"They have high mana perception," Viora noted, her purple eyes staring straight at the gathering horde.

"And it is all because you told me to wait," she added, her voice completely calm and even.

I turned my head toward her so fast I almost threw my neck out. And my jaw practically hit the floor as I stared at her in absolute, utter disbelief.

’Why is she being like this in front of monsters?!’ I screamed in my head. ’And why is she shifting the blame onto me?!’

"Hey!" I hissed loudly, pointing my finger at her. "I told you to wait because we needed a plan! Not because I wanted you to shine your purple mana like a lighthouse in the dark!"

"You said you didn’t know what was wrong," Viora replied smoothly, her face a mask of serene innocence.

"I was thinking!" I gritted my teeth, clutching my dagger handle so hard my knuckles turned white.

SCREECH!

A piercing shriek echoed off the stone walls.

The dark, slender shadow creatures didn’t walk. They surged forward across the floor like a wave of black liquid tar.

Viora didn’t flinch. She took a step forward, placing herself directly between the horde and my broken body.

BOOM!

Her fist slammed into the chest of the lead shadow creature. The raw physical impact didn’t just stop the monster—it blew a hole clean through its body.

Without missing a beat, Viora spun on her heel. She ducked under a sharp claw attack and delivered a violent kick straight to another monster’s head.

CRUNCH!

The second creature crashed into the stone wall, turning into a splash of black soot.

She was fast. She was brutal. And she was insanely strong.

Watching her fight was like watching a natural disaster in human form. She moved through the darkness like a demon, using simple, deadly physical strikes wrapped in thick purple energy to tear through the ranks of the beasts.

’She’s incredible,’ I thought, my heart pounding against my ribs.

But Viora was only one person. And there were dozens of shadow creatures crawling out of every dark crack in the bedrock.

Grrrrr!

Three slender shapes separated from the main wave. They completely ignored Viora as their glowing purple eyes locked onto me.

"Shit!" I cursed under my breath.

I couldn’t run. I couldn’t dodge gracefully. My left leg was still throbbing with a dull, heavy ache, barely supporting my body weight. I leaned my back against the hard boulder, raising my dagger with my right hand.

The first creature lunged at me, with its liquid black claws extending into twin blades.

Swish!

I ducked my head to the right. The sharp claw missed my throat by a fraction of an inch, cutting into the stone wall behind me. Before the monster could pull back, I drove my dagger straight upward under its jaw.

Pfft!

My blade sank deep into its soft, shadow core. The monster let out a wet gasp and dissolved into black dust.

"One!" I grunted, panting heavily.

Before I could even reset my balance, the second and third creatures pounced together.

I slashed outward with my dagger, cutting the second monster across its chest, but the third one flew past my guard from the left side.

SLASH!

A sudden, burning sensation ripped across my upper chest.

"AGH!"

The sharp claws tore right through my shirt, slicing deep into my skin. Cold air hit the open wound, followed immediately by the hot sensation of my own blood spilling out down my shirt.

The physical pain was sharp, making my knees buckle. I stumbled backward, my back slamming hard into the stone wall.

I gritted my teeth, swung my blade with every last bit of strength in my arm, and plunged the dagger directly into the third monster’s single purple eye.

Thump!

The creature collapsed and vanished into soot.

I stood there leaning against the wall, my chest heaving up and down in ragged, shallow breaths. Blood was soaking through my shirt, dripping down onto the cold stone floor.

"Damn it... that hurt," I gasped out, clutching my chest with my free hand. "I really hate... gates with anomalies..."

Across the dark place, a sudden silence fell over Viora’s side of the battlefield.

Thud.

She had just crushed the neck of another beast, but her body went completely still.

’This... This voice...’ Viora thought, her mind going completely blank for a second.

Slowly, almost mechanically, Viora turned her head toward me. Her purple eyes widened in the gloom, focusing directly on the dark red stain spreading across my chest.

"Woo Jin?" she whispered.

Her voice wasn’t calm anymore. It wasn’t deadpan or sarcastic. I don’t know. But I could feel that it was trembling and terrified.

