“We need to run! They have the drop on us, and we don’t know how many there are. If we get surrounded, we’re dead!”

Elara tugged on Anthony’s arm, urging the young man to follow her, but he stood firm, a look of determination spreading across his face.

“No! I won’t leave Pom behind!”

Elara clenched her teeth in frustration. Instead of arguing, she twirled a finger in the air, a glimmer of magic dancing across the space in front of her. A moment later, a flood of dark smoke billowed out from her spell.

“Now! That won’t last long!”

Anthony rolled forward, sliding his arms under Pom's body and lifting the dying girl off the ground. He quickly followed Elara as they raced through the forest.

Tears ran down Pom's face as she struggled to breathe, her eyes staring up at Anthony in desperation while her fingers scrambled to pull at the cord around her neck.

“This way!”

Anthony called for Elara to follow him as he led them out of the trees and into a maze-like area of large boulders. The rocks were clustered close together, forming narrow alleys that crisscrossed a large portion of the mountainside.

He knew this place well, having spent many warm days exploring it as a child. He led Elara through a few twists and turns before slipping through a narrow opening and stopping inside a well-hidden, enclosed space.

Carefully laying Pom on the ground, he noticed the young girl’s desperate struggle to pull something out from under her clothing. Too weak from blood loss, she couldn’t manage it on her own.

Anthony quickly pulled the thread around her neck, revealing a small leather pouch. Inside was a tiny vial of glowing orange liquid. Pom’s bloody fingers weakly reached for it, while Anthony removed the stopper before pushing the vial into her hand.

At the entrance to the hidden area, Elara kept watch for their pursuers. When she glanced back and saw the orange glow of the vial, her eyes widened. She mumbled a hushed, “No way…”, as her gaze locked onto the item.

Anthony had to hold Pom’s trembling hands steady as he guided the vial to her lips. He worried she wouldn’t be able to swallow, but the orange liquid vanished the moment it touched her tongue.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Anthony, kneeling beside her, held the back of Pom’s head with one hand. Then he began to feel a sticky sensation spreading through the fingers that held the girl up.

Over the next ten seconds, Pom’s body turned a shiny pink as her flesh liquefied, oozing through Anthony’s fingers. Panicking, he pulled his hand back and stared down in surprise.

“W-What is happening to her!?”

Elara’s expression shifted to one of intense fascination as she watched the transformation.

“I think… that was a legendary potion! How in the five realms did she get that? It’s worth more than this whole town!”

Pom’s fearful eyes locked onto Anthony’s as her face became the last part of her to melt. The arrows fell away from her body as she turned into a large, jelly-like pink blob.

Anthony’s eyes darted back and forth across the pink slime in front of him, a look of horror taking over on his face.

“W-What do I do!?”

Before Elara could respond, the sound of footsteps approached from nearby, followed by a flurry of arrows flying through the opening to their hiding place. The projectiles narrowly missed Elara as she pressed her body against the stone to avoid the attack.

Elara narrowed her eyes, glancing angrily toward the entrance.

“How did they find us so fast!?”

As Anthony considered her question, a taunting voice called out from the distance.

“Come on out, boy! I know you’re in there. You always hide in the same spot.”

Hearing the familiar voice of his stepfather caused Anthony’s face to go pale, then twist into an angry grimace as he shouted back.

“You bastard! How dare you do this to Pom? Why couldn’t you just let me leave in peace!?”

Another round of arrows ricocheted off the stone wall, followed by another furious shout.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“I’ll tell you why! Your dumb bitch of a mother’s will won’t let me sell the house if you’re alive! She thought she was protecting you by doing that, because she was too stupid to realize it would get you killed!”

Anthony grit his teeth so hard that his gums nearly began to bleed. Pulling his sword from its sheath, he turned to Elara with determination.

“We’re trapped. The only chance we have is to charge them at the same moment after their next shot. Make some more smoke to give us cover.”

Elara shook her head, motioning for Anthony to stop.

“Just wait. I’ll think of a pl—”

Her words faltered as her eyes went wide, staring at the ground beside Anthony. Following her gaze, Anthony saw the ball of slime slowly morphing back into the form of Pom.

Within seconds, Pom’s body had completely reformed, her skin and clothing now bearing a faint pink hue that slightly shined like a glossy surface. She stood up, picking her glasses off the ground and placing them over her eyes.

Pom winced, her expression shifting into one of deep regret. She picked up the empty vial, cradling it in her hands as streams of pink tears flowed down her cheeks.

“G-Grandpa’s inheritance… Now I’ll never figure out what the ingredients were.”

