Red vapor rose from the elder’s body.
His skin flushed hot,
and bloodshot veins began to bloom in his eyes.
“Haa··· haa···”
His breathing was long and wet.
Inside him, mana churned—twisting as if it were being wrung.
“This power···
is a realm even demons would not dare to attempt.”
Behind him, thin streams of flame spread like threads.
A scorched smell crept along the cave wall.
And in that opening—
A goblin burst out from behind the wall.
“Aah!”
An ambush.
A goblin with a dagger snapped in behind Nenya.
Before she could even reach out,
her body was yanked back and dragged away.
“Ghk—ah···!”
A suffocating cry.
“Nenya!”
Rynel shouted, but the goblin was already slipping into the darkness beside the passage—
vanishing into a crack in the wall.
Rynel muttered low.
“You should’ve aimed for me.
That was your mistake.”
The elder answered.
“You···
are the one I intend to face myself.”
A chill gathered in his eyes.
“And you, too—
I’ll bring you to the same place soon enough.”
A red magic circle began forming at the elder’s fingertips.
The light grew brighter, brighter.
“This is true flame.
Disappear, human!”
A red beam surged from his hand.
A massive fireball began to take shape.
“Flare Impact··· full charge!”
Rynel lowered his arm and said evenly,
“Thanks.
For taking Nenya away from here.”
His face was calm.
But deep in his eyes, something cold climbed up.
Red mana erupted from the elder’s hand like an explosion.
“Flare Impact!!”
The formed flame
shot forward in a straight line like a siege shell.
The cave flared up in fire.
KWAHAAAAA!!
A direct hit.
The blast tore through the ground, rocks shuddering.
Dust rolled and swallowed the view.
Cracks spread across the ceiling,
and red embers scattered.
The elder snorted, staring through the smoke.
“Heh···
did I hit too hard?”
A voice that mocked.
“Even a corpse needs to stay intact
if it’s going to be used as material.”
Drunk on victory,
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
he watched the smoke thin out—
But then.
“···?”
What came from the smoke
wasn’t coughing, or a scream.
A short, low breath.
A quiet laugh—like a thin, crooked sneer.
The smoke began to peel away.
At its center, Rynel stood.
Before him,
a blue curtain was spread out—solid as a wall.
A barrier that had repelled the flames outright.
Not a single ember remained on it.
The goblin elder’s face twisted.
“No way.”
“Unexpected.”
Rynel murmured low.
“It did hurt···
more than I thought.”
A faint scorch on his shoulder.
But his expression didn’t waver.
“Still, thanks to that, I know exactly
how strong you are.”
The elder stared at him, disbelief cracking through his eyes.
“No way.
My flame didn’t work···”
His gaze slid—slowly—to Rynel’s wrist.
“That bracelet.
Is that the source of your power?”
Between clenched lips,
anger and confusion leaked out together.
“Otherwise this makes no sense—!”
Rynel gave a short laugh and lifted his wrist.
“You curious?”
Click.
The red bracelet came undone.
He set it quietly on a nearby rock.
“Go on. Look.
Now’s your chance.”
He faced him head-on.
“With the power you believe in so much—
confirm it yourself.”
The elder narrowed his eyes.
“Fine.”
He shouted.
“Flare Impact··· full charge!!”
KWAHAAAAA!!!
A massive blaze surged toward Rynel again.
KWAHAAANG!!
With the explosion, fragments of stone jumped.
Ash and smoke powder drifted up into the air.
The air changed.
An unexplainable current swept through the entire cave.
The goblin elder stumbled back two steps without meaning to.
“Wh—what is this···?”
Before he could even brace—
A massive club dropped from the ceiling.
CRACK!!
He twisted on reflex, but too late.
The club pierced his shoulder
and punched through into his abdomen.
“KRAAAH!!”
Blood burst out.
Rynel glanced down at his own hand, calm.
“Real power isn’t something you stuff into yourself
with tools like ore.”
The floating debris that had been circling him
settled quietly to the ground.
“That’s just pretending.
Inflating a shell.”
The elder sucked in air,
eyes stained red as he looked at Rynel.
“No··· way···”
His vision wobbled. His awareness warped.
“This isn’t··· the grain of human mana···”
“This bastard··· don’t tell me···”
As he spoke,
the red gems embedded in his body began to crack all at once.
Tick. Tick.
A sound like metal breaking.
Then the gems crumbled into powder and scattered.
The elder let out a long, final breath.
Rynel lowered his head, quietly.
Then he fastened the bracelet back on.
Click.
A gentle mana current spread from the red band.
Rynel said softly,
“This power isn’t anyone’s.”
He lowered his eyes and murmured.
“Demon or human···
what does that matter.”
“What matters is just one thing—
whether you can bear it.”
As the words fell—
Behind Rynel,
someone opened her eyes in silence.
It was Nenya—who had been unconscious.
At some point she had been moved into a safe corner of the cave.
Nearby, the goblin that had kidnapped her
was slammed into the wall, collapsed.
Bleeding. Unable to move.
Nenya slowly turned her gaze.
Ahead—
blue light wavered like an afterimage.
“A demon···?”
Right before her consciousness snapped again,
she muttered that—
and sank back into deep darkness.
KWAHAAANG!!
A violent explosion roared through the mine.
The ground shook hard,
and rocks at the entrance came cascading down.
“What was that?!”
Monero sprang up, shouting.
