Witnessing Enatsu’s fear in the eyes of his colourful parrot demon, Yoichi looked down on him. The fresh air of that night stroked his belly, exposed because of the mid-air jump wind.

Under his free-falling body, the snake had stood still in the same position. With its mouth still busy, it was ready to hit Yoichi with its tail as soon as he reached the right height. ​​

Predicting the enemy’s obvious move and knowing that, if he too failed the counterattack, he would end up pierced by that dark spike, Yoichi relied on the force of gravity.

Clenching his fists and narrowing his eyes to resist the strong wind of the freefall, he pushed his arms to the maximum of the upgrade. As calculated, the snake’s huge black tail snapped quickly toward him, as if it were a baseball bat trying to hit for a homerun.

Shioko was still there, covered in her blood and that of the snake, while one of its curved teeth had sunk into her biceps. With one hand, the red-haired tamer clung to that wild demon’s mouth, knowing that if she fell, it would tear off her arm with a bite.

When her gaze raised hopelessly towards Yoichi, something mind-blowing happened. Using his arms hard as rocks, the young tamer took advantage of the speed reached due to his weight to counter the snake demon by surprise.

With a fist so strong that it unleashed a shock wave, he hit the tail of the dark reptile, repulsing it in an instant. Unbalanced its long, muscular body, Yoichi prevented it from attacking a second time, leaving him exposed to his next strike.

“Leave her!” screaming in anger and using the shockwave backlash, the young tamer gained a few moments in freefall to coordinate. Joining his hands and crossing his fingers, he hit the Hebigure’s nape with a double punch.

The precise and powerful blow managed to overcome the resistance of the dark demon’s hard scales: the strong pressure on the nerve between his neck and head forced it to close its eyes and open his jaws wide.

The curved tooth clutching Shioko’s arm was suddenly pulled out of her flesh, dropping her to the ground.

Holding her arm and not even trying to get up, Shioko rolled on the sand. As soon as she saw the scene from above, Enatsu deactivated Sora’s skill and began running towards her.

The merchant put fear aside for a moment, knowing that without his help, the helpless Shioko could be devoured in one bite. Running clumsily through the sand, he saw the huge dark shape of the snake getting closer and closer.

When Yoichi landed on his feet, Enatsu grabbed the bow and Shioko, lifting her by the armpits. She helped her companion by crawling her feet, and together they move away from the giant demon, leaving everything in Yoichi’s hands.

“You killed the inhabitants of this place, and you tried to kill my guildmate! You won’t get away with this! Aaargh!” he thundered as his sand-stained blond hair and blood floated in the wind.

Taking advantage of the moment the enemy was breathless, Yoichi punched him in the face for the second time. His pointed knuckles cut the flesh under the demon’s scales at its jaw, at the exact spot where it received the first attack.

The snake’s giant head suffered a backlash, bending to one side. The young tamer continued to scream, insisting on repeatedly hitting the same spot.

*boom*boom*boom* – As small but violent explosions, his fists hit the snake’s jaw, which began to lose grip with the rest of its mouth. Due to the violent blows suffered, the muscles of the long reptile were so sore that they could not move.

“Die!” – with one last, violent hook coming from below, Yoichi broke off the left side of the Hebigure’s jaw. The demon’s mouth opened abnormally, splashing blood from all sides.

One side of its lower arcade hung from the upper one, showing a row of teeth no longer connected to the mouth. Moving a few meters away, Yoichi tried to catch his breath: after the extensive damage he suffered, the enemy could never survive.

Because of its damaged mouth, the hiss of the snake demon became a harrowing verse, drowned in the blood accumulated in its throat. One side of its evil face collapsed down, following its broken jaw.

Suddenly, the Hebigure’s big head stomped on the sand for the second time, raising a cloud of dust and other blood spats.

Yoichi covered his face, wetting his dry, sand-dirty lips with his tongue. Lowering his eyes not to be blinded by the grains carried by the wind, the snake’s blood on the sand before his feet moved abnormally.

As if the chemistry of the red drops prevented them from incorporating sand or flowing underground, every single drop of blood joined its twins in thin, elongated shapes.

Drop by drop, shape after shape, a writing appeared under his eyes.

‘Travel 80 miles in Tentochu: quest completed – reward: one extra skill to your Oracle’

As soon as the young tamer’s gaze could read the last letter of that sentence, the System’s writing disappeared in front of the dirty tip of his boots, erased by the wind.

Returning to reality and beginning to feel heavy and fatigued breathing in his lungs, Yoichi turned his head left and right, searching for his companions.

Near some wooden beams destroyed by the fury of Hebigure, Enatsu and Shioko were sheltered. The merchant stood next to his companion, tying a piece of cloth around her bloodied arm.

Shioko’s clothes were soiled with blood and sand, and her precious bow was a few meters from her feet. With a worried and sore expression, she stared at Yoichi.

The irrepressible and grumpy character of that young warrior-woman had disappeared in that instant. Being aware that an inexperienced and brave warrior had saved her life for two consecutive times, Shioko nodded, expressing sincere gratitude to her guildmate.