“Ayuna! Are you okay?” Liana’s worried voice came from the side.

 

Ayuna panted hard, staring at the wolf’s corpse, wide-eyed. Her heart raced in her chest. Sweat dripped down her forehead. 

 

She was so close to death just now. If it wasn’t for that… If it wasn’t—

 

“Ayuna! Hey! Ayuna!” Liana shook her shoulders, snapping her out of her daze. 

 

Ayuna looked at her. “J-Just now. W-Was that…?”

 

“Listen, Ayuna! We have to get out of here right now! We can talk later, okay?” Liana looked serious.

 

Ayuna swallowed her question and nodded her head. Liana offered her hand. Ayuna grabbed it and pulled herself up on her feet. They both started running again.

 

After a short while, a rustling came from the brush to the right followed by two aggressive growls. Then out they came two wolves. They lunged at the duo right away the moment they saw them.

 

Liana grabbed Ayuna’s hand and flung her behind her back, her other hand extending toward the wolves. 

 

Right after, the shadows beneath the wolves moved and formed into two spikes. They plunged into the wolves’ bodies, stopping them midair, ending their lives almost instantly.

 

Ayuna’s eyes widened from the sight. It really was magic! Liana could use magic!

 

Liana didn’t waste her time looking at the corpses. She grabbed onto Ayuna’s hand tightly and began making her way forward, dragging Ayuna’s along. 

 

Liana ran so fast. She ran like a national athlete. Even in the midst of the crisis, her running posture was so elegant. Strong, yet elegant. It was a fascinating combination.

 

Ayuna, being dragged along, was surprised to find out that she was able to catch up with such a speed. 

 

How come she didn’t get tired at all? No matter how she looked at it, Liana’s strength and speed seemed so impressive. She was far superior than anyone she’d ever seen, but how come she could follow her speed without feeling a tad bit tired? 

 

Sure, she panted hard and her heart was racing fast, but that was due to the adrenaline rushing in a tense situation. She was just excited, shocked, and a bit panicked. But her actual stamina didn’t drop at all. She felt perfectly fine.

 

Was her new body that impressive?

 

But…

 

She looked down at her body.

 

No matter how she looked at it, this body was just like the body of an ordinary little girl. There was nothing strange or fantastical about it at all.

 

With such a little girl body, to be able to catch up to Liana whose appearance was like that of a twenty-something grown up and had superior strength and agility, this little girl’s body was definitely extraordinary.

 

Ayuna ought to check out her new body as soon as she got the chance.

 

But for now… she had to get out of this crisis… alive!

 

Another two wolves came from the left. 

 

Liana did the same as earlier. She flung Ayuna behind her, extended her hand toward the wolves, and then used the same magic to form the shadow spikes and plunged them into the wolves’ bodies, ending their lives.

 

They both kept running and running. Liana’s breath began to quicken. She was losing her stamina at a steady pace. On the other hand, Ayuna was following closely behind without a shed of tiredness. Rather, she grew calmer and calmer as the seconds passed by…

 

———

 

Around ten minutes had passed and seven more wolves had come out. Liana killed them all with the same shadow spike attack.

 

In Ayuna’s eyes, Liana took out the wolves so easily. Was it because the wolves were weak? They looked so terrifying and vicious, but was that just a façade?

 

No… That wasn’t the case at all. Ayuna had experienced it firsthand how vicious these wolves could be. Heck, she almost died by one of them earlier.

 

So, it wasn’t that the wolves were weak, rather it was Liana who’s so strong. Not only was she good at close-range combat and handling her daggers, she was able to use magic as well. And her magic seemed really strong. It could kill such powerful monsters almost instantly.

 

Realizing this fact, Ayuna no longer felt scared nor panicked. She became so calm as she looked at Liana’s back in admiration. 

 

Strong and beautiful. Liana, the cat-woman, was the best! She really, really wanted to hug her right now. 

 

Well, maybe later…

 

After a while, Ayuna noticed that the trees became more and more scarce. The brush also got thinner and thinner, and from up ahead, they could finally see a huge open area of grassland through the gaps of the trees.

 

Finally! They were getting close!

