CHAPTER 134: [ESTIMATED DEATH LIKELIHOOD]

Eli had braced himself for the shouting. He’d pictured Kairo’s black eyes narrowing, that razor voice cutting him down, the dagger ripped away in a single, efficient motion.

He’d expected anger. Reprimand. Anything to stop him from doing something stupid.

What he didn’t expect was how Kairo moved.

There was no shout. No moment of hesitation.

The hunter’s fingers closed around Eli’s wrist like iron and ice. Warm blood slicked between their palms, but Kairo didn’t flinch. He held on like a keel in a storm.

For the briefest second their eyes met.

In Kairo’s face—so rarely readable—Eli dared to see something other than command: a quick, dark flash that could have been respect, or the grim acceptance of a man who’d chosen a cost and would pay it himself.

"Seven hundred milliliters," Eli managed, voice raw and low. "Only that. No more."

Kairo’s jaw twitched. One clipped nod. "I know."

Then the pull started.

It wasn’t bleeding so much as a siphon drilling into bone. Eli felt something invisible pry open under his skin, an awful, intimate tug that reached past veins straight into marrow.

Blood flowed as if it had somewhere it truly wanted to be.

Heat crawled into his skull. The cavern tilted. Edges softened at the corners of his vision and the world narrowed to the hand on his wrist and the shocking, selfish rhythm of his heart.

’God, this feels weird.’

His fingers spasmed on Kairo’s sleeve. Strength leaked out of him like the red that streamed down his arm.

Nausea rolled through his gut.

Black pinpricks ate at his vision.

Mio and Zaira snapped toward them—heads turning in the same instant like two blades drawn.

"Eli’s bleeding? Are you—are you taking his blood, Captain?" Zaira’s voice cut sharp, a mix of shock and that brittle edge only fear gives.

"What the—why is he—?!" Mio’s voice broke; his threads hung in the air, mid-arc, stuttering like a severed wire.

Kairo didn’t look up. His tone was flat, precise, absolute. "Don’t mind it. Focus on the target."

Zaira’s mouth opened, a sound half-way to protest, but she didn’t move. Mio’s silver cords trembled, indecision flickering at the edges, but Kairo’s next words shut argument down.

"You either listen or Mel dies. Eli sacrificed his blood to help. Do not let it go in vain."

The statement landed heavier than any weapon. Zaira’s hands tightened on her dagger; Mio’s threads snapped like reloaded wire into tight, humming arcs.

The team folded into their roles because there was no time to think—only to act.

’I didn’t expect it to hurt this much.’

Eli sagged heavier against Kairo’s chest, his weight dragging like sand in water.

Every thud of his pulse slammed against his ears, loud and suffocating, like someone pounding on glass from the inside, begging to break through.

His fingers wouldn’t curl properly anymore.

They twitched against Kairo’s sleeve, weak and useless, as if they belonged to someone else entirely. His arm felt hollow, foreign, drained of ownership.

He should have expected this.

He was already torn open, already bleeding, his danger sense burned raw from overuse. He’d been running on scraps of willpower for hours.

But he hadn’t expected the pull to hurt like this.

And worst of all—it wasn’t even finished yet.

Right now, all of this, all the pain and blood and desperation, was just to get Mel back.

Not to destroy the octopus.

Not to end the fight.

Just to keep someone else from being consumed.

Kairo’s grip shifted suddenly. The pull snapped off like a cord cut clean. Eli’s head lolled forward at the sudden emptiness.

"Cover your wrist," Kairo ordered, his tone clipped and flat, already turning back toward the monster’s writhing bulk. "Put pressure on it."

Eli blinked down at his arm, the gash sluggishly spilling red.

His vision doubled, then swam, the cavern spinning into twin shadows.

He tried to raise his other hand, tried to obey, but it felt like trying to lift stone tied to his bones.

The strength simply wasn’t there.

His body tilted, swaying in Kairo’s hold. His head tipped against the man’s shoulder, breath rattling shallow. "C-can’t..." His voice was faint, slurred, each word dragged through mud. "Too dizzy..."

"Tch."

Kairo’s low curse barely cut through the chaos, but Eli felt the difference immediately—the sudden flare of crimson. Kairo’s aura hissed alive, brighter and sharper than before, heat radiating from him like a forge sparking back to life.

The blood had worked. It was flowing through him, igniting strength again.

Through the blur, Eli heard his voice, steady and absolute, like steel drawn across stone.

"Mio. Again. On my mark."

Silver threads quivered in the air at once, their edges taut and trembling, vibrating like the strings of a bow pulled too tight.

Across the cavern, Zaira’s boots scraped jagged rock as she slid into position, pink aura flickering bright against her sweat-streaked face.

Her dagger was ready, her stance braced to catch Mel the second he dropped.

And Eli—half-lidded eyes tilting, his chest rattling with shallow breath—could only cling with trembling fingers to Kairo’s sleeve. Fear dulled at the edges, washed out by the dizzying fog in his head.

’Did it... work?’

Ding.

’Huh?’

The sharp electronic chime echoed unnaturally against the cavern’s thunder, clear only in Eli’s skull.

Eli forced his eyes open, lashes heavy with blood and sweat.

He could feel Kairo’s body shift beneath him, coiled like a drawn bow, ready to launch his attack.

But Eli’s focus splintered—the sharp glow of a [SYSTEM WARNING] burned across his vision, dragging his attention away even as the battle roared around them.

[SYSTEM WARNING]

PLAYER [ELI] and TARGET [KAIRO] are in a dire situation. Current survival chance in this dungeon: 14%.

Eli’s stomach dropped. His heart gave a violent, stuttering kick in his chest.

The numbers flooded into his vision next, sharp as glass.

[PLAYER STATUS]

Age: 20

Height: 165 cm

Weight: 62.0 kg

Current Heart Rate: 152 bpm (critical tachycardia)

Blood Loss: 650ml / 700ml safe limit

Remaining Tolerance: 50ml before [CRITICAL CONDITION]

Injuries: Ruptured vessels (ears, nose), multiple lacerations (wrists, ankle), systemic fatigue.

Mental Strain: 93% (Danger Sense overload).

Estimated Death Likelihood: 72%Estimated Death Likelihood of TARGET [KAIRO]: 64%Estimated Death Likelihood of PARTY: 86%