Chapter 49: The Poison
It happened very fast.
One.
Of the two agile creatures approaching the fruit, one crouched and took it. The other, in the same second, turned and began running toward the southern passage, opposite the entrance. The creature with the fruit ran off behind it.
Two.
Simultaneously, the remaining ten creatures lunged forward.
Not toward Nathan.
Toward Liaraen.
Nathan spun with the reflex speed the Class allowed him. Extended his right hand.
*Soul Pulse.*
The dark wave shot out at normal power.
It hit the first agile creature lunging toward Liaraen.
The creature didn’t fall. It staggered.
Nathan understood instantly.
*Soul Pulse doesn’t work well against these. I already confirmed that. I need Soul Reap.*
*And Soul Reap costs two hundred mana.*
*I have one hundred fifty.*
*I can fire exactly one Soul Reap.*
*Against ten creatures.*
Nathan made the fastest decision of his life.
He extended his arm toward the agile creature closest to Liaraen.
*Soul Reap.*
The creature fell to the floor.
Nine creatures kept running toward Liaraen.
Nathan had no mana for more.
His body acted on instinct.
He ran.
He placed himself between the creatures and Liaraen. Extended his arms to his sides like a barrier. His body, not his magic, became the shield.
The agile creatures arrived.
Nathan blocked the first with his right forearm. The creature’s claw tore through his sleeve and the skin beneath, but the creature stopped. The second came from his left. Nathan pushed it with his shoulder. The creature crashed to the floor.
The third went low.
Nathan didn’t see it.
He felt the impact against the back of his knee. He staggered. Almost fell. Recovered.
And in that half-second of imbalance, the stinger of one of the large ones that had also arrived came into action.
Nathan didn’t see it coming.
He felt the impact on his left side, near his liver. The stinger’s tip pierced his jacket, his skin, and sank approximately three centimeters into the muscle.
The pain wasn’t the worst part.
The worst part was the specific sensation that began to spread from the impact point to the rest of his body approximately half a second after the stinger withdrew.
Cold.
Nathan recognized the sensation instantly.
*Poison.*
*I’ve been stung.*
He turned.
Behind him, Liaraen was standing with her short dagger in her right hand. Nathan had retrieved it from the floor of the previous chamber and returned it to her when they reunited. One agile creature was approaching her from the right flank.
Liaraen drove the dagger into its eye.
The creature fell.
Another stinger hit her.
Nathan saw it in slow motion, with the specific perception the Class gave him in moments of crisis. The stinger came from above. From Liaraen’s left. She didn’t see it because she was focused on the creature she’d just killed.
The stinger entered Liaraen’s left shoulder.
She made a small sound. Not a scream. A more contained sound—more aristocratic even in the instant of pain.
She pulled her shoulder back to disengage.
The stinger came out.
The creature that had struck her retreated two steps.
And the remaining ten creatures, including the leader, stood still.
Watching.
Waiting.
Not attacking further.
As if their real objective had already been accomplished.
Nathan felt the poison’s cold climb from his side toward his chest. His right hand still moved. His left had partially lost sensation. His legs still responded but increasingly slowly.
Liaraen looked at Nathan.
Nathan looked at Liaraen.
She still held the dagger. Her face hadn’t lost its composure, but her breathing was changing. Deeper. Slower. As if something inside her was beginning to compete with her will for control of her body.
"Nathan," she said quietly.
"Yes."
"The fruit."
"They took it."
"Go after them."
"I’m not leaving you here."
"Nathan."
"No."
"Nathan. Listen to me." Her voice remained controlled, but each word cost her a little more. "If you don’t get the fruit, we both die. If you carry me, we’re slower. If you leave me, they kill me. If I go with you, I still have a chance."
Nathan looked at her.
He knew she was right.
*I’m taking her with me.*
He approached her. Slipped his right arm under her knees. Lifted her. Liaraen wasn’t heavy, but the poison had already taken approximately twenty percent of the strength Nathan should have had. His legs complained. His arms trembled.
He held on.
He turned toward the leader and the nine remaining creatures.
The leader looked at him.
And smiled again with that specific smile.
"Go," the leader said in its raspy voice. "Go, Hunter. Go find it."
Nathan didn’t respond.
He turned toward the southern passage the two creatures had taken the fruit through. Held Liaraen against his chest. And began to walk, then run, then run as fast as his poisoned legs would allow.
Behind him, the leader watched him go.
And then, with the specific calm of a hunter who knows its prey is running toward the exact place it will wait, it began to walk behind.
---
Nathan ran down the southern passage.
The footsteps of the two creatures carrying the fruit could be heard ahead. Faint but present. Echoes off the stone walls. Nathan calculated they had about a minute’s lead.
In that minute, the poison had advanced through his body.
He felt the cold in his chest now. In his throat partially. His left arm functioned at half capacity. He held Liaraen against his chest with more pressure than necessary—not out of affection but because his right arm was compensating for the left’s weakness.
Liaraen was conscious. Breathing. But each breath was harder.
"Nathan."
"Yes."
"The poison."
"I know."
"It’s fast."
"I know."
"The fruit. Can it cure poison?"
"Selene said it has high-level healing properties. It should."
"Are you sure?"
"Not completely. But it’s our only option."
Liaraen was silent for a few seconds.
Then she said, in a weak voice:
"Nathan."
"Yes?"
"If there’s only enough fruit for one person."
"Don’t talk like that."
"Nathan. If there’s only enough."
"Sprout."
"Promise me something."
"No."
"Promise me you’ll use it on whoever has the better chance of surviving afterward."
"I’m not promising you anything."
"Nathan."
"No." He ran faster. "Both people are going to survive. I’m not considering another option until there’s no other option left."
Liaraen didn’t argue.
She stayed silent against his chest.
At some point during the journey, her hands closed on the fabric of Nathan’s jacket. With minimal but perceptible strength.
Nathan ran.
And the southern passage opened into a new chamber.
And in the new chamber, in the exact center, the leader waited.
Somehow.
Ahead of them.
With the fruit in one of its hands.
And a specifically satisfied smile on its snout.
Nathan stopped.
With Liaraen against his chest.
With seventy-five mana regenerated to approximately two hundred during the run.
With poison in his body.
With the person who mattered to him dying in his arms.
And with the creature leader that had captured her, watching him from the chamber’s center with the fruit in its hand.
The passage behind Nathan filled with the sound of the nine remaining creatures arriving.
Blocking the exit.
Nathan was, specifically, in the exact place the leader had wanted him to reach from the beginning.
