WHPR 17

Chapter : 17

Jenaida tensed her entire body and assessed Drake’s condition.

Saliva pooled thickly in its mouth, and its eyes were bloodshot.

It was the 모습 of a demonic beast that had descended from its habitat into human settlements due to a lack of prey.

In other words, it was in its most dangerous state.

After all, beasts act purely on instinct when they are starving.

Jenaida clicked her tongue briefly.

Damn unlucky.

The chance of encountering a drake was abysmally low.

And once you did, the probability of death skyrocketed. That was because it had no weakness—except for the reverse scale on the back of its neck.

Jenaida first summoned Lancelot.

He appeared within a second, immediately confirmed the presence of the demonic beast, and assumed a defensive stance.

She whispered softly to him.

“Can you buy us some time?”

He swept his gaze briefly over the drake and answered.

“About five minutes.”

Too short.

But if they did nothing, nothing would change.

“I’ll move to the rear first. Stall it as much as you can.”

Lancelot nodded in acknowledgment and began provoking it.

“Hey, lizard-head!”

Meanwhile, Jenaida moved backward, carefully avoiding the drake’s gaze. After safely reaching the rear, she sprang toward the monster’s tail.

The moment human warmth touched it, the demonic beast sensed it instantly and thrashed violently, as if an earthquake had struck.

Enduring the violent shaking, she climbed up toward its neck, desperately searching for the reverse scale.

But since it was the drake’s sole weakness, it wasn’t easy to find.

After clinging on for quite some time, Jenaida finally lost her grip and fell, rolling across the ground.

She scraped along the dirt and writhed, unable to get up quickly. It felt like her arm was broken.

Should I call him after all…

To hunt a drake, at least three people were needed.

Two to block its vision as bait, and one to strike its weak point.

Without hesitation, Jenaida decided to call Ellen.

According to the grimoires, unless one had reached a godlike level of skill, physical and magical attacks didn’t work on a drake. But in truth, there was one more method.

Though the drake was a powerful demonic beast, the source of all such creatures was nature.

And the attacks of spirits—nature itself—should work.

If he comes, we can kill it.

Though he had tried to kill Kaiden during the monster-hunting tournament, if they failed to defeat the drake now, even more people would die.

Kaiden wouldn’t want members of his own knight order to die either.

I’ll tell Kaiden to evacuate, and after it’s over, I’ll let him threaten my life again like before…

Jenaida gathered spiritual power into her hand to summon Ellen.

Just as she was about to channel that power into the ground—

“Kraaaaah!”

With the drake’s roar, a sudden flash of light erupted. Blood from the demonic beast sprayed into the air.

Startled by the sudden turn of events, Jenaida stared blankly at the beast as it thrashed in agony.

Aura?

For aura to work on a drake meant a technique that had reached the realm of the divine.

As she stood stunned—

Another flash of light burst forth. This time, she clearly saw the source of the light she hadn’t noticed before.

A familiar violet glow.

And a familiar voice.

“Are you injured anywhere?”

It was Kaiden.

Instead of answering, Jenaida nodded.

He approached her and tightly grasped her hand.

As if telling her not to call Ellen.

With Kaiden’s help, Jenaida stood up, came to her senses, and quickly explained the plan.

“Lancelot and I will draw the drake’s attention. Could you strike the reverse scale on the back of its neck?”

She wanted to defeat the drake herself, but with her arm broken, acting as bait would be more helpful.

After hearing her explanation, Kaiden nodded.

Jenaida drew her sword with her uninjured arm, suppressing the throbbing pain in the other. Watching Kaiden approach the drake, she wrung out every last bit of strength she had left.

She drew the spirit’s power to its limit and swung her blade in a wide arc, slashing the monster’s tail.

A deafening roar echoed again as the drake’s tail shot up into the air.

The beast turned its gaze and glared straight at Jenaida, who had attacked it directly.

Facing eyes that looked ready to devour her at any moment, Jenaida tightened her grip on her sword.

Even if she collapsed now, she had to draw out every ounce of strength she had.

Cold sweat ran down her forehead and back.

As the drake’s fangs slowly closed in on the nape of her neck—

Thud.

