"Damnit!! Ife, are you alright??" Verity screamed.

Not replying immediately, Ife placed a set of rose colored leaves over her wounds and she quickly rose to her feet. "I'll live, but thanks for worrying… haha"

Verity suddenly felt his blood freeze, and all his instincts screamed. 'Another one's coming!!' He thought.

Elio's sword shined a dark green, and it fell once more.

[You are engaging in a challenge where the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against you.]

[You have gained experience toward your class.]

SLASH

This time, Verity managed to raise his spear in an attempt to block the strike.

But he was not able to block it, not even close. A large cut appeared on his right arm, and he was sent flying back some distance away.

'What the hell is that attack!?' Verity thought as he struggled to stand.

When he looked up, Elio was upon Ife once again. She wore a crooked grin on her face. Before Elio could swing his sword to finish her off, three large flowers sprouted from the ground, and all three of them opened their mouths.

They resemble the carnivorous flowers form Earth, their interior laced with teeth-like protrusions, but instead of attempting to bite through Elio's flesh, the flowers seemed to breath in.

"Cover your ears!!" Ife screamed at Verity.

A strident noise came from the mouths of the three flowers, loud enough to burst Elio's eardrums. Anyone else would have placed their hands over their ears, screaming in agony, but Elio hardly seemed to care. His face remained expressionless, and with a single swing of his swords, all three flowers lost their heads.

He'd been made effectively blind and deaf, but there wasn't a hint of concern on his face.

Elio sighed. "You're tricky. I guess I'll have to knock you out first."

SWISH

A silver spear flew toward Elio, and he deflected it with a single swing of his katana.

It was Verity. He'd thrown his spear with all he had to stop Elio in his tracks, but that wasn't the extent of his plan. Verity brought his hands up and adopted the sixth stance of the Nine Hells spearman ship - Heresy. A spear-less spear technique.

In the gap where Elio had deflected the sword, and the time it would take him to be ready to attack once more, Verity lunged forward and aimed a strike at his face.

Elio swerved to the side, dodging the first blow, and Verity responded with a hook using his left hand. Elio ducked under that strike, and raised his foot to kick Verity in the stomach, to which Verity replied by twisting his body to the side and throwing a leg-sweeping kick with his right leg.

Of course, Elio dodged that with ease, and the exchanges continued fiercely.

Verity grit his teeth and pressed on. He couldn't give Elio any time to swing his sword again. It was already clear to him that if Elio was allowed to use his sword and those strange attacks of his, there was absolutely no chance of victory. That is why he threw his spear away and forced the deaf and blind Elio into close quarter combat.

In the back, Ife coughed another mouthful of blood, and while the two were occupied, she called for the forest's help.

'I always repay my debts…!'

With the mana she still had left, she brought forth another summon. A colossal steed made of tree roots, vines, and with flowers protruding from its body. Then, after blowing some air in its face, the two holes that were meant as eyes lit up in a shining azure radiance.

Ife caressed its side. "Osa my beloved… We need to get out of here, fast." She pointed to Verity. "And I need you to grab him too."

The steed blew air from its nose, and raised its front hooves.

'I have enough mana for maybe three or four more summons… Osa really takes a toll on me…'

Ife hopped onto Osa's back but it was at that moment… Elio opened his eyes. They were bloodshot, and somewhat swollen, but the little vision he'd gotten back was enough to sink his fist into Verity's stomach instantly.

Verity dropped to the ground immediately, gasping for air, and clutching his stomach in pain. He wasn't even able to struggle for two breaths before Elio stepped on his right arm, shattering it at the level of the elbow completely.

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Verity cried out in pain.

Elio then turned his head to Ifedolapo. "So, what are you going to do, Ifedolapo? If you run now, I won't chase you. My business isn't with you, after all."

Ife smiled wickedly. She spoke a few incomprehensible words under her breath, and the forest rumbled. She then addressed a few words at Elio. "If you knew me at all… you'd know you should have just saved your breath."

Elio sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know…"

"Rise, Brother."

First, roots erupted from the soil, coiling and weaving together like muscle and tendons. Then came moss, bark, and grass, layering over themselves until the shape of a towering humanoid began to emerge, nine feet tall and still growing.

Vines snapped tight to form plated armor and gauntlets. A helmet of thorny leaves and flowering branches concealed the face. The last to form was the weapon, a javelin blooming from its open palm, crystallized from petrified wood and stone kissed by starlight.

This was Ife's ultimate offensive summon, and one that was very dear to her.

The faintest smirk tugged at Elio's lip. "Nostalgic." He muttered. He raised his sword. "However, even with that, you won't be able to defeat me."

His lips parted, he was about to use a skill.

"[Grand Sever—]"

"[Vow of Fire]!!"

A spiral of flames engulfed Elio before he could finish his sentence.

Not wasting a moment, Verity hopped onto Osa's back, and he urged Ife to take off. "Alright! Let's get out of here before he slices both of us in half!!"

Ife slapped Osa's back, and at a frightening speed, they flew into the depths of the jungle. "My Brother will hold him back for five seconds, maybe ten, which should give us a good enough head start."

With that, they rode ahead, creating as much distance as possible between them and Elio.

Back where they had fought, Elio took three deep breaths. His eardrums healed, the swelling of his eyes subsided, and he massaged the shoulder Verity had unexpectedly managed to land a blow on in their exchange. "... It's nothing like Marco, but he sure packs a punch."

