“Pat!”
Thud! Patrasche collapsed to the ground, clutching his eye in agony. Just as the monster was about to extend its body to attack Patrasche again, Antar, mustering the last of his magic, barely managed to protect him in time. That was the moment when the situation turned into complete chaos.
“Aaargh!”
“W-What is this…!”
The fire and wind elementalists tried their best to burn the monsters as Kayden had commanded, but the monsters attacked everyone indiscriminately, regardless of their elemental affiliation. Moreover, there weren’t enough fire and wind elementalists. The other elementalists had no choice but to defend themselves with weapons or attack the monsters to protect themselves, and each time they did, the number of monsters multiplied wildly.
The more we wound them, the more they multiplied. What kind of monster is this…!
Boom! Kayden gritted his teeth and struck the ground with his sword. The force of the blow sent some of the monsters flying into the air, momentarily preventing them from attacking the knights. But this was only a temporary solution.
The monsters that had avoided the fire and wind fell back to the ground, where they multiplied again under the knights’ attacks. The number of monsters, initially just over ten, soon exceeded that of the entire fourth order. Agonized screams echoed from all directions.
My mana… No matter how vast Kayden’s mana reserves were, the relentless combat was steadily depleting them. He gasped for breath, his face contorted as he scanned the battlefield.
“Senior, you can’t lose consciousness! Senior!”
Antar, shielding Patrasche, desperately tried to create a barrier, but his magic had already been drained from the previous battle with the monsters, and his barrier shattered miserably. In addition to them, the sight of knights crying out in pain from their injuries and those with faces twisted like demons as they fought against the monster slowly imprinted itself in Kayden’s vision.
The situation was clearly dire. Time seemed to slow down as if everything was moving in slow motion.
Kayden, having made up his mind, ripped off the Opera Diamond trinkets he had kept close. Snap!
“Antar!” Kayden shouted, throwing the trinkets in his hand.
Antar, looking up in surprise, instinctively caught the objects flying toward his face. He asked, a second too late. “Your Highness? What is this…!”
“Use every bit of remaining mana and inform the imperial palace and each order commander of the situation! Then, get out of here!”
“Your Highness Kayden! You can’t—!” Realizing what Kayden intended to do, Antar shouted in panic, but Kayden was already moving.
Channeling his remaining mana into his legs, Kayden kicked off the ground. In an instant, he leaped to the height of the treetops, then dove straight into the heart of the monster horde.
“Your Highness!”
“No! Please, don’t!”
The knights, realizing what was happening, screamed and tried to follow Kayden. But the golden sword, now swollen with power, slashed deep into the ground between the monsters and the knights.
Boom! A thunderous noise echoed, followed by a rumbling as the ground beneath Kayden began to tilt and collapse. A thin trickle of blood ran down the corner of his mouth.
…I never thought I’d see the day when my mana would be depleted.
Kayden’s reasoning was simple. If he, the strongest among the fourth order, were to fall, the rest of the knights would undoubtedly be slaughtered. So, he decided it was better for him to draw the monsters’ attention while the others escaped to inform the capital and the other battalions, hopefully finding a way to eliminate these variant monsters.
Ppiiik! Ppiiiik! The monsters, unable to reach the knights due to the fissure in the ground, turned their attention to the only human within reach: Kayden.
Sensing his end was near, Kayden gripped his sword tightly, and as he did, Diana’s face flashed before his eyes.
…?
As the thought of wounding Diana again passed through his mind, Kayden felt an odd sense of unfamiliarity, causing him to frown. A strange memory flitted through his mind of a subdued Diana smiling and crying at the same time.
“I didn’t dislike you either. It’s strange.”
“If we could have been friends… would things be different now?”
Whose memory is this…?
Kayden was puzzled when, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed several dark figures emerging. They approached the fallen and wounded knights, urgently treating their injuries. Some of them were trying to use their magic to stabilize the fissured ground that Kayden had created.
“What the…”
It didn’t seem like reinforcements from another order. Kayden found himself muttering in disbelief.
Growl! Just then, a black wolf with violet eyes leaped across the fissure and landed beside Kayden, immediately starting to tear into the monsters.
“No!”
Attacking the monsters would only cause them to multiply. Kayden raised his sword to stop the wolf, but then he saw something that made him question his own eyes.
Ppik! Ppiik! The monsters bitten by the wolf didn’t multiply. Instead, they writhed in pain and screamed in agony.
As the monsters recoiled in confusion, several black cats and what looked like dust balls appeared, blocking their escape.
Ppiik! At that moment, one of the cornered monsters lunged at Kayden. He instinctively swung his sword at the monster. The golden blade sliced through the wound left by the wolf’s bite. Slash!
To Kayden’s surprise, the monster split in two, fell to the ground and did not regenerate. Seeing this, the knights of the fourth order shouted from afar.
“Aim for the wounds!”
“If you attack the wounds, they don’t regenerate!”
“What are you waiting for? Get up and fight!”
With the wolf leading the charge and the knights, now full of hope, unleashing their fury, the tide of battle quickly turned.
…That wolf. Kayden instinctively slashed at the monsters, targeting their wounds, when he suddenly realized that the wolf rampaging before him seemed very familiar.
At that moment. Thud. Among the black-clad figures, someone stepped forward. Kayden felt his heart drop when he saw the masked figure under the black hood.
“You…”
Even though they had found the monsters’ weakness, it was far from a safe situation. The monsters still covered the ground around Kayden, and a moment’s lapse in concentration could mean death. Yet, someone he couldn’t afford to lose, even at the cost of his life, had stepped into this perilous place. It was enough to make him lose all sense of reason.
“What are you doing here…! Get out of here, Diana!” Kayden shouted, forgetting that he was supposed to be unaware of Diana’s identity.
As he swung his sword more ferociously, desperately trying to slaughter all the monsters, Diana, who had been approaching him, froze at his outcry. For a moment, she couldn’t breathe.
How…
Diana had suspected it before, like when Kayden had answered Elliot’s question before she could. But hearing Kayden confirm that suspicion with his own mouth was something else entirely. Her mind went blank.
Boom! At that moment, a thunderous sound erupted from the ground, precariously held together by the elementalists’ magic. A massive crack split the ground between Kayden and Diana.
“U-Uh…!”
“No!”
The elementalists of Guild Wings, who had been holding the cliff together, panicked and poured all their remaining mana into the effort, but it was in vain.
Ppiik! Taking advantage of the chaos, a nearly dead monster lunged at Diana, who was frozen like a statue. Seeing this, Kayden leaped over the monsters and threw himself toward Diana, shielding her with his body. Crunch!
“…!”
“Kayden!”
Diana’s scream, as she regained her senses, was drowned out by the sound of the collapsing ground. Their bodies, covered in blood, fell along with the rocks into the chasm below.
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