The night was quiet.
For once, the thick clouds shifted aside, revealing a sliver of moon.
Pale light fell across the ridge as a tall but agile figure crouched low and crept toward the valley.
This was the southeastern edge of Conifer Forest Farm, close to the barren outskirts of the Thousand-Year Mountains.
As far as Lance knew, only small numbers of Frost Earth Demons normally appeared around the outer mountains—and even then, usually in winter.
‘Their activity is completely abnormal this time, and they’ve been demonized.
Something has to be behind it.’
Lance thought carefully as he watched the dark figure moving toward the valley.
Eric crouched down, picked up a stone, and tightened his grip.
‘I can do this.’
He was not exactly pleased with Lance’s plan, but even he understood the logic.
If they alarmed too many monsters at once, the patrol would suffer unnecessary casualties.
The safest method was to lure out a small number of Frost Earth Demons, isolate them, and kill them quickly with superior numbers.
That was Lance’s strategy.
Its most dangerous role belonged to the person who had to attract the monsters without drawing the entire valley.
Eric was young, strong, and fast.
More importantly, he had volunteered.
Lance stood behind a large tree near the ridge and watched him calmly.
If Eric made a serious mistake, Lance would order an immediate retreat.
Ideally, Eric would bring back eight to ten demonized Frost Earth Demons.
The raised ridge would conceal the fight from creatures still inside the valley.
Lance had twelve well-trained soldiers under his command.
In one-on-one combat, even at night, they should be able to kill Frost Earth Demons without much difficulty.
‘Let’s hope that kid knows how to pull monsters properly.’
Without realizing it, Lance had already taken out his short bow.
He had brought five quivers.
Three were on his own back.
Henry, who could not participate in close combat because of his injuries, carried the other two.
Each quiver contained twenty white-feathered arrows.
That should be more than enough.
Three hundred paces away, Eric crouched nervously.
He drew a deep breath, then hurled the stone in his hand straight at a Frost Earth Demon’s head.
Then he turned and ran.
“Shriek!”
The enraged monster screamed.
Several nearby creatures immediately reacted.
Eric was tall and difficult to hide even at night.
The first Frost Earth Demon charged after him, its demonized eyes glowing faintly red.
The sight was frightening.
To Lance, those glowing eyes simply made excellent targets.
‘Thirteen.
That’s more than I wanted.’
He frowned and waved behind him.
The soldiers understood the signal.
They drew their swords—but instead of standing in the open, each man concealed himself behind one of the trees below the ridge.
Lance grabbed a thick branch and climbed quickly into the tree above him.
He settled against the trunk and held his breath.
He had never intended to fight these monsters head-on if he could avoid it.
An ambush was much better.
…
Eric sprinted toward the ridge without bothering to hide.
Thirteen Frost Earth Demons followed behind him at varying distances, their eyes glowing crimson as they shrieked.
Only now did real fear begin to seize him.
To run faster, he had left his sword behind.
And during the chase, he discovered something he had not expected.
The monsters were not slower than he was. The source of this chapter is g.com.
Fox reported: [These Frost Earth Demons are more deeply demonized.
Their movement speed exceeds that of the specimens encountered near the cliff.]
Lance nodded silently.
If the three monsters that chased Henry had been this fast, an injured man would never have escaped.
‘What exactly was inside that valley?’
Lance’s expression grew more serious.
Eric ran with everything he had.
At this point he hated Lance with a passion.
Sending him on a job like this was practically sending him to die—and he did not even have a weapon to defend himself.
Unfortunately, he had volunteered in the first place.
There was no one else to blame.
He could only keep running.
…
“They’re here.”
Lance gave a low whistle, the signal they had agreed upon.
The soldiers tensed.
Eric had barely crossed the ridge and passed beneath Lance’s tree when the leading Frost Earth Demon caught up.
‘You’re dead.’
Lance lowered the bow he had been aiming for some time.
