Chapter 22: Silverna’s Recon Party (2)

 

“My Lady!”

 

Calling out, Anna raced urgently toward Silverna.

 

But Silverna immediately squared her stance again and gritted her teeth.

 

“I’m fine!”

 

Though it was hard to say she was totally unscathed by the Yeti’s throw, Silverna flexed her hand as if shaking off the pain, then defiantly gripped her spear in both hands once more.

 

“Ugh*...”

 

The yeti toyed with a human skull as if it were a ball.

 

And then—

 

“Kyahhhh! Aahhh! S-Save meee!”

 

Sharen was being consumed by the black liquid pouring out from Pollu’s body.

 

“Sharen!”

 

In that suddenly dire situation, the one who moved fastest was Isaac.

 

“Stay still!”

 

“A-A-Ah, Isaac! Isaac!”

 

Sharen clung desperately to Isaac as he approached. Black liquid squirmed over her chest, slowly spreading. She was so terrified and desperate for help that Isaac tried to calm her down, but—

 

“Help me! Please help me!”

 

“Ghh...! I get it, so calm down and let go of my arm!”

 

Even though she was just seventeen, the direct-line strength of the Helmut bloodline was too much for Isaac to handle. He tried shaking off her grip, but she was already too panicked to listen.

 

“Calm down!”

 

Smack!

 

In the end, Isaac pulled back his arm and landed a punch straight to Sharen’s face.

 

Anyway, even if she got hit, it wouldn’t hurt her too badly, nor would it leave a wound.

 

“I... Isaac?”

 

Sharen was so stunned by being struck that her grip loosened for an instant.

 

“Stay still!”

 

Seizing that moment, Isaac grabbed the back edge of his Falchion blade, brought it to Sharen’s nape, and—

 

Rip!

 

Her clothing tore in a straight line, revealing Sharen’s pale skin beneath. Isaac ripped away her top completely and hurled it aside. The black liquid squirmed on the discarded cloth and devoured the rest of the fabric on the ground.

 

“It’s gone! Sharen! You’re safe now!”

 

“Huh…huhh?!”

 

Panting heavily, Sharen pressed both hands to her body. Realizing everything had indeed been removed, she suddenly burst into tears and clung to Isaac.

 

“Uwaaaah! Isaac!”

 

“Pull yourself together and get off me! That hurts!”

 

This was hardly the time for hugs. Besides, with the strength of the Helmut lineage, Isaac wouldn’t be surprised if a bone or two ended up broken.

 

While Isaac was tending to Sharen, Melodic Drakemoor was watching Pollu Blackthorn, who lay on the ground trembling uncontrollably.

 

“Pollu?”

 

Black liquid continued to spill from his mouth and wounds. Seeing it begin to engulf Pollu, Melodic froze, unsure what to do.

 

“Don’t go near him!”

 

Even as he tried to pry Sharen off, Isaac warned Melodic to keep his distance. Then he shifted his attention to the Yeti. By that point, the battle had already begun.

 

Kaaang!

 

“…….”

 

Silverna silently swung her spear, parrying the Yeti’s bone club. Despite the rapidly changing situation, she clamped her mouth shut like a seasoned veteran, yet—

 

‘Damn it.’

 

Isaac knew she was the opposite of calm. She was only pretending to be levelheaded, but in truth, she was letting her emotions lead the fight.

 

Moments ago, she’d agreed it was time to retreat.

 

But once she actually collided with the Yeti, Silverna was swinging her spear as if she intended to kill it at all costs, nearly to the point of breaking it.

 

“Anna! Get Silverna and Sharen’s greatsword!”

 

“Y-Yes! I understand! My Lady! Please get a hold of yourself!”

 

In the end, Isaac hoisted the trembling Sharen onto his shoulder. It was heartbreaking, but there was no way to also retrieve Pollu.

 

“Melodic, we have to leave Pollu and run—!”

 

“A-A-Are you serious, Isaac?!”

 

Melodic’s voice brimmed with dismay.

 

When Isaac whipped his head around, there stood Pollu—now fully enveloped by the black liquid—slowly rising as if lifted by it.

 

“Fine, just run!”

 

The moment Isaac took off, the others followed suit. Silverna bit her lip hard enough to draw blood and turned her back on the yeti.

 

At the same time, Melodic shouted an apology to Pollu before taking the lead in their escape.

 

“Human!”

