Leaving those words behind, Miriam changed her posture and activated one of her abilities with a shout. The only one that, at this moment, could help her survive the monster in front of her.

"[Scale Armor]"

Instantly, dragon scales began to cover her body from her knees, going up her thighs, abdomen, and chest, traveling towards her arms and even going up to her face. Her entire body was now armored in a brilliant emerald green color. With her ability activated, and with the limited time it gave her, she put all her power into her legs and propelled herself toward the Wyvern, intending to hit him with all her might.

Her speed surprised the monster, creating an opening and thus allowing the cub to deliver a powerful blow to his jaw, causing him to lose his balance for an instant. The girl didn't let him rest for a second and kept attacking him with everything she had. Unfortunately, none of her blows seemed to cause the wyvern much damage. But that wasn't her goal. What she needed to do was to buy enough time for Elisa to prepare her magic, and create the opportunity to not miss.

Blow after blow, the wyvern grew angrier and angrier, and the anger reached its peak. He raised his wings, preparing to take off from the ground and take advantage of his aerial advantage.

"Oh no, you don't."

Miriam ran straight at the Wyvern, and taking advantage of his enormous strength, grabbed it by the tail just as it lifted off the ground. Although the monster weighed several tons, and his wings gave an enormous momentum that threatened to lift her off the ground along with it, the dragon girl managed to hold it in place. It had become a tug-of-war contest that Miriam seemed to be winning.

Seeing that, despite being able to keep it in place, it would not last long that way, Miriam jumped in the opposite direction the Wyvern was trying to fly and, with all her strength, threw it over her shoulder, trying to crash it into the ground; and hopefully some trees. The monster, not expecting such an action, was thrown hard and back to the ground. Although the blow left no visible wounds, it provoked a roar of pain from the giant flying lizard. Something that made Miriam smile fiercely. She could hurt him; cause him harm.

The wyvern writhed on the ground to get up once more. Glancing with clear anger at the girl who dared to confront him, he then lunged at her, attacking her with his jaws, his claws, and even his tail, desperate to eliminate the varmint.

His attacks, though powerful, were not so fast that she couldn’t dodge them, but, sooner or later she would get tired. Miriam needed the right moment to create the opening Elisa needed, so she had to be patient. But patience was something the monster lacked.

Fed up with the girl moving around so much, the wyvern used one of his best weapons. His breath. It drew back, inhaled deeply, and as if giving a silent roar, a huge cloud of sickly purple smoke was expelled from his mouth. Miriam realized the danger. This was no ordinary wyvern; this was a poisonous wyvern. "If I breathe even a little of that, I'll be doomed." The girl held her breath and tried to get away from the poisonous cloud that was rapidly approaching her. Unfortunately, she couldn't escape without endangering her sisters who were in the only direction she could flee.

The cloud of smoke advanced swiftly, leaving her with no options. Her only response was to hold her breath and wait for the wind to blow it away from her. But this was something the Wyvern would not allow her to do.

Taking advantage of the smoke obscuring his position, he spun on himself, using his tail in a wide sweeping attack, hitting Miriam squarely, who was not expecting it. The blow was so strong that it drained all the air from her lungs, and threw her several meters away against a tree.

The girl crashed, almost breaking the whole trunk, and then fell to the ground, groaning from the intense pain in her torso.

The scales of her ability absorbed most of the damage, but, even so, the blow was such that several of her ribs had been fractured. Miriam got up with difficulty, coughing up blood and realizing that, during the blow and subsequent throw, she had inhaled a significant amount of the poison that the Wyvern had spewed.

She didn't have much time, and now that she was poisoned, she had even less. She looked up angrily at the monster that had left her in that state and saw that it was watching her with what she felt was a mocking expression. Miriam felt that was a challenge. She couldn't allow a monster like this, who was qualified as a lesser dragon, to mock her, a real dragon.

She spat some blood on the ground, then wiped her mouth and returned to her fighting stance. She'd take that bastard's challenge and beat him no matter what she had to do.

On the other side, Elisa watched in terror, with Neminah screaming at her to let her go help her, that she couldn't leave her in that state. Elisa ignored her, maintaining her spell, infusing her with as much MP as she could, bracing herself for the opportunity her sister, her beloved little sister, was struggling to give her. "Trust her, trust her, trust her, trust her. TRUST HER!" over and over again, she repeated those words in her mind, which were the only thing keeping her feet in place, the only thing keeping her from running to her side, ignoring the whole plan, with the only goal of helping her, keeping her from hurting herself further.

