With a jolt, my left leg suddenly stopped moving.

The rhythm of my breathing and speed, which had been in sync with Yoon Si-woo, veered off course.

In an instant, disrupted synchrony caught Yoon Si-woo’s attention, and his gaze turned to me.

Reflected in Yoon Si-woo’s eyes was my twisted expression as I clutched my left leg.

It was a sight that anyone could tell indicated something was wrong with my leg.

“─!!! Scarlet!!”

There was a sense of bewilderment in his voice calling my name.

Just a second ago, I had been moving perfectly well.

Yoon Si-woo must have been aware that it wasn’t merely a trivial matter like spraining my leg, even if I didn’t possess the regenerative powers of a gluttonous witch.

So, why was this happening?

Was there something I was unaware of?

His bewildered and questioning gaze seemed to ask that of me.

I couldn’t answer that question.

It was something I wanted to hide.

But during the battle, the acceleration of thoughts that made a second feel like a minute inevitably led him to the truth.

Yoon Si-woo’s gaze passed over the flames enveloping his sword, then briefly lingered on my leg.

Finally, it reached my right eye.

That eye had lost its light, now discolored to a gray hue that could no longer be hidden.

At the beginning of the fight, I had been slow to react to the attack coming from the right.

“…S-, you can’t be!!!”

The panic and concern in his eyes quickly transformed into horror.

How could he not realize it after seeing that?

In the end, my secret had been uncovered.

Having my hidden truth exposed felt like a tight grip around my heart.

But my feelings were hardly significant now.

The real issue was that Yoon Si-woo had realized I was paying some price to force myself to fight.

“I-I mean, what have I just…”

I could hear his mumbling, as if his spirit had left him.

I saw guilt swirling in his eyes.

Every time he swung his sword, something inside me broke.

Whenever he defeated an enemy, I was put in danger as well.

That guilt was holding onto his steps and fracturing his mind, which had been filled with thoughts of defeating the witch.

Seeing Yoon Si-woo crumble upon realizing the secret of my ability was precisely what I had feared and worried about.

Truth be told, I didn’t fail to understand his feelings.

If I were Yoon Si-woo, it wouldn’t be easy to bear the truth either.

In this situation, forcing him to fight was a harsh demand.

But even knowing all that, I had no choice but to shout towards him.

“─Don’t stop!!!”

It was a whip.

A reminder to Yoon Si-woo of everything that was at stake in this battle.

We stood here, shouldering everyone’s future.

The people had risked their lives to bring us this far for that reason.

If we hesitated even for a second, another life of someone who believed in us would extinguish.

Therefore, we absolutely couldn’t stop.

Even if my entire body burned away.

Even if that tore your heart to pieces.

Yet, for Yoon Si-woo, it was an unfair demand, but I had no option but to shout that out.

Whether my feelings were conveyed to him, I couldn’t tell.

However, there was one thing Yoon Si-woo could surely understand.

He must not stop, no matter what happens.

“Ugh…!!”

A myriad of emotions quickly passed over Yoon Si-woo’s face.

His lips were tightly pressed together, reflecting indescribable agony and sadness as he held my gaze.

But because Yoon Si-woo was a hero.

In the end, what remained from that turmoil was,

A determination.

“─Hold my hand!!!!”

His cry shifted his attention back from me to the witch.

A hand that stretched back filled the space his gaze had just left.

As I grasped his hand, Yoon Si-woo pulled me tightly towards him with one arm.

Not resisting, I was drawn closer, clinging tightly to Yoon Si-woo’s back.

That act was a declaration of resolve from Yoon Si-woo.

A resolve to fight alongside me until the very end, no matter how it turned out.

Only a few seconds had passed since my leg had stopped moving.

Overcoming pain and hesitation, Yoon Si-woo’s steps began to move once again.

To let him know that his choice was right, and to alleviate some of the guilt he felt towards me, I whispered in his ear.

“…It’s okay, Yoon Si-woo. I’m really okay. Don’t stop, no matter what.”

And the battle continued.

Honestly, I was worried whether Yoon Si-woo could fight properly.

He had just realized that something was wrong with me whenever he fought.

So I wondered if Yoon Si-woo could fight well even after knowing the truth.

“Damn it…!!!!”

Such thoughts were unnecessary worry.

If we had to defeat the witch, it would be best to do it as quickly as possible.

