Lyrica Ley Rael, the girl who avoids getting involved in trouble as much as possible, the same girl who tells the voice countless times she doesn't want to get involved with Riko and the others earlier are now putting herself on the line for everyone else.
Lyrica would never put herself in trouble, especially in a life-threatening situation. The Guardian Snake is strong, powerful, and is also durable with that glow similar to Tibay and Heavy Metal.
Confronting the Guardian Snake means certain death, everyone knows that. Lyrica does as well, and yet she's going forward. So this raises a question, what drove Lyrica to do something so out of character?
Did she perhaps get inspired by the knights' selfless acts? No. She hated how foolish they are for trying to stop Riko earlier. Perhaps it's because she felt responsible as she possesses such great power? That's not it, either.
Lyrica is not a hero, she's just a high school girl from another world whose gadget miraculously turned into her very own magic ability. So again, what exactly is her drive? What gives her the confidence to go against the Guardian Snake? Well, it's, rather simple.
At the exact same moment they saw the Guardian Snake glaring at them, Lyrica received a quest.
[You Have Received A Quest!]
Quest: Survive!
Escape the Forest of No Return without letting anyone die.
Deaths: 0
Rewards:
- 14,000 EXP
- Stat Points: 5
- Decibel: 10
"The quest description sounds almost impossible to accomplish. But it's a system quest, which means it's doable."
Lyrica proceeded to drag the quest window to the corner of her eyes, facing the Guardian Snake who's approaching her.
"But you have to remember, system quest's doability logic doesn't guarantee that you will complete the quest." Said the voice to Lyrica.
Lyrica is well aware of that. In fact, she already assumed the chances of completing the quest to be as low as 5%. Perhaps even below that.
"But again, it's not like I have to fight the Guardian Snake head-on."
Said Lyrica as she put 10 Stat Points into her Agility, and another 10 Stat Points in her Stamina.
"The quest says "Survive", and that should be the priority."
Right then, the Guardian Snake fired its wind breath towards Lyrica. The girl quickly gets out of the way before the surge of wind reaches her and blows her away. A quick evasion,
"Those knights should be about halfway towards the outside of the forest."
The Guardian Snake slithered towards Lyrica. Meanwhile, the girl picks up a giant boulder with both hands.
"That's one thing done for the quest."
Lyrica throws the boulder towards the Guardian Snake.
"The only thing left to do is to figure out how I can get out of this situation myself."
The boulder hits the angry ruler of the forest right in its head, although it didn't do much except crumbling to pieces thanks to the barrier surrounding its giant body.
However, at that moment, the Guardian Snake loses sight of the girl. Confused, the ruler of the forest lets out a loud roar, as if it's trying to tell Lyrica to come out.
On the other hand, Lyrica is hiding on top of the same rocky cliff where she first saw the Guardian Snake. She tries to hold her breath, hoping that she wouldn't get found.
However, making a sound is the least of her problems. That is because the Guardian Snake is capable of sensing body heat. Before long, the giant creature finds where Lyrica is hiding, sending another roar towards her.
"So hiding is out of the option, huh?"
Lyrica tried to do a high jump to reach a Higantes branch when suddenly, the Guardian Snake blows another wind breath.
"Uoooh!!"
Lyrica is sent flying to a long distance.
"Damn it! 10dB: Heavy Metal!"
Heavy Metal's barrier coats Lyrica's body right before she crashes, minimizing the damage she received.
"Luckily, I didn't get any of my limbs injured."
Once again, Lyrica and the Guardian Snake's eyes meet. Soon after that, Lyrica did another high jump before climbing the rest of the way on top of a tree.
'There's no way to hide.' Lyrica thought to herself while looking down on the Guardian Snake who's watching idly from below. 'I might be able to reach the outside of the forest, but as long as that thing is tailing me, even the outside would be dangerous.'
If anything Lyrica is much safer being surrounded by giant trees which she can use to avoid the Guardian Snake's attacks.
Graagh!
The giant reptile goes after her once again. In response to that, Lyrica goes over another tree. And then, the chase begins.
From one tree to another, Lyrica avoids the Guardian Snake's attempts of eating her. Each time, the creature becomes more and more visibly angry.
"Luckily, these giant trees are sturdy."
As the Heavy Metal finished playing, the girl recalled the time when the Guardian Snake gets its fangs stuck on a Higantes.
"No matter how angry it gets, it doesn't have the strength to disregard the environment and come straight to me."
Even so, Lyrica cannot keep playing tag with the creature forever. She needs to find a way to somehow distract the reptile, or possibly lose its interest.
'But how exactly?'
Every creature around the area had gone far from the center of the forest, she can't ask the voice for help, either. Is there really a chance for her to escape?
While she refuses to believe it's impossible to get out of the forest alive...
"Hey... Hey...!"
"Wha?!"
The voice of Riko resonated from behind the Guardian Snake. The ruler of the forest looks back and sees the young knight along with Magdalo.
"What are you two doing?!"
Lyrica shouted angrily as the snake goes after the two. The girl uses the chance to land a blow on top of the Guardian Snake's head, but it was not enough to deal a decisive strike, just like she suspected.
The Guardian Snake would shift its attention towards Lyrica, trying to chase the girl to death across the trees.
"You two!" Lyrica uttered. "Why are you here?! Didn't I tell you not to act like a hero again?!"
Riko took a deep breath, and with all his might, he told Lyrica in a loud voice:
"We've got a plan!!"