"Let's do as much as we can."
Arden took a deep breath and plunged the sword he had been holding into the ground.
THUNK—!
He then took a step forward.
Clenching his fist so hard his bones felt as though they would shatter, Arden looked at the white bear facing Kane.
It stood with its mouth gaping wide, drool streaming from it.
Even with Kane right in front of it, it targeted Arden first.
"Hey! First—"
ROOOOOAR—!
Just as Kane slightly turned his head, the white bear seized the opening and lunged at Arden with its massive paws and fangs, intent on tearing him apart.
"Ah—"
For a moment, Kane looked at the two with a startled expression before gritting his teeth and rushing forward.
But Arden was faster.
"Hngh—!"
Staring down the bear, Arden drew his right arm back, leaving his sword planted in the ground. When it came a little closer, he twisted his waist and drove his fist forward with all his strength.
RUMMMMMBLE—!
The space before him warped ever so slightly.
BOOOOOOM—!
An enormous explosion rang out. A cloud of dust rose into the air.
When it finally cleared, the bear that had stood right before them had vanished without a trace.
Kane collapsed to the ground with an incredulous look on his face.
"Y-You, what was that...?"
The shock was so great that he even stammered.
However, Arden had no time to answer the question. Overwhelming pain flooded his entire body.
It could not even compare to when he remained still.
—......
A brief silence fell.
Everyone fell silent at the reality that Arden had blown up a monster with his bare hand.
But that quiet was broken by the other monsters pressing in.
The wolves covered in eyeballs, which had been right behind the bear, slipped in.
AWOOOOOOOO—!
More than a hundred bloodshot eyes stared at Arden.
Even the Holy Knights cutting down monsters flinched in surprise, but Arden, who stood right before them, was unfazed.
When he threw his fist with all his strength, something similar to Divine Power had flowed out of his heart.
"......"
As warmth spread through his entire body, the urge subsided, and the red glow in his eyes soon faded.
It seemed that power had driven out the monster's blood.
Thanks to that, Arden could assess the situation objectively.
"......"
For now, his ability remained unchanged. His strength had not yet left him.
He was already halfway to his limit, yet he could not stop.
If this line was breached, the North would be finished.
And he thought he should conserve as much strength as possible until he fought the things behind them.
An enormous pressure was weighing down Arden's body....
Compared to it, animal-shaped monsters were nothing.
"Hoo."
Arden briefly massaged his right arm, which had grown so red-hot that it had turned bluish, then pulled out the sword he had planted behind him with his left arm.
Using his left hand felt awkward because he rarely used it, but it did not take long to adapt.
After swinging it through the air a few times, Arden thrust it straight ahead.
At the wolf before him.
CRRRUNCH—!
The sword, advancing in a pure-white line, not only burst the wolf's bloodshot eye but bored into its brain.
It shattered the skull and protruded from the other side.
The wolf died instantly and went limp.
SHLK—! Without hesitation, Arden pulled out his sword, stepped on the corpse, and moved forward.
GRAWR—!
A pure-white wolf leapt over its companion as though it would devour Arden at once.
A dozen or so bloodshot eyes whirled as they fixed on Arden.
But Arden paid them no mind. He simply swept his sword upward.
SHLK—! Its lower body split in two.
Its organs spilled out in streams amid its whimpering cries.
Its upper body flew past Arden and landed in front of Kane, who had just risen.
"F-Fuck—"
CRUNCH—!
Despite his words, Kane moved immediately and cut off the wolf's head.
Without turning his head, Arden confirmed through the sound alone that it had died.
He did not stop and continued swinging his sword.
The neck of a wolf that had charged in fearlessly was severed, and pure-white blood splattered everywhere.
Drip, drip.
A few droplets landed on his lips.
As his body grew increasingly sluggish, he had no choice but to coat his lips with blood again.
CRRRUNCH—!
Thanks to that, his ability grew even stronger.
The stronger it became, the greater the burden grew as well.
His heart, pounding without pause, had become painful. His joints creaked, and even his muscles felt as though they were tearing.
It seemed to have exceeded what he could bear; even that power could no longer help him.
The urge was growing stronger.
"Haa..."
Even so, there was no time to rest. Whenever he killed one, another trampled over its body and emerged.
To reduce their numbers as much as possible, he needed to move faster.
"......"
Arden nodded and opened his eyes.
There was something different about the blood of the wolf-shaped monsters.
They had less strength than the bears, but they were faster.
