Quest: Survive 4

Lyrica's stern gaze directed Magdalo towards the Guardian Snake. The giant reptile has its eyes on them as it continues to slither around the three.

Grrrrrrr...

"It's eyeing us...?"

"It's waiting for us to make a move." Said Riko.

"Yeah." Lyrica followed suit. "It's fast enough to catch us in mid-air. If we try to jump, it'll come straight for us."

However, if they don't make a move now, the space around them will shrink to the point where the Guardian Snake can just wait for them to go inside its mouth on their own accord.

"This would've been easy if the Guardian Snake is just like any normal animal."

But apparently, the ruler of the forest is far from being a normal animal. Well, not a single monster or creature in Alteria has entered Lyrica's normal creature standards. That aside, whatever plan she may come up with, Lyrica is certain that the Guardian Snake thought about it as well.

Whatever move she tries to make, the creature is more than ready to counter it.

"The Guardian Snake isn't the ruler of the forest for nothing, after all."

Lyrica wordlessly looks at the two knights as she tries to make a decision.

'Think. What's the most appropriate option in this situation?'

Either to leave them behind and save herself, or do the opposite and use herself as bait, saving the two from the Guardian Snake?

Lyrica appears to be getting troubled, trying to decide between the two. However, as her mind gets conflicted with her thoughts...

Shoom! shoom! shoom!

"Ah?"

"What is?"

Dadoom! Dadoom! Dadoom!

Blocks of hardened dirt come raining down on the Guardian Snake's head.

"It's not enough!"

"Well, it's all just dirt in the first place."

Right then, Riko and Magdalo hear the familiar voice of a man behind the Guardian Snake.

"That voice...!"

"It's Marlo!"

Marlo, with the help of two other knights whom Riko and Magdalo left behind, came to the scene.

"Hey, you b***ard!" Marlo shouted at the Guardian Snake as he points his hand on top of the creature where piles of stones stuck on dirt gather and form a boulder. "Let's see if you can still ignore me after this!"

The ruler of the forest looks up and lets out a loud roar at the forming ball of rock and dirt.

"It's big."

"It's as big as the Guardian Snake's head!"

Graaah!

"You two!"

Lyrica grabbed Riko and Magdalo by their wrist. Before that, Lyrica and the Guardian Snake stole a glance at each other.

"Die!"

Marlo swings his arm, and the boulder begins descending on the Guardian Snake. The creature looks up and faces the sphere, catching it with its open mouth.

The boulder drags its head close to the surface. In that instant, Lyrica tries to jump across the slithering body of the Guardian Snake along with Riko and Magdalo whom she's carrying.

The girl sees it as a perfect chance to move. Right now, the Guardian Snake is being occupied by the ball of dirt, keeping the head of the creature on the ground. However...

"Ah–!"

Lyrica felt it. The ruler of the forest locking its cold gaze on her.

"Hey, watch out!"

Riko's scream prompted Lyrica to shift her gaze to her left. There, she sees the tail of the Guardian Snake only being separated from her and the two knights by a couple of meters.

Before everything else, Lyrica throws Riko and Magdalo to safety.

"20–!"

Dooom!

There was not enough time to activate Heavy Metal. Lyrica was hit hard by the Guardian Snake's tail. It was nothing compared to how Riko and Magdalo were hit by the same thing not long ago.

"Waghk!"

It looked as though the ruler of the forest used every ounce of its strength on that one blow just so it could eliminate the one threat that could stop it from feasting on its meal.

"No!"

Riko saw the girl get flung straight to a Higantes tree as he landed on the surface. No, he just barely saw it. Everything went so fast that he wasn't even able to react in time.

Soon after struggling to get himself back up, Riko worriedly dashes at the girl.

"Riko, wait!"

Magdalo tries to get back up shortly after. But instead of going after the young knight...

Graaah!!

He got distracted by the Guardian Snake's loud cry as it throws the boulder back to Marlo and the others.

Marlo and the two other knights barely dodge the ball of dirt Marlo himself created.

The ball of dirt shattered into handfuls of dirt and stone upon impact.

The Guardian Snake takes another glance at the girl who's not moving a single inch, making sure that Lyrica can no longer help nor fight again. After that, it shifted its gaze on the three knights, more particularly to Marlo.

Grrrr...

After getting rid of the girl, it now sees Marlo and his ability to create and manipulate the shape of dirt as a new threat.

"Damn it! This is why I shouldn't be put in the front lines!" He shouted. "I'm more of a rearguard-type of a person!"

"There's no time for you to be episodic, Marlo!"

"Look, it's going to fire a wind breath!"

The two knights urged Marlo to do something, but he's so worked up, he can't figure out what to do next.

"It's coming!"

"We need cover!"

The knights abandoned Marlo who's still impaired unlike them.

"Hey, what the?! You're supposed to help me, damn it!"

Hraaaahh!!

The Guardian Snake fires its wind breath. Out of sheer panic and terror, Marlo raises his hands and a thick wall of dirt emerges from the ground. The wall easily deflects the surge of wind.

"You should have done that way earlier!" One of the knights complained.

"You know I'm useless when facing the enemy, especially something that's ridiculously big!" Marlo retorted.

While this is all happening, Riko used the chance to check up on Lyrica.

"Hey, are you all right?"

Lyrica shuts her eyes as she groans in anguish. "Do I look like I'm fine...?"

HP: 73.2%

Back when the tail of the Guardian Snake is about to hit her hard, Lyrica still manages to raise her left arm to protect her head from the collision. However, as a result, she got her dominant arm injured. It got dislocated, similar to Riko's arm.

To make matters worse, her back is suffering in excruciating pain, and somehow, she sprained her right ankle as she was falling after hitting the Higantes.

Lyrica has lost more than a quarter of her health. Despite that, she's still able to steal a glance at the Guardian Snake and burst out laughing, almost maniacally.

"Hey, are you sure all right?"

Riko asks the girl in concern, to which Lyrica replied confidently with a resounding yes.

"Let's all get out of this forest."