"No matter what, I have to trust her!"

Miriam looked over to her sister, noticing by her expression, that she was about to swoop down and strike the Wyvern herself. She smiled at that. "That's my Eli, that's the sister I remember." She stated sweetly in her mind. How could she back down now that she knew she was only one step away from getting her beloved big sister back?

"There's no damn way I'm going down when I'm this close to setting things right with her!"

Once again, Miriam gathered all her strength and propelled herself toward the monster. This one, no longer surprised by her, and noticing that its speed had slowed since her first attack, prepared to meet her with its mouth open, ready to devour her in one go. But the girl hadn't jumped without thinking. No, she had done so knowing that the wyvern would wait for her like that.

Just before reaching him, she kicked the ground hard, stopping and changing direction by dodging it upwards, leaving her enemy biting the air, right where she had been before. Then, from her inventory, she pulled out her favorite weapon, the weapon Elisa had given her when she was 10 years old. A Kanabo. Similar to her mother's. This had been the only time Elisa had given her something. She never knew if it had been an attempt to reconcile, a peace offering, or something Reilanis had forced her to do, but of one thing she was sure, she would use this weapon and with it, she would save them from this situation.

With the Kanabo in her hands and, taking advantage of the momentum and gravity as she fell, she raised her weapon and with all the strength she could muster she struck the Wyvern's head, destroying the Kanabo in the process, but giving the monster such a powerful blow that it fell to the ground stunned. She used her [Seismic shock] ability hoping that her power, coupled with her fall, would be enough to cause significant damage, perhaps even cracking the monster's skull.

Fortunately, the damage had indeed been great. The Wyvern lay on the ground, stunned and many of the scales on its head had broken, leaving a large wound and bleeding profusely. Something that gladdened her and she saw as the opportunity she needed.

Falling to the ground, she immediately grabbed the monster's head and planted her feet firmly on the ground.

"Eli!"

That alone was enough for Elisa to know that this was the moment. Earlier, she had noticed why the cub seemed to trust her plan. There was an open wound on one of the monster's sides, an area devoid of scales that exposed the soft flesh underneath. Presumably, the place that troll had managed to hit with his club.

Unfortunately, she still hadn't finished her spell, she needed more time. A large icicle was rising in front of her, slowly growing, sharpening, and spinning at an enormous speed. The blonde was almost ready, she just needed a little more, just a few more seconds and she would be sure that her attack would definitely kill the beast. But the monster would allow no such thing.

Slowly coming out of its daze, the Wyvern began to shake, trying to get out of the girl's powerful grip. But she wouldn't budge, not when they were so close.

"Eli, hurry!"

"I know!"

Miriam was using everything she had to hold the monster back, she dug her claws from her hand into the Wyvern's head, trying to get a better grip. She could see her enemy's furious eyes right in front of her, and she was glaring back at it with the same amount of fury.

Miriam couldn't hold on any longer, she was at the limit of her strength and the poison was weakening her more and more. She felt that at any moment the Wyvern would let go and she would lose her chance.

At that instant, everything around her felt strange. Things moved slowly as if someone had cast a spell that slowed down time. She could hear her breathing and the thud of her heartbeat, which sounded so loud that it seemed to echo throughout the place. She realized that her grip was loosening and that she would be thrown to the ground. She turned her gaze to Elisa, saw that she was smiling, and knew that it was ready and the mighty icicle would be thrown at any moment. She felt the monster slip out of her hands and in that instant, she realized that, if she didn't do something at that moment, the attack for which she had done everything to have it prepared, would fail.

Miriam made a decision.

"Whatever it takes."

In an incredibly stupid impulse, with Elisa's attack being launched at that instant, Miriam stretched out her left arm, reached into the monster's open mouth, grabbed it by the tongue, and with all her remaining strength pulled it to the ground, holding it for only a second, enough time for the icicle to hit its target. But, also causing the Wyvern, upon feeling how the girl entered its jaws of her own free will, to close them, biting off her arm.

Even though she still had her [Scale Armor] active, the Wyvern's bite had been so strong that it had meant nothing in the face of the power of its jaws.

"MIRIAM!"

"Argh!"