 

The pursuing yeti, however, did not bypass Pollu. Whether he appeared any different or not, to the yeti, he was still a human. The giant bone club swept sideways, but—

 

The black liquid blocked it, triggering a battle between monster and monster.

 

Two threats now turned on each other.

 

That’s how Silverna’s recon party managed to flee.

 

****

 

Slaaap!

 

On the frozen creek, a sharp crack echoed among the snowy drifts, startling a mountain hare into fleeing.

 

Struck across the face, Silverna’s head snapped to the side. She turned to stare at the man who hit her.

 

“That was the worst.”

 

Those words from Isaac pierced Silverna’s heart like a spike. For a moment, she felt her temper flare, but she couldn’t say a thing.

 

She was the one in charge.

 

It truly had been the worst possible outcome, and Silverna had no choice but to acknowledge it.

 

“…I’m sorry.”

 

“Isaac-nim! My Lady did her best!” Anna pleaded on Silverna’s behalf, but Isaac didn’t soften his glare.

 

“I clearly told you not to fight the yeti there, and Silverna even agreed! But the moment I looked away, you got so wrapped up in battling the yeti that you had no idea what was happening with Pollu and Melodic!”

 

“That’s…”

 

“If the fight had dragged on any longer? That wasn’t just some random monster— it was a Named beast. The moment more monsters showed up in the mountains, we’d all have been wiped out!”

 

“Anna, Isaac is right.”

 

As the leader, Silverna hadn’t done her duty.

 

Her conviction that her comrades at the Malidan Barrier must have been slaughtered by the yeti left her unable to tolerate letting the creature go. That overwhelming feeling made her forget about her living allies for a critical moment.

 

“For my fallen comrades, I— I forgot about the allies standing beside me.”

 

“…….”

 

“I’m sorry. There’s no excuse for that.”

 

Silverna bowed her head.

 

Silence fell.

 

Shivering in a borrowed cloak, Sharen pulled anxiously at Isaac’s sleeve.

 

“I-I-Isaac. I-I’m so…cold.”

 

“…….”

 

Sharen had nearly died.

 

Had she been fully encased by that black liquid, it would’ve been uncertain whether she’d survive at all. Thankfully, as a recon party, they’d worn leather outfits.

 

‘If she had been in armor…’

 

It would’ve taken forever to remove it, and Sharen would have been swallowed by the black liquid before they could even finish.

 

Isaac pulled Sharen into his arms to keep her even a little warmer.

 

Her trembling finally easing, Sharen burrowed deeper into Isaac’s embrace and sniffled.

 

‘After all, she’s only seventeen.’

 

She’d tried to act composed before, pretending everything was fine, but at that age, she’d never truly faced the threat of death.

 

Realizing for the first time that she really could die, she must have been terrified.

 

Especially since she found herself in a situation where her sword, which she had trained with her whole life, proved useless.

 

‘The fear must have been magnified by that sense of helplessness.’

 

“I—I messed up, too. When we ran, we should’ve headed back toward the barrier, but I just… ended up running anywhere…”

 

At that point, Melodic blurted out an awkward apology.

 

The mood had unintentionally turned into a contest of who could own up to their mistakes first.

 

Leading the charge, Melodic had panicked and ran off in some random direction. Had they not stumbled across the creek, he might still be sprinting in a blind panic.

 

“It’s all right. We just went off-track a bit. We’re not that much farther from the barrier,” Anna said, trying to reassure everyone as she checked the map, forcing a smile.

 

“Hey, do you think we could build a fire?” Melodic asked next.

 

“That might be difficult,” Anna shook her head. “Technically, we’re still in the beasts’ territory.”

 

Without a fire, they would have to conserve their energy here before making their way back to the barrier.

 

But the biting cold made it almost impossible to endure.

 

They tried to keep going, lips pressed together, but Sharen’s chattering teeth betrayed her discomfort. She was shivering violently.

 

Unbuttoning his shirt, Isaac once again pulled Sharen close.

 

“If our skin touches, it’ll be a little warmer.”

 

“I… Isaac…”

 

“We need to stay alive. Besides, you’re second in strength only to Silverna here. You have to save your energy.”

 

At that, Sharen’s eyes welled with tears, but she tried to hide it by burying her face back into his chest.

 

“…All right.”

 

Amid the sound of each person’s breathing and the white puffs of breath swirling in the cold air, Sharen asked softly:

 

“But Isaac… how are you so calm?”

 

The others turned to Isaac as well.

