The troll’s body crumbled like a cracked rock. I stepped off the troll’s head, which had been cleanly cut off, and roughly wiped the blood from my face. If it were winter, I would have scooped up some snow and used it to clean a little, but there was nothing but moss all around me.
“Whoa.”
(It was good of you to try to find some gentleness in combat, I’ll give you that.)
‘I tried, but did I make any real progress?’
(Of course, but not enough. Also, you should be able to determine it yourself)
‘I am at the starting line now.’ I was never going to improve significantly in a day or two. As the Holy Sword said, if I stick with it and train, I’ll make progress. However, I’ll need to perfect it before the battle with the Giant, which could come at any moment… I can’t help but feel a little anxious.
(You can do it, Elroy.)
The occasional soothing voice of the Holy Sword was strangely comforting. ‘It’s amazing how this could calm me down.’ I slid it back into its sheath, marveling at the fact.
“…You took it down.”
I turned my head toward the source of the voice. Archduke Quenor was standing behind me. He stared at the troll’s corpse with an expression I’d never seen before. His eyes seemed to be deep in thought.
“It was not a difficult task.”
“It seemed so. I expected you to struggle a bit, but you proved me wrong. It was a very skillful performance.”
The Archduke looked at me as he spoke, then his gaze drifted to the holy sword at my left waistband.
“Is the Holy Sword preventing you from using aura?”
“Yes, but I don’t find it inconvenient.”
The Archduke studied me for a long moment, his brow narrowing. I like the reassessment, but standing there while holding that stare is overwhelming.
“Defeating a troll without using an aura is not something most knights can do, especially those with little or no experience against them. Well done.”
I shook my head. I didn’t want to be praised for a barely passable defeat of a troll when I had the knowledge and teachings of the Holy Sword.
“No, no. I’m still lacking.”
“It’s not good to be too modest, warrior.”
A knight from Evernode interjected into the conversation. He wasn’t condescending. His eyes seemed to be worried for me. ‘Why is he suddenly acting like this?’
“The Archduke is not stingy with his praise, but he is certainly not an empty talker.”
This was like threatening me with a sword to be happy. It didn’t feel bad, though, since the knight hadn’t come to me in a confrontational manner but in a subtle way that seemed to acknowledge me.
“That’s enough, Sir Rhys. I thought I told you to keep small talk to a minimum while on patrol.”
“Wasn’t the Archduke doing the same just a moment ago?”
“As a patrol leader, I was checking on the condition of the members. I wouldn’t call that small talk.”
The solemn demeanor of the two men also changed. This may be more of their usual self. I smiled bitterly at the Archduke, who took his subordinate’s jokes in stride.
“Elroy, are you hurt?”
Daphne asked as she approached. I smirked and held up my arms. I hadn’t even gotten a scratch from fighting the troll. ‘It wasn’t like I was fighting an Ashen Bear.’
“Not at all. I’m feeling excellent.”
“That was a good fight you just had. I’d be surprised if you were injured.”
The knight named Rhys suddenly spoke, causing Daphne to hide behind me quickly. It’s no surprise the timid Daphne is surprised. The demeanor of the people acting like they were going to devour her, changed. I grinned while looking into her violet eyes, which had turned into startled rabbit eyes.
“Were you surprised?”
Daphne gave a slight nod, then whispered.
“…A little.”
Still, it was much better than the sullen mood earlier. I turned back to Archduke Quenor and Knight Rhys, who had begun to talk amongst themselves with serious expressions.
“Well done, Elroy.”
Georg patted me on the shoulder. The eyes that once looked at me with disappointment were now filled with trust. Compared to the first day of the possession, it felt like a huge step up. I smirked and followed the Archduke deeper into the forest.
After we gathered what we could from the troll, we mounted our horses again and rode. I hadn’t noticed it until now, but I could feel the temperature quickly plummet as we continued. The patrol was slowly approaching the ‘horizon.’
“It’s gotten icy.”
Daphne said as she adjusted her clothing. Her face was hidden behind her collar, but I still saw her flushed cheeks.
That means we’re getting close to the horizon, and we’re going to have to be on our toes because there will be many monsters coming at us from now on.
I looked around. I could feel several eyes watching us from deep within the forest. Moving to the front of the formation, Archduke Quenor drew his sword and looked at me. The two knights followed his movement.
“Hero, as you say, we are now within the influence of the horizon, and the monster will seek us more aggressively and ferociously. Some of them may even be servants of intelligent monsters.”
When the sword of Archduke Quenor was pulled from its scabbard, it let out a ferocious cry. It was as if the north wind had been gathered, placed on an anvil, and beaten into the shape of a sword. It was half as big as a regular sword there. The width of the sword’s body was the size of the palm of the hand, and the blade radiated a blue aura.
“From now on, let us work.”
With that, he turned his gaze back to the deep forest where I was staring.
An unnerving rumble goes across the forest. The Archduke’s blue eyes glowed, and even from a distance, I could feel his heart pounding, drawing upon his vast mana reserves. The knights, too, seemed determined not to lose. When they caught sight of the approaching monsters, they raised their swords in unison.
With a large dog barking and a twig snapping, a pack of white wolves appeared, saliva dripping down their chins. There were about a dozen of them. As I readied my Holy Sword, I heard the sound of someone’s blade slicing through the air.
