Chapter 125

Being able to come through the thick fog without getting lost was all thanks to Chirpy.

"Huff, huff."

Kinaine exhaled rough breaths. Having run with all his might, his lungs felt like they might burst with pain.

But despite running so hard, he was too late.

The village was already in chaos. Kinaine looked around at the people who had fallen, bleeding. Women, men, children, the elderly... the magical beasts didn't discriminate in their prey.

Kinaine's hands trembled faintly as he gazed at the coldly stiffened corpses.

"Ugh."

It was then that he heard a low groan. As if waking from a dream, Kinaine came to his senses and hurriedly moved toward the source of the sound.

Behind a half-collapsed house, he saw a pile of leaves stacked high. It seemed like the person living in this house had gathered them to use as firewood.

'Could it be.'

Kinaine hastily cleared away the pile of leaves. As expected, there was a person inside. It was the caretaker from the prayer house.

The caretaker's eyes widened upon seeing Kinaine.

"You..."

Kinaine quickly pulled the caretaker out from the pile of leaves. The caretaker seemed to have injured his leg, but fortunately it wasn't a serious injury.

"As soon as I heard the screams, I hid. I twisted my ankle when I fell while running away in a hurry, but I'm fine. More importantly, your eyes..."

The caretaker muttered in apparent confusion as Kinaine looked directly at him. Having been blind just this morning, it was natural to be confused by his suddenly acting as if he could see.

Kinaine didn't explain. He was in a hurry.

"If magical beasts establish territory here, no one will be able to live. Gather only what you need and leave quickly before that happens. This place is no longer safe."

As Kinaine, having given this firm warning, turned to leave, the caretaker hurriedly grabbed his arm.

"What about you! You should go too."

"I..."

At that moment, blood flowed from Kinaine's nose. Unaware of this fact, Kinaine slowly continued.

"I need to go to Tiron."

The caretaker seemed to say something, but it didn't reach Kinaine's ears.

He hurriedly headed for Tiron's cabin. It took longer because thick fog had begun to settle even inside the village. Fortunately, he didn't sense any magical beasts on the way.

"Tiron, are you here?"

After knocking on the cabin door, a small sound came from inside a moment later.

"N-Nine?"

The door opened, revealing Tiron's pale face. Kinaine swallowed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness. The magical beasts haven't come here yet.

Fortunately, Tiron's cabin was in a secluded corner of the village, so they seemed not to have discovered it.

Hurrying inside the cabin, Kinaine closed the door and looked around through the window. Unfortunately, the fog had thickened, making it difficult to see outside.

Just then, Tiron approached with large strides as if about to grab him by the collar.

"Nine, you bastard! Where have you been! I thought something had happened to you...!"

Tiron's voice, which had been shouting angrily, faded.

"Wait, can you see?"

"Yes, for now."

"How on earth?"

"That's not what's important. Quickly pack your things. We need to leave right now."

"I was going to leave! But when I looked out the window, I saw magical beasts in the distance, so I had no choice but to hide here."

Only then did Kinaine realize that Tiron was trembling. Magical beasts invoked fear in people just by their existence. This level of fear was only because they hadn't come close.

"You were lucky they haven't discovered this place yet. But they kill all living creatures and make the area their territory, so if you stay here, they'll eventually find you. You need to leave before they discover you."

Kinaine looked around.

"Where's Jane?"

"I'm here."

Turning toward the small voice, Kinaine saw Jane with a bulging backpack. Jane carefully approached Kinaine.

"But mister..."

"Yes?"

"Your nose is bleeding."

"Ah."

Kinaine wiped his nose with his sleeve.

"This is fine. More importantly, Tiron, you said you saw a magical beast? What did it look like?"

"A huge bear crawling on twelve legs?"

Tiron shuddered as if just recalling it was terrifying.

"It looked like a hybrid between a lizard and a bear. It kept spewing something like white breath from its mouth. That's not poison, is it?"

"White breath, you say?"

An ominous feeling arose.

Magical beasts change their appearance according to the environment where they are born. If the magical beast hadn't flowed in from somewhere else, but was born here.

