Chapter 40

The place Aiden took Arndt to in a rush was where the horses were tethered.

There was only one horse standing there.

It was one of the horses Aiden and Arndt had ridden.

Originally there were more, but most had disappeared as people who were trying to get out of the east to report the situation had taken them.

Aiden randomly put Arndt on the one remaining horse.

"What are you doing?!"

"Listen carefully. If you go to the right, you'll only come across wasteland, but if you go straight to the left, you'll head toward the mountain range where there's relatively high ground."

"What are you saying?"

"It will take quite some time for the mud to reach there. Hide and wait for the rescue team from outside."

"What about you? We can ride together!"

Arndt's palm holding the reins was damp.

Aiden gestured toward the people from the shelter running toward them from behind.

"Me abandoning my people and escaping alone, that's out of the question."

"Do you think such sophistry will work!"

"If we ride together, it's obvious neither of us will get far. Don't be afraid just because it's a new path."

"Rather than that, why am I alone..."

Before Arndt could finish his words.

"When you get outside, say nice things about me to your Young Master, alright? The demonic beasts coming from the pit probably aren't big ones, so you'll be fine. Go first!"

Aiden struck the horse's hindquarters sharply.

The horse neighed loudly, flailed its front legs in the air, and then shot away like an arrow.

Arndt, who had lowered his posture in the confusion, looked back.

Behind the barracks that had been a shelter, a wave of black, sticky mud was drawn like a backdrop.

The screams of people, cries for help,

And someone's voice telling them to run away, all grew distant behind him.

Arndt ran, putting all those things down.

There was no time to take care of them.

A massive, eerie sound echoed through the night sky.

A sound he had never heard before made his flesh crawl.

He didn't even dare to look back to see what it was.

Arndt just relied on instinct, on his senses, and drove the horse like mad.

What about Aiden?

What happened to the people?

The sounds were no longer audible.

Turn the horse's head to the left.

If he just kept going forward.

What about His Grace? The rescue team?

Did anyone even know?

He didn't want to end like this!

He was out of breath.

The horse, which hadn't eaten properly for days, finally staggered and collapsed.

Arndt was thrown onto the dry ground like a rag doll.

Perhaps because his head hit hard, the world turned white and then black again.

He felt a lukewarm liquid streaming down his forehead.

Due to the excruciating pain felt throughout his body, Arndt finally managed to turn over after several failed attempts.

The yellow, barren ground had turned black.

The black mud covering the wasteland was wriggling as if it were alive.

A calamity with no known cause or explanation.

A massive monster approaching, sliding over it.

Arndt felt the mud tickling his ankles.

He now had to accept it.

The shelter had been destroyed, and all the people there would have been swallowed by the mud.

Despite Aiden's efforts to send him away, it had only extended his life by a few minutes at most.

Just to walk a few more steps,

Just to breathe a few more times.

Aiden probably hadn't intended to give him the reins.

"You should have ridden away instead..."

Because you were smarter than me.

That would have been right, wouldn't it?

Arndt muttered, feeling the damp liquid seeping into his back.

The demonic beast that had approached silently cast a shadow over Arndt's body.

Even in the darkness, Arndt could clearly see the demonic beast's form.

It had over a hundred feet attached to seven legs.

A foul stench emanated from the holes that were sputtering all over its body.

What appeared to be its mouth had countless thin tentacles wiggling, and upon closer look, they were human arms.

Thousands of arms caressed the air, tore at each other, and then stuffed everything they could reach—be it stones or dust—into the throat.

Arndt didn't faint at the sight.

He merely thought that if death had a form, it would look like this horrifying creature.

The first arm caressed Arndt's cheek.

Arndt closed his eyes, devoid of any will.

Just as he was about to be dragged out of the sticky mud and welcomed by countless arms.

"Leandros!"

A red meteor streaked across the sky.

The arms, uttering cries that couldn't be raised, fell onto the mud with a thud.

When Arndt, who had opened his eyes due to unexpected pain, looked up.

A knight stood before him.

A man wrapped in a worn black cloak as dark as the night sky was holding an old sword.

Arndt had seen that sword many times before, but only now did he feel like he was seeing it for the first time.

Light flowing proudly along the silver blade like a star.

Leandros's foot kicked the muddy ground.

The demonic beast spread its twitching throat and arms wide open toward the prey that had jumped into the air.

But the final destination of that prey would not be the demonic beast's stomach.

The fierce trajectory of the sword pierced the demonic beast's torso.

Along with the sound of bones grinding, disgusting bodily fluids poured down like rain.

Arndt stared at it blankly before realizing that someone was supporting him.

Arenheit, who was buried in the mud with him, was staring directly at the demonic beast.

No fear, no terror, no hesitation.

No disgust, no hatred, no horror was visible.

Arndt recalled the former Duchess.

Her always detached attitude.

Her dignified stance in all matters.

Her will that never yielded to any intimidation.

Arenheit looked down at Arndt.

"I'm glad we weren't too late. We came to get you."

Now Arenheit was his Duke of Hartmann.

* * *

In the end, coming down via the mountain range had been a good choice.

Though he had never dreamed he would see a demonic beast right before his eyes, at least he could save Arndt who was being attacked.

"Can you get up?"

Arndt seemed a bit dazed.

But they had to get him out because who knew what would happen if he stayed in contact with the mud for too long.

Arndt nodded vaguely and barely managed to stand up.

Half of his body was buried in mud, but there didn't seem to be any major issues.

That was fortunate.

"Are you alright? How did you end up here alone?"

"I was trapped in the wasteland, Your Grace. There were others besides me."

Were, he said.

He couldn't ask Arndt again, given the past tense he used.