Six white wolves were torn to shreds like paper through a shredder, spraying fountains of blood into the air. A single strike. My eyes widened as Archduke Quenor regained his posture and leaped forward. He jumped to the front, the knights a few paces behind him.
“Take care of the ones who try to scatter. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“At your command.”
It was like a bird that spread its wings. As I watched the whole process with admiration, the Holy Sword spoke.
(Take note of their movements, especially the Archduke’s.)
He was effortlessly swinging his sword, slaying monsters with ease. He was neither fluid nor sharp, but the blade cut through the white wolves without missing a beat. The white wolves were fiercer and more robust than the typical white wolves. Still, it was impossible to tell the difference as they died by the dozen with each swing of his sword.
(He’s already reached the peak. I don’t know his full strength, but the power I feel is comparable to the heroes of the Mythical Age.)
I’ve never heard it praise a person this highly before. ‘Well, he did have a ridiculous performance in the original. If only I could do half as much as the Archduke without the aid of the Holy Sword.’
(This is the goal, Elroy.)
The white wolf howled its last as death came for it as well. It took less than three minutes to clear out the entire pack. The Archduke had taken down over a dozen white wolves by himself, and the knights had taken care of two fleeing wolves. Though not as powerful as the Archduke, they easily won their battles.
“Let’s keep moving; we are close.”
Archduke Quenor said, looking at me. I smirked at the devastation he had created.
“I thought you would leave us to deal with the monsters.”
“Evernode’s pride prevents us from letting outsiders do all the work. If the others saw us, they’d laugh and say the North is doomed.”
The Archduke looked at the wolf carcasses strewn about. Knight Rhys walked beside him.
“We were inspired by the Hero’s battle earlier. Anyways, it wouldn’t be right for you to take care of the weaker monsters.”
“I told you not to make useless small talk.”
Rhys laughed, unperturbed by the Archduke’s words. He shook his head and turned his horse around.
“We will soon reach the lake. We can get a good look at the horizon from there.”
The wind felt different. Instead of blowing from all directions in the forest, I could feel it ahead of me, as if warning me not to get closer. The maze of trees also changed to a single, straight path.
“This is the ‘Eye of the North,’ the end point of all patrols.”
As we passed the last tree, the view opened up. A mirror of indescribable blue filled the opening. The lake’s shoreline reached the distance, creating a shore-like terrain.
But I couldn’t just stare at the lake and admire it. It was because, beyond the lake’s reach, a chill that pierced through flesh and bone and froze the blood was creeping over. Where the cold lurked, the sky was covered with gray snow clouds.
“Originally, we would have gone around the lake or taken a boat to explore the other side of the lake, but now that the horizon is getting closer and closer, rendering it impossible.”
The Archduke said, looking out over the lake. His voice was as cold as ice.
“It hasn’t picked up speed, but it is steadily approaching. I suspect the war will begin in earnest once winter arrives.”
I narrowed my brow. In the original story, when Arjen reached the North, it was winter, and the battle was already in full swing. It was never mentioned when the original Elroy fought the Disaster. Damn. My information is useless when I really need it.
“This lake acts as a stopgap, preventing the monster from attacking en masse. Once the horizon freezes the lake, we can only pray we are prepared.”
We stared at the lake in silence for a while. The image of the Giant crossing the frozen lake all imprinted on our minds.
***
On the way back, everyone refrained from talking. I didn’t open my mouth either. Rather than trying to be lighthearted, it would be better to acknowledge the existence of the coming Disaster. I didn’t like the heavy atmosphere, but I thought it wasn’t wrong that no one tried to turn their eyes away from reality.
“…Was that the Disaster?”
Daphne spoke up. Her cheeks had regained their white color from the cold.
“I felt a terrifying power as if it could obliterate all existence. I haven’t seen it face to face yet, and it gives off that kind of presence….”
Georg, who had been leading the way, looked back and nodded. His face was equally stiff.
“It reminds me of the time we fought the Kraken. I didn’t realize then that the sea could be so terrifying.”
Georg’s gaze slid to me.
“Elroy, you look better than I thought.”
I’m fine, asshole. I am only freezing from my head down to the soles of my feet. Furthermore, the Holy Sword has been telling me to grit my teeth. I wanted it to mind its own business, but I frowned instead, not daring to say it out loud.
“I’m just trying to stay alert; I don’t know what could happen if we get distracted on the way back.”
The moment I said that, the hairs on my head stood up. I felt like I was missing something.
“We’re looking out for ‘crawlers.’ They’re as powerful as the Ashen Bear but more cunning than the ravens and faster than a fleeing hare, and they usually follow their prey silently and then ambush them.;”
My own words echoed in my head. “More cunning than the ravens and faster than a fleeing hare, and then ambush them.”
I turned my head toward the Archduke.
Slow.
Even he couldn’t fight off the Crawlers coming at him from three directions at once. I looked at the party to signal to support the Archduke but saw more crawlers around us. They eyed Daphne, the most vulnerable member of our party. She instinctively raised her hands.
Their scythe-like forepaws lash out. In response, I bring my Holy Sword up from below.
At the same time, I awakened its first stage, and a light like a meteor’s brilliance enveloped the area.
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