"RUN!"
A childish voice screamed, alerting his companions as a huge shadow appeared from a cover of shrubs in front. This shadow, a beast over half a meter tall, had an appearance resembling that of a rat, only it was way bigger, with finger-long fangs protruding from its mouth. Upon sighting the Happy Meals delivered to its doorstep, the beast lunged in pursuit.
"Yun Jie, I thought you said there were no ranked demon beasts in this area of the forest!" Yun Yue complained amidst hushed breaths as she struggled to keep up, her little legs barely leaving footprints on the ground.
Yun Jie was almost brought to tears; he regretted tagging along to the Black Stone Forest. "It's all his fault. I shouldn't have listened to him." He gritted his teeth as the cause of their current predicament settled in.
By this time, the beast was closing in fast and would catch up to them at any moment.
"There's no point running anymore!" Yun Jie shouted, skidding to a halt as twigs snapped under his foot. His chest heaved, heart slamming against his ribs like a war drum.
Yun Yue blinked, stumbling to a stop just beside him. "W-What?"
"We fight! It's just a low-level Mortal-ranked beast. We should be able to handle it," he growled, turning to face the charging Wild Ash Rat with trembling hands and a pounding skull. Inside, he was already cursing Yun Kai's ancestors three generations deep. 'That blind idiot!'
Yun Kai—always Yun Kai.
The 'him' in question? A prince who was blind right from birth and was supposed to live a quiet, pampered life behind the palace walls. But no, not him. Instead of leading a carefree life of worry, he was always one to seek out trouble at the slightest chance. He derived joy from being free and unfettered despite his circumstances.
"Oh, let's explore the outer rim of Black Stone Forest," Yun Jie muttered bitterly under his breath, mimicking his brother's casual drawl. "No ranked demon beasts live there, I promise."
Now what happened?...
Yun Yue stood beside him with a sword clutched in both hands, her small frame shaking like a leaf in the wind. Her knuckles had turned white, and her eyes were wide with fear. But still, she stood.
The Wild Ash Rat burst through the underbrush like a boulder shot from a catapult. Its greasy gray fur bristled, its red eyes glowing with bloodlust—fangs like daggers, claws like sickles.
It lunged for them.
With a screech, it swiped first at Yun Jie. He ducked back by instinct, but its claws grazed the air inches from his throat. It wheeled mid-lunge, turning its attention to the easier prey—Yun Yue.
"No!" Yun Jie cried out, voice cracking.
But it was too late.
The rat-beast struck with a swipe of its claws. Yun Yue panicked and barely got her sword up in time. Metal met claw with a shriek that pierced the forest air, and she was sent flying. Her small frame slammed into the trunk of a tree and dropped like a rag doll, her blade clattering from her grasp.
The beast didn't wait. It lunged, immediately pouncing to finish her off,
Yun Jie didn't think; he just moved. With a roar of desperation, he shot forward with his sword raised high, its edge catching the moonlight as it cut through the air. He aimed straight for the beast's ribs, driving all his weight behind the blow.
Steel sank into flesh, piercing only an inch through the beast's skin as Yun Jie lacked the strength to drive it further.
'An inch—only an inch!' The thought sent chills running down his spine.
The rat shrieked in fury, its shrill cry echoing through the trees like a banshee's wail. But Yun Jie's arms were already failing, strength bleeding from his muscles like air from a pierced lung. He couldn't push the blade deeper.
The beast retaliated.
Its claw lashed out, slashing across Yun Jie's chest, shredding his royal robes like paper. Blood welled instantly, staining the silver embroidery with streaks of red. The blow hurled him back, tumbling him across the dirt.
"Jie-ge!" Yun Yue's scream split the air. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she scrambled toward him, crawling on all fours, heedless of her pain. Her tiny fingers dug into the dirt as she sobbed. "This is all his fault! That stupid, danger-trill-obsessed brother of ours!"
The beast turned toward them again, eyes glowing brighter now, breath steaming from its snout in thick bursts.
Yun Jie tried to stand.
Pain tore through his chest as he pushed himself up on shaking arms. His royal robe was shredded, one side soaked in blood, and his vision swam with dizziness. But when he saw the beast lowering its head toward Yun Yue, something snapped inside him.
Not fear. Rage.
"Get… away from her!" he snarled.
The Wild Ash Rat lunged again, a gray blur of claws and teeth. Yun Jie barely managed to raise his sword, parrying the beast's pounce just enough to redirect its bite. The two collided, boy... no, man and monster, and rolled across the dirt in a flurry of fur, limbs, and steel.
Yun Yue screamed again, but this time, not in helplessness.
In fury.
Her small fingers curled around the hilt of her fallen sword. With a cry that cracked the forest air, she hurled herself forward, ignoring the trembling in her legs and the ache in her back.
She slashed.
The blade cut across the rat's flank, making a shallow cut but enough to earn a howl of pain. The beast twisted around with a bloodied snarl, catching her mid-swing with a backhand swipe. Her sword flew from her grasp a second time, but she managed to dive aside, rolling through dead leaves as claws raked the space where she'd just been.
Yun Jie took advantage of the opening.
Sword reversed in his grip; he stabbed downward with both hands and all the weight he had left. The tip of his blade found the wound he'd made earlier and sank another inch deeper into the rat's ribs. The beast screeched—this time in genuine pain.
Yun Jie pressed harder, howling with effort.
But the beast bucked like a wild stallion. It spun and slammed its head into his shoulder. The impact sent him reeling, the sword yanked from his grip, still embedded halfway into the monster's side.
He crashed against a rock, dazed. Stars burst behind his eyes.
"Jie-ge!" Yun Yue shrieked again. She was limping, clutching her side where a bruise was blooming, but still, she ran to him.
The Wild Ash Rat didn't wait. It yanked the sword free with a twitch of muscle, the blade clattering to the ground. Its eyes locked on Yun Jie as it began to stalk forward, fangs gleaming.
But then it froze. Its hairs stood on end like iron fillings caught in the sudden, invisible field of a powerful magnet.
A shrill whistle echoed through the forest, not from a bird or the wind.
It was… metal?
From the treetops, a small throwing knife spun through the air like a silver phantom, silent and sudden. It struck the rat square in the eye.
The beast shrieked in agony, flailing and clawing at its own face as black blood gushed down its snout. It stumbled backward, crashing into a tree, then tore off into the forest, vanishing as suddenly as it had come.
Yun Yue dropped to her knees beside Yun Jie, panting hard with her eyes wide. "Jie-ge… a-are you…?"
He winced, then laughed weakly. "Still breathing... somehow."
She hugged him tightly, sobbing into his shoulder.
He winced again but said nothing. His eyes were scanning the trees now. That knife hadn't come from the heavens. Someone had thrown it.
"Who's there?" he croaked.
Silence.
Then, a voice sounded, faint and maddeningly familiar.
"Oh, good. You're not dead. That would've ruined the whole trip."
A figure stepped from the shadows barefoot, loose robes fluttering like smoke, and a black blindfold covering his eyes.
"Yun Kai"
The idiot had finally arrived.