CHAPTER 2 –

 Ernilf (Part 2)

Ernilf’s heart dropped. But he didn’t have time to worry about anything else — his life was in danger.

The red-spotted spiders weren’t the only threat. Something much worse could appear at any moment. They had to escape quickly.

“Get on my back,” the boy said.

“Looks like you’re not planning to leave me behind,” Ernilf replied.

“Shut up and get on already.”

“Don’t you have a cart or something? My body’s too stiff to ride piggyback.”

“You’re really something else,” the boy muttered and walked off somewhere.

While the boy was gone, Ernilf tried again to wake his mana heart. Getting his magic back was his only hope.

After a while, the boy returned dragging an old cart from the tunnel and, grumbling, lifted Ernilf onto it.

“You always tried to give me food like a good brother, huh? Told you to eat it yourself, but no, you didn’t listen. If you had, you wouldn’t be lying here like this!”

He pulled the cart and kept complaining non-stop.

‘So, the original owner of this body was the boy’s older brother.’

Even in this terrible environment, the older brother had cared deeply for his younger sibling. And despite everything, the boy didn’t leave him behind. For someone so harsh and violent, he had a kind heart after all.

“Help me!”

“Hey! Take me with you!”

“Please, over here!”

As they struggled up a hill, paralyzed people were shouting for help — probably middle-aged men from their voices.

The boy stopped the cart and walked toward one of the voices. Ernilf thought he was going to help… but he was wrong.

“Aghk!”

A short scream came from the direction the boy went.

“If you’re not going to help, at least don’t kill them… Why go out of your way to do that?” Ernilf muttered.

“I have plenty of grudges,” the boy replied casually. “And they’re no help if we let them live.”

Every time he heard someone nearby, the boy would go and kill them. It was like no one else mattered to him except his brother.

“It’s like a feast out here. All of them were stung by spider venom and can’t even move,” he chuckled.

‘Stop killing and just focus on escaping,’ Ernilf wanted to shout, but his chest muscles were still paralyzed. All he could do was breathe weakly.

‘They say child soldiers are the most brutal, because they don’t see good or evil.’

Even as the boy struggled to pull the cart up the slope, he didn’t stop killing.

‘If breathing stops for 3 minutes, the brain gets damaged. Double that, and you’re dead. I don’t have much time left.’

Ernilf closed his eyes. He couldn’t worry about anything else now.

The boy was thin and starved. Even an aura user would struggle pulling a cart with someone on it. But the boy didn’t give up. He kept going, even with labored breaths.

“Look, Tiri! It’s the exit!”

Sunlight shone through the mine’s entrance and touched Ernilf’s face.

“Just a bit more and we’re out! You can leave this place!”

They had finally made it. But Ernilf couldn’t share in the joy.

“Hey!”

The boy turned to Ernilf and shook his shoulder hard when he didn’t respond. His face was pale like a ghost.

“We made it! You said all you wanted was to leave here alive! Wake up!”

Just then, the ground shook and the sunlight disappeared. Darkness swallowed everything.

“Grooowl!”

A huge lizard-like monster was blocking the exit. It puffed up its body threateningly.

“Splat!”

A yellow liquid flew toward the boy from under the monster’s chin. He rolled to the side and dodged it — but the liquid hit the cart instead.

“Tiri!”

The boy looked back, shocked. The air filled with a foul, choking smell.

The monster trembled its many chin tendrils and prepared to spit again.

“Damn it! We were so close!”

The boy rushed to flip the cart and cover Ernilf with it. Then he ran toward the monster.

“Stay here! I’ll come back for you!”

“Graaawr!”

The monster spat more liquid. The boy kicked off the wall, spun in midair, and dodged. The monster’s long tongue stabbed down like a spear.

CRASH!

The tongue missed, and the boy dashed in. He tried to stab the monster under its chin.

Clang!

The monster’s tendrils blocked the knife. Another tendril whipped toward the boy’s neck. He jumped back just in time.

