The hunt has begun. Mira and Maria crept through the forest trying to find any Rank 2 beast that they could. They were on the lookout for an insect-type magical beast, but they didn’t seem very common in the Dark Moon Forest. Either that or they were able to escape Mira and Maria’s eye. After a week of creeping through the forest, they came upon a weird-looking tree. There was a scent of blood around the tree. After looking closer at the base of the tree they found out that there was a giant white snake coiled around it. The presence this snake had was greater than of the tiger and hawk they defeated before this.

“Fuck. A Mid-Stage Rank 2 Albino Tree Snake. What do you want to do Maria? Fight or back away? He hasn’t noticed us so yet so hurry up and decide. I will let you make the call here.” Mira said surprising Maria. Mira never lets Maria decide anything and she chooses now of all times?!

“Eh?! I-I d-don’t know! Is it even worth it to fight the snake? Is there anything precious nearby that’s keeping him around the tree?”

“That’s the point of this journey. Nothing in this world is free. Risk often occupies reward. The only way to open up the opportunity for reward is to brave the dangers and fight for them. It could have nothing, or if it does have something it could be useless to us. This is the only way to get to the peak!! Now choose!” Mira said with resolve. Obviously willing to trust and follow Maria’s choice, whatever that may be. This made Maria feel touched, but now wasn’t the time for that.

“Let’s fight! As you said, that’s the whole point of this journey. I might not even get a choice next time, so at least this time will be on our own terms.” Maria said with a face full of resolve. Mira nodded at this sight. This is exactly what she wanted to hear. Now she just needs a little push and Maria might be able to be someone amazing in the future.

“Good. Since you want to do this then you make the plan. I will follow it and adapt accordingly.”

Maria nodded and said, “Okay. I think that we should that I should go up in the tree above it and you should… Well, since I have the power to kill it then I need you to distract it while I try to kill it in one move.”

Mira was stunned.

‘This kid actually wanted to use me as fucking bait! This plan kind of sucks too! Kill it in one shot? As if! I’d have to basically present its neck to you, you fucking bastard! I could come up with 10 better plans that won’t get me almost killed, but I will allow you to do it this time. This is an opportunity for this naive little girl to grow up. She needs an experience like this if she wants to even think about following me and being someone that I can call a friend. Plus I shouldn’t die in one hit from this beast, so she can just deal with my half-dead body afterwords. ‘

“Very well. I will do my best as… bait.” Mira forced out the words.

Maria nodded happily at those words and began climbing. Maria didn’t climb up the snake’s tree right now as that might alert the snake. She started a bit farther away and crawled closer up in the trees and waited for Mira to start to make her move. Once Mira saw that she was in position, Mira took out her scythe and charged at the snake.

The snake sensed coming immediately and lifted his head up. Seeing that this tiny human dared to disturb him, the snake sent its tail to smack her like a whip. Mira dodged this and tried to slash its head with her scythe, but the snake had just raised its head and tried to whip her with its tail again. Mira narrowly dodge it and used her scythe to push the tail away from her as she charged forward. Mira twirled her scythe and was able to smash on the tip of its nose, forcing its head and neck down. Maria was already prepared to jump and when Mira was about to hit the snake on the nose as she prepared her Triple Draws and Light Blade at the same time. When Mira forced the snake’s head down, Maria silently dropped from the trees. The snake was pissed and started to lift its head. It then sent its tail to hit Mira from the side and Mira didn’t have time to dodge.

*BAM*

Mira got hit in the side of the ribs and flew through the air and at the same time Maria had already cut into the snake’s head. She made it all the way to the bone and crack the spinal cord, but the snake was still alive.

“Mira!” Maria started to panic. She felt like the snake was still alive, but Mira was clearly in bad shape taking a direct hit like that. She hesitated and almost started running towards Mira until she heard a voice that was barely able to get the words out.

“Kill the damn beast first you dumbass!” Mira said and was going in and out of consciousness.

Maria started letting out tears but did as she said. She mustered up the last bit of strength she had and hit the spot on the bone that was starting to crack. She decapitated the snake, but the snake had already sent its tail to attack her and the remaining momentum hit Maria and sent her flying. Maria dropped to the ground without any energy left. She had used every last bit of it in that last attack and could barely move her body especially after getting hit.

Maria had to wait a couple of minutes before she was able to get a Rank 1 Rejuvenation Pill out of her Spatial Ring and pop it into her mouth. Her injuries weren’t life-threatening. She had some cracked ribs and was bruised all over, but would still live. She was just out of energy.

After around 10 minutes she had enough energy to stand and walk over to Mira. Mira was extremely pale and her breathing was ragged. Blood was also coming out of her mouth every so often. Her chest was caved in and it looked like a lot of bones were either broken or fractured.

Maria dropped to her knees and started shaking. She didn’t know what to do. Tears were overflowing out of her eyes.

“Fucking… Save… MEEE!!!” Mira couldn’t even open her eyes and was just barely able to mutter this out.

Maria took out one of her Rank 2 Rejuvenation and Blood Restoration pills and forced them into Mira’s mouth. Mira unconsciously gulped them down and they immediately began healing her. Mira soon healed enough that she was able to whisper to Maria.

“If there are any bones that are out of place, put them back in place so they can heal properly. If what you gave me was a Rank 2 pill then it should be able to heal my ribs and internal bleeding. After I begin healing, collect the corpse, look around the tree to see if the snake was keeping anything. Then take me somewhere safe.” Mira barely muttered then fainted.

Maria was shaking uncontrollably. She looked at Mira’s right arm, which was bent in a way that an arm isn’t supposed to bend. She could also partially see the bone protruding through the skin. She grabbed her arm with shaky hands and tried to force the bone back to the way it was. She started wailing as she did this. She could hear the bones cracking as she shoved the bone back into her arm and pushed it back in place. It took 20 minutes for the arm to heal enough that it wasn’t able to move out of place again.

Maria took out the bandages and began wrapping pretty much Mira’s entire body. Mira was covered in blood, but the bleeding seemed to stop. Maria just stared at Mira’s body that was new dyed red.

“I’m so sorry! This wouldn’t have happened if not for me! Dammit!!! Why did I even use you as bait!? You are weaker than me! How did I not think of this happening?! This is all my fault! Please come back to me!! I’m sorry!!” Maria started screaming.

She kept repeating this as she finished wrapping Mira’s body in bandages. She continued doing as Mira instructed and went over to the snake, she stored the corpse and began searching around the tree. She found a small hole at the base of the tree with a blue and red flower in it. She had no idea what it was, and it seemed like it hasn’t fully grown yet. It isn’t a Rank 2 flower but isn’t a Rank 1 either. This must be why the snake was hiding it. He was waiting for it to grow. Maria thought. She didn’t pluck the flow but dug it up. Making sure to keep the roots and everything intact.

Once that was all done, she went to Mira and lightly picked her up, and ran off to find a cave to hide in and treat to let her heal. It took her several hours of running to find a suitable cave. She found a small cave surrounded by thick trees. It was barely big enough for the two of them. Maria placed Mira inside the cave and began to try and hide it as best as she could. After a couple of hours, unless someone knew there was a cave here, nobody would find it. Maria nodded and went inside the cave. Mira was still unconscious.

“I don’t think Mira will wake up for a while. Her body was so badly hurt that even the Rank 2 pill had to use most of its energy just to heal the worst wounds. Pills aren’t God and I can’t just keep shoving pills in her mouth. What do I do now?”