Chapter 91
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Chapter 91
"Let's step outside the Cabin and take a look."
At Enoch's suggestion, I turned to Rujeep and Yuanna.
"We'll quickly gather our things and get to safety."
Rujeep and Yuanna nodded at my words.
I reached toward Silver Earthworm, who was circling anxiously across the floor. The moment I did, Silver Earthworm climbed eagerly onto my hand and coiled around my arm.
Enoch's group took up a combat formation, and Asdal gestured toward us. He held up the bow and arrows that Kaiden had made for him and spoke.
"I'll follow you up shortly."
I nodded to Asdal, then climbed the sloped Hill with Rujeep, from which we could see the Cabin clearly below.
Yuanna quickly scrambled up into a tree between the Hill and the Cabin's Clearing.
"They're coming. Half-Emperor, get ready."
Asdal called out to Enoch. Here we go again with that. Enoch wasn't some creature to be summoned.
Yet Enoch made no retort and calmly drew his sword.
As expected, a pack of wolf-type Monsters emerged from the Thicket.
I had believed this Cabin to be sacred ground, but that illusion shattered. Now I could abandon it without hesitation.
I watched Enoch prepare to swing his sword, then raised my ring-adorned hand and channeled mana in that direction.
In that same instant, a powerful spark erupted from Enoch's blade as it swept toward the Monsters. It was a sword aura.
I saw Rujeep, sitting beside me, turn in surprise. But I had no time to answer his questions.
Enoch seemed to have already realized it was my doing, though he didn't look back at me.
Crack.
Sparks enveloped the sharp blade, tearing through the air and piercing between the wolf Monsters, flashing brilliantly.
Boom!
The ground trembled, massive smoke billowed upward, and the Monsters' shrieks mingled into chaos.
As the smoke cleared, the dirt was littered with the corpses of fallen Monsters.
There was no need for pattern analysis or anything else. The sword aura's power was so tremendous that mana drained from my body rapidly, causing me to stumble momentarily.
Rujeep wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up.
"I thought you couldn't handle mana well."
At Rujeep's question, I leaned against him and burst into laughter.
"I wanted to surprise everyone."
"You certainly did surprise us. But don't use it anymore. You look like you're about to collapse."
I nodded and, with his support, barely managed to stand up.
"What's this, Margaret? If you'd given me that mana, I could've wiped them all out in one shot."
Kaiden appeared from nowhere, arms crossed, sitting before me and grumbling.
"I picked up the mana you dropped along the way and warped here."
That's possible? I turned to Kaiden with a startled expression, and he caught my gaze before bursting into laughter.
"I'm the greatest mage of this era, after all."
He winked at me and continued.
As Kaiden spoke those words, a chilling movement was detected from behind.
"Um, it appears to be an orangutan-type Monster."
Rujeep's troubled voice reached my ears. In the Clearing before the Cabin, the others were clearing away Monster corpses and surveying the surroundings.
"Ah, that creature is my natural enemy."
Kaiden muttered irritably. I followed his gaze and slowly turned my head.
A massive orangutan Monster emerged from behind the Hill where we sat.
Kaiden's displeasure at the orangutan Monster's appearance stemmed from the fact that this very creature had inflicted severe wounds upon him before.
I retrieved an illumination round from my crossbody bag, reloaded the ammunition, and pulled back the hammer.
"Bishop, Kaiden—would you both step back a little?"
"As expected of our Margaret. So dependable."
I aimed the illumination round at the orangutan Monster advancing toward me with deliberate steps.
And just as I was about to pull the trigger—
Suddenly, the Silver Earthworm dangling from my forearm spun around, lowered its head over the illumination round, and opened its mouth wide at the orangutan Monster.
A tiny spark ignited in the Silver Earthworm's mouth before erupting into a colossal pillar of flame.
The orangutan Monster, struck directly by the inferno, flew backward and crashed into the Cliff.
Flames roared to life, consuming the Monster's body.
"What... what was that?"
I stood frozen in shock. The Silver Earthworm snorted proudly and turned to face me, puffing smoke from its nostrils.
This tiny creature had become an overwhelming force.
But the real problem was what came next.
"Flone Young Lady, be careful! More orangutan Monsters are approaching! Asdal! Wolf-type Monsters are surging in your direction too!"
I couldn't fathom when Yuanna had climbed to the treetop, but she was now perched nearly five stories high, shouting warnings down to us.
Asdal, positioned on the same tree, was drawing his bowstring against the wolf-type Monsters swarming toward Enoch and Diego.
"Right. I knew this wouldn't end here."
Kaiden murmured with surprising composure.
"Wouldn't it be better for you to head down there? Rujeep and I can handle this."
"I have nothing to do here, Young Lady."
Rujeep whispered back to me in an uncertain voice.
"What do you mean you have nothing to do? If I get hurt, you need to drag me away and treat my wounds immediately. That's the most important role."
At my words, Rujeep pressed his lips together and looked at me with glistening eyes.
"Do we have time for that?"
Kaiden drew his dagger, clearly unwilling to tolerate the sentimental atmosphere.
"Over there, one Crown Prince alone is more than enough to handle it."
Kaiden was right. Besides, Diego was there too, and Asdal was providing ranged support, making their position actually more stable than ours.
I swallowed hard as I watched a massive silhouette approaching from afar, trailing dust clouds.
"Kaiden, let's do this: I have weapons for ranged attacks, and you need to handle close combat. Since bombs and illumination rounds have strong destructive power, we'll launch those first, then proceed with close-range attacks."
Kaiden nodded as he watched the orangutans gathering slowly in the distance.
"Can't you use more mana? One spell would finish them."
"It was my first time, so I overdid it. I over-injected mana into Enoch and wasted it all."
Now I had reached a level where I could easily gauge how much residual mana remained within me.
"Fine, then. We'll do it your way."
Kaiden drew his dagger and slowly rose from his position.
He spun the dagger deftly in his hand, then gripped the hilt firmly and assumed his stance.
Silver Earthworm coiled around my arm and wriggled.
"Stay still this time. I have a plan."
At my words, Silver Earthworm poked its head out and tilted it at me curiously.
"Next time, let's try coordinating together. I think we need that kind of synchronization."
Whether Silver Earthworm understood or not, it continued sticking its tongue out and tilting its head.
In any case, I held a loaded flare in one hand while drawing a flame bomb from my crossbody bag with the other.
"When I throw this, everyone get down. You could get hurt if you're not careful."
At my words, Kaiden crouched low, and Rujeep was already lying flat on the ground.
I pulled the safety pin with my teeth, hurled the bomb between the approaching Monsters, then threw myself down.
Boom! Bang!
A massive explosion erupted, sending dirt and dust skyward, and blue blood sprayed upward. It seemed each Monster had a different blood color.
I immediately pushed myself up to trigger the flare, but the orangutan Monster's running speed was faster than I anticipated.
Thud, thud, thud, thud—!
Two orangutan Monsters closed the distance in an instant, bearing down on me.
"Damn it."
In panic, I kicked Rujeep aside and struck Kaiden away with my hand.
Then I took a punch from the orangutan and tumbled down the Hill.
"Ugh."
It hurt. It hurt like hell. I might have actually cracked a rib this time.
"Margaret!"
Enoch, who had been swinging his sword amid a pack of wolf Monsters, quickly rushed down the Hill and caught me in his arms.
I had no idea how he managed it, but his mobility was nothing short of extraordinary.
"Ugh. Thank you."
But when Enoch caught me, the impact added to the pain in my chest—I really might have broken a rib.
Still, I couldn't afford to rest on the excuse of being injured.
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