The girl screamed at the top of her lungs, clutching the stump from which an enormous amount of blood was gushing. She had sacrificed her own arm to prevent Elisa's attack from failing... and it was worth it. The world returned to its normal speed, the icicle slamming with the force of a missile into the Wyvern's wounded side, piercing through hard muscles, ribs, and organs. The blow was so hard that the sharp chunk of ice caused an impact wave that threw the monster a couple of meters to the side and exploded inside its body, causing even more damage.

The Wyvern roared in fury and pain, writhing on the ground, as it felt its internal organs being torn apart. He didn't hesitate for a moment and escaped in terror, taking flight and disappearing into the air.

Elisa, who had launched that powerful attack, watched as the icicle flew, knowing it would not miss, but also watching in horror Miriam's actions and the instant the Wyvern closed its jaws and ripped off her sister's arm. Not caring about anything else, she ran with all her might towards it, with Neminah following from behind, just as frightened.

As she ran, images of her past played before her eyes. What she felt that day, the terror, the anxiety...the guilt. All those feelings crowded into her heart with every step she took. "No, no, no, no, not again, please, no."

Elisa reached Miriam, almost throwing herself to the ground next to her. The wound was serious. She had lost almost all of her arm, being torn off a little above her elbow. The amount of blood gushing out was enormous, creating a huge puddle on the ground and soaking the girl. Her gaze met hers, and she saw how, despite the pain she was feeling, she was smiling.

Neminah arrived at that moment and immediately began to cast her healing magic on her, trying to stop the bleeding from her arm.

"How could you even think of doing something so stupid, do you want to die!!!?"

"I-I know... I'm sorry... urgh... but... if I didn't..."

"Don't say anything else! Just stay quiet."

Elisa watched as she grew paler and paler, sweating profusely and shivering as if she was freezing. She watched as Neminah constantly used her magic, but the wounds would not close.

"Nemi, what's wrong, why isn't anything happening?"

"I don't know, my magic isn't working!" Replied the girl, frightened, trying to find some answer.

"What do you mean it's not working!?"

Neminah traced Miriam's body as she used her magic, looking for some clue as to what was going on, but it was the cub herself who answered.

"The... poison..."

Neminah's eyes widened like plates. She remembered the cloud of smoke the wyvern had expelled from its mouth and connected the dots.

"C-corrosion venom. - she said in a faint whisper. The girl realized what that implied and began to tremble. She turned to the blonde and exclaimed in perturbation. - We need to go. Now!"

"What is that, what is corrosion venom?"

"There's no time, we need to go." The girl jumped to her feet, urging with her gaze for Elisa to hurry.

"What about her arm, she's going to bleed to death if we don't do something!"

Neminah bit her lips, stopping her and making her brain work at full speed looking for something to answer her. She had been hasty in realizing the danger Miriam was in.

The corrosion venom was, in a way, similar to the life toxin, but to a different degree. This venom not only got in the way of healing, both magical and natural, but it caused any open wound to slowly rot away, spreading throughout the body and killing the victim in a matter of days. It was not the fastest venom, but one of the most difficult to treat, as it required Wyvern blood to make the antidote.

"Burn it..." Miriam declared, almost feebly. Elisa looked at her in shock. Knowing what that implied.

"NO!"

"Eli..."

"I said no. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to be the one to blame for you staying in that state forever."

Neminah realized the same thing as Miriam. If they wanted to do anything, they had to burn the wound. It was the only way to stop the bleeding, giving them enough time to get back to the dungeon and, hopefully, Reilanis would have an antidote. But, burning the wound, also meant that there would be no way to recover the lost limb. They did not know of a potion that could make a lost limb, whose wound had been burned, grow back. But also, if they didn't hurry, Miriam would bleed out and die before they could do anything.

"Elisa..."

"Eli... if we don't..."

Her mind had been left in a struggle between what she needed and what she wanted to do, as well as being pressed for time. Miriam's eyes were becoming fuzzy, slowly losing their color. She had a decision to make, one she would possibly end up regretting again.

"Damn it!"

With that cry, she lifted what was left of Miriam's arm and, holding it firmly, cast a simple fire spell and began to burn the exposed flesh. The cub was screaming heartbreakingly, breaking Elisa's heart with each passing second. But she couldn't stop, it was the only way they could buy enough time to save her. When it was over, Miriam had fallen unconscious from the pain. Elisa, who had remembered that the tail was in the same state, turned her over and did the same to it. She then lifted Miriam, placed her on her back, and began to run with Nemi at her side, using detoxification magic to keep the poison at bay as much as she could.

Their destination, the cave they had used the night before.