Hydra rose back into the air with a single powerful beat of her wings, emerald scales cutting through the canopy as broken leaves and drifting mana settled behind them.
The forest below slowly grew calmer, the oppressive tension left behind with the annihilated monsters. Sunlight filtered through the massive branches again, illuminating the various tree roots.
The Dark Elf woman held tightly to Hydra's scales at first, fingers digging in as if afraid that she would somehow fall off, but after a couple seconds of Hydra flying and nothing going wrong, her breathing finally evened out and she calmed down.
"Thank you," she said again, quieter this time, her voice steadier. "Really… if you hadn't appeared, I, "
"You would've survived," Jax interrupted calmly, glancing back at her over his shoulder. "But it would've cost you far more than you're willing to pay."
She blinked, then let out a soft, humorless laugh, "That obvious, huh?"
