By noon the next day, Ryuu finally woke from her near day-long coma.
"I... I'm still alive..."
Her throat burned with a sharp, searing pain. Every word felt like a blade scraping against her vocal cords.
But that very pain reminded her of one thing—she was still alive.
Staring at the familiar ceiling above, Ryuu slowly realized where she was.
"Was I... rescued?"
She strained to recall the last fragments of memory before she lost consciousness.
[Half-dead, huh? Fine. Makes it easier for me to handle.]
She had definitely heard someone say that. But her awareness had already faded back then, and now, even when she tried to remember, she couldn't place whose voice it was.
Everything that came after was a blur.
She had no memory of what happened to that monster, or why she was still alive to tell the tale.
'That person... knew me?'
Ryuu had never believed in selfless kindness within the Dungeon. She knew far too well the greed that drove adventurers.
"Nothing comes without profit" —that was the creed of their kind.
And she had fallen into the "White Palace." On a floor like that, where mere survival demanded everything an adventurer had, who would risk saving someone else—especially someone as helpless as her?
'That person's strength was far beyond mine... After all, they pulled me straight from that monster's jaws.'
Even now, Ryuu couldn't understand how that person had escaped with her in tow.
That creature wasn't the sort to show mercy. Its sole instinct when facing adventurers was to kill.
It was a monster born for slaughter. Any adventurer who crossed its path met only death.
The massacre on the 27th floor had already proven that much.
Ryuu's chest tightened.
"Twenty-seventh floor... Those adventurers who went after Evilus because of that rumor... they're all dead by now, aren't they?"
"Damn lunatic... Using himself as bait to draw my attention—and shifting the adventurers' focus onto me."
The thought made her grit her teeth in fury.
As a Guild-wanted fugitive with a bounty rivaling that of Evilus members, her very presence naturally attracted attention.
She understood that much. Most adventurers in the Dungeon did everything for money.
Hunting down wanted criminals was just another way to get paid.
Normally, Ryuu wouldn't have been angry. She'd been through this too many times to count. Greed was the essence of adventurers; she found nothing strange about it—and no reason to waste anger on them.
But what truly enraged her this time—what made her blood boil—was that bastard Jura. He had deliberately thrown out their weapons just to lure her out!
How could Ryuu not be furious? How could she not want to cut that bastard down herself?
'Using me... and those adventurers... just to draw that thing out.'
The moment she saw the creature that had destroyed her entire Familia, the trauma buried deep within her heart came rushing back.
For a time, she'd been paralyzed by despair—unable even to move, let alone fight back.
If not for the death screams of the adventurers snapping her back to her senses, Ryuu believed she would have been swallowed whole by that serpent, never to see daylight again—never to fall into the "White Palace."
And if she hadn't fallen into the "White Palace," she doubted she'd be alive right now at all.
"Click!"
The door swung open, and the familiar figure of Anya stepped into the room.
"Ah!!!"
"Ryuu's awake!"
Huh?
Before Ryuu could say a word—or even feel the emotion of seeing a friend again—she was suddenly swallowed by a blur of black fur.
Thud!
The impact shook the entire tavern, echoing like an earthquake.
Anya, dressed in her maid uniform, had pounced straight onto Ryuu's bed.
Or more accurately, she had landed directly on top of Ryuu.
'I...'
Ryuu's eyes went wide, almost bulging out of their sockets.
Blood vessels burst across the whites of her eyes, her green pupils went blank, and her gaze rolled upward beneath her lids.
Even when facing a Juggernaut, Ryuu had managed to hold on for a while. But under the crushing force of her friend's enthusiastic pounce, she didn't even last a second—her eyes rolled back as her newly awakened consciousness slipped right back into darkness, accompanied by the distinct sound of crack, crack, crack coming from her body...
Anya's sensitive ears twitched at the noise, and she froze. That sound wasn't good.
She immediately scrambled off Ryuu's body—only to see her friend's face pale as chalk. Ryuu's breathing was shallow, her life force fading fast. The sight made Anya's fur stand on end.
"Mama! Ryuu's dying!"
Her cry echoed through the tavern for barely two seconds before a violent gust tore through the room.
A broad-shouldered woman appeared in the doorway, her expression dark as thunder as she took in the scene—Ryuu barely clinging to life on the bed, and Anya kneeling nearby, frozen like a child caught red-handed. In an instant, she understood everything.
"Anya!!!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Three solid dwarf punches, the kind only a mother could deliver, landed squarely on Anya's head—each one bursting stars across her vision.
After giving her daughter a thorough "lesson," Mama Mia kicked Anya aside and hurried to check Ryuu's condition.
"Most of her bones are fractured..."
Mia nearly fainted at the result. Her sharp, tiger-like eyes turned toward Anya, who was still lying on the floor, groaning weakly.
But her anger quickly deflated into a long, exasperated sigh.
"How is it that one of my daughters is a fool... and the other's a complete idiot?"
After Ryuu was brought back yesterday and given a bottle of Elixir, most of her injuries had healed. The rest only needed a short period of rest—half a day at most—and she would've been fine.
But now, thanks to that stupid cat girl's "affectionate tackle," Ryuu had nearly lost half her life again.
"Mama, what happened?"
Syr entered the room moments later, staring in shock at the scene—Ryuu looked like she was about to ascend to heaven, while Anya lay sprawled peacefully on the floor. Concern and confusion mixed in her voice.
"Nothing. One idiot just crushed her sister half to death."
Mia waved her hand wearily, the fury already draining from her.
"Syr, go fetch the 'Dea Saint' to treat this fool before she really dies. And the treatment cost... will come out of Anya's wages."
"Understood! I'll go right away!"
Still not fully understanding the situation, Syr nodded and dashed out of the room in a hurry.