Under the Oak Tree

Max’s face was losing color rapidly and seeing this, Yulysion kept his words firm and true.

“If anything happens to the Lady, imagine how heartbroken Lord Calypse would be. Please, be understanding.”

“But… But….”

Max’s face twisted in pain and conflict. She clutched the shekel in her pocket. The image of ghouls and their rotten black flesh flashed before her eyes. She didn’t want to end up like that. Max was completely devastated at the idea of ​​never seeing Riftan again, however, she wasn’t the only one feeling that. Idcilla had an older brother who cherished her, and the priestesses too. They all had family and friends waiting for them. Even the soldiers, she didn’t want them to die. She looked at Yulysion with pleasing eyes.

“Then at least so-some of them…we must take with us. Even just some…”

“We can’t go back. It will only add to the chaos.”

Garrow shook his head firmly. Their faces were as conflicted and distorted as hers. “We do not wish to leave like this either, but please understand our decision. For us, Lord Calypse’s orders are above all else.”

“Inside the ca-castle, there’s a noble lady from Livadon who came with me. She’s only eighteen… she was worried about her brother, so she followed him here. When this war is over, she is going to meet him…”

Yulysion’s expression seemed to break for a moment but he shook his head firmly. “It’s too risky to go back now. Please forgive us. However, your safety is most important to us.”

“I-I’m not that important of a person! I’m not as no-noble as you all think…!”

At her sudden burst, Max sobbed and she couldn’t utter a word properly. Garrow was confused by her outburst, but sighed and pulled on the reins.

“We don’t have time to argue like this. There may be monsters roaming nearby. We need to get out of the canyon before they discover us.”

As he led her horse forward by the reins, the horse followed obediently. She forced herself to swallow the grief and her worries as they dragged her with them. Ruth, who always complained about her but still cared about her regardless. Idcilla, who always pretended to be strong, but actually had a soft heart. And Hebaron and the other priestesses, who were all unconsciously affectionate towards her… all their faces flashed through her mind.

Even if I return and stay in the castle, nothing will change. I will just become another ghoul whom the allied forces have to defeat later on.

Max made up excuses after excuses, but nothing buried the guilt of running away alone. She closed her eyes tightly and silent tears ran down her face. She felt helpless and heavy guilt weighed her heart down.

Think about Riftan. You promised him. That you will be safe. You said to him you won’t do anything reckless…

However, the tears would not stop spilling as they fled the dark forest in silence. She kept looking back. She thought she could hear the sounds of screaming in the distance, or maybe it was all a hallucination created by her own guilty conscience.

“… I think we have to change our route.” Yulysion, who was leading them silently, suddenly spoke. He looked at Max’s tear-stained face and his expression grew grim, but he quickly straightened his face then resumed in his stern tone. “I can send a large group of monsters moving nearby. We need to find another route.”

“How many?” Asked Garrow in a serious tone.

“Thirty… No, about forty.”

“Trolls?”

Yulysion shook his head and looked out clairvoyantly into the forest covered in darkness. “They are likely to be kobolds or romgoblins, but nothing good comes from running into them.”

Garrow spurred his horse then handed the reins back to Max and spoke to her sternly. “There’s really no going back now. Please, calm your feelings and kindly follow us.”

Max could barely contain her tears and nodded. Yulysion took the initiative again and led his horse at a gallop. As they ran down the road, she struggled to regain her composure. That was not the time to cry like a little child, she couldn’t risk the lives of Yulysion and Garrow.

“This way. We’re going to cross the gorge on this trail here.”

Yulysion pointed up the steep mountain path. The so-called trail was narrow and bumpy, it was too rough to be even called a path and Max estimated that it would take about twenty minutes for them to escape the woods and onto the main road.

“Must we… climb up this slope?”

“It seems there are monsters lurking north of here in case the people inside abandon the castle and escape. I think it will be difficult to turn around. We must climb up this path and head straight east.”

“B-But… if there are monsters beyond the gorge… then maybe…”

Yulysion shook his head. “There’s no reason for monsters to scatter their troops. Even if there are monsters up ahead, they would probably be just scouts. Garrow and I can both handle that easily.”

“I will lead from now on. I have more experience with mountainous terrain.”

Garow came up the trail first on horseback, and Max followed him up the dizzying steep incline. Her entire body was strained and she sweated profusely, her breathing was heavily labored. The walk up the trail seemed endless, but they finally made it to the top and she saw the whole view of Ethylene from above. Her back stiffened, a faint roar echoed in the air.

“… Shit…”

Garrow cursed under his breath and Max immediately understood the reason: one of the two walls defending the castle gates was already collapsing. The monster army that had gathered in front of the castle roared and ran towards the now fragile wall like a herd of angry buffaloes in an attempt to bring it down completely. Max groaned in despair. The monster army was far greater in number than what she saw when she looked out on top of the wall. There were thousands, not hundreds, of trolls, romgoblins, and ogres.

“Where in the world did that army of that many monsters come from?”

“Now is not the time to think about that. The monsters have likely sent a search unit in this area. We have to get out of here before they catch our scent.”

Garrow, who was the first to come to his senses, quickly scanned the trail, but Max couldn’t take her eyes off Ethylene Castle that was currently being invaded. Seeing her like this, Yulysion, who was as shocked as she was, tried to comfort her.

“Even if the castle falls, the people in there may be able to avoid death. The allied forces will return before that happens and reclaim the castle”

Even though Max was completely ignorant in military warfare, she knew it was a blatant lie. How could a few hundred men hope to stop a horde of a thousand monsters? The monsters would destroy Ethylene Castle in an instant. She looked at the endless number of monsters marching through the gorge when suddenly something caught her eye.

