TUK 27

Chapter 27

Lian ignored the shouts of her companions behind her. She didn’t so much as register them.

She focused only on the sentence that rose up in her mind, pushing aside every other thought and judgment.

“Remove it at the source.”

That was the conclusion the scene before her eyes reached.

If she hadn’t seen that ash-gray sight.

If it hadn’t taken the shape of wrapping around as if to protect some shadow unit.

Then of course the right thing to do would be to get out of here with Sion’s disciples.

Why? Because six people were far too few to face that many monsters right now.

Even if, by some luck, they wiped out every monster here, they couldn’t avoid casualties.

So this was right.

Even if the judgment was wrong and the surging monsters and the empire’s elite soldiers overwhelmed them—

“At least I can buy time to prepare against those things.”

For the moment, Sion’s disciples could return to the main force stationed on the wide plain.

She could buy time to inform Monclay of the situation.

Then they could prevent the monsters from raiding the villages near Noshheim and hold out until Sion or the White Lion Order could come to their rescue.

Of course, it probably wouldn’t get that disastrous.

“…If I can just remove that thing.”

Something that exuded ash-gray.

Whether it was a cultist black magician or whatever.

If she could eliminate that unknown, mysterious thing, Lian was certain the monsters wouldn’t head for Noshheim.

Bolstered by that certainty, she ran—and the first thing she met was a pack of frostfang wolf beasts.

Kraang! Kraang!!

They lunged wildly, baring teeth as if to tear anything in reach apart.

Lian aimed the tip of her sword at the snout of the wolf charging most directly and leapt.

Pugak!!

Her blade pierced clean through its head, and as she landed she pulled the sword back and kept moving.

Tadad!!

She completely ignored the wolves snapping at her from around and ran straight ahead, opening her senses and focusing on evasion.

She kicked off a tree to change direction, rolled on the ground or dropped low like sliding to avoid even the lycanthropes’ attacks.

She just kept going.

But for some reason, the monsters she passed didn’t pursue her.

“It’s still a long way to that ash-gray hemisphere.”

Lian glanced back.

Only then did she see Sion’s disciples fighting the monsters she had passed.

“No—why aren’t they getting out?”

Given the situation, she had expected them to abandon her and escape, so why were they desperately continuing to fight?

“This is troublesome.”

If things went wrong and she reached death and the process of resurrection, they might discover her.

They had barely known her; would they feel obliged to risk their lives to save her?

She thought Reana Pinera would judge the situation and escape without being told to go first.

Would Tairin or Dominic be any different? She expected them to curse at her like idiots and run from the scene.

“Hey!! Black-haired one!! Are you lost?! Don’t make this a bigger hassle—come back right now!!”

“Damn it! What am I doing right now!!”

They shouted like that, and white light of will wrapped around their bodies as they struck down monsters.

Everyone did that.

They wrapped their whole bodies in the will to not leave Lian to die and tried to push back the wave of monsters.

It was moving, but the present circumstance couldn’t allow for that.

Kuuung! Kuuung!!

She was about to have to get past the wall of trolls.

“Ha—! Look at that! You guys see this too, right?! Huh?!”

Emilio excitedly pointed ahead.

Across the wide clearing, in the woods, he saw Sion’s disciples—who had been fighting the lycanthropes that had tried to join them—and now the monsters that had been following Lian were all charging at them.

“What are those things? Aren’t these the Azrion monsters who treated us like insects on the plain?! Heh heh heh…”

“Heh… I remember there were five, but now there’s one more?”

“Is that important now? Heh heh. Soon our comrades will watch the monsters tear their limbs off right before their eyes! Heh heh. This will be fun. It will be fun!”

“Kill them quickly! Let them be eaten!! You stupid monster bastards, kwehehe!!”

The empire’s shadows created by Marquis Argen were slowly having their souls eaten away by the magic radiating from the relic.

Their blackened pupils curled like crescent moons as they grinned among themselves.

The veins around their eyes darkened and writhed, making them look hideous.

Those nearest Emilio—who was holding the relic—and therefore closest to its influence showed the change most clearly, and even the shadow troops at the rear who had retained their senses were being affected by the relic and losing proper judgment.

So when they reached their final destination, Trever Bridge, there would effectively be no one sane enough to follow the order to cast the relic into the river.

“Heh heh heh! Why would the Marquis have told us to throw this away? The answer’s obvious. He was scared we’d betray him and stab him in the back!”

The truth was unknown. But from here it was easy enough to guess that much.

Kkirik-.

Just the clink of the relic’s gold fittings could animate the monsters.

By adjusting the range of the invisible line, the monsters could be drawn closer or pushed away.

So situations like this could be manufactured at will.

“Heh heh heh. I thought those things might interfere, but I didn’t expect to see them all here!”

Just as he had been thinking about the moment to encounter them, they appeared.

By widening the range of the invisible line, a mere flick of a hand could enact revenge.

