Almost...

As soon as she got the [Pathfinder] skill, her eyes are shown a mysterious circle appearing around her. A triangle by the circle's outline acting as an arrow—white color—points forth, while another one in a red color pointing behind her.

"What's these symbols supposed to mean...?" she asked herself. "Uhh... I thought I'd get out of this mess as soon as I got this skill... what should I do now?"

She mumbles to herself, but only for a mere few seconds. Her expression shows that of a renewed bravery. She pats her cheeks, yelling to herself afterwards.

"Aah... I'm not going anywhere if I don't do anything now! I must do something! Let's see... There are two arrows, red and white... let's see if I turn myself around..."

Oria tries spinning around while keeping her sights on the triangle marker. She then discovers that they each keep on pointing to one direction. They don't follow her movements.

"...I see. Maybe they are some sort of pointers? Oh, maybe it's like those arrow things in Hilda's map from back then!" she said to herself. The child proceeds to dig her memory of that not-so-distant nightmarish past.

"Hmm... in that time, Hilda drew the map with a chalk stone she took from one of those scary guards. She showed me the best route to escape. She used the chalk stone to draw arrows for the path I should take... while she used her blood to paint red crosses on the map, saying that it was a no-no way.

If that's how she painted the right and wrong way on the map, then I think this triangle arrows indicate the same, too? The white triangle pointing there... and the red one pointing to the other side... yeah, I think it looks the same!

Oookay, then... let's try following where the white arrow is pointing! ...Oh! Before that, I must use Albus Ignis again... oooh, where's my wand..."

Oria crawls on the cold floor, searching for her treasured wand. It doesn't take long for her to find it. "I found it!" She stands up and tries to picture a white fire again. Successfully, the albino fire lights up again, showing the tight space between two greatly high walls.

"Okay, I'm good to go... but, hold on..." she looked at her wand, which has the tiny fire on its tip. "I wonder... will the fire die again? If that's the case... I must hurry then!"

The child proceeds to follow the white pointer hurriedly. Treading the cramped passage, she runs as fast as she can, hoping light of the other side of the dungeon will embrace her sights.

And of course...

"Faruk... please don't leave me behind...!"

But... The path she follows is... no doubt still the left passage. A bad omen that quickly turns out to be true. As her legs rolled, going as fast as she can, she suddenly encounters another T-junction. She quickly peeks beneath her and notices the white triangle is shifting towards the right.

"It moves to the right, now... that means I should take the right path!"

Alas, being too invested in trying to get out made her unaware of the dangers ahead of her. As her eyes are peeled over to the right side, she didn't notice a coiled creature crawls underneath her foot. She accidentally steps on it and the creature retaliates with its fangs.

"Augh!"

*thud*

The child tumbles down and crashes. As she notices it, her calf is bleeding. Not only that, but purple vein-like marks also erected on the surface of her skin.

"Ouch...! It hurts..."

*hiss*

A hissing sound comes close to her. She picks her still-lit wand and points it to the source of the sound. There, she finally notices a snake with its fangs visibly bloodied. That scaly creature is considerably large for a snake, boasting a length up to 6 meters. It has chevron pattern on its back with a flat side near its head, much like a king cobra.

"M-Monster...!"

That snake keeps its distance from the white fire, specifically the thin smoke that's coming out. of the fire. Seeing the snake's reaction, Oria believes she's going to be fine. ...Until she coughed blood. Her heart beats faster than a freight train, and her vision hazes.

"(What's... wrong with me...?)"

Her focus is blaring. But in an ounce of strength, she opens the status screen.

<ORIA ARGENTORA>

HP: 371/554

MP: 9,960/10,000

Cond: Poisoned

"P-Poisoned...?" she noticed. "W-What should I do...?"

Her HP is dropping rapidly, it's like a timer. She coughs blood again, painting the floor red. Every time it happens, she feels terribly hurt, especially her lungs. The vein markings already spread all over her legs.

"I... I don't have anything... to cure from poisoning...!" she cried in a dying voice.

Then, surprisingly...

<Conditions are met. Poison Resistance Lv.1 achieved!>

<Conditions are met. Poison Resistance Lv.2 achieved!>

<Conditions are met. Poison Resistance Lv.3 achieved!>

She earned three skill levels at the same time. The system voices are overlapping, almost inaudible to be heard. But it's at that point her HP immediately stops dropping. She suddenly feels able to move, although a bit. With that, she uses this chance to cast magic. Her arms feel heavy, but she forces them to steady. She then casts out:

"Albus... Ignis...!"

