The Bond That Even Gods Cannot Break

Even with all the resources they had acquired so far, escaping the cave through the entrance they came in was impossible. To return to the upper floor, they would need to explore the passages.

"Run!" Screaming at the top of her lungs, Sophia felt her heart pounding against her ribcage as she ran desperately.

"I thought you had a plan!" Keeping pace with the girl beside her, Melissa protested.

Behind the girls, three lesser mandragoras crawled along the walls, floor, and ceiling to reach them.

"How was I supposed to know we'd stumble upon a nest?"

With the ability to use the lantern as a weapon to attack, Sophia suggested they test its effectiveness against a lesser mandragora. Among the monsters they encountered, this was the only one the girls managed to defeat when they faced it.

After exploring the confusing corridors for about an hour, the girls finally found a different structure within the cave. At the end of a wide passage resembling a bridge between two ravines, there was a large door made of rock and wood.

They both agreed to check it out; however, as they approached, their current pursuers emerged, and this situation began.

"If we keep running, we'll tire ourselves out before they do."

"I know!" Responding with a shout amid her gasps for air, Sophia exclaimed, "We need a more spacious place. If we fight three of them in these conditions, we'll die."

Sophia's eyes desperately searched for a suitable location. Finally, as if luck were finally on the girls' side, a slightly wider corridor appeared among the various connections.

Holding the lantern, Sophia turned desperately and channeled energy from within herself. From her outstretched hand, a mass of blue flames created a thin but powerful wall of fire, granting them some time.

Kneeling on the ground, the silver-haired girl felt her face flush as she gazed at Melissa. Understanding what she intended to do, the girl extended her hand.

Grasping the slender hand, Sophia leaned in and touched her lips to Melissa's. A message resonated in her mind, and within seconds, a green glow reverberated throughout the area.

"Green suits you." Laughing with her sharp teeth on display, Melissa observed the transformation of the girl before her.

Emerald green eyes sparkled like bright gems, mirroring the green hues that appeared at the tips of her silver locks. Peeking out from her curls, two pointed ears arched upwards.

"Nya~!?" Sophia shivered slightly as her sensitive ear was touched and stared at the girl in front of her with puffed cheeks.

"Yes, it's really nice to get back at you."

"I thought we were past this!"

As her ear was still being stimulated, Sophia shivered slightly from the strange sensation.

"That's that, and this is this." Removing her fingers from the warm, soft ears, the girl continued while watching the mandragoras retreat in front of the wall of fire that would soon disappear. "What's the plan?"

As she watched the girl stand up, Melissa felt her hand being pulled. In an instant, her center of gravity betrayed her, and she found herself being held in the air.

"The secondary class also increases physical strength even without showing an influence on the status panel. I'm not having trouble breathing like before."

Pressed against Sophia's suddenly warm chest, Melissa protested in confusion.

"Wait, why is this? I can walk!"

Noticing how the girl protesting in her arms was as light as a feather, Sophia replied.

"We don't need to get close to attack. We're safer if we stay like this."

To keep the status bonus always active, they needed to remain embraced. Although it wasn't practical, for the girls' specific case, this was the ideal battle position.

Melissa felt something being placed on her belly, and upon putting her hand there, she found the small lantern emitting a faint warmth.

"I'll keep us alive and attack them as much as I can. If any of them get too close, you knock them down."

Sighing at the plan she couldn't oppose, Melissa tightened her grip on the connected hands and began to stare at the fire that had completely disappeared. The battle was about to begin again.

Three mandragoras advanced along the corridor, which was about 4 meters wide.

"Yay!" Jumping back to avoid the sharp arms of the twisted trees, Sophia kicked the ground with her heel.

Shooting at high speed, a green root headed towards the first mandragora. The monster used its wooden arms as a shield, and despite losing half of them, continued its attack.

"Don't just focus on the ground, look at the ceiling!"

Hearing Melissa's voice, Sophia almost fell when a mandragora creeping like a spider fell towards her. Just as its fangs were about to tear into her head, a blaze of blue flames engulfed it.

"Thank you." Sophia said, watching the monster being reduced to ashes with just one attack.

"No need for that, there are still two left, let's go. Using fire consumes more mana than the secondary class."

Combining [Couple's Fortitude], the [Eternal Flame Lantern], and the [Druidess's Spirituality], an impressive number of 260 mana was reached.

Aware that they needed to conserve mana for whatever lay behind the door, Sophia knew she needed to deal with the other mandragoras without relying on Melissa.

"Come to me, you failed aberration projects!"

Giving three kicks with the sole of her sneaker on the ground, several green branches headed towards the remaining monsters.

Just as she expected, attacking randomly wouldn't solve anything. Both mandragoras used their agility to swing on the cave wall by attaching their branches to the rocky surface.

Using the increased agility to reposition herself, Sophia dodged the sharp branches that always seemed to aim at her neck and heart.

"Their minds seem to replicate an attack pattern. It's not complex, but it's irritating," she remarked.

Her green eyes studied the possibilities of counterattacking. Each mandragora had four to six sharp arms, and each one seemed capable of stretching and attacking at angles that should be impossible.

If they were limited to the ground, it would be easy to destroy them, but the monster's main power was its mobility and versatility of terrain.