With Eagle Eye assisting his shot, the white-feathered arrow plunged directly through the top of the creature’s skull and pinned it to the ground.
Eric nearly cried with relief and raced down the slope.
The next monsters charged after him.
This time, Lance did not shoot.
The demonized Frost Earth Demons never realized the killer was above them.
They saw their dead companion, looked ahead, and found Eric still fleeing.
With their limited intelligence, they immediately assumed the running youth was responsible.
All twelve remaining monsters followed him straight into the encirclement.
…
Eric did not slow down until he reached the agreed position in the woods.
When he looked back, twelve snarling monsters were still coming.
Their ferocity nearly wiped every heroic thought from his mind.
“Hey, kid!
Catch!”
A soldier stepped from behind a tree and threw him a sword.
Eric caught it while gasping for breath.
At the same moment, figures appeared from behind trees all around the monsters.
The ambush began.
These soldiers were elites of the territory.
They had not been chosen for castle patrol duty by accident.
With the advantage of surprise, the veterans showed no mercy.
Their swords went straight for vital points.
The Frost Earth Demons had focused entirely on Eric.
They never expected humans to be waiting in ambush.
By the time they understood what was happening, half of the twelve monsters were already dead.
“Damn, that fast?”
Eric stared.
While he was still processing it, two more soldiers each finished their opponents cleanly.
Only four Frost Earth Demons remained.
They shrieked, leaped, and twisted with startling speed.
But surrounded from every direction, defeat was inevitable.
Eric suddenly became anxious.
He had risked his life to lure these monsters over, and everyone else was going to kill them before he earned any glory himself?
Three of the final four fell almost immediately.
Only one remained.
“That one’s mine!”
Eric shouted and charged. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
The soldiers paused, then smiled in understanding and let him have it.
Relief flooded him.
The short Frost Earth Demon rushed forward, baring its teeth.
At last, Eric thought, one demonized monster would genuinely die by his hand.
Then he could tell everyone—especially Irene—that he had killed one himself.
“Heh.
Come on, monster!”
He raised the sword.
Whoosh!
Before his blade could land, an arrowhead suddenly emerged from the monster’s forehead.
The shot had come from a long distance, so it carried less force than Lance’s earlier arrows.
Even so, the sharp head had entered through the back of the skull and killed the creature instantly.
Eric froze with his sword still held overhead.
The Frost Earth Demon collapsed.
Far up the ridge, Lance lowered his short bow without expression and walked toward them at an easy pace.
…
‘Damn it…
He stole my kill!’
Eric seethed internally.
But the other soldiers had already gathered around Lance with pleased expressions, and Eric could find no good way to complain.
“That encirclement went perfectly,” Lance said calmly.
“Everyone worked hard.
No one was injured, which means we achieved the objective exactly as planned.”
“We’ll rest for ten minutes.”
The soldiers agreed and immediately used the time to recover.
They all knew the next fight could be much harder.
Eric dropped onto the ground.
“Young Master Lance, I’m finished.
Next time you need someone to lure monsters, choose somebody else.”
To his surprise, Lance did not mock him.
Instead, he nodded.
“You did very well, Eric.
Honestly, you were the most important part of the plan.
Nobody else here can run as fast as you.”
Eric blinked.
‘Was Lance…
praising him?’
The blond youth scratched his head, suddenly embarrassed.
“So the ambush succeeded because of you,” Lance continued.
“You deserve a lot of the credit.”
Eric immediately brightened.
He hesitated, then slapped his chest.
“Young Master Lance, now that I’ve sat down for a while, I think my stamina is coming back.
If you need someone to lure the next group, leave it to me.”
Several soldiers quietly laughed.
Lance almost laughed as well.
‘Were boys in this world really this easy to encourage?’
Out loud, however, he said:
“No need.”
Eric looked up.
“From this point on, we’re done with ambushes and sneak attacks.”
Lance’s expression hardened.
“We’re going straight in.”