Reborn As The Minor Villain In A Romance Fantasy Novel - Chapter 213

Chapter 213: Crab [IV]
Minerva wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, her expression was somewhere between embarrassed realization and reluctant acceptance of human logic.

“You’re right,” she murmured, nodding slowly. “Humans cook food before eating it for this reason. There are a lot of bacteria on food, especially monster meat, that if consumed by the human body can poison it. But we dragons have no such issues for—”

“If you want one, take it,” Lucius cut in, his expression still scrunched as though he were smelling something foul. “Just don’t come back for more.”

“Sorry…” Minerva puffed her cheeks, clearly offended at being scolded but too hungry and too new to human customs to truly protest.

She folded her arms with a huff, her tail flicking irritably behind her even though she was in human form.

Lucius ignored her and focused his attention on the four cleaned crab monsters.

The top shells were wide, curved, and layered with thick hardened plates. They contributed nothing to the meat and certainly weren’t edible, so his first step was obvious: remove them completely.

It would make roasting significantly easier and prevent the shells from trapping steam inside the body.

He raised his hand.

Thin, invisible edges of space formed around his fingers, extending into arcs around the upper shells.

With precise control, he traced the natural line where the top shells met the rim of the body, slicing around them effortlessly.

Even though the shells were thick and hard enough to withstand massive underwater pressure, space magic cut through them like they were made of wet paper.

The upper halves levitated gently upward, carried by a soft distortion in the air, before Lucius guided them into the large hovering pan beside him.

They clattered against each other with a hollow sound. He’d dispose of them later.

‘Then I should probably separate the legs now since they’re the easiest ones to roast,’ Lucius thought as he took in the full sight of each monster.

Eight legs per crab… thirty-two legs total. The legs were long, armored, curved, and packed with thick, juicy meat beneath their tough exoskeleton.

He extended small clamps of space like invisible hands and locked them around each leg joint.

He applied pressure little by little, enough to loosen the natural connections but not enough to crack the shells.

Then he twisted gently but firmly. Each leg detached with a soft pop, so clean that no shell splintered and no meat was torn.

He guided the floating collection of legs into a neat pile hovering beside him, all perfectly lined like giant drumsticks.

Minerva stared at them, her pupils dilating in hunger before she gulped audibly.

‘It’ll be better when they’re cooked,’ she reminded herself, though it was clear the sight and smell alone were tormenting her.

She remembered the disgusted face Lucius made when she talked about eating it raw. She didn’t want that expression directed at her again.

“Now the claws,” Lucius muttered, turning to the oversized pincers at the front. They were enormous… like tree trunks and each claw arm held an incredible amount of dense, rich meat.

Ordinary awakeners would need axes or sledgehammers to break through them, but Lucius simply formed wedges of space.

The wedges slipped into the natural joint lines where the shell bent slightly.

He made a single downward slash.

The claws separated cleanly into the claw arm, the central joint, and the pincer tip.

He repeated the process until he had a floating pile of claws that nearly matched the leg pile in size.

Even Rita nodded with quiet admiration as she floated closer.

The precision and the efficiency… everything about Lucius’s movements resembled a professional chef at work rather than an Awakener in a dungeon.

She even caught herself biting her lip slightly.

‘He looks like a chef,’ she thought, watching him work with focused eyes.

Now came the main body. There wasn’t much needed here besides dividing it into usable cooking portions.

Lucius raised his hand again, forming a vertical arc of space that glowed purple. He brought it down through the center of the crab body. It split open evenly, revealing thick clusters of pinkish-white meat.

He rotated the halves and cut again horizontally.

Four large slabs… thick as mattresses dropped from the body and floated beside him. Even Minerva’s breathing seemed louder now.

Lucius discarded any leftover membranes or ligaments that hadn’t been removed earlier and exhaled slowly.

The piles of meat were enormous. With four crab monsters prepared, he had enough food to feed the entire group for days.

