"That chalice is the source of this pristine mana lake, and the liquid in this lake gets mixed into the serpent river. If you remove this chalice, the river will lose its magic source. And you know what will happen when that happens."

"What do—"

I was confused about how to react. But before I could say something stupid, I remembered what I learned in the village on the bank of the Serpent River.

The stones found at the bank of the Serpent river were used to make monster warding light. And the river itself protected villages near the forests from the monsters. Despite being near monster nests, the river was the sole reason why people were assured of their safety.

If it is as she said, then removing this chalice would be a disaster several times worse than a natural disaster. And not just that, if monster warding lights could no longer be produced, the journeys would be too dangerous. People rarely traveled as it is because of the fear of monsters.

'Is she trying to test us if we are selfish or not? No, if it was just that then Marina would have obviously made a choice," I thought. But then I realized how difficult making a choice here would be for a pure-hearted person like her.

'But these choices weren't fair in the first place.'

"Don't you think you are being unfair here? We came all the way here for that chalice. Everyone is expecting us to return with something that can heal our friend. And after everything we had to go through; you give us a choice knowing full well that we won't be able to pick one."

She smiled when she heard my reply. The air around her was calm and it didn't look like I offended her. This was good because based on the demonstration earlier and the description that Zagan gave me, she must be freakishly strong.

"You are naive to expect everything to be fair. If things were that easy, you wouldn't have come here to the fountain of immortality in the first place."

"But what choices did we have?"

"Yeah lady, you are acting all high and mighty. How can poor Nara make such a hard choice?" Yoru said in my defense. I gave her my silent thanks by looking towards her and nodding.

It was annoying to hear that coming from her. She was making it sound like we were the ones wrong here. Bad things happened to people, it was just that they happened too often to some.

"That's the thing. Ordinary people don't get to choose. Why should I give you the choices that suit your interest? Everyone has someone they want to save or protect. And you are no different. Unless.. You prove to me that you are special. If you do that, I promise that I will heal your friend."

I was tempted by the offer. I didn't feel myself as anyone special, but if I were to be compared by the standard of an ordinary man, I was definitely not normal. In midst of all these thoughts, a question came into my mind.

'Can I really trust her? What if she is just luring me into something?'

Considering how this conversation progressed, she would definitely not ask something easy from me. And on top of that, I had no reason to believe that she would keep her end of the deal. But then again, she kept Marina safe. If she was really trying to do something bad to us, she could have used her as bait.

"Okay, but how do I trust you have what we need?"

"Ha-ha! That's a surprising ordinary question from someone who is going to prove he is special. But I don't mind answering it."

After saying that, she took out a blue potion on a small transparent vial. My knowledge when it came to potion was next to zero, so I just waited for her to reveal what it is herself.

"This is nectar, the drink of gods. It can heal any kind of physical or mental injury and can even repair one's soul. This will be your price."

'Well, it looks legit,' I thought, but I was also aware of an old saying that went something like, 'Looks can be deceiving'. I looked towards Flare to see if she had any idea about this 'nectar'.

"Yes master, it indeed looks like nectar. And her having that makes me curious as to who she might be."

That was certainly something that would make one curious. But at this point, I was more interested in acquiring that nectar than moving towards the introduction.

"So, what will I have to do to acquire that?"

She smiled again when she heard my response. At this point, I had a feeling that she was trying to lure me into all this from the start. But what choice did I have except to go along? I couldn't risk the lives of all those people by taking that chalice. Neither could I show my face to my friends saying that all our struggles up to this point were meaningless. So, at last, the only choice left for me was the offer that she made.

"Well, It's simple. Fight me with everything you have got. If you win, you can take this," She replied while putting the vial of nectar back into her pocket.

'Man, why do things always end up like this?' I thought. The thing I wanted to avoid the most was about to happen, and at this point, I had no means to back off.

I was not sure what her abilities were so making any assumptions at this point would be baseless. But if she was capable of giving a guy like Zagan chills, I could easily say that she must be really strong.

"Okay. Zagan, Flare, Yoru I will need your help."

After I said that, Zagan made his usual entry. Flare and Yoru also prepared themselves for the fight.

"Well, I was hoping you would summon me later in a life or death situation," Zagan made an unnecessary casual remark like usual. By what she showed to me earlier, she was capable of killing me in an instant if I am not careful enough. And I wasn't the type who would lose the game in an attempt to keep the cards at hand. Especially when the loss could mean death here.

'I guess it's time to go all out now.'