The characteristic of this village was fog so thick you couldn't see ahead.

For a moment, the back of his neck tingled. Kinaine turned his gaze outside the window.

In the thick fog, something was watching them.

"Duck!"

Crash!

No sooner had Kinaine's words ended than the window shattered. A huge beast's hand with sharp claws had burst in. If they had been just one second late, Kinaine and Tiron, standing by the window, would have lost their heads.

"Hiiieek!"

Tiron crawled on the floor. Kinaine grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him up.

"Get up, we need to get out! Jane, come here!"

Kinaine carried Jane on his back and escaped the cabin. However, all around was wrapped in fog even thicker than when they had arrived. Fortunately, there was no toxicity, but now it was difficult to see even an inch ahead.

Kinaine realized that the magical beast had already begun to territorialize this place.

At this rate, they would all die before escaping this fog.

It was time to make a decision.

Kinaine set Jane, whom he had been carrying, back down on the ground.

"Tiron, the magical beast has already started territorializing. At this rate, we'll either be hunted by the magical beast or die from demonic energy poisoning in the contaminated territory."

"Th-then what should we do?"

"You take Jane and go back to the cabin."

"But you said we'd die if we did that!"

"There's only one way to survive."

Kinaine gripped the dagger.

"We have to kill the magical beast."

Even Tiron, who was in a panic, became serious at how absurd those words sounded.

"What! Do you think that makes any sense?"

"I can do it."

Kinaine spoke gently to Jane, who was quietly crying as if anxious.

"Jane, what did I say I used to do?"

"...A mercenary. You said you were a special class mercenary."

"That's right."

Patting Jane's head as if to say well done, Kinaine stared at Tiron.

"I told you it wasn't a lie."

"You..."

Kinaine pushed Tiron, who was looking at him with wavering eyes, back into the cabin.

"Don't come out until the fog disappears."

"Nine!"

At that moment, a magical beast that had suddenly sprung out from the fog pounced on Kinaine.

"Ugh!"

Kinaine immediately raised his dagger and stabbed it deep into the magical beast's jaw, but the beast merely hesitated for a moment before shaking it off as if nothing had happened.

Grrrr!

Just as the magical beast was about to pounce on Kinaine again.

Chirp!

Chirpy charged toward the magical beast.

"What..."

Kinaine hurriedly reached out his hand but couldn't reach.

At the same time, Kinaine's vision turned black.

But Tiron and Jane saw it. They saw the bird, enveloped in bright red flames, instantly transform into a pitch-black bladed longsword that pierced through the magical beast's face.

Kieeek!

This time it seemed to have an effect, as the magical beast screamed in pain and twisted its body.

'Could it be.'

Kinaine instinctively reached out. When he grasped the sword handle, he felt a familiarity that gave him goosebumps.

It was certain. This was the sword he had used during his days as a prince.

After a moment of dizziness, his vision returned. Chirpy had returned to bird form.

Kinaine stared at the small bird in his hand.

"...You were that spirit beast?"

Before he could gather his bewilderment, the magical beast attacked again.

Kinaine rolled to avoid the attack, but Tiron and Jane couldn't.

Kieeek!

The magical beast seemed to have decided to deal with the weaker ones first and charged toward Tiron and Jane.

Just as the magical beast's sharp teeth were about to tear into Tiron's upper body.

Kinaine reached out his hand toward the magical beast.

'What's happening?'

Tiron, who had been anticipating death, slightly opened his eyes when he felt no pain.

And he saw it. The magical beast frozen with its mouth wide open right in front of him.

"Hiiieek!"

Tiron fell backward in shock. Only then could he properly see the magical beast's form.

The magical beast wasn't just stopped. The gray, hardened form of the magical beast was very familiar to Tiron.

Tiron slowly turned his gaze. There stood Kinaine, slowly lowering his hand that had been extended toward the magical beast.

A pale man with black hair and black eyes.

At that moment, a strange premonition struck. Tiron's lips trembled.

"Could it be that you...?"

Before the sentence could be completed.

Suddenly Kinaine coughed up blood. Then he slowly collapsed on the spot.

Tiron could only stare blankly at the fallen Kinaine.