They stood at the cave's edge, the moonlight casting a silver line between forest and shadow.
Kazuki leaned in, whispering, "So… what's the plan?"
Lillian whispered back, clam and cold as ice. "We go in, find the monster, and kill it."
Kazuki blinked. "Solid, Straightforward, I like it."
He paused. "And if it's, y'know… something we can't kill?"
She didn't even blink. "I run. You cover me."
He stared at her for a beat. "That's the opposite of a plan—that's a betrayal."
She gave a small shrug, already stepping forward. "It's still a plan."
He bobbed his head up and down for few seconds and then turned to her, "Like hell, nah."
Lillian raised an eyebrow at his echoing defiance. "Okay, then."
She crossed her arms and added, "In the event of encountering an entity that exceeds our collective combat capabilities, a rapid tactical withdrawal will be initiated, during which you shall perform a series of distraction-based maneuvers—potentially suicidal in nature—designed to increase my survival probability by at least seventy percent. Understood?"
Kazuki bobbed his head, completely unfazed. "More like it."
She squinted at him. "You didn't understand a single word of that, did you?"
"I caught the important part." He pointed at her. "You live. I die. Very knightly of me."
"Very expendable of you," she muttered.
He grinned. "Glad we're finally on the same page."
The cold wind blew again, cutting through them like a blade. Kazuki coughed—loud, ragged, and echoing off the jagged cave.
Lillian shivered, her whole-body trembling like a leaf in a storm. Her jaw clenched.
Kazuki rubbed his arms furiously. "Alright, alright! Forget the plan, forget the growl—let's just go in."
Lillian gave a single nod, her teeth audibly chattering. "Yeah… or we both would freeze to death here."
They moved inward, their footsteps echoing softly off the stone walls. Behind them, the wind gave one last mournful howl—then fell silent, as if the forest itself had given up on them.
Just a few feet in, everything changed.
The chill vanished, replaced by a sudden wave of warm air that rolled over them like a blanket fresh from the sun. Kazuki blinked in disbelief as the warmth seeped into his bones. It was bliss.
He stopped walking.
Then he sighed—a long, dramatic, borderline spiritual exhale.
His arms dropped to his sides, and his eyes fluttered shut.
"I think I just reached enlightenment," he murmured. "Thine soul left your body, thou saw the light."
Sigh of containment rang out from the front, then her voice echoed. "Stop making this weird."
Kazuki cracked one eye open, grinning. "Oh, come on, this heaven."
Even Lillan didn't fight back. not disagreeing.
Kazuki cracked one eye open, grinning. "Oh, come on, this is heaven."
Even Lillian didn't argue. She just exhaled, arms still folded as she walked, and didn't offer her usual snark. That, more than anything, told him she agreed.
He caught up beside her. "Admit it. You're two steps away from curling up on the floor and calling this place home."
"I'm three steps away," she muttered. "Let's go and check out, I don't have good feeling about this."
Kazuki tilted his head. "How so?"
Her one foot after another she moved in and spoke. "The Law of Unintended Consequences. Anytime something feels too good… there's usually a hidden catch. Warmth like this, in a monster's den? It's bait."
Kazuki blinked. "Wait, wait. That sounded like a real quote. You read philosophy?"
A long, suffering groan escaped her lips, like talking to him physically hurt. "It's not philosophy. It's more like a principle. A warning. Now shut up and move quickly."
He raised both hands in surrender but couldn't help himself. "Alright, alright. Do you think it's a magical hot spring?"
She paused mid-step and turned slowly. Her right hand hovered, and an oceanic blue mana shimmered around her fingertips.
"You know what?" she said, voice flat. "Let's just seal that mouth of yours."
Kazuki took a hasty step back. "Lillian—wait! I was joking! I'll shut up, promise!"
She advanced, eyes all serious. "Too late. I've made peace with this."
"No, Lillian. You can't do that!" Kazuki said, scrambling back.
Then a growl—low, guttural—rumbled out from deeper within the cave.
Heat blasted toward them in a sudden wave, bending the air itself. The temperature spiked instantly—sweat broke out across Kazuki's body, but it evaporated just as fast, replaced by a stinging sensation like his skin was boiling.
Lillian's eyes narrowed. Her hands moved fast. The shimmering circle bloomed into full form—an azure shield that hovered between them and the source of the blast. It didn't block the inferno completely, but it gave them a pocket of air, a moment of reprieve.
Hit waves stopped just as suddenly they came, the azure shield vanished, Lillan hand went down, breathing heavy.
Kazuki moved beside her, giver her a pat in the back, well that's all he could now.
"What do you think it is?"
Lillan didn't answer immediately, her violet eyes locked onto the ground, unfocused. Slowly, the glow in her eyes returned, steady and sharp.
"I don't know what's is there. "She said, her voice tight, teeth clenched. "But going any further is definitely not a good idea."
Kazuki took a step back, his mouth forming a hesitant, "So…?"
She looked up at him, then over her shoulder, back toward the icy wind waiting beyond the cave's entrance. They were stuck—between fire and frost, between moonlight and shadow, between getting cooked alive or frozen to death.
Her shoulders dropped slightly. Then she spoke, slow and deliberate.
"Let's just sleep near the cave's entrance. Not too far in, not too far out. If anything happens, we'll have enough time to run."
Kazuki nodded slowly. He didn't say what he was really thinking: that any creature powerful enough to throw that kind of heat wouldn't give them time to breathe, let alone escape.
But he saw it in Lillian's eyes. She knew that too. They were both just… choosing to ignore it.
