"Finally, got you!"
"Hah… That’s… a relief…"
Somehow, I dodged it.
I barely managed to avoid the beast’s attack aimed at my heart, sparing myself a fatal wound.
But I’d only avoided instant death.
In this state, I wouldn’t be able to move much.
Yu Siwoo glanced at his side.
Maybe because he’d given his shirt to Arte? The wound, now exposed, was clearly visible.
Blood gushed from the jagged tear left by sharp fangs.
Staring at the bright red, a silly thought crossed his mind: So this is what my insides look like.
"Your new friend must be hungry too… You two seemed close…!"
"…"
"You don’t have to answer! Grrr… I’ll… kill you…! If I kill you, she’ll be sad!"
Her voice was completely different from when they first met.
Had even her vocal cords been replaced by the beast’s?
She still seemed to retain some sanity, but… it was only a matter of time before she fully transformed. When that happened, she might actually be easier to deal with.
But such assumptions were meaningless now.
Because I… had no way left to resist.
"DIE!"
He’d promised Arte he’d come back.
Had he overestimated himself?
Yu Siwoo stared at the swinging arm, sighed deeply, and closed his eyes.
There was no way to dodge it anymore.
…But then, a sudden sensation jolted him, and he rolled to the side.
Only then could he barely evade the arm’s twisted trajectory.
"?!"
Thud.
As if swatted by a child’s playful hand, the girl was sent flying in an instant.
She probably didn’t feel a thing.
But the girl—or rather, the monster wearing her face—was helplessly thrown back.
Was it because she was caught off guard by the sudden turn of events?
Leaving the girl tumbling far away, Amelia appeared before him, a white orb attached to her waist.
"Amelia taxi has arrived!"
"You said it was a bus?"
"Just go with it!"
Only three of them?
It was a slightly underwhelming entrance, but Yu Siwoo couldn’t help feeling relieved to see their faces.
"You’re here."
"Y-You held on… wow."
"A-Are you okay?!"
"I’m fine."
He forced out the words to reassure them, but…
It didn’t seem to work.
Well, of course.
Even he could tell the wound was serious.
His head was starting to spin, and if he lost any more blood, he might actually pass out.
With no choice, Yu Siwoo admitted he was struggling.
"…Sorry, I’m actually… having a hard time. I boasted I could hold on, but… this is embarrassing."
"Now’s not the time for that?! U-um, what do we do? Emergency treatment… no, but the wound’s too severe… I-I’ll go get someone who can heal you right now!"
Amelia, flustered and unsure, suddenly vanished from sight.
She must’ve gone to fetch someone.
She’d be back soon.
Relieved by the thought, he let out a sigh—only for Arte to approach with a bright expression, which then froze in an instant.
She must have seen my wound.
Arte rushed over, and the moment she saw my injury, her expression rapidly darkened.
…Hmm, she’s probably thinking something weird again.
Does she think this is her fault too?
I need to reassure her that I’m fine…
"I’m okay, so don’t worry—"
"It must hurt a lot. Please endure it. I’m sorry there’s no anesthetic."
"What? W-wait, why is your hand—?! Nnngh?!"
Before I could even question what Arte was talking about, I realized something.
If I stayed here, I’d end up in unbearable pain.
So I should get out of here.
But my wound was too deep, and I couldn’t move properly while Arte held me down. Before I knew it, the thread she’d extracted pierced through my injury.
"Nnngh…!"
"…I’m sorry. But if we leave it like this, you might die before getting treatment. Please forgive me."
"Nngh—!"
Maybe to keep me from biting my tongue in agony,
she should’ve stuffed a cloth in my mouth. But perhaps she needed her clothes for combat.
Arte, looking truly apologetic, brought her own arm to my mouth.
But Yu Siwoo pushed her arm away and quickly tore a piece of his pants to bite down on instead.
No matter how much it hurt, he couldn’t bear to hurt Arte.
Just as the sensation of the thread weaving through his flesh—especially the freshly wounded area—threatened to make him lose consciousness,
Yu Siwoo felt the warmth of the girl embracing him.
"Are you okay?"
