Episode 53

“He’ll survive on his own, so just think about yourself,”

Igon said, turning to run off with a wry smile.

“Come back safely without getting hurt!”

I shouted at his retreating back.

“Let’s go.”

Kenneth urged, pulling me along.

We ran through the forest in the early morning rain.

My bare feet slipped on the wet grass, making it hard to keep up the pace.

“This way.”

Kenneth directed, leading me along a path.

Trees and bushes surrounded us, blending into a monotonous landscape, but Kenneth seemed to know the way out of the hunting grounds well, likely because of the royal villa nearby.

Thinking back, Igon had also navigated well, guiding us to the cave earlier.

We ran for a while when we heard the deep growl of a large beast behind us.

Instinctively, I glanced back and saw a head poking out from the treetops, making eye contact with the beast.

“Ahhhh!”

I screamed in terror and ran faster.

This beast was on a different scale from the ones I had seen at the black market with Kenneth. It was horrifyingly large and grotesque.

It was hard to believe that we were in this place, and that a beast had appeared.

If this was bad luck, it was the worst kind.

Wait a minute.

If the beast was here, what about Igon?

He had gone to act as bait for us.

No way…

A chilling feeling swept over the back of my neck.

I turned around with trembling eyes.

“Run!”

Before I could get a clear look at the monster, Kenneth spun me around, grabbed my waist, and started running.

As he carried me, I caught a glimpse of the monster’s mouth, glistening wet.

Was that… blood?

No, it had to be rainwater or saliva.

It couldn’t be blood.

But the fear gripped me, making it hard to move.

As Kenneth ran, his firm shoulder pressed into my lower abdomen, combining the pain with the cold rain, and my body was shaking uncontrollably.

When I came to, I found myself on the ground.

“Ugh!”

Looking up, I saw Kenneth standing with his sword drawn, facing off against the beast.

‘Shhh!’

The air was filled with the sharp sound of metal slicing through.

Kenneth pulled me up, having just slashed away a long, red appendage that could have been an arm, tongue, or tentacle.

“There’s more than one. The Duke must be fighting another one.”

The realization that we were being chased by multiple beasts wasn’t exactly comforting, but at least it meant Igon wasn’t dead, and that was a small relief.

Without a moment to catch our breath, we continued to run.

“Ah! Kenneth!”

Suddenly, Kenneth fell, dragging me down with him. I screamed as I hit the ground, partially cushioned by his body.

Looking down, I saw blood oozing from his ankle. The amount of blood indicated it was a serious injury.

“When did you get hurt?”

I had been calling him by his name without any formality, just as he had wanted all along.

With a smile tugging at his lips, he looked up at me.

“The Duke was right.”

He said this as he patted my back.

“Run, Lady.”

He told me to run, but I couldn’t just leave an injured person behind. Even if I tried, I’d keep looking back, worried about him. And in this situation, I doubted I could survive alone.

The rain was letting up, and dawn was breaking. If we found a good hiding spot, Igon or someone else would come for us.

I slung Kenneth’s arm over my shoulder.

“Ugh.”

My previously dislocated arm screamed in pain, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through it.

I heard Kenneth chuckle weakly.

“Lady, get a grip.”

He tried to pull his arm away, but I stopped him.

“No.”

I cut him off firmly. I felt that if I didn’t make this decision now, I would regret it forever.

“Your Highness, you need to get a grip.”

Kenneth looked at me with wide eyes, then shook his head with a rueful laugh.

He laughed mockingly again but didn’t reject my help this time.

“We both need to get out of here alive.”

Step by heavy step, we moved forward, each step a struggle.

The only saving grace was that I wasn’t wearing a heavy dress but more practical clothes.

And it seemed that whatever Kenneth had cut down earlier had bought us some time; nothing was immediately chasing us.

After a short while, we found a hollow in a tree that looked big enough to hide in.

Kenneth squeezed himself inside, and I followed, curling up next to him.

He tore the bottom of his tunic and started to wrap his foot, but he was too weak to do it properly. I took the cloth from him and tied it around his ankle myself.

I could feel his gaze on me, watching closely as I worked.

Just as I finished, the faint trail of blood Kenneth had left was slowly being washed away by the rain.

