Leon looked from the monstrous guardian of the crystal, then shifted his wide gaze to Zoe's determined face.
Zoe gestured toward an unstable pile of metal debris near the creature's head. "I'll create a distraction over there. Grab the crystal when it moves."
'I should do what?!' Leon stared at her, his voice turning shaky. "You said what?"
"Grab the crystal while I distract the beast," Zoe said, already walking toward the debris.
"No. Grab it while I distract the beast," Leon stated, stepping in front of her.
Zoe laughed, then looked back at him. "Sure. But I'll still make sure your family gets some token after I walk out of here."
'Is this wise? What was I even thinking? What will I even use to create the disturbance? I have to put all fears aside and do it. Just for once.'
After a brief struggle with himself, Leon dashed in front of Zoe again with a strained grin. "I'll grab it. Just distract the thing!"
Zoe chuckled and nodded. "Better." She turned and walked back to the debris.
'What have I even gotten myself into?' Leon cried inwardly as he watched her.
'Please, let this work.' Leon pressed his fingers together like a monk at prayer.
"Now!" Zoe's scream ripped through the air as she hurled a sphere of brilliant white light at the debris.
The moment it struck, light and sound exploded through the silent valley with a deafening roar.
Metal shot into the air, then hit the ground one after another.
The creature's eyes cracked open, and an ear-splitting shriek tore out of it.
"Run for it now!" Zoe screamed as the creature rushed toward her, leaving the crystal unprotected.
Leon's boot scraped the ground as he ran for it.
The moment he reached it, he wrapped his fingers around the crystal and slowly lifted it from its bed, gasping.
For a brief second, relief washed over him. Then, as he tilted his head, the relief vanished.
The creature had already jerked toward him. Though it had been distracted, it wasn't stupid.
It ignored Zoe and charged straight at Leon at a horrifying speed.
Leon's bones screamed as he ran from the creature's nest, clutching the crystal like a heart in his hand.
No matter how fast he moved, he couldn't escape its sight. He stumbled again and again as the creature's thunderous steps shook the ground beneath him.
'I'm going to make it.' A foolish hope flared in his chest as he felt the creature closing in.
Then the world slowed as a hot, foul breath struck the back of his neck.
Leon stumbled and crumpled to the ground like a sack of stones.
'I will not die here.' The thought kept repeating in his mind as he rolled onto his back.
As the creature neared him, Leon threw his hands up in a useless attempt to protect himself.
His heart pounded wildly as he scrambled backward across the ground, feeling the creature's killing intent bear down on him.
The creature's front limbs slashed toward Leon's head.
On the first strike, he barely managed to block it with the rusted rod. On the second, the creature's sharp limb shattered the rod into two pieces as Leon tried to deflect it again.
He covered his face as it lunged a third time.
Just as one of its claws grazed Leon's hair, a bright golden light erupted from him and slammed into the creature's chest.
The blow was so fierce that it blasted the creature backward, sending it crashing into its own nest.
Leon scrambled to his feet. He didn't wait to see whether it would rise again. He ran as if it were his last day to live.
He didn't care about anyone, not even Zoe—he just ran.
When he finally slowed, no longer hearing the creature's enraged cries, he turned and saw Zoe walking toward him calmly, like a bride approaching the altar.
"You have a strong power," Zoe said, brushing a finger across Leon's shoulder.
'I almost died, and you're saying I have strong power?! Who are you? Aren't you human?' In his thoughts, he had already beaten Zoe senselessly.
But in reality, he only frowned as he watched her walk past him, laughing.
Leon took a deep breath, then straightened and followed her.
Even as they left the valley behind, his mind kept replaying the creature's chittering face.
He said nothing to her, not even a glance. The only thing between them was silence, and the rustling leaves overhead as they walked beneath the trees.
They stopped the moment they came upon a cave. Zoe walked to the left, Leon to the right, and began scanning it.
As they circled it, their postures remained strangely identical until Leon drifted away and sat at the entrance.
He stayed there for a while, staring at the blue glow moving inside the crystal. "Is something in this?" Leon whispered as he caught a tiny shift within it.
For a closer look, he raised it and watched the moonlight pass through.
"What the hell was that wrapping around my hand? It burned like fire, but there's no mark," Leon muttered inwardly as he set the crystal on his lap and checked his arms.
Then tiny whispers echoed from inside the cave. Leon shot to his feet and hurried in, the crystal clutched on his left side.
But the moment he reached the spot where Zoe sat, he frowned. Zoe sat there, her lips moving, forming silent words as if someone stood right in front of her.
'Was she the one speaking? Ah, why did I even run inside? I thought it was one of those chittering creatures coming.' Leon let out a chuckle and sat on the ground a fair distance away from her.
"That light… what bloodline are you from?" Zoe asked in a low voice, filled with disbelief.
Leon didn't answer at once. He sat frozen, his face blank, almost inhuman. Then, as the word echoed in his mind for the second time, he turned to her with a confused expression.
"I'm from a human bloodline."
Zoe giggled. "Dummy, we're all from the human bloodline. What specific family are you from?"
"I've heard my dad speak of that once, but I never got the chance to learn more."
He saw a genuine pity in Zoe's eyes.
"Sorry," she said softly, her voice brushing his ears like a breeze. "But your power… It's raw. Almost like something that had been long abandoned."
Before Leon could ask what she meant, a high-pitched whine cut through the air and drew their attention in an instant.
Then, in the far distance, they saw a wolf creature rushing toward them in haste.
As it got a bit closer, chills ran down Leon's spine, noticing it to be the very one they had fought earlier.