Like a beast poised before its prey, the cores embedded in the monster’s body gleamed with ravenous greed. The desire emanating from it now was incomparable to when it had leisurely hunted other species. Its thick, stubby legs, which had previously moved sluggishly, suddenly charged at them with terrifying speed that defied their appearance.
“Damn it, we were never taught anything about that thing!”
Snapped back to his senses by Seiyad’s scolding, Zion gripped his sword with trembling hands. His gentle, handsome face had gone pale under the crushing weight of fear. Taking a deep breath as the Nir’a hurtled toward them, he swung his arm, summoning the light that obeyed his will.
“Everyone, fall back! Put as much distance between yourselves and that thing as possible!”
Issuing the bare minimum command, Zion unleashed his power. A dazzling white light, far stronger than before, surged forth and formed a barrier between the charging monster and the people.
Thoom!
The impact of the light striking the earth sent tremors through the ground. Shildras’ distinct power, hotter than any blazing inferno, lit up the surroundings in a brilliant flash.
“Wooooaaah!”
The knights, overwhelmed by the explosive force, let out cheers. It was good that those frozen in fear were now regaining their senses—but Seiyad knew better than to think this would end so easily.
‘A high-grade Nir’a, at the very least. I’ve never seen anything like this before.’
A high-grade Nir’a couldn’t be killed with a single attack from a Tither. If that were possible, the forest would’ve been wiped out long ago. In fact, using that kind of overwhelming force this early in a situation like this was dangerous.
“Shildras, withdraw your power. We need to rethink our strategy. While you and I hold it off, put Stella in charge of controlling Nova and Cecilia.”
Seiyad grabbed hold of Zion, who was gritting his teeth to maintain the light barrier, and issued a warning. The moment he grasped his arm, he could feel the pulse of instability in Zion’s power.
“You can see that no Nir’a is getting through the light, can’t you? If this keeps up, we’ll be able to kill it.”
“That thing is at least high-grade. It’s not like the low ones—it thinks. You can’t just take it down with a straightforward attack!”
“Nir’a are especially weak to light. The timing is right, and with my strength, I can kill that thing.”
Damn it.
The arrogance of youth—it was only natural. Seiyad, too, had once believed that his own power could accomplish anything. And he had paid for that belief with the lives and constant injuries of his fellow knights.
Even Seiyad, who had endured more battles than anyone else, had never seen a creature like this. Nir’a usually stuck to one form and didn’t consume their own kind. After all, they were monsters that fed on human souls and emotions, not physical sustenance.
What troubled him even more were the cores.
The more advanced a Nir’a was, the better it hid and protected its weaknesses. Yet this one was barreling forward, grotesque red eyes dotting its entire body, making no effort to shield them—an unsettling sight for Seiyad.
‘Is one of those even a real weak point?’
“I’m the one who wins this.”
As if to counter Seiyad’s growing unease, Zion intensified his power. Sweat gathered on his pale face, trickling down to his chin. The light surged, expanding as though to engulf the entire forest.
“Everyone, get back!”
Seiyad yelled, trying to push the knights back as they stood frozen, mesmerized by the radiance despite Zion’s command. They looked back and forth between Zion and Seiyad, clearly torn, but hesitated. The brilliance of the light seemed powerful enough to annihilate any Nir’a, and they wanted to believe in that.
The chaos of the moment began to settle. Zion continued to bombard the area with unwavering light for several minutes. Just as Seiyad began to sense a dangerous instability in the energy wave, the power faltered. Gasping, Zion finally let his arms drop.
The light began to fade. As the blinding force slowly dissipated, the forest came back into view. Seeing no trace of the Nir’a that had previously been swarming the area, Zion turned to Seiyad with a look of relief.
“They’re definitely all gone—”
“Zion, no!”
Before he could finish his sentence, Stella screamed. It had looked, for a moment, like the fleeing Nir’a had vanished.
But the monster was still there.
It had stopped its charge and now stood upright, gnawing loudly on the Nir’a with jagged, humanoid teeth—crunch, crunch. Its flaring nostrils pointed straight at Zion with eerie calm.
Once it confirmed the light had disappeared, the red cores embedded in its body flared again. Its gaping mouth, dripping what looked like black spit, opened unnaturally wide.
SKREEEEE! KYEAAK!
With a shriek like a pig being slaughtered, the monster charged at them again—far faster than before. There was no time for Seiyad to reason with Zion. As the creature bolted toward them like a cannonball, Zion gasped in horror and swung the light barrier downward.
“Damn it—what kind of Nir’a is this?!”
But the monster didn’t stop. Even when hit head-on by Zion’s power, its body regenerated almost instantly, as one would expect from a high-grade Nir’a. Worse, the attack seemed to enrage it. Letting out an enormous roar, the Nir’a veered toward the Tithers, accelerating before Zion’s light could even touch it.
“Stella! Bind it with everything you’ve got!”
Seiyad shouted, lunging forward. He tethered himself to the monster’s shadow as it touched the ground and instantly pulled himself to that spot.
