The bull-headed creature lifted Theo high into the air and tightened its grip around his throat. Blood slowly trickled from Theo’s mouth. His face turned blue, and his body grew weaker with every passing second.

"I-I can’t—"

Theo’s faint voice echoed through the room, unsettling her thoughts. She scanned her surroundings, trying to find a way to save Theo. However, every option seemed hopeless. Thick pink fog obscured her vision, leaving her to see the room as a hazy blur.

"I have to find a way to—"

Suddenly, Nalira caught sight of several white points of light swaying within the pink mist. The lights hung in the air directly above the bull-headed creature’s head. Although she couldn’t make out their exact shape, her instincts told her they might belong to a chandelier or some other hanging fixture inside the room.

’There it is. I can use that to bring this creature down.’

Without wasting a second, Nalira sprang to her feet and fired several fireballs toward the cluster of lights. Instantly, the sound of shattering glass echoed through the room, followed by the sharp snap of metal as it gave way.

"CRASH!"

A tremendous impact shook the entire room. The bull-headed creature let out a painful roar that shattered the silence, followed by the deafening sound of something crashing heavily onto the floor. Although the thick fog still obscured her vision, Nalira knew her attack had worked. The strike had incapacitated the creature in an instant. Good. This was their chance to escape.

"...Elsie." Nalira gently tapped Chelsie’s cheek. "Elsie, wake up."

Chelsie’s eyes slowly fluttered open. "Li... Lira?" Confusion spread across her face. "What happened? What about that terrifying creature?"

"Elsie, we don’t have time to talk about that right now." Nalira helped Chelsie to her feet. "We need to find Theo and get out of this room as quickly as possible."

Chelsie nodded. "Uhm... I understand."

The two of them quickly moved toward the creature. As they approached, they noticed countless shards of glass scattered across the floor, covered in a strange black-purple liquid. The broken glass came from a massive chandelier that now pinned the bull-headed creature beneath its weight. The impact had clearly incapacitated it.

"Theo!" Chelsie shouted in panic. "Where is he? Why can’t we see—"

"Gkh! Gkh!"

Theo slowly rose from behind the wreckage of the shattered chandelier, coughing violently. "Damn it." He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and glared at the fallen creature. "That bastard almost killed me."

"Oh my God, Theo!" Chelsie immediately ran toward Theo, reaching out her hand. "Let me help you up before—"

"No." Theo immediately brushed aside Chelsie’s outstretched hand and pulled the shard of glass from his thigh by himself. Blood streamed down his leg, but he barely reacted. "I’m fine. I don’t need your help."

"But the wound on your leg looks serious." Chelsie glanced at the blood running down his hand. "I need to heal it before it gets wor—"

"I don’t need anyone’s help!" Theo shouted, instantly silencing her. He forced himself to stand straighter despite the pain. "I can still move. See?"

"...."

"...In that case, we need to leave this place before that creature wakes up," Nalira said as she walked past them. "We don’t have much time."

Without wasting any time, they immediately left the room, trying to get out of the house as quickly as possible. However, finding the exit wasn’t as easy as they’d imagined. A thick cloud of pink fog filled the hallway (much thicker than when they were inside the room), so they had to be extremely careful to make their way out of this place.

"Damn it," Theo grumbled from the back of the group. "I feel like a blind man right now." He dragged his hand along the wall beside him. "And why do we keep touching the walls anyway?"

"Uhm... it helps us navigate." Chelsie followed closely behind Nalira. "It was Nalira’s idea, and I think it makes sense." She ran her fingers across the smooth surface of the wall. "At least if we keep one hand on something stable, we can avoid getting lost in all this fog."

"...Keep moving, and don’t take your hands off the wall." Nalira, who led the group from the front, glanced back at Theo and Chelsie. "And whatever you do, don’t touch or knock over anything in this corridor."

"Uhm... I understand."

Slowly, the three of them continued down the corridor.

Then an eerie sound echoed from somewhere behind them.

The noise resembled metal scraping against a wall. The harsh screech stretched through the corridor and pierced their ears.

"Aw, damn it." Theo shook his head and looked over his shoulder. Through the thick fog, he spotted the silhouette of the bull-headed creature slowly advancing toward them. "That thing is coming this way." Theo’s expression darkened. "We need to move faster. Now."

The three of them quickened their pace until Nalira finally spotted the exit door that Theo had broken open earlier. However, just as she was about to reach the door, Chelsie suddenly pulled her hand away from it.

"...Elsie, what’s—"

’THUNK!’

A massive axe slammed into the floor directly in front of the doorway.Nalira froze.For a brief moment, shock flashed across her face. The axe’s blade had buried itself deep into the wooden floor, completely blocking the exit. That had been close. If Chelsie hadn’t pulled her back at the last second, the weapon would have split her skull open.

"Lira!" Chelsie tightened her grip on Nalira’s arm. "Are you okay?"

".... Yes, thank you, Elsie."

"Ah, thank goodness." Chelsie let out a long sigh of relief. "We owe that to Theo. He spotted the creature throwing the axe at us and warned me in time to—"

"Hey, hey, we don’t have time for this." Theo quickly moved past the two of them and headed toward the exit. "Come on. That bastard is still chasing us."

A cloud of pink mist greeted them again as they made it out of Miss Daisy’s house. They immediately quickened their pace across Miss Daisy’s yard before finally reaching the front gate.

"Just a little farther..." Theo muttered between breaths. "We just need to keep running before—"

Suddenly, his leg gave out beneath him. "Argh!" Theo crashed hard onto the ground. Fresh blood poured from the wound in his thigh and stained the stone path beneath him.

"Theo!" Chelsei immediately checked Theo’s leg. "Oh, no... the wound has gotten worse. You can’t move now. I have to heal the wound on your leg right away."

"No." Theo gritted his teeth and tried to force himself back onto his feet. "I can still—"

’CRASH!’

"Argh. Damn it!"

"Theo, stay still and don’t move." Chelsie immediately began chanting her healing spell. "I have to heal your wound before—"

’"GRAAAAARRGH!"

"Oh, no." Theo fell silent. His face turned pale as he saw the creature behind them. "That creature... that creature is already here."

"...Elsie, focus on healing Theo." Nalira slowly swung her sword to the side, channeling the last of her mana into the blade. "I’ll hold this creature off for as long as I can."

"Uhm... all right, Lira." Chelsie nodded. "Please be careful."

"...I’ll make sure this creature doesn’t lay a finger on either of you." She raised her sword and pointed the tip directly at the monster. "No matter what."