81

‘We’re done for.’

Hamel watched the bone wall rise up after the flesh golem.

The opposing necromancer had set a trap, and the savages had fallen for it exactly as planned.

“Flank! Move around!”

Despite Black Wind’s frantic shout, the wolf cavalry collapsed helplessly.

Black Wind was swinging her spear to clear a path, but her limits were obvious.

Her own skill was outstanding, but saving the riders who followed her seemed impossible.

Hamel slid his robe up slightly and stepped forward.

He hadn’t hoped for this situation to arise, but…

‘It seems there’s no need to persuade them anymore.’

Hamel thought calmly and drew the Azure Flame up from his hand.

The rising Azure Flame condensed over Hamel’s hand for a moment, then burst outward in all directions.

“Incendium Vitae.”

A coarse blue wave swept across the front.

A miracle that burned away every evil thing it touched and healed human wounds.

“Gaaaargh!”

The flesh golem wrapped in the Azure Flame screamed as if in pain, but that was all.

It cut its own body to shake off the Azure Flame’s blaze.

Blood bubbled at the severed surfaces and new flesh sprouted quickly.

Regeneration superior even to a troll’s.

This was the terror of the flesh golem.

However.

Behind that wave of Azure Flame, two streaks of light rushed forward.

Daniel in the red cloak.

And Rupert in the green cloak.

They charged like beams of light toward the flesh golem that had finished regenerating.

“Graah!”

Seeing them, the flesh golem frantically swung the huge cleaver clenched in its hand.

It swung the five big and small hands attached to its body toward the two.

To chop, slash, and grab.

But.

Thwack

The two avoided the hands with movements as if mirages, easily evading them.

Daniel slid near the creature’s head, and Rupert glided to beside its leg.

What came next was simple.

Screee.

The two knights, raising their auras, literally dismantled the black flesh golem.

Faster than it could regenerate.

Giving it no chance to counterattack.

With overwhelming skill, they cut the flesh golem and finally split its core.

They didn’t even care about the acidic blood spattering from its body.

Tick tidik

Because a thin, membrane-like shield protected them.

“Batoushi who rules war and honor and duels! Protect your servants from the enemies’ spears and blades.”

Ono layered a protective barrier over the shield with a benediction.

It was enough not only to ward off the acidic blood but to casually block the flesh golem’s full-force punch.

[Where… did those humans come from?]

The necromancer who commanded the demons murmured bewilderedly for a moment, then prepared to teleport.

He intended to retreat for the time being and prepare anew.

However.

“Shut it, bind it. Halt.”

Suddenly his body felt strange.

The mouth that had been uttering spells closed, and his body stiffened like stone.

The necromancer blinked and rolled his eyes.

He saw a girl in the distance.

He could recognize her at a glance.

That the one who had bound him with a word was that girl.

A man stood beside her.

The man who had produced the familiar blue flame.

The man held something in his hand shaped like a black spear.

A familiar aura emanated from it.

Demonic energy.

‘Why?’

The necromancer’s question didn’t last long.

“Talisman control ritual, No. 2.”

The instant the man’s mouth moved to speak.

“Shadow Thunderbolt.”

A black lightning bolt blew the necromancer’s head apart.

“….”

Silence fell over the noisy battlefield in an instant.

The wounded and fallen riders.

Black Wind, who had been fighting to open a path.

The countless savages who had been fleeing.

All looked at Hamel and his group as if dreaming.

It took the five of them only a few minutes to turn the battlefield upside down.

---

A tent laid out with food and drink.

A girl across from where Hamel and the others sat removed her mask and spoke.

“I’ll introduce myself again. I am Black Wind of the Frost Wolf tribe.”

Black Wind’s identity, as Hamel had expected, was a girl with striking red hair.

She looked at most about Hamel’s age or slightly older.

She bowed her head and continued.

“I thank you for rescuing my tribe people.”

“I only did what I had to.”

Hamel replied as usual.

However, Ono beside him shrugged, looking somewhat displeased.

“I wonder if you were pleased by the one-armed knight and the girl’s skill.”

“Th… that’s…”

“But didn’t I say I’d show you what kind of enemy we’re up against? Or did I perhaps show you firsthand how dangerous it is?”

Black Wind blushed and lowered her head.

Indeed, their first meeting had not been pleasant, but that was already in the past.

“Mr. Ono.”

“…I understand.”

Ono, reading the meaning in Hamel’s voice, closed his eyes slightly.

Black Wind, still sulking, carefully bowed to Rena and Rupert.

“I’m sorry. I judged you by appearances.”

Rena and Rupert accepted the apology with calm nods.

The two seemed not to have cared much in the first place.

What was surprising was Ono.

‘Was he bothered that his comrade was insulted?’

Hamel glanced at Ono, finding it unexpectedly odd.

“So, you really intend to go to the temple?”

Had she finally come to believe Hamel’s words?

Black Wind asked cautiously, watching for cues.

