“Sir Alliot!”
Seria shouted, and Alliot turned around. She was amazed at the speed with which he came toward her in a flash, cutting off the demons that were swarming.
“Grand Duchess!”
He had to raise his voice to be heard clearly due to the blowing snowstorm.
“His Highness has gone as the first group to put up a sign at the boundary line! We will retreat in three minutes!”
Seria nodded and immediately turned the horse’s head. Focusing on not getting too far from the front line, she moved along the route revised 5 minutes ago.
Once she learned the motion lines, a new one was added and the existing one was removed. She memorized the lines of movement with her eyes wide open so as not to miss any of them. She had to check the distance while checking the war situation, which was mind-boggling.
When the visible distance was thus reduced, She had to stick close to the knights, closer than 5 km. Stern was a mental stimulant.
“Stern!”
A high-ranking priest rode up on horseback, gasped and shouted.
“The holy relics that will set up a temporary boundary have just arrived! But since it is literally temporary, there is a strong possibility that the ground will not hold and will collapse!”
“I understand!”
“Be careful! As soon as we find solid ground, we’ll set it up!”
Seria bit her lip. The temporary holy relics said to have been brought in in a hurry from the Great Temple were closer to the real relics. Disposables with destructive power. It could only be used to spare time for a while…
It could not be used to the maximum. The best they could do was to somehow maintain their formation and retreat to the outpost.
At that moment, Lesche was seen coming in from a distance. He jumped down on the snow-covered slope with his sword in his hand. Meanwhile, the demons fell dead on the floor.
Alliot’s voice hit hard in her ears.
“His Highness is coming down! We are retreating at speed!”
“Don’t break the formation!”
The formation of knights was maintained while fighting the pouring beasts began to retreat. At that time, Seria was moving as busy as possible so that there were no knights left behind.
“Miss?”
“Bibi?”
When did she come to her side? Abigail appeared like the wind and whispered.
“Run as fast as you can toward your husband, young lady.”
With a flick, Abigail jumped down from her horse. With that, an ear-splitting scream was heard close by.
“Arghhhhh!”
Abigail’s sword pierced through the crawling beasts. At the same time, a headless knight fell from his horse. Red blood splattered all over Abigail’s face.
Screaming reports poured in from all over.
“The left wing is torn!”
“The right wing has collapsed!”
“They are coming from the rear!”
“The rear?”
“We have urgent reports of demons crawling out of the glacier!”
“What kind of bullsh*t is that?”
“Stern!”
Someone shouts with all his might.
“You must run forward!”
Immediately after Abigail’s instruction was given, Seria was already running her horse toward Lesche.
“We are setting up a temporary perimeter!”
Shouts, screams, and the sound of horse hooves cried in the ears.
Seria wondered as she rode in a hurry. How could the demons have crawled up from the frozen lake? The mountain range ahead was where the boundary collapsed.
It was then.
As if in response, a demon crawled up with bewitching swiftness and tried to bite her to bits.
“Stern! Get down!”
Kung!
The beast that the paladin had struck down was cut in half and died. Seria’s eyes widened as saw the corpse.
It was different from the previous demons. The shadows that were spewing out from the corpses had faint power.
It was obvious. It was Liegel’s power.
”Thirty seconds, just endure for thirty seconds!”
The priest clenched his teeth and spurred the installation of the boundary line.
“Thirty!”
The corpse of a knight, wet with red blood, lay near the feet of his beloved horse.
“20!”
Seria’s heart was about to burst. She did not turn around.
“15!”
If Stern dies here.
“10!”
Every knight in a five-kilometer radius would freeze to death.
“5!”
“The boundary is set!”
The Holy Knight’s voice rang loudly over the mountain range.
It was also just after Seria had finally reached the vicinity of Lesche after running like crazy.
An explosive force spread out in a line. For a moment, her spine contracted. She felt a strange sense of foreboding in this hellish place.
“Lesche….?”
It was strange. Lesche was just busy killing the demons like he had been doing. But that was all. He should have heard the holy knight’s cry, but Lesche did not turn his head back.
His sword just kept cutting through the demons.
When Seria thought it was strange.
“Stern!”
The demon, who was already inside the boundary line, kicked the earth and jumped at Seria. Before she could pull on the reins, Lesche’s sword cut off the demon.
Seria’s horse, startled, struggled around. It seemed to have injured its leg. She jumped down from the saddle and left her beloved horse in the hands of the approaching holy knight. After hurriedly retrieving the Stern insignia, which had fallen to the ground, she ran to Lesche.
“Lesche!”
