Magdalo watches from a distance as Marlo protected himself against the Guardian Snake's wind breath.
Enraged that it failed to blow the impaired knight away, the ruler of the forest let out a loud cry.
The two knights went to get the impaired Marlo, barely dodging death by being eaten by the Guardian Snake.
"I need to help them!"
Magdalo told himself, pulling his sword from its sheath. But then...
"Magdalo!"
"Huh?"
Magdalo turns around to see the young Riko coming straight towards him. Following shortly behind the young knight is Lyrica who sprained her ankle after falling from a Higantes tree.
Not long since Riko came face-to-face with the veteran knight, the young man tells Magdalo:
"The plan... The plan is a go!"
"What? With her injured state?"
Magdalo's eyes widened as Riko elaborates the plan through a whisper.
...
Moments earlier, Riko grows concerned as he watches the girl laughing on her own.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah," Lyrica replied. "Let's all get out of this forest."
"But how?" Riko asked the girl as he looks at the Guardian Snake. "How are we going to get out of this forest alive?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Said the girl. "We're gonna put that thing to sleep."
Now that Riko thinks about it, the Guardian Snake's eyes are no longer glued on the girl. It completely shifted its attention to Marlo who resisted its wind breath.
However, the reason why the ruler of the forest no longer cares about Lyrica is because of the damage she received after being hit by its tail. The Guardian Snake deemed that the girl can no longer do anything against the creature.
"Your left arm is injured, and so is your ankle. How are you even going to climb one of those Higantes with your current state?"
"I'm not climbing, I'm going to fly." Lyrica points her finger towards Marlo. "I'll have that guy use his magic ability and make it so that he can send me upward like a catapult."
"Marlo? That's reckless." Riko told the girl in concern. "Your limbs are in a bad shape, especially your ankle. Doing something as risky as getting yourself flung up in the air could worsen your injuries."
"At this point, the fact that we'll have a chance to get out of this forest alive is one hundred times better than getting my injuries worse, don't you think so?"
Now that she said it, Riko thought the girl is right. Who cares about being impaired, or worst case, become unable to walk forever if it means you can live for another day?
"We don't have much time, that man could be running low on mana, too."
Eventually, Riko agreed to Lyrica risky plan.
"So, what do you want me to do?"
Lyrica looks at Riko with serious eyes. "It's simple..."
...
"Make the Guardian Snake use its Wind Breath? I never thought I'd be ordered by someone to do something ridiculous."
Riko understood where Magdalo's coming from, considering how dangerous the Guardian Snake's wind breath could be without preparing for it.
However, it's the only choice they have. They could go and think of another way, but they'll probably be inside the creature's mouth before they could even formulate another plan.
Cut to Marlo and the two other black armored knights, the two knights continue to maneuver in every Higantes around the area, avoiding the Guardian Snake's attempts of eating them.
"How long are we keeping this up?" The knight pants continuously. "I'm tired!"
"I don't know..." The other knight replied while avoiding the Guardian Snake's tail. "I'm tired, too... but I don't want to die yet!"
Surprisingly, Marlo is no longer being targeted by the monster. This is because of his weakened state. Marlo can barely stand on both feet, let alone walk by himself.
"Sorry, you two."
His magic ability seemed to have weakened as well. This is apparent because he can no longer create thick walls to protect himself and instead only creating handfuls of hardened dirt to throw at the Guardian Snake.
"I don't have enough mana to create even a block of dirt anymore."
But just then, a female voice reverberates through Marlo's ears.
"Hey, you!"
Marlo shifted his gaze from the Guardian Snake to Lyrica.
"Hey, glad you're still alive, but not for long." Said Marlo. "I don't know why I insisted we go back and only delayed our deaths. I guess we're fools."
"Yes, you are. Anyway, can you still use your magic ability?"
Marlo shows one of his hand as a fair amount of dirt float around his index finger and turns into a ball. Before long, the ball crumbles into pieces and returns to the ground.
"I can," Marlo replied. "But without mana, you can't perform magic abilities. That's the common rule for us, magic users."
"Oh yeah? Then what if I give you this?" Lyrica takes out three treant fruits from her chest pocket and shows them to Marlo.
"What in the... these are good mana and health potion alternatives!" Marlo reflexively picks up one of the treant fruits in Lyrica's hand. "Where'd you get these?"
"It doesn't matter now, damn it!" Lyrica raised her voice towards Marlo in annoyance. "I'm supposed to be saving them for myself but I'll give them to you anyway so do me a favor and give me a boost!"
Graaaah!!
Lyrica and Marlo felt a jolt ran through their bodies as the Guardian Snake let out a cry from behind.
They turn their eyes on the giant snake, prompting the creature to charge at them.
"Hyaaaah!!" Marlo proceeded to swallow the treant fruit on his hand out of sheer panic.
Thud! Thud!
"Ngah!"
Right then, Riko appears before the Guardian Snake's left eye and attempted to stab the creature with his broken sword. But although it was to no avail, the ruler of the forest averted its attention from Lyrica and Marlo.
Graagh... Graaa!!
The Guardian Snake goes after Riko.
"Good, it sees us as nothing more than a plaything now." Lyrica puts the last two treant fruit from her hand to Marlo's mouth. "Now then, let's get to it!"
"Okay, but let me chew it first. It's tasty!"
Meanwhile, Magdalo rushes to the two knights.
"Hey, Roberto, Cardo!"
"Magdalo?"
"What now?"
"We gotta buy more time!" Magdalo shouted.
Roberto and Cardo both grunted in unison as deep lines form on their foreheads out of frustration.
"Man, we've been giving you guys time for forever now! I'm so tired." Complained Roberto.
"But hey, on the bright side, he finally revealed our names." Cardo smiled as he pats Roberto's back armor.
Just then, they hear the Guardian Snake chasing after Riko. The young knight tells the others:
"Let's do this, everyone! Let's get out of this forest!"