 

But—before they could get any closer to the prairie, multiple rustling noises and growls suddenly came from all directions. 

 

And all at once, more than ten wolves came out of the brushes and surrounded the duo.

 

Liana stopped in her tracks and began looking around cautiously, her hand holding onto Ayuna’s firmly. 

 

Ayuna stopped running as well and began looking around at the surrounding wolves. They were growling aggressively, slowly closing in on them.

 

An ambush! They were getting ambushed! This was really bad!

 

Ayuna’s calmness started to waver as a sense of fear crept into her heart again. 

 

She believed in Liana’s power, but could she take on all of these monsters alone? Not only that, she also had to protect her while killing all these wolves. 

 

Ayuna suddenly felt scared and guilty. She felt so useless. She wanted to help Liana fight her way through all these, but she couldn’t do anything.

 

In her past life, Eric had learned a bit of Karate, but he’d never gotten too far before suddenly decided to quit. She still remembered some basic moves, but would they really work against such vicious monsters? She wasn’t sure, but…

 

She looked at Liana’s back. 

 

Liana was so strong, so admirable. She wanted to become someone like her. She wanted to be strong as well. If she kept running all the time, that would be nothing but a pipe dream.

 

Ayuna firmed her resolution. With her newfound determination, she got into a fighting stance and narrowed her eyes, looking at the wolves cautiously. 

 

She didn’t care anymore. Whatever happened happened. The moment they attacked, she would do her very best to defend herself, so that Liana could focus on killing them without worrying about protecting her.

 

Though, her determination was for naught.

 

Liana looked at her, smiling firmly. “Don’t worry, Ayuna. We’re lucky we’re getting pretty close to the forest’s exit.”

 

Ayuna was confused. She lowered her guards slightly and turned to look at Liana. “What do you mea—“

 

Before she could finish her sentence, Liana grabbed her hand again and began casting her magic at the wolves blocking the exit. Shadows on the ground formed into spikes and impaled the three wolves’ bodies, killing them instantly.

 

Seeing three of their comrades killed before their eyes, the remaining wolves growled angrily and lunged toward the duo all at once!

 

Ayuna became a bit panicked upon seeing this. She didn’t know how many wolves were there, but at that very moment, she could have sworn she’d seen more than twenty! And they came right at them very fast!

 

She snapped out of her reverie when she felt the pull from her hand. Liana dragged her and began running toward the exit!

 

Ayuna could only follow after her, still in a panic as she saw the wolves crept closer and closer to her at an astonishing speed!

 

Some wolves got in front of Liana, blocking her way, but they were impaled by the shadow spikes instantly. 

 

Liana didn’t stop for a second. She kept running toward the exit, pulling Ayuna along, killing every wolf coming her way.

 

Finally, the exit was getting closer and closer! Though, the wolves following right behind them were numerous. Wait, did they increase their number!?

 

Liana didn’t care about the wolves following behind. She focused on those who got in her way.

 

They finally got to the edge of the exit when one of the wolves got really close to Ayuna’s back. It was about to pounce on her, readying to ravage her with its sharp teeth and claws.

 

Liana shifted her body and used the momentum to fling Ayuna’s body out of the forest’s exit. She then jumped backward toward the exit while extending her hand toward the wolf, forming another shadow spike, impaling the wolf midair!

 

She landed on her flank and began rolling on the ground. Then with a fluid motion, she got up into one knee, drawing her dangers, and putting her guards up at the wolf.

 

Though, she didn’t look panicked at all. Ayuna soon found out why that was…

 

The moment the wolves reached the exit, they suddenly stopped in their tracks and kept growling at the duo. But—that’s all they did. None of them got out of the forest.

 

Seeing this, Liana put down her guards and sighed in relief.

 

Ayuna was confused. Sitting on her butt, she looked at Liana, blinking innocently.

 

“W-What’s going on..?” she asked. “Why aren’t they attacking us?”

 

Liana wiped a sweat off her forehead, sheathed her daggers, and turned to look at Ayuna with a smile. “They can’t.”

 

Ayuna tilted her head. “They can’t?”