There was absolutely no hesitation visible in Yoon Si-woo as he swung his sword with a rage-filled shout.

The fierce momentum and expression were almost akin to that of a demon.

“Hah… Hah….”

As the fight continued, I could feel my energy gradually depleting.

Fearing that my arms might give out and I would fall from Yoon Si-woo, I gripped him tighter around the neck.

He might have found it troublesome, but Yoon Si-woo never once looked back at me.

He simply swung his sword unceasingly, painting red trails.

severed tentacles ignited, igniting the grassland in crimson flames.

Yoon Si-woo’s eyes, which I caught a glimpse of, were also tinted red, perhaps from that fiery glow.

In any case, perhaps thanks to Yoon Si-woo’s struggle,

After what felt like a breathtaking and prolonged battle,

The witch had lost all her many tentacles, leaving only her bare body.

“…Witch.”

Yoon Si-woo lifted his sword towards the witch before him.

The zone where the witch was located was already within reach of that sword.

Perhaps feeling a sense of crisis, the witch raised one hand, which had been supporting her massive body, and swung it down at us as if to crush us.

“Witch!!!”

With a voice dripping with hostility, Yoon Si-woo raised his sword high in defiance against the oncoming witch’s hand.

A single strike.

A red line was carved into the witch’s enormous arm and body.

The gluttonous witch was engulfed in flames, splitting along the line drawn.

Then,

Emerging from the split body of the gluttonous witch was a petite version of her.

“…Ugh?!”

Yoon Si-woo couldn’t hide his surprise at the unexpected situation.

But I immediately realized what had happened and shouted to Yoon Si-woo.

“C-Come on…! There’s no need to panic! That massive body was just made entirely of magical energy from the start!”

It was exactly as I said.

Considering the appearance of other witches, they were all around normal human size, not that gigantic.

The gluttonous witch had merely transformed the magical energy she had stockpiled into such a massive form.

It was no wonder her body size decreased suddenly when I used Eve’s ability; she used up the stored magical energy.

Anyway, I had a reason to believe that.

As soon as Yoon Si-woo cut the witch, the feeling came to me.

He must have depleted an enormous amount of magical energy that constituted her body all at once.

I gathered my dazed thoughts, and Yoon Si-woo stiffened his expression and asked.

“What, what do we do now?”

“Keep going, slice her! Until she runs out of magic and dies!!”

“…Damn it!!”

With my words, Yoon Si-woo closed his eyes tightly while suppressing a groan.

It seemed obvious that my state had worsened significantly right after he cut the gluttonous witch.

“…At least, I’ll finish this!!!”

Fortunately, there was no hesitation in Yoon Si-woo’s sword as he attacked the witch.

With bloodshot eyes, he hacked at the witch.

With each strike from Yoon Si-woo’s sword, the witch shrank down in size like peeling an onion.

Each time an agonizing scream echoed from the burnt witch’s mouth, I couldn’t contain my groan escaping too.

“Ugh, you wretched…!!!”

However, in my eyes, Yoon Si-woo, wielding the sword, appeared to be in the most agony.

In that place where everyone suffered, the magical energy burned and burned, and continued to burn.

And around the time I could not even count how much of my body had been damaged,

The gluttonous witch had lost all of the magical form she had once worn and shrank down to the smallest size possible.

-…Hungry…

She looked like a small girl who appeared to be no more than ten years old.

That was the true form of the gluttonous witch.

-…I’m so hungry…

The little girl, murmuring she was hungry, was enough to evoke sympathy from anyone watching.

But knowing that this little girl had taken many people’s lives, Yoon Si-woo’s sword held no hesitation against her.

“…If possible, aim for the heart!”

If the witch had a weak point, it would certainly be her heart. I advised Yoon Si-woo to target the girl’s heart.

Hearing my advice, Yoon Si-woo nodded and said,

“…I’ll finish this!!”

Shouting that, he thrust his sword toward the girl.

-…I’m so hungry…

The girl attempted to block the sword flying towards her with her hands.

But despite her resistance, Yoon Si-woo’s sword pierced through her hand and plunged deep into her chest.

It got lodged inside.

Only the tip stayed in.

And it couldn’t go any further.

“What…?!”

Feeling that something had gone wrong, Yoon Si-woo added more force to the sword.

Even then, the sword wouldn’t budge.

-I’m hungry, I’m so hungry!!!!

The girl, no, the witch screamed in agony.