 

He was the one with the least actual combat experience, yet he’d kept the coolest head and made the swiftest judgments.

 

If he had frozen up, it was likely that two or three among them would not be here right now.

 

“I’ve… almost died more than once.”

 

He muttered those words with a bitter smile.

 

Before his regression, even if he couldn’t fight due to his injured leg, that hadn’t kept him off the battlefield.

 

In the onslaught of transcendents, the threat of death hung cruelly and equally over everyone.

 

‘At least that’s a relief.’

 

He had worried that holding a weapon might cloud his judgment. But seeing how he handled the recent chaos proved that worry unfounded, and he felt a measure of relief in that.

 

“Achoo!”

 

All eyes snapped to Silverna. She wore a startled look, surprised by her own sneeze.

 

“My Lady, you’re cold, too, aren’t you?” Anna asked gently.

 

“No, I’m fi—”

 

Silverna stopped mid-reply.

 

Her mind flashed to both her earlier failure of judgment and the words Isaac had spoken.

 

“Yeah, I’m cold.”

 

She realized that her own condition—she being the most powerful fighter in their group—was directly tied to everyone’s survival. So she nodded.

 

Then Silverna strode over and wrapped both Isaac and Sharen in her arms as well.

 

“I’ll owe you one for this.”

 

She’d decided they should all huddle together for warmth. Isaac smiled faintly.

 

“Of course.”

 

No one worried about appearances anymore; they were just making the best decisions they could.

 

‘If you teach Silverna something, she picks it up right away.’

 

She was the type who acted faster than she thought.

 

“You two, too—come on. We need to keep each other warm,” Silverna ordered.

 

Anna dashed over and joined the huddle.

 

Melodic approached shyly, then awkwardly placed an arm around Isaac’s back.

 

Gathered tightly to stave off the cold and conserve their strength, they felt something stirring in their chests—some faint sense of camaraderie or warmth beyond just body heat.

 

But it didn’t last long.

 

Thud! Thud! Thud!

 

The ground trembled with each footstep.

 

“Shhh-khooom! Shhh-khooom!”

 

The Yeti’s voice sounded lower than before.

 

It had followed them here, likely drawn by the lingering smell of the odor-blocking agent which hadn’t completely worn off.

 

The moment Silverna moved as if to scramble to her feet, Isaac looked straight at her.

 

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

 

It felt like a test. Yet Silverna nodded without hesitation.

 

“Count on me.”

 

Even as the thudding footsteps drew nearer, Silverna calmly checked Anna’s map.

 

Then she declared:

 

“We’ll intercept it.”

 

She gripped her spear tightly.

 

“Running is impossible now. With our current stamina, there’s no way we can outrun a Named Monster.”

 

Everyone nodded. Even if they’d managed to warm up a bit, their bodies were still stiff and sluggish from the cold.

 

“So we’ll kill it before it can call other monsters. We have to finish it fast.”

 

“Are you sure you can handle it?”

 

Silverna had already clashed with the Yeti once.

 

A normal monster wouldn’t stand a chance against her, but this one was a Named—a beast with higher intelligence. Fighting it would be several times harder.

 

“I’ll make up for what happened before.”

 

That was all Silverna said.

 

She declared it and readied her spear.

 

That was enough.

 

While the others prepared themselves for the incoming yeti, Sharen slowly pulled away from Isaac and took a deep breath.

 

“…….”

 

Isaac stared at her.

 

Would she really be able to fight now? He wondered.

 

“I’ll… make sure we survive.”

 

Clutching her greatsword, Sharen spoke as if steeling herself.

 

“So I can get my thoughts sorted out. So I can have a chance to say anything… everything that comes to mind.”

 

They say children grow up in the blink of an eye.

 

Isaac felt like he was witnessing exactly that moment.

 

Facing mortal peril, Sharen seemed to realize something that changed her entire worldview.

 

“We have to avenge Pollu!”

 

“Yes! We absolutely must!”

 

As Melodic and Anna declared their agreement and readied themselves—

 

Thud! Thud! Thud!

 

From the direction of the yeti’s approach, they suddenly heard:

 

“KeuhahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

 

—Pollu’s maniacal laughter, ripping through the air as though it might tear.

– – – The End of The Chapter – – –

 

[TL: Ugh- This "시큰시큰" is actually a Korean onomatopoeia that describes a dull, throbbing ache, often felt in joints or bones. English lacks a direct equivalent, so I used "Ugh". Any other idea is welcome here. 

 

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