Chapter 140

Chapter 140: Bait

It might have been a country manor, but it was once a house where a noble lived.
That also meant it could not be brought down by just any magic or explosion.
‘With an explosion of this scale…….’
Neither Regent Ferda nor that demonic thing seemed likely to survive.
Even so, the commander rushed toward the collapsed mansion.
Regent Ferda must not die.
At least until we know what happens upon his death, we cannot allow him to die.
Amid the rubble and thick dust, a single figure stood tall.
Is it a demon?
The commander drew his sword and unleashed his aura.
Surprisingly, however, that figure belonged to a man he knew.
Ferda Valdrova.
That man stood proudly amid the debris.
“Regent-nim, are you all right?”
The knight company captain came running over.
Ferda hurled a mana sphere at their feet.
He detonated it right at their feet.
Bang!
“Ugh! What is the meaning of this?”
“Do not approach.”
Ferda’s warning.
Ferda’s gaze was fixed on a single point.
“That bastard isn’t dead yet.”
Not dead?
Shortly after, just as he said, something squirmed and rose from the rubble.
It was the exact path along which the company captain had been running.
“I was trying to take a few more with me… you figured me out.”
“Even as you die, that damn accent of yours doesn’t go away.”
“As expected… I never considered you low-level, but you’re quite a formidable opponent, aren’t you?”
He tried to stand on his battered legs, but stumbled repeatedly.
Which meant the demon’s unique regeneration was not working.
“That strange light… my healing isn’t working no matter how strong it is. I suppose I’ll truly die if this continues?”
He showed his claws and smiled nastily.
“So, speaking of which, can’t you take me as a companion?”
“I already have a companion.”
“Jealous. Was it that lovely Tyrant Jeonha? I wish I were a woman too…”
The demon man’s remaining life was also extinguishing.
He squeezed out his last breath to speak.
“Hey, won’t you tell me what you did to me? Consider it a parting gift on the way to the Void.”
“Do I look like that kind of fool?”
“Hehe, a tough man to the very end.”
Finally, he knelt.
“Then how about I tell you a secret instead?”
“Not necessary.”
“My purpose was only to wait for you to come here.”
Ferda let him speak.
At the same time, he chanted a spell, preparing to end his life.
A blue bolt forged from blue mana shot from his hand.
“Ultimately, however, you are not the target.”
Ferda’s spell chanting halted.
“What do you mean?”
The man let out a laugh and replied.
“Not you, but someone else is who I intend to hook. Smaller and weaker than you… that cute creature.”
Small, weak, cute creature.
At that moment, only one thing came to Ferda’s mind.
Because she was the only one alone in this situation at this instant.
‘Ruri.’
Ruri Silverwind.
As the one who inherited Silverwind’s blood, she was the Fastest Warrior, bearing the epithet Nightmare of the Frost Giants.
To her, beast-type monsters were child’s play.
Ruri did not wait for the monsters to arrive like the other knights.
She chose to charge into the middle of the monsters’ movement path and slaughter them all.
20 beast-type monsters and 30 Melted.
Time spent eliminating them: barely 1 minute.
‘I’ve grown quite clumsy.’
Ruri objectively evaluated her own performance.
In her days as Captain of the Silverwing Special Mobile Brigade, she would have wiped out such a force in under 30 seconds.
‘Have I become too intoxicated with peace?’
They said peace is a poison that rusts swords.
Unlike the Silverwing days, when she had to swing an axe even while sleeping, becoming Valdrova’s assistant meant having no need to use force.
It is natural to become dull even with consistent training.
‘Even if I can’t regain my peak form, I need to train harder and restore myself.’
Because now there is more to protect.
With that resolve, she turned her head.
The path where the monsters were heading: the place where the raid was scheduled.
Since she stopped the monsters, it was now a safe place.
‘Still, I should check the village.’
Ruri spread her wings and flew there.
Her concern about confirming with her own eyes became reality.
The condition of the village was strange.
‘Silence.’
Even the sound of grass insects could be heard clearly with her hearing, yet no human breath could be felt.
This village was dead even before she arrived.
It was then.
Ruri’s sharp senses detected a sudden presence.
Before her mind could process it, her body reacted first.
Ruri hurled her axe toward that point.
The great axe traced a wide arc as it flew straight forward.
However, as expected of a strong figure appearing out of nowhere, the response was no joke either.
The axe, drawing a vicious trajectory, entered an ominously torn space and was swallowed whole.
The figure of a man was barely visible through the fissure blocking the view.
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
A man in a gray robe under the midday sun.
With the sun blazing, deep shadows were cast, yet even that darkness could not conceal his snow-white face.
“I’ll return your axe.”
As soon as he gestured, Ruri felt a chill on the back of her neck.
The axe she had thrown at the man was aiming for the back of her head.
Her body sprang deftly off the ground, executing a high backward somersault.
At the same time, she caught the handle of the spinning axe.
Channeling strength into her body, she halted the rotation and landed on the ground as is.
At the same time, she uttered the name given to that existence.
“You are Gokma.”
The man who was the culprit behind the sudden monster commotion in Hestia Village.
“I expected as much, but was the sudden appearance of the Colossal Monsters your doing as well?”
“Of course. Summoning 12 at once was a bit difficult, but still doable.”
Gokma smiled.
Although it was difficult back then, a month had passed, so he would have fully recovered by now.
One must never assume he has weakened.
‘How strong is that man?’
Ruri assessed his ability.
She knew roughly that he was a mage who manipulated space.
‘A powerhouse against whom even Tower Master Erica lost.’
Although looking down on the scions of other dragons is a tendency among dragon scions, she does not underestimate.
He displayed superiority even in battles between mages, and given the nature of spatial magic, it was inevitably disadvantageous for Ruri, the warrior.
