» Friable «

𝙭𝙞𝙭.

Shit... Is this it?

Have you ever felt like you wanted to do something, but your body was not cooperating? Because that is what Dawn was feeling at that exact moment. The other half of her mind couldn't still process the shock and fear of the close call with the giant serpent, while the other half was urging her to catch herself before she fell to her death.

Unfortunately, the former half of her mind was winning.

Just when she was about to fall and splat like an insect on the ground, she suddenly felt her body moving in a different direction instead of falling straight, like how gravity should've worked. Uhhh, what?

She didn't notice that her eyes were closed until she opened them. And the first thing she saw was Soobin swinging like a pro using the vines, which immediately reminded her of that fictional character who grew up in the forest with no human interaction and was adopted by a group of gorillas.

"Hey, are you okay?" She was snapped out of her thinking, which she was thankful for, before she could even start imagining Soobin with long and unruly hair and only wearing a loincloth.

"YES! I-I mean... Thank you." Dawn replied, cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

"Don't mention it. I think it's time for us to return some favor." Soobin stated as he brought her down to the ground. "Does the serpent get you?"

"No, it doesn't. I moved away before it could sink its fangs." Dawn assured. Soobin heaved a sigh of relief. He didn't know what he'll do if she got bitten. Who knows what venom the serpent exudes? Their healer is far out of reach.

"That's good. We can't have another person who's a great combatant to be crippled." Soobin said without thinking, which evoked an offended glare from Dawn. "Whatever you're thinking about, you know that's not what I meant."

"Well, it sounds like it," Dawn muttered bitterly before turning on her heel and walking away. She then remembered hearing Kai saying something in his mind about Soobin...

"There he is again. Acting like he hadn't done anything wrong." Dawn heard Kai's mind whispering his distaste to the group leader.

Seems like this dear Leader of them is too stubborn to admit to his mistakes. Dawn thought as she listened to the footsteps of the Archer following behind.

✦

"I really hate it when you get too caught up with killing sprees." Hearing Beomgyu whining again about his outwear splattered with goblins' disgusting blood, Yeonjun can't help but roll his eyes. He can't help it, okay?

"And I told you so many times that you should've brought extra clothes with you." Yeonjun retorted in a know-it-all voice.

"And I told you that I don't need them because of Taehyun's awesome cleaning magic." Beomgyu mocked his voice, resulting in an imaginary irk mark to appear on the Swordsman's temple, but he took a deep breath, keeping his composure.