Seeing Jake had gotten out of hand, Salas quickly decided to end his nonsense. She turned her back on the monster and darted off to the frenzied novice.

Witnessing its prey left her back exposed and defenseless, the Jade Eyes Jaguar ran towards her to strike her down with critical attack.

A race between Salas and the Jaguar ended as abruptly as when it began, Salas won by reaching her two companion first and gave Jake a good punch in the face, sending him flying, away from Nila.

Salas didn't waste time waiting to see Jake safely landing.

She swiftly turned back to face the Jaguar, who had already jumped high towards her and was milliseconds away from pinning her down with its weight and biting her neck with its gaping maw.

Salas didn't flinch nor taken by surprise. With few milliseconds she had, she motioned her wrist and moved her arm to position her spear as a beat stick, then she swung it diagonally upwards, intending to give the cat an uppercuts and closed its mouth shut.

The Jaguar, unable to dodge in midair, veered its gaping maw from its prey's neck to the fast approaching metal pole, intending to catch the attack.

But when its fangs and the pole met, The Jade Eyes Jaguar was thrown backwards by the attack's sheer impact.

The Jaguar bounced off the ground a few times before stopped by the tree it hit.

Salas, yet again, didn't waste time waiting for the monster to safely land. She immediately giving a chase after the strike and jumped at the staggered cat while pointing the spearhead to its neck.

The Jade Eyes Jaguar, understanding its prey executing a critical strike, gave all its strength to evade.

Salas's thrusted spear stabbing an empty ground. She quickly linked her failed attack with her next one; she used the spear as a pole to jump midair, chasing the monster.

The Jade Eyes Jaguar, realizing the prey and predator's role had swapped, fled and ran into the deeper part of the forest.

Salas landed as the monster vanished between the bushes and trees. Seeing the threat was gone, she quickly turned around and sprinted towards Nila who helplessly laying in the puddle of her own blood.

She strapped her spear back before taking the girl and holding her in her hands, "Don't die on me, Nila." She said as she rummaged her waist bag and took out a potion. She opened the girls mouth and poured the liquid down her throat. The girl choked as her body faintly glowed.

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Salas didn't waste time waiting to find out if the potion took effect. She princess-carried Nila with one hand, then darted off to pick up the unconscious Jake and trash bag-carried him with the other hand.

She sprinted off northwards, her speed grew higher with every second.

At some point mid-run, Jake was awoken.

"Ugh, my jaw. Why my face is so hurt. Wa-wait! What the?! Hey!! What are you doing carrying me like this!! Wha-what happened to Nila?!" Jake threw a barrage of questions, but his attention and concern was stolen when he saw his childhood friend laying unconscious in Salas's arm.

"Do you remember you stabbed a monster?" Salas asked, still running. She didn't pay Jake a look let alone a glance.

"Huh? Oh... Yeah. Yeah I did defeat the monster!"

"Well, no. You didn't. The one you stabbed is Nila."

"What? What kind of nonsense are you spouting about?"

"You stabbed Nila, Jake." Salas said, anger in her voice.

"No I didn't !! Now tell me what happened to her!!" Jake tried to wrestled his way out of Salas's hold. He punched and kicked her in any manner possible to make her stopped running and took his question seriously.

After a few second of struggle, Salas did stop.

Jake thought he was winning, so he grinned. Only to be roughly thrown by Salas to the ground. As he was about to yell at her, he realized they had stopped in front of another hunters party.

"Hi, Gita!" Salas cheerfully greeted a huntress who leisurely sat while leaning to a tree. There is relief in her voice.

"Oh, Hi Salas. Throw me the kid, will you?" She greeted back.

Salas complied and threw Nila at her, which was skillfully caught by the woman.

"Hey!!!" Jake yelled seeing his friend getting treated like a mere bag.

"Where is the wound?" Gita asked while flipping Nila around.

"In her back, it was a stab wound." Salas informed her.

"...There is no wound" Gita tilted her head seeing Nila's smooth back, her clothes were ripped and colored red, but there is no gaping wound on the girl's back.

"Yeah, I gave her potion as first aid." Salas supplied.

"Then why the hell do you bring her here? She is already as good as new." Gita confusedly looked at her.

"Really? There is nothing more you can do? Maybe throw the girl a spell or two?"

"Well I can if you want to, but it is not necessary, really. I mean, the girl's HP is already over fifty percent and still improving."

"Yes, please. Give her one spell, at least. For the peace of my mind." Salas folded her arms.

"Okay then." Gita gave in, she held Nila's back and chanted, " [HEAL] ".

Nila was wrapped in beautiful blue light. The girl opened her eyes a moment later. She looked around, taking in every faces in the place before she looked back at Salas.

Nila got herself out of the healer's embrace and slowly stood up, "Are we safe?" She asked, Salas nodded in turn. "and the monster?" the girl continued.

"Gone." Salas answered.

"Hey!! What the hell happening here!! You tell me now, witch!!" Jake yelled at Salas. He angrily walked to her and aggressively stomped the ground with every steps. His march was stopped by another hunter that was standing beside the healer.

"Hi Brad." Salas threw a nod to the man.

"You cool your head first, kid. And don't yell, we are still in the forest." Brad cautioned Jake, ignoring Salas.

"She harmed us! She- She!! I don't know exactly what she did but she is the one who hurt us!" Jake throwing blames at the woman.

Gita, Brad, Nila, and the other two hunter looked at her.

She shrugged, and nonchalantly told them what happened.

"That's a lie! There is no way I will stab my own girlfriend in the back!!" Jake refused Salas's story.

The rest of the hunter looked at him in disbelief. Seeing the senior hunters wouldn't side with him, he looked at Nila and demanded her support, "Nila, you saw it yourself right? I stabbed the monster, not you."

But the girl he thought would side with him quickly hid behind the woman he hated instead, and looked at him with fear.

"I-I didn't !..." Jake went silent, realization slowly sunk in to his head, "...Did I?"

"Jade Eyes Jaguar can use mind magic, kid. What you saw was illusion, and what you really stabbed was your friend." A hunter who sat on the branch of the tree told him.

Jake stopped arguing, his head was hung down, his gaze landed on the sword at his waist, then he fell to his knees. "What have I done." He covered his face with both hands, tears flowing from the gaps of his fingers.

Gita stood up and clapped her hands, "Now now, why don't you three take a break here with us. I doubt you already ate lunch, right? We still have some leftover." She put her hand on Jake's shoulder and led her to sit above nearby tree.