“And that’s all the meat,” he said as he surveyed the hovering piles.

He wasn’t planning on sharing much outside the people he cared about. “Now it’s time to season.”

He reached into his inventory and pulled out several jars and pouches containing spices he had borrowed from Vanessa.

Rita’s eyes widened as she glanced between the small containers and the giant mountains of crab meat.

“That won’t be enough to season the whole thing,” she said. She wasn’t wrong. The amount of seasoning Vanessa had was enough for a family-sized meal, not a prehistoric crab feast.

Lucius nodded and pointed up at the still-floating orb of water. “I know. We’ll add it to the water and mix it properly before making sure it goes into the crabs.”

Rita blinked and then smiled softly. It was simple but clever… using a giant water sphere as the seasoning distributor.

The spices would dissolve evenly, and then they could splash that mixture over the meat in a single step.

“Oh! Let me do it!” Minerva shouted eagerly. Before either of them could react, she shot forward, scooped up every jar and packet of seasoning in her arms, and launched herself upward toward the water orb.

The moment she reached it, she tore open the packets and emptied the contents inside.

Color spread instantly through the water… golden hues, reddish streaks, herby green swirls and the sphere shifted into a warm, aromatic color.

Rita lifted her hands and began manipulating the water, mixing everything inside the sphere.

Once the seasoning dissolved evenly, she directed the entire sphere downward in a controlled burst.

The water flowed over the crab pieces like a waterfall, soaking each leg, each claw, each slab of body meat.

Lucius helped guide the flow with spatial currents, making sure every piece was coated thoroughly, letting the seasoning seep into cuts and joint gaps.

Once the water passed through, Rita pulled most of it back, leaving only a thin glaze of spices on the crab.

Everything smelled incredible.

Lucius then turned his attention toward creating the roaster.

He walked to the wooden barrier at the edge of the campsite… He kicked the side once, and wood magic erupted outward.

A rectangular section of the wall extended downward, forming an additional platform hovering just above the Blood Sea.

He shaped it until it was long enough to hold both the roaster and everyone who would stand beside it.

Then he placed both hands on the new wooden ground.

Roots sprouted immediately. Thick, sturdy roots formed columns, then branched upward into multiple wooden limbs.

Lucius manipulated them carefully, bending and fusing them into shape until they resembled a rectangular cooking rack with two elevated pillars on each side.

He extended smaller branches horizontally, shaping them into crossbars, wide wooden planks, and curved hooks sturdy enough to hold even the heaviest crab leg.

After setting the frame, he dropped to one knee and crafted a shallow wooden bowl beneath the rack.

This would be where the fire sat.

He looked at Minerva, who had landed on the platform with childish eagerness.

“I need fire here,” he said.

Minerva inhaled deeply and unleashed a focused stream of dragonfire straight into the wooden bowl.

Lucius contained it using space, shaping it into a swirling core of heat without letting the flames reach the wood around it.

He attached thin space threads to the main spit that would hold the body slabs.

Using these strings, he could rotate the spit smoothly so the meat roasted evenly.

“Now I’m done,” he said finally, wiping sweat from his brow. Rita descended beside him, amazed.

With a single thought, Lucius made the massive crab pieces float into their predetermined spots… the legs hung from hooks, claws lined the side planks, and thick slabs rested across the main spit.

The fire beneath flared hotter as Minerva’s flames stabilized into a powerful but controlled heat source. A soft crackle filled the air as the first drops of crab juice hit the bowl.

Rita stared in awe. “Wow…”

Minerva did not share her composure.

The moment she saw one of the crab legs becoming slightly golden… not even fully roasted yet, her brain shut down.

Without hesitation, she shot forward, snatched the roasted leg off the hook, and flew upward with a greedy grin.

“I’ll be taking this one!” she declared before taking an enormous bite.

Her eyes rolled back. “Mmm~”

Lucius pointed an accusing finger upward.

“Damn you mutt!”