## CHAPTER 36: Attempt
The black-haired girl didn't look back to see if Kerra had regained her footing. In the cold, tactical theater of her mind, Kerra was a variable that had been secured; the monster was the constant that needed to be erased.
As she sprinted, she reached behind her, drawing a second short-sword from the scabbard hidden beneath her cloak. Now dual-wielding, she became a localized hurricane of steel. The Monster plant, sensing the lethal intent radiating from her, lashed out with every remaining vine. Thick, thorn-studded tentacles whipped toward her from the left and right, but the girl moved with a rhythmic, spinning grace. She carved through the wooden appendages as she ran, the air filling with the scent of severed green wood and acidic sap.
As she closed the distance, her twin blades began to hum, a crackling, neon-pink lightning dancing along the edges of the steel. She was channeling her mana at a dangerous rate, preparing for a killing blow.
But the forest floor itself was part of the beast.
Two thick roots shot upward like a bear trap, clamping around her ankles. The sudden jerk stopped her momentum instantly, nearly snapping her bones. Before she could adjust, more vines swarmed her like starving serpents. They coiled around her thighs, then lunged for her arms. She slashed wildly, cutting one that sought her throat, but two more caught her wrists, pulling her limbs taut in a grotesque, living crucifix.
The pink lightning on her blades flickered as she struggled, the thorns of the vines digging through her sleeves and into her skin. The beast began to pull, its intent clear: it was going to tear her apart.
She let out a low, guttural growl, her eyes snapping open with a fierce, desperate light. The pink charges on her blades intensified, turning from a flicker into a blinding, dangerously dark glow.
"I won't... be broken... by a weed!"
She gripped the hilts until her knuckles turned white. With a surge of raw mana, she forced her wrists to turn, spinning the blades in her hands like high-speed circular saws. The vibration and heat of the pink lightning shredded the vines holding her arms. Dropping to her knees while her legs were still bound, she plunged both swords deep into the earth.
"**CLOUT!**"
A violent, blinding flash of mana erupted from the ground.
*BOOM!*
The concussive force pulverized everything within a ten-foot radius. When the light died down, charred pieces of tentacles rained from the sky like blackened confetti. Kelvin, watching from behind his fading blue shield, saw the destruction. He stepped forward, his boots sinking into a thick, dark green ooze—the lifeblood of the plant—that now coated the clearing.
The girl stood up slowly, her body wreathed in rising steam and smoke. Her chest heaved, her mana-veins screaming in protest after such a massive discharge. She took one step toward the Monsters central eye, her blades trailing in the dirt, but her knees buckled. She staggered, falling back to the ground as her strength finally deserted her.
The monster, though charred, was far from dead.
A hidden tentacle moved with the speed of a whip, wrapping around her waist and hoisting her thirty feet into the air. She struggled feebly, stabbing at the vine with her remaining strength.
*CLANG! CLANG!*
The vine had hardened its bark into a metallic armor. With a final, violent shake from the beast, both of her swords slipped from her fingers, clattering uselessly to the forest floor below.
"Heeellllllllllllpppp!" she screamed, the terror finally breaking through her stoic mask.
---
"**CHRONUS FANG!**"
Kelvin's voice tore through the air. A dark, intense beam of energy shot from his hands, aimed directly at the Plants singular eye. But the monster was learning. It swatted the beam aside with a massive, armored limb as if it were a mere fly. The deflected energy struck a massive oak tree behind the beast, obliterating the trunk in a shower of splinters.
*BOOM!*
Kelvin stared at the carnage his blast had caused, his face twisting in frustration. He saw the girl being shaken in the air like a ragdoll.
"No," Kelvin hissed.
He centered his weight, his right hand shaking as he began to draw upon a forbidden reserve of mana.
"**GIO GREZA!**"
A blood-red, intimidating aura began to coalesce around his palm. The light was crimson, thick, and heavy, releasing jagged sparks of red electricity. He molded the energy into a small, dense ball of concentrated destruction, aiming it like a sniper's rifle at the plant's core.
He was a second away from firing when a scream shattered his focus.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
Kelvin's head snapped to the left. Kerra—his twin, his other half—was still being pursued. Despite their teammate's sacrifice, a secondary cluster of vines had cornered her against a rock wall. She was out of arrows, her hands empty, the thorns inches from her throat.
Kelvin froze. The crimson ball of energy in his hand pulsed violently.
Save the girl? Or save his sister?
The Monster seemed to sense his hesitation. Its red eye fixed on Kelvin, mocking him with its stillness. As Kelvin stood paralyzed by the choice, the ground beneath him began to heave. A massive vine erupted from the dirt, tossing him high into the sky.
As he tumbled through the air, the world slowed down. He saw Kerra's terrified face; he saw the girl being crushed in the air; he saw the monster waiting for him to fall.
"My mind is made up," he thought, his eyes snapping open with a cold, righteous fury.
"Even if it costs me my life... I will protect those around me!"
He twisted mid-air, ignoring the vertigo, and leveled his glowing hand at the base of the monster's eye.
"**Sorcery Skill, Level 3!**" he roared, the crimson light turning the entire clearing the color of fresh blood.
"**CRIMSON STRIKE!**"
The ball shot from his hand like a cannonball, trailing a wake of red fire as it hurtled toward the heart of the beast.