I quickly pulled my hand away from my chest, trying to cover the wound, and forced a rough smile onto my face.

"It’s okay!" I said quickly, waving my hand in the air. "It’s nothing! It was only a small scratch! I took care of them!"

I tried to sound strong. I tried to sound reliable who had everything under control.

But I failed miserably.

The moment Viora noticed the blood dripping down my fingers, something inside her snapped. The fragile balance of her mind broke in an instant... Again.

SCHWWWW!

A sudden, terrifying pressure dropped onto the entire pit like a falling mountain.

The air turned freezing cold. The dark green light from the core flickered violently, almost blown out by the sheer wave of pure, unadulterated hostility exploding from Viora’s small frame.

Her black horns flared with a dangerous, pitch-black light. Her purple hair whipped wildly around her face, floating in the air as if gravity had completely vanished.

"You..." Viora whispered. "You touched him."

The remaining shadow creatures went rigid.

"You hurt him..." she murmured, stepping forward.

Every single step she took cracked the solid stone beneath her boots.

"I promised..." Viora stared at the monsters, her eyes burning like two purple dying stars. "I promised I would keep him safe... I said I would carry him... AND YOU DARE BLOODEN HIM?!"

BOOM!

A blinding, massive dome of deep purple and black mana erupted from her body!

It wasn’t a targeted punch. It wasn’t a neat martial arts technique. It was a pure, chaotic explosion of raw physical mana expanding outward in every single direction.

The shockwave slammed into the walls and the stone ceiling groaned loudly, sending down showers of dust and pebble.

The remaining shadow monsters—more than twenty of them—didn’t even have a chance to growl. The moment the purple aura touched their bodies, their shadow forms were instantly crushed into dust under the impossible pressure. They were completely evaporated into thin air, leaving behind nothing but empty space.

WHOOSH!

After that, the violent wind died down, sweeping through the quiet pit.

The dozens of monsters that were swarming us just seconds ago were completely gone. Erased from existence in a single second.

I stood glued against the stone wall with my jaw hanging open in disbelief.

’What... what kind of monster strength was that?!’ my brain screamed in horror. ’She didn’t even use a named skill! She just released her aura and wiped out an entire horde!’

Viora stood in the center of the cleared space. Her wild purple hair settled gently over her shoulders and the deadly, dark pressure in the air vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Then, she turned around and began walking toward me.

Her steps were slow, deliberate, and quiet. Her face had returned to its pale, calm appearance, but her purple eyes were fixed entirely on the bleeding wound on my chest.

My heart instantly skipped a beat. A cold shiver ran all the way down my spine, far more intense than the pain from my chest wound.

’Oh no...’ I thought, cold sweat breaking out across my forehead. ’She’s in that mode again...’

She stopped right in front of me, so close that I could feel the faint warmth radiating from her skin. Slowly, she reached out her hand, and touched the torn, bloody fabric of my shirt with her fingers.

"You lied to me, Woo Jin," she whispered softly. "You said it was a small scratch. But you are bleeding."

"Viora... I’m really fine," I stammered, and leaned my back as far into the wall as physical stone would allow. "It looks worse than it is!"

"You are always getting hurt for me," she murmured, her eyes heavy with an intense, suffocating emotion. "You took the fall. You broke your leg. And now you bled."

She leaned in closer and looked straight into my eyes.

"I think..." Viora whispered, her breath brushing lightly against my cheek. "I think I need to tie you to my back. That way, you can never get hurt again. You will just stay with me."

’System, help me!’ I screamed internally as the dragger fell on the ground from my shaky hands. ’She is completely fixated again!’

What... What... Should I say now?

"Viora, look at that thing!" I yelled frantically, pointing my finger past her shoulder toward the center of the tunnel. "The green heart! It’s still pulsing! The green lines are still going up!"

Viora didn’t even turn her head. She just looked at my face, then down at the blood on my shirt.

"That... can wait..."

Saying that, she grabbed the fabric of my shirt on my shoulders with both of her hands and tore it off clean.

’Huh?’

"What?!!!"

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