Stone shrieked against nail, sparks spitting; the boulder’s own momentum crushed Nina’s strength, and in one breath it slammed her.
The boulder bulldozed her, flinging Nina a dozen meters; along its path, the ground wore a blood-red brushstroke that chilled the eye.
Rafi’s mind reeled, heart pinched like a thorn; her first glance found Nina under the boulder, and pain bloomed in Rafi’s chest.
She scrambled up like a foal through mud, then sprinted toward Nina, breath ragged as wind through reeds.
She reached Nina and saw half her body pinned under stone; Nina’s face was a storm of pain.
“Nina! Nina!”
Rafi called her name, voice trembling like a taut string; Nina didn’t respond, either deafened by pain or drained past hearing.
Resolve surged first, hot as iron; Rafi gripped the boulder’s underside, poured all her strength and mana into her hands, trying to heave it.
For some cursed reason, a stone she’d lift with ease now weighed like a mountain, stubborn and old.
“Move… damn… it!”
She growled through clenched teeth, but unlike anime heroes, shouting didn’t conjure power; the boulder sat, cold and unmoved.
“Stop wasting effort, girl.”
A voice dripped from above like resin; Rafi snapped her gaze up at the Forest King on the stone. He basked, ignoring her anger.
“Girl, I threw this rock myself. It’s not your street-corner kind. No one but me can lift it.”
“So you can lift it, right?” Rafi raised her longbow toward him. “You’ve got three seconds. Raise the stone.”
The Forest King blinked, amused like a cat; even now she didn’t grasp the scene? Naive, or just foolish?
“Put down the bow. Be the broodmother for a few of my boys in the woods, and I’ll agree.”
“Three!”
“Not willing? Then trade me your Demon King’s weakness. You lose nothing—swap one life for two. Big profit.”
“Two!!”
“Sigh… not even that? So many nos. How about your life for Nina’s?”
“One! Finisher—Meteor Streak!”
An arrow had settled on the string without a sound; it leapt like a meteor, whoosh, at the Forest King at arm’s length.
Playfulness vanished; he felt a strange force wrap the arrow, a power sharp enough to wound him.
He reached out and caught the shaft. The flying arrow stopped—yet shallow cuts opened along his arm like cat scratches.
Seeing blood, Rafi nocked again, hope flaring like a match.
“Meteor Streak!”
A move she could use once a month burned again; the price bit deep. Her drawing arm split with savage backlash.
Before he accepted the pain, another arrow punched through his chest, a twin star falling.
“Meteor Streak!”
Her soft voice rang like a bell; Rafi braced the bow between branches, drew with one hand, and fired.
By now both hands were near ruin; three arrows in, the Forest King staggered, power shedding like autumn leaves.
But!
“Not enough!!!”
She rolled onto her back, twisted, and hooked the string with both feet, launching Meteor Streak again.
Hands gone, feet gone—she still had a mouth. She dragged herself to the string, bit down hard, drew, and loosed.
This time the price wasn’t just a torn mouth, but the edge of a life.
The recoil surged from her teeth into her brain, that soft lantern of life; the shot fired, and she was hurled away.
Before the dark closed, Rafi forced a last glance at Nina pinned under stone; her heart tightened like a drawn bow.
I still didn’t save Nina. Let that guy show up at the end. At least save Nina…
The final arrow carried two wills, sliced air like a leopard on the pounce, and howled toward the kneeling Forest King.
He was on one knee, breath ragged, one good hit away from death.
He watched the arrow hang a fingertip from his brow; a smile crept up—pure disdain, the kind that mocks the sky.
“Hahahahaha!”
A body that should’ve been weak rose like a spring; the arrow drilled into his chest.
Moments ago, arrows pierced flesh like paper. This strongest shot came from Rafi—yet it struck something hard. Crack—the shaft snapped in two.
The Forest King brushed his chest as if dusting ash. Good thing Rafi had fainted, or despair would’ve swallowed her.
“Ants can kill an elephant, sure. Unfortunately for you, I’m a dragon~”
He picked up the snapped arrow and toyed with it, fingers spinning lazily like vines.
“Tch. Petty tricks. Good for a cheap shot. In the end I unraveled them with ease.”
He strolled to Rafi’s side, raised the broken arrow, and pronounced her sentence, slow as falling dusk.
“Kid, next life, don’t binge so much manga. Soloing a boss at level one isn’t real. This world bows to power.”
He finished speaking. The arrowhead slipped from his palm and fell straight down, like a cold star.
