I wasn’t all that close to the fire yet I could still feel its heat. The air turned warm and smoke filled my vision, not long after the flames ran over Veldor.

I screamed out with every emotion I had felt at the time and released them all at once in one sound.

As my voice reached its height and my burning eyes stretched open, a flicker of red filled my peripheral. A powerful gold and red flame shot out from over my shoulder and coursed through the air around me.

I bathed in the passing flames that ran over my skin, taking in the warm sensation.

I looked down at my hands and noticed the scratches and bruises on my body lift and all the fatigue I had felt before fell away. It was a familiar feeling I couldn't forget, it hadn’t been that long since I felt its grace before.

{User’s health and mana have been fully restored due to the effects of Queens Roar}

My eyes followed the fire’s origin and led back to Alice.

On her knees and with her arms stiff as boards at her sides, she yelled out against the warrior in scales. A stream of scarlet and gold flowed out from her scream in a messy tangle of colours.

Her flames collided with his and caused a struggle, it pushed the black flames off of Veldor and ate away at its mass until only gold and red remained.

As the scarlet flames hit the warrior, he raised his hand to guard against it and took the attack directly. There was barely a sign of restraint, in fact, he seemed to court it.

Amongst her flames of healing light was Veldor, he was still unconscious but the large amounts of burns on his face and body disappeared in seconds.

His clothes and armour were torn into rags and chunks, so much so that it was a miracle that he was alive at all.

The black-scaled warrior cast his arm to the side and dispersed Alice’s flames with ease. As the last flake of embers fell from her lips, she collapsed forward.

{Passive Bonuses have been cancelled}

“Oh no—Alice!” I snapped around.

Before she could hit the ground, I caught her in my arms. I supported my hands gently under her head and laid her on the ground. She was covered in cold sweat with a pale face to pile on.

Using a second blast of the Queen's Roar in less than a day…I was surprised she was still in one piece.

“The real Queen of Dragons packed a much fiercer roar than that pathetic sound. I suppose this little one must be bad blood. Consuming her will be much easier than I thought.” The warrior grinned.

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He just said consume…is he planning to eat Alice?!

The warrior approached us and took a step forward. Just the sound of his solid greave hitting the ground set off alarms in my head and drove my body into panic mode.

I shifted my back to Alice and faced the warrior, I held out my hands and positioned myself over her. I looked like a shield, one made to protect her at all costs.

I was prepared to stay there and do so. My eye drifted as the warrior took his second step and I noticed the human body unconscious only a few steps away from him.

“…Veldor’s still out there,” I muttered.

I looked back once more over my shoulder at Alice. If I took her and ran then Veldor would have died before we could have left the room.

On the other hand…

I knew that if I rushed in…there was no guarantee I could get to him in time, which put them both at risk.

“Even if I didn’t want to save his ass…my body doesn’t seem to let me go along with that plan.”

A bead of sweat rolled down my cheek and as it left the corner of my jaw and dropped to the floor, I launched forward.

Both my Chakram were on opposite sides of the room, so I couldn’t rely on them. I did have my mana back but against him, I was useless. That left me with no choice. No options.

Without any options, what did I have to lose from trying everything?

I rushed to his left and burst forward with a full tank of energy at my disposal. As I closed the gap he stopped walking and stood at the centre of the room with no defence.

I ran up the wall and gained some height. My feet felt like they stuck to the wall with each step as I raced up the flat surface of the room wall.

At the top of the room, I extended my hand out and shouted my first attack. “Munch!” As I called my first skill, a blue ball of mana appeared in front of me and took the shape of a Lockjaw.

I flexed my hand slightly and the attack was launched, which sent the lockjaw directly at the warrior's shoulder. The powerful bite strength of the Lockjaw was put to the test as it clamped down on his shoulder and squeezed down on him like a bear trap.

He didn’t even dodge out of the way? That isn't just ego, he did the same thing against Veldor earlier. This guy doesn’t see me as a threat…I’m an ant to him!

The Lockjaw I created didn’t cause any damage, I waited for a sign of pain on his face—even a flinch—but it remained unsullied. His bare expression of loath rose to the top of the room where I made my descent over him.

I tried it because I thought I might be able to weaken his defence a little …this guy’s seriously out of my league.

The health bar appeared over his head as my body dropped from the wall. My small flicker of hope had been snuffed out by Uriel’s reminder of the monster I was up against.

{?**!#^ Lv:?????}

Just below that scatter of pixelated mess were three health bars that wrapped over his chest like large halos.

It was my first time seeing an enemy with more than one health bar but for there to be three, I wasn’t sure what to think.

I fell from the air and approached the ground, more specifically I neared that monster.

“I don’t want to play with weaklings.” The black-scaled warrior snapped.

The subtle tone of anger in his expression exploded into a raging frustration that brought about a massive problem for me.

I was about a meter from landing on him when he extended his arms out to his side. The claws at the end of his gauntlets suddenly became much more apparent to me and their sharp shape.

He slashed at the air from both sides and aimed to tear through me in one go.

Large ravenous claws came into my line of sight and my heartbeat went silent. It became too fast for me to hear anymore.

My lips moved quickly as the fear of being torn to shreds sunk in and formed the next skill on my roster.

“—Shadow Step.”