The walk back to their makeshift camp was quiet. The triumphant return with their first spoils felt hollow. Leo's head throbbed in time with his heartbeat, a dull, painful reminder of his failure. The Glimmerdew Cap felt like a lead weight in his pocket.
They found a relatively clear spot not far from the main path and struggled to set up the cheap tent. The wind, which had been a constant whisper, began to pick up, biting through their jackets.
"We need a fire," Mira said, her teeth chattering. "A big one."
"I'll… try," Leo said. He knelt, arranging the dry twigs and moss they'd gathered. He focused, reaching for that flicker of mana inside him. He pushed, trying to channel the barest spark, the most basic ignition spell every hunter learned.
Nothing.
His mana, drained from the fight and his aborted reinforcement, was a dry well. He strained, his face tightening with effort. A wisp of smoke curled from the moss, and for a second, a tiny ember glowed. Then it died.
He slammed his fist on the ground in frustration. "I can't. It's gone."
Mira watched him, her expression unreadable. She didn't say 'I told you so.' She didn't offer empty encouragement. She just nodded, pulled a small, worn striker from her pack, and knelt beside him. With a few expert flicks of her wrist, a spark caught the dry tinder. She nurtured the tiny flame with her breath until it grew into a steady, crackling fire.
The warmth was immediate and blessedly real. They huddled close, holding their hands out to the flames.
"Thanks," Leo muttered, staring into the fire. The orange light danced on Mira's face, highlighting the worry in her eyes.
"You're pushing yourself too hard, Leo," she said softly. The wind howled around them, emphasizing the isolation. "Back there… you were different. After I threw the rock. You moved… I don't know. Faster. Stronger. But you looked…"
"Scared?" he finished for her.
"No. Not scared. Empty." She hugged her knees to her chest. "It's like something switched off behind your eyes. What happened in that dungeon, Leo? The one you won't talk about?"
The question hung in the cold air between them, heavier than the silence. The guilt he'd been carrying since that day surged up, a physical pressure in his chest. He saw Torin's fire-tattooed arm, Kael's nervous grip on his dagger, Lin's silent focus. He saw the Shadow Wyrm's maw.
He couldn't tell her about the ring. That secret was a wall he couldn't cross. But the other secret, the weight of their deaths… that was crushing him.
He took a shaky breath, the words feeling like shards of glass in his throat. "My temporary team… they died before my eyes Mira."
She went very still. "What?"
"The D-Rank team I temped for. They're all dead. The Association… they logged it as a full team wipe in a standard rift. But it wasn't." The words started tumbling out now, a torrent he couldn't stop. "There was a hidden boss. A or B-Rank Shadow Wyrm King. It was… it was a slaughter. They didn't stand a chance."
Mira's hand flew to her mouth, her eyes wide with horror. "Leo…"
"I ran," he whispered, the confession tearing something inside him. "I was so scared. I just ran. I tripped over… over Kael. And it was right there. I thought I was dead. I prayed for a miracle." He closed his eyes, the memory vivid and brutal. "And then… something happened."
He stopped, teetering on the edge of the truth. He could feel the ring on his finger, a cold band of metal beneath his glove.
"What?" Mira breathed, her voice barely audible over the wind. "What happened?"
"I don't know," he said, the lie tasting like ash. It was the only part of the story he could change. "There was a… a flash of light. From a crack in the wall. Maybe a mana geyser, or a relic that got unearthed during the fight. It blinded the wyrm, stunned it. I just… I grabbed a fallen dagger and I stabbed it. Again and again. I don't even really remember it. I was just… empty. Like you said."
He risked a glance at her. She was staring at him, tears welling in her eyes, but not from the cold.
"When it was over, I was the only one left. I took its core. I hid it. And I ran. I told the Association I got separated in a cave-in and found my way out. They believed me. Or they pretended to."
The silence that followed was different from before. It wasn't just cold; it was shared.
"Oh, Leo," Mira finally said, her voice thick. She didn't reach out to hug him. She just sat there, sharing the burden of his horrible truth. "You've been carrying this alone all this time?"
He nodded, unable to speak.
"You didn't run," she said, her voice gaining a fierce edge. "You survived. They charged a B-Rank beast. That's not bravery; that's suicide. You didn't get them killed. You lived. That's not something to be ashamed of."
Her words didn't erase the guilt, but they did something else. They placed a small crack in the wall of his isolation. She knew. She knew the worst of it. And she wasn't looking at him with pity or disgust.
"The core…" she began.
"Is how I paid for my new gear. And our tickets," he admitted. "Blood money."
"It's survival money," she corrected him firmly. "You use it. You get strong. For real. Not with… lucky breaks." Her eyes held his, and for a terrifying second, he felt she could see right through him, right through the glove to the ring beneath. "You train until you don't need a miracle. Understood?"
He nodded, a real sense of resolve cutting through the shame for the first time. "Understood."
They sat in silence for a long time, listening to the fire crackle and the wind scream. The secret was out. Not all of it. But enough. The weight was still there, but now, he wasn't carrying it alone.