 

Liana nodded. “That’s right. These monsters are naturally spawned in this forest. They are residents of the BloodHorn forest territory. They can’t get out unless they receive permission from their lord.”

 

What? Their lord? Ayuna’s eyes widened. Her curiosity picked.

 

Seeing Ayuna’s confused expression, Liana giggled and walked toward her. She offered her hand and said, “We can talk along the way. I’ll gladly answer any of your questions.”

 

Ayuna took her hand, got on her feet, and began walking. 

 

“You’re wondering about what I said just now, aren’t you?” Liana started.

 

Ayuna nodded.

 

“Well, there are many monster’s territories in this world, and in each of the territories, there’s a hierarchy system ranking by the strength levels. The stronger they are, the higher they’ll be in the ladder of the hierarchy. And, of course, ruling at the very top of that hierarchy is the strongest monster in that territory, the lord.”

 

Ayuna nodded. “I see… But, I still don’t get it. Why can’t the monsters get out of their territory? Is there some kind of rule or something?”

 

Liana nodded with a smile. “That’s right. There’s this agreement between the lord of each territory to never step foot into each other’s territory. If some residents break this rule, the lord of that territory could take this as a serious offense. It could even spell a war between territories just by that mere act alone.”

 

Ayuna was surprised. “Really? Just one of the residents stepping foot into another's territory could spell a war?”

 

“Yeah. I don’t know much about the sentiment behind this rule, either. It’s just common knowledge. Everyone in Avaria knows it.”

 

“Avaria?” Ayuna tilted her head.

 

“That’s the name of this world.” Liana smirked faintly, looking at Ayuna. “You know about magic and some other stuff, but have no idea about some common knowledge at all. I’ve never heard of someone losing their memories in such a way before...”

 

Ayuna’s heart almost jumped! 

 

Was she suspicious of her? She began to panic inside but tried her best to maintain a calm and innocent expression on her face.

 

She tilted her head. “Like I said. Something I know, something I don’t. I don’t even remember who I am. But I do know some stuff from fragments of my memory.”

 

Well, she wasn’t lying about that. She really had no idea who she was—in this new life of hers that is—and the stuff she knew from her past life’s memory could be considered fragments of her memory, right?

 

Liana’s eyes drooped again as she looked at Ayuna empathetically. She placed her hand on Ayuna’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Ayuna. Like I told you before. You’re not alone… You can always rely on me, okay?”

 

Seeing such a sincere and gentle expression, and hearing such warm words, Ayuna was really moved. She felt warmth spreading through her heart, and her eyes got a bit watery. Though, she tried her best to hold back her tears.

 

She felt really bad for not telling Liana the whole truth, but she knew she couldn’t. She felt so dirty and suffocating to have to cover up the truth from her, but… there was nothing she could do.

 

She could only swallow her guilt and hoped that one day, once they got really close to each other, she would tell her everything. When that time came, no matter what reaction Liana might have, she would readily face it head on.

 

With a moved expression, Ayuna looked at Liana and smiled at her sincerely…

 

[+ 15 AP]

 

Liana blushed and averted her gaze, coughing awkwardly.

 

Seeing such a cute gesture from Liana, Ayuna too felt like she'd received some serious damage!

 

[Damage received is over 9,000!!!] — Ayuna imagined a system screen showing such a thing.

 

Ayuna giggled and held Liana’s hand. Liana looked at her, smiled, and held onto Ayuna’s hand tightly.

 

“Liana,” said Ayuna, looking Liana in the eyes. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn't found me when you did. I’m really glad I’ve met you. Truly, thank you...”

 

Liana’s eyes widened. Her face began to flush, and her eyes got watery. She looked as if she was about to cry, though she held back her tears, smiled at Ayuna with a very beautiful smile, and nodded. 

 

“Mmm. I’m glad I’ve met you as well, Ayuna.”

 

Seeing such a beautiful smile, Ayuna received yet another impact!

 

[Damage received is over 9,000!!!] — She imagined the system showing such a  thing again.

 

And so, the two girls walked through the prairie hand in hand. Occasionally, they looked at each other with beautiful smiles. The gentle sun in the sky casted a warm and romantic golden glow and bore witness to the blooming relationship of the two girls…