With a heavy crash, the beast lost its balance and fell.

It convulsed several times before going still. Then, behind it, Kaiden appeared—his body drenched in blood.

Their gazes met in midair.

With the drake dead, the surroundings became eerily quiet, almost unbelievable given the chaos just moments ago.

The silence was broken by knights who arrived a beat too late.

Jenaida stared blankly at Kaiden before hastily averting her gaze.

“Are you all right?”

The knights flinched in shock at the sight of the drake’s corpse.

Kaiden calmly dismounted from the monster and issued orders.

“There are injured. We halt the march.”

“……”

“Escort the Archduchess.”

Those who had been staring in a daze hurriedly approached Jenaida.

“We will escort you.”

Jenaida glanced at Kaiden out of the corner of her eye, then turned away and began walking.

Kaiden watched her retreating figure for a long time.

His hand was trembling slightly.

Leaving the aftermath to the knights, Kaiden returned to the camp and immediately searched for bandages and splints.

That arm looked completely wrecked.

Though she was a knight and likely knew basic first aid, wrapping bandages alone wouldn’t be easy.

And with her stamina depleted, she wouldn’t be able to use divine power either.

That stubborn fool—she won’t even ask for help and will try to do it herself.

Kaiden let out a short sigh.

Even if not him, couldn’t she ask someone else? No knight disliked treating the wounded.

His head throbbed.

As he pressed his fingers against his temple to ease the dull pain, one of his subordinates handed him a wooden cup.

“It’s drake blood.”

Drinking demonic beast blood was common among people of the North. It maintained body temperature and provided nutrition, serving as a substitute for strong liquor.

However, for people from other regions, it was a divisive drink. The stench of blood made some gag.

Should I bring this to Jenaida?

It wasn’t meaningless. She had lost a lot of blood—drinking it would help.

If she can’t drink it… I’ll have to force her.

Among demonic beasts, drake blood was so rare that Northerners would drink it eagerly if given the chance.

Kaiden accepted the cup with a faint smile.

“Thanks for bringing it.”

Kaiden entered the tent where Jenaida was resting, his arms loaded with supplies.

Just as he expected, she was fumbling around and dropped a precious bandage.

“Are you planning to waste supplies?”

He spoke deliberately curtly as he sat down beside her.

Kaiden took the bandage from her and extended his hand, signaling for her arm.

“……”

Without a word, Jenaida obediently held it out.

Kaiden skillfully set the splint and secured it with bandages. Then, without stopping there, he handed her the cup filled with drake blood.

“It’s drake blood. It’s still warm—drink it.”

He quietly observed her reaction.

She stared blankly at her reflection on the surface for a moment, then drank it without hesitation.

Her manner was so natural, as if she had drunk demonic beast blood many times before.

Is this not her first time?

Holy knights weren’t never dispatched to the North, but whenever they were, they always avoided it, calling it barbaric and disgusting.

Jenaida emptied the cup cleanly and set it aside.

Kaiden stared at her for a moment before murmuring,

“…Isn’t it fishy?”

At his question, Jenaida flinched and blinked.

Why was she startled? Like someone hiding something.

After a brief silence, she spoke again.

“I have a strong stomach. Isn’t recovering my body more important?”

Even with her answer, something still felt off.

If she grew up in the capital, she wouldn’t know about the effects of demonic beast blood.

Those who called drinking it barbaric wouldn’t know its benefits. Yet she spoke as if recovery naturally came first.

Something’s strange.

It was as though she knew the North well.

Had she investigated in advance under imperial orders and was merely acting?

But even that was questionable—knights who lived on battlefields still hated the stench of blood.

Let alone drinking demonic beast blood, which smelled far worse than human blood.

That would be hard to fake.

Still, pressing her further right now would be strange.

Kaiden masked his confusion and stayed silent.

After resting for several days, the archduke’s party picked up the pace.

Because of the blizzard, snow piled up to their ankles. Still, they didn’t slow their march, hoping to minimize monster attacks like before.

As a result of pushing forward while cutting back on sleep,

Kaiden and Jenaida’s group arrived at Niveus Castle in the North in less than two months after leaving the capital.