Rose crashed heavily against the cave wall.
Blood trickled from the corner of her lips as fragments of shattered vines scattered across the ground.
Only moments earlier, she had raised an enormous wall of thorned vines in front of them.
It hadn't mattered.
The black-red flames simply swallowed everything.
The vines burned to ash before they could even slow the attack.
Rose slowly pushed herself back to her feet, wiping the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand.
"...This is going to be a long fight."
Not far away, Nora remained standing.
Unlike Rose, she had managed to avoid the full force of the attack by relying on False Glimpse and the threads of destiny.
Even so, the overwhelming heat had left her breathing heavily.
She looked toward the dragon.
"I thought you said there were only Initiate creatures here."
Thread Breaker appeared in her hand with a faint silver glow.
Rose didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she pulled back the string of a bow formed entirely from flowering vines.
Essence condensed.
A thorn-covered arrow materialized.
She released it.
The arrow shot forward like a green comet.
The Obsidian Dragon merely lowered its head.
Its mouth opened slightly.
A stream of black fire burst forward.
The thorn arrow disappeared instantly.
Not broken.
Burned.
Reduced to nothing.
Rose clicked her tongue.
"Tough..."
Nora stared at the dragon.
Then she calmly spoke.
"Can you distract it for me?"
Rose glanced sideways.
"What are you planning?"
"I want to study its destiny."
Nora's eyes never left the dragon.
"I think..."
"...I'm close to reaching my Third Mastery."
Rose immediately understood.
She sighed.
"You know my Flaw."
"I can't fight forever."
Nora nodded.
"I know."
Rose twirled her bow once before smiling bitterly.
"I'll buy you five minutes."
At that exact moment—
The dragon gathered another sphere of black fire inside its mouth.
Rose's smile disappeared.
"...Three minutes."
Nora nodded.
"That's enough."
Rose immediately rushed forward.
Flowers blossomed beneath her feet.
Pink essence spread through the cave as countless thorny vines erupted from the ground.
Some wrapped around the dragon's legs.
Others shot toward its wings.
The creature roared.
Its claws tore the vines apart effortlessly.
Even so, Rose never stopped moving.
She attacked from every direction.
Every second she gained...
Was another second for Nora.
Meanwhile—
Nora slowly closed her eyes.
The Seven Divine Arms unfolded behind her.
Golden-black threads floated around her body.
Then—
Her Third Eye opened.
The world changed.
Everything disappeared.
Only destiny remained.
The dragon's thread appeared before her.
It was enormous.
Far larger than the Stone Knights'.
Countless smaller threads surrounded it like branches growing from a giant tree.
Nora frowned.
"...It's complicated."
She reached toward it.
Nothing happened.
The thread rejected her.
She tried again.
Again...
Nothing.
Then—
Within the countless intertwined strands...
She noticed something.
A single lonely thread.
Separated.
Almost forgotten.
Nora's eyes brightened.
"There you are."
She slowly extended one strand of her own essence.
The two threads approached each other.
For a brief moment...
They resisted.
Nora silently prayed.
"Connect..."
Her essence trembled violently.
If the dragon's will proved stronger...
The connection would collapse instantly.
One heartbeat.
Two.
Three.
Then—
The two threads touched.
A connection formed.
Nora smiled.
"It worked."
But her smile quickly faded.
The connection was weak.
Far too weak.
Without hesitation, she guided more strands of essence toward the same point.
One.
Five.
Ten.
Twenty.
Golden-black essence rapidly poured out of her body.
The connection thickened.
Her breathing became heavier.
Sweat rolled down her forehead.
She could already feel her essence reserves dropping dangerously fast.
Even so...
She continued.
Far away, Rose was still fighting.
Flowers bloomed across the battlefield.
Some exploded into poisonous pollen.
Others released thorn whips capable of restraining monsters.
Yet the Obsidian Dragon simply burned everything.
Its black flames reduced every flower to ash.
Rose barely avoided another claw strike.
Blood splashed across her shoulder.
She ignored it.
Three minutes.
She only needed three minutes.
Back where Nora stood—
She examined the connected destiny carefully.
The thread was already hers.
Naturally...
A question appeared in her mind.
"If I can cut destiny..."
"Can I alter it?"
Curiosity won.
Nora gently attempted to reshape the thread.
The destiny changed.
Only for a brief second.
Then...
It snapped back into its original form.
Her eyes widened.
"So..."
"I can't alter destiny."
"Not yet."
The realization came quickly.
Changing destiny required overwhelming will.
Her current strength simply wasn't enough.
She sighed softly.
"So that's my limit."
Her essence reserves had nearly emptied.
There wasn't enough left for another attempt.
Fortunately...
She no longer needed one.
The connection had already been established.
Nora slowly tightened her grip around Thread Breaker.
Her eyes became calm.
Almost emotionless.
"Super Slash."
The sword moved.
It wasn't a grand swing.
It wasn't fast.
It was...
Simple.
The blade lightly brushed across the connected thread.
Nothing happened.
Then—
Nora dismissed her God Body.
The Seven Divine Arms vanished.
Her body became unbearably heavy.
Every remaining drop of essence had disappeared.
She collapsed onto one knee.
Far away—
The Obsidian Dragon suddenly froze.
Rose instinctively jumped backward.
"...?"
Crack.
A tiny fracture appeared across the creature's obsidian scales.
Then another.
And another.
Within seconds...
Its entire body was covered in countless glowing cracks.
The dragon let out one final roar.
BOOOOOOM!
Its enormous body exploded into countless fragments of flesh, obsidian scales, and black flames.
Silence filled the cave.
Nora heard the familiar whisper inside her mind.
You have slain an Awakened Devil: Obsidian Dragon.
A faint smile appeared on her pale face.
Then darkness almost claimed her vision.
Before she could completely collapse—
A warm pink aura surrounded her.
Rose had arrived.
Gentle petals floated around Nora before dissolving into her body.
Almost immediately...
Her empty essence reserves began recovering at an astonishing speed.
Nora looked at Rose in surprise.
"You can..."
"...restore someone else's essence?"
Rose rolled her eyes.
"Of course."
She helped Nora back to her feet.
"But don't get used to it."
She looked directly into Nora's eyes.
"Whatever that technique was..."
"It works."
"But every time you use it, you look like you're about to die."
She folded her arms.
"I'm not going to refill your essence every single battle."
Nora smiled awkwardly.
"Don't worry."
"I won't use it carelessly again."
Rose nodded.
"Good."
She looked deeper into the cave.
"We've already wasted enough time."
Nora tightened her grip around Thread Breaker.
The two exchanged a brief glance.
Then, without another word...
They continued their journey deeper into Eden Valley.