The people hiding with me were startled and looked around.

Lynen, having known already, had finished applying the herb juice and hidden himself somewhere.

A moment later, where he had been, black mist rippled and a hideous wolf-like familiar appeared.

“Grrrr…”

It sniffed at the spot where Lynen had been.

It seemed confused, having clearly followed the scent of poison but suddenly unable to sense anything.

After circling in place for a moment, it raised its head to smell other scents in the air.

Then it began running quickly.

“Let’s hurry and follow it.”

Lynen chased after it first, and we ran following his back.

Although the familiar moved as he predicted, Lynen seemed to still have more conjectures to confirm.

‘No, I thought he was just struggling with the monster’s poison, but what exactly has he been doing behind my back?’

Is he really a detective?

Just as I was secretly admiring him.

“It disappeared!”

Noah, who was riding on Imelen’s back, shouted. As Noah said, the familiar had suddenly vanished.

If it suddenly jumped out now, someone could be fatally wounded.

Lynen quickly lowered his eyes and spread his ki sense.

He suddenly looked down at the ground.

“Below!”

Rumble…

At the same time, the ground shook and collapsed beneath our feet.

A sinkhole targeting me precisely.

With no time to dodge as the ground collapsed, I fell deep underground along with an enormous amount of dirt, as if swept away in a landslide.

“Kyaaak!”

“Lady Calliphe!”

“Kuuung!”

The children’s screams quickly became distant.

I was still falling. My dress and hair fluttered wildly upward as my heart shrank.

‘Am I going to die like this? From a fall that wasn’t even in the original story?’

Just as tears were about to form without my realizing it.

I saw someone’s face rapidly falling toward me.

Wildly disheveled black hair, gray-blue eyes wide open and unblinking.

“Calliphe!”

An urgent shout calling my name.

It was Lynen.

“Lynen…? Ugh.”

He caught me as I was falling and quickly trapped me in his arms. For a moment, his unrestrained strength made it hard to breathe.

‘Lynen jumped right in to save me?’

This uptight guy who disapproves of me?

That was unbelievable, but what was even more unbelievable was that my pessimistic thoughts disappeared as soon as I saw him.

I hugged him back tightly, treating him like a lifeline.

At least right now, he really was my lifeline.

He flinched momentarily at my response but didn’t loosen his arms. Instead, his relieved sigh brushed past my ear.

Trying to push away the strange sensation of strength involuntarily gathering in my fingertips, I asked.

“Can swordmasters fly too? You just flew here, right?”

“No. I just gained momentum by kicking off the ground.”

“T-then how are you going to stop us from falling?”

“With force.”

Lynen drove his sword deep into the wall.

Bang!

The impact of the sword splitting through soil and rock transmitted clearly.

Not wanting to die, I clung to Lynen, pulling his neck close and pressing against him.

The arm holding me also tensed with firm strength.

As our speed gradually decreased, we were able to find footing where the passage narrowed and curved sharply.

That’s when an ambusher waiting for this moment sprang out.

“Grrrr!”

The familiar suddenly appeared and opened its jaws toward me.

Kaang!

Lynen pulled his sword from the wall and swung it horizontally in one motion, striking away the familiar’s fangs. Its fangs flew off in an instant.

However, far from being intimidated, it cleverly changed its strategy.

Using its ability to freely hide and reveal itself and the dark passage, it continuously concealed itself while launching unexpected attacks.

The creature particularly targeted me.

Kang! Kaang!

“L-Lynen.”

“…”

Minor injuries accumulated on Lynen’s body as he focused on protecting me.

Moreover, perhaps because we were closer to the familiar, it seemed harder for him to control the monster’s poison.

‘Instead of just staying like this, I need to create an opportunity for Lynen to counterattack. What would be a good way…’

That’s when a question suddenly occurred to me.

‘Come to think of it, why is this b*stard targeting me instead of Lynen who has its poison on him?’

It was clear from how it targeted the ground beneath my feet when I was separated from Lynen. And I could easily guess the reason.

‘The sealing magical tool storing the black stone has already lost its effect!’

Familiars prioritize their sorcerer’s orders. That’s why it’s still trying to target me now.

Alright. Let’s use this.

“Lynen. If you get a chance, can you finish the familiar in one strike?”

“Of course… wait, what are you doing?”

“Creating an opportunity.”

I broke free from Lynen’s arms and jumped down.

“Calliphe!”

Though I rolled down stepping on uneven rocks, fortunately I wasn’t badly hurt since we were close to the ground.

“Over here!”

I shouted while holding up the pouch containing the black stone. The familiar immediately turned its attention this way.

“Grrrung!”

“Eek!”

The familiar rudely scratched past me suddenly. I flailed reflexively, and my fist hit somewhere on its body.

The familiar let out a “Kyaeng!” scream.

‘Is it crazy?’

Suddenly I felt like an animal abuser.

For it to hesitate and make such a fuss just from a light brush of my fist, I’m the one who feels wronged.

‘Come to think of it, last time too it strangely couldn’t keep up after getting hit by me.’

Ding!

[System analyzing user’s performed action…]

[Analysis successful!]

“What…?”

While I was momentarily distracted by the sudden system message, the creature that had turned its head lunged at me.

Just before its sharp teeth could tear into me.

The wolf’s head flew off in an instant right before my eyes.

The head rolled thump, thump to the side before turning into black smoke and disappearing.

Being a summoned monster, it seemed no corpse remained.

“Phew…”

As I wiped away cold sweat feeling like I’d aged ten years, I heard Lynen’s angry voice.

“Are you in your right mind?”

“Huh?”

After roughly shaking off and sheathing his sword, he strode up to me in one breath.

“What reckless thing were you doing with a body like paper that hasn’t been trained at all? Do you want to die?”

“No, I…”

He gripped my shoulders tightly.

“You seem to have forgotten why I came with you. Or you don’t care. Or perhaps you just don’t think?”

Lynen’s voice, usually calm enough to be irritating, was now so fast it left no room to breathe. Moreover, it was quite sharp.

As I just blinked in surprise, I suddenly felt a slight trembling in my shoulders.

It wasn’t me trembling.

Lynen’s hands gripping my shoulders were trembling ever so slightly.

But it was such a brief moment I might have imagined it. Because he immediately removed his hands from me.

“…I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

He seemed to think I was too scared to speak.

Instead of snapping back that it was his misunderstanding, I kept my mouth shut solemnly.

Seeing Lynen’s unusual agitation made me truly sorry.

“Sorry.”

“…Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No. I’m fine.”

“Fine? Are you joking?”

He immediately narrowed his eyes into triangles, knelt on one knee and quickly removed my shoe.

“Your heel is completely destroyed but you’re fine? Your eyes must definitely be decorative. Or maybe it’s your head that’s decorative.”

“It’s not that ba…”

“You’re bleeding, aren’t you!”

He pointed at my ‘destroyed’ heel.

There was a scraped area on the back of my shoe. Smaller than my pinky nail.