He looked in the direction where the steed had departed. "Hmm… she scattered their scent, and even made a few decoys…seriously, always so tricky."

Elio sat down, and he raised his head to the sky.

Slowly, he brought his hand over his face and an uncontrollable laughter overcame him. "Ha…hahah..hahaha… wrong… all wrong." He shook his head. "That was without a doubt the Nine Hells… which means that Evangelina Dreadmoore is alive… but that's impossible…That's twice now."

His pearly eyes could be seen through his fingers, burning with rage. "Verity was it…? I really need to kill him before it all becomes irreversible."

—

After around fifteen minutes had passed, Ife slapped Osa's back, signaling her to stop running. During that time, Ife had been highly focused. Not only had she needed to run from Elio while hiding their traces, but she was also actively avoiding the other challengers hiding within the jungle and ensuring that she would not be found by those with detection skills.

The system spoke in Verity's ears.

[You have overcome a challenge where you faced overwhelming odds.]

[You have gained experience toward your class.]

[Your class has leveled up.]

'Oh! Nice! My class is finally level 24… only one more for a new skill…!' He thought as his mind wandered momentarily.

Ife jumped down from Osa's back, and she sighed heavily. "Phew, now can I ask who that was?"

Verity jumped down, and he scratched the back of his neck. "I… don't know."

Ife frowned. Gone was her laid back playfulness, replaced by an expression that hardened the soft corners of her face. She stomped the ground toward Verity and grabbed his collar. "Seriously!? After all this, you're going to hide such important information from me!?"

Verity clicked his tongue. "I'm not lying dammit. The other day, he sat at my table, called me an impostor, and he's been hounding me and my friends since…. I really don't know."

She stared into his eyes for a moment, and with a grunt, she let go of him. "Then do you at least know why he wants to kill you so badly??"

Verity, knowing shame, could only shrug meekly. "I'm… not sure. I think he believes I'm pretending to be someone I'm not…"

"Not that I care, but… are you?"

Verity looked at her blankly. "I uh…I don't think so? I mean, that's not an easy question. I'm me, that's it."

He then put his spear on his back. "In any case, thanks for everything, but you don't have to keep helping me. He'll probably come after me again, but I think I've figured out a way to deal with him."

He bowed. "So let's part ways here."

Ife placed her hands on her hips. She looked at Verity as he bowed, and she didn't say anything for a moment.

"No. Stay." she eventually said bluntly.

Verity narrowed his eyes. "Listen, I get that you might be worried about me, or that you feel that you owe me, but I'll be fine, I promise."

Ife raised an eyebrow. "Who's worried about you?" She pointed to her large wound. "I'm hurt, and I need someone to protect me. I saved your life, so actually, you owe me one."

…

Right, that fit her character better, didn't it? Verity wondered for a second why he thought, even for a second, that she was worried for him.

"You realize that you are putting yourself in danger by hanging around me, right?"

Ife shrugged. "I'll be in more danger if you leave. Who knows if that Elio guy holds grudges. He could be coming after me for all we know."

The wind rustled through the trees. "Still... I think you'll have better chances if I'm not there," said Verity, not buying Ife's reasoning.

Ife scrunched her nose. "Then what about your broken arm?? How do you plan to survive by yourself with that useless thing?"

PLOP

With one motion, Verity propped his elbow back into place. "It was never actually broken. I have a very high tolerance to pain, so I just dislocated it myself and made him believe he'd crushed it."

Ife, now steam nearly coming out of her ears, shouted, her voice echoing throughout the jungle. "First of all, you're insane. Second of all, shut up, will you? I said stay, so just stay! People don't usually argue with me this much!"

Indeed. Idefolapo had rarely had to convince someone to stay by her side in the past. Others naturally wanted to do so. Rather, she'd often had to push them away.

Disgruntled, she approached Verity without giving him a chance to speak, and her face neared his until there wasn't more than a fist's space between them.

Then she brought her hand to her lips as if blowing a kiss, and she blew hot air in Verity's face.

Verity pulled his face away, his cheeks red. "W-what was that? What are you doin— Woah…!"

His body suddenly felt warm, and he sensed his muscles filling with energy. The bruises he'd gotten from Elio stung less, and overflowing strength welled from within him.

Ife smirked smugly. "[Breath of Life], the only known non-priest skill that has healing properties. Can you see how useful I am now? Stay!"

Verity couldn't help but scratch his head. 'That wasn't the issue in the first place…' but then he sighed. "If you insist so much… But don't say I didn't warn you."

Ife beamed. "Good choice! With communication artifacts and healing items banned, you won't find a better teammate than me! Now let's go steal some arm bands," she said, pumping her fist into the air. "...Except if you're going to argue about this too, since you seem to like going against what I say so much."

Verity scoffed. Ife was like a storm, not like anyone he'd ever met before. Well, she was like an annoying, hard-headed storm, but she also had an endearing side to her.

'We might get along after all.'

She hopped onto Osa's back, and so did he.

"No, no, if you're feeling alright, let's go," he said, a smirk tugging at his lips.

Ife looked at Verity with an expression of utter confusion. "What are you doing?"

Verity wasn't sure what to say. "...What do you mean?"

Ife pointed to the ground where a small pony had risen from the ground. "Earlier was an exception. Only I am allowed to ride Osa. You get the small one."

"...Seriously?"

"Get off already."

Verity hopped down. A grumble in his voice could be heard.

He settled on the smaller horse, and he crossed his arms.

'Never mind.'

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