After the Rain (4)
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‘No way, is it right now…?’
Aristine bit her lip heavily. She could see that her hand which was holding the transmission stone was shaking visibly.
‘Let’s calm down; calm down. It’s okay.’
Aristine tried to calm herself down and relay the message to the other warriors.
Mukali, Durante, or any other warrior was good.
Aristine entered all the codes written down.
‘Please…’
But the result was the same.
She couldn’t get in contact with anyone .
Aristine found it difficult to breathe and clutched her chest in pain. It felt like she was barely holding on. The pain continued to rip through her chest as if it didn’t care if she screamed, struggled, or bled.
A scattered breath escaped her lips.
As expected, the scene she saw in the Monarch’s Sight was of the nearby future. And it seemed like it would happen within a day or two.
‘Get a hold of yourself.’
If so, there was no time to feel such heartache.
Aristine quickly spread out the map.
The map was drawn with detailed terrain, but it did not indicate military movements or strategic simulations like Aristine had seen before.
That was no surprise.
The things that Aristine saw then were military secrets.
Aristine picked up a pen and began to draw on the map.
Her mind felt like a mess, but her thoughts were calmer and clearer than ever.
Aristine’s hand never paused, and in the blink of an eyes, the map was filled with curves, circles, and lines.
‘This one is this year.’
Aristine changed the ink color and repeated the same thing.
‘This one is last year.’
Like this, several years of strategy that was saved in Aristine’s head was reproduced on the map.
Aristine gazed at the finished map.
A glance at the subjugation strategy for the demonic beast over the years allowed you to see the aspects of war.
Aristine studied the strategy for this year and figured out where the battlegrounds that she saw in the Monarch’s Sight would be.
‘Here.’
Normally, after driving the demonic beasts to concentrate in one spot, Tarkan’s division would attack from the front while the other divisions would made surprise attacks from the sides and the rear.
Such operations had been brilliantly successful over the past few years.
However, communication was cut off and no contact was possible, which is probably what led to a situation like what she saw in the Monarch’s sight.
The reason Tarkan went ahead with the operation even though all contact was lost…
‘Probably because another division might carry out the operation as is, and the division would be annihilated if he doesn’t go.’
He was a man who would remain behind despite that.
‘Idiot.’
With that thought, a tearful smile arose on Aristine’s face, then she paused.
‘That’s weird.’
If she could think of this, then wouldn’t other warriors naturally think of the same thing, not just Tarkan?
The warriors had worked together for such a long time, and if they couldn’t contact someone, they could fully anticipate how the other person will respond.
And yet no one went to the battlefront as originally planned; did that make sense?
“…”
Aristine drummed her fingers on the map.
She checked the location of the other divisions.
According to the strategy, they should have been positioned close enough to the battleground that they could join at any time.
‘Plus, there’s no mountains or valleys. The plain is an open field with a wide view in all directions. Regardless of how far you are, wouldn’t you notice such a large-scale battle even if you are delayed?’
And even if you put aside the fact that the transmission stone stopped working, the subsequent response was very strange.
If communication was down, couldn’t they send a signal or dispatch someone to check on each other? If you shoot flares or smoke signals in the plains, it should be very easy to catch.
‘…Maybe they can’t use smokes or flares because of the demonic beasts.’
Demonic beasts might be reactive to smokes or flares.
‘Even so.’
The response after was questionable and it was definitely strange that the reinforcements didn’t come after the battle began.
As if the other warriors had been notified that the operation was either canceled or postponed.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, Aristine sucked in a sharp breath.
‘It can’t be.’
Aristine shook her head, suppressing that spiraling thought.
Who in the world would do such a thing?
Even if they were political opponents, neither the Queen nor Hamill would plot such a thing.
If something happened to Tarkan and the demonic beast subjugation failed, Irugo would receive the full impact of that damage.
After all, the untrimmed number of demonic beasts would invade the border.
‘Could it be Silvanus…?’
If they were thinking of going to war, there was no better opportunity than this. In the war between Silvanus and Irugo, Tarkan played a key role in leading Irugo to victory.
With this, they could deal with Tarkan and also cut down Irugo’s power.
Crunch, the map crumpled under Aristine’s palm.
She fought to control herself.
‘For now, the priority is how to deal with this situation.’
Aristine checked the time.
It was already going from afternoon to evening. In other words, the sun would set in about two or three hours.
Since the demonic beast plains was farther east than the royal capital, it must be evening there already.
‘It won’t be today.’
The scene that she saw in the Monarch’s Sight happened in the morning, or at least, at midday.
And it was very likely in the morning.
Demonic beasts were nocturnal by nature, so their activity weakened as the day began to break.
‘Tomorrow morning. Or next tomorrow morning at the latest.’
And judging by how they were pushing ahead despite the loss of communication, there was a high chance it would be tomorrow.
‘Even if I use portal right now to send a dispatch to the plains, would it make on time by tomorrow morning?’
Who knew how long it would take to go from the border to Tarkan’s camp?
Mobility was a top priority, but what happens if they encounter a demonic beast at night? Wouldn’t the courier die without reaching Tarkan?
Countless thoughts flashed through Aristine’s mind.
《Retreat to the right!》
《Milord, if we keep going this way…》
Tarkan’s yell. And Jacquelin’s words filled with concern.
Did that mean that if they kept going, they couldn’t shake off the chasing beasts and were going to be caught eventually?
Why did Tarkan go off alone?
Because he thought he could stop countless demon beasts by himself? Weren’t they too much to hold back alone?
Furthermore, the demonic beasts naturally didn’t follow Tarkan who went off alone, but Jacquelin, who had a large number of people with him.
If he was trying to block the magic beasts, shouldn’t he have acted in a manner that drew more attention?
Aristine’s eyes on the map moved to the right where Tarkan and Jacquelin had retreated.
Her irises narrowed when she confirmed where they were heading.
《Why is this spot empty?》
《Because that’s the territory of one of the Great Demonic Beasts.》
The conversation she had with Tarkan ran through her mind.
Aristine jumped from her chair.
‘If we keep going this way, it’ll be the great demonic beast’s territory!’
Jacquelin wasn’t saying that they couldn’t shake off the chasing demonic beasts if they kept on like this.
He was saying they were about to step into the territory of a Great Demonic Beast.
