In the humid depths of the forest, the nauseating sound of metal clashing against hardened scales echoed through the dense canopy. Sei's party was locked in combat with an Armor Lizard—a low-slung, reptilian monstrosity the size of a bull, protected by a hide as thick as plate armor. Normally, for a high-ranking party like theirs, such a creature would be a mere nuisance, a minor distraction on the way to more lucrative hunts. But today, the coordination was shattered, and their rhythm was a mess.
"Damn it!" Sei growled, his face contorting as he tried to thrust his spear into the narrow gap at the beast's throat.
His hands were trembling. A sharp, lightning-like pain radiated from his right wrist—the lingering ghost of Lysara's grip from the other day. Despite being treated with mid-tier healing magic, the deep tissue and nerves had not fully recovered. The dented bracer on his arm served as a permanent, humiliating reminder of his helplessness.
"Sei! Focus! You almost got taken out by the tail!" Salia screamed, swinging her massive greataxe to parry a lunge from the lizard.
After a struggle that took far longer than necessary, the monster finally slumped to the forest floor. Sei stood over the carcass, panting heavily, cold sweat dripping from his brow. His rage was at a boiling point. Every time his wrist pulsed with pain, the face of Eins Neuro flashed across his mind, fueling a fire that burned hotter than any sun.
"This is all because of that pathetic bookworm and his stray bitch," Sei hissed, his eyes gleaming with a toxic, unbridled hatred.
"Calm yourself, Sei," Shallow, the Gnome thief, murmured as he approached, twirling a jagged obsidian dagger between his fingers. "I've been tracking their movements at the Guild. That worm Eins just ranked up to Bronze. They'll be eager to prove themselves; they'll take a reconnaissance mission soon."
"I don't care how we do it," Sei said, looking at each member of his team with a cold, calculating stare. "I want to see him broken. Not just his body, but his spirit. We're going to trap them in a place where no one can hear them scream."
Meanwhile, the atmosphere back at the Guild was markedly brighter. Eins stood before the grand announcement board with a smile he couldn't suppress. Thanks to a series of impeccably detailed research reports and several successful culling missions assisted by Lysara's raw power, Eins had finally climbed the ladder. He was no longer Porcelain; pinned to his chest was the bronze-colored badge of a formal adventurer. Lysara, too, sported the same rank, her eyes shining with reflected pride.
"Congratulations, you two," Ena chirped from behind the reception desk, her green hair bobbing. "Watching you work is like watching children discover a new toy. But honestly, the Guild is incredibly grateful for those new topographical maps you've drafted, Eins. They're saving lives."
Lysara was practically radiating energy. Over the past few days, she had fully embraced her role as Eins's 'guardian.' During their travels, Eins had become her mentor, teaching her the names of wildflowers, the migratory patterns of birds, and how to read the forgotten history etched into crumbling stone. For Lysara, the world was no longer a cold, gray prison; it was a vast, vibrant playground, and Eins was the center of it.
"I have a specific request for you, Eins," Ena said, sliding a weathered, wax-sealed scroll across the counter. "An abandoned crystal mine in the western territories. It's been derelict for ten years since the deposits ran dry, but there are reports of strange, localized mana fluctuations. We need a researcher to map the interior and identify the source before we send in a full clearing team."
"An old mine? This is perfect!" Eins's eyes sparkled behind his glasses. "Uncovering mysteries in forgotten places is exactly what I do best."
Lysara smiled at his infectious enthusiasm. "Wherever you lead, I follow, Eins."
They reached the mouth of the old mine just as the sun reached its zenith. After tethering their horse and ensuring it had plenty of water and shade, Eins and Lysara stepped into the cool, swallowing darkness.
Unbeknownst to them, hidden in the thick briars just a hundred yards away, four pairs of eyes watched with predatory focus. Sei and his party had shadowed them since they left the city gates, moving with the practiced silence of assassins.
"Go now," Sei commanded in a low, gravelly whisper.
Deep inside the mine, Eins was a whirlwind of activity. He marveled at the rotting timber supports and carefully took samples of the luminescent fungi clinging to the walls. They eventually reached a vast, hollowed-out cavern in the heart of the mine when the ground suddenly groaned and shuddered.
A Magic Golem—an automated sentry constructed from discarded crystal shards and jagged stone—rose from a pile of rubble. Its massive frame loomed over them, its eyes glowing with a dim, hollow blue light.
"Eins, get back!" Lysara commanded, her instincts flaring.
Lysara lunged. The battle was a testament to her primeval strength. She tore through the golem's crystalline joints, her claws vibrating with enough force to shatter stone. It didn't take more than two minutes before the sentry was reduced to a heap of inert rocks.
