Somehow, they didn’t lose anyone this time. Whether that was because everyone in the medical tents in general had grown more organized over the past few days or because to their new and improved healing skills didn’t exactly matter. They were glad they managed to save everyone, even if a darker side of theirs lamented not getting more free essences.

  They squashed that inner voice, horrified to even have such thoughts.

  Regardless of how they felt, the injured kept coming in and the day blurred by as they – and some other priests – silently cursed Golden Oath and its part in causing this situation.

  Another wave of injured came rushing in and the twins braced themselves for several more hours of lifesaving.

  Only a few minutes in, the twins came across a familiar face and only briefly paused in surprise before continuing the preparation an anti-curse potion.

  “Hey, you. Shouldn’t you be lying on your back? To continue with your shtick?”

  Dawn tried to sound casual despite the awful state of the patient. Always better that way than stressing the patient out.

  The blond wolfman replied with a raspy chuckle.

  “Yuh, you’re right. My entire identity is ruined now. Well, not like this is a line so– ” He interrupted himself with a harsh cough, hacking out pieces of bloody glass.

  “Shit! Hold on now…”

  “Don’t talk.”

  Dawn rolled up his shirt to see exactly what she had expected – flesh turned into glass – and Dusk carefully applied the anti-curse potion.

  “Ahhh… That’s the stuff…” Kenn let out a sigh of relief and shot Dawn a grin when she glared at him for talking despite being told not to.

  “Just a second. It’s almost back.”

  While they waited for their healing skills to re-spark, they poured a specialized potion a local alchemist had invented into Kenn’s mouth, hoping it would get rid of all the glass in his lungs as advertised.

  Finally, [Hallowed Embrace] re-sparked and Dusk didn’t hesitate in pulling it out and using it on Kenn. The light enveloped the wolfman and seeped into his body, stitching up cuts, helping turn glass back into flesh, and returning color to his previously pale face.

  An eternal moment later, the near-corpse turned into an unblemished dashing young man with blond hair and wolf ears.

  “Ahh, damn. Thought I was a goner back there. Thanks, you two.”

  “No problem!”

  “Don’t get up yet, we need to check you over.”

  “Yuh, yuh. Sure. Go ahead.” Despite what they had expected, Kenn didn’t resist at all and instead slumped into his cot, narrowed eyes looking far away.

  The twins kept working but couldn’t help but notice the hint of sorrow underneath the mask of false cheer now that the guy wasn’t in immediate danger of death.

  “Hey, Kenn… You okay?” Dawn tried asking as they wrapped up their vitals check.

  “Hmm? Ah, yuh. I’m good. Great, even! We beat the final Elite!”

  “Huh? Wait, really?!”

  “Yuh! And I got the essence too! Check this out!”

  He brought out an essence card and the twins couldn’t help but pause to take it in.

  The art featured a featureless figure crawling away from something as their feet and waist turned into glass. The way their face twisted into an agonizing scream.

  Brilliant golden laurel leaf chain forming a ‘U’ shape decorated the rim and framed the title of the card up top between its two ends.

  ◆Vitrify◆

  A Legendary essence!

  “Whoa!”

  “I’ve never seen a Legendary before!”

  The wolfman chuckled.

  “Yuh, me neither. I’ll bet this will fetch a good coin with the rich folks.”

  Their eyes snapped to him.

  “You’re selling it?”

  Even they knew that you couldn’t buy high rarity essences in a store since rift hunters usually kept them all for themselves.

  “Well, nothing better to do with it, honestly. It’s probably time to quit the hunter life for me.”

  “What? Why?”

  “Ah, well…” He averted his eyes, but they didn’t miss the flash of pain in his expression. “Everyone but me and our rogue died in the rift. Thought I would follow, honestly.”

  The twins froze, mouths gaping in horror.

  “W-What?! That’s horrible!”

  “S’what happens… Life of a rift hunter, you know?”

  Kenn’s flippant attitude fooled nobody.

  But at the same time, they didn’t know the guy well enough to try and comfort him, especially when he clearly didn’t want it.

