An Hour to Spare
Hah. Hah.
Night had fallen. In the forest draped in darkness came the sound of shallow, ragged breathing.
"Please hold on, Simon."
They say trials make a girl strong. Camibarez, her body covered in old scars and fresh scrapes, was making her way back to where Simon lay.
The net she dragged behind her was laden with all manner of fruits, antidotes, and the corpses of monsters.
"I'll definitely save you, Simon……!"
She was almost there.
Pushing through the dense undergrowth, her steps faltered for a moment as she drew near the spot where Simon lay.
A jolt of fear shot through her. What if something had happened to him in the brief time she'd been away?
This is no time to act like a fool!
She wiped her blurry eyes with her sleeve and finally reached Simon's side.
"Simon!!"
Thankfully, Simon was exactly where she'd left him.
She tossed the net aside and rushed over to check his condition. She made sure he was breathing properly, pressed her ear to his chest, and laid a hand on his forehead.
"……Huh?"
Somehow.
He was in far better shape than before. His eyes were still closed, but his breathing had grown calm, and the color had returned considerably to his face.
He— he's got incredible stamina.
There was simply nothing to say but that he was amazing. Simon had done his absolute best to hold on, which meant it was now her turn to solve this. She pulled on the net, spread out her gathered supplies, and set to work.
Fwsh, fwsh.
A small fire still glowed in the dry firewood Simon seemed to have prepared in advance. She stoked it larger, puffing at it to raise the heat.
Chop. Chop.
Using a broad nearby rock as a cutting board, she crushed the fruits with her knife to extract their juice. She diced the herbs finely and set them aside, then dragged over the corpse of the Dire Wolf she'd just caught.
There were no werewolves in this forest, so this would have to do.
Squeeelch!
During the island training assessment, butchering a monster had been beyond even her wildest dreams—but now, with Simon's life on the line, hesitation and fear were luxuries she couldn't afford. Boldly she slit open the belly and extracted the organs she needed.
One thought consumed her: save Simon, no matter what.
Finishing quickly, she pulled out the portable magic cauldron from her antidote kit, grabbed Simon's as well, and dashed off with one in each hand.
"Water! Water!"
There was a stream nearby. She ran until her lungs burned, scooped up valley water until the cauldrons brimmed full, and sprinted back.
"Aaack!"
But she snagged her foot on a vine and went tumbling down. All the water in the magic cauldrons spilled out, and for an instant, despair and exhaustion made her whole body tremble—but there wasn't a second to waste sitting there.
She ran back to the stream, refilled the cauldrons, and returned.
"I will save you, Simon!"
Muttering it over and over like a mantra, she repeated those words to herself.
Having made it back safely, she set the magic cauldrons over the fire—one directly over the high flames, the other a little farther away—and began the compounding.
Following her Toxicology textbook, she added the fruits and antidote herbs one by one.
"Whew! Whew!"
She fanned the flames, ladled out oil, and poured in reagents with a shake-shake of the bottle. Into the cauldron over the high fire, she dropped in the Dire Wolf's gallbladder whole.
And so, with just over an hour left before the exam ended, she finally completed the antidote.
Now all I have to do is feed it to Simon!
She carried it over in the cauldron itself. Kneeling demurely beside Simon's head, she drew in one deep breath.
Thump-thump-thump!
Her heart pounded so loudly she couldn't even hear the night birds calling.
Before her lay the blue-haired boy, defenseless, his brow slightly furrowed.
And above all—this angle.
From this angle, the back of his neck was perfectly in view.
F- focus. I have to focus.
Squeezing her eyes shut for a moment to steady her breathing, she ladled a spoonful of antidote from the cauldron with a wooden spoon and brought it toward Simon's mouth.
Rattle-rattle-rattle.
But suddenly her arm shook violently, and half the antidote spilled out.
Wh- why won't my hands stop shaking!
She'd made it all the way to the end, only to fall apart at the very last step!
Still, she gathered her courage. This time, holding the spoon reverently in both hands, she scooped up another dose of the antidote and brought it to Simon's lips.
But then—how was she supposed to feed it to him?
"S- Simon? Say aaah."
As if he'd actually understood, Simon really did open his mouth. Camibarez quickly poured the antidote in.
Simon closed his mouth again, and she ladled another spoonful.
"Say aaah!"
As she kept spoon-feeding Simon the antidote, she gradually felt her body heat rising.
Blood rushed to her face, and her nose tingled. Before she knew it, a warm, breathy sound was escaping her lips.
Again and again.
Again and again, her gaze drifted to the back of Simon's neck.
She had already released Ursula's blood in her desperate search for herbs and her battles with the monsters.
Something dreadful in the abyss lifted its head and whispered.
Forget the antidote.
Sink your fangs into that pale nape right now.
Isn't that exactly what you truly want?
Every time she bent down to feed Simon the antidote, her fangs flashed, straining toward the back of his neck.
Her body and her soul ached for Simon's blood.
No.
She steeled her heart.
She could never, ever hurt Simon.
She would absolutely not lose to such a filthy instinct.
With tremendous effort, she managed to feed him the third spoonful.
And then—
Hack! Hack!
Simon coughed.
"Simon!"
His shoulders shuddering as his whole body expressed just how bitter it was, Simon frowned faintly, looked at Camibarez, and said:
"……Wow. That stuff works instantly."
"Sob!"
A tearful wail escaped Camibarez's lips.
"Simoooon!!"
She threw her arms around him. Simon smiled and gently stroked her hair.
"Thank you, Kami. You did great."
