Dmitry kneed Mirian in the face, then struck her neck with the spear's shaft. Taking advantage of her loss of balance, Dmitry kicked at her stomach, but Miriam caught his leg, spinning him in the air to either break his leg or force him to twist. She grabbed Dmitry's free leg with her other hand and aimed to kick him, but instead, she froze his heel, throwing him upwards and shooting fireballs at him, which he easily deflected with his spear.
Landing on the ground, Dmitry disappeared from Miriam's sight, reappearing in front of her. He swept her legs with the spear's handle, making her fall, and aimed a strike at her chest. The blow was stopped by two black roots emerging from the ground.
"It's over," Miriam said, creating an electric sword in her hand. She slashed the vine, cutting against Dmitry's blade. After battling for twelve seconds, she won, sending the spear flying and striking Dmitry in the throat, reducing his health by one percent every two seconds. Dmitry threw himself down, burning his hair upwards and punching Miriam's chin. He sprang up, pulling his spear back with his invisible thread ability, and began striking Miriam's body nonstop, hitting her legs, chest, and back. However, black roots immediately grew back, stopping the blows until Dmitry jumped and threw his spear at Miriam's forehead. She smiled, her body enveloped in black roots, and caught Dmitry's spear with her bare hand, throwing it back at him.
[Witch's Death: When your health drops below ten percent, black roots cover your body, giving you the chance to fight for a few more minutes. If you die, you return to your place of birth.]
"I love milkshakes here, even though they are very expensive," Miriam said, appearing in front of Dmitry. She covered her face with her hand and dragged Dmitry on the ground. Dmitry raised his leg and stomped, sinking his feet into the thick layer of ice. Grabbing Miriam's arm with both hands, he threw her back and started hitting her body, gradually breaking through her armor's defenses.
"Transfer," Miriam said, disappearing and reappearing from the mouth of a huge carnivorous flower that had grown behind Dmitry. The flower withered after Miriam left it. Dmitry, noticing her, attacked her neck.
"She's really good... quite interesting," Dmitry said, looking at Miriam and pressing the right keys, assessing his character's status on the computer screen.
'I wonder what it would be like to face her in Altair,' Dmitry thought, smiling as his in-game character engaged in a frenetic exchange of blows with Miriam, who wielded a sword with a blade made of black roots.
Dmitry attacked from below, and Miriam defended, striking the spear's shaft against the blade, cutting Dmitry's chest and clothes in one swift move. Two minutes later, Dmitry had three percent of his health left, with several small cuts on his body and a deep one on his left leg.
Miriam had six and a half percent of her health left, with three deep cuts: one on her left arm, another on her shoulder, and one crossing her chest. Her black root armor was shattered and bore several small cuts. Both fighters, in absolute silence, continued exchanging blows until both their spear and sword broke. They resorted to punching and kicking, having run out of mana, leaving physical attacks as their only option.
'Huh? Why did her response time suddenly drop so drastically? What happened to her?' Dmitry thought, blocking Miriam's punch with his right arm and punching her in the stomach. Realizing she couldn't defend herself as quickly as before, he grabbed her wrist with his left hand and landed multiple punches on her face, finally letting go of her wrist and delivering alternating blows, finishing with a right hook.
On Dmitry's screen, the following message appeared:
[Victory - You defeated the leader of this empire and thus claimed this territory]
On Miriam's screen:
[Defeat - Your empire was destroyed]
Dmitry looked at Miriam, seeing her hands trembling away from the keyboard, making him think, 'Nervousness?'
"What a shame, it's really embarrassing. Haha, a level thirty-four losing to a level one," Miriam crossed her arms, looking away to avoid Dmitry's gaze, thinking, 'Why did this have to happen now?'
Miriam looked at Dmitry, pointing at Andreza, who waved at them and said, while her gaze seemed distant, "Don't even think about saying anything other than which milkshake you want."
Dmitry, with an expressionless face, approached her, sliding on the floor in his gaming chair until they were very close. Dmitry leaned his left arm on the table, looking at her and holding up one finger, pointing at her. Miriam felt confused, unsure if she felt embarrassed or needed to flee from this place as soon as possible.
"Instead of buying me something, can I just ask you a question?" Dmitry asked, looking at Miriam, who, with crossed arms, started scratching her left hand in embarrassment, not understanding the situation, said,
"Well, we just met, so depending on the question, I might not even think about answering. I think it's better to just pick a milkshake," Mirian responded.
Dmitry, without realizing it, began to speak before Mirian finished her sentence, "Sorry, I know it's personal, but I was curious and thought I'd take this opportunity."
'Curious and opportunistic?' Miriam, embarrassed, thought about the two words he had said, placing her hands on his face and squeezing it, leaving Dmitry repressed by her sudden gesture. Miriam then looked at him with marked cheeks.
"You can ask, I'm ready," Mirian said. Hearing this, Dmitry thought while looking at her face,
'What am I going to answer? It's so difficult to respond to this...' Miriam thought, letting her imagination run wild, thinking of various questions, but none of them seemed right.
Dmitry backed away a little, raising his hands, and asked, "Do you have anxiety?"
"What?" Miriam reacted, not knowing how to answer that.