Until now, he had been handling both at once, so he had been unable to draw either out fully. But if he gave up one of them, things would change.
... Arden reached an answer in that brief moment.
If he could kill them in one strike anyway, it was better to be faster.
He had to finish this before the urge grew any stronger.
"Hoo."
The moment Arden exhaled, the force pouring out of him changed.
—!
Even the wolf monster directly in front of him flinched in surprise.
"My legs..."
They were light.
Yet the burden was greater than before.
It was beyond comparison to ordinary muscle pain.
But that was all Arden said.
In that instant, his figure blurred, and he stood before the next wolf.
That was all the creature heard.
With its neck severed, its tilting vision could only see Arden butchering its kin.
Flick, flick. Arden shook the blood from his sword and continued forward.
Wolves, tigers....
Spiders, ants....
"Haa."
The animal-shaped and insect-shaped monsters were not a problem.
The Holy Knights and knights had followed him this far.
But now, things had become difficult.
ROOOOOAR—!
The first monsters they encountered were five creatures slightly larger than the Frost Giant Arden had seen on the plains.
A mass of pure-white liquid crawled between their legs.
What made it unusual was the single eyeball floating within it.
GURGLE....
That eyeball never once took its gaze off Arden.
It felt as though it intended to kill him at once.
'More dangerous than the giant.'
Just as Arden finished thinking that and prepared to leap toward them—
"......?"
The strength left his legs.
He lost his balance and staggered.
A ringing filled his ears, and his vision spun.
Something metallic rose up his throat.
Even breathing was difficult.
He was in a state where it would not have been strange for him to die at any moment.
... It could not be helped.
Even though the Holy Knights had assisted him, Arden had dealt with more monsters than they had.
Even if they had been relatively easy to handle, he could not ignore the fatigue accumulating in his body.
Furthermore, the monster's blood had even worse side effects.
It was a miracle that he had endured this long.
If not for the resolve rooted in his unconscious, he would have collapsed long ago.
"......"
Arden tightly clenched his teeth as he stared at the five Frost Giants before him and the mass of liquid beneath them.
"I have to do it."
That did not mean he could run away from here.
Through sheer obstinacy and grit....
He had received the title of Holy Knight by accident, but at least now, he had to fulfill that role.
Hiss.
Thinking that he would do as much as he could while he was still able to move, Arden drew in a breath.
Then he dipped his finger into the blood of a tiger-shaped monster pooled on the ground and brought it to his lips.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
Arden's heart, on the verge of bursting, began beating again.
Nausea kept rising in his throat.
Capillaries burst, and his eyes turned red.
Every step made his entire body scream.
CRACK—! Some of his bones had even broken.
Even so, Arden endured. He pushed forward resolutely.
His reason for going this far was not grand.
It was a vow and a resolve not to let the monsters before him pass through.
The orphanage director, recovering from injuries to both legs.
Maril and Leon, undergoing treatment after suffering severe psychological trauma from what had happened at the orphanage.
Mel, Rayleigh, and Amelia, who would have arrived in Balkan. And the villagers.
Even Kamer, with whom he had spent only a few days.
If he collapsed here, they would be in danger.
The orphanage director and the two children might somehow hold out, but the others would not.
That was why Arden did not give up.
He suppressed the urge with all his strength.
If he went wild in this state, he would collapse before long.
"......"
Arden stood before the monsters.
CREEEAK—! His grip on the sword tightened.
Whipping his dying body onward, Arden swung his sword at the Frost Giant before him.
SHHHRK—!
An intense red line, powerful enough to burn everything, cleaved the sky in two.
Life force.
It was a struggle to protect the people.
***
"Damn it. Hurry..."
Kane, who had fallen back after the tendon in his left leg ruptured, muttered to himself.
He tore the clothes beneath his armor and wrapped them around his leg.
Then he squeezed out what little Divine Power he had left and rose to his feet.
"Hoo—"
Able to move thanks to Divine Power, he hurried to rejoin the others.
They were all fighting despite suffering severe injuries.
One knight could not see because an eye had burst.
Another's arm had been severed, leaving him unable to swing his axe widely.
Even another comrade had a crushed leg and could no longer stand on his own.
Yet they did not stop.
All of it was for one person....
Arden.
"Hey! Hey! The left is breaking through! Stay with me! I can't do it alone!"
Even though Arden had become a complete wreck, he did not stop.
CRRRAACK—!
A house-sized white tiger burst apart beneath Arden's fist.
But Arden was not unharmed either.
His arm was twisted backward.
"......"
