The knights, who had been silently observing from the shadows as if they weren’t even there, suddenly intervened—causing Zion’s face to turn pale. With trembling hands, he tightened his grip on his training sword. Seiyad, tearing his gaze away from the helpless and frightened young man who clearly had no idea what to do, carefully searched for the right words.
This wasn’t a trace they could simply overlook. But handing over Shildras right here would be equally problematic.
Adena, true to his position as Aster’s subordinate, didn’t give him the luxury of time to deliberate. As if the brief silence had already served as his answer, he gave a subtle signal to his subordinates.
“If we determine that the core poses no danger, we’ll extract it and take it as evidence. You two, go.”
“Yes, Commander.”
Three or four knights, swords drawn, moved at his command. Just as Seiyad was trying to come up with a reason to stop them, he suddenly felt a chilling presence at the back of his neck and quickly turned around. The familiar aura of the Nir’a began pouring in from deeper within the forest. It was similar to yesterday, yet different. If yesterday’s surge had been an attempt to flee, this one was clearly a targeted assault on the humans.
There was nothing as horrifyingly powerful as yesterday. But the sheer numbers were overwhelming. As if every Nir’a in this forest had been let loose all at once.
The other Tithers seemed to sense it too, their gazes all shifting toward the forest’s depths in eerie unison. The knights, taken aback by the synchronized movement, hesitated for a moment.
“What’s going on?”
Perhaps having learned his lesson from yesterday, Zion spoke to the knights who stood closest to him.
“This isn’t the time to retrieve the core. Turn back and get out of the forest now. Protect the guides and mobilize the knights to block off the village.”
The knights seemed to take Zion’s words as a lie. They scoffed dismissively and ignored him, clearly intent on following Aster’s orders instead of honoring the Tither’s authority. Just as Zion tried to stop them by any means necessary—
A wave of black surged forth.
Hundreds of Nir’a stormed in like a herd of buffalo, charging at them with terrifying speed. Their coordinated assault was as swift and precise as if commanded by some unseen force—an unprecedented ambush.
“O-oh, fast…!”
The Tithers responded instinctively, thank heavens—but the real problem was the Nir’a’s speed. In an instant, the Tithers were scattered, and their cries to each other rang out in every direction. But the true danger wasn’t whether the Tithers could hold—it was what would happen if they failed to contain the swarm.
“Do whatever it takes! Don’t let the Nir’a leave the forest!”
With that final shout, Seiyad was also swept away by the incoming flood of Nir’a. The world around him turned into a mass of pitch-black creatures. Somewhere, he heard the screams of knights—but even those were quickly swallowed by the Nir’a’s eerie silence and aura of terror.
Tightly clustered like an army of ants, the Nir’a were so tangled among themselves that it was nearly impossible to destroy the core in a single strike.
Seiyad slashed at every Nir’a that lunged at him. The moment he carved out even a small pocket of space, he summoned the shadows of the earth and killed everything within sight. Without even a second to catch his breath, he found himself relentlessly fighting back the black tide—only to realize he’d been pushed deep into the forest, far from the others. Somehow, he knew where he was. Roughly the center of the southern woods.
This was exactly why the Tithers had never managed to conquer the forest. With fewer than ten of them, it was impossible to continuously fend off so many Nir’a. And without the power of the guides, their limit would soon come.
Too many. There were far too many…
It was like being submerged in a night sky with no stars—the darkness never ended. Seiyad lowered his sword for a brief moment and heaved a deep breath, his chest rising and falling heavily. The narrow opening he had carved out was already being filled again by the creeping Nir’a.
Then, just nearby, he heard a familiar voice.
“Master, where in the world is the Duke?!”
“Vine, behind you! No, to your left! Watch out!”
“Rigda, directions are useless—they’re coming from everywhere!”
Hearing voices he hadn’t noticed at the start of the mission, Seiyad narrowed his eyes and straightened his stance. His expression gradually hardened, confused by the situation that made no sense. With his eyes starting to glow faint red from exertion, he turned to the source of the sound—only to see Vine and Rigda cutting through Nir’a as they moved toward him.
And behind them, unbelievably, stood Ressas, clad in white like the full moon, staring directly at him.
Unless this was the Devil’s trickery, how was this even possible?
Seiyad stood frozen, glaring at Ressas. A guide—not even a Tither—had come this far into the forest with just two knights, and looked perfectly unharmed doing it.
