I watched as the Pawsnap crept toward . Elira’s voice faded into nothing, and the world shifted into a golden hue. Everything around turned to gold: trees, ground, even my own hands. I tried to shake off the shimr crawling up my fingers, but I couldn’t feel them anymore. It was as if I had been suspended in another realm, and this beast was its master.
"Piss off!" I shouted, forcing my fingers to drop the needles and manifest {Surgeon’s Scalpel}. The mont the blade ford, I felt unstoppable, as though this weapon in my grasp made invincible.
But my body betrayed . I froze, rooted to the spot, unable to move a single step closer. The scalpel trembled in my hand, inches from its forehead, and yet... I couldn’t pierce it.
"Just... a little... more! Co on!" I thrashed, fighting with every breath, but those golden eyes drilled into my soul. My body stiffened completely, my weapon vanished, and I felt my very essence harden. I was trapped, transford into nothing more than a golden statue.
I didn’t want to die, but it felt like I had already lost this battle... Why? Why did fate hate ? The thought echoed, sour and bitter, eating at .
"No matter what you see next, don’t panic. Believe in your own judgnt."
Elira’s voice rang inside my head, the words she’d spoken earlier repeating again and again. But what did she an? Even now, as the world grew cold and empty, I still couldn’t understand. How could I not believe what I was seeing? How could I trust my own judgnt when everything pointed to my end?
It was silly to think those words could save . What I needed was a weapon, strength, power—the kind characters in novels and ani awakened at the last second. Why? Why wasn’t I powering up now? Was it because... I was just a side character?
Beatrice... her fate was always to die. I had only managed to run from that fate for this long. Maybe it was ti to say goodbye.
No! Keep fighting!
The voice ca from within , raw and sharp, a scream clawing out of my own heart. Damn it... I hated myself. Even back in the hospital, every ti I wanted to rest, it was the sa. That voice refused to let . It pushed up, demanded more, because others needed .
Even now...
"Believe in your own judgnt..." That voice again. But what judgnt is there? My judgnt says I’m already dead. Yes... that’s the truth, isn’t it? Do you want not to believe that? Do you want to think this isn’t reality, that it’s just an illusion? But the facts scream louder than words. I can’t see, can’t move, can’t breathe—
Wait.
If I can’t breathe, then I should already be dead. So why am I still alive? How much ti has really passed since I was turned into this statue?
Thank you... Elira. I understand now.
The golden layers began to peel away, flakes falling from like dust, light rushing back into my eyes. At the very mont the world seed darkest, her voice pulled out. I would repay that kindness soday, one way or another.
For now... my fingers moved. Free again.
The beast hadn’t struck. It only glared, those golden eyes cutting through like blades. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t about to spare it.
I manifested {Surgeon’s Scalpel}, and with every ounce of force I had left, I drove it into the space between its brows. Blood sprayed, hot and tallic, covering my face as the golden world dimd, colors draining until everything shattered like broken glass, collapsing into the dark.
"Beatrice!" I heard her voice, but my eyes were fixed on the blue sky. The stench of smoke was the first thing that dragged back to my senses. My head pounded as if soone had smashed it with a hamr. I forced myself up into a sitting position.
The beast lay dead before , my needles buried in its eyes. There was no wound on its forehead, which ant the strike I rembered had only happened inside my mind. What a terrifying creature... I thought, still dazed.
"Beatrice!" Her voice again. Only then did I notice Elira wasn’t beside . She was far off, near her house, locked in battle against several monsters: one a bat larger than a man, the other a wolf so white it looked carved from snow itself.
"Move..." I told my body, but my legs refused to listen. I was still weak, too weak to stand and help my friend. "Move, I said!"
The words burst out louder than I ant, but they triggered a response I hadn’t expected. The system. My stomach twisted as the screen appeared before my eyes.
[You have received a new quest: {Slaughter all attacking demon beasts}]
[Reward: Five combat levels. Failure will be punished by instant death. You have one hour to complete this quest.]
I knew it... Nothing in this world cos without a price. And now the system had chosen to beat while I was already on the ground. Great. Just perfect.
Forget safety. Forget hesitation. I had no choice but to throw myself at an impossible task.
My legs suddenly felt lighter, and I pushed up so fast it almost looked like a power-up. But I knew that it was just adrenaline burning through . And when it ran out, I’d collapse face-first into the dirt.
I summoned the needles from the beast’s eyes and coiled them around my hands, spinning them in circles like a whirring machine gun. At the sa ti, I summoned my {Surgeon’s Scalpel}, controlling it purely by instinct. My fingers didn’t even touch it. I knew its power would be weaker this way, but it didn’t matter.
I used {Shadow Step}, vanishing and reappearing beside the massive bat. Elira sensed it too, channeling every drop of strength into her own attack. Bloody wind surged around the white wolf, wrapping it in crimson currents that shredded its flesh apart, tearing it into minced at.
While the bat faltered under her storm, my needles struck, sinking deep into its body. It scread and plumted, and before it could rise again, I drove my scalpel across its neck in a clean, ruthless arc. Its head hit the ground with a dull thud.
My eyes burned with fury. I was ready to kill until my body gave out.
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