In the blink of an eye, he was standing directly in its path—face to face with its massive open jaws. Its pitch-black mouth, disturbingly human in structure, gaped wide enough to devour him whole. And deep in its throat, one of the red cores pulsed ominously.
There was no more time to think.
Seiyad slid beneath the creature and slashed its leg wide open with his longsword. The monster, still charging at full speed, staggered from the blow and momentarily lost its balance. Seiyad didn’t miss the opening—he immediately summoned spears forged from darkness beneath the creature.
Darkness in broad daylight shines even deeper than night.
And so, unlike the shadows of the night, each spear carried immense force. The power he wielded now was far more destructive than any nocturnal weapon. The razor-sharp spears, summoned through Seiyad’s strength, pierced straight through the creature’s lower abdomen.
“Stella!”
At Seiyad’s urgent cry, Stella responded. The surrounding trees shifted with a heavy boom, encircling the creature, while vines surged from the ground and rushed to entangle it. But the monster quickly regained its balance, regenerated a new leg, and with a violent thrash, shattered the trees around it in a single burst.
As splinters rained down, Seiyad swung his blade again, slicing at its leg once more. However, perhaps learning quickly, the creature no longer offered up its limbs so easily. Instead, it lifted one high and slammed it down toward Seiyad. He rolled away just in time to avoid the blow, but the monster, rather than pursuing him, turned away and charged the Tithers. Its target was Zion.
The creature tore through Stella’s vines and barreled toward Zion. At the same moment Nova’s scream rang out, Zion was completely swallowed from view by the monster’s massive form. But in that instant, the creature’s motion froze unnaturally—as if time itself had stopped.
With its gaping mouth open, poised to devour Zion, the creature remained frozen in mid-attack. And then Cecilia’s voice rang out:
“Stop being stupid and attack already!”
At her shout, Zion snapped back into action, hurriedly stepping backward and resuming his assault. This time, the light he summoned was sharp and focused like arrows, raining down with precision upon each of the red cores embedded in the monster’s body.
For a brief moment, hope flickered.
‘If one of those is a weak point… maybe they can end it here.’
But it was a futile hope. The monster threw back its head and began to vomit up Nir’a from deep within its throat. With a revolting glrrrrk, monstrous beasts shaped like giant wolves, bears, and other savage predators spewed from its gaping maw.
“Start with the small ones!”
Zion shouted to command some sense of order over the chaos. But the monster gave them no chance. It charged again, aiming to crush both Zion and Stella beneath its massive body. Meanwhile, the newly spewed Nir’a lunged toward the knights.
The real problem was with the knights themselves.
The terror induced by a high-grade Nir’a wasn’t something the average human could withstand. The overwhelming fear paralyzed them, rendering their bodies rigid and unresponsive. The Nir’a targeted those frozen with terror.
“AAAGHH!”
The frontmost knights screamed as they fell. Long, razor-sharp claws slashed across their chests. Seiyad didn’t spare a second for thought—he moved straight into the heart of the chaos. His body reacted before his mind. Spears forged from the scattered shadows across the ground skewered the Nir’a mid-charge.
The stench of blood filled the air. Even as their comrades fell wounded in front of them, the knights remained locked in place as though their feet had fused to the earth. Their faces were a picture of dissonance—bodies and will out of sync, frozen in fear. Seiyad, seeing them, called out to Nova and Cecilia.
“You two protect the knights. If any more Nir’a come down, it’s your job to stop them!”
“Got it, Oppa.”
Cecilia, having just spent her power to support Zion, nodded despite her pale complexion. She raised her trembling hand, then grabbed Nova by the shoulders and shook her forcefully.
“You said we’d protect this kingdom together! Get a grip and do your part!”
At Cecilia’s shout, Nova’s eyes snapped open. Scanning the wounded knights with her green gaze, she clenched her teeth and summoned her power.
“I’m sorry! Gods, this is just so scary!”
Admitting her failure, Nova plunged her blade into the core of the Nir’a charging at them. Cecilia, confirming Nova’s action, stepped in front of the injured knights and called out to Seiyad.
“Oppa, you deal with that thing. You’re the only one who can fix this! Nova and I will handle things here somehow!”
“I—I’ll help too…!”
At last, one of the petrified knights spoke. Vine, face pale as if on the verge of fainting, was forcing his body to move through sheer willpower.
“I’ll hold the back line to keep the Nir’a from escaping the forest. So please, kill that damned thing, Your Grace!”
“Don’t worry about things back here! We’ll protect the rear!”
Rigda stepped forward to support Vine. At their words—at their willingness to cover his back—Seiyad hesitated for a moment. Even if they were only following orders, it was the first time someone had offered to fight alongside him.
The forest had always been Seiyad’s burden alone. The knights were just another group of people he had to protect. He had always endured the long winters alone, believing that he had to take responsibility for everything, by himself.
He had never once considered that someone might share even a portion of that weight.
