Chapter 121: [SAVING WHISTLE]

’Fuck, fuck, fuck!’

Eli’s chest heaved as he stumbled backward, every splash echoing through the cavern like a drumbeat of panic. Cold water clung to his clothes, dragging him down, but his eyes never left Mio.

Silver threads lashed out like whips, cutting the air with a metallic hiss.

One sliced so close Eli swore he felt the sting of displaced air graze his cheek.

“Mio, wait—!” Eli’s voice cracked, raw, desperate. “Please, just—just stop for a second! We can talk about this!”

“Shut up.”

The reply was cold, sharp.

“But why are you suddenly doing—”

“Shut. Up.”

The words cut deeper than the threads. Mio’s tone wasn’t flat anymore—it was venom, spat with precision, dripping with contempt.

Eli froze. His throat locked. His instincts screamed, louder than ever, flooding his veins with fire.

Another thread lashed forward. Eli twisted aside at the last second, his boots slipping over slick stone.

His body moved faster than it should have—legs snapping into motion, arms shifting just in time to let the blade of silver whistle past his ribs.

Agile. Too agile.

He was quicker now. His body sharper.

But the water dragged at him, every dodge heavier, every step clumsy against the sucking current.

’Damn it—the water’s making me slower.’

He ducked under another strike, but the tip of a thread tore across his sleeve, close enough to sting the skin beneath.

Eli’s pulse spiked. His eyes darted to Mio’s body, scanning every inch. His chest. His arms. His shoulders. ’There has to be something—phantoms, leeches—something making him act like this.’

But there was nothing.

No black leeches sucking his skin. No phantom hands clinging to his limbs.

Just Mio.

And the killing intent rolling off him was real.

Too real.

’No… no, this doesn’t make sense. If it were phantoms, I’d feel them. But there’s nothing near us. Nothing.’

Not on Mio. Not even on Zaira and Mel’s unconscious bodies.

The truth twisted like a blade in his chest. His danger sense wasn’t lying.

The danger was Mio.

“Please!” Eli’s voice broke, cracking into the cavern. His legs splashed backward, water lapping higher, every step dragging at him. “If I did something—then I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to—whatever it is, Mio, I’m sorry! Just—stop!”

Mio’s eyes narrowed, sharp and cruel, his jaw grinding. When he spoke again, his voice was low and heavy, each word like stone pressed down on Eli’s ribs.

“You think sorry is enough?”

The silver threads vibrated, pulling taut, humming with deadly intent. Eli’s danger sense spiked again—violent, overwhelming.

His stomach dropped. His body hurled itself sideways before his mind caught up—

SPLASH!

The freezing water swallowed him whole. His arms flailed against the drag, lungs seizing as he fought to push up.

And above—Mio’s voice, steady, venom dripping with every syllable.

“The moment the captain left, I realized it was finally time to sever the weak link. If your abilities had worked properly, our teammates wouldn’t be unconscious.”

Eli’s chest caved. His heart slammed against his ribs, panic threatening to crush him.

Then silver gleamed overhead. Threads carved downward in a deadly arc, slicing straight toward the water where Eli had fallen.

Right toward him.

Eli’s lungs burned. He twisted hard, splashing through the freezing water, but the threads were faster.

Too fast.

SHHK!

Something snapped tight around his ankle.

Eli gasped, his whole body jerking as the silver wire cut in. A hot sting tore through his leg, followed by the unmistakable warmth of blood.

“Ah—!” The sound ripped out of him, high and raw.

’MOTHERFUCKER!’

He crashed into the water, palms slapping down—only for another thread to coil around his wrist and yank.

“Shit—no, no, no!” Eli thrashed, pulling with everything he had, but the cords only burrowed deeper, biting into skin until blood slicked his fingers.

He tried tearing it off, but the wire just carved him open. The pain was a knife up his arm, searing and unrelenting.

“M-Mio, please! Stop! It hurts!” His voice broke as he writhed, leg and arm bound, blood clouding into the black water. “We can talk about this! Just—listen to me! Please, just talk to me!”

Mio didn’t look like himself anymore. His expression was flat, unreadable, but his eyes… his eyes had a cold gleam that made Eli’s stomach turn.

Mio’s hand twitched. The threads tightened.

“AHH!” Eli screamed, back arching.

It hurt.It hurt so much.

“KAIRO!!!”

The wire dug into his leg until fire flared up his thigh. His arm was yanked backward, shoulder popping with sharp pain. These weren’t just bindings—they were restraints designed to pull him apart piece by piece.

