SOTBW - 31

Less than an hour after the battle began in the field, Najane realized that she kept hearing screams and shouting from a certain point. The sounds were coming from near the third wall. Having experienced how the Amberon Knights were annihilated, she watched the area with a tense expression.

Could the Recheo Knights be struggling? As she looked toward the torches moving in an orderly fashion, she quickly sliced through the attacking wraiths leaping toward her. The blue blood spilling from under her helmet felt cold and nauseating. Najane exhaled sharply as she finished off the wraiths.

The young soldiers assigned to this battle were quick-witted and coordinated. They swiftly dealt with the wraiths, making sure Najane didn’t have to worry about them as they pushed their torches into the wraiths’ necks. Najane stabbed her sword into an oncoming wraith behind one of the young soldiers, pushing it away. Every time she decapitated one of them, the sensation disappeared from her palm.

As winter began to set in, the cold enveloped her body. While there were large fires scattered around the field, keeping the surroundings warm, fighting the Seriths naturally led her away from the warmth. Najane pressed two wraiths down with her shield and scanned the field.

Around the front line, near the great wall, countless holy beasts could be seen at a glance. She carefully waited for the right moment to use her sword energy. It wasn’t infinite, nor was it a perfect ability.

Then, she felt a tremor in the ground not far away. Najane immediately recognized what it was. A holy beast.

A holy beast, wearing armor adorned with unfamiliar symbols, threatened a group of mercenaries. The mercenaries surrounded the holy beast, desperately trying to attack, but the holy beast easily swept them aside with its tail.

The armor of the mercenaries struck the wall with full force, crumpling and bouncing away. As the mercenaries collapsed, the wraiths, who had been lurking nearby, rushed in. Najane continued fighting the wraiths while keeping an eye on the Recheo Knights’ position. The knights were already engaged in combat with the holy beasts at the front, leaving no time to guard the rear.

Hesitant, she passed the young soldier following her to another soldier and ran toward the boundary between the third and fourth walls. She had no certainty that they would win, nor any guarantee that Maximón would come to rescue her like last time, but Najane thought that perhaps she had trained with her sword for this moment.

Breathing heavily from the near-death experience, she swallowed her fear. When the holy beast entered her range, she swung her sword energy without hesitation. She had aimed to strike at the claws and wrists piercing through the bodies of the mercenaries, but the sword energy flew like a boomerang, severing the holy beast’s left arm.

The holy beast howled and immediately glared at Najane. The mercenaries, who had been in trouble, quickly backed off upon seeing her.

Najane was scared. She feared being crushed by the holy beast like before, but she remembered Maximón’s words.

“You can win. You’re strong enough.”

Taking a deep breath, Najane focused. The holy beast quickly pushed the soldiers aside and charged toward her. Najane knew she had to finish it all in one go. She needed to wield a sword energy so powerful that she could never hold a sword again.

As the holy beast’s claws came close to Najane, the sword energy exploded like a burst of light. The wide arc of the sword energy instantly severed the holy beast’s neck.

She remembered the sensation — it felt as if she was drawing strength from her heart to swing her sword.

Her stomach churned as if she was about to vomit, but she held back and called for the young soldiers. Before they could even approach to clean up, mercenaries swarmed in like a swarm of bees.

Confused, Najane retreated. Despite the wraiths attacking, the mercenaries ignored them and surrounded the decapitated holy beast’s head. Najane panted heavily as she fought the wraiths in place of the mercenaries. She couldn’t understand what they were thinking.

One mercenary pulled a flask from his belt and poured its contents into the holy beast’s eye socket. The liquid sparkled white... holy water.

Other mercenaries quickly scrambled to pour holy water into the holy beast’s eyes. They were like ants trying to tear apart a dead insect.

Najane watched in disbelief, unsure of what to say. The mercenaries, armed with swords meant to fight the wraiths, instead shoved the melted eyeballs into the socket, desperately trying to find the Serith’s eye.

Then, once again, the heavy sound of footsteps echoed.

Instinctively, Najane turned her gaze toward the source of the sound. Several mercenaries were luring the Serith holy beast toward her position.

Her face turned pale as she watched. The mercenaries’ atrocities had caused the soldiers defending the middle to panic and quickly retreat. With a gap in the defense line, the wraiths surged toward the rear.

Angry, Najane shouted at the mercenaries.

“What are you doing?! Stop it right now!”

But none of the mercenaries paid her any heed.

One mercenary, who had been luring the holy beast, tripped over a stone and fell. Najane hurriedly swung a shallow sword energy.

Suddenly, the holy beast, now targeting her, made its presence known, and Najane visibly panicked. This was madness.

She narrowly avoided the holy beast’s claws as it charged at her, recalling the earlier sensation and unleashing another sword energy. As the sword energy left her fingertips and sliced through the holy beast’s body, splitting it in half, Najane’s heart pounded violently. The pain felt as though thousands of needles were stabbing into her chest, and she groaned, clutching her heart.

