Arden turned his head and looked at the two people he had seated on the ground.
He had at least washed the filth off them, but they had many other problems.
He thought he needed to get them out quickly.
Their condition was growing more serious.
"Please wait. Just hold on a little longer."
Arden tucked them under his arms once more and kicked off the ground.
The creature chased after him while snorting, but it was not faster than Arden.
Thanks to that, the distance between them continued to widen.
ROOOOOOAR!
After running for a long time in that state, Arden shouted loudly.
"Come quickly!"
CLIP-CLOP!
As Arden's voice echoed through the forest, the horse came running from afar as though it had been waiting.
NEIGH—!
Arden immediately placed the two people on the horse and spoke to the man who appeared to be in better condition.
"Can you ride a horse?"
"I-I can... Yes, I can. Thank you. Truly...."
"You can thank me later. Take care of this person too, and run away."
"All right... Th-Thank you, truly."
The man, tears streaming down his face, guided the horse out of the forest.
He looked a little unsteady, but the horse was intelligent. It would manage on its own.
Then it was over. Only the fight remained.
Arden turned and looked at the muscular monster approaching from afar.
The creature came toward him, snorting as though it intended to kill Arden.
The Black Mage attached to its chest was smiling.
"How far are you going to run? This will not end like this. You should know that."
"......"
The Black Mage was right. This would not end like this.
Gripping his sword tightly, Arden quietly walked toward it.
The Black Mage spoke to Arden.
"I will give you a place by my side. On a whim...."
"No."
"Is that so? Well, I understand. That is what you will think for now. You do not know any better. Do you know this creature's name?"
Arden did not answer.
"Of course you do not. You could not know. The Emperor suppressed Black Magic. As if that were not enough, he erased every record related to it. How could you know?"
Arden shook his head and quickened his pace.
"I don't need to know."
The Black Mage grinned and continued.
"This creature is a Minotaur."
At the same time, the Minotaur and Arden faced each other.
The creature, which had been snorting harshly, clenched its fist.
As though it intended to crush Arden in a single blow, it brought the fist down with all its strength.
But Arden was not someone who would be struck by such an attack.
With his sword held tightly, he shot forward.
BOOOOOOM!
SHHLICK!
The moment the fist struck, the ground overturned.
Trees were uprooted, and stone fragments scattered in every direction.
The sound was so loud that Arden's ears went numb.
... Then it happened.
The Minotaur's left arm fell with a thud.
Black blood splattered everywhere.
"Hoo."
Arden, standing behind the creature, shook the blood from his sword and turned around.
CRRRUNCH—! The Minotaur immediately regenerated its arm and glared at Arden.
Its eyes were red, as though it had been consumed by madness.
Even the Black Mage no longer spoke.
He only stared silently at Arden.
ROOOOOOAR!
Unable to contain its anger, the creature uprooted a nearby tree and hurled it at Arden.
Arden threw himself to the left to avoid the tree.
BOOM—! The tree burst apart like an explosion.
Arden brushed the wood fragments from his shoulder and closed the distance again.
RAAAAAH!
The Minotaur turned its head at once.
At the same time, its entire body was dyed red.
It charged forward, scattering red light from its eyes.
Something far more intense than before could be felt from it.
Then it happened.
WHOOOOOM!
"......!"
A hot, bloody wind brushed past Arden's cheek.
Goosebumps ran down his spine.
Arden gritted his teeth and immediately threw himself backward.
BANG!
BOOOOOOM!
Even then, the creature pursued Arden, destroying everything before its eyes.
RAAAAAAAARGH!
As Arden continued widening the distance, he thought about the red energy.
The power the creature had drawn upon was entirely different from Aura or Divine Power.
Battle Energy.
He had seen it in an ancient book.
It was a power that had fallen into disuse long ago, and the more someone was mad for battle, the stronger it became.
Perhaps that was why.
The Battle Energy before him was denser than anything else.
Enough to make even Arden flinch.
It seemed the creature had longed for battle for a very long time.
"Hey."
Since Arden only continued running, the Black Mage spoke.
"Quite intense, is it not?"
"......"
"But this is not the end. I will make it a little more entertaining. Then I will see whether you still charge at it as you did at the beginning."
The Black Mage grinned and began muttering in an incomprehensible language.
CRRRRUNCH!
The Minotaur's muscles twitched.
Its body grew larger than before, and veins bulged in places across its black bull head.
That was not all.
Its Battle Energy grew even denser, making it difficult to breathe.
"The Black Magic those bastards taught me is certainly different. It is very different from what I researched."
He muttered as though he liked the Minotaur's sudden transformation.
Then he spoke to Arden as the distance between them narrowed.
"I do not know what foolish bravado drives you... But fine. Struggle some more."
After the Black Mage's mocking words, there was no more conversation.
In a dreadful silence, they only moved to kill each other.
WHOOSH!
The Minotaur reached out its enormous palm to kill Arden.
Noticing this, Arden threw himself across the ground as though sliding.
SKID—! He slipped behind an enormous tree.
But the creature easily pierced even that.
CRRRAAASH!
The tree was uprooted and caught around the creature's forearm.
That created an opening.
Arden immediately rose and thrust his sword with all his strength.
SHHLICK! A pure-white line appeared across the Minotaur's arm.
