22 – 22. Silberna’s Scout Team (2)

“Lady!”

Anna cried out, rushing to Silberna.

But Silberna quickly regained her stance, grinding her teeth again.

“It’s alright!”

Even after taking that snow-fiend’s heave, Silvyrna couldn’t claim she was unscathed, but she shook it off as if dusting herself, and with a show, regripped her spear with both hands.

“Aches and throbs.”

The snow-fiend playing catch with human skulls like they were balls.

And.

“Kyaaah! aaah! S-save meee!”

Sharen, being consumed by the black liquid pouring from Polu’s body.

“Sharen!”

In that too suddenly urgent situation, it was Isaac who moved with the quickest reflexes.

“Hold still!”

“A, a, I-Isaacc! I-Isaacc!”

Sharen grabbing at Isaac who came to her. The black liquid writhing on her chest, spreading wider.

Hysterical and begging to be saved, Sharen, Isaac tried hard to calm her.

“Save me! Save meee!”

“Ugh! I get it so calm down and let go of my arm!”

Even if she was a 17 year-old girl, the grip of a Helmond scion was something Isaac couldn’t endure.

Trying to shake off the arm she was grabbing, Sharen was already a sobbing mess, completely out of it.

“I said calm down!”

Wham!

Ultimately, Isaac swung his arm wide and punched Sharen in the face.

It wouldn’t really hurt that much anyway, wouldn’t even leave a scratch.

“I, Isaac?”

That he hit her, that unbelievable act, Sharen slackened for an instant.

“Hold still!”

In that brief moment when Sharen loosened her hold, Isaac gripped the blunt end of the Pulsar blade and brought it to the nape of Sharen’s neck.

Fwoosh!

A straight rip tore through the clothing, revealing Sharen’s pale skin.

Isaac ripped the top clean off and threw it away, the black liquid clinging to the fabric writhing, then devouring it on the floor.

“It’s done! Sharen! It’s done!”

“Huuuh, huuuh?!”

Sharen frantically pats her body with both hands. After confirming she’s truly removed everything, she bursts into tears and throws herself into Isaac’s arms.

“Kwaaah! Isaacaaah!”

“Get a hold of yourself and get off! It hurts!”

This isn’t the time to be like this, and with Helmut’s strength, Isaac could break a bone easily.

While Isaac struggles, Meladic Drakemore is staring at Polu Blackthorn, who’s collapsed on the floor, trembling violently.

“Polu?”

Black liquid keeps pouring from his mouth and wounds.

Meladic watches helplessly as it starts to engulf Polu.

“Don’t go near him!”

Isaac tries to pry the still clinging Sharen off while warning Meladic.

Then he quickly checks on the Yeti, only to find a battle has already begun.

Clang!

“……”

Silberna silently deflects the Yeti’s bone club with her spear.

In this rapidly changing situation, Silberna, her lips pressed into a thin line, appears as cool as a veteran.

‘This is bad.’

Isaac knows the opposite is true.

She may look calm, but she’s acting more emotionally than anyone.

Just a moment ago she’d agreed they needed to retreat now.

Yet, the instant she clashed with the Yeti, she was swinging her spear like it would shatter just to kill it.

“Anna! Get Silberna and Sharen’s greatswords!”

“Yessir! Understood! Miss! Please pull yourself together!”

Isaac ends up hoisting up Sharen, who’s shaking with fear.

Sadly, they don’t have the energy to take care of Polu.

“Meladic, for now, we have to leave Polu behind and flee-!”

“I, I-Isaac?!”

Meladic’s voice is laced with bewildered alarm.

He whips his head around to see Polu, buried in black fluid, slowly rising as if lifted by it.

“Forget it, just run!”

As Isaac starts running, the others begin running as well.

Silberna bit her lip till it bled, turning her back on the Yeti.

Meladic, shouting apologies to Polu, took the lead.

“In-HU-man!”

The Yeti, unlike the others, did not pass Polu.

