My heart pounded so violently it felt like my ribs would snap.
This wasn't just a tough enemy.
This was annihilation wrapped in a beautiful corpse.
Velra—one of the highest-tier vampire bosses in the game—stood tall, her crimson eyes glowing, fangs bared in amusement.
Strength. Agility. Magic.
She was beyond any category we could understand.
A predator. A natural disaster wearing skin.
There was no way we could win.
Hell, it had been suicide from the moment she woke up.
If it were just me, I would've bolted long ago—used my S-rank skill, [Ghoststeps], and vanished into thin air.
But I couldn't.
Not because I didn't want to.
Because I literally couldn't.
Even if I ran, even if I somehow made it out alive, Alice would die.
And if Alice died, so would I—per system rules.
Damn it.
She was still lying there, crumpled on the bloodstained cave floor, her mouth slick with red.
She looked up at me. Her eyes were dazed, but there was pain in them. Shame.
