Lucky or unlucky guy?
Sanryu and Zaria chase the footprints left behind by the furnace, and after an hour of chasing, they notice a medium-sized cave. "It must be his lair, there are traces of poison on the walls." Sanryu notices green stains encrusted on the rocky walls of the cave. 'This could prove to be quite a problem...if we attack it, we will be at a disadvantage.' Sanryu ponders possible strategies to apply in this situation.
"The cave isn't very big, I could cast a wide-ranging spell inside it, they hope I can cause some damage to the beast or even provoke it." Suddenly, Zaria comes up with a tack, gaslighting Sanryu.
"Great idea! Congratulations, Zaria." Sanryu congratulates the girl, the latter blushes upon hearing the compliment. "But do you know such magic?" Sanryu didn't believe that Zaria could already use such complex magic.
"Of course I know how to use those spells, I may be a novice adventurer, but I'm still a noble, I've had very renowned masters of magic." Zaria is offended by Sanryu's words, after all he was underestimating her. "So I'm going." Zaria positions herself in front of the cave entrance, with Sanryu at her side for possible attacks towards the fire sorceress.
Zaria points her wand towards the cave and begins to channel her mana into the red prism, making it glow with an intense color. A large sphere of fire begins to generate in front of the prism, the size of a melon, but becoming increasingly larger, given the continuous flow of mana within this sphere.
'It's starting to get very hot in here.' Sanryu pulls away the collar of his shirt, starting to feel the temperature rising. 'The grass...is on fire?! Luckily it rained last night, otherwise this part of the forest would have already burned down.' Sanryu takes a small step back, not knowing what this magic will cause.
Zaria's sphere has reached the size of two melons, but this sphere seems unstable, in fact the fire she is made of is very agitated, it seems as if it could explode at any moment. Zaria is sweating a lot, both from the heat of the sphere and from the strain she is enduring. "Here it comes, <Fiery sphere>!" Zaria's voice screams the name of the magic she used, and as soon as she says it, the unstable sphere shoots towards the inside of the cave.
The darkness of the cave is illuminated by the glow of the sphere, the latter is so powerful that it leaves a trail of burning on the ground where it passed.
*Boom*
As soon as the sphere hits the bottom of the cave, an intense explosion of fire hits the entire interior of the cave, even some flames come out of the cave. The cave shakes from the intensity of the explosion, and its rock walls have flame burns on them. 'She was serious when he said earlier that she could eliminate him in one fell swoop!! I challenge anyone to survive this magic!' Sanryu's eyes widen as he sees the extent of Zaria's magic, and turns to the girl to congratulate her. "Zaria?!" But as soon as she turns her gaze towards the girl, the latter collapses to the ground, slipping on her limp legs, she is breathing heavily.
"It's all ahhh fine ahhh." Zaria tries to speak through her breath, but Sanryu understands that the girl has put a lot of effort into using that powerful magic.
"You must have used up a lot of mana to use that orb, not to mention the mental strain you had to endure." Sanryu collapses next to Zaria, supporting her with her arms. "If it was that expensive as magic, you could have said so, we will have devised another method." If Sanryu knew the cost of that magic, she would not have approved of the girl's strategy.
"But so ahhh we completed the ahhh mission, right?" Zaria tries to put a smile on her face, even though it's very complicated, given the tiredness he's feeling right now.
"All thanks to-" Porpio when Sanryu was about to praise the girl's effort, a disturbing noise reaches the ears of the two. 'I don't believe it.' Sanryu looks up at the source of this verse, she is above the cave, she finds the infurnace watching them like a predator. 'He's smarter than I thought, he's never been inside the cave, he just made him think so with those traces of poison. And always been lurking above it, what a crafty beast.'
The infurnace is not just any beast, it is very cunning and cunning, which is why it is never underestimated by expert adventurers. "Why?" Zaria only says this sentence, catching Sanryu's attention. "Why am I never useful?" Sanryu can see Zaria's golden eyes filling with tears.
{Son, when you see a young lady crying, remember that it is a man's duty to console her and help her when she needs it.} In Sanryu's mind, his father's words resurface, remembering his teachings on life. 'I have to follow my father's advice, so I can make him proud.' Sanryu hugs Zaria tightly, surprising the latter. "It's not true that you're useless, Zaria, don't think so in the slightest. From your magic, we can already see that you're a talented girl, you just need a little practice in controlling their power, that's all. And thanks to you, the infurnace has become very cautious, you see? He's not attacking yet because he's seen what you can do, he may be clever, but he's still a beast, and he can't know that you won't be able to cast spells for a while , so you gave us a chance." Sanryu points out to the girl that the infurnace is in an alert state, having no intention of attacking the pair of boys yet.
"And do you look at what you have on your hip?" Sanryu points to the beast's side, pointing out to the girl that the point where she hit Zaria's magic in the previous battle, her scales are flaky, making them softer.
"Now she's more vulnerable..." Zaria murmurs these words, starting to think that maybe she isn't as useless as she thinks.
"Exactly! We have a chance, also thanks to you, now it's my turn to do something, rest here, Zaria." Sanryu moves Zaria, helping her sit on a bent log. 'Now, to the two of us, infurnace!' Sanryu draws his sword, it is the tip towards the beast, the latter irritated by the boy's behavior, she begins to spit poisonous bile at Sanryu. 'Predictable.' But Sanryu isn't caught off guard, she easily dodges the blows, sprinting towards the beast.
The infurnace has understood that spitting bile is of little use, she faces her enemy head-on, throwing herself from the upper part of the cave. The two clash, Sanryu strikes with cuts and slashes, while the infurnace clawed spear and tail strikes, maintaining a medium distance.