CRRRUNCH!
Even though he had drawn upon the power in his heart, the sword did not cut deeply.
The creature's more swollen muscles stopped it.
Arden frowned, pulled out the sword embedded halfway into its arm, and rolled across the ground.
BOOM—! A tree split in half plunged into where Arden had been.
However, it did not seem impossible to pierce through.
It had only become tougher than before. It was not as though his sword could not cut into it at all.
Arden nodded and leapt again.
'I don't care if it keeps regenerating.'
He only had to keep cutting until the end.
He was second to no one at enduring through sheer will.
Brushing the dirt from himself, Arden's eyes flashed as he lunged forward.
SHHHRK—!
***
On the plains.
The Red Hawk Bandit Gang had stopped to rest for a while.
Their numbers had decreased since they first set out because some had left to handle other tasks.
But they still numbered close to fifty.
"This is starting to get boring."
"Maybe we should have gone to the Snow Mountain instead."
"But it is only boring. It is not bad, is it?"
"That's true. We might even get a chance to fight the captain. That alone is enough."
"Right. That is why we gathered. We fought a round earlier too. Since things are like this, it would be nice if we could keep doing it for a few more days."
The bandits sat on the plains, wiping sweat away as they rested.
However, there was someone who could not remain still.
It was the Black Mage.
"Damn it. I should have inscribed something stronger."
The magic he had inscribed could detect only when the person who had killed Kyle's younger brother was within a certain range.
Afterward, he had cast stronger magic on each team leader, but no signal had come yet.
Then it happened.
Along with a stinging sensation, a black circle appeared on his palm.
"......!"
The Black Mage's eyes widened.
It was a signal that the friend with whom he had once researched Black Magic had died.
Along with the exact location.
He immediately rose and rushed toward Kyle, the leader of the bandit gang, who was sitting cross-legged.
Normally, he would not have spoken to him, but this was urgent.
"I-I found him! This time, I am certain. If I am wrong, you may kill me!"
Kyle slightly opened his eyes at the noise and asked,
"Are you certain?"
"Yes! I am certain."
The Black Mage was convinced.
There was no reason for that man to die.
Even in the past, he had been one Circle higher than the Black Mage.
By now, he would have reached the middle of the Fifth Circle.
Of course, a dispatched Holy Knight could have discovered his friend's lair and killed him.
But that did not matter.
If he used the Black Magic hidden throughout the area, he could escape from the person before him.
"Good. I will check. If you are wrong, I wonder what will happen this time. Just know that my patience is nearly at its end."
"......"
Kyle rose and spoke to the resting bandits.
"Move!"
"Yes!"
"Understood!"
The members resting throughout the area rose at once and began preparing.
Despite having traveled for a long time, they had no major complaints.
Fanatics....
They were even crazier than those who worshipped demons.
"Let's go. To see the end."
Kyle, the leader of the bandit gang, stepped forward with the Black Mage.
For one person.
To avenge his younger brother.
***
The sun was beginning to set.
The plains were covered in sunset light.
Derek ran without resting.
Normally, he should have stopped at least once for the horse's condition, but he had no time.
He had to inform them as quickly as possible.
Then it happened.
"Hm?"
Far away, two people wrapped in pure-white light were running toward him.
No, there were three.
The third was on someone's back, so he had not seen them at first.
But that was not what mattered now.
If they were monsters beyond the limits of ordinary humans....
"A-Are you Holy Knights? No, are you the Holy Knights?"
Derek shouted toward them.
The two running people stopped and looked at Derek.
They slowly approached and asked him at the same time.
"Yes. Are you from the forest?"
"Y-Yes."
"Please explain what happened there."
"O-Of course... Where should I begin...."
After thinking carefully, Derek began explaining from the point where he had met a young boy.
Then, just as he reached the part about arriving at the forest and finding the mountain of wolf corpses—
The blond young man, Kane, suddenly asked.
"Was he a black-haired kid? A little young? Carrying a sword?"
"......!"
Derek's eyes widened.
Then the large man, Dylan, spoke.
"Then it must have been Arden. Do not worry about what comes next and rest. We will join him immediately. And if it is Arden, he may be able to handle it alone."
"......?"
"He's a Holy Knight too."
Kane answered Derek, who blinked in confusion.
"W-What? That young man is...."
He could not understand.
A Holy Knight was that young? And if he was a Holy Knight, why did he hide it?
That was what Derek thought.
It was a profession admired by everyone.
Seeing Derek's confusion, Dylan spoke.
"I think I know what you are thinking. Arden has always been like that. He is not a child who shows it easily."
"Yeah. The kid is a little quiet."
"I-Is that so?"
Dylan nodded and continued.
"That is not important now. We will go there, so rest well."
"N-No. I will come with you."
"Your horse seems to be at its limit. Can you manage?"
"Even if I fall behind, I will run after you."
"I will not stop you, but... Why do you want to do that?"
"There is no special reason."
Derek shook his head.
It felt awkward because it was a manner of speaking he rarely used, but he continued speaking until the end.
"I only want to speak with Arden again."
"Hm... All right. Follow us."
In the end, Dylan nodded and raised Divine Power once more.
To help Arden, who was doing something alone far away, he kicked off the ground.