"I swear, if you fall, I'll burn this whole place down," Melissa murmured, clinging with all her might to Sophia's clothes as she was dragged from side to side in the silver-haired girl’s dance.

"The whole place..." Sophia echoed, almost in a trance at Melissa's words.

Calculating in her mind the amount of mana that would be necessary, she tightened her grip on Melissa and leaped to the same spot. The mandragoras watched in confusion at the girl's sudden action, but it was only for a single second before their red eyes were consumed by absolute green.

The dense layer of mold that grew from the walls and filled the room was not as soft as the girls' bed, but so dense that its pressure would make it possible to twist metal.

The deadly screams of the mandragoras that could no longer move faded into a symphony of pain. The sound of hardwood being crushed sounded like breaking a rock, first in a few spots and then in several places. In a few seconds, the monsters were completely destroyed.

In the direction from which all the combatants came, a small green door formed, and the two girls appeared there.

Sophia had some pieces of mold on her head, but she simply wiped them away with her hand. Melissa, although she had no dirt on her, was practically in a fetal position on those soft arms.

"I-I thought I was going to die!" Melissa said, staring at the wall of mold that appeared suddenly. "You can be scary sometimes, Snow Curls..."

Looking at the girl clutching her clothes in her arms, Sophia tightened her grip once again before responding calmly.

"Manipulating mold consumes much less mana than roots. If you condense them forcefully enough, even a piece of paper can become so thick that its width would span from the earth to the moon."

Not sure whether to protest the hand that was stroking her head as if she were a child or Sophia's strange explanation, Melissa just sighed before speaking again.

"Can you put me down?"

"I think it's better if we continue like this. We have a little over 50 minutes to check what's behind that door."

Remembering the time limit to use the secondary class, Melissa, though reluctant, nodded for them to continue moving in that way. She began to observe the floating panels that appeared.

[You have gained experience.]

[Congratulations, you have leveled up.]

[You have "1" experience point available for use.]

Finally reaching level 4, they both agreed to use the acquired point to increase the 'intelligence' stat.

Analyzing the current values on the panel, a marker indicating 195/270 appeared. They had spent almost 30% of their total mana in this battle. Just like HP points, mana points appear to slowly recover over time, a time that the girls didn't have.

"Wait, are you injured?" Melissa's eyes widened as she looked at the panel and noticed that the hit points were showing 114/130.

Also observing the panel, Sophia examined her body for a few seconds and finally noticed that she was feeling a slight pain coming from her left leg. Droplets of red stained her now torn stockings, and a slightly deep cut was a few centimeters above her ankle.

"The increase in resistance also seems to have affected pain perception." Finally becoming aware of the injury, despite how bad it looked, the girl didn't feel as much pain as she had imagined.

"Leave that for later, we need to treat this now!"

Melissa grabbed her blazer and locked eyes with the girl who seemed to have considered the injury less important than she should have.

"But we don't have bandages or anything to treat it."

"Are you going to act stupid now?"

Finally understanding what Melissa meant by treatment, her emerald eyes fixed on the slightly flushed girl in her arms.

"I-Is it really okay to do this?"

Confused by the proposal that she didn't expect to come from Melissa, Sophia began to stammer.

"W-We... We've already done much more than this, it's just a kiss, we can do this."

Struggling to maintain her composure, Melissa leaned back and pulled the head of the girl with pointed ears towards her. Two lips met, and once again, warmth began to grow within the chests of both girls.

Although she had doubts in the morning, it was undeniable now that she once again had her tongue inside that girl's mouth.

I really like this.

As the saliva mixed and time seemed to stop, Sophia tightened her grip on the girl in her arms, who was making those pleasurable sensations arise in her mind. The pain in her legs had lessened, and the skill had probably already taken effect. However, they did not separate their mouths from her.

Why didn't they move away? Why couldn't she uncross her tongue from Melissa's and continue to explore her reactions as she entered her mouth?

Melissa... was she always so beautiful?

Daring to open her eyes, she stared at the brown locks that fell over her face.

When their lungs finally reached their limit, the two girls finally pulled away from each other, breathing heavily.

"Shall we?" Sophia murmured, and upon seeing the girl in her arms nod, she began to run.

It took them just under two minutes to reach the large ravine again. The river that crossed the earthen bridge, like the rest of the wall, had dozens of bright fruits. As they crossed, with Melissa still in her arms, Sophia stared at the imposing door in front of her with unease.

Could they overcome what lay on the other side? This thought began to hammer in her mind repeatedly. The injury she had acquired on her leg could have been much more severe if her resistance status hadn't increased. She was scared. Sophia didn't want to admit it, but she was scared.

When she almost took a step back, she felt not only her left hand but also her right hand being held. Still in her arms, Melissa looked at her. It wasn't a determined look or a confident smile. The girl, just like her, was afraid of what lay beyond the door.

Words of encouragement couldn't come when she too was immersed in fear. However, just by feeling the same thing as the other girl, she knew exactly what she needed to say now.

"We'll win, together." It was all that came out of Melissa's thin lips.

Sophia's eyes widened slightly, but she didn't back down. If she backed off, nothing would change. If she didn't move forward, nothing would change.

"We'll win, together."

Repeating the same words, her stride didn't falter. One step, then two steps, slowly she approached the door, which opened as if by magic. Nothing was visible on the other side, but the girl didn't stop.