‘Woof!’

The sound of heavy footsteps, growls, and the rough breathing of a beast echoed through the forest.

I lifted my hand to cover Kenneth’s mouth, fearing any noise might give us away.

‘Grrr…’

The wet, squelching footsteps grew closer.

The sound of wet footsteps on the muddy ground was vivid and clear.

It seemed the creature’s steps had slowed, as if it knew we were nearby.

Damn it.

A curse bubbled up from inside me.

Everything felt like a mistake.

What I regretted the most was trusting Stella like a fool.

It was my own stupidity and gullibility that had led us to this situation, and the weight of that realization crushed me.

I held my breath, praying the creature, whether it was a monster or a beast, would pass by without noticing us.

I didn’t trust myself not to scream if I saw it again.

It had a single eye in the middle of its face, looking half-finished like an underdeveloped person, or a well-fed pig. Its glistening skin and long, tentacle-like appendages made it resemble an octopus.

One thing was certain: it was a grotesque sight I never wanted to face again.

‘Grrr…’

The sound of the creature moving away from the base of our hiding tree brought a wave of relief.

Just as I was about to exhale the breath I had been holding, Kenneth pushed me hard on the back.

“Lady!”

I rolled over and tumbled into a nearby bush.

‘Grrraaah!’

“Ahhh!”

The screams of the beast and Kenneth mingled together.

Scrambling, I peeked out and saw Kenneth grappling with the monster. He drove his sword into its single eye.

The beast thrashed, attempting to swipe at Kenneth with its sharp claws.

“No!”

I don’t know what possessed me or where I found it, but suddenly I was holding a dagger, likely dropped by Kenneth.

I charged at the monster, swinging the blade with all my might.

The dagger bit into the creature’s flesh.

‘Screeee!’

The beast roared and fell, redirecting its claws from Kenneth to me.

“Get down!”

Kenneth threw himself over me, rolling us both away as the beast collapsed with a thud, narrowly missing us.

“Huff… huff…”

Kenneth panted heavily.

I looked up in disbelief at the fallen beast.

“Lady!”

Kenneth’s stern voice called out to me, almost scolding.

Why?

“Ah…”

Blood was pouring from my left arm.

The heat I felt must have been from the blood.

The pain was less like a cut and more like a burn.

“It… it burns.”

My vision began to blur.

I started to see strange hallucinations. The fallen beast seemed to writhe and split into two.

Two pairs of legs emerged from the single eye.

“Damn it.”

Kenneth muttered a low curse.

It seemed my hallucination wasn’t a trick of my mind.

Before we could even stand up to run again, the beast had finished splitting.

The two newly born creatures, glistening and shiny, approached us.

It’s over.

The feeling of defeat overwhelmed me more than fear.

If one was so difficult to deal with, what could we do against two?

And then it happened.

A flash of steel, and blood sprayed.

The gleam of a sword.

I heard the sound of something being ripped and sliced.

My eyes couldn’t follow the swift movements.

In precise and fluid motions, a sword plunged into the creature’s eye and withdrew.

The next movements were easier to follow.

A hand reached into the eye socket and pulled out a stone-like object.

There were two creatures, so he retrieved two stones.

He then crushed them underfoot.

‘Crunch.’

The sound of them breaking echoed in my ears.

I saw his shoulders heaving as if he was catching his breath.

His hair, soaked in blood, made him look like a red-haired knight.

His entire body, from face to limbs, was covered in red, making him look like a newborn covered in blood.

With eyes shining innocently like the morning sky, he looked at me.

“Eve.”

He rushed to gather me into his arms.

I could hear my own ragged breathing.

“Eve… Eve…”

Igon pressed his forehead to mine, murmuring my name like a mantra.

His breath was heavy.

He trembled, perhaps from the exhaustion of the fight.

Subconsciously, I replayed the image of him effortlessly defeating the two beasts.

Precise, swift, and without any wasted motion.

I knew it wasn’t the time for such questions, but as my consciousness began to fade, I asked,

“Are you… are you a god of war?”

Igon laughed, a sound filled with relief and a bit of madness.

“No, Eve. I am just a man, a man who would fight the gods for you.”