To describe Hyun-Jae's condition in a few simple words, it was simply horrifying. Her entire back was completely burnt beyond recognition. Her skin and muscles were destroyed, some of her ribs could even be seen.
A normal person would've died instantly from such a hit. But, Talon could feel that Hyun-Jae still had a pulse, albeit a very weak one.
He knew that if he left her here, she was bound to die.
"... Ta...lon..." The girl in his arms murmured weakly with a barely audible voice.
Just hearing her voice made his dark expression turn even darker. To see her in such a condition twisted his heart greatly. He felt his hands shaking slightly as he stared at her eyes.
"I'm here, Hyun-Jae... I'm here..." He assured her with a gentle voice as he slowly pulled something from his pocket.
It was a big vile filled with a bright red liquid. Opening the vile, Talon tried to put the vile near Hyun-Jae's mouth. But, as he poured the liquid into her mouth, she couldn't move her lips to drink it and so it spilled outside.
'She can't even move her mouth...' Talon didn't even know how to feel at that moment. He had reached a level of anger that weirdly made him very calm, on the surface at least.
Clenching the vile tightly, Talon inhaled a deep breath before he poured the vile into his mouth and threw it to the side before he gently held Hyun-Jae's cheek. Then, slowly, he closed up on her face and made their lips connect.
The feeling of her soft yet dry lips was something Talon never felt before. It was a new yet incredibly pleasant feeling. But, at that moment, he didn't really care about such unimportant details when Hyun-Jae's life was in such a dire state.
'I won't let you die... I won't. You aren't allowed to die. Not now, nor ever.' He thought to himself as he left the liquid pour into her mouth and with his tongue, he slowly guided it down her throat.
The process was rather slow but Talon made sure that Hyun-Jae was going to drink every single drop.
Meanwhile, the mysterious woman watched the entire scene with a cold glare. Talon's back was open and he didn't seem like he was wary of her which was a clear sign of disrespect.
But, for some reason, every time she contemplated attacking him, her senses would tell her otherwise. It told her that Talon wasn't the same human she saw a few days ago. Something about his aura was completely different.
Even though she wasn't able to actually see what he was capable of, she knew that fighting him wasn't going to be easy which was why she tried to trick him into consuming one of the parasites.
However, even that didn't seem to work somehow. She couldn't really kill him and that made her even more alerted by this individual.
As for Talon himself, he didn't seem like he was bothered with her at all. His entire focus was on Hyun-Jae. After he made her drink the potion, her back finally started healing slowly and her pained expression slowly eased.
But, he knew that she wasn't out of danger yet.
'She needs healing...' Talon clenched his teeth as he looked around him. Since they were far too deep into the forest, there wasn't anyone who could really bring Hyun-Jae out of this place.
It was only Talon there. But, he kept his calm and slowly put Hyun-Jae down as he rested her head on a tree branch.
Looking down at her arms, she two big lacerations on them. So, she quickly pulled out what seemed to be a small capsule. Then, she popped the capsule into her mouth, swallowing whatever powder was in there.
Almost instantly, the two lacerations closed and the blood stopped completely.
'He was able to dodge my attack at the last split second... How is that possible? Does he have 120+ points on speed? That shouldn't be possible. He's only lev-' Before she could even finish her thoughts, Talon suddenly appeared behind her again like a ghost.
His cold and vicious aura assaulted her senses like a raging train. He didn't even let her breathe for a second.
The woman immediately tapped her arm which made a short sword appear in her hand out of nowhere.
*CLING* *CLING* *CLING*
A rain of slashes and stabs fell down on her. Each hit felt like a heavy boulder and was as fast as bullets.
'He is definitely far stronger than what I gathered about him.' She clenched her teeth as she deflected his attacks.
Each hit pushed her back a few steps and made her bones shudder. Looking at Talon, all she could see in his eyes was endless hatred and anger that was spilling out endlessly.
The fight continued at that rate with the two opponents moving at top speed. They were so fast that they appeared like flashes to the naked eye. They moved back and forth, left and right, and even up and down as Talon chased after the woman like a terrifying beast.
Each move he made carried all of his strength and more. Long gone his calm and collected style of fighting. He was now completely unleashing his bloodlust.
Stomping down with his leg, the earth beneath him cracked as he dashed forward. The woman threw 10 kunais at him. The weapons flew at top speed and surrounded him. But, Talon didn't even bat an eye and swung his spear with all his strength. The gush of air created by that swing blew all the kunais away like weightless feathers.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
A giant explosion shook the forest as Talon emerged from the smoke like a ghost before he stabbed forward.
'It seems this is the most he could do. If I continue fighting him, he should be drained after a while.' The woman thought to herself as she dodged the attack and slashed at him with her sword, making him sidestep.
But, at that moment, Talon's feet slipped out of nowhere, making him lose his balance. Because of the rain, the entire forest was turned into a muddy swamp.
The woman noticed that and immediately used that opportunity as she swung her sword, aiming at his neck.
'He can't dodge!' Her eyes shone with a vicious glint.
Before she could even realize it, the fight seemed like it was about to end. However, at the last second, right before her sword slash could connect, the woman's eyes widened to the extreme.
*Swish* *STAB*
(A//N: Thanks to everyone who supports the book with power stones and golden tickets, you guys are the best:) )