Aira clutched her spirit stone,
pale, staring at the entrance.
“It came from inside.”
Inside the mine—
Over a corridor filled with smoke and debris,
blue energy was settling—slowly, like dust.
Rynel carefully gathered Nenya into his arms
on the floor stained with blood.
There was still life in her face.
Without a word, he took off his cloak
and draped it over her shoulders.
Then, still saying nothing,
he lifted her—slowly—onto his back.
Stepping over collapsed rubble,
over the remnants of shattered magic circles,
Rynel moved toward the exit in silence.
“If we keep hitting it, the magic barrier could break!”
Kruster shouted, sweat pouring down.
“Midas—are you ready?!”
“I’m barely maintaining it with what mana I have left.
I can’t force entry, but··· at least the裂—”
That was when—
“Wait.”
A blue current seeped into the mouth of the cave,
and the rock wall split open as if it were being unzipped.
Through the gap, a silhouette walked out—slowly.
“Rynel!”
Kruster shouted on reflex.
Nenya was unconscious on his back.
His steps were heavy—steady, unshaken.
Aira rushed over,
pressing the spirit stone close to Nenya.
“Heartbeat is normal.
No issue with her life.”
“Her muscles are loose···
she’s out cold.”
Monero let out a breath of relief.
“Good thing she’s not dead···”
◇
Late night.
The guild’s recovery room.
Silvermoon Shield sat outside the door,
faces tight with tension.
And on the bed—
Nenya slowly opened her eyes.
Under pale light,
the ceiling drifted into focus.
“This is···”
She muttered, voice weak.
A low voice came from beside her.
“You with us?”
It was Kruster.
He sat quietly by the bed.
Nenya nodded slowly.
Namia stepped closer.
“How do you feel?”
“Heavy.
But otherwise, I’m fine.”
From behind, Midas approached and spoke.
“Right after you and Rynel went in,
we got bounced out—like magical recoil.”
Namia nodded.
“Yeah. A barrier must’ve formed inside.
When I came to, we were all outside the entrance.”
“We kept trying to get back in,
but it was too strong to break.”
Midas continued, his voice carrying a sigh.
“After pounding on it for a long time··· we heard a huge explosion inside.
Not long after, Rynel came out—carrying you.”
Nenya stared at the ceiling, then slowly shifted her eyes.
“Where is he··· now?”
“Rynel’s group went back to their lodging.”
Kruster answered quietly.
“Why?”
The question was short,
but her voice held a restrained tremor.
“No. Just—nothing.”
Nenya averted her gaze, whispering.
Namia grinned,
and tapped her shoulder lightly.
“What is that.
Something happen between you two?”
“It didn’t.”
Nenya answered low,
fingers catching the edge of the blanket.
The last thing she’d seen—
A silhouette standing in blue light,
expressionless.
‘He didn’t look like an ordinary human.
And that mana··· it wasn’t the kind humans have.’
In that moment, she’d been sure.
‘That’s not power a human can produce.
Could he be··· a demon?’
But one memory remained sharp.
When he carried her out,
his shoulder had been warm—
and his steps had been careful.
That made it worse.
More confusing.
Nenya buried her face in the pillow
and pressed the feeling down in silence.
Days later.
Sunlight spilled through the window
and laid itself softly across the recovery room floor.
“You’re really all better now?”
Namia asked.
Nenya nodded, folding the blanket.
“Yeah. Body and mind··· back to normal.”
Kruster leaned against the corridor door.
“Move carefully.
It might take time to return to normal life.”
“Okay.”
Nenya smiled lightly,
then walked quietly toward the end of the hall.
The lodging wing, the farthest corridor.
One floor down, where footsteps were rare.
Nenya stopped in front of a door.
She hesitated for a long time.
She couldn’t just go in without knocking.
But turning back now made her chest feel tangled.
In the end, she raised a hand
and knocked softly.
Tap, tap.
The door opened.
“Nenya?”
It was Rynel.
Casual clothes.
His hair was half damp.
A cooled towel hung by the window—
as if he’d just washed up.
“I was worried you might be hurt, so I came.”
Rynel looked at her for a long moment,
then nodded.
“Yeah. Come in.”
Nenya inhaled,
and stepped inside carefully.
With hands awkwardly folded,
she looked at him.
“Thank you.
For that day.”
Rynel didn’t answer.
He only waited for her to finish.
“You handled everything—alone.
I was really in danger···
If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have come out alive.”
“I’m glad you’re safe.”
A short silence.
Nenya spoke again.
“But··· I saw that blue light.”
“······”
“It was power I’ve never seen before···
and honestly, it scared me. A little.”
Rynel looked at her quietly, then asked low,
“That power··· scared you?”
Nenya hesitated, then shook her head.
“No. I don’t know.
I don’t know if it was the power itself,
or if it’s because I couldn’t understand it···”
She added with a small smile,
“But···
that kind of strength—
using it for someone else···”
After a brief pause, she said,
“You look cold, but···
it felt warm. Somehow.”
Rynel stared out the window for a moment, silent.
A faded sky.
Clouds drifting slowly.
Then he spoke, low.
“If that power is for protecting someone,
maybe it isn’t so bad.”
Nenya lowered her head quietly.
Something she wanted to say
rose to her lips—
but never became words.
She closed her eyes for a moment,
then smiled carefully.
And without speaking,
she stayed by his side—just for a while.