"Incredible, Lysara! You're getting so much—"
Eins's sentence was cut short. A small, silver needle whistled through the darkness of a side tunnel and buried itself in the back of Lysara's neck.
"Ah..." Lysara reached for her neck, her fingers trembling. Her eyes suddenly glazed over, the fierce light in them flickering. "Eins... I... I feel so tired..."
"Lysara?!" Eins rushed toward her, but a small, blurring shadow intercepted him.
Sret!
Shallow was suddenly behind Eins, the cold edge of a dagger pressed against his throat. "Don't move an inch, Bookworm."
At the same instant, Salia emerged from the gloom and delivered a crushing, armored fist directly into Eins's stomach.
"UGH!" Eins doubled over, the air driven from his lungs. An agonizing pain bloomed in his gut, and he collapsed to his knees, coughing fresh blood into the dust.
Lysara tried to force herself up, but the sedative on the needle was a high-grade paralytic meant for large monsters. As she reached out a hand toward the staggering Eins, a heavy steel-toed boot slammed into her face.
Bugh!
Sei kicked her without mercy, his face twisted in a sneer. "Stay down, you monster bitch!"
Asna, the fox-kin mage, strolled casually toward Eins's dropped bag. She reached inside and pulled out the research journal—the repository of all his hard work, his theories, and his heart.
"No... please, not that..." Eins wheezed, clutching his stomach as blood leaked from his mouth. "That's... that's history... knowledge we can't get back..."
Asna only offered a cold, vapid smile. She murmured a minor fire incantation, a spark dancing at her fingertip. In an instant, the book was engulfed in hungry flames. Eins let out a raw, guttural scream of despair, tears streaming down his face as he watched his life's work turn to gray ash before his eyes.
But Sei wasn't finished. He grabbed Eins by the collar, hoisting him up, and rained a series of brutal, armored punches into the researcher's face. Eins's glasses flew off, shattering under a boot, and his face was quickly reduced to a mask of purple bruises and swelling.
"This is a lesson, Eins. Don't ever think you're special just because you have a freak on a leash," Sei spat on the half-conscious youth. "Let's go. Let them rot in the dark."
Sei's party walked out of the cavern, their mocking laughter echoing through the tunnels, leaving a heavy, suffocating silence in their wake.
Eins lay broken on the stone floor, his vision a blurred, dark mess. He tried to crawl toward where Lysara lay motionless. "Ly... sara..."
His strength failed him. His consciousness began to fray at the edges. But just before he slipped into the blackness, he felt a hand—warm, trembling, yet impossibly strong—lift his head.
Lysara.
The ancient blood of the Beastfolk had already begun its work, the supernatural antibodies neutralizing the sedative with terrifying speed. The gash on her face was stitching itself together before his very eyes, a feat of miraculous regeneration. But her eyes were no longer the calm, gentle gray he loved; they were glowing a feral, iridescent blood-red, radiating a primal, cosmic fury.
She leaned Eins gently against a large rock, her thumb tracing his bruised cheek with a heartbreaking tenderness. "Wait here, Eins. I will be back shortly."
Lysara vanished toward the exit, the air itself booming as she broke into a speed that defied physics.
A few minutes later, outside the mine, the afternoon silence was shattered by screams of absolute terror. Sei's party didn't even have time to draw their weapons. Lysara descended upon them like a vengeful deity from a forgotten age. She was a blur of violence. Sei's ribs shattered under a single kick that sent him flying thirty feet; Salia's greataxe was snapped into splinters as if it were dry kindling; Shallow and Asna were hurled into the trees with the sickening sound of snapping bone.
Lysara stood over the broken, dying humans, her claws extended, hovering inches from Sei's exposed throat. She wanted to rip the life from him. She wanted to hear the wet rattle of his final breath.
But in the center of her storm, a voice resonated in her mind. 'Don't kill, Lysara. Don't let your hands be stained by them.'
Lysara let out a frustrated, animalistic growl, her claws furrowing deep trenches into the earth. With one final, calculated motion, she methodically broke their limbs so they could not pursue, then turned her back on them.
She returned to the mine, gathering the unconscious Eins into her arms with the gentleness of a mother cradling a child. With tears streaming down her face, she placed him on their horse and galloped back toward Ark Town, the wind howling around them.
When they arrived at the Guild, the bustling hall fell into a stunned silence. A Beastfolk woman, her clothes soaked in blood and her eyes burning with a fading fire, carried a mangled researcher through the doors. Ena immediately screamed for the medical team.
"Save him..." Lysara whispered as the healers took Eins from her arms. "Please... don't let him leave me."
That night, Lysara sat outside the infirmary door, her back against the wall, her eyes wide and unblinking. She made a silent, terrifying vow to the stars: if anyone ever touched Eins again, she would forget her promises. She would let the world burn.
To be continued...