Savage Forest - Chapter 122.1

A head emerged from the swirling water.

“Puhah…!”

Enya gasped as she broke through the water’s surface, struggling to catch her breath.

The torrential rain continued to pour, and the flooding river surged violently around her. She could hardly believe she was still alive.

‘It’s a miracle that the water rose higher than usual, allowing me to survive.’

Her mind was a chaotic blur.

Frantically, she thrashed her arms and legs, struggling to stay afloatbefore she spotted something floating nearby. Realizing it was Senu, she panicked, and quickly reached out and grabbed his body.

“Se, Senu! You can’t die! Not yet!”

As she opened her mouth, the river water rushed in, and she quickly shut her mouth again. At that moment, there was only one thought in her mind: she had to survive.

“Cough…! Cough!”

Desperately, Enya swam toward the riverbank. After a while, she finally reached it and hurriedly pulled Senu onto solid ground.

It felt like a miracle.

Earlier, she had injured her thigh during her encounter with Servia, but fortunately, perhaps due to the blood of Nervana, the bleeding had already stopped. However, Senu’s condition was dire.

Enya slapped his cheeks repeatedly, trying to revive him as he lay unconscious.

“Senu! Senu, wake up! Please…!”

His lips and limbs were icy cold from the river water as if they were made of ice. Most alarmingly, the spear that had pierced his chest was still embedded in his body, and blood began to ooze around the broken shaft.

Senu wasn’t even breathing.

He looked as though he were truly dead.

Desperately, Enya lifted her head and scanned the area, though the blackness of the night and the relentless rain obscured her vision entirely.

‘I need to move Senu to a safe place…!’

Finally, she spotted the outline of a thicket in the darkness. There must be a cave or at least a hollowed-out tree nearby where they could escape the rain.

At the thought, Enya slowly hoisted Senu’s limp body upright.

With shaky steps, she began to move forward, one foot at a time, her breath coming in heavy gasps. As expected, she found the entrance to a small cave. Though some flooding had begun near the entrance, the interior seemed surprisingly dry. She dug through the mud at the entrance and pushed her way inside.

As anticipated, the cave was deeper than it appeared.

Enya pulled Senu in with her. As she lifted him, a rock must have caught on his body, causing him to groan softly.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Senu…!”

Enya cried out, unsure of what to do as she struggled to set him upright.

Had his consciousness returned?

However, as Senu remained quiet once more, her worry deepened and she hurried her movements.

The cave, now fully revealed, was much more spacious than she had expected. Determined to find shelter from the rain, she felt a small sense of relief at the unexpectedly large space. As she ventured further in, a faint light suddenly caught her eye.

“Huh!”

She recognized it as a cave bug she had seen a few times before. These tiny creatures emitted light to attract and hunt other insects, making them harmless to humans. Fortunately, they had stumbled into a habitat filled with these glowing bugs.

Even with the dark surroundings suddenly brightened, Enya couldn’t fully relax.

Senu began to cough.

Startled, Enya turned her attention back to him.

With each cough, his drenched body shuddered, as though it might collapse at any moment. It was astonishing that he was still alive.

Determined, she resolved to pull the spear from Senu’s chest.

Though afraid she might not be able to, she gritted her teeth and gripped the broken shaft of the spear tightly. As she thought, the moment she touched it, Senu groaned as if in a seizure. Thick water began to pour from his mouth, leaving him unable even to scream.

“Se, Senu, just hang in there a little longer!”

Enya cried out desperately.

Finally, the spear came free with an indescribable, grotesque sound. Blood-mixed water gushed from the wound in Senu’s chest.

His body, which seemed to flow with diluted blood, looked almost like a corpse.

After she quickly pressed her hand against the oozing pink liquid from Senu’s chest, she tore off a piece of his clothing and placed it over the wound.

Hearing the noise, the cave bugs drew closer around them.

Now that her vision was clearer, Enya bit her lip. She wanted to scream at the sight of Senu’s condition but forced herself to stay quiet.

The bandages had completely unraveled, revealing Senu’s true state—horrifying beyond imagination.

Since Silanda had always been the one to change his bandages, she had never seen the skin underneath. But now, in the faint light from the cave bugs, the sight of his exposed flesh was unbearable. There was hardly anything that resembled skin. Burst blood vessels were clearly visible, and the rotting flesh had begun to clump together like dough.

Her heart sank into despair.

With Senu’s condition beyond any help, she found it impossible to think clearly. She had never realized his condition was this severe on the vast rock.

‘How could he have managed like this until now…!’

She couldn’t believe that Senu had faced Servia in such a condition.

With a grimace, Enya bit her lip and lowered her head as a harsh realization struck her.

…Senu couldn’t survive.