There was no need to remind him of the horrific scene once more.

"What happened when the pit went berserk?"

"All the remaining personnel were trapped. Mud like this and bizarre creatures overflowed from the pit. We called them demonic beasts, but rather than real demonic beasts, they were more like..."

"More like?"

"...Things we've never seen before appeared with grotesque forms. From inside the pit."

Previously, it had only drawn people in.

There must have been some change in the meantime.

They needed to head to the pit soon.

But he couldn't leave Arndt here.

Yet he didn't want to separate from Leandros either.

What should he do?

Just then, Leandros shouted.

"Your Grace, it would be better if you moved away. It's impossible to completely stop its movement."

As he said, the monster that had once fallen was continuing to recover, writhing.

The regeneration was faster than expected; it seemed like all the wounds would heal soon.

He looked at it and let out a deep sigh.

Damn. He was going easy on it, he thought.

"Arndt, keep going up to avoid the mud. With Leandros, your life shouldn't be in danger. I'll borrow the black horse."

"Your Grace! Are you going to the pit?"

"Some things can't be helped."

As he mounted the black horse, Arndt, though staggering, followed.

Arndt's face was pale with fear.

"But, still."

"Tell Leandros to meet me at the path we came from. I'll see you soon."

"But you can't ride a horse alone!"

"I'm quite good at clinging now!"

What did they take him for!

When he shouted while holding the reins, the black horse seemed to understand it as a signal and began running indiscriminately.

Arndt shouted something from behind, but it grew distant too quickly to hear clearly.

He threw away all dignity and clung tightly to the horse's back.

Though it should have sunk into the black mud, the black horse ran as if it were the wind.

Things passing by him couldn't even be seen.

In the distance, a form he had seen before appeared.

The Milky Way, as if drawn in the sky, and countless stars.

The pit below, endlessly spewing earth.

Unlike before, the pit wasn't just flowing with mud.

Something that had swelled up from the depths of the pit was blocking the entrance in a circular shape.

It looked like a bubble about to burst at any moment.

When they reached the vicinity of the pit, the mud was already piled up like a mountain.

If he dismounted, he might be buried up to his waist.

After hesitating for a moment, he circled the pit.

But there was no staircase going up.

Perhaps it had collapsed under the weight of the mud from the beginning.

"It would be nice if we could go up."

At his inadvertent words, the black horse snorted and headed in the opposite direction of the pit on its own.

"Hey, what are you doing? Where are you going? We're not going there. Why are you like this?"

The horse, which had been plodding along, stopped at a place somewhat distant from the pit.

It was still muddy there, but at least it wasn't piled up enormously.

There, the horse suddenly began to scratch the mud vigorously with one of its front hooves.

"Why, why are you doing this? Don't do weird things."

-Snort.

"No, right? It's not what I'm thinking?"

-Neigh!

With a loud whinny, they shot out like lightning.

More precisely, the horse rushed forward.

He was just hanging on its back.

The horse was heading straight for the sloping wall of the pit.

Realizing this, he screamed.

"No! You beast! No!!"

It was already a slippery slope, and it was covered in mud!

It wasn't a place that could be easily climbed!

But the horse instantly ran up the slope, straight to the top.

The black horse brought him to the top of the pit in the blink of an eye.

To him, who was frozen like ice and stuck to its back, the horse pranced proudly.

-Snort. Snort!

"You... Try that one more time..."

He forcibly detached his hands, which had stiffened with tension, and came down.

His legs trembled slightly, but there was no need to worry about falling into the pit.

What blocked the entrance of the pit looked like a large black egg.

The surface was wet and smooth.

But it didn't look as solid as an egg should be.

Every time the faint pulsing throbbed, the surface rose slightly.

At the same time, he heard a sound he didn't want to hear.

[Star... Return...]

A voice heard through the head, not the ears.

He knew this voice.

After touching the slippery egg with his palm, he gently put his ear against it.

"Is it you?"

[...human...together...interstellar...flying...our...]

It was indeed the star walker.

That voice that made one want to jump right off just from hearing it.

But somehow it felt bearable now.

"I don't know what you're trying to do, but stop it."

[...ah...aah...ah...]

"How am I supposed to handle this?"

Yurik had been looking for him in here. Had he been like this too?

He removed his face and felt around the slimy shell.

After circling the egg once to investigate, he discovered that one part pulsated more prominently than the others.

He slowly pushed his hand into that spot.

Still, it wasn't easy because of the shell.

He pinched with his nails, tore off the hard membrane, and pushed in from the fingertips through the gap he had created.

As his arm was drawn deeper, he felt a hot, damp, and soft interior.

He endured the nausea and diligently expanded his search range.

How long had he been stirring around like that?

With half of his body buried and his shoulders becoming stiff,

Finally, his fingertips caught onto something.

He grabbed the solid thing without hesitation and pulled.

It came out very slowly, as if flowing out from between the flesh.

It was a foot.

There was nothing above it, so he couldn't tell whose foot it was.

Only then could he understand the true nature of this egg.

People had been inside.

But most would have disappeared by now.

There was a high possibility that people who had jumped into the pit, as before, were trapped inside.

For what purpose?

The reason demonic beasts attacked humans wasn't simply because they were hungry or something like that.

There were many aspects of demonic beast aggression that weren't understood.

Why did they attack humans? Why didn't they hunt wild animals?

[When it wakes up, everything will be different... We will set off on a long journey together...]

To them, humans weren't simply prey.

Perhaps the significance of human existence to demonic beasts was.

"I didn't expect to meet you here."

Suddenly, someone spoke.

When he turned his head, a pale blonde man with gleaming red eyes was smiling at him, not far away.

It was Yurik.