That fire immediately engulfs the snake monster. Hissing wildly, it immediately retreats like a burning ring of fire rolling away. But Oria didn't allow time for the monster to get away. She casts her magic again.

"Albus... Ahack! Ig... Ignis!"

As she casted, she coughed blood again. But the fire is successfully created and launches at the escaping monster in high speed. As the incendiary projectile traverses through the air, it reveals the tight passage, although momentarily. Eventually, the fire burns its mark, ultimately killing the snake.

<Conditions are met. Albus Ignis II is learned!>

"Haah... aaagh..." Oria drops herself to the ground, ignoring the voice of the system. She feels incredibly weak, although having developed resistance to poison. She looks at her status screen again as she lied down.

<ORIA ARGENTORA>

HP: 7/554

MP: 9,960/10,000

CP: 78

Cond: None

"Oh, dear... it's even less than a quarter of my total HP... uhh... did I nearly... meet death...?"

"Am... I... finished...? Ugh... just when I thought I have the courage to get out of here... I was struck by a monster. I wasn't careful... I'm also... too weak."

The white fire on her wand dies once again, leaving her in the dark with only the light from the status screen on her bloody face. That quickly drives a dreading desperation into her soul.

"...being weak is... frustrating. I can't even do anything right without Faruk by my side..." she mused for some time, imagining as if it is going to be her final moments.

"Hilda... Is this as far as I can go? Am I... going to die here...? Is this the place... that I'll be...?"

That question resonated for a moment. Her former life as a slave was hellish, thinking that each passing day could be possibly the day they pass on from the world. Dying... was but a usual thing in that hideous camp. Even now, Oria still thinks whether she'll die anytime soon.

But a memory, from some time ago, displays on her mind as clear as day.

That voice, a refined yet strong voice:

"Your life is my life. My life is your life. Our souls are as one. Forever and ever!"

It was from the very creature who 'protected' her from her slavers, who forced her to swear an oath afterwards in order to free him. But unlike her first encounter with him...

...Now, she feels calm just thinking about Faruk. And by remembering the dragon's mighty voice shatters her thoughts of dying. It's at that moment she reminds herself:

"That's right...! I must not die here... if I die, Faruk will die, too...! He said that a couple of times when we're talking... 'our souls are as one'..."

Then, she remembers about it, about the [Soul Contract].

"That's right... I've never seen such words on my status screen... where can I find it...?"

The child is curious. Even in her terrible state, she's itching to find the said contract on her status screen. She checks the screen again, slowly, yet carefully scanning through every word.

"It's... not on the Condition status... so where is it...?" she wondered.

As she scrolls her status screen, she notices a button, a very small one. It says exactly the word she's looking for: [Soul Contract].

"Why didn't I notice it being there before...? (Maybe I was a bit too excited when learning until I didn't notice it...)"

She ultimately presses that button. In there, a tree-like drawing but only in white outlines on black background appears. There, she notices two circles that has a chain symbol interconnecting to one another. In those circles, there's a picture.

A picture of her face when she first met Faruk.

And Faruk's dragon face from front view.

Below that, a series of word is displayed. She reads them in her mind.

"[Soul Contract] connects the soul of two beings into one. The dominant and stronger soul becomes the lord while the weaker becomes the apprentice. If one of the two contractors is killed, dead, or disappeared, the contract will 'break', affecting the other contractor as a consequence."

Then, a single line appears beneath the description.

"The apprentice can 'signal their lord if they are in a near death situation'..."

That very sentence is like the Goddess's blessing coming down to help her. In her weak state, she ponders on how she can signal Faruk to come to her. But then she realizes she's not yet done reading the entire sentence.

"The apprentice can signal their lord if they are in a near death situation by using [Signal Lord]."

"Ahahaha... foolish me... if only I'd known this sooner..."

Oria feels that desperation is sweeping away from her soul now. She holds her right hand in the air, forcibly. She clenches it, while altogether using that newly discovered hopeful ability.

"Please... come, Faruk...! Signal... Lord...!"

In the other side, Faruk is currently retracing himself to see if he mistakenly missed Oria at the T-junction. It's at that moment, too, he feels a powerful wave coursing through his mind like a strong thud, giving him a grand sense of danger.

"Ngh!"

His eyes widened almost instantly.

"This feeling..."

At the same time, he checks his status screen, noticing a red beacon popping up on top of the [Soul Contract] button.

"Oria...! She's in danger!"

By feeling some sort of connection to that little girl, the Silver Dragon uses a magic to move ultra-fast, following where the connection is leading him.

"Godspeed!"

...And with that, he vanishes, leaving only sparkles of light in his wake.