Do-Jin forced a detox potion into Xenia’s mouth. Her body burned up with fever almost instantly. Thirst was clawing at her throat so badly that she didn’t even stop to wonder what she was drinking.

Even after she emptied the whole bottle, her face didn’t regain any color, and her condition didn’t improve in the slightest. Whether it was the potion’s grade or her own level and stats, none of that was enough to fight off the poison.

All I can do is keep it at bay for now, Do-Jin thought.

Xenia’s face had lost all its color now, and her lips began to blacken. The only sign that the potion had taken effect was the haze that cleared from her eyes, allowing for momentary focus.

“Was that poison?” she asked weakly.

Do-Jin nodded. “Yeah. The nasty kind, too. It really doesn’t want to leave your body.”

Her eyes shifted as her fear of the Mantis Predator was swallowed by the sheer terror of her own mortality. The trembling wasn’t just from the venom running through her veins anymore.

Do-Jin laid out every detox potion he had. “These won’t cure you, but they’ll slow the spread and buy us a little more time.”

He had no clue how much time that would be. Maybe she’d last a few hours, or perhaps she’d be gone in less than one. Either way, he had to try.

“Bite down and hang in there. If you’re lucky, the rescue team might show up before that thing eats you alive.”

Her gaze fell on the nine small bottles, and a thought hit her hard. So... now I’ve got to survive this on my own.

She thought it was fair enough. Anyone still able to move had every reason to bolt from that thing. Expecting someone to drag around dead weight while those monsters prowled the area was absurd. Counting on self-sacrifice from people who had never even heard of honor was nothing more than a stupid fantasy.

The image of two mangled corpses getting ripped to pieces by mantises suddenly popped back into her head, causing a dreadful chill to drape her entire body.

Do-Jin stood, brushed the dirt from his hands, and turned to Bill. “I’ll be back. Keep an eye on her. The mantis only hunts by vibration, so stay still and quiet. There could also be other monsters lurking around... Just play dead if you have to.”

Xenia blinked up at him, stunned. “You’re not running? You’re actually planning to come back here?”

“That thing came from the Rift. You can’t outrun it. Nobody’s getting out right now.”

The word Rift alone was enough for her to understand just how screwed she was. But Do-Jin’s behavior made no sense.

If it’s the Rift, then hiding and waiting for rescue is the best chance we’ve got. So why the hell is he going out there? With those monsters prowling?

“You shouldn’t. I only saw one chasing me, but there were three in total. Maybe more. No, definitely more. So—”

“I’ve still got to save the others.”

The words hit her like a hammer to the back of the skull, a hammer called shame.

She had seen two people torn apart and hadn’t thought of anything except her own fear. Even now, she was obsessing over whether she would live or die, blind to everything else.

I’m pathetic.

For the first time in her spoiled life, the duke’s daughter looked in the mirror and hated what she saw. Do-Jin couldn’t care less about her whining, as he had his own problems to handle.

“Keep pressure on the wound. She’s poisoned, so she can’t hold it down properly.”

“M-me?”

“Yeah, you. What, you wanna sit there and watch her bleed out?”

“N-no!”

Bill flinched at the bite in Do-Jin’s tone and scrambled to press down on her wound.

Xenia looked at him and muttered weakly, “You’re so annoying...”

“S-sorry.”

“Not you, idiot! Him. I can’t believe a halfwit like you is actually better than me right now.”

If there were a hole in the ground, she would’ve crawled in out of shame.

What is this, some kind of academy rom-com? Do-Jin smirked at the two of them, then stepped out of the cave. The darkness swallowed him whole.

“Come on, Anemone. Let’s move.”

It was time to get serious again.

***

“Run, Mer!”

The sickle dug into the boy’s back and drove him straight to the ground.

Mer’s mind nearly blacked out at the sight. Her grip on the sword trembled so hard it felt like she would drop it.

D-Dammit, I have to do something, I have to save him!

But before the desperate thought even had a chance to form, her friend Moac’s neck was split open. He was dead. The boy she had played with since she was little, dead in an instant.

