As Yue Rin approached where the voice had come from, the trees thinned into a small clearing. The moment she saw what waited in the mud, her stomach tightened and she immediately slipped behind a tree, pressed herself to the bark, and peeked out to survey the surroundings.
Like before, what caught her eye first was the giant toad, its body big enough to feel like a low hill, its mouth gaping open. Its tongue hung out like a thick rope, slick and pulsing. Yue Rin's eyes followed that tongue and her breath hitched.
Someone was on the other end.
The scammed girl.
And she appeared to be truly in trouble.
The tongue was wrapped around the girl's neck in a choking coil, trying to reel her in. Somehow, she had forced distance, several meters at least, by slamming her sword between two thick tree roots like a wedge.
One hand clung to the hilt, knuckles white. Her other hand held a thin silver thread that ran from the sword's guard, looped around the toad's tongue like a bridle.
Yue Rin's gaze sharpened as the whole picture clicked into place.
Dire. This was really dire.
She could not tell what realm the toad was, only that it was far beyond anything she could handle. It had felt weaker the last time she passed through here, late Body Tempering at most. Now the pressure it gave off was heavier, like it had been fattening itself on this swamp for years.
At first, Yue Rin did not understand why the girl was not slashing the tongue. But now she did. It was a gamble, one that depended on whether the girl had the strength to cut through it. If she failed, she would lose her anchor.
Worse, Although Yue Rin was not even sure what that silver thread was, it seemed to be stopping the tongue from tightening further. If that thread slackened, the toad's strength alone might snap the girl's neck with a single violent pull.
So if she took her hand off the thread, her neck could get crushed.
If she took her hand off the sword, she would lose her anchor.
A deadlock.
And then Yue Rin noticed the air itself.
A faint, spreading miasma drifted from the toad's body, thin at first, almost invisible, but thick enough that even from this distance Yue Rin could feel her limbs grow heavier.
Poison? Weakening mist?
She did not know which, but If she could feel it from here, how was the girl still holding on?
Yue Rin reevaluated her role in this mess. No matter how she looked at it, she probably could not even scratch the toad, certainly not the tongue. And if she rushed in blindly, it might even switch targets, and the girl will probably use her as bait and run away.
Think, Yue Rin.Think.
She forced herself to breathe quietly. Forced her mind not to spin.
But no clean idea came.
Meanwhile, the girl's situation worsened. The miasma was wearing her down, and her grip on the sword was visibly trembling now, the wedge creeping a hair's breadth with each tug. Inch by inch, she was being dragged closer.
Then an idea surfaced.
A dangerous one, but she had a Light Step talisman as backup.
Yue Rin crouched low and began moving closer, slipping between trees and staying out of the clearing's center. When she judged the distance right, she activated Falling Leaf and sprinted.
Fast. Silent. Low.
She shot straight toward the toad's front, the open mouth looming like a cave. In one smooth motion, she pulled out her smoke pearl and hurled it into that gaping maw.
Then she ducked under the tongue and used Falling Leaf again to spring away, not even daring to look back until she had cleared the danger zone.
Half a breath later, the smoke pearl burst.
The toad jerked. Its mouth twitched, irritated, reflexively closing and gulping as if trying to spit out the choking haze. Its tongue snapped back toward its mouth, and the coil around the girl's neck loosened and slipped away.
Yue Rin's eyes widened.
It worked.
"It's distracted! Run!" she shouted.
But the girl did not move.
She stood there exactly as before, still gripping her sword, still holding the silver thread, like her body had forgotten how to respond.
Yue Rin's irritation flared.
Did she go stupid, or did she inhale too much miasma?
Just as Yue Rin was about to use her Light Step talisman and rush in to crush the girl's token for her, she saw her hand move toward a belt pouch, pulling out a tailsman.
Yue Rin nearly laughed in disbelief.
A talisman? Now? Against that thing?
The toad was already regaining its composure, its body tensing as it turned back toward the girl. Yue Rin's heart jumped. If it lunged…
The talisman in the girl's hand suddenly split into five pieces.
Each piece drifted apart like paper caught by wind, then ignited.
But the flames did not die.
They grew, sharpening, stretching, transforming, until what hovered around the girl were five burning sword shapes, their edges so bright they looked like lines of sunlight carved into steel.