Even the Tithers could barely endure this hellish onslaught. For a guide without the power of the stars, and ordinary knights, to be standing here was beyond comprehension. Unless, of course, the Nir’a had been intentionally sparing them.
Seiyad had always believed Ressas was the answer. But now, faced with this moment, he couldn’t help but recall what Cecilia had said—that it was suspicious how Ressas was the only one to survive to the end in her dream.
And when combined with the ominous warning he’d received just this morning…
“There, Your Highness! The Duke is over there!”
“Your Grace, look out!”
A faint sense of betrayal, a strange suspicion, and a mounting hostility toward the unknown all surged within him as he glared at Ressas. Whispering sweetly that he cared for him, only to carry out something so incomprehensible and keep completely silent about it—it stirred a deep distrust in Seiyad.
No—if he were being honest, he didn’t even know why he felt so bitter. It’s not as though he’d ever trusted Ressas or relied on him. So whatever Ressas was hiding, it shouldn’t matter at all.
“Eid!”
Seiyad stood frozen, his gaze locked on Ressas, even as the Nir’a continued to approach. Then, Ressas’s blank expression suddenly shifted—his eyes widened in alarm, and he broke into a sprint toward Seiyad. The raw terror on his face was so vivid that Seiyad instinctively responded to his shout.
Without even realizing he was doing it—without swinging his sword or manipulating the shadows—another power surged forth.
Just like yesterday, when he had summoned darkness from within darkness while engulfed by the Nir’a, this time the force erupted from within the creatures themselves. The moment he thought of eliminating the ones rushing toward him, the power obeyed.
The black masses that had been closing in began exploding—pop, pop—one after another. The unseen cores shattered, and the Nir’a dissolved into dust, vanishing into the air. Vine and Rigda, who had been dashing toward him, froze in place with eyes wide in disbelief. Only Ressas remained unaffected by the display—he charged forward without pause.
Before Seiyad could stop him, Ressas flung his arms around him with desperate force.
“Eid, please… Please don’t let danger come near you.”
It was as if he were a drowning man clinging to life—Ressas clutched Seiyad like his salvation. His arms trembled violently as he pulled Seiyad in, trying to hold him tighter and tighter, even though they were already pressed together so closely it was impossible to get any closer.
Ressas’s energy poured into him through a burning, feverish body heat, scalding like midsummer sun. Despite the turmoil in his heart from seeing him, Seiyad’s body welcomed him—as if it had been waiting for this moment. For a fleeting second, Seiyad moved instinctively, embracing Ressas in return. As he held him close, a wave of relief washed over him, as if he might survive so long as he had this person in his arms. The breath that had been trapped inside him all day finally loosened.
“You could’ve been hurt, Eid…”
Ressas murmured the words like a child, burying his face in Seiyad’s neck. His voice trembled, wet with emotion. Seiyad, still overheated from the earlier battle and the rush of holding him, snapped back to himself when Ressas’s whispered words brushed against his skin. He released his grip and pushed him away. When he did, Ressas’s violet eyes, now glossy and wet, lowered to meet his.
There was a wretched sadness in that gaze.
“How did you come here?” Seiyad asked. “Don’t expect me to accept some absurd excuse. No guide—especially not one with only two knights—can enter this deep into the forest. Not when it’s overrun with Nir’a like this.”
Though his heart was storming inside, Seiyad’s voice was like ice. Cold. Controlled. Unshaken.
Ressas blinked back the forming tears on his long lashes and turned briefly. Vine and Rigda, who had been frozen in shock, were now quickly approaching.
“I tried not to create this situation because it’s difficult to keep anything hidden from you, Your Grace… But I failed. I just… I can’t do anything as well as you can…”
Seiyad frowned at the cryptic words. Ressas murmured them like a monologue, then forced himself to smile, as he always did.
“I’ll explain once we’re out of the forest. What I have to say can’t be heard by Vine and Rigda. For now, stopping the Nir’a takes priority. This fight will last an entire day, so I came ahead to help you.”
“Which brings me back to the point, Your Highness—how do you know all this? I cannot fight with someone suspicious at my side. I can only entrust my back to someone I trust.”
At those words, Ressas’s lips began to tremble. His face contorted with frustration as he lifted his head to the sky—gazing at the sun as if seeking guidance—then lowered his eyes again to meet Seiyad’s.
“Some miracles vanish the moment they’re spoken aloud, Your Grace. I absolutely cannot explain everything. But there’s one thing I can say without doubt—”
“I am not a demon sent to leave you in loneliness. I am simply a man who loves you—deeply, desperately.”