Yet Ruri was a descendant of Silverwind.
‘If brute force doesn’t work…….’
Silverwind is the Phase of Steel and Wind.
‘Overwhelm with even greater brute force.’
Simply strike him beyond the realm in which he can react.
Her eyes narrowed sharply.
“Storm!”
Summoning the High-Grade Wind Spirit, pure white wind swirled around her feet.
And,
She vanished with the wind.
“Oh?”
Gokma exclaimed in admiration.
She disappeared as if she had used teleportation magic, but it was purely speed.
“If that is speed, I shall match it with corresponding speed.”
Gokma moved his fingers.
He expanded the space around him, blocking her path.
At the same time, he twisted the surrounding space, causing a fatal explosion.
Bang! Papapapang!
Air distortion rippled around, revealing the outline of an invisible figure tracing a trajectory.
It was not merely simple speed.
Her body moved as if inertia had been erased, shifting directions freely.
She escaped the distortion with dazzling movements.
Ruri persistently targeted Gokma’s blind spots.
“Truly a strength worthy of Silverwind’s favor.”
Gokma acknowledged it, but it did not sound pleasing to Ruri.
‘He is predicting everything.’
Even while showing openings, he constantly filled the blind spots, using them as traps.
Even with absolute speed applied, the advantage remained Gokma’s.
‘A single strike.’
Only one clean strike could do it, but that strike would not land.
“Let us end the useless prelude here.”
All the space Gokma had expanded dissipated.
Ruri’s axe aimed for Gokma’s body, but the torn space swallowed his form faster.
Did he disappear?
No, merely widening the distance was all.
Gokma’s presence was felt nearby.
She turned her gaze.
There stood the village storehouse, tightly shut.
Ruri swung her axe.
Not toward the center where the energy was spreading, but at the storehouse’s support pillars.
Crash!
The fierce power of the axe destroyed the interior pillars.
Naturally, such an attack could not inflict significant damage.
It merely cleared away the space where movement range and vision were obstructed, making it no different from an open plain.
The collapsing planks did not even touch Gokma’s head, falling aside as if swept by a round staff.
Now.
Ruri, like an experienced warrior, targeted that opening to slit his throat once more.
He did not run, nor did he tear space.
Instead, he placed something in front.
If it were a simple hostage, she planned to eliminate both.
The lesson that clumsy mercy invites greater disaster had been engraved into her since her time as a Silverwind warrior.
Ruri raised her axe high.
Gokma asked her calmly.
“What do you think of this?”
Whoosh!
The wind pressure from the axe erupted.
Ruri’s axe halted before Gokma.
Although it arrived right before him, although it was a chance to cut him down, she could not.
From the moment she confirmed what he had placed in front.
“Ah…….”
A gasp escaped Ruri’s mouth.
She could not believe her own eyes.
Standing before him was a brown-haired boy who appeared to be about 7 years old.
“……No.”
Ruri denied the sight.
Then the boy opened his mouth and let out a desperate voice.
“Sis-sister……”
It penetrated Ruri’s ears.
Then the axe of the girl known as the Nightmare of the Frost Giants trembled.
She took a step back.
Then the boy, eyes filled with tears, let out a choked sound.
“Save meee…….”
“No, you are…….”
You are already dead.
You died a long time ago.
Buried in memories so distant I cannot even recall your name.
There is no way you could be in reality right now.
“Please, don’t let go of me…… Just this once…….”
Even though her mind knows it is fake,
She cannot deny it.
“Aaaah…….”
Plaf!
Ruri dropped her axe just like that.
She reached out, trying to embrace the boy approaching her.
As if never to let go of that form again.
She drew close to hold him.
Puck!
Yet that form shattered to pieces.
A single spear flying from behind her pierced the boy’s head like a skewer and continued its trajectory.
What pierced the boy’s head was a javelin forged of silver and steel.
Ruri knew what that spear was.
Only one person wielded that spear.
Before the name of that existence could even surface in her mind, a figure flew toward the spear.
Wings large enough to quintuple the figure’s size swept across the sky, touched the spear, and dragged it along the ground.
Kwa-gwa-ga-gang!!!
The form of the boy Ruri knew shattered into particles in an instant, vanishing entirely.
Sand dust blocked Gokma’s front.
The silver spear pierced through the sand dust toward Gokma.
Where Gokma’s form should have been, however, space was already closing shut.
The battle ended just like that.
Ruri stood there blankly, and the massive silver wings retracted inside.
Goz Silverwind.
The closest to Silverwind, who had now taken his essence and aspired to become the next Dragon.
He had arrived.
“What were you doing?”
He asked Ruri in a cynical tone.
“Dropping your weapon in front of the enemy. Were you planning to commit suicide?”
“I, I…….”
Ruri could not answer.
Instead, she silently looked at the form of the child he had brutally killed.
Human blood, dragon hatchling blood—all red.
Yet that was green.
Which meant it was not human to begin with, and what Ruri sensed was an illusion.
Even so, the shock left her paralyzed.
“Why did you hesitate?”
“…….”
At her continued silence, Goz sighed.
“Fine, whatever. What good would it do me knowing your thoughts?”
He looked at Ruri over his shoulder.
“I expect nothing from you, who have grown so soft you can no longer even be called a warrior.”
A look of scorn.
It felt as if it pierced Ruri’s heart.
Unbearably painful and agonizing.
“For one who abandoned the heart of a warrior, even an honorable death is a waste.”
He pulled out his spear and moved forward.
“There is no longer any need to fear me. I will not seek you out after this. Return to that castle and live your life. Even if you change your mind and return, the North will never again be your home.”
Leaving those words behind, Goz disappeared.
Ruri lowered her head.
Both of her fists trembled with resentment.
In the empty village, she remained alone.
Just like that day.