Hamel nodded calmly and answered.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because we believe the one we’ve been searching for is there.”

She widened her eyes at Hamel’s frank words.

Then she nodded.

“I see.”

“If you don’t mind, could you tell us more about that temple?”

Hamel requested information from her.

You could never have too much information.

Black Wind nodded and began to speak.

“I’ll tell you everything I know. What do you want to hear first?”

“Then tell us about the temple and the current situation.”

“Fine.”

Black Wind traced her memories and began to recount.

“Originally, that place was a temple that worshipped a dragon.”

“A dragon?”

Hamel’s eyebrows twitched without his realizing it.

“Yes, a dragon. It is said the name was Karakxis, the Lord of the Bitter Cold.”

It was a name he’d never heard before.

It must be the name of an ancient dragon, not one of the half-dragons rumored to still live.

Hamel guessed as much and listened to Black Wind’s words.

“We northerners, each tribe worships different deities. Your priests call them spirits or old gods rather than true gods.”

“….”

Hamel nodded silently.

According to the order’s doctrines, even the Azure Wolf Tarka of Roswell Forest.

The Flood’s Lunecornus as well.

And Bodhisattvail, an agent of the gods.

Were all not true gods.

Black Wind shrugged and continued.

“Anyway, we northerners worshipped the dragon of that temple.”

“Why?”

As Hamel suspected, Karakxis was probably no longer a living dragon.

So even if they worshipped the dragon, the savages would receive no tangible reward.

So why worship a dead dragon?

Black Wind’s answer was simple.

“Because they’re afraid.”

“… ?”

“Even the old gods we worship fall silent there. They’re afraid. Northerners admired and revered that strength.”

Hamel quietly accepted that.

There are many ways a being can attain divinity.

Among demons, some are worshipped for their strength and cruelty and called evil gods.

Humans sometimes turned away from fear by worshipping in that way.

As Ajidahaka had long ago when Hamel sealed it in the salt mine.

“Some time ago, a stranger attacked the temple.”

“A stranger?”

“Yes, a stranger with blue eyes like yours. Though his hair was blue.”

“…!”

It was David.

Hamel was certain he had come to the right place.

“He occupied the temple. No one knows what’s happening inside.”

“You let him do that?”

“Of course not.”

Black Wind sighed in frustration and shook her head.

She held up three fingers and said.

“Three times. We tried three times to take him, but the warriors who entered the temple joined his ranks and became monsters instead.”

After those three attempts, control was completely lost.

At first the northerners tried to reclaim the sacred temple, but eventually they abandoned it.

However.

Misfortune did not end there.

The undead that spilled out from the temple began attacking nearby tribes and grew in numbers.

In the end, the northerners had no choice.

They decided to flee south and formed an alliance to do so.

“That’s why we headed south. To survive.”

Black Wind spoke calmly.

After a moment of silence, Hamel nodded.

“I understand. However…”

“…?”

“Please delay the advance on Northwatch for a short while.”

“…What?”

Black Wind looked troubled at Hamel’s request.

This was the real reason Hamel had visited the savages’ camp.

‘To stop the war.’

It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand her feelings.

Up until a moment ago, they had been on the brink of annihilation from the undead’s attack.

But…

“If you march on Northwatch, both the northerners and the Empire will only be destroyed.”

Hamel knew that they alone could not capture Northwatch.

But in the process many of Northwatch’s soldiers would be wounded or killed.

If that happened, the restraint preventing the undead would disappear.

Hamel spoke as if driving a wedge into the argument.

“Trust me. We’ll deal with that stranger and put all this right.”

“…”

Black Wind folded her arms and continued to deliberate.

After a long while, she sighed and spoke with difficulty.

“Three days. That’s about as long as I can wait.”

“That’s enough.”

Hamel nodded.

---

“Is that the temple?”

Daniel muttered, frowning.

Finding the temple wasn’t that difficult.

And that’s because…

“They’re disgustingly many.”

Daniel said as if fed up.

It was an apt description.

Countless undead were stationed around the temple, too many to count.

Breaking through all of them wouldn’t be easy even with an army.

Just as Hamel’s worries deepened.

Auuuuu

A howling sounded from somewhere.

The sound captured not only the party’s attention but the undead’s gazes as well.

A pack of wolves began running toward the temple.

And at the front ran the familiar black wolf and a girl.

“This way!”

Black Wind.

She swung her spear and cut Biter’s throat, then dashed past the undead with the wolf riders as if brushing them aside.

From east to west.

The undead, as if entranced, began to follow her.

As she ran, she suddenly looked their way and waved her hand.

As if repaying a debt.

Then she immediately started running again, evading the undead that had chased after her.

After a short while.

Both the wolf riders and the undead vanished from sight.

Thanks to that, the area in front of the temple lay empty.

“Now.”

Black Wind had given them no small gift and left.

Hamel and his companions sprang to their feet and began running toward the temple.