"If you think I'm going out there with you just to get myself killed, then you're clearly mistaken…!"

Leonze was now talking with Kryllo as they were walking side by side along a hanging bridge. Leonze tried to keep his voice down as he wasn't sure what would happen if the elves heard what he said.

They were both going back to the house where Jaegar and the others were being treated.

"You… will go…"

Kryllo didn’t even look at Leonze's direction.

"What makes you think I'll go willingly? And what do you even expect me to do out there?!"

Leonze glared at Kryllo.

"Act… as my… decoy…?"

Kryllo finally looked at him.

"Ugh, screw you! I don't have a death wish! Go out there alone for all I care!"

Leonze walked ahead of Kryllo. The hanging bridge swayed due to the heavy steps made by Leonze.

---

Once inside the first house, Leonze sat down on the floor by the corner of the room. He was facing the others who were still lying down on their makeshift beds.

The two female elves were done with Jaegar and were each healing Brittanya and Syrenne individually. Elwyrn was standing by the cabinet of medicinal items.

"Have you reached an agreement with the elder?"

Elwyrn spoke without looking at Leonze. He had his back turned on everyone in the room while arranging the healing items.

"I sure didn’t agree to anything. I should be enjoying the beauty of these lovely elves in front of me. Instead, I'm stuck worrying about these things… Anyway, that crazy archer sure ran his mouth off, saying he'll kill the monster or something."

Leonze shook his head and then leaned back and rested his head on the wall.

"Where is he…?"

Jaegar spoke up while grimacing. Sweat formed heavily on his forehead.

"I don't know. He should be back here by now. Or maybe he really went out to get himself killed."

Leonze answered with his eyes closed as he was able to finally rest and release the pent-up tension he had ever since the attack earlier in the day.

"Get him back here… Don’t let him… face that monster…"

Jaegar forced himself to talk while his voice was weakening.

"If he wants to die a hero or something, let him be—"

"It's not that…! With me in this condition… No one would be able to stop him…"

Jaegar turned his head toward Leonze and glared at him.

"W-what are you talking about?"

Leonze sat back up straight as he confusedly looked at Jaegar.

"He… he might be able… to kill that monster… but… all of us… could be next…"

Jaegar then fell unconscious. The two female elves looked at each other and then at Elwyrn. Leonze also looked at Elwyrn as he stood up from the floor.

"I-I don't know what he is talking about."

Leonze shook his head with his brows furrowed.

"Where did you last see him?"

Elwyrn faced Leonze directly, stopping whatever he was doing earlier.

"H-he was just with me by the bridge… I thought he'd follow me inside since it was already getting dark outside…"

"The forest indeed is very dark at nighttime. He will have a hard time finding his way and he might get ambushed by that monster…"

Elwyrn held his chin as he looked down at the floor.

"Don't tell me you’re thinking of going after him…? We're not even sure what Jaegar was talking about!"

Leonze stomped his foot as he stepped closer toward Elwyrn.

"All the more reason to heed his words. And I don't believe he would warn us of something in that condition if it wasn't true… Let's hurry."

Elwyrn walked toward the other end of the room and grabbed a bow and a quiver of arrows from the floor. He then went to the door and looked at Leonze.

"You're not seriously expecting me to go out now when it's getting dark, right? I can't jump from tree to tree like you guys—"

"I won't let even a small chance of endangering my clan happen. I hope you won’t let your friends go through that possibility, as well."

Elwyrn stepped out of the house.

"Friends… I barely know these guys…"

Leonze looked at the door and then at the others lying down on their beds. He then gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"W-wait for me! I can't see in the dark!"

Leonze rushed out of the house as he shouted and went after Elwyrn.

---

Elwyrn jumped from tree branch to tree branch carefully. He was looking downward at the ground as he jumped around. Leonze ran after him from behind on the ground. Leonze looked up at the trees and squinted hard just to see where Elwyrn would go.

"Hey! Are you sure he went this way?"

Leonze shouted upward at Elwyrn.

"I'm following his tracks. What's bothering me is that this is the direct path toward the area where you guys saw the monster earlier. How could he know where to go…?"

Elwyrn answered in a lowered voice.

"What was that?! I couldn't hear you! Speak louder!"

Leonze shouted with his two hands near his mouth.

"Hey! Stop shouting! You might alert the monster! And I don't think we're the only ones in the forest right now…"

Elwyrn replied in a hushed voice as he looked around him.

"I just said I couldn't hear you and you're still whispering. What the heck…"

Leonze just shook his head after he let out a deep sigh. Elwyrn then moved again and jumped to another tree ahead of him.

---

Kryllo finally reached the clearing with the barren earth. The ground where the minotaur fell down earlier due to the explosions was still shattered. There was also a large crater on the ground where Jaegar got stuck earlier.

The night was quiet, except for the noise made by some insects. The leaves were still and unmoving. The moon was brightly shining down on the sterile land since there were no tall trees to block the light.

Kryllo stood there with the reinforced bow they bought for him in Dosael. Of course, he gripped it by the lower limb of the bow, as if it was a club. He first looked around before walking toward the crater.

As he started to move, the ground started to tremble. Loud stomping echoed throughout the clearing. A huge and bulky figure emerged from the forest. It was by the left side of where Kryllo was facing.

---

Elwyrn then arrived at the clearing with Leonze closely behind him. Leonze was gasping loudly with his hands on his knees.

"I t-think it's here…! The ground shook just like earlier—"

As Leonze raised his head, he saw that Kryllo was standing in the middle of the clearing.

"What are you going to do with that bow? And you don't even have arrows with you—"

Leonze then saw that the minotaur quickly dashed toward Kryllo at great speed while it readied a punch behind its back.

"Kryllo! Watch out!"

Leonze shouted with all his might.

---

When Kryllo turned to face the monster, the minotaur was already rushing toward him. All he could do was use the bow he had as a shield to block the incoming punch of the creature.

Kryllo quickly flew toward the foot of the mountain, just along where Brittanya got buried earlier. A large cloud of dust emerged from the ground as Kryllo slammed into the rocky base of the mountain.

The dust cleared after a while. Kryllo was sprawled on the crater, bloodied in most areas of his body. He twitched for a moment and then slowly sat up on the ground. He then turned his head to look at the bow he was holding in his hand. It was shattered to pieces with only the part he was holding onto remained.

The monster slowly walked toward Kryllo. It was as if the monster had a smirk in his face.

Kryllo struggled to stand up with his head hung the whole time. When he finally got to stand up, he raised his head and glared at the minotaur.

"You… destroyed… my precious… bow…!"

Kryllo then let out a primal howl that echoed loudly even through the forest.

"You used it as a shield! What did you expect?! Just get out of there already!"

Leonze, while standing from afar, shouted at Kryllo.

The minotaur then hastened its steps toward Kryllo. It prepared another punch as it got near to where Kryllo was standing. The monster released its powerful punch at Kryllo. The ground quaked and a strong shockwave spread that reached Leonze and Elwyrn, whose view of Kryllo was blocked by the large creature.

After seeing what happened, Leonze fell on his knees.

"No… this is exactly what I thought was going to happen… He was just going to get crushed by this thing… Why did he have to be so stupid—"

"Wait… Look closely!"

Elwyrn felt a sudden chill throughout his body. It was the feeling of… overwhelming bloodlust.

Kryllo stopped the minotaur's punch with a single hand.