The two of them entered the Black Forest.

From the outside, it had still been possible to make out the interior—but once inside, the darkness grew absolute, as though not a single ray of moonlight could penetrate it.

“Did they really hide in a place like this?”

Callios muttered as he continued ahead in silence.

“If the information I heard is correct.”

She had no intention of wandering this damp, oppressive forest for long. If they lingered, there was a real risk of losing their way. She had to settle things quickly.

‘They should be showing themselves about now.’

Selina strained her ears toward the eerie forest.

She heard the sound of their footsteps on the dirt path, leaves brushing against one another in the wind, and the chirring of insects. The atmosphere was peaceful—quiet even—but that was not what she was waiting for.

Scrrk—scrrk—

At that moment, the sound she had been hoping for finally reached her ears, faint but unmistakable.

‘There you are.’

Selina silently exulted. She had been worried that if they went any farther, she might no longer remember the path they had taken—but they had appeared at just the right moment.

How many were there?

Listening closely to the rustling, it sounded like quite a number.

‘Enough to keep Callios tied down.’

Selina had been waiting for the monsters.

The Black Forest had long been infamous for its monster infestation. It was so dark that not a trace of light reached the ground, and humans rarely ventured in. This made it the perfect environment for monsters to thrive.

Moreover, it was said that the number of monsters in Thalia had increased exponentially in recent times. So it was only natural that the Black Forest, already teeming with monsters, would now be overflowing with them.

‘I’ll use the monsters to shake Callios off.’

That was Selina’s plan.

Before long, the monsters would sense the presence of humans and descend upon them. While Callios was occupied dealing with them, she would slip away unnoticed and head for Murkin Village.

‘Of course, it’s a method that comes with a bit of guilt…’

She glanced at the man’s back as he walked on ahead—utterly unaware of what lay before him, or of the path that awaited her beyond this moment.

Seeing his slightly sloping shoulders, she didn’t feel entirely at ease—but she soon shook her head.

‘He may look a bit easygoing, but he’s an exceptional fighter. He survived for years in an underground labyrinth filled with dangerous monsters.’

And Selina hadn’t only heard tales of his feats. She had witnessed his skill with her own eyes.

With abilities like that, the monsters of the Black Forest would be little more than a nuisance.

‘I have to go to Murkin Village. No matter what.’

The need to find Alter—and through him, learn of Calix’s whereabouts—pushed Selina to cast aside her guilt.

She stayed on high alert, waiting for the moment the monsters would strike.

And then—

Scrrk, scrrk, scrrk—

The sound from the grass drew closer. The monsters that had been hiding within the undergrowth were approaching.

“Callios.”

Selina called to him in a low voice.

The man walking ahead must have heard it too—he straightened and drew his sword.

“Enemy forces?”

“No. It seems to be monsters.”

Grrrk! Grrrk!

No sooner had the words left her mouth than the monsters charged at them.

The darkness had made it impossible to see what they were—but once they struck one down, their identity became clear.

‘Spiders?’

They were nothing like ordinary spiders. Each was pale white, large enough to rival a child’s torso, with clusters of huge red eyes embedded in their heads.

Sssshk—

They even spat webs—but these were no ordinary threads. Typical spider silk was merely sticky, but what these monsters produced was sharp as blades.

“Watch out for the threads. They’re not normal webs.”

She warned him just in time—his hand had nearly brushed against one.

“You should be the one being careful, Vice Commander. They’re swarming toward you.”

He was right.

For reasons unknown, more than a dozen spiders had gathered around Selina.

‘D*mn it. At this rate, it’ll be hard to distract Callios and escape.’

She drew her sword and fought off the relentless hordes of spiders. At first, there seemed to be only about a dozen, but no matter how many she cut down, their numbers never decreased.

Even worse, if these spiders were venomous, the growing haze in the air would make sense. The more of them that gathered, the heavier and more polluted the air became.

If Callios weren’t here, she could have used Ari’s power. However, she couldn’t afford to let him discover that she could wield spirits — she couldn’t give him that leverage.

‘This is bad.’

What had begun as a minor plan to tie Callios down now felt like it might cost her life.

‘What do I do?’

Selina checked Callios’s condition.

Even in the darkness, he was cutting down spiders with precision—but something about his movements felt sluggish.

‘Is he poisoned?’

The thought had barely crossed her mind when—

Sssshk! Sssshk!

The spiders that had been firing webs at Selina abruptly changed direction, surging toward Callios instead.

