The ground exploded.
Not from magic—
but from something enormous slamming into it.
Elna was thrown sideways, her body crashing violently into the trunk of a nearby tree. The impact drove the air from her lungs in a single painful burst, and her vision spun as the world tilted around her.
"—kh!"
She collapsed to her knees, blood sliding slowly from the corner of her lips.
In front of her, the serpent rose.
It was far larger than she had imagined.
Its massive body towered above the forest floor, thick scales layered across its skin like natural armor. Every movement it made caused the earth to tremble. Grass flattened beneath its weight, and nearby branches snapped like brittle bones.
Elna's trembling hand reached into the pouch at her waist.
A fire vial.
She threw it.
The glass bottle shattered in midair, and flames erupted violently, engulfing the serpent's head. Heat surged outward as thick smoke coiled around the creature's massive form.
But when the fire faded—
the serpent stood unharmed.
It hadn't even slowed down.
"…No…?"
Elna bit her lip.
Her hand moved again.
A poison vial.
She threw it.
Green liquid splashed across the serpent's scales. The substance hissed and steamed where it struck—
and then vanished.
No reaction.
No damage.
The serpent only hissed louder.
Elna felt her chest tighten.
Not working…?
She staggered back and raised her hand again.
"—Wind."
First-tier magic.
A burst of wind hurled her sideways just as the serpent's jaws slammed into the place where she had been standing a heartbeat earlier. The ground split open violently, leaving a deep crater.
Elna gasped.
She couldn't hurt it.
All she could do—
was evade.
"Wind—!"
She leapt.
Rolled.
Stumbled across the uneven forest floor.
Her body felt slower than her thoughts. The wound along her side throbbed violently, blood dripping onto the earth and leaving a dark trail behind her.
The serpent advanced.
Not hurried.
Not frantic.
As if it already knew—
its prey had nowhere left to run.
Elna's foot slipped.
The soil beneath her was slick with her own blood.
"—!"
She fell hard onto her back.
A massive shadow swallowed the sky above her.
The serpent's jaws opened.
Dark.
Deep.
Wet.
Fangs descended toward her chest.
So this is… how it ends—
And just as the world narrowed to closing teeth—
"ELNA!"
The shout split the air.
A figure burst in from the side.
CLANG!
Steel struck.
The blade slammed into the serpent's lower jaw with brutal force, halting the bite a fraction of a second before its fangs could crush her ribs. The impact rang violently through the forest.
"—NGH!"
Vein appeared beside her, both hands locked tightly around the hilt of the sword buried in the serpent's jaw. His body was dragged forward as the creature's jaws reflexively snapped shut, nearly pulling his shoulder into its mouth.
Elna coughed weakly, her breath ragged.
Her eyes widened.
"V… Vein…?"
He stood in front of her.
His body still looked fragile.
His breathing was uneven.
His face pale with exhaustion.
But his stance didn't waver.
"Sorry," he said shortly, without looking back.
"I'm late."
The serpent hissed in fury.
Its jaws clamped down harder.
KRAAK—
Metal screamed.
Vein felt the violent tremor travel from the blade, through his arms, into his bones.
The sword wouldn't last long.
He didn't wait.
Vein lunged forward, grabbed Elna, and lifted her against his chest in one rough motion. Her wound struck against his arm, but he ignored the pain.
He turned—
and ran.
Behind them—
KRRRRAAAAK!!
The sword shattered.
The serpent crushed the blade in its jaws, fragments scattering across the forest floor. Half of the broken blade remained lodged between its teeth while the ruined hilt hung uselessly in Vein's hand.
Its massive tail swept across the ground.
The earth detonated.
Vein was thrown sideways, nearly losing his footing. He tightened his grip around Elna and forced his body forward again.
His lungs burned.
His breathing fractured.
His stride faltered.
"Elna… stay with me…" he rasped. "Don't… fall asleep…"
Behind them, the serpent roared—wounded, enraged, but still advancing. Each heavy impact of its body against the earth shook the forest as the distance slowly closed.
Suddenly, a gust of wind burst from Elna's body.
Her magic, spilling out unconsciously.
The sudden force helped them pivot sharply between the trees.
Vein leapt over a massive root. His shoulder slammed into a trunk as he pushed past it, white pain bursting across his skull.
He almost fell.
But he didn't.
He kept running.
No sword.
Elna in his arms.
A monster at their backs.
The serpent's furious roar echoed through the forest—not the sound of hunger, but of prey stolen away.
Vein didn't look back.
Not now.
—
Vein stopped behind a cluster of trees, his breathing ragged and uneven. His chest rose and fell violently as he carefully lowered Elna to the ground, supporting her with one arm so she wouldn't collapse completely. Blood continued to seep from the wound at her side, slowly soaking into the soil beneath them.
"I…" Vein struggled to catch his breath. His voice came out rough and dry. "I fought that serpent before. I just… didn't know it would come here."
Elna forced her head up. Her vision was blurred from pain and exhaustion, but her gaze remained steady.
"No," she said quietly.
Vein stilled.
"You never fought that serpent," she continued. "You were hallucinating."
The words fell like a weight between them.
Vein swallowed, and a dry, fractured laugh escaped him.
"…Yeah," he admitted. "You're right."
He pressed his palm into the dirt as he tried to steady himself. "A serpent that moved but never got closer. Sylva's voice telling me to keep running." His jaw tightened. "I suspected it… but I still got trapped."
Elna remained silent for a moment as she drew a slow breath.
"Then how did you escape?" she asked.
Vein lifted his head.
"I drank a strength potion," he said. "Then I punched it."
Elna frowned faintly.