No one was coming to help her. The mercenaries, as if undeterred, attached torches to the holy beast’s dismembered body, trying to extract its eyes. They were like vultures. However, the holy beast didn’t seem to be dead; it roared and swung its arm at the mercenaries who had come close.

In an instant, two mercenaries were torn apart. Seeing their comrades die, the remaining mercenaries hesitated before turning their gaze to Najane. Their eyes seemed to plead for her to finish off the holy beast.

She had to end it before its body regenerated. Najane gagged and used her sword energy once more.

As the holy beast’s head was completely severed, the mercenaries who had been watching rushed in, attaching themselves to the beast’s corpse and poking at its eyes. In this unexpected situation, Najane gasped for breath. She had been injured during the fight with the holy beast, and blood dripped from her broken forearm armor.

Stepping backward from the mercenaries, she looked toward the sound of cheering. Maximón, having taken down a massive holy beast, stood on its corpse, surveying the field.

In that moment, she was sure their eyes met. But Maximón quietly observed her before rushing off in the opposite direction, as though he hadn’t seen anything.

Najane staggered, troubled by a terrible ringing in her ears. Soon, the Recheo Knights arrived, including Olkoni.

After explaining the situation to Olkoni, she hurried back to her position. As she recalled Maximón’s eyes glinting coldly in the moonlight, an indescribable sadness flooded over her.

Did she wish Maximón had approached her with the same concern he would for a child?

Cold air seeped through the gaps in her broken armor. Biting her lower lip, Najane resumed the battle without rest. She finally began to understand Belshua’s words — why, at that moment, killing the innocent mercenaries had been the best choice…

The battle didn’t end until the sun rose. Originally, it should have ended when the bluish light of dawn spread, but today, many more Seriths had appeared, turning the entire field into chaos.

Najane rubbed her frozen hands and watched as the young soldiers moved the fallen soldiers’ bodies. The mercenaries, like wild dogs, roamed the field, poking at the wraiths’ eyes for no reason.

Seeing this, Najane’s anger flared. They hadn’t come to fight. They were nothing more than grave robbers, seeking to take the treasure — the Serith’s eyes.

With a sigh, Najane drew the holy sword she had stabbed into the ground. Her feet were frozen, and every step felt strange. She wanted to hurry back to her quarters to rest, but she also wanted to tell Maximón that she had succeeded in taking down two holy beasts.

She had probably disappointed him with her mention of the mercenaries, but if she apologized sincerely, maybe he would understand her feelings. She didn’t even know herself. She hadn’t expected mercenaries to be this bad.

Najane avoided the bodies littering the field and moved toward the city walls. Near the gates, she could hear voices grumbling as they warmed themselves by the fire.

“Damn Tania mercenaries, dragging a holy beast to the rear just to get one of Serith’s eyes? I almost got caught up in it and died!”

“That’s why Sir Elgort was more intense than usual. Was it because of those mercenaries?”

“It doesn’t seem related to the Romsoa Knights, right? The mercenaries fought near the third wall.”

“Then what happened to Romsoa? I noticed something was off with Sir Elgort too.”

“Right, I tried to get a kill nearby and almost got killed by Sir Elgort’s sword. It was much rougher and sharper than yesterday.”

“Anyway, did you see it? Sir Elgort beheaded three holy beasts in an instant with just one sword... wow, it was incredible.”

Najane listened to their conversation as she moved inside the city walls. She couldn’t shake the feeling that Maximón was in a bad mood.

When she entered the tent, Daniel, who had arrived first, greeted her. She stood in a corner and glanced at Maximón, who was seated in the prominent spot, already talking to Jacob.

It seemed that the scale of the ambush had been larger than expected, and one knight had died while many young soldiers had also fallen. The mood in the tent quickly grew somber.

Upon hearing the news of the knight’s death, Najane looked anxiously at the members of the knights. Everyone wore downcast expressions, but they didn’t seem overly sorrowful, as though they were accustomed to losing comrades.

Was this why Maximón couldn’t remember the knights who had passed through Romsoa? Had he become so used to sudden goodbyes and the absence of comrades that it no longer bothered him?

After the knights’ reports were finished, Maximón left the tent. Until then, he hadn’t given Najane a single glance.

Najane wanted to follow him, but there were too many bodies to deal with in the field, so she had to stay behind. However, without realizing it, she had been staring at his retreating figure when Daniel suddenly patted her shoulder.

“They say you had a hard time with the mercenaries? Those guys are the worst, right?”

“Has the rumor already spread?”

“Olkoni told me. He said you had a hard time dealing with the mercenaries while trying to take down the holy beasts. We’ll take care of the field, so you should go and rest early today.”

Najane didn’t refuse Daniel’s kindness. She sincerely thanked him and quickly left the tent. Fortunately, she spotted Maximón in the distance.

“Captain!”

Najane called out to Maximón in a bright voice. Maximón immediately turned to face her. However, contrary to her expectations, his gaze was very cold.

Standing in front of him, Najane, taken aback, quickly blinked her eyes and stopped in her tracks. She suddenly found herself at a loss for words.