Elena pulled the body out of the crack in the wall.
It turned out to be harder than she had expected. The girl was almost limp, cold, and sticky with blood.
The huntress sighed.
Two unconscious people lay near the fire.
The prince — in relatively decent condition, and an unknown girl who had somehow survived.
There was no way to save the potion.
Elena took out the remaining two vials. After hesitating for a moment, she lifted the stranger's head and poured the contents into her mouth.
No special effects happened. The wounds did not close, the skin did not hiss.
If the potion did not help, it was a useless waste.
She cast a brief glance at the prince. He still had not regained consciousness. Maybe she should have used the potion on him.
The stones in the fire were already red-hot. The huntress repeated the process of boiling water and treating wounds that she had seen from her companions.
As an S-rank, she had never had to do anything like this before.
The cave smelled of roasted meat.
Elena looked at the steak with excitement. Fat dripped onto the coals and disappeared with a pleasant hiss.
— I wonder what wolves taste like here…
The carcass of a wolf lay on the stone floor of the grotto. The beast's thigh had been cut open.
The girl once again pierced the meat with a dagger to check how cooked it was.
She impatiently cut off a piece onto her improvised plate.
Elena brought the meat to her lips and first simply inhaled. There were no strange smells.
— Well then.
The first bite was unexpectedly soft. Bland, but quite edible.
Elena chewed slowly, listening to her body.
Warmth spread through her stomach. There were no strange reactions.
She took the steak off the grill and cut it. The meat yielded to the dagger without resistance, juice flowing appetizingly onto the plate.
A wheeze sounded nearby.
The unknown girl twitched. Her fingers clenched, her lips trembled. She opened her eyes.
Elena turned her head toward the sound. Their gazes met. The survivor's lips moved soundlessly.
Grabbing the waterskin, Elena approached the wounded girl. With careful movements, she helped the girl drink.
Vanessa coughed violently.
Elena grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her onto her side so she would not choke.
The coughing stopped, and the girl's breathing calmed. She trembled and looked around the cave.
"Everything is fine. Everything is fine, there are no wolves here."
Before Elena could finish speaking, Vanessa began to cry bitterly, sobbing pitifully like a little child.
The huntress patted the schoolgirl on the shoulder and returned to her meal. About ten minutes later, silence fell in the cave.
"Prince Nicholas? Is that really His Highness?"
Elena nodded.
"Oh, God, is he hurt? I'll examine him right now."
"Magic and other abilities don't work here."
"No, mana doesn't work here. But other energy is fine. My holy power included."
— Oh, she's a healer? Great, things will be easier now.
Nicholas lay on his back, pale and breathing heavily. Vanessa quickly checked his condition, then grabbed his wrist.
For a while, a dim light came from the girl.
The wounded man's eyelids twitched.
His Highness opened his eyes and asked in surprise.
"Lady Vanessa?"
Prince Nicholas told them what had happened to his group after the airship explosion, and Vanessa told them how she had survived on her own. She had spent two days fighting off wolves, constantly getting injured and healing herself.
Elena did not interfere in the conversation. She took out the leather pouch and put away the meat left after dinner.
"Then tomorrow we climb higher to determine our location and head toward the explosion?"
The group decided on their plans. Vanessa fell asleep instantly, and Elena also prepared to sleep. The prince remained on watch.
Nicholas stirred the fire with a small piece of wood, occasionally looking toward the girls.
He was very curious how Victoria had dealt with the wolves, but he did not ask.
When the others went outside one by one to relieve themselves, he had seen the predator's corpse by the water.
The night was calm. The group gathered their things and went outside before dawn.
It was quiet outside. Nothing hindered them except the uneven terrain.
By noon, they climbed out of the gorge and headed toward the nearest peak.
There were more and more plants. The teenagers moved cautiously. The thick shadows looked suspicious.
Elena frowned, examining the dense thickets.
"What is this? It looks strange."
"It's mana infection. But it looks a little different from what we saw before."
After answering Vanessa, Elena poked the black roots, rhythmically beating, with a stick she had picked up. From the point of contact, the stick quickly began to darken.
The girl threw the branch away and looked at the prince. Nicholas cut through the thickets with his sword.
"Disgusting."
The healer grimaced at what she saw.
The black roots twisted like snakes, pulsing from time to time. All of them connected into one large cocoon.
In the shade of the trees, it was hard to make out anything clearly. Densely tangled plants blocked the way to the grotesque formation.
Elena looked at the branch she had thrown earlier. The spread of the infection had stopped.
"Vanessa, try using your power on this."
Vanessa nodded slowly and crouched down. A glow separated from her hand and moved toward the branch.
The little piece of wood twitched once, and nothing else happened.
"It doesn't work."
"Try touching it."
Vanessa froze. Her gaze trembled.
"You don't have to do this. Lady McShane acted carelessly."
Said Prince Nicholas, and with an encouraging smile, he extended his hand to the healer frozen in place.
— Hypocrite. He probably wanted to know what would happen too.
Elena did not try to justify herself or apologize. She looked down at her feet.
A mana-infected stem wrapped around an old, dying tree. The darkened vine was covered with unpleasant-looking black slime.
Without hesitation, the huntress grabbed the plant with her left hand. Her palm began to burn badly. Stronger than that time with the owls.
"What are you doing?"
Without answering the prince, who had switched to "you" again, Elena looked at the stunned healer.
"See? My hand isn't turning black, and it doesn't hurt at all. Can you try cleansing this stem?"
"Victoria, don't pressure Lady Vanessa."
There was a warning in Nicholas's voice, but Vanessa raised her hand.
"Your Highness, it's all right! I'll try!"
The healer approached Elena, glanced briefly at her hand, and touched the vine.
This time, the light spread along the branch. Along with it, the slime began to thin and flow down to the ground.
Right before their eyes, the black stem began to turn gray.
Elena lowered her hand. Small blisters had appeared on her skin.
"Good job. This ability will definitely be useful to us."
"Thank you… Right, Victoria, how is your hand?"
The gray stem twitched. A black vein ran through it from bottom to top. Then another one.
The whistle of a sword interrupted the conversation. The stem, cut into pieces, fell to the ground.
The plant that had just been cleansed darkened from the root with incredible speed and almost attacked the girls.
Elena grabbed the dagger. Her eyes met the prince's.
"What—?"
Before Vanessa could ask, Elena grabbed her by the arm and ran. The huntress only looked back once.
— Fucking stems!
From the side of the cocoon, a network of plants began to spread at a furious speed.
Nicholas cut down the roots and vines that had already reached their feet. Cut down three — six would grow in their place.
They crawled out from every direction and wrapped around their legs.
Elena, despite all her caution, kept stumbling. Vanessa could barely stay on her feet, falling again and again, slowing them both down.
"Vanessa!"
Both girls fell almost at the same time. Elena cut the stems and jumped to her feet, but the healer was wrapped in vines.
"Use your holy power!"
Elena hacked at the plants, but there were only more of them. She was getting nervous.
Vanessa surrounded herself with a bright glow. The plants wrapped around her slowly began to retreat.
The girls jumped up, but the paths of retreat were already closed.
Elena looked back. The forest was being swallowed by the infection.
Prince Nicholas could not handle that many vines. It seemed that in one more minute, a wave of black stems would devour all three of them.
"Come on, idiot, launch it!"
A woman's scream cut through the forest. Something white flashed right after it.
A burning spear struck a dried tree. The dry wood instantly caught fire.
A fire started.