Bartholomew inhaled hard and nocked another arrow.
His hands were still shaking when he raised the bow, but the trembling no longer came from the same place. It had started as fear. Now it was mixed with pain, mana strain, and something hotter sitting underneath both.
He could win this.
The thought came suddenly and hit him harder than the serpent's last charge.
Not because the fight had become easy. It hadn't. His ribs burned every time he pulled breath in too deeply. His shoulder still throbbed from the impact against the tree. His right hand felt half-dead after [Skybreak Knuckle], and the monster in front of him was still larger, stronger, and one clean mistake away from swallowing him whole.
But he could win this.
