Just before Arden joined the formation, light burst from his left pocket.
It was coming from the necklace.
Arden paused and took out the necklace, muttering,
“Again...?”
It had reacted when he faced the countless creatures: Yetis, house-sized spiders, one-eyed monsters as large as two men put together, and more.
More precisely, it must have been because of the creatures’ blood scattered across the plains.
But there was no time for contemplation.
He needed to move again. The knights and Holy Knights were being pushed back.
There were simply too many creatures.
He would have to think about it later.
Arden nodded, drew his sword, and faced the creatures.
He did not know for certain, but the light appeared to be drawing them in. They were charging straight at him without sparing so much as a glance for the knights standing between them.
“Whew.”
Arden exhaled and looked at Kamer.
Protecting Kamer amid that many creatures would be nearly impossible.
Perhaps she understood his intent as well. After their eyes met for a moment, she stepped back.
“Let’s go.”
The moment Arden murmured at the creatures that had already drawn near,
WHOOOOSH!
Light from the necklace wrapped around him.
...The warmth lasted only a moment.
Vitality flowed through his body, and his vision sharpened.
Everything felt more powerful than before.
The light from the necklace seemed to have affected Arden’s existing abilities.
However, time did not slow down.
This time, only his body moved faster.
He did not know why one ability was missing.
Of course, that did not hinder him in battle.
“—!”
Arden let out a heated breath, gripped the hilt of his sword, and stepped forward.
At the front was a Yeti with blood-stained fur and bloodshot eyes.
It stood about three heads taller than Arden.
What stood out were its unusually large hands and mouth.
It looked capable of biting off a person’s head in a single bite.
RROAR!
The creature opened its jaws wide and lunged at Arden with its sharp fangs.
Chunks of flesh clung to them.
“Hup!”
Arden inhaled and leaped lightly. He drove his knee upward into the creature’s gaping jaw.
CRACK!
Its jaw snapped shut as if shattered. Broken teeth flew everywhere.
White blood streamed from between its lips.
But Arden did not stop there.
He immediately drove his fist into its right eye.
SQUELCH!
Its eyeball burst, and something soft wrapped around Arden’s hand.
He tried to push through to its brain, but he had no choice but to retreat. The Yeti was wildly swinging its enormous hands as if it meant to tear him apart at once.
RROOOAR!
Arden stepped back and yanked the spear embedded in its shoulder free.
It was too late to draw his sword.
He had never used this weapon before, but it fit snugly in his hand.
As Arden assumed his stance,
CLANG!
The spear shaft collided with the creature’s massive claws.
As expected, he was overpowered in a contest of strength. The shaft bent inward.
Clenching his teeth, Arden used all his strength to angle the spear shaft diagonally.
SCRRAAPE!
The creature’s claws gradually slid aside.
Its weight had been thrown forward, and the Yeti staggered for a moment.
“Whew.”
That bought him time.
After catching his breath, Arden swept his gaze around.
...Now he had to kill it. Another creature would soon be on him.
He needed to finish it with this attack.
Arden took one step back and gripped the spear shaft tightly once more.
The creature seemed to realize his intent as well, its one remaining eye gleaming as though it meant to kill him. After regaining its balance, it swung its claws at Arden.
“Hup!”
Just before the Yeti’s claws could pierce his head, Arden shot forward and drove the spear into the plain.
He launched himself upward with all his strength.
Then, wrenching the spear free, he leaped over the Yeti as if flying through the air.
Rroar?
The Yeti froze for an instant.
Arden did not let the opening pass. He thrust his spear immediately.
The creaking spear shaft surged forward as if coiling around the Yeti’s neck.
Then...
SHHK!
White blood rained down upon the plain.
The grotesquely twisted head fell into it.
The necklace reacted.
It vibrated as it drank the white blood.
HUMMMMM!
Then the light that had wrapped around Arden’s body gathered into the sword at his waist.