It seemed to see Polu as another human, casually swinging its massive bone club, but

black liquid intercepted it, and the fight with the Yeti began.

Two threats were now facing each other.

Silberna’s scouting party were able to escape, just like that.

* * *

CRACK!

A frozen stream bed.

The sharp sound amid the lightly fallen snow sent a mountain hare scrambling away.

Silberna’s cheek stung where she was struck, her head turned to face the man who’d hit her.

“It was the worst.”

Isaac’s words pierced Silberna’s heart like splinters.

A surge of anger flashed through her, yet she couldn’t utter a single word.

She was the leader.

And she couldn’t deny, everything had been a disaster.

“…Sorry.”

“Sir Isaac! The Lady did her best!”

Anna tried desperately to defend Silberna, but the sharp gaze didn’t soften.

“I clearly said not to fight the Yeti there, and Silberna agreed. But in the time it took me to glance away, you were so mesmerized by the Yeti that you didn’t even grasp what was happening to Polu and Meladic!”

“That’s…”

“What if the fight had dragged on? If it was just a simple Yeti, maybe, but that thing was a named monster. The moment the others came from the mountains, we’d all have been wiped out!”

“Anna, Isaac’s right.”

She hadn’t fulfilled her role as leader.

The realization that her comrades at the Malidiane Wall were being slaughtered by the Yeti had fueled an overwhelming urge to deal with the creature, which blinded her to everything else.

“For the sake of my dead comrades, I momentarily forgot about the ones still living beside me.”

“…”

“I’m sorry. I can’t excuse it in any way.”

Silberna bows her head low.

A silent stillness hangs.

Sharen, draped in a gown, trembles, tugging at Isaac’s sleeve.

“Ah, Ah, Isaac. I’m so… co-cold.”

“……”

Sharen had nearly died.

If she’d been swept away by that black liquid, there would be no guarantee of survival.

It was a stroke of pure luck that she’d worn her leather scouting gear.

‘If it had been armor…’

It would’ve taken forever to remove, and Sharen would’ve been consumed by that black liquid.

Isaac pulled her into his arms, hoping to warm her even a little.

Her trembling abated somewhat, and Sharen burrowed deeper into Isaac’s embrace, sniffling.

‘After all, she’s only seventeen.’

Though she had acted so confident and unfazed moments before, she was still at an age where she hadn’t experienced the very real threat of death.

The moment she realized she could truly die, she was thoroughly terrified.

Especially when she faced a situation where her sword, honed through a lifetime of training, was completely useless.

‘That helplessness must have magnified her fear.’

“I, I was wrong too. When we ran, I should’ve gone toward the barrier, but I just… I don’t know…”

Then, Meladic awkwardly apologizes.

It had become a competition of who could confess their mistakes first.

Meladic, who had been leading the way, had panicked and run wherever her feet took her.

If they hadn’t found the stream, they might still be running.

“It’s okay. We just went off course, we haven’t moved further from the barrier,”

Anna says, forcing a smile as she looks at the map, trying to reassure them.

“Um, a campfire or something wouldn’t work, right?”

“That wouldn’t be possible, I think. Strictly speaking, this is also within the demon beast territory.”

Anna shakes her head at Meladic’s suggestion.

They had to conserve their strength to return to the barrier without even a fire.

But the cold made it difficult to endure.

Her lips were pursed, trying to hold on, but the sound of her teeth chattering came from Sharen.

She looked so very cold.

Isaac, shirt buttons undone, pulled her into another embrace.

“Skin to skin, might warm you up some.”

“Ah, Isaac…”

“It’s for survival. You’re second only to Silverna here, in power. Gotta preserve your strength.”

Sharen’s eyes welled with tears at his words, but she buried her face deeper, as if trying to hide them.

“Yeah, I understand.”

White breaths fogged the air as they shared each other’s inhales and exhales.

Sharen whispered, her voice small, “But Isaac… how are you so calm?”

Her question pulled everyone else’s eyes to Isaac.