“Captain isn’t here,” Mio said, voice low and merciless. “You think yelling will bring him back? I can’t sense him anywhere.”

Eli’s chest collapsed into ragged sobs. He kicked against the water, nails tearing against the threads until his fingertips split. Blood smeared across the wire, but nothing gave way.

“Kairo! Kairo, help!” His voice echoed through the cavern, desperate, breaking. “Please—Kairo!”

The only answer was the hollow slap of water and the faint, cruel hum of Mio’s threads.

’Why isn’t he here?!’ Eli’s thoughts spiraled, his heart hammering in his throat. ’He promised—he promised he’d be here!’

He clawed harder, reckless now, every tug leaving more skin behind. The pain blurred into panic, into fury, into sheer survival.

Mio leaned closer, his eyes reflecting the cavern’s dim glow like shards of glass. “Stop calling for our captain,” he said, almost bored. “No one’s coming.”

And still—Eli screamed, hoarse and trembling. “Kairo! Please!”

The water took his cries and chewed them up. Darkness drank the sound whole and spat back nothing but the echo of his own panic.

The threads pulled like a trapdoor closing. Metal bit deeper into flesh—hot, precise pain that left Eli gasping.

Blood slicked his forearm, thick and black in the cavern light, sliding in slow ribbons into the water.

“Shut up,” Mio hissed, close enough that Eli could see the pulse at his temple. The silver lines sang with the motion, vibrating against skin. “Weak. All you ever do is get carried.”

Eli’s head shook so hard his teeth rang. Tears blurred the world into streaks of light and stone. “No—no, listen to me!”

His voice split, raw and pleading. “Zaira fainted because she was scared—because of the leeches! And Mel—Mel fell because she pushed him under!”

He grabbed at the air, fingers scrabbling for purchase on slick rock that wasn’t there. “It wasn’t me! None of that was my fault! Don’t you think—don’t you think Kairo would know that? He’d never agree to this—”

Silence answered him first.

Then the threads tightened, a mechanical, deliberate pull that turned his plea into a choke.

His ribs burned. He convulsed, every nerve a live wire, and a sound like the last breath of an animal ripped out of him.

“Kairo!!” He screamed, and the cavern swallowed the name like a challenge.

His hands closed on empty water. He clutched nothing—both literally and the way his hope had been drained away.

’System!’ Eli screamed inside his mind, the thought ragged, frantic. ’System, is there something…anything you can give me?!’

Ding.

[SYSTEM TIP]

> Check your inventory.

Eli’s eyes flew wide. For a split second, even through the pain, he froze. The System had actually answered him. His pulse spiked, hope slamming into him so hard it nearly choked him.

’Check my inventory?’ His thoughts raced. ’What—what was even in there again? I barely—’

No time. No hesitation. He clung to the thread of hope like a lifeline.

’Open inventory! Now!’

Ding.

[SYSTEM INVENTORY]

Current Inventory:— Hearing Aids— Seeing Glasses— Navigating Compass— Saving Whistle

Eli blinked, breath hitching. ’Hearing aids… seeing glasses… what the hell am I supposed to—wait… oh… oh!’ His heart leapt, adrenaline crashing through him like fire. ’The Saving Whistle!’

The memory came back sharp—Kairo telling him once, offhand, about certain System items. The

Saving Whistle.

An item that sent a distress signal straight to his designated target. If Kairo was anywhere within range, the whistle would scream for him.

Blood dripped hot from his wrist into the water as the threads pulled tighter, dragging him inch by inch toward Mio’s hand. His arm trembled violently, shoulder screaming as it stretched too far back.

“No one’s coming,” Mio hissed, threads shivering as they tightened again. “You’ll die here, Elione Noa Ahn. And no one will care.”

Eli grit his teeth, a guttural sound tearing out of his throat. ’We’ll see about that, you psycho!’ His mind slammed the command into the System, desperate, wild.

’Give me the Saving Whistle!’

Ding.

[SYSTEM ITEM DEPLOYED]

Light shimmered into existence in his bloodied palm—pale blue pixels bursting outward, condensing, solidifying.

A small silver whistle, etched with glowing runes, dropped into his hand. It did look like a normal whistle.

’Thank fucking System.’

Eli nearly sobbed in relief. His chest heaved, water dripping off his chin as he clutched it tight.

The threads twitched, sensing the motion. Mio’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that—”

Eli didn’t give him the chance. He slammed the whistle to his lips and blew.

PREEEE!

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