“T-that… if we break that… will that do mu-much damage to the monsters?”

She pointed to the towering rock formation, built on the left and right sides of the road leading to the castle’s southern gate. The two boys blinked, confused, then when they realized what she meant, their eyes widened. Turning to look at the huge rock boulder hanging from the edge of the wall, Garrow spoke in a shaky voice.

“Can we… break that?”

“If we use magic… it might be po-possible.”

Max wanted to sound as confident as possible, but couldn’t help it, her voice cracked, and the faces of the two boys reflected uncertainty.

“But the lady won’t have enough mana….”

“I have a plan. Although it’s only a slight chance it might wo-work… it is worth a try.”

The boys looked at each other, in conflict. Realizing they were in the horns of a dilemma, Max continued to plead desperately.

“P-Please, please. Give me twenty minutes… No, at le-least fifteen minutes. If I fail, I will follow you two without any objection.”

Yulysion, who was looking at her, looked back and forth between Max and the rock hanging on the edge of the wall while biting his lips. He talked with Garrow about it and then eventually nodded weakly.

“Alright, let’s give it a try. But if we fail, the lady must follow us and flee from here immediately.”

Max nodded with a grim expression. The two boys seemed sorry for their decision, but all three began to climb the steep mountain again. As they drove their horses towards the cliff, the cries from the battlefield grew louder as the sun began to set and cast a purple hue across the skies. Running at such high speed, Max felt the cold afternoon air rush into her lungs.

Her thighs throbbed like they had been stabbed with a knife and her arms trembled, but they couldn’t afford to take a break. She endured with all her might. After a long time, something suddenly emerged from the trees. Yulysion quickly drew his sword and yelled.

“Turn back!”

Max yanked on her horse’s reins and hurriedly turned, but there were also monsters surrounding them from behind. Yulysion shouted fiercely as he pulled her behind him to protect her and screamed.

“We are surrounded, Garrow! Secure a path now!”

The monsters charged at them all at once, as if they had coordinated their plan of attack, and Max clung to her horse’s neck for her life. She wanted to throw a shield, but she couldn’t draw the magic formula, steer her horse, and run away all at the same time.

“M’lady, we will act as bait, you should escape! We’ll be right behind you!”

Garrow’s screams echoed in her ears and Max looked around in pure horror.. She had no idea what direction she’s supposed to escape to. While she was overwhelmed, Yulysion and Garrow slashed goblins after goblins and secured a path for her.

“Hurry, run!”

Max spurred her horse and it shot forward like an arrow. A buzzing sound rang in her ears as thick tree trunks passed her left and right. She couldn’t even look around to see if she was heading in the right direction. If she slowed down even a little, it would spell her end, so Max swung her reins like a whip, forcing the horse to run in speed. But then, something suddenly flew towards her out of nowhere and Max was knocked off her horse. She landed on her back with a heavy thump against the ground and her breath hitched.

As she gasped for air, she looked up with terror. There was a goblin sitting on her stomach and it was holding something like a hook in its hands. Max screamed so loud her throat hurt as she grabbed whatever was around her and threw it frantically at the monster. Fortunately, in her hysterical moment she managed to stab the monster in the eye with a branch and the goblin screeched in pain and grabbed its face. She quickly pushed the goblin away and tried crawling off the ground, but before she could get up, the goblin was able to grab her back.

Max smashed and kicked blindly like she was drowning, but it was all to no avail. The goblin grabbed her by the head and kicked her violently in the stomach. Max’s vision darkened in an instant and she barely managed to hold onto her fading consciousness. But she couldn’t close her eyes, not now. If she passed out here, it would be her end. Unconsciously, Max reached for the dagger tied at the waist while she was being dragged by her hair. She raised the weapon and stabbed it, she had no idea where it was aimed, but she could feel the sensation of the deadly blade ripping through flesh.

The goblin’s eyes widened in bewilderment and looked at her in disbelief, looking down at his stomach and screamed, shaking, and tugging wildly at her hair. Max reluctantly raised the dagger once more and plunged the blade deep into its flesh again. Blood gushed out like a fountain, painting her face and arms red but she didn’t dare stop. In a state of panic, she stabbed with the weapon over and over again, piercing the blade into the monster’s shaggy stomach mercilessly until finally, the grip on her hair was released and the monster fell lifelessly to the ground.

She was breathing erratically and her body shook uncontrollably as she struggled to get back up. The monster’s torso was like minced meat when she looked at it. Unable to contain herself any longer, Max quickly looked away. She collapsed at the base of a tree and emptied all the contents of her stomach. Her throat burned from the acidity of her vomit, and every bone in her body felt like it had been crushed to pieces. Every breath she took was excruciatingly painful, as if she had broken her ribs. She wrapped her hands around her sides and looked back at the path she came, she was devastated.

Where am I?

The horse she was riding had disappeared without a trace. Max stood up on shaky legs, leaning against the tree trunk for support. Could the situation even get worse? She couldn’t even feel fear anymore as she stood there covered in blood in the deep, dark forest. Max walked absentmindedly, trying to understand where she was, when she suddenly heard screams in the distance. She staggered towards the sound as she passed through the trees. Then, a large, steep cliff with a huge rock boulder on the edge stretched out in front of her.

She approached the ledge and looked down from the dizzying height. There were thousands of monsters lurking outside the defensive wall that protected Ethylene’s gates.