No one could deny the man with the least battle experience had, conversely, acted and decided with the most composure.

If even Isaac had hesitated, there was a strong chance two or three of them wouldn’t be standing there now.

“Guess I’ve had plenty of brushes with death?”

He muttered, a wry smile on his lips.

Before the return, he’d been injured, unable to fight, but…

that didn’t mean he’d been absent from the battlefields.

The transcendent’s offensive gave everyone an equal, brutal taste of mortal danger.

‘It’s a relief, at least.’

Isaac had worried his judgment might be clouded while wielding a blade.

But that last situation had proven it unfounded, and that much, at least, brought him solace.

“Achoo!”

In an instant, every gaze snapped to Silverna.

She looked flustered, as though startled by her own sneeze.

“You’re cold too, miss?”

“No, I’m fine…”

Silverna’s lips froze mid-sentence.

She remembered not only her earlier decision, but what Isaac had just said.

“Yeah, I’m cold.”

She nodded, realizing that her, their strongest fighter’s condition, was a direct matter of life and death for them all.

Then, Silverna strode forward, gathering Isaac and Sharen into a hug, as if embracing them both.

“I’ll be in your debt.”

At the suggestion to stick close for warmth, Isaac offered a soft smile.

“Of course, naturally.”

He didn’t consider appearances, choosing the best action for the moment.

‘Silverna learns fast, she really does.’

A case of acting before thinking.

“You lot too, come on, gotta keep warm.”

At Silverna’s command, Anna rushed over, joining the huddle.

Melladic approached hesitantly, a bit awkward, stretching out an arm to hug Isaac’s back.

They huddled together, a tightly knit bunch, fighting the cold and preserving their strength.

It wasn’t just the sharing of body heat, a stirring emotion bubbled up, warming them from the inside out.

But it wasn’t to last.

*Thump! Thump! Thump!*

The ground trembled with footsteps.

“Sik-eum! Sik-eum!”

Unlike before, the yeti’s voice was drawn out, languid.

The deodorizer’s scent hadn’t completely faded, it seemed, drawing it near.

Just as Silverna was about to move urgently, Isaac asked her.

“Silverna, can I trust your judgment this time?”

As if she were being tested, Silverna nodded without hesitation.

“Trust me.”

Even with the pounding noise drawing closer, Silverna calmly looked at Anna’s map.

And then.

“We intercept it.”

She declared, gripping her spear tightly.

“Running is impossible anyway. We can’t shake a named yeti with our current strength.”

Everyone nodded.

Even after warming up, their cold-stiffened bodies still felt creaky.

“So we kill it before it calls more monsters. We need to end this quickly.”

“You sure ’bout this?”

Silberna, she’d already tangled with a snow beast once.

A normal one, she’d have no trouble, truth be told.

But this one, it was Named.

A beast with brains.

Those types, they’re not like the usual, fighting them’s a whole different game, ramped up several times over.

“I’ll make up for it.”

Silberna, just that one sharp sentence.

And with it, she gripped her spear tight.

That was all there was to it.

While the others readied for battle, to face the beast coming their way,

Sharen, nestled in her arms before, slipped slowly down, taking a deep breath.

“…”

Isaac stared, unblinking.

Could she truly fight?

Doubt flickered there.

“I’ll—I’ll keep you alive, for sure.”

Sharen, her face set with resolve, whispered as she grabbed her greatsword.

“That’s how I can sort through what I feel right now. That way I’ll have the chance to say what needs to be said.”

They say kids grow up in a heartbeat.

Isaac felt like he’d just witnessed it, that very moment.

In the face of death, Sharen seemed to feel something, something that shifted the way she saw things, her own purpose.

“We need to avenge Polu!”

“Yes! We must!”

Meladic and Anna, they agreed, readying themselves.

*Thump! Thump! Thump!*

From the direction of the snow beast’s approaching steps,

“Keee-haaa-haaa-haaa-haaa-haaa!”

A howl, crazed, like it was tearing through the air—Polu’s, no doubt.