They go on like this for some time, until Sanryu realizes an unfortunate truth. 'I'm not yet skilled enough to land a sure blow in that side, the infurnace has sinuous movements and is as agile as a damned lizard... if I want to blind his sight...' A dangerous idea flashes in Sanryu's mind, but the only one I can think of right now.
The boy reduces his blows, by reducing his movements, making the fireman understand that he is getting tired, the beast takes advantage of this, and approaches the boy, with a flick of his tail, he wounds Sanryu's exposed side, irony of fate, did the beast want to aim right there, or perhaps did it do it on purpose?
The blow of the tail is powerful, but not enough to throw Sanryu away, who hardens his muscles as much as possible to cushion the impact of the blow. 'I knew it would end like this, but I had to take a risk.' But the fireman didn't just intend to deliver a normal blow, since there are thorns on the tail, and the latter are covered in the beast's venom. Sanryu already begins to sense the poison entering his body, but ignores it, because now he has the firebox within reach, so it is possible to land a sure blow. "Now!" Sanryu slashes the beast's eyes from the side, tearing them open, a scarlet red ichor comes out of the two sockets, the infurnace shrieks in pain, distancing itself from the boy.
Before running after the beast, Sanryu grabs an antidote from his belt, uncorks the cap and drinks all the contents. 'As I suspected...it's not enough.' The simple antidote that Sanryu used cannot dissolve the deadly fire poison. 'After all, it's just a five silver antidote that I bought just today.' The most this antidote can do is slow down the effect of the poison and relieve the pain you feel from it.
"Sanryu!!" Zaria is watching the fight, with a lot of worry in her heart, and as soon as she sees Sanryu get hit by the fire's tail, she knows what happened next. 'The poison...Sanryu.' Zaria is sincerely worried about the boy's fate, but she can't do anything for him now, only hope that she wins.
'Now or never.' Sanryu endures the pain, and throws himself for the umpteenth time, against the enemy, the latter has lost his sight, but can still hear his enemy's footsteps, and tries to react accordingly, but it is useless, since Sanryu avoids his blows manage to reach the beast's side. "Take this!" Sanryu inserts the blade of his sword into the side of the beast, burned by Zaria's magic, managing to penetrate his flesh, tearing his internal organs.
The infurnace screams in pain, and tries to chase Sanryu away from him, but to no avail, the boy doesn't let go of his grip on his side.
"Not yet!" Sanryu moves the blade, tearing the beast's side even further, opening a large wound, from which a large amount of blood flows out, causing even more pain to the furnace. 'I finished.' Sanryu removes the blade from the beast's flesh and immediately distances himself from it, knowing that there is nothing else he can do.
The infurnace writhes in pain, collapsing on the grassy ground, continuing to lose more and more blood, until it stops shaking and loses the light from his eyes, breathing his last breath.
'And done ahhh we won! Ahhh but I think ahhh I'm in trouble eheh.' Sanryu feels that the poison in his body has overcome in a short time, the effect of the antidote, eliminating it instantly, is starting to spread throughout his body. 'I find myself dying again ahhh is this my destiny ahh?' Sanryu tries to lean on his sword, stuck in the ground, but soon loses strength and collapses to the ground.
"Sanryuuuu!" Zaria's voice reaches Sanryu's ears, while the latter's vision darkens more and more.
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A few hours pass since Sanryu killed the fireman, and after this time, the boy's eyes slowly open, little by little being able to see what surrounds him. "I'm dead?"
"No, you idiot of a plebeian! You're still alive, thanks to me." A voice, now known to Sanryu's ears, reaches him.
The boy raises his face, it is immediately in his field of vision, there is Zaria's face, looking at him from above. "Zaria? How is she..." When Sanryu tries to say something, the girl covers the boy's mouth with her hand.
"How is it possible? I see that you have a bad habit of forgetting who I am. In your opinion, a noble like me would undertake this mission without suitable antidotes?" Zaria holds up an empty, expensive-looking vial of antidote with a triumphant smile on her face. "Luckily the poison had just entered the system, if we had waited longer, you wouldn't be here by now. But you still have to wait a while before you can move, your body is still sore from the poison." Zaria warns Sanryu not to try to move, the antidote has had an effect, but now it's up to the boy's body to recover on its own.
"So that's how it went, thank you so much, Zaria, you saved my life, I owe you a favor." Sanryu thanks the girl with a smile. 'I don't know if I'm a lucky guy, or an unlucky one. I keep finding myself in these fatal situations, but then, somehow, I get saved, it's time later, I meet beautiful girls.' Sanryu starts to think that his life is getting messed up lately.
"Of course you are, see if you can repay me equally in the future, it's a promise." Zaria blushes a little on her cheeks, pinching Sanryu's cheek, with his delicate fingers, wrapped in the black glove.
"I will...by the way, why this position?" Sanryu will definitely return the favor in the future, and then asks the girl a question, as her head is resting on Zaria's thighs, creating a pillow effect.
"W-well this way you're more comfortable, it's-it's your body will recover faster, right?" Zaria stammers and tries to find a suitable answer.
"You're not entirely wrong, so I'll take advantage of it, and I'll stay like this for a while." Sanryu understands the logic behind this position, and relaxes into the softness of the girl's thighs.
"Th-that's the intention…" Zaria just mumbles these words. 'I don't think there's any need to tell him how I made him digest the antidote, he'll start to think that I'm a no-good person who took advantage of it, but that's what the maids of the house told me, it's the best way to make it flow. the antidote in the body of an unconscious person.' Only Zaria knows what happened in the time Sanryu was unconscious.