"I''m tired, and I injured myself excessively much. I can''t even heal myself now."


    Orion was on top of the ''Corrupted Lord'' he had just defeated.


    Karteira, holding Amelia up, entered the room with careful steps.


    "It''s done? Is everything dead?"


    She looked around, not understanding a thing.


    "ORION! Get over here! That wasn''t what we talked about before!"


    With a faint smile, he looked toward the ground.


    ''I was expecting that. I guess I won''t avoid another earful from her.''


    He shrugged and tried to jump down. Just when he thought his body was fine, he lost his balance and slid on the centipede''s shell.


    When he touched the ground, his body rolled a few times, and he found himself on his back.


    "Shi-"


    *cough*


    "Shit."


    He coughed another mouthful of blood when he tried to stand back up, but remained on his back all the same. Out of energy, and as the adrenalin finally washed away from his system, he could only remain powerless.


    "Wait right there! We''re coming!"


    His friends began to move faster to be by his side, as they didn''t know how bad he was.


    Arriving at his side, his state made their breath stop. He was in such a deplorable state that they would even wonder if it was possible for him to remain conscious.


    He explained calmly that his body was damaged.


    "Your arm is broken?! Why is there so much blood coming from your face?! What are we supposed to do?!"


    Amelia was freaking out.


    "Calm down... It''s not that bad."


    *Cough*


    "If you can wait until I get better before shouting at me, I''ll explain what happened."


    With unusual anger, she glared at him.


    "Stop speaking! You''ve been coughing blood until now, which means you also have a perforated organ somewhere! What do you mean by ''it''s not that bad''? You''re clearly dying!"


    Seeing that she wasn''t buying his excuse, he closed his eyes.


    ''I tried. I didn''t intend to worry them this much, but there was definitely no other way.''


    He inhaled and exhaled, feeling his body grow colder from the amount of blood he had lost.


    ''I might have really pushed myself too hard.''


    His thoughts became foggy.


    "I''m really fine, though. I''m not frail enough to die from something like this. It hurts, obviously, and I need rest to recreate the blood I lost."


    "Really?"


    Karteira placed a knee at his side, and Amelia dropped on the other side.


    "Really, I wouldn''t want you two to be more worried than you already are, and lying wouldn''t even be funny."


    Karteira smirked at him.


    "If you say you are fine, then let me say one thing. You don''t look very fresh at all."


    Grabbing her right eye, which was still dripping blood, she mocked him.


    "You don''t look that much better. What happened? Did you fight against a corrupt insect I''ve missed?"


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    She shook her head and looked at him with worry.


    "You made me stress too much, moron!"


    His eyes opened wide as he expressed a slight shock.


    "Oh. I see. My bad."


    He was left speechless. What could he say in this situation.


    Amelia pinched his cheek from the side.


    "Ouch, what did I do?"


    "You don''t know? Seriously?"


    He turned to look at the other side in shame, but Amelia grabbed his head and turned it back to look at her.


    Forced to acknowledge his mistake, he spoke.


    "No, I do. I''ve been reckless again. That''s why you''re angry, right?"


    She stared at him with a neutral expression.


    "That''s part of it. You''ve deliberately ignored us and didn''t explain your plan. You''ve almost killed yourself, and you even managed to make me and Karteira worry to such a point."


    It was a miracle that she wasn''t shouting at him.


    "There''s a limit to how much you can do alone. Wasn''t that one of your own sayings? So why?"


    Orion remained silent. He simply couldn''t look her in the eyes.


    ''This was indeed my own saying. But I won''t regret doing this. If it can give me one more day in this world, it is worth it.''


    He looked at both of them and explained briefly.


    "Look at the roots; you''ll understand immediately."


    Amelia slammed her fists on her thighs.


    "Don''t try to dodge the conversation."


    But Orion was serious.


    "No, I''m not doing that. Just look."


    Hesitantly, the two women looked above them.


    "!"


    Surprise painted their faces.


    "This was not what we were told!"


    Karteira exclaimed at the dreary sight of Tiohr-nam''s roots.


    "Right? I panicked when I saw the centipede rip the roots from the ceiling."


    "There was no time to lose, and going back to you might have wasted the precious time remaining for Tiohr-nam. This is how horrific it was at that moment."


    Indeed, the ball of roots was dangling from the roof, but the supporting roots were almost all ripped off. If all were to be destroyed, Tiohr-nam''s energy would have been completely depleted, effectively killing her in the process.


    "I see now. I already knew you would only move if it was necessary, but you still did something far too reckless for your own good."


    Amelia bent over his face and stared into his eyes very closely, pressuring him.