While he had stopped moving from the extreme pain, pure-white wolves and fox-like creatures from behind approached to tear him apart.
"Kill them!"
"Raaaaaah!"
However, the Holy Knights and knights threw themselves forward to prevent them from reaching Arden.
Kane also gritted his teeth and cut them down.
When his leg stiffened, he slammed it down to force it to move.
"Fuck...."
After cutting down an approaching fox, Kane looked over at Arden.
Arden had regained his senses and was facing another creature.
It was pure-white liquid with only one eyeball floating inside it.
The creature that had crawled across the ground took on a humanoid shape the moment it encountered Arden.
GRRRRRR—!
That was not all.
It began moving exactly like Arden.
When Arden threw a punch, it threw a punch as well.
When he kicked with his leg, it kicked in the same way.
It even transformed parts of its body to block Arden's attacks.
And that was not the end of it.
In an instant, it transformed its arm into a scythe and attacked. It was so fast that it was difficult to follow with the eye.
SHHHRK—!
BOOM—!
Kane thought Arden, fighting that thing, looked more like a monster.
Could he really be human?
No matter if he had awakened the Great Epic, no one could do something like that.
It was almost impossible. Even among those who had stirred the Great Epic, no one had displayed such power.
Overwhelming power.
Awe.
Those emotions and more shook them.
They drove their bodies, which had reached their limits, to move.
Without even caring that the Snow Mountain was being carved away.
RUMMMMMBLE—!
Just as they were squeezing out every last bit of their strength.
BOOOOOOM—!
Arden was sent flying far away in an arc.
It seemed that the power he had shown until then had vanished without a trace.
The brilliant light that had enveloped his entire body had faded.
THUD—!
Arden rolled down the mountain and became embedded in the earth.
Kane, watching that, widened his eyes.
Countless emotions were mixed within them.
"Damn it—"
"Kane! You go!"
"Right!"
Kane nodded at Dylan's request and hurriedly kicked off the ground.
He had to take care of Arden, who had been thrown far away.
Dylan, watching Kane, opened his mouth.
"We must do what we have to do!"
"Yes!"
"Understood!"
"Right!"
The remaining six then fought the monsters as they headed toward Kane.
Fortunately, Arden had greatly reduced their numbers, allowing them to move toward Kane, albeit slowly.
It also helped that the stronger monsters had not moved.
Even the liquid creature that had been fighting Arden had changed its form and merely roared without taking any particular action.
That much was fortunate.
Otherwise, they would have had to stake everything on survival.
Meanwhile, Kane stood beside Arden and spoke.
"Damn it. His condition is..."
It was bad.
His limbs had turned black, and some of his finger joints were twisted.
Even his chest was moving irregularly, as though his ribs had punctured his lungs.
The fact that he had fought in this state was nothing short of miraculous.
At the same time, regret flooded Kane.
While Arden fought like this, all he had been able to do was help from behind....
"This is driving me insane."
Kane gritted his teeth, slung Arden over his shoulder, and squeezed out his nearly depleted Divine Power as he rejoined Dylan.
"I brought him."
At Kane's words, Dylan turned his head and let out a low groan.
Even to him, Arden's condition was serious.
"......"
But they still had to do what had to be done.
SHHHRK—!
Dylan swung his greatsword.
He cut down the lion directly in front of him.
After that, a brief lull set in.
The hundreds of monsters had already been reduced to around fifty.
They, too, had realized.
To keep fighting here would mean death for both sides.
"Haa."
They had a moment to catch their breath.
Dylan planted his greatsword in the ground and looked around.
The situation was not good.
'If that thing moves, it's over.'
Dylan thought as he looked toward the middle of the mountain.
If the dragon-like monster moved, the situation would grow even worse.
Things were only like this because it remained still. If it began moving, it would not be surprising if everyone here died.
'If someone sacrifices themselves, can we get Arden out?'
It felt as though Arden was the only one who could kill that thing.
He had fought on equal footing with the mass of pure-white liquid, the most powerful monster aside from that thing.
Surely, if he recovered and used that unknown power again, he could win.
No matter how quickly the monsters multiplied, they could not give birth within a week.
Their fighting strength would surely suffer as well.
Arden would likely confront the liquid-shaped monster, then fight the one on the mountainside.
'I have to do it. No matter what.'
The moment Dylan made that resolve—
"Interesting."
The pure-white, dragon-like monster standing on the mountainside opened its mouth wide and forced out a voice.
—......!
At that sound, everyone froze.