Chapter 8 Part 6
Elia, who had been engulfed in silence, was startled by the sudden question and tightened her grip on the reins.
“Ah, yes. My family is in the capital. The young lord offered to cover the gate fees for them…”
“I see.”
This was the fabricated story of a mental spiritist. Needing a substantial amount of money, the spiritist became bound to Aksion, who in return, ensured financial support and the safety of the spiritist’s family.
‘Lies become second nature, don’t they?’
Even in this unexpected situation, Elia felt she had given a pretty good answer. As she breathed a sigh of relief, Tartan, who had been silently driving the horse, turned his gaze towards her.
“If your goal is money, how about joining me?”
“What?”
Too shocked, she reflexively asked again. Tartan continued nonchalantly.
“I don’t know how much you were paid to bind yourself to him, but I can repay that and give you double.”
“That’s…”
It seemed Tartan had brought her along with this intention from the beginning. Before the silence could stretch too long, Elia finally spoke.
“I’m sorry, but I have to pretend I didn’t hear that. The initial trust we built is important.”
“Trust, you say.”
He muttered her words while looking ahead. He might have been annoyed. After all, the head of a duke’s family was being rejected by a commoner.
But even if Elia’s status had truly been only that of a spiritist, her answer would have been the same.
“If I turn to you now, would you be able to trust me, Duke?”
What the Duke was trying to do was nothing more than buying Elia with money. Even if she followed him now, what if someone offered her a higher amount later? A relationship based solely on money cannot be entrusted with anything important in the end.
Her mouth was dry with tension. Even though she had cast an illusion in case he asked her to take off her hood, he was a Sword Master, so she couldn’t be sure.
After a while, Tartan responded with a slight smile.
“That’s a fair point.”
Tartan then focused solely on guiding the horse, as if he didn’t want to discuss the matter further. The outcome was unexpectedly clean, leaving Elia slightly bewildered. She composed herself.
‘Don’t be fooled.’
He was someone who had tried to kill Aksion, despite being family. Someone who didn’t atone for his own sins. He was on par with those who had been part of Elia’s family.
Tartan didn’t say another word until they reached the plains.
‘Is it fortunate it ended like this?’
Though relieved, she couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling. Eventually, Tartan’s forces arrived at the Birun Plains.
‘The center is really sunken in.’
It was a peculiar structure. Monsters were crawling up from the sunken center.
‘They look completely different from the monsters in the Grueorg Marshlands.’
The monsters here, called Kapibus, had the upper body of a giant rabbit and the lower body mixed with a crocodile, with large fangs. Despite their beastly appearance, they were terrifying monsters that killed people with those fangs.
‘The biggest problem is…’
Their incredible reproductive power. And the fact that their favorite prey was humans.
‘Each monster has its own traits.’
However, unlike naturally occurring animals, they looked as if they were forcibly combined from different creatures. Kapibus were resistant to fire but vulnerable to water. The extermination would start by exploiting this weakness.
Kik. Kuk.
Just then, the Kapibus finished their hunt and were returning to their group. Sometimes, people exiled from villages would settle in plains like this. It seemed the Kapibus had hunted them, as they were chewing on pieces of clothing.
‘If left alone, they’ll attack the villages.’
Elia’s eyes turned cold as she observed.
“I’ll cast an illusion.”
With that, a butterfly emerged from the back of Elia’s hand. As Sasha was summoned, the knights couldn’t take their eyes off the butterfly, intrigued by the visible spirit.
“It’s done.”
A large dome covered the knights, an illusion to evade the monsters’ eyes.
“Let’s start the extermination.”
The knights began to surround the sunken plains to deal with any monsters that tried to escape. Soon, the mages started drawing water to fill the plains. Elia also summoned an illusion to make the monsters attack each other.
‘The extermination might end more easily than expected.’
With no more words from the Duke, it seemed the battle might end without any casualties.
While Elia was keeping an eye on the front, the knights guarding the spiritist and mages started whispering to each other.
“What’s going on?”
“Mist all of a sudden? Did someone cast the wrong spell?”
Elia overheard the conversation. Lowering her head, she saw a thick, dark mist covering her ankles.
‘Black mist.’
Surprised, she turned around, but the surroundings were already enveloped in the dark mist. In the brief moment she took a breath, the mist had consumed everything, taking away her sight.
‘I’ve only seen this in the capital.’
How did the mist spread here?
Elia rubbed the back of her hand connected to Sasha. The black mist seemed to aim at isolating the living; after sight, it took away her hearing.
‘I can’t hear anything.’
Just moments ago, the sounds of mages and knights were all around, but now she couldn’t sense any of them.
As if she was left alone.
‘Sasha, can you dispel the mist?’
“It’s not an illusion, so it’s impossible.”
Sasha dealt with illusions, not the atmosphere. In the end, Elia drew on her shamanic powers to create a protective barrier. With Sasha summoned and using shamanic powers, her energy was rapidly draining.
‘I can’t hold on for long.’
Even with the protective barrier in place, the surroundings remained silent. No presence could be felt, even after waiting for a while. Time seemed to pass significantly.
‘Maybe I can release it for a moment.’
Just as she was considering it, she noticed something.
‘Those eyes…’
Piercing through the black mist were glowing yellow eyes, appearing one after another until they were countless.
‘They’re looking for me.’
The yellow eyes scanned around. Thankfully, Sasha’s illusion was still effective, and they hadn’t found Elia.
Just as she was about to breathe a sigh of relief, she saw it.
‘What is that?’
Among the yellow eyes, a pair of red eyes appeared, directly staring at Elia.
Kik!
Through the mist emerged a giant monster in the form of Kapibus. It had devoured several of its kind, becoming larger and more formidable than the others.
‘It’s coming.’
As Elia gritted her teeth, the red-eyed monster charged at her.
Boom!
The heavy impact shook the protective barrier.
Just as Elia staggered, some Kapibus began to notice her, as the illusion momentarily wavered.
‘Too many. They’ll break through.’
The trembling violet barrier looked precarious. She tried to strengthen the barrier, but the red-eyed monster attacked first.
Boom!
“Ugh…!”
With that single blow, Elia was thrown back. Other monsters also began ramming into the barrier.
Little by little, the sharp fangs gnawed at the barrier.
Though she hurriedly tried to reinforce it, there were too many monsters clinging on.
Crack. Eventually, the barrier started to break. As Elia quickly stepped back, the Kapibus in front charged at her.
‘This can’t be…!’
The giant fangs gleamed in the darkness. Elia closed her eyes tightly, bracing for the pain.
Screech!
But what hit her was not a monster, but a fierce scream.
‘What happened?’
Elia opened her eyes slightly. Blocking her path was a figure with golden hair.
She felt a presence beside her. The crest of the Imperial family was engraved on the knight’s chest.
“Step back.”
As Elia hesitated and stepped back, the blond man began cutting down the Kapibus one by one.
‘Who is he?’
He wasn’t wearing armor. All she could see was a purple cape fluttering in the wind.
Screech!
The red-eyed monster finally lunged at the man.
His blade was surrounded by an aura. The man’s sword cleaved the charging monster in two.
with this, we finished volume 2! you can find whole volume epub and pdf on my kofi shop (https://ko-fi.com/s/7252de536f).tysm for supporting this novel until now and i wish you a happy read!