Why on earth has he not looked at her at all since a while ago? Seria had the strange feeling that he was deliberately avoiding her. She pulled Lesche’s hand, who was still only showing his back. When Lesche looked back at her, she froze like the snowfield. Because Lesche’s red eyes were shaking coldly.
While doing so, she could feel Magi in those familiar hands that held her so tightly. It was not simply the feeling of someone contaminated by Magi. In the first place, Lesche was wearing the constellation gold armor, so there was no way he could be tainted by Magi.
So this was definitely…..
Like the demons rolling on the floor ….
“…Lesche?”
Why?
Why are you….
This was the very moment when Seria’s oice was slowly trembling.
“Stern? Stern! This way…!”
The blizzard turned into a heavy snowstorm, completely blocking the visible distance. The ground began to crack. Lesche grabbed Seria as she was about to fall.
***
“Have you gone mad!”
Alliot grabbed the Holy Knight by the chest.
“I can’t believe the Grand Duchess is missing! Tell me! Where is she?”
“Ha, His Highness the Grand Duke of Berg has gone missing with her….”
“These useless children! Where? Report exactly where they went missing!”
It was not only the Holy Knights who saw Alliott’s anger for the first time in their lives. The knights of Berg had hardly ever seen their leader, Alliot, this angry….
“I am sorry. I am sorry.”
Tears trickled down from both of the holy knight’s eyes as he was grabbed by the chest. The holy knights’ admiration toward Stern was stronger than any of the knights.
“D*mn it…!”
Alliot, who had grabbed the Holy Knight by the chest, let out a snide remark and threw him out. He gritted his teeth.
The blizzard was so bad that he could no longer see straight ahead for another 30 meters. Alliot looked at the priests.
High Priest Jubelud was being placed like a corpse on a horse.
Earlier, the High Priest had chosen to remain in the mountain range in order to concentrate the protection force on Myote Stern. Being caught in a terrible battle with a half-alive body, his body and mind would be exhausted like the bottom of the barrel.
The boundary line that they just set up prevented the demons from coming down, but it will not last long.
Harsh cold air pouring down from the north. A temporary boundary line.
Vanished Lord of Berg and Stern….
A vein popped up on the back of Alliot’s hand as he gripped his sword. The Commander of the Knights of Berg also temporarily took over the same position as the second-in-command in the absence of the Grand Duke.
With all of his strength, Alliot shouted.
“All! Retreat at the fastest speed!”
“Yes, sir!”
There were exactly 14 restoration relics currently in possession of the Great Temple. And there were also exactly 14 broken boundary lines.
He thought Lina had destroyed all of them, but it was unknown why she left one intact….
He had to somehow get down to the outpost and bring the remaining relic. He had to successfully bring the priests and restore the boundaries.
The search for the Grand Duke and Stern was only possible when the heavy snowfall and the demons stopped.
Then, the back view caught in Alliot’s eyes.
“Sir Abigail!”
As if it is not enough to kill the demons who were inside the boundary line, the knight was aiming to kill the other side of the boundary line with her sword in her hand.
“What are you doing ignoring the ranks? Are you disobeying orders?”
“I only take orders from the Lady.”
“Sir Abigail Orrin!”
“I only take the orders from my Lady!”
Abigail, raising her voice harshly, looked back at Alliot with bloodshot eyes.
“I have said so, Sir Alliot.”
A streak of blood burst in both of her eyes.
“If you are leaving, collect your formation and leave first. I will look for my Lady.”
“Sir Abigail Orrin!”
Alliot’s neck was blue.
“Listen to me! Even if we restore the border, there are tens of thousands of demons that have already entered the mountain range! And that’s if we don’t find the two of them today!”
What if Seria is found dead?
Or if Lesche dies.
“One Stern alone will never be able to defeat that many demons! It means the end of Berg territory anyway!”
The end of Berg was like saying the end of the Glick Empire, and by extension, the entire continent. It was a swarm of demons that must spread geometrically. There was no knights in any of the kingdoms that could prevent the demons that the Knights of Berg had failed to stop.
“If I can’t find the two of them within three hours, I’m going to jump into that swarm of demons! Because that would be a rather honorable death!”
Alliot said with bloodshot eyes.
“Sir, like a Knight of Stern, help me die with honor. But first, as a knight of Stern, help restore the boundary! Then you can risk your life to find the Grand Duchess of Berg!”
Abigail glanced at Alliot.
“Sir Alliot.”
The cold silence did not last long.
“Honor in a world without my Lady means nothing to me.”
Abigail spat out nastily and stomped off toward the formation of Berg Knights.