The white light enveloping the scabbard gradually condensed.
It was hot enough to burn everything to ash. It was bright enough that he could not open his eyes.
...What was this?
The sudden change left Arden bewildered.
But he did not have time to think for long.
The light was gradually turning red.
It was pulling something out of Arden’s body.
His arms trembled because of it, and his breathing grew ragged.
This was not a good situation.
The red light appeared to be his life force.
“Hup!”
Arden bit his lower lip, threw aside the spear, and hurriedly drew his sword.
He swung with all his strength.
It was instinct.
The primal instinct of survival.
The thought that he would die if he remained any longer filled Arden’s mind.
KABOOOOOM!
The instant he swung his sword, an enormous crescent-shaped shockwave swept across the plain.
Everything it touched stopped moving.
Thud.
One by one, the creatures collapsed.
Those split in half dragged their crimson organs behind them as they screamed.
SKREEEE!
KRAAAH!
Yet the humans were unharmed.
Even though the shockwave had touched them just as it had the creatures, they did not have a single injury.
It was as though it had deliberately avoided them.
“W-what...?”
“God has saved us...”
Faced with an impossible sight, the knights called upon God.
“That child...”
“I cannot believe it.”
The Holy Knights doubted their own eyes.
For their own reasons, everyone fell silent across the plain.
Only the creatures’ cries continued to echo.
Then, at that moment,
WOOOOOSH...
Something warm enough to melt even the northern winter wind passed over them.
Thud.
When it finally ended, Arden, who had drawn upon even that unknown power, collapsed onto the blood-soaked plain.
Drip.
White blood flowed into his slightly open mouth.
A red gleam flickered beneath Arden’s closed eyelids, but no one noticed.
It had flashed only for the briefest moment before vanishing.
After that fleeting instant passed, the silence on the plain broke.
Someone had shouted.
“Now! Kill the creatures!”
It was a Holy Knight spattered with blood.
After speaking, he kicked off the ground with all his strength.
The creatures Arden had failed to kill were charging toward him.
“Help him!”
He had no intention of leaving the boy who had turned the tide of battle to die.
“Let’s go!”
“Aaaah!”
The rest felt the same.
The knights, who had reached their limits, desperately forced their legs to move.
SKREEE!
GRAAAH!
The few surviving creatures eventually reached Arden, but the knights and Holy Knights had already surrounded him.
Normally, they would never have acted this way.
But...
There was something overwhelming about him.
It was enough to move the hearts of those who had been frozen by fear.
***
Arden’s achievement in defeating the creatures that had descended from the Snowy Mountains was recorded in the Grand Epic.
[The boy destined to quell the Age of Chaos had even twisted the future of the north and changed history.]
***
“It is over.”
Holy Knight Dylan brushed the filth from his body and looked around.
Of the nearly one hundred knights, only a little more than fifty remained.
Even so, it was a miracle that this many had survived. If not for the boy lying on the ground, they all would have died.
“Just who is this boy...?”
He carefully lifted the boy into his arms.
Then, a woman carrying two large bags came running from afar.
It was Kamer.
She immediately stopped in front of Dylan, who was holding Arden.
“And you are...?”
Dylan looked puzzled by Kamer’s sudden arrival.
“I am his traveling companion. Please hold him as he is for a moment.”
Unlike when she spoke to Arden, Kamer answered in a somewhat stiff tone.
She immediately used her ability.
She drew the dagger at her waist and pricked the tip of her index finger.
Healers used various methods to treat injuries. In Kamer’s case, blood was the medium.
“Hmm...”
She smeared the blood running down her finger over Arden’s lips.
That was not enough, so she parted his firmly closed lips and directly fed the blood into his mouth.
“Whew. This should be enough.”
He would probably wake before long. It seemed he had collapsed from exhaustion rather than sustained a serious injury.
Kamer lightly wiped her bloodied finger on her trousers, then raised her head and looked at Dylan.