  “Well! Thanks for the save, s’been nice talking to you. Gotta get going now–” The wolfman began to rise from his cot, but four firm hands pushed him back down.

  He blinked in confusion.

  “Just rest, you idiot,” Dawn basically growled at him.

  “Our healing isn’t perfect. What if you start coughing blood again?”

  “…Alright, alright,” he drawled with a grimace that might have been an attempt at a smile.

  The twins sighed and looked around to see if anyone else needed them, but thankfully, the other staff at the tent seemed to have dealt with all the serious cases already.

  Their shoulders sagged with relief and they turned back to the wolfman, who kept staring at the ceiling with a far-away look, his previous cheer now unquestionably false.

  They barely knew the guy, but still they couldn’t help but deliberate on how to help him, thinking back on how they felt when they’d lost someone and what had helped them.

  “Don’t give up!” Dusk blurted out, prompting the wolfman to blink at him owlishly. “It might feel like the end of the world, but it’s not! You’re still alive! That rogue guy is still alive! You can live on! For your partymates! It’s what they would want!”

  He kept staring.

  “And we would hate to never see your back in a line again,” Dawn helpfully added.

  He let out a pfft and then laughed.

  “Damn, you’re right. What would you do without my back?” He shook his head. “How gloomy did I look that you two pipsqueaks felt the need to console me, huh? Nah, don’t worry. Wasn’t planning on throwing myself into monster maws over this. Just sellin’ the essence and retirin’ somewhere nice.”

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “…Oh.”

  The guy had the audacity to laugh again at their misunderstanding.

  Jerk.

  “Oi, Kenn! You didn’t fucking kick it?” a voice growled from behind the twins, making them spin around.

  A familiar hooded human loomed over them, glaring daggers at the wolfman. The same one who had saved them from the Glass Tyrant during the first spill and then had taken one of the essences from them.

  “Oh, Jake. S’up, mate?”

  “Don’t s’up me, you old dog! I thought you were dead!”

  Those two were teammates?

  “Nah, these two nice little healing fairies punted me back into the world of the living.”

  The assassin’s piercing glare refocused on the twins and flashed in recognition. The twins tensed up and mentally prepared themselves for a fight as Jake’s eyes narrowed.

  “You two? Whatever–” His gaze whipped back in Kenn’s direction and the twins relaxed. “–you got the essence, didn’t you?”

  “Yuh, I did! Looks pretty snazzy too!”

  Kenn flashed the essence again and Jake grinned under his hood.

  “Perfect! We gotta craft something real good with that! And then we’ll take our revenge on that rift!”

  “Eh… Nah. I have a better idea. Let’s sell it and retire.”

  Jake froze, then his expression turned thunderous.

  “The fuck? You want to give up?! Have you grown senile, you old dog?!” The assassin screamed as he stomped his way closer to the cot. The twins hurried to get out of his way and stood to the side, afraid to interrupt the imminent argument.

  The wolfman only shrugged.

  “Nah, I just think we’ve had a good enough run. But they are all dead… We can’t really continue as a party, can we? I think it’s time to leave, you know?”

  “You–”

  “Ey, no worries. I’ll split the spoils with you after I sell it.”

  “That’s not the fucking point! You can’t retire now! The Boss is right there! Mythical-tier! Tanya died for this, you bastard! We have to join the expedition! Get our revenge!”

  “And die like the rest? Eh, very tempting, but nah thanks.”

  The human ground his teeth and grabbed Kenn by his collar before forcing him to sit up.

  “You useless piece of shit! There’s a golden opportunity waiting for us right here and you’re just gonna give up?!”

  The taller man locked eyes with the rogue, growing just a tad more serious.

  “Yuh. No point in marching to our doom too. The Golden Oath bastards can suck it.”

  “You fucking coward!” the rogue screeched. “We’re one step away from–”

  “From death, Jake!”

  Finally, the wolfman had enough. He sprung up from his cot, grabbed Jake by his collar, and bared his fangs as he shoved his face into his teammate’s.

  “Listen, you braindead monkey! Our party is finished. Fester is dead. Tanya is dead. Luca and Kourey… They are all dead and I’m not planning on joining them any time soon.” Kenn let go of the guy and shoved him away from himself before averting gaze to hide the sorrow returning to his features.