The moment those swords formed, dread flooded Yue Rin's chest.
Not fear like before.
This was the kind of instinct that screamed death.
She could not even tell how strong those swords were, only that they were strong enough that being near them made her skin tighten. She had the awful certainty that a single touch would turn her to ash.
The toad sensed it too.
It croaked, angry and pained, and for all its sluggishness it was still a spirit beast. It made a decision. If the danger came from the girl, then killing the girl might end the danger.
Its tongue lashed out again, this time not to bind, but to pierce.
The moment it entered the space beneath those floating swords, the air shimmered and the tongue burned away as if it had plunged into a furnace. The toad croaked again, louder this time, and tried to hop back.
Too late.
The girl lifted a single finger and pointed, and four of the five fire swords shot forward.
They did not simply stab through.
They pierced and then detonated inside the toad's body, burning it from the inside out. The beast did not even get a proper scream out before its massive form collapsed into a burst of flame that died down almost instantly.
A stink of burned flesh rolled across the clearing, thick enough to make Yue Rin's stomach turn.
When the flames faded, only darker mud remained where it had been.
Silence returned to the clearing like a lid closing.
Yue Rin swallowed.
Run. This was the moment to run.
She took a step back.
And then saw the girl slowly turn toward her.
The last remaining fire sword turned too.
Yue Rin's blood went cold.
In that moment, she knew. If that sword came for her, nothing she did would matter. Running, dodging, attacking, none of it would work.
She wanted to speak. To say she had helped. That she had saved her. But before she can get her words out, the girl pointed at her.
The fire sword flew.
Yue Rin's mind went blank.
She abandoned all hope and shut her eyes. She only hoped she would not be burned alive slowly. She hated pain.
Heat surged so fast it felt like her skin was burning. She even smelled cloth scorching.
Then a loud splash sounded, and the heat vanished after it.
After a few breaths with nothing happening, Yue Rin slowly opened her eyes.
The fire sword was gone.
And the reason immediately became obvious. The girl had collapsed face first into a puddle, unconscious.
Yue Rin stared at her for a heartbeat.
Then she noticed the edge of her own cloak was smoking.
"Ah!"
Flames licked along the fabric.
Yue Rin slapped at it with her hands, but the fire clung stubbornly. Swearing under her breath, she yanked off her backpack and dropped to the muddy ground, rolling hard until the flames finally died.
She lay there for a second, panting.
Then she pushed herself up, shoved her backpack on, and looked at the unconscious girl again, now properly.
As light was slowly being replaced by darkness. Night began creeping in.
Yue Rin exhaled sharply.
Was this worth it?
She had almost been killed by the same person she had just saved.
She did not want to blame her. Yue Rin understood the instinct, understood the paranoia, but indignation still bubbled up.
Walking over, she planted her boot lightly on the girl's back, more insult than harm.
"Why didn't you crush your token, you idiot? you not only wasted a valuable talisman, now you're also at the mercy of the very person you just tried to kill."
Of course, the girl did not hear any of it.
Yue Rin sighed.
Leaving her here was not an option. Carrying her while traveling through the swamp all night was even worse. So the only choice left was the shrine.
Even if Yue Rin had an unpleasant encounter there, surely nothing would happen again. Right?
She bent down and lifted the girl in a princess carry, not forgetting to grab her sword on the way. The thin silver thread still hung from it, limp now, like it had lost all tension when its owner fainted.
By the time Yue Rin reached the shrine again, the air had turned colder and the swamp smelled sharper. She slipped inside quickly, scanned the shadows, then cleared a spot near the wall, deliberately far from the statue.
She set the girl down and propped her into a seated position.
The girl had fallen into a puddle, so the front of her robes and half her face were smeared with mud. Yue Rin wiped her face with the least burned corner of her cloak.
She considered using Cleansing Flow, then remembered she did not actually know how to use it on another person.
Up close, Yue Rin finally got a proper look at her.
The girl was simply beautiful.
Silky black hair that looked well cared for, smooth pale skin, sharp brows that gave her a proud look even while unconscious. Yue Rin felt a spark of jealousy she did not bother hiding from herself.
Then a sly smile tugged at her lips.
"Now, now, its time for my reward."
Yue Rin reached for the girl's belt.
In the dim light, the scene looked… questionable.