"Hic! Waaah!"
The medicine had done its job. Simon was now able to move his body with ease.
Once Camibarez had calmed down, Simon asked about their situation.
"How much time is left?"
"L- less than an hour!"
"Then we go right now."
Rising to his feet, Simon flexed his fists open and closed, then looked back at her.
"Time to get revenge on the scorpion."
She wiped the tears clinging to the corners of her eyes and answered with a radiant smile.
"Yes! Simon!"
Camibarez had also taken the antidote in advance.
The two of them ran at full speed, returning once more to the desert.
Scorpions, they said, were primarily active at night, when darkness had swallowed the day.
Come out, come out.
Simon brazenly raised his Jet-Black and walked along, splashing the Dire Wolf's blood from earlier as he went.
Guuuuumble!
The response was immediate. As if they'd been waiting for this rematch, the sandy ground began to surge upward.
"Simon! Over there!"
"Yeah, I see it. But……."
There were two mounds of rising sand. Before long, two scorpion tails flashed and burst out.
BOOM!
Simon and Camibarez both leapt backward to evade. Simon drew a smile at the corner of his mouth.
"Looks like it brought its mate along."
-Kiiiriririri!
Two Desert Scorpions. One of them bore a cracked carapace and traces of bleeding—it was almost certainly the very same one they'd fought earlier.
Perhaps its venom had concentrated from its injuries, because it moved with savage aggression.
"Ready?"
"Yes! Simon!"
The enemy had doubled in number, but as long as they were prepared for the poison, the Desert Scorpion's danger level dropped dramatically.
The two scorpions kicked up sand as they charged.
"Come out."
Simon dropped the Golem Core to the ground. Around it, the Cloud he'd prepared in advance was already swirling.
"Blood Golem."
The core and the Cloud converged toward the center as if fusing together, and before long two massive arms rose up and blocked the charging scorpions head-on.
Guuuurk!
A torso, legs, and a face rapidly took shape. As the Blood Golem slowly rose to its feet, it pinned the scorpion it had seized with overwhelming strength and bore down on it.
Hsss.
Simon moved his arm. At his gesture, the Blood Golem pressed the scorpion's face down with one hand while hammering the other fist against its carapace, shattering it, then drove its fist into the exposed flesh beneath.
Blood burst forth, and the wounds Simon had suffered began to heal through the 'Vampiric' effect.
Fwoom!
The remaining scorpion was Camibarez's to handle. Hopping this way and that in frantic retreat, she still managed to prepare her dark magic.
<Blood Thread>
Once again, a Hemomancy binding technique burst forth.
Simon, too, charged in, raising the Cloud that remained after forming the Blood Golem.
The two of them darted about like crossing flashes of light. Lines of red and blue-green whipped through the air like ribbons, tangling the two scorpions together.
The scorpions lashed their tails at the pair, but it was useless.
I can see every one of their movements!
Having fought them once already, their patterns had grown familiar. The enraged scorpions sprayed clouds of venom, but with antibodies now developed and the antidote in their systems, the poison couldn't touch them.
And then.
It's done.
Amid the dizzying dance of evasion, Simon completed a new curse.
He turned his head to the side and shouted.
"Kami! Fall back now!"
"Yes!"
Camibarez withdrew, and Simon manifested the curse magic circle—two circles joined as one, shaped like a yin-yang mark.
He peeled them apart and attached one to each scorpion.
<Hostile>
The curse took effect.
The two scorpions, who had been attacking the humans in perfect concert, locked eyes with each other—and then, shrieking, began fighting one another.
Clash!
They shattered each other's carapaces with their tails and swung their forelegs, colliding body to body in a ferocious struggle.
"S- Simon? What's this……?"
"Among confusion-type curses, it's the Curse of Hostility."
One of the Four Great Curses Bahil had taught him.
Two magic circles joined as one—and when attached to two different targets, the circle's effect drove the afflicted into extreme hostility, forcing them to fight each other.
It was practically a monster-exclusive curse.
It could be used on humans, and it could stir hostility, but the moment they realized a curse was in play, allies would never turn on each other. At most, if the curse were applied covertly, its creator Bahil had explained, it might achieve the effect of sowing discord.
While the scorpions battered each other, Camibarez used her Blood Threads to bind the two together into a single mass.
"Come back, Blood Golem."
Simon moved into the final phase.
The golem's body collapsed like melting ice cream, and only the Golem Core clattered to the ground. The body then became Cloud once more and flowed back into Simon's magic circle.
Simon collapsed the circle's magnification ratio, then drew forth a dark-blue bow and arrow of light.
<Simon Remake - Blood Arrow>
Arrow nocked to string, Simon took aim at the scorpions.
Bound by Camibarez's binding technique, the scorpions belatedly came to their senses as the curse's effect wore off—but—
Too late!
The instant Simon released the string, a line of dark power, all its destructive force converged into a single point, bored into the space between the scorpions.
FLASH!
The surroundings drowned in darkness.
GUUUUUMBLE!
A colossal explosion followed, swallowing everything. A fan of Jet-Black shockwaves radiated out from the point of impact, shredding the scorpions to pieces.
The towering sand fountains and the concussive blast that followed forced Simon and Camibarez to raise their arms and shield their faces.
"Haaaah."
Simon dispersed the Jet-Black bow into the empty air and released the breath he'd been holding.
Camibarez beamed.
"W- we did it, Simon!"
"Great work, Kami."
The two finally smiled and high-fived.
Cleared by the skin of their teeth, five minutes before the exam's end.