  “And you shouldn’t either,” he whispered with his ears flattening against his head as he marched out of the tent, leaving Jake standing there, stunned at the sudden demeanor shift.

  The twins thought about saying something encouraging – despite Jake being a human and kind of an ass – but then he yelled out a curse and kicked the canvas cot Kenn had occupied a minute earlier.

  Dusk and Dawn flinched, ready to subdue him in the worst case scenario – not the first time they had to help with that around here – but the man just swore one more time, turned on his heel and began stomping away.

  They let out a sigh and grabbed the cot to fix it again when the rogue turned back to them with a dangerous glint in his eye.

  “Oi, you two. Join my party,” he commanded as he marched back toward them.

  The twins blinked.

  “What? No! Your party is dead!”

  “I wasn’t asking,” he growled as he came to loom over them. “Join me or I’ll tell everyone about your dirty little secret.”

  The twins stiffened and ground their teeth.

  Memories of being dragged around rifts against their will flashed through their minds. Rage mixed with fear laced their veins at the thought.

  They had sworn to never let themselves be another’s slaves.

  “You…!”

  “Bastard! We gave you that essence so you stay silent!”

  “And I’ll keep it. You just have to help me get my revenge on that shitty rift!”

  His hands moved too quickly, even for the dexterous geckin twins. From one moment to another, his fists had grasped their collars and brought them closer to him.

  They let out a yelp of surprise and immediately tried to free themselves, but their strength couldn’t compare to his.

  “We will kill it together. Avenge Tanya! You’ll let us get two Mythical-tier essences from the Boss and then we’ll be rich!”

  “You’re insane!”

  “We’ll die!”

  But the twins’ panicked yells only encouraged him to pressure them more. They could see madness in his eyes.

  [Transfrogify]

  Deciding enough was enough, Dawn pulled out her curse skill and smacked the rogue with it, turning him into a frog in a dark coat.

  This allowed Dusk to grab his frog-sister and back away from the confused frog-rogue before they both turned back.

  The human seethed at them when he realized what they had done and pulled out a card. The twins reciprocated by palming their offensive skills.

  “You–”

  “What is going on here?” a cold voice cut through their tension, prompting them to turn and eye the speaker – a catkin in black priestess robes.

  “He attacked us!”

  “Demanded we join his party!”

  Jake threw an enraged scowl at them, promising future pain, and the twins belatedly realized that there was nothing stopping him from blurting out their secret right this moment. They tensed even more, already thinking of potential lies they could spin in response.

  But instead…

  “Tch! Whatever! I’m done here!”

  The rogue vanished his readied card, spun on his heel, and stomped all the way out of the tent this time.

  The twins stared at the tent’s entrance and slowly relaxed with a sigh of relief.

  “Are you two okay?”

  They blinked and looked back at Alice.

  “Uh, yeah. Thanks.”

  “He didn’t really do anything beyond threatening us.”

  “Good.” The catkin gave a curt nod. “If he bothers you again, just tell me and I’ll deal with him.”

  The twins winced at her wording.

  “Uh, sure…?”

  “Thanks again, Alice.”

  “No problem.”

  She promptly left without saying another word, leaving the twins alone again.

  “What a day…”

  “I kinda feel bad for him. His entire party died. Except for Kenn.”

  “Not bad enough to forgive him, though.”

  “Poor Kenn, though.”

  “Yeah…”

  With the intense encounter over, the twins got back to tending to the patients with less severe injuries. Still, their minds couldn’t help but juggle dark thoughts about how common death was for rift hunters and whether they should really join Leejay’s party tomorrow. Even if they didn’t plan on going very deep into the rift, with how many times it had spilled over, they could hardly call it safe.

  “Is the team-up still even happening? We just kind of ran off.”

  “Probably? I don’t see why not.”

  “…Unless they all died today.”

  They winced at blurting out the intrusive thought before shaking it away.

  “Don’t say that!”

  “Sorry…”

  A beat of silence.

  “So, are we still joining them?”

  “Guess we’ll see tomorrow.”