empty stomach. Standard procedure. You know, team-building.

“Everyone shut up,” Rein said.

That got their attention. Rein always got attention. She could’ve ordered the sun to stop shining and it probably would’ve hesitated. Silver hair, a face like royalty carved from ice, and a voice sharp enough to make boulders flinch—Rein was the group’s leader in everything but name.

She turned to me.

“Kira.”

I looked up. “Yeah?”

“You’re done.”

It took me a second to process that.

“...What?”

“You’ve failed to tame even a Class-D beast for months. You’re useless in combat. You’re dead weight.”

There it was. The full diagnosis. Weakness confirmed. I half expected a crowd to applaud.

Zoldack snorted. “Told you we should’ve dropped him three towns ago.”

Leela adjusted her cloak and gave a fake, sultry smile. “I mean, he tried to summon a slime last week. A slime, and it exploded in his face.”

Misa just crossed her arms and gave me the look high priestesses give rats they find in temples.

“It’s not personal,” Rein said, which was hilarious, considering she was the one driving the knife in.

“I… I can still be useful,” I tried. “I just need more training, maybe time to—”

“You’re not even her real descendant anyway,” Misa muttered.

“What?” I blinked. “Whose—?”

“Enough,” Rein snapped, cutting me off. “Leave your gear and go. We’ve carried you long enough.”

I stood there, frozen, until Zoldack grabbed my bag and tossed it at my feet. Half of it landed in the mud.

Rein stepped forward, drawing her blade just enough for the edge to kiss my throat.

“If you try to argue, I’ll consider you a threat. Got it?”

Got it.

By morning, they were gone.

No goodbye. No words. Just me, a busted orb, no money, and a bootprint in my pride.

I wandered. Not toward any town. Not toward salvation. Just forward. Eventually, my feet led me to the edge of a cliff.

Serpent Ravine.

A cursed gash in the earth where monsters nested, and adventurers went to die dramatically.

Perfect.

I descended.

It didn’t take long to realize why no one came here. The air was heavy. The trees twisted like they’d been strangled. I could hear things breathing that shouldn’t have lungs. I stepped on what might’ve been a skull. Maybe human. Maybe snake. It didn’t matter.

Then I saw it.

A faint red glow coming from a shattered temple nestled deep in the stone. At the center was an egg—no, a relic. A giant, cracked serpent egg pulsing like a heartbeat. I approached like an idiot in a horror story.

That’s when I heard it.

A hiss that wasn’t just sound—it was a command. Dozens of serpent eyes blinked open across the walls, the floor, the sky itself. And from the altar, a woman rose.

If you could call her that.

She was tall, elegant, terrifying. Scales shimmered down her skin like molten pearl. Her eyes burned like twin stars. Her hair writhed like serpents. Everything about her screamed divinity and death.

“WHO DISTURBS MY REST?” she said, in a voice that shook my ribs.

I probably should’ve run. Screamed. Cried.

Instead, I stood.

I was tired. Not just physically. Soul tired. Empty tired. The kind of tired that makes you want to spit in the face of the world that chewed you up and smiled while doing it.

“I’m not afraid of dying,” I said.

Her eyes narrowed.

“You trespass on sacred ground, mortal. Do you wish to perish?”

“Honestly? It’d be an improvement.”

She raised her hand. Lightning crackled in her palm.

But then she paused. Sniffed the air. Her expression changed.

“I smell her blood in you…”

I blinked. “Her?”

She looked down at me. And for the first time, she didn’t look like a goddess. She looked… curious.

“Interesting. So you survived.”

“What are you talking about?”

“No one ever told you… did they?”

She reached out.

“Very well. Let me awaken what sleeps inside you.”

And with that, the pain began.

Bones shattered, skin burned, something inside me cracked open like the shell of that egg.

And I screamed—not because I was afraid.

But because maybe, just maybe, this time—

I wasn’t going to be weak anymore.

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