Yaku turns onto the side dirt road looking for help, hoping for a village nearby. As he delves deeper and deeper into the woods, even the dirt road stops being visible—until he finally reaches a small, beautiful hut, surrounded by trees and kissed by the sun, birds chirping all around. So peaceful...
He shouts for help, and then a beautiful lady opens her door to him. A blonde with blue eyes and wearing a noble's dress, her cleavage showing. She smiles at Yaku and asks him what he wants. Yaku explains everything to her innocently, and she smiles a warm smile at him and says, "Well, you're in luck. It just so happens that I'm a healer. Bring the injured man inside, I'll tend to his wounds." Yaku smiles from ear to ear and thanks her profusely.
Once Yaku lays Bone on her table inside the hut, she tends to his wound and stitches him up. She says Bone has lost a lot of blood and recommends they stay there for at least three days. Yaku agrees, while Bone is knocked out due to exhaustion.
She brings Bone some of her soup, and they help him up to drink it. She tells Yaku to feed him the soup five times a day and to also help himself if he ever gets hungry. Two days pass—Yaku helps the healer with cutting wood and other tasks. She tells him her name is Elena.
Once the second night falls and everyone is sleeping, Yaku hears something outside, so he wakes up to investigate. He opens the hut door slowly to peek outside and notices that Elena is squatting down. He calls for her—she doesn't respond. He walks up to her and puts his hand on her shoulder.
"Hey Elena, what are you doing so late at night?" he says.
Elena turns to him with her mouth covered in blood, holding a dead squirrel in her hand. It looks like she was eating it alive. Yaku immediately gets startled and backs off.
"H...hey, what the hell is going on with you?" Yaku says with a shaky voice.
She drops the squirrel, and her eyes turn pure white. Her skin starts to melt, and her real, rotted skin begins to show.
"Hehehehe, I'm so lucky to have such stupid, naive humans come into my witch hut. Once I eat you both, my life will be lengthened once more," the witch says, threatening Yaku.
Yaku starts running back to the hut to wake Bone up so they can escape, but once he sees him, he sees all of Bone's veins have turned green and he is in pain with an extreme fever.
"Hehehehe, looks like my poison has started to work. And the funny part is—you fed him and yourself willingly," the witch says, now standing at the door, her silhouette glowing menacingly.
Yaku grabs his sword and points it at her, but he notices his hand is shaking. Some of his veins are turning green as well. He tries to put all of his mana into his sword, but only a portion manages to coat it. It appears that he can't control his mana with his body being poisoned.
"You... I trusted you. How could you do this to us?" Yaku screams at her and starts coughing immediately.
"Oh, poor kid. You know, I didn't lie—I was a healer... 250 years ago. But then I was consumed with my quest to chase immortality. As you can see, the more I eat human flesh, the more I turn into this abomination. It appears immortality doesn't come without a price," the witch replies.
Yaku jumps at the witch, trying to cut her in half, but she disappears like she was never there. Then she appears behind him.
"Silly boy, this whole place is an illusion," she says. As thunder strikes, the real hut appears around him—all worn out, dusty, and barely standing.
Yaku's eyes widen. He grits his teeth and tries to slash her again, but to no avail. She keeps vanishing. Bone stands up with his hand on his stitched-up wound.
"Yaku, run away. You can't fight a being this powerful," Bone tells him.
"No Bone, lay back down—you can't stand up yet!" Yaku shouts.
"Kid... I'm done for. Even if we try to run, I'll slow you down. Run away. Live. I'm an old man. My wife and son are both dead—just let me save you, dammit," Bone says with a shaken voice.
The witch appears again.
"No one will leave this hut alive. Come on, get in my rotten belly," she says angrily.
Bone musters some strength and runs at her to attack with a knife. She sends a small purple mana wave at his hand to parry it—the knife flies away into the hut's burning chimney. Then she disappears. Bone leans against the door frame, breathing heavily.
"YAKU, RUN! PLEASE, JUST SAVE YOURSELF!" Bone shouts while coughing.
Yaku looks at him in despair, glancing all around, trying to sense the witch. He holds Bone to support him, and they both start walking outside, trying to escape. But then the witch shows up again.
"You will never be able to escape me," she says and disappears again. A fireball is launched at them from afar—they barely dodge, but Bone falls to the ground. It appears the poison is spreading faster, but he stands again through sheer will to fight and save Yaku.
"HE HE HE HE," the witch's laugh haunts them. Then it starts to rain. Her magic disappears and she starts to burn, so she immediately hides inside the hut. Bone immediately tells Yaku to burn the hut while she's inside. They try to start a torch, but the rain is too heavy.
"FORGET IT, LET'S JUST RUN! WHERE'S OUR HORSE?" Yaku shouts, but the horse is nowhere to be found. They try to run on foot, but a circle of fire surrounds the area around the hut.
"It appears she can use her magic from inside the hut," Bone says.
The poison starts to spread inside Yaku's body too. He can barely hold his sword. Bone pushes Yaku to the ground and musters all the remaining strength he has, running into the hut.
"NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Yaku shouts while barely able to stand.
Bone grabs the burning wood from the chimney. As his hands burn, he spreads the fire on the ground. The hut starts to burn. The witch cancels her spell and runs to the door with her physical body, but Bone grabs her from behind and they both fall to the ground.
"No! Leave me! No... please, save me!" the witch cries in disbelief. Then the screams of the witch echo all around as she and Bone both burn with the hut.
Yaku sits outside, helpless, as the fire from the hut reflects in his eyes. Tears run down his cheeks as his body continues going numb.
"Bone... why..." Yaku cries as he loses consciousness.