“Do you need treatment as well?”
“I am fine. If you can use that ability a little longer, could you tend to the surviving knights over there?”
“Yes.”
With that brief reply, Kamer turned around.
“Anyone who is injured, raise your hand!”
She ran across the plain, touching the wounded knights with her blood.
Thanks to her, minor wounds healed quickly.
Severe wounds did not heal completely, but the bleeding stopped.
Kamer had saved even people who should have died.
The knights who knew this expressed their gratitude to her.
“She seems more capable than other Healers.”
Watching Kamer from afar, Dylan murmured to himself.
Healers could not even stop bleeding from an amputation stump.
They could only help minor wounds heal or help those suffering from exhaustion recover a little sooner.
Yet, judging by the effects of her healing, that woman, like the boy, did not seem ordinary.
“Do you all truly believe that God intervened to help us?”
Dylan asked those seated on the ground and resting.
“How could we possibly know what He has chosen to do?”
“I think the same.”
“I agree.”
“I feel the same. If God had not helped us, there are too many things that would be impossible to explain.”
Dylan nodded at their answers. That strike was beyond explanation.
It was impossible for such a young boy to accomplish what even Dylan himself could not.
Unless God had helped them, that was.
That was why Dylan, too, firmly believed God had aided them.
‘Truly, God acted for our sake...’
There was a reason he could not help thinking that.
There had been exactly forty-four creatures descending from the Snowy Mountains this time.
That number might not seem large on its own, but it was different when they were monsters.
The north suffered every year even from the ten to fifteen creatures that descended from the Snowy Mountains.
Even though skilled knights had emerged from major cities such as Balkan and Karhel, they had been unable to reduce the damage.
And yet...
Forty-four.
At that number, it would not have been strange for the north to be devastated.
Perhaps it would have been different if they had split up and headed for different major cities, but the creatures always traveled together.
And even if they were all defeated, recovery would take a long time.
“And yet that destined disaster has been prevented...”
Murmuring quietly, Dylan carefully laid the boy down.
At that moment, a familiar emblem came into view beneath the boy’s clothes.
“This is...”
Dylan slowly pulled out the insignia.
“—!”
It was the insignia of a Holy Knight.
As Dylan stared at it with wide eyes, the other four naturally turned their gazes toward it as well.
“W-what...?”
“W-why does he have that...?”
“This boy is...”
“Hah.”
They gaped in disbelief at the insignia.
Of course, they did not suspect it was a forgery. The insignia had truly been bestowed by the Temple.
“It seems we had it wrong.”
“Seems that way.”
“You’re thinking what I’m thinking, right?”
“Yes. I never thought we would see the hero written about in the Grand Epic with our own eyes. We are fortunate.”
They had read what was written in the Grand Epic as well.
Of course, it did not mention a name.
But a young boy and overwhelming martial power... those two things were enough to explain it.
This boy was the hero of the Grand Epic.
It seemed God had not reached out to save them. Rather, He had led this young Holy Knight into a trial so he could stand on his own in the distant future.
“This is no time for this. Let us return to the village first. We should remain there until this boy wakes up. We will need to prepare an expedition to the Snowy Mountains there as well.”
“Yes, let us go at once.”
The other four Holy Knights nodded in agreement at Dylan’s words.
“For now, let us keep it secret that this boy is the hero.”
“Of course.”
“I am not that lacking in sense.”
“That goes without saying.”
The Holy Knights replied with hearty laughter. They did not feel any jealousy, after all.
Holy Knights belonging to the central branch, blinded by politics, might have acted differently.
They would likely have used any means necessary to keep him beneath them, since he would become a stepping stone to power.
But most Holy Knights sent on expeditions admired heroes.
They were no different.
“I hope this boy brings change.”
A small hope.
With hope in their hearts, they began to walk.
Their destination was the city.
There was a fairly skilled physician there.