The cause was immediate—a sweet scent drifting from that direction.

There had to be a flower near Callios, one that emitted a fragrance.

“N-no…”

Selina turned pale as she looked at him. There was no way he could avoid the swarm of spiders rushing towards him in perfect coordination.

In that fleeting instant, two thoughts collided in her mind.

The first was that Callios might die because of her.

The second was that, if he were poisoned here, she could leave him behind and go to Murkin Village.

Caught between these two thoughts, Selina hesitated, then reached forward impulsively.

She threw herself forward, putting her body between Callios and the spiders and taking the attack in his place.

“Ugh—”

Sharp venomous fangs sank into her back. Swallowing her groan, Selina slashed down the spiders that lunged at her.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Callios asked, his expression chilled and controlled, as though he had never once expected her to act like this.

“…I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

She tried to sound calm—but in an instant, all strength drained from her body. Unable even to hold her sword, she let it fall to the ground and collapsed heavily to her knees.

“Why would you do something like that—something I never asked you to do?”

Callios muttered in an angry voice as he grabbed her shoulders. Selina hadn’t expected him to be this furious, so she answered awkwardly.

“Because you followed me all the way here.”

Strictly speaking, it was because seeing him get hurt due to her plan would have filled her with unbearable guilt—but she didn’t say that.

“…Ha.”

Callios stared at her. He looked so intently that even in the darkness, she could make out his expression.

The faintly revealed face before her was steeped in confusion.

‘Was that how little he trusted me?’

Selina let out a hollow laugh. It wasn’t an entirely unreasonable reaction, after all. After all, she had been planning to abandon him in the Black Forest.

After staring at her with a strange expression for a while, Callios finally came to his senses when the spiders started moving again.

“Wait here.”

He lay Selina down in a safer spot, then turned back to deal with the spiders.

At least one thing was working in their favour: no more spiders came rushing in.

Because of this, their numbers dwindled quickly, and before long the forest returned to its former stillness.

Leaning against a tree and struggling to catch her breath, Selina saw Callios approach.

“Your condition—”

For someone clearly trying to ask if she was all right, the question was rather curt. But her mind was so foggy that she didn’t have the energy to point it out.

“I feel a bit dizzy.”

“That’s why you shouldn’t have done something so reckless.”

“…Your words are getting shorter. And rougher, too.”

This time, it was bad enough that she immediately called him out on it.

Realizing his mistake, Callios bowed his head at once.

“I apologize.”

“Forget the apology. Go check if there’s any antidote herb nearby.”

“Antidote herb?”

“Yes. It’s a plant with silver-tinged berries. I saw some on the way here.”

“Understood.”

He started to retrace their path—then suddenly turned back.

“Don’t move until I return.”

“I’ve been bitten by spider venom—I can barely move.”

Only after seeing that she truly couldn’t even lift her hand did Callios seem reassured. He turned away completely.

‘So the troublesome obstacle is finally out of the way.’

How long had she been waiting for this moment?

Selina took out the antidote she had kept hidden in her clothes. It was the medicine Lucas had developed to treat her poisoning.

But knowing Lucas’s perfectionist nature, there was no way he would have made an antidote that treated only a single, specified toxin.

‘It must cure all forms of poisoning.’

She had originally intended to save it, avoiding the marquis’s scrutiny—but given the circumstances, she had no choice.

She downed the vial’s contents in one gulp.

The taste was bitter and vile, but perhaps because of how atrocious it was, strength seemed to return to her body almost instantly.

As the medicine took effect rapidly, she rose to her feet without difficulty.

“Well then.”

Selina lifted a hand and waved toward Callios’s back—already distant, already out of sight.

“Until next time, Sir Callios.”

Now finally free, the only thing left for her to do was confirm whether Calix was alive.

***

Meanwhile, Callios returned after searching for the antidote herb Selina had mentioned—only to find nothing.

He couldn’t locate the plant with silver-tinged berries she had described. Fortunately, he did manage to gather a handful of other herbs known to have detoxifying properties, and with those in hand, he headed back.

As he walked, a thought crossed his mind.

‘Did I really need to go this far?’

Even if she succumbed to spider venom and died, wouldn’t it cause little trouble?

That thought had barely surfaced when—

“….”

Callios stopped dead upon reaching the place where Selina was supposed to be.

There was nothing there.

Not a single trace of a person.

Staring blankly at the empty spot, Callios swallowed a hollow laugh and slowly turned away.