    "I want three days of rest from you, you understand? I won''t accept any training in this state, even if you can heal your own injuries."


    With a sigh, Orion gave up before even trying.


    "Fine, I won''t go out of my way to make you hate me."


    With a smile, Amelia straightened and dragged her blonde hair behind her ear.


    ''You know I won''t ever hate you.''


    With this thought in mind, she watched over him.


    Karteira was still looking at the ball of roots. The pulsing light inside was continuously going, but this was not her main focus.


    ''Mother, we made it. We destroyed all of your pain, and we managed to save your life. I hope you''re fine.''


    Her blue eye fell to Orion, and then to Amelia.


    "Thank you, both of you. With your help, I''ve managed to protect my mother and the village. Something that plagued us for so many centuries finally ceased to exist."


    She bowed, her head bent over Orion.


    "It was the plan. I recover the ring, and you protect the tree. I don''t know if I would''ve helped in other circumstances, but here we are."


    With a satisfied expression, Orion nodded.


    "Without you, Orion and I wouldn''t even have made it in two days. I''m sure it would already be too late."


    Amelia also acknowledged Karteira''s prowess during this mission.


    "Thank you! I''m glad it was you two that came into our realm."


    She extended her right hand to him, and he grabbed it with his left hand. She stood up, helping him in the process.


    Once up, he began to wobble, as if he would fall once again to the ground, so Amelia and Karteira both grabbed him by the waist to support him.


    "Thank you. I don''t know if I''ll be able to walk by myself today."


    "Don''t worry, you''ve done enough. Moreover, you still need to explain what the stuff you transformed into was."


    With a perplexed frown, he shook his head.


    "I don''t know either. If you need a good answer, ''Ego'' is your best bet."


    "Ego?"


    Karteira was not told about the ''Key'' and the ''Shackles'' yet, but it was a matter of time since she earned their trust.


    "We''ll explain later. This is a bit too long of a story to talk about in here."


    *Rumble*


    The ground began to shake, alerting the group.


    "What''s happening? Is the underground collapsing?"


    Amelia grabbed Orion tighter. He looked around, but there was no trace of any dirt falling.


    "Let''s wait it out."


    His crazy request made Amelia panic.


    "Are you crazy? I don''t want us to be buried alive!"


    "Even if we move out, with me in this state, it is a matter of time before we die in a tunnel. It''s safer in here."


    He nodded internally, keeping the next comment to himself.


    ''Relatively speaking.''


    But the reason for this shaking was unexpected. Many roots pierced the ceiling and lodged themselves in the ground. The process kept going even after five minutes.


    "Mother might have awoken, and she felt the presence of the corrupt beasts having disappeared. She''s trying to find us."


    One root appeared above Orion and slowly descended from the roof. It touched the ground and gently swiped across the ground toward the group. It touched Karteira''s leg first and moved around it, even wrapping itself around it.


    The root moved until it arrived at her head, and it patted her head.


    "Mother!"


    Tears formed around her only eye. She felt Tiohr-nam congratulating her and thanking her with this small contact.


    Then, the root moved in the opposite direction away from Orion and completely missed. There was no one in this spot, and that made Orion smirk for some reason.


    Moving back toward Karteira, the root finally touched Orion''s neck.


    It gently wrapped itself around his neck and immediately released it, maybe because it noticed where it was wrapped around. She kept on touching parts of his body, and at two points, it showed frantic movement.


    Exactly when it touched the two broken bones.


    ''Seems like I''m going to have an earful from Tiohr-nam too.''


    Lastly, the root touched Amelia. Since she was slightly smaller than Orion, the root left his neck and wrapped around her eyes.


    This time again, he laughed. For some reason, this was hilarious to him, possibly because his nerves were free of stress.


    "Maybe I''m way too tired to stay serious."


    "Well, don''t die from laughing too much, alright?"


    "I''ll try."


    He wiped his tears away and observed as the root patted Amelia''s head as it did with Karteira.


    The root suddenly pointed at Orion, and then at the root sphere dangling above them.


    They all looked up and witnessed the roots slowly slide away from each other. More and more layers disappeared, and only a silver ring with a purple jewel remained.


    The ring lost its support with the last root moving away, and it began to be affected by gravity. It quickly fell to the ground, leaving a small frame of time for Orion to catch it.


    He extended his left arm forward and opened his hand. The ring fell into it, and lightning sparks erupted around it the instant Orion touched it.


    As if it were recognizing a trusted person, the lightning stopped, and the ring returned to normal.


    ''Father, I got your ring back.''


    Orion closed his eyes while holding the ring close to his heart.