“But what’s that bastard doing?”

Suddenly, one of them broke through the frostfang wolves and the lycanthropes and charged toward them.

“Is he crazy?”

He should have been running away, but instead he ran this way. And his movements were fairly fast.

With this many monsters, it would be normal to be paralyzed with fear—or rather, to run like hell.

What on earth did he think he could achieve, charging like a beast?

‘Could it be?!’

Had he noticed the relic? That would make sense.

No matter how many monsters there were, if they could snatch that thing, the situation could flip in an instant! But how?

‘He saw the relic in hand at that distance? That’s impossible…’

Even if he recognized the relic, what if there was a black magician here? They might steal souls, raise corpses, or kill painfully with curses or plagues.

In any case, there was no reason for a lunatic to come onto their turf here!

“Go! Trolls!!”

Emilio shouted toward the trolls moving left and right without crossing the invisible line.

Of course, none of the trolls responded to that command.

Emilio knew that. It was simply an intentional gesture—an attempt to paint himself as a terrifying figure regardless of friend or foe.

He didn’t realize it was a pointless act.

“Heh heh heh… But that black-haired one—don’t I remember him from somewhere?”

“You? Too? Huh? Me too! Hahaha! Wasn’t that the idiot of Azrion that Gerard killed on the plain?”

“Stupid bastard. Wrong! That’s a corpse that was among the traitors at Trever Bridge! Kekek!”

“Pfft!! Idiots! What’s wrong with you people? How would a corpse get here? A ghoul wouldn’t be moving like this! You fools kekek!”

The shadow squad laughed among themselves in a half-crazed state and paid Emilio no mind.

Emilio watched them for a moment with a careless expression, then—

“Kekeke. Stupid bastards. Spouting nonsense like screws coming loose.”

He smirked and then looked to the trolls surging forward like a moving wall.

Kwang! Kwaang!!

Precisely, he observed Lian barely dodge a troll’s merciless punch.

That sight made it seem like she might leap right into them at any moment.

Kkirik-.

He reduced the range of the area the monsters could protect by half.

Grrr!!

Then the lycanthropes that had been intent on running straight ahead joined the trolls’ gap to start attacking Lian.

The relic’s range had shrunk to bring Lian—closest to the protective range—into reach first.

“Kekeke. No matter how much he flails, he won’t make it here.”

Emilio was sure she would never get into the protective area.

No matter how nimble she was, she wasn’t a knight.

She’d roll and be hit, dodge and be torn.

She might get crushed by a troll’s foot and fall.

Seeing her get up again, it seemed she had avoided fatal injury by a rebound for the time being.

‘Kekeke. Really? Can her stamina hold out? She must be close to death already. The monsters won’t just let her be. Kekeke!’

And Emilio’s thoughts were borne out.

Kwang! Kwaang!

The troll’s attack continued.

A single blow crushed a tree.

A troll, wielding a broken tree trunk like a club, swung wildly toward Lian.

Some lycanthropes nearby were hit and killed. Still—

Tahat-!!

Lian slipped through that gap and still tried to enter the protection zone.

“You madman!!”

Emilio urgently reduced the protective radius from eighty steps to about fifty.

Lian had to dodge frostfang wolves and lycanthropes again and close the distance to the shadows.

Still, she kept going.

She didn’t give up.

Even when wolves bit her, lycanthropes tore at her skin, and she rolled on the ground to avoid trolls’ attacks.

“Is… is that possible?!”

Lian ran.

Because of that, Emilio’s expression inevitably contorted more and more.

Kkirik-.

With anxiety and fear on his face, he reduced the protection from fifty steps to thirty.

Now he was close enough to read Lian’s expression with his own eyes.

“That… I think that’s the black-haired soldier from before.”

“The one who disguised himself as our soldier and killed a wizard looked like him too, right?!”

“Maybe twins? So he’s running like that to get revenge… or something……”

The shadow squad, watching Lian steadily close the gap, was also beginning to return to some sense because Emilio had tightened the relic’s field bit by bit.

“Everyone, don’t lose your heads—prepare for combat! If we lose the relic, it’s over!!”

Emilio shouted anxiously to his men. The troops raised their swords and surrounded Emilio.

But they never had to fight.

Kwaang!!

Because Lian, who had been dodging the monsters’ attacks, was struck by a troll’s fist and driven into the ground—right before their eyes.

“Of course! How could he possibly break through that alone?! Hahaha! Emilio, I don’t think the relic will be taken.”

Even without their shouts, Emilio—observing the scene over their shoulders—wore a cold look.

“Kekeke. Yes… that’s right. How dare he—he’s not even a knight.”

Then he turned his gaze toward the place where Sion’s disciples were tangled with monsters.

Kkirik-.

While manipulating the relic, he widened its protective range at the same time.

“Now if we just kill those ones, it’s over!! Go! My monsters!! Hahaha!!”