“Damn…”

He tried to go back for his knife, but the monster’s eyes followed him. Its huge mouth curled like it was laughing.

The boy rolled, grabbed the knife, and got ready again.

“Grahh!”

The tendrils attacked all at once — each with sharp teeth and long spikes.

The boy leaned to one side but couldn’t dodge completely. A spike almost hit his shoulder—when suddenly, something heavy flew from behind.

BANG!

The monster screamed. A wooden cart had slammed into its forehead.

‘Was that… the cart?’

The monster turned to face the direction the cart came from. Its tongue shot out again.

“Ti—Tiri?!”

The boy turned, surprised.

BOOM!

The tongue smashed into something invisible — a magic shield! It bounced off, and rocks flew everywhere.

“Hyung…” the boy whispered.

Ernilf, who had been unmoving like a corpse, now stood tall, holding a flame in his hand.

“Remember this: where red-spotted spiders gather, their predator, the Retschaka, always appears.”

Covered in yellow slime, Ernilf whispered.

Fire gathered in his hands, forming burning arrows.

“I’ll make an opening. You escape.”

FWOOOSH!

The fire arrows shot out and hit the monster’s side. It screamed and thrashed around.

“Now!”

A gap opened between the monster and the entrance. A normal person wouldn’t dare run — but Tiri was an aura user. Ernilf believed he could make it.

“Run!”

But instead of running, the boy stabbed the monster’s leg.

“You stubborn brat! I said run!”

Worried, Ernilf shot another fire arrow. It exploded in one of the monster’s eyes.

SCREEEE!

The monster jumped and thrashed. In the chaos, the boy grabbed a severed tendril and stabbed under the monster’s chin with his knife.

Dark blood splattered everywhere.

SPLAT SPLAT!

The monster went wild. When the boy dropped the tendril, a huge paw came down to crush him.

“Damn it!”

Ernilf knew: fire and ice magic worked best on this creature. He immediately shot an ice spell. The monster’s leg froze midair.

“Move!”

Before Ernilf could shout, the boy rolled away. His survival instincts were amazing.

“What was that? Magic? You can use magic, Hyung?”

“Yes. Magic.”

“Since when…?”

“Just now.”

“Wow…”

The boy stared in shock, then pointed at the monster.

“Can you beat it with magic?”

Ernilf couldn’t use strong spells yet — his mana heart was still weak. But if he didn’t fight, they’d both die.

He nodded silently.

The monster roared, shattered the ice, and started moving again.

“Grrr…”

It lowered its stance, now cautious. Ernilf gathered mana again.

“Graaagh!”

It sprayed poison in all directions.

Ernilf blocked it with a fire shield. The shield vanished right after. It was a weak one.

“I’ll make another chance. Run then.”

He didn’t want the boy getting caught in the magic attack.

“Run if you want to. I’m staying,” the boy said.

Ernilf smiled a little. The kid was selfish, violent, rude — but he deeply cared about his brother.

“Right. A mage and an aura user won’t die to some monster.”

He took a deep breath. His legs trembled — he didn’t have much energy left. He had to finish the fight quickly.

“I’ll make it lift its belly. Stab it like last time.”

Then the boy dashed out. He grabbed a sword from a corpse and slid under the monster’s belly.

SLASH!

Green scales flew everywhere.

“Grahh!”

The monster raised its limbs in pain. Ernilf shot another huge fire spear.

WHOOSH!

The fire pierced its belly.

BOOM!

It screamed and smashed against the walls. The cracked ceiling couldn’t take it anymore.

CRASH!

The monster fell. Rocks came down with it.

Ernilf dropped to the ground, exhausted.

‘What a mess…’

He had been trapped in a weak body, paralyzed by poison, poisoned again by the monster, and forced to reactivate his mana heart.

It was a miracle he was alive.

‘But at least… we lived.’

As he relaxed, Ernilf finally lost consciousness.