The cave's air clung heavily to the skin. —The numbers were wrong. Every time Ryune's magic blade tore through the darkness, the death cries of demon wolves echoed through the cave. Three. Five. Seven. No matter how many they cut down, the eyes gleaming in the depths of the shadows never vanished. "[serious]...Left rock pillar, three coming at once." Tatsuya's voice was hoarse. The instincts of the female specimens his skill kept picking up—territorial awareness, hunger, and—the information. It was all a lie. Ryune's inner voice screamed it, short and sharp. "[cold]I don't need you to tell me." —My knees are shaking. But I won't let him see it. Her silver-white armor was stained with blood spatter, and Ryune's breathing was ragged. Even so, she kept standing in front of Tatsuya, blocking his way. "[gentle]Next, one from the right ceiling, two from the ground. Take the ground first!" "[angry]I know...!" —Again. He can read ahead. When she finished off the last of the pack, Ryune used her sword like a staff and dropped to one knee. She was breathing heavily, her golden hair plastered to her cheeks with sweat. Her true feelings flowed into Tatsuya's skill. —Thank you. I wish I could have said it properly. In that instant. The darkness on the rocky ceiling peeled away. No presence. No sound. Nothing at all. Just a massive black shadow, falling straight toward Tatsuya. The skill caught nothing. The fur was imbued with astral essence, completely blocking the wavelength of its instincts. "...Huh?" His thoughts went completely blank. "[angry]Tatsuya!!" An impact from the side. The metallic crash of armor colliding. Ryune had thrown her whole body into shoving Tatsuya away. —Run. The remnants of her true feelings reached his skill. The next moment. *Shrrrk.* A giant claw tore through the golden armor like paper. Three deep gashes, from her left shoulder down across her chest. Fragments of armor scattered across the stone floor, and red—red sprayed through the air. "...Ah." Ryune let out a short groan. Her blue eyes lost focus. Bright red streaks ran down her white skin, and with a heavy thud, she collapsed into a pool of blood. "[scared]Ryune...?" His own voice sounded distant. The armor had been torn away, exposing the white ridgeline from her left shoulder to her collarbone. Vivid red covered it all. His heartbeat spiked. His ears rang. *GROOOOAR—.* The King-class let out a growl. From the surrounding darkness, the remaining demon wolves crept closer, closing the distance inch by inch. Tatsuya drew his shortsword with a trembling right hand and pulled Ryune's body close with his left. Warm. She was still warm. (Damn it, damn it, damn it!) His thoughts were a jumbled mess. His only weapon was a shortsword. He couldn't use magic. His stamina was at its limit. The person he had to protect was unconscious. (Can I really do nothing—?) His vision warped and twisted. The inner voices of the females, which he normally heard one at a time, all flooded into Tatsuya's brain at once. The instincts of the female specimens—estrus, fear, flight, territorial strife. The sheer volume of information exceeded his processing limit, sparks flying inside his head. (Fine. Take it. Take it all—!) Tatsuya abandoned all control over his skill. What happened next was an explosion. An invisible shockwave, centered on Tatsuya's body, filled the cave. Reception reversed into transmission. The instincts of the female specimens went berserk all at once. The order of the pack collapsed from within. *Yelp!* One wolf bit into the comrade beside it. Another rammed its head straight into the rock wall. Shadows scrambling to flee first, howls of infighting, a chain reaction of chaos. Even the King-class was caught up in the swarm of its rampaging underlings, slammed into a boulder, and knocked unconscious. It was a mess. A living hellscape. (...Not exactly something to laugh about.) Headache and nausea hit Tatsuya simultaneously. He braced a hand against the wall and crouched down, still holding Ryune. The sun was beginning to set. As the sky shifted from orange to purple, Tatsuya was running down the highway toward Karnak with Ryune on his back. He had torn his own jacket to press against her wound, but the seeping blood was soaking through to his back. That warmth alone was proof she was still alive. —...Don't go. A faint murmur, caught by his skill. A clumsy voice that had slipped from the depths of her consciousness. —Don't leave me alone... Tatsuya's legs stopped. "...Ha." A strange sound escaped from the back of his throat. "[crying]...I'm not going anywhere, I'm not going, so hurry up and open your eyes...!" Not caring who saw, Tatsuya broke down crying. His shoulders shook, his voice rose, and though tears and wind brushed his cheeks, his legs never stopped moving. He shoved open the door of the Silver Wing guild with his shoulder. "[angry]Get the medical team!! Now!!" Maris, who had been at the reception desk, stood up with a startled expression. "Wh-what—" —How did he come back alive... no, Ryune-san, those wounds... Her confused inner thoughts reached him, but Tatsuya had no energy left to process them now. Tatsuya watched from the hallway as the infirmary door closed. Then he put his back against the wall and slid down to sit. (I used my skill to assist, used my skill to cause chaos, and without my skill, I'm nothing...) He stared at his own palms. The reason he hadn't detected the King-class's ambush was because he had relied entirely on his skill. Against an opponent his skill couldn't reach, he had been completely powerless. "[sarcastic]A mission failure, I see." When he looked up, Dolf was standing at the end of the hallway. "[sarcastic]The basis for continuing the contract has been lost. I shall handle the report to the Valdeur household." He was smiling. Before Tatsuya could say anything, the man walked away. His inner voice was inaudible. What lay behind that smile was completely unreadable. Tatsuya hugged his knees to the floor once more. —Why are you being so stubborn in a place like this? Are you stupid? Late at night, the inner voice of Maris, who had come on patrol, reached the ears of Tatsuya as he continued sitting in the hallway. "...Are you alive?" "[gentle]I'm alive." Without another word, Maris silently placed a single blanket beside Tatsuya and left. —But still... a little worried. That inner voice, in the freezing hallway, was just a little bit warm. Dawn broke. The infirmary door opened, and the doctor came out. "He's out of danger. Absolute bed rest. He won't be able to hold a sword for at least three weeks." The moment he heard those words, Tatsuya lowered his head as if pressing his forehead to the floor. Relief, and the weight of knowing it wasn't over yet, crushed his chest at the same time. The doctor left, and through the half-open door, he could see Ryune's sleeping profile. Her left shoulder was wrapped thickly in bandages. No armor, no sword—just a single layer of cloth. The ridgeline from her white shoulder to her collarbone was seared into Tatsuya's eyes. The proof that he had failed to protect her—not as desire, but as pain—was transforming her existence into something decisively irreplaceable. Just after he leaned against the wall in the hallway and closed his eyes. Quiet footsteps approached from behind. When he turned, an unfamiliar woman in a white robe was looking down at him coldly. "[cold]You're the one who was taken on that mission, aren't you." —Someone else got hurt again. If only I had moved sooner. Her inner voice, instantly picked up by his skill, quietly reached Tatsuya's exhausted ears. Tatsuya slowly rose to his feet.