Chapter Twenty-Two
_ The Price of Returning
---
Three days had passed, and the three of them had been walking without a destination. They had realized that they were lost, but there was no way to turn back. The monsters had attacked them several times, and the food they had with them was barely enough. There were no edible living creatures here...
"If I had known things would get this bad, I would have asked the commander to throw away the rest of the supplies he had."
"We were out of our minds."
"Quit complaining. We were trapped for ten whole days in the Haida Mountains with Sir Toria, with almost no supplies, and I never heard him complain."
"He's talented. He came after us, and now he's the commander of the Second Regiment."
Kyle laughed and said,
"Are you two starting to lament your fate now?"
"..."
"..."
"I don't care if that man surpasses me. I want to return and become a knight worthy of His Majesty's support."
It was obvious from the look in the young man's eyes that he wanted to keep going, so Edward said,
"If we weren't the best, His Majesty wouldn't have chosen us, would he?"
Kyle smiled broadly, and Jan laughed and said,
"Come on, come on, let's hurry. It's getting dark."
The night on the mountain was extremely dangerous, and they had to find a nearby cave. Finally, they found one.
"Should we leave a mark?"
"It's His Majesty's order."
"It's a good thing I had the magic liquid with me."
Jan took out a small bottle containing a liquid that glowed like blood, shining like a ruby inside it. He dipped his quill into it and drew a simple magic circle. He was not a mage, but drawing a circle with magic liquid was different.
Edward asked,
"Why did His Majesty order us to draw magic circles in different areas?"
"I don't know."
Kyle thought for a moment and said,
"I think I know."
Before either of them could say anything, they heard a sound approaching them. They drew their swords and silently moved toward the sound. Without realizing it, Jan's lips trembled in surprise as he was at the front.
"It seems they really want to drive us out."
"A horde of savage goblins..."
Kyle said with a sigh after drawing his sword and taking a fighting stance.
"It seems we're really the ones who are going to return with a great prize."
Edward spoke with an excited smile. The first goblin lunged at him, so Edward lowered his body and swept his sword beneath its arm, then turned and struck the second one before it touched the ground.
"Three!"
Jan shouted as he blocked another strike. They cut them down one after another with little effort. They could handle them. Thirty goblins were not really a problem, but...
The problem was the thing standing behind them. The sound coming from the forest was not the sound of footsteps. It was closer to the sound of something dragging the mountain behind it.
The ground shook beneath their feet. Edward stopped moving.
"What is that?"
No one answered him.
First, a huge foot appeared between the trees, then another. With every step, the trees bent around the creature's body as though they were nothing more than short grass.
Kyle slowly raised his head, and when the head appeared completely, the words vanished from their mouths.
A chimera!!
It was not the size of a horse, nor a bear, nor even a giant monster they were accustomed to facing. Its body alone was equivalent to three fully grown elephants combined.
Their limbs trembled for a few moments, but Edward looked at them helplessly and said,
"We'll immobilize it so we can escape."
The two nodded and swallowed hard as they brandished their swords. It was an unfair battle, for the monster before them was, by its very existence, a legend.
The three surrounded the monster. When Kyle struck the chimera's tail, hoping to cut it off, Jan and Edward moved to attack from the front.
But when Kyle approached, in a fleeting moment, he felt a blow from the chimera's tail that nearly split him apart with its force.
Then the monster opened its mouth.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the darkness lit up.
It was not a flame. It was a wall of fire that surged through the forest, setting the trees ablaze in an instant and turning the ground beneath their feet into glowing blackness.
Kyle coughed violently and shouted at them,
"Run, quickly!"
Jan and Edward retreated and took shelter from the flames, but the ground beneath them had turned into an oven.
For a moment, the monster stopped.
Edward looked toward Kyle, who could barely hold onto his sword.
"Let's try to distract the monster and pull Kyle away."
Despite his trembling hand on the hilt of his sword, he nodded.
The two emerged from their hiding place. Jan poured his concentration into his bow, then looked at his quiver...
"Getting close to it would be suicide. I'll try to distract it, and you pull Kyle away."
Edward turned toward Jan, who held the only four arrows he had left, then toward Kyle.
"Go, now."
At the same moment, he ran quickly toward Kyle and pulled him away in a swift motion, retreating toward Jan, who fired his last arrow while gasping for breath.
He looked at them with profound relief, tears almost escaping his eyes, and whispered,
"We have to retreat."
Edward nodded, while Kyle, hanging from his neck, said,
"Will you be able to walk?"
"Of course."
Kyle removed his hand from Edward's neck and tightened his grip on his sword.
The three looked at one another, and Edward said as he shifted his gaze between the monster and them,
"On the count of three, we'll do it. We'll throw our swords at it to distract it, then run."