"Not to defeat it," he clarified quickly. "Just to break the hallucination."
Silence lingered again.
Elna's breathing was still heavy, but her eyes sharpened as her thoughts began to move again.
"I have an idea," she said.
Vein looked at her. "What?"
"Lure it away from me."
"…What?"
"Don't fight it," Elna insisted. "Run. Dodge. Make it focus on you."
Vein glanced toward the growing hiss echoing through the forest. The serpent was still there—real, massive, its body grinding against the earth as it moved closer.
"…You're sure?" he asked.
Elna nodded weakly.
"I need my bag," she said. "All my potions are in it."
Vein hesitated for only a heartbeat.
Then he stood.
"Alright," he said shortly. "Don't take long."
And he moved.
Not away from danger—
but toward it.
"HEY!"
Vein sprinted forward deliberately, making as much noise as possible. The serpent reacted instantly, its massive head swinging toward him as a violent hiss tore through the forest.
Its focus shifted entirely to him.
Vein didn't attack.
He ran.
Sideways.
Leaping.
Rolling.
Barely escaping jaws and sweeping tail strikes that shattered the ground where he had stood seconds earlier.
At the same time, Elna forced her body to move. She dragged herself across the dirt toward the broken bushes nearby, her breath ragged as pain stabbed through her side.
Her bag.
She had dropped it there.
Almost…
Her fingers brushed against worn leather.
There.
She pulled it close and opened it with trembling hands. Inside, glass vials clinked softly against one another.
Her fingers searched quickly.
Red. No.
Green. Useless.
Then—
a small vial filled with nearly transparent white liquid.
A narrow strip of parchment was wrapped around its neck.
Even through her blurred vision, she could read the ink.
Potion – Accelerates Mana Absorption.
Elna's grip tightened.
This was dangerous.
But she had no choice.
She closed the bag and looked up—
at Vein.
Still running.
Still alive.
Still dragging death away from her.
—
The small potion spun through the air.
"Vein—!"
"Drink it!" Elna shouted. "And listen to my voice!"
He caught it on instinct and swallowed the contents without hesitation.
The liquid felt cold—
then burning.
It surged through him like liquid fire.
In an instant, the world shifted.
The crushing exhaustion that had weighed on his body like iron chains disappeared. His lungs filled cleanly, and his muscles suddenly felt light, as if dragged back from the edge of collapse.
"This is…?"
But before he could process it—
the serpent split.
One stood before him.
One behind.
One to his right.
One to his left.
Four.
Not shadows.
Not blurry images.
Four enormous serpents surrounded him, identical in size, shape, and presence. Their scales gleamed the same way. Their eyes burned with the same cold focus.
All of them hissed.
All of them advanced.
As if time itself belonged to them.
Vein turned slowly in place.
Front.
Back.
Right.
Left.
"…Four?"
His chest tightened.
The hallucination again.
Then—
"Vein."
Elna's voice.
Not panicked.
Not shouting.
Calm.
Clear.
"Vein, over here."
He froze.
Then slowly closed his eyes.
And finally understood.
It's not my sight I should trust.
It's my hearing.
He drew in a steady breath.
"I hear you," he murmured.
When he opened his eyes again, his mana surged violently through his body.
He didn't know how.
Didn't know the formula.
Didn't know the technique.
But his body understood.
Every drop of mana inside him erupted outward at once, flooding through his limbs in a violent surge. The buff spell detonated from within, wrapping around him like blazing sunlight.
The same warmth.
The same pressure.
The same power he had felt once before—
when Sylva cast her magic at the marketplace.
"OOOH—!"
Vein clenched his fists. His muscles tightened, bones cracking faintly as the magic forced itself through his body.
Pain shot through him—
but the magic did not stop.
"Vein!"
Elna's voice again.
This time—
clear.
Directional.
From one of them.
From one of the serpents.
His eyes snapped open.
The one in front of him.
No hesitation.
No doubt.
He ran straight toward it.
The serpent to his left lunged.
The one to his right swept its massive tail.
The one behind him hissed viciously.
Vein ignored them all.
He followed Elna's voice.
"Vein—here!"
One step.
Two.
Then—
BOOOM!!
His fist crashed into the serpent's head with everything he had left.
The impact detonated through the forest. Wind exploded outward, and the ground fractured beneath his feet.
The serpent froze.
For a fraction of a second—
nothing happened.
Then a crack spread across its form.
The massive body collapsed.
And the other three—
vanished.
As if they had never existed.
Silence fell so suddenly that Vein's ears rang.
The buff magic vanished instantly.
His body staggered.
And agony slammed into his right arm like a hammer.
"—GH!"
He dropped to one knee, clutching his arm. Pain shot from his knuckles up to his shoulder, leaving his fingers trembling and numb.
Elna stumbled toward him, nearly collapsing but refusing to stop.
"Vein!"
She knelt beside him and placed her hand over his injured arm.
"First-tier healing…" she whispered. "I'm sorry… this is all I can manage."
A soft green glow spread across his arm. The pain dulled—not gone, but bearable.
Vein let out a breathless laugh.
"That's not it…" he said weakly. "That's not what I wanted to hear."
Elna paused.
Then she smiled.
A real smile.
Warm and quiet.
"Thank you, Vein," she said softly. "You did your best."
He looked at her.
And smiled back.
The two of them laughed quietly—exhausted, battered, but alive—amid the torn earth and the massive serpent lying motionless nearby.
For a moment—
there were no illusions.
No voices forcing them to run.
Only silence.
And the steady rhythm of breathing returning to normal.
But somewhere deep inside Vein—
he knew.
This wasn't over.