That was when Mer lost every shred of reason. Whether it was fear overflowing past its limit and driving her insane, or the rage of losing her childhood friend crushing that fear flat, she no longer cared. Her body threw itself forward at the mantis-shaped monster.

Her scream tore out as she swung her blade in a reckless horizontal slash. But the strike didn’t carve deep. Even though the Mantis Predator had been distracted, focused on its meal, the blade jammed against its thick, hardened foreleg and stopped dead.

The punishment for that failure came in a single, merciless instant. Flesh and bone ripped apart with a heavy, sickening crack, and her forearm hit the ground like a slab of meat.

If not for the instinct burned into her muscles from years of sword drills, her neck would’ve been split wide open. But that scrap of instinct was the last luck she had left.

She lost her balance and collapsed, unable to gather her senses.

What happens to me now? Am I actually going to fucking die here?

The answer came with the hiss of air. The Mantis Predator’s sickle-like foreleg punched straight through her thigh. And it didn’t stop there. One of its pincer arms clamped down on the wound and tore it open, ripping flesh apart with brutal, merciless force.

Mer couldn’t even scream anymore. It was like her skull was being split open by a dozen lightning bolts, each one blasting her brain apart over and over. The pain was so overwhelming she almost wished the monster would just tear the whole leg off instead.

Mom... Dad... I don’t want to die.

Then, out of nowhere, a white flash blew open. A pinpoint of light detonated right at the joints of the Mantis Predator’s antennae. The monster shrieked and writhed in agony.

Its antennae could sense vibrations from fifty meters away. That sensitivity meant every nerve there was impossibly delicate. Getting blasted in that spot was like torture made flesh.

It went berserk, thrashing its antennae and ripping through the air in a blind frenzy. Then a massive silver shape smashed into it.

It was Anemone. “Die!”

She had killed her presence and crept close, then at Do-Jin’s signal, lunged forward at terrifying speed. Her strike landed clean, smashing straight into the Mantis Predator’s head.

Do-Jin’s skill had been Flash Lance. It barely caused any physical shock. But Anemone’s strike was pure physical force, and to a monster that relied entirely on vibrations, it was a brutal punishment.

Driven mad by pain and overstimulation, the blind mantis thrashed wildly with its four forelimbs.

“Dodge anything that looks like it’ll hurt!”

But Anemone’s reflexes were sharp and clean. No matter how strong or fast the attacks, none of them touched her. She slipped through every slash with room to spare.

“Don’t give it a chance to recover!” Do-Jin’s voice cut through the chaos as he closed in.

“Don’t worry about me!”

With confidence, Anemone ducked another strike and hammered the monster again with her forelegs. Her blows landed square on its degenerate head, each impact cracking through.

But the mantis wasn’t going down easy. Even blind, deaf, and without a sense of smell, it lunged instinctively toward the source of the assault.

Do-Jin summoned Gale, a violent wind that lifted the mantis into the air and ruined its attack, then a searing Fireball slammed into the same spot immediately after.

Dragging this out won’t do us any fucking good. If there’s another one nearby, it’ll turn into a disaster.

Do-Jin braced himself for the finisher, pouring his mana into something stronger. The Flame Pillar roared skyward, locked tight and burning hot enough to engulf the Mantis Predator completely.

“Don’t let it climb out!”

“Got it!”

Anemone clubbed its head, no, its antenna joints, back down each time it tried to push free. The monster flailed, lost all sense of direction, and collapsed inside the inferno.

What kind of bullshit is this? How can a normal monster soak up this many damn skills? Do-Jin cursed inwardly, sweat running down his back.

Though really, it was more ridiculous that he hadn’t even hit level one hundred yet, and here he was killing a monster over level one-twenty.

I don’t have time for this kind of thinking.

He had just saved someone, and if they died now, all of this would be worthless. Do-Jin rushed over to check their condition.

This one’s already gone. He spat a curse and turned to the girl, the only one still faintly breathing. She’s hurt too badly. If I leave her here, she’s fucking dead.

Nothing about this situation was going his way. Do-Jin bit down on his lip hard enough to taste his own blood.