"…Yeah, thanks. But how did you do this?"
"Ah, don’t touch it. It’s dangerous."
Once the pain completely subsided, Yu Siwoo looked at his side and gasped in amazement.
A thin, white thread had settled into place as if it had always been there.
"Medical sutures use thread too. It’s similar. Consider it first aid."
"…Really? That’s incredible. It looks seamless."
"I stopped the bleeding and made sure it wouldn’t reopen if you move a little… But there’s still a risk of infection, so leaving it in for too long isn’t good."
Arte fretfully urged him to get proper healing soon.
It was better than bleeding to death, but the threat of infection made it far from an ideal solution.
Yu Siwoo nodded at Arte’s words and looked ahead.
The beast had returned once more, glaring at Arte.
"Grr, you—!"
"So it was you. How dare you hurt Siwoo."
But Arte’s gaze was just as icy.
This was the first time he’d ever seen her this furious—her expression was terrifying enough to make him shiver, even though he knew her anger wasn’t directed at him.
As he watched her, he thought to himself: If we were dating, I’d have to be extra careful never to make her this mad. Am I even sane for thinking that right now?
"Dorothy, please."
"A-ah, y-yes…!"
Startled by the sudden call, Dorothy mumbled something before nodding.
"Done!"
Arte didn’t respond.
He had no idea where she’d gotten it, but she was now wearing unfamiliar, modest clothing. She loosened the thread slightly and closed the distance to the beast in an instant.
"Your attacks won’t work on me. Didn’t you—*cough*?!"
"Not now."
Had he been so confident that he couldn’t be harmed?
Before Arte could even reach him, the mocking bastard’s neck was sliced clean off in an instant.
"I’d love to take my time torturing you, but we’re out of—"
"Arte, dodge!"
"?!"
"KIIIIIIIIIIAHHH!"
I shouted to snap Arte back to her senses.
Fortunately, she handled the unexpected crisis well.
The moment she heard my voice, she unleashed her threads around her like a protective wall, and the arm swinging toward her was shredded in an instant.
"...You’re still alive? How?!"
Arte gasped in shock.
She had definitely severed his neck in one clean stroke.
Arte hadn’t let her guard down for a second—she had sliced through that throat without hesitation.
But it didn’t work on that monster.
As if losing its head wasn’t enough to kill it, the creature roared with a face that had twisted into some unidentifiable beast’s.
"The heart! Aim for the heart!"
"KRAAAAAAAAHHH!"
I broadcast its weakness to everyone.
No proof. But I knew.
"If we rip that furnace out of it, it’ll die! I’m sure of it!"
Even with its head cut off, it wouldn’t stop.
The only way to end this was to tear out its heart.
But had it realized, even with its lowered intelligence, that we were going for the heart?
Before we knew it, its severed limbs had regenerated, and it began spewing every ability it had while slowly retreating.
"...Damn it, we can’t get close!"
Arte fired her threads repeatedly to pierce its heart, but each time, they were blocked.
Either the monster’s arms regenerated too quickly for the damage to matter, or another ability intercepted them.
At this rate, it might escape.
"We have to take it down now! Who knows what other abilities it’ll pull out next!"
All those powers came from the furnace.
If we let it get away, there was no telling what new abilities it might bring back.
And we still weren’t used to using our own abilities yet.
This was our best chance to finish it off.
As Siwoo racked his brain for a way to take down the monster, a thought struck him like lightning.
"...Dorothy. Use your ability on me."
"Huh? What are you planning to do?!"
"I’m walking right in."
"In *there*?!"
Dorothy stared at me like she’d misheard.
As if asking if I’d really just said I was going to stroll into that storm of abilities.
But I nodded.
My instincts were screaming that there was no other way.
This was the only way to end it all.
This was the way to force a happy ending.
...This was the way to eliminate the most glaring obstacle, they whispered.
My instincts told me so.
"...This is the perfect solution. Trust me."
"Nngh, nngh..."
I knew it looked like suicide at first glance.
That’s why I waited for Dorothy to think it over...
And it didn’t take long for her to give me an answer.