She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 371

“You—!” Marnie shrieked in horror. Caught completely off guard, she lost her balance as Cyrilla yanked her forward. With a cry of disbelief, despair, and the raw pain of betrayal, she tumbled straight toward the mother bear’s gaping, stinking maw.

Cyrilla didn’t dare look back, her mind already picturing the gruesome end Marnie was about to meet. The thought only made her run faster.

The mother bear, clearly not expecting its prey to be delivered so conveniently, reacted with lightning speed. It adjusted its massive head, its fangs flashing as it prepared to bite Marnie in half.

In that split second, just as Marnie was about to be severed at the waist, a piercing whistle sliced through the deathly silence.

It was Loyce. She burst from behind a tree like a phantom.

To reach Marnie in time, Loyce didn’t even stop running. While still at a full sprint, she twisted her body, drawing her compound bow into a breathtaking arc. Her eyes were sharp and cold, locked on her target without a flicker of hesitation. The arrow shot forward like a meteor, carrying all her strength and precision, and slammed deep into the bear’s open mouth just as its jaws were about to snap shut.

*Thwack!*

The arrowhead buried itself in the soft palate of the bear’s mouth, the force of the impact causing the shaft to vibrate violently.

“ROOAARRR!”

The bear let out a mangled, agonized howl. The searing pain made its jaws seize up, its fangs scraping past Marnie’s side, tearing through her jacket and leaving several deep, bloody gashes. The force sent Marnie flying into a pile of fallen leaves, where she landed hard, the pain and terror knocking her unconscious.

However, Loyce’s desperate, high-speed rescue shot came at a cost. The violent twist she’d forced on her body on the slick, wet forest floor caused her to lose her balance.

Loyce didn't move, her mind already calculating the gambler's move she'd have to make—a single, fatal knife strike after it tackled her.

But just as the bear was about to pounce and tear her apart, three sharp cracks echoed from the dense canopy of the trees just behind and above her.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

The shots interrupted her desperate plan. The origin was impossibly clever. The bullets weren’t aimed at the attacking bear, but at the ground just inches in front of its path. Dirt and gravel exploded like miniature bombs in the bear's face. The sudden noise, the threat of the explosions, and the debris acted as an invisible barrier.

The bear’s lunge was broken. Instinctive fear of the unknown threat made it twist unnaturally in mid-air, causing its perfect trajectory to shift. Its massive paw slammed into the tree trunk right beside Loyce, missing her by a hair's breadth.