"Shiiick—!"

The sound like tearing cloth made Bern turn around. In the firelight's glow, he clearly saw the monster's appearance behind the sharp claws that had pierced through Miriam's throat.

"Careful, there's another one!"

Two?!

Cody, who had drawn his second shortsword from his waist, looked horrified. In this darkness, one Cursed Pattern Cat Demon already posed significant pressure—how could there be another?

Not bothering to check Miriam's condition, Bern swung his sword forward, temporarily forcing the rear Cursed Pattern Cat Demon back.

Meanwhile, the first Cursed Pattern Cat Demon that had attacked narrowly dodged an arrow shot by Miriam. It shrieked sharply and charged toward Cody, who had just sliced its neck with his shortsword.

The Cursed Pattern Cat Demon moved extremely fast—even Cody, as an assassin, struggled to keep up. He could only instinctively swing his shortsword to block.

Fortunately, his luck held, and combined with years of experience fighting monsters, he managed to block the attack with his shortsword held before his chest, surviving the dangerous moment.

"Clang—!"

A metallic collision sound rang out. The Cursed Pattern Cat Demon's powerful force made Cody's arm go numb, sliding him several meters across the ground, nearly losing grip of his sword hilt.

The Cursed Pattern Cat Demon, failing to achieve its goal with one strike, prepared to press its advantage. But Lin Mo suddenly attacked from the flank, predicting its movement trajectory in advance, precisely slashing toward its head with his sword.

With the arrow already on the string, the Cursed Pattern Cat Demon had no choice but to extend its claws, forcibly blocking Lin Mo's strike.

In the next moment, Cody endured the soreness in his arm and threw his last shortsword. Taking advantage of its brief stalemate with Lin Mo, he accurately hit the Cursed Pattern Cat Demon's left eye.

Swift reaction, decisive action, precise angle!

Cody perfectly demonstrated the qualities of a veteran assassin in that moment, seizing the fleeting opportunity.

"Beautiful!"

Lin Mo couldn't help but praise. In the next instant, he exerted force again, pushing the cat demon back. Just as he prepared to draw his waist dagger to pursue, the cat demon flashed and disappeared into the darkness.

Unable to see clearly ahead, Lin Mo dared not recklessly chase and could only temporarily retreat.

"Miriam!"

Evan trembled as he held the girl in his arms. "No... no, Miriam..."

"Get a grip, you brat!"

Bern's angry shout halted his crumbling emotions.

"Use the health potion!"

"Right, we have health potions!"

Evan seemed to grasp at a lifesaving straw, frantically rummaging through Miriam's bag for that red potion.

After earning a large sum from their last mission, besides upgrading equipment, they had purchased some emergency items, including this expensive health potion.

Evan opened the bottle, and a floral fragrance immediately wafted from the opening. He carefully poured the red liquid onto Miriam's wound, using up a full half bottle in one go.

As the red potion slowly soaked in, an astonishing scene unfolded.

The wound that had been continuously bleeding stopped within mere seconds, and the pierced injury began healing at a visible rate.

Miriam's originally pale face regained some color, and her nearly scattered pupils refocused...

But it stopped there. The basic health potion's effect was ultimately limited, insufficient to instantly heal such a penetrating wound.

Regardless, Miriam's life was barely saved.

Miraculous medicinal effect.

This was Lin Mo's first time witnessing a health potion's function firsthand. The instantly visible effect, like something from an anime scene, truly exceeded his expectations.

"Miriam, are you okay?"

Evan, tears in his eyes, tightly embraced the body in his arms.

Miriam came to her senses from her daze. She shook her head with difficulty, looking at Evan's anxious face, a faint curve forming at the corner of her mouth.

"Thank goodness, thank goodness..."

"Have her drink a bit more health potion to consolidate the effect and prevent the wound from reopening."

Bern hurriedly instructed before quickly looking around.

"Kid, protect Miriam."

Bern's voice sounded somewhat low, his expression unprecedentedly serious.

Compared to still-green newcomers, experienced veteran adventurers possessed not just powerful strength but, more valuably, strong mental fortitude and rock-solid composure.

Even in such dire circumstances, Bern maintained maximum calmness.

Cody quickly picked up his shortsword from the ground and retreated to the group. The three tacitly surrounded Evan and the injured Miriam in the center.

The Cursed Pattern Cat Demons were naturally fast, plus their light movements made them like natural assassins. The night amplified their advantages further. In this situation, defensive counterattack was clearly a better choice than rashly attacking.

Earlier, precisely because they didn't know about the second Cursed Pattern Cat Demon's existence and wanted to pursue to expand their gains, they revealed an opening that led to Miriam's ambush.

Having already suffered once, they naturally couldn't make the same mistake twice.

Without needing verbal communication, just simple eye contact allowed the three to tacitly reach agreement.

Time passed minute by minute. At the distant horizon, a faint dawn began to appear.

In about half an hour, dawn would break. The time left for the two Cursed Pattern Cat Demons was running short.

The surrounding bushes remained shrouded in darkness. Vision offered limited usefulness in these conditions, so Lin Mo simply closed his eyes, concentrating all his senses on hearing.

The burning sound, breathing sounds, wind...

Every subtle noise could become cover for the cat demons' attack.

One minute, two minutes...

A full five minutes passed without any suspicious movements around. It seemed the two cat demons had retreated due to injuries, abandoning this assault.

Yet precisely when such thoughts should have emerged, an extremely faint "pat" sound abruptly rang by his ear.

"Ding—!"

The moment the blade made contact, Lin Mo followed the maneuver he had mentally rehearsed, twisting his wrist. The sword slid along the sharp claws, nearly splitting the Cursed Pattern Cat Demon's palm in half!

But Cody was no rookie. Fully focused, he predicted successfully like Lin Mo, accurately blocking the Cursed Pattern Cat Demon's assault.