Her regret quickly turned to anger as she glared in the direction of the men who had nearly killed her. Without hesitation, she stepped toward the entrance.

Elara raised an arm to stop her, but Pom ignored the warning, striding into the open with an angry scowl.

Anthony dashed forward to grab her, but before he could, four arrows shot through the entrance, piercing Pom’s body. Instead of drawing blood, her flesh liquefied back into slime, causing the arrows to fall harmlessly to the ground.

Pom looked down at her own body with a startled expression, then stomped her foot and continued forward. Elara didn’t waste the opportunity, pulling a dagger from her waist and waving Anthony forward.

The two dashed out of the narrow rock area behind Pom, catching sight of four men spread out across the rocky terrain as they hurriedly reloaded their bows.

Elara followed closely behind Pom, heading toward the group of three on the right. Conjuring a thick cloud of smoke to fill the area, she shouted back at Anthony.

“I’ve got these three; the last one is all yours!”

Anthony gritted his teeth as his gaze locked with his stepfather's across the open area. He watched the man rush to notch his bow before a cloud of smoke from Elara’s spell obscured his vision.

The moment he was out of sight, Anthony ducked low and dashed across the area to a nearby boulder for cover, picking up a few small rocks along the way. He hurled them in the opposite direction to distract his opponent.

The distraction worked. As his stepfather aimed in the wrong direction, Anthony managed to close half the distance before being forced to duck behind another rock. Now, however, that trick wouldn’t work a second time, and he was way outside the smoke's coverage.

Anthony furrowed his brows, considering his options. His eyes fell on the leather armor from his grandfather, which he had rolled up and tied to his side after changing into the new armor Elara had bought him.

Quickly untying the old armor, he opened it up to use as a makeshift shield. Taking a few deep breaths to steel himself, Anthony dashed out from cover at full speed. He held the armor in front of him, his feet pounding the ground so hard that dust and rocks kicked up behind him.

“Die!”

His stepfather’s shout and the twang of a bowstring snapping forward reached Anthony just before the arrow did. The razor-sharp arrowhead pierced through the ragged leather armor with apparent ease, slamming into his new armor with just enough force to pierce it, the tip of the arrowhead sinking into his flesh, but remaining shallow enough to prevent the barbs from latching onto him.

“Ahh!”

Anthony cried out in pain as he ripped the arrow out without slowing down, the old armor had done its job, blunting the arrow's momentum enough for him to survive the shot. He tossed the bloody arrow and old armor aside as he charged forward. Now only a half-dozen meters away, his stepfather's sneering expression twisted into one of fearful realization as the young man approached.

The older man tried frantically to notch another arrow, but as Anthony closed the gap, he gave up, dropped the bow and drew a dagger from his waist in a desperate last attempt to defend himself.

For someone who had reached the Trainee realm, Anthony’s speed made his stepfather’s movements seem sluggish, like a child flailing against an adult. Now that the advantage of ranged weapons was gone, the fight was already decided.

His stepfather jumped backward, flinging the dagger at Anthony awkwardly, but the young man swatted it aside with ease. A look of rage contorted the older man’s face as he stumbled back step after step, shouting in a venomous tone.

“You should already be dead! You were supposed to die when I lured your useless mother into the path of that ogre! It was perfect—no one would’ve ever suspected I was involved! But you had to survive and ruin everything!”

Anthony’s eyes widened as he froze, staring at the man in front of him with a stunned expression. As the words sunk into his mind, the spinning orb in his head began to rotate at incredible speeds, the sudden revelation unleashing a surge of power that rapidly grew to dangerous levels.

“W-What’s happening!?”

His stepfather’s vengeful expression shifted to confusion as a red, glowing mist began to rise from Anthony’s skin. Anthony felt as if he were being cooked alive, but he instinctively channeled the energy into his sword. The blade began to glow red-hot, waves of distortion caused by the heat spreading out from the metal as the young man lifted it in the air.

“W-Wait! Stop! N—”

In a blur of motion, Anthony dashed forward and brought the glowing blade down on his stepfather’s head. For a brief moment, the man’s horrified expression remained on his face, as a thin, perfectly straight line of blood appeared down the center of his head.

A second later, the man's expression turned blank as the two halves fell apart in opposite directions. Anthony dropped the sword to the ground as the metal started dripping into melted slag from the overwhelming heat.

As his stepfather’s lifeless body collapsed, the glowing orb in Anthony’s mind began to slow. But as it did, an unbearable exhaustion overtook him. He barely had time to kneel before a wave of blackness overtook his vision.