“Die!”

  A spell was cast. Just as the tiger’s spell was about to strike Yverantheia, a colossal figure intercepted the attack with its own body.

  “It’s too te to give up now.”

  Upon hearing this familiar yet still somewhat unknown voice, Yverantheia struggled to open her eyes.

  Before her stood the giant serpent that had once been her defeated foe, the same serpent that had given its blood to her.

  “...You... I told you to stay away, didn’t I?”

  “Enough. If I had listeo you, you’d already be dead.”

  “...”

  Indeed, in her current state, the fact that she could still speak was miraculous. Without the serpent’s intervention, there wouldn’t even be a corpse left of her.

  “Ha! I didn’t expect the meat that once fled to e bad deliver itself to my mouth.”

  “Hmph! This was always a battle between you and me, only interrupted by external forces.”

  “A battle? Are you sure? To me, it looks more like a massacre. You ’t even pare to that humahere who’s about to die.”

  The huge tiger g the spot where its spell had hit the serpent. Not only were the scales gone, but the flesh beh had been charred, emitting a burnt smell. The wound was so deep that even the bone was visible.

  “Enough talk! Let’s fight!”

  Due to the damage to its tail muscles, the serpent lunged with its mouth, attag with jaws that were several times rger thaiger’s.

  An uninformed observer might think the serpent reying on a tiger barely rge enough to be a snack.

  However, the reality was quite the opposite. The tiger easily evaded the serpent’s bite, lightly leaping onto its head.

  Reizing this familiar sensation, the serpent desperately thrashed its head, trying to shake the tiger off.

  But it was all in vain.

  “The oint of your kind seems to be these horns, right?”

  The tiger opes mouth wide, revealing terrifyih, and bit down on the serpent’s horn.

  In an instant, excruciating pain radiated from the horn to every er of the serpent’s body.

  Even though the horn was their species’ oint, it was also their stro part, with a hardness parable to many defensive magic creatures of the same rank. It was also where their magic was most trated, ag like a magical amplifier.

  Yet, even this formidable horn was easily shattered by the magic tiger. The tless nerve endings within the horn transmitted unpreted pain, causing the serpent to colpse.

  “...That’s all you’ve got? That’s why I said this isn’t even a battle.”

  The tiger crushed the serpent’s horn and swallowed it. The magitained withiored the tiger’s depleted energy, rendering Yverantheia and the serpent’s efforts futile.

  “This time, it truly is the end.”

  The huge tiger activated its magic circle, preparing to deliver the final blow to Yverantheia.

  “...Human…”

  The giant serpent's voice had bee extremely weak; severe injuries and the loss of its horn were draining its life away.

  “...This is my st bit of strength… You will survive…”

  Without its most vital horn, even if it somehow survived, it could no longer protect its kin in this abyss. In trast, Yverantheia’s talent and strength far surpassed its own.

  If the survival of its kind could be assured, then sacrifig itself was a small price to pay.

  “...If possible… protect the children… please…”

  The st remnants of the serpent’s life and magic turned into light, drifting towards Yverantheia, as the serpent finally perished.

  Bathed in this light, Yverantheia’s magic power rapidly recovered, and her wounds began to heal swiftly.

  “This… Damn it, disappear!”

  The tiger quickly sensed something amiss and fired its spell at eighty pert power.

  Boom!!

  A fierce explosion ensued, kig up a cloud of dust. The tiger swung its tail to clear the air and check the situation.

  “...Phew… Looks like I still won. Fortunately, I acted in time…”

  Before it could finish speaking, a spine-chilliio up its bad spread throughout its body.

  Before it could react, a powerful impact hit its left side, sending it flying into the air.

  “Ugh! How did you…!?”

  The tiger adjusted its posture mid-air and nded, looking at the girl who had struck it.

  The girl’s hair now had even darker streaks of crimson, and the gaping wound on her abdomen had vanished, leaving only traces of blood.

  Her face was expressionless, like that of a lifeless doll, which filled the tiger with an inexplicable fear.

  “…Did the serpent's remaining life and regeive ability bring you back from the brink of death? I should’ve finished you off!”

  Casting aside its fear, the tiger charged at Yverantheia.

  With its fifth-level strength against a third-level human, even with the serpent’s st power boost, there was no way it could lose!

  “...Huh?”

  The tiger stared at the sunless sky in fusion. What had it just been doing? It had fotten. Why was it seeing the sky? It didn’t know.

  ‘No!’

  The tiger immediately realized it had been hunting a human, but the moment it saw the sky. What did this mean? It meant it had been struck!

  Suddenly, a sharp paied from its abdomen, folding its body in half before it crashed into the ground, raising a dust cloud as intense as its own magical bst.

  ‘What happened? Why am I powerless?’

  The relentless pain made the tiger question its life. It looked towards the figure emerging from the dust, like a reaper walking towards it. The fear it had discarded now came rushing back.

  Yverantheia was now enveloped in a crimson aura, indistinguishable between blood and magic.

  “e at me! I’ll take you down with me!”

  The huge tiger used all its magic, driving its body towards Yverantheia, determio take her with it even if it meant its owh.

  Squelch!

  Blood spttered, but this time the roles were reversed. Yverantheia’s left hand had pierced straight through the tiger’s chest, emerging from its back.

  “You…”

  The tiger let out its final words before its eyes rolled bad it fell silent.

  After firming the tiger was truly dead, Yverantheia flung its body to the ground aivated her body enha.

  “Hah… It’s finally over. This was the first one… Ugh!”

  Suddenly, a sharp headache struck, causing Yverao clutch her head. The backsh hit just as she had deactivated her enha, and her body cried out in protest.

  “Ugh… skill… name…”

  Yverantheia murmured these words as the flood of information surged into her mind, before she passed out.