Chapter 16: A Gleam of Hope in the Darkness

The legendary beast and the troll finally clashed head-on.

Dark battle aura and fiery colors collided, erupting into a brilliant blaze.

When everything finally settled, a figure was flung through the air without suspense… hurtling toward the dense forest behind Li Xian.

At first, Li Xian still looked completely unconcerned.

But when he saw the trajectory the troll was flying along, his expression gradually changed.

That direction… ‘wasn’t that the way he came from just moments ago?’

‘That foolish girl’—don’t tell him she still hadn’t left?!

Li Xian immediately thought of Sara.

That girl had been hiding there earlier, but he’d clearly told her: if anything dangerous happened, she was to run far away.

With how intense the battle had been, she should have already fled a good distance by now… right?

But reality didn’t seem to match his expectations.

Turning around, Li Xian could vaguely make out a small figure standing motionless among the thick trees.

“You idiot!”

He gritted his teeth and, without hesitation, dashed in Sara’s direction.

***

In truth, after witnessing the fierce fight between Matt and the troll, Sara had indeed tried to follow Li Xian’s advice and retreat further.

But after taking only a few steps and glancing at the dark forest around her, fear suddenly surged in her heart.

She turned back and looked at the figure growing farther and farther away.

For some reason, she just couldn’t bring herself to look away again.

She carefully stared at his back—terrified that it might vanish at any moment.

That back…

Just moments ago, it had reminded her of her father, bravely defeating the scar-faced man who had been hunting her.

She couldn’t leave.

It was like some deeply rooted instinctual decision.

Even though her heart was filled with doubts—even though she knew that once he learned the truth, he might stop protecting her, might get angry, might not forgive her—

At least for now, Sara couldn’t bring herself to abandon the only person who gave her a sliver of security in this cruel world.

And now, in this moment—

As she stared helplessly at the enormous troll’s body flying straight at her, Sara’s mind was flooded with countless thoughts.

She thought about running.

‘But could she really dodge it?’

‘Maybe, if she was lucky, she could avoid being crushed by the massive troll.’

‘But what then?’

Sara could clearly see the blaze chasing close behind that falling body—so fierce it dyed the sky blood-red.

The troll wouldn’t die from just this one blow.

And the Crimson Flame Wind Lion wouldn’t stop here either.

When a legendary beast strikes, even the aftermath alone is enough to kill her a thousand times over.

Sara’s body weakened.

She gave up the idea of dodging altogether.

The troll’s huge body, like a black mountain, came crashing down toward her.

In that moment when death drew near, time seemed to stretch endlessly—becoming torturously long.

Holding her breath, Sara thought of many, many things…

Ever since her parents died, her life had been aimless and chaotic.

She’d been hunted, left to sleep in the wild, starving, freezing, unable to rest at night.

Even taking another step forward hurt—her feet were covered in cuts from the journey.

All the suffering she had never experienced before, protected under her parents’ wings—she had gone through it all in just a little over ten days.

She had never thought of herself as unlucky.

But after losing her happiness so suddenly, she finally understood what true misfortune meant.

She realized just how hard—how painful—it was to survive alone.

There were nights when the bitter cold nearly broke her.

Nights when she even considered letting her enemies kill her just to end the suffering.

But clearly, even that wish was a luxury.

Her enemies didn’t want her to die—they wanted her to suffer, to die slowly and painfully.

Sara didn’t have the courage or resolve to end her own life.

All she could do was escape—confused, desperate—following her parents’ dying wish: to flee to the imperial capital.

Her mother’s teacher was there.

If she could reach that place, she would be safe.

No one would be able to hurt her again.

But she couldn’t cross the Northern Wastes Forest alone.

Taking the long route around it was no different than suicide.

She was racing against death, and against those who wanted to kill her in the most brutal way possible.

That’s why she had no choice but to go to the Adventurer’s Guild and post that request.

In that small town, she waited three days—nervous and uncertain, holding on to the smallest thread of hope.

And then, she met someone willing to take the job.

A big brother who looked only a few years older than herself.

Of course, she knew—he probably had no real chance of getting her through the forest alive.

But after waiting three days, the fear and tension had become unbearable.

She was tired of constantly being afraid—tired of the pain of struggling alone after losing her parents.

She just wanted to gamble one last time.

To bet that their luck would hold and they could make it through.

To bet that this big brother was a good person—one who, even after learning the truth, would give her a chance to make things right.

After all, things couldn’t get any worse than they already were…

In the end, their luck hadn’t been very good.

But the big brother turned out to be far stronger than she ever imagined.

So strong, in fact, that it made her feel like her father had come back to protect her.

Hope began to return.

She truly wanted to live.

But the heavens always seemed to enjoy playing cruel jokes.

Just when she had finally begun to hope again…

Sara’s thoughts were cut off as the troll’s massive body filled her vision.

She felt the weight of it falling mercilessly toward her.

And behind that black mass, she could see a red so intense it felt like the entire world was about to burn.

That was a legendary beast—something that seemed to exist only in stories.

Even if her parents had still been alive, they wouldn’t have stood a chance against it.

‘Who could possibly save her now, from the hands of a legendary monster?’

“Maybe dying like this… is actually the best ending?”

“Maybe… I was destined to die from the start?”

A tragic smile formed on Sara’s face as her exhaustion finally caught up to her.

She let her body relax completely, quietly waiting for death to arrive.

But she felt guilty for dragging that big brother into this.

She just hoped he was strong enough to escape…

Sara slowly closed her eyes.

That blazing red had now caught up with the black.

The searing heat felt clearer and more intense than ever.

In the next second, it would swallow her whole…

The same flames also threatened to engulf Ellie, who was now semi-conscious and nearly fainting.

***

But the next second—

It was fated not to come.

Not yet.

Not in this very moment—

In the last sliver of light that Sara’s eyes could still catch, A familiar figure appeared in her vision.

The same back she had just been staring at…