"Yeah," he said. "Let's be optimistic. Maybe its tummy's full, and it'll just leave us alone."
Lillian snorted softly, the first real sound of amusement since the heat blast. "Maybe it's a vegetarian.
Kazuki awoke to the distinct sensation of something very, very wrong.
First, he was warm—too warm, like he'd been stuffed into a furnace overnight. Second, there was something heavy draped over him. Third, and most concerning, there was a deep, rumbling sound that definitely wasn't snoring.
They found a spot near the curve where warmth still reached, but the growl seemed more memory than threat. Lillian sat with her back to the wall, eyes alert. Kazuki flopped down beside her with a sigh.
For a while, they said nothing.
Then Lillian spoke, voice low. "Let's take turns sleeping. You go first."
Kazuki blinked. "Or you could sleep first. You're the main combatant—and way more exhausted than I am."
Lillian shook her head. "If something happens, we'll need someone alert enough to react immediately. We'll each take three hours."
Kazuki sighed but nodded, relenting. "Alright. Wake me in three."
"Mm."
Kazuki made himself comfortable—well, as comfortable as a cold, uneven cave floor allowed. He shifted around, found a relatively flat patch of stone, then folded his arms behind his head and stared up at the jagged ceiling.
"Three hours," he murmured, mostly to remind her. Or maybe himself.
Then, slowly, his body relaxed. The warmth in the cave wrapped around him like a tired blanket, the fatigue from the day catching up at last. His eyelids drooped.
Within minutes, Kazuki drifted off to sleep, the echo of distant growls fading into the haze of dreams.
.
.
.
"Kazuki, wake up."
A hand shoved at his shoulder, firm but not panicked. He groaned and turned over, still mostly unconscious, pulling his cloak tighter like a blanket.
"Wake up. Something's coming."
Still no response—just a light snore and the muttered nonsense of someone deep in a dream that probably involved dancing chickens or magical hot tubs.
Then—
ROAAAAAR.
The cave trembled.
Kazuki sat bolt upright like he'd been launched from a cannon, eyes wild and hair sticking in five different directions. "I'M AWAKE."
Beside him, Lillian stood rigid, facing the cavern ahead, shadows dancing across her face.
"Good," she said, voice steady but tense. "Something's happening. We need to move."
Kazuki stretched his arms with a loud yawn, his voice slurred and barely coherent. "Whahappenin'...?"
Another deep rumble rolled through the cave, followed by the unmistakable sound of stone cracking—slow, groaning, as if the earth itself was grinding its teeth.
Lillian didn't look back. "The heat's rising again. Something's coming up the tunnel. I don't know what it is, but it's big."
Kazuki blinked groggily. "Is it... the sun? 'Cause if it is, tell it to hit snooze."
"Focus, idiot."
Another loud voice tore through the cave—this one deeper, sharper, vibrating with raw awareness. It wasn't just a growl or a roar anymore. It spoke in a way that bypassed language altogether, as if the mountain itself had opened its throat and screamed.
Kazuki jolted to his feet, suddenly and completely awake. The sleep-drunk haze was gone—ripped out of him by a sound.
The floor beneath them gave a shudder, as if something massive had shifted its weight below.
Then the quake hit.
Both their eyes widened in the same instant. The heat behind them surged—no longer just warmth, but scorching, a violent rise that screamed danger in every cell of their bodies.
They moved.
No commands, no words, just raw instinct. Scrambling, sprinting, slipping over uneven stone, they lunged toward the cave's mouth. Only a few feet separated them from the outside world—the cold, the forest, the merciful, freezing moonlight.
And then—
BOOM.
A shockwave of blue flame exploded from the depths of the cave, thick with mana—so dense, it distorted the air around it. The ground buckled. Cracks spiderwebbed along the cave walls. The pressure alone was enough to make Kazuki stumble.
It wasn't just fire—it was wrath. A living furnace breathing pure destruction, as if the mountain itself had chosen to erupt.
Kazuki dove the last few steps and hit the ground outside face-first. Lillian landed just after, rolling once before springing to her feet.
Behind them, the cave lit up—blazing with unnatural blue. A roar followed, deep and bone-shaking, echoing through the mountains with enough force shake the cave.
Kazuki coughed violently, steam rising off his cloak as the remaining heat evaporated.
He pushed himself up, eyes wide with horror.
"What... what the hell was that?" he panted.
Lillian didn't answer immediately. She stared into the now-glowing maw of the cave, her lips pressed into a thin line.
Then she said, voice flat:"We're not fighting that."
Kazuki nodded furiously. "Agreed. Very agreed. A hundred percent agreed. That's not a monster—that's a natural disaster."
A silence settled for a beat.
Then—
Ping.
A mechanical chime rang through the cold wind, delicate but distinct
A glowing blue text box shimmered into view.
[SYSTEM WARNING: DO NOT EXIT SHELTER ONCE INSIDE.]
Kazuki stared at it.
Then back at the cave.
Then back at the floating message.
He turned back to Lillian, ignoring the system message, he need had a screw lose to go back there.
"So," Kazuki repeated, trying to sound more casual than he felt, "What now?"
The rain had stopped, but the cold wind sliced through the air, making his cloak feel paper-thin. The ground was still damp, but the chill was starting to bite deep.
Lillian replied in a small, quiet voice. "I don't know." The usual certainty she carried in her tone was gone, replaced by uncertainty.
Kazuki took a step closer, "Never mind let's just get the hell out of here." Wrapping a arm around her.