The two nodded. The three stood ready and slowly began widening the distance between them, and Edward began counting.
"..1, 2.."
The distance widened further. When Edward felt that the monster had noticed them, he quickly shouted,
"Three.."
The three threw their swords at the monster's body.
They did not have time to feel the exhilaration of success because the monster's tail was faster.
The tail nearly tore them apart, but a strike resembling a storm slammed into it until it separated from the monster.
Their mouths fell open, and they turned toward the source of the attack.
Their faces lit up.
Tears streamed down Kyle's eyes.
"His Grace the Archduke!"
---
He had sensed the presence of new magic circles, which left him puzzled.
'Didn't the last group return?'
He took out a leather tablet resembling a map and checked it. A new magical mark had appeared on the map.
"Did something bad happen?"
He took a deep breath and tried to trace the magic circle. He found that it was at a distant point from him.
He looked at his hand, from which blood was still flowing because of his previous battle.
He sighed, and with a flash, he headed toward the point where the knights had placed it.
The scenery behind him changed from a forest of dry trees to a deep stone cave.
Elion looked toward the magical mark. He heard sounds outside the cave.
The sound was not that of footsteps.
The ground shook beneath his feet, and a handful of dirt fell from the cave's ceiling.
Elion stopped for a moment, then stepped out of the cave.
Fire was everywhere, and in front of that monster stood three knights with their swords drawn, their exhausted bodies covered in numerous wounds.
It was obvious from the scattered corpses of the goblins that the battle had not been easy.
The knights were standing while one of them supported his companion. They exchanged a few words, then began to spread out.
Elion calmly watched them, waiting to see what they were trying to accomplish.
The knights' swords shot toward the monster like spears, but it seemed the plan had not gone well.
The tail nearly tore them apart.
Elion stepped forward, gathered magic in his hand, and struck the tail until it separated from the monster.
The monster retreated while the knights turned toward him, and one of them spoke,
"His Grace the Archduke!"
Elion looked at them, then at the monster, which was still reeling from the blow, and said firmly,
"Retreat."
Edward pulled the frozen Jan away from where he stood, and they headed toward the cave.
Elion looked toward the monster, then asked while watching it,
"Where is the group you belong to?"
"We were separated because of the collapse."
"All right. You'll return with me."
"We thank Your Grace."
The knights felt grateful and bowed to him.
Elion took a deep breath and said,
"We must eliminate this creature first."
It was clear from their lord's words that he intended to kill it.
The three swallowed hard. It had been difficult for them. They had been unable to even scratch it for a long time, while their lord had severed its tail with a single blow.
Kyle looked at the Archduke and noticed many light injuries scattered across his body. He whispered to his companions,
"It seems His Grace has been through a lot. I'm afraid he might get hurt."
The two closed their eyes, and Jan said,
"Let's trust His Grace."
"We must not hinder him."
Edward spoke as he moved backward. He had heard many times that whenever the Archduke was involved in a battle, not a single knight would receive so much as a scratch, and he had more or less understood the situation.
Elion examined his surroundings with his eyes and, with a swift strike, threw his longsword toward the tail that was moving frantically.
'I almost forgot that its tail has a will of its own even after being severed.'
Elion gathered magic in his hands and began launching several powerful but swift attacks until he saw the monster staggering.
It even began launching attacks randomly.
Elion gasped with exhaustion, but shook off his fatigue and attacked again.
He had a simple plan: strike the chimera with enough force to bring it down...
'It must not recover.'
When Elion stopped, it did not seem that the monster was adapting to the magic he was using.
As soon as Elion stood still, the monster exhaled a wide-range blast of fire.
Elion was forced to use a powerful magical barrier to protect those behind him.
Elion looked toward his sword embedded in the tail, then looked at the dagger he carried.
He pulled it out and decided to approach the monster.
With a flash, Elion disappeared, then appeared above the monster's head.
The three were astonished by their lord's ingenuity and began watching him with intense admiration.
When Elion stood above the monster's head, he swiftly stabbed one of its eyes.
Instead of retreating, the monster raised its other head toward Elion and tried to ram him with its horns, which Elion barely avoided.
"Your Grace! .."
"No..."
Edward said in a steady tone.
Kyle had almost left the cave if Edward and Jan had not stopped him.
Kyle continued trembling with anxiety as he helplessly watched his lord, while Kyle's voice stirred the monster, causing it to breathe another fierce blast toward the cave.
Elion's senses moved swiftly, and he stood between the fire and the cave, activating another magical barrier.
The three were thrown into confusion until Jan collapsed into a sitting position from the horror of the moment.
Kyle's gaze settled on his lord, who emerged from among the flames like a demon from hell.
Elion's body had been covered with many burns here and there, but he shook the fire from his clothes and refocused on the monster.
Elion knew very well that if he had not reinforced his body with magic and increased the barrier's strength, their bodies would have been charred.
He looked at the monster again and tried to look around him to make use of the environment, but everything was more ruined than he could have imagined.
Elion tightened his grip on the dagger and attacked at close range again.
Using instantaneous magic was useful, but it required a large amount of concentration and magic.
He decided to use his own speed.
He moved toward the monster, dodging its fire projectiles. As soon as he reached it, he struck a vital point near its neck.
But instinctively, the monster sank its teeth into Elion's shoulder, nearly tearing it off.
Elion clenched his teeth and, with tremendous difficulty, stabbed the monster several more times while the monster writhed with Elion in its mouth.
Here, the three tried to keep themselves together and restrain themselves.
Even Edward, the most rational of them, nearly went out despite knowing he might lose his life, but a firm voice made them retreat.
"Don't interfere with my work."
Elion had stabbed the chimera in its mouth to free himself from its jaws.
As soon as Elion freed himself from the chimera, it tried to attack him with its horns again.
Elion barely retreated.
The monster's fangs had pierced his ribs, and blood was flowing heavily.
Elion gritted his teeth and focused on the monster, then looked at the knights.
It was his duty as their lord to protect them.
He wiped his face with his unharmed hand, then retreated several steps.
But the monster did not seem willing to let him go.
It moved swiftly, and in an unexpected moment, it pierced Elion's stomach with one of its horns.
Elion coughed blood, but he took advantage of being above the chimera and stabbed the goat's head.
As the monster writhed, he managed to gather greater strength and sever it from the body.
Elion was thrown from the monster's writhing body as it struck out with powerful fire projectiles in every direction.
Elion stood with difficulty, blood flowing from his entire body, and some of the projectiles struck him as well.
He knew deep inside that his body would not hold out for long, so he thought harder.
'Ordinary solutions are useless...'
He fell silent for a moment, then remembered something.
His grip tightened slightly, then he gathered a new magical strike in his hand.
This time, he did not target the monster.
Instead, he struck the ground beneath its feet.
The ground split apart violently until the monster fell, trapped and unable to move.
Everyone felt as though the mountain itself was going to collapse.
Elion knew that the ground breaking apart was not because of his strength, but because the earth had already been crumbling.
Elion gripped his dagger and, this time, channeled energy into it.
He leaped into the air, his eyes burning more fiercely than the hell surrounding him and those with him.
Elion aimed his dagger at the heart of the trapped monster.
In an instant, a terrifying scream was heard, shaking the mountain as golden rays of sunlight appeared.
The dagger finally pierced the chimera's heart and destroyed its core.
Elion fell to the ground, his body covered in blood and burns.
The three rushed toward him and, with trembling hands, administered first aid.
Kyle stood and said,
"Let's carry him and head for the Grand Duchy, even if it costs me my life."
"His wounds are severe. He won't survive until tomorrow morning..."
Edward spoke as he tied the bandage, which was turning red.
Jan and Kyle almost began to cry, but Jan felt something gripping his arm.
He turned, his mouth falling open as he spoke in a trembling voice,
"Your Grace, you need to rest..."
"The place... is dangerous. We... we must return..."
Edward shook his head and said with sad eyes,
"We'll return."
"Go... good, come closer..."
Without thinking, the three obeyed his command and approached him.
He said with difficulty,
"Hold on tightly..."
The three nodded, and only seconds later, they found themselves inside the boundaries of Walter Castle.
Before they could express their admiration for his magic, Elion coughed blood from his mouth and nose, and his vision began to fade.
Kyle's legs collapsed, while Edward could barely remain standing and began shouting and sobbing...
"Someone come! His Grace is severely injured!"
Only minutes passed before the servants gathered, followed by the medical team, who first administered some emergency treatment before carrying him to his room.
---
The knights were gathered in the courtyard, and gloom hung in the air.
"How did His Grace return in this condition?"
"I've never seen him injured in my life..."
The knights looked toward the three who entered with pale faces.
Despite the bandages here and there, they were fine.
"Jan!"
Jan turned with reddened eyes toward his companion. The man furrowed his brows in distress and approached him, whispering,
"Won't you tell us what happened? It seems the other two won't speak."
Jan's tears fell, and he covered his face. The words barely escaped him.
"He saved our lives..."
The knight fell silent and shifted his eyes toward the knights, whose expressions had grown darker.
He felt that there was no answer he could give.
Everyone wanted to know what had happened, but no one had the heart to speak...
... To be continued ...