"Haah… Haaah…"
Takeshi huffed and puffed, kneeling on the open plains. The elven forest far behind him. A pile of corpses surrounding him, his armor drenched in blood as he rested on his greatsword.
'Fuck…!' He stared at the bodies.
Human faces. Disfigured. Skinless with their muscles exposed, arms and legs bent the wrong way.
'If I wasn't so exhausted, I'd have puked. Shit.' He looked ahead. Another horde of the creatures was approaching, moving clumsily, without a sound. No screeching. No shouting.
'They're weak enough one-on-one.' He pushed himself upright.
'But fighting them nonstop for hours… I can't even catch my breath. What the hell has the demonic realm been doing? What ARE these things?!'
He clenched his teeth and raised his sword — then glanced back.
A line of elves rested at the treeline, watching him fight. Deep frowns on their exhausted faces.
'Elitist bastards… At least do something. I'm tryna—'
'...Tryna…'
He turned back to the front.
'It's fine. I can do it alone.'
"That one's persistent," one of the elves muttered.
"Vaelthir."
A silver-haired elven woman called out from behind him. Her voice slightly rasp.
"My lady. Go back and rest."
"You know I won't."
He looked down. A long exhale.
"What do you need, Lady Sylva?"
"I want us to help him."
The surrounding elves turned toward her.
"So that we exhaust ourselves before the next wave? For a human?" Vaelthir said, crossing his arms, his voice flat.
"He chose to fight alone. He didn't even approach us to ask for help. Convenient, really. We rest, he wears himself down, and we get to watch a human die in the process."
A few elves laughed under their breath. Vaelthir smirked briefly.
Sylva looked around, slightly hunched, barely reacting.
"You know why he didn't ask. You know he expected a refusal."
"Perhaps," Vaelthir exhaled.
"Either way… step back, my lady. Return to the queen's side, if this troubles you."
'He mocks me,' Sylva thought, eyes tracing the height of him as he looked down at her. 'And he knows I can't just walk away. Damn it.'
"If," she said, turning her head toward him one last time.
"you had accepted the Royal Capital's aid, all of you," the elves around them stiffened, "...you could have rested by now."
Her face tightened.
"We're going to die here. Because of your pride—"
SLAP.
The elves looked away. Sylva's head snapped to the side, eyes wide.
Silence.
"Go ahead, my lady," Vaelthir said, his voice almost gentle as she turned back to him with a glare.
"Please. Tell her Majesty I just struck her daughter."
'I can't,' she thought, pressing her palm to her cheek. 'Mother is already at her limit. And Vaelthir is our strongest.'
She pressed her lips together.
'You know that. You bastard…!'
She exhaled and walked away. Swallowing whatever was rising in her throat, keeping her face still.
Vaelthir blinked. His gaze dropped to his open palm. His expression didn't change.
"Spoiled brat," one of the soldiers muttered once she was out of earshot. "Just because she's the queen's daughter, she thinks she can lecture—"
Vaelthir moved.
In a flash, the soldier's back hit the tree trunk, Vaelthir's arm pinning him up by the collar. The others froze.
'When did he!? I didn't even see him move!'
"GAAAHH—!! S-SIR—?! WHY—"
"One more word," Vaelthir said quietly. "One more word about Lady Sylva, and I break both your arms. I don't care what it costs us."
"GRHHKK!!"
Silence across the treeline.
"Are we clear?"
"Y-YES! YES SIR! GRAAHH—!"
"Good."
He released him and walked to the front of the treeline, eyes forward.
'Even in this state,' one of the soldiers thought, watching their general's back. 'I couldn't see him move at all. What was it the humans called him…?'
'The White Flash. Fitting.'
"Everyone. Get ready." Vaelthir's gaze settled on Takeshi's silhouette against the approaching horde. "The human is about to reach his limit."
They all turned and watched the scene unfold.
'All out of potions. Damn it…'
Takeshi stared down the incoming horde, sword raised high, breath ragged.
'I wonder if I'll see him when I die.'
A beat. The wind brushed past.
'Nah.' A quiet exhale; almost a chuckle.
'I'm going to hell.'
Vaelthir's eyes widened.
The lieutenant beside him noticed.
"Sir?"
"INCOMING!!" Vaelthir screamed.
"What is-"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
Takeshi threw his guard up.
'An explosion!?'
Hundreds of abominations launched into the air, scattering in every direction, colliding into each other mid-flight. Dust, grass, rocks, and dirt blasted against Takeshi's visor as he shielded his eyes.
"FUCK!"
'I nearly lost my footing just from the pressure!'
"What in the world!?" the elves cried out from behind him.
'Did that human use magic?' Vaelthir narrowed his eyes, scanning the settling dust.
'No… There's a presence. Right in the center.'
Takeshi blinked and slowly looked up.
An armored knight stood in the middle of a pile of abomination corpses.
"...!!"
'...' Van looked down at his arms.
'I killed a few.' He stretched open his palm, turning it over slowly.
"Another human—!?"
'No poison in the blood. Safe to touch, I suppose.' Van glanced around, taking stock of the field.
And then, standing directly before him was.
Takeshi.
"..."
Van looked at him. Head to toe. Toe to head. Unhurried. As the remaining abominations charged straight past Takeshi, zeroing in on Van entirely.
'This armor.' Van blinked.
'Is he a knight from the Royal Capital?' Van thought, swinging one arm sideways. A single fist. Dozens of abominations caved in at once.
"B-BEHIND YOU!!" Takeshi's voice came out hoarse, cracked.
"...?" Van tilted his head as several abominations clambered up his back, jaws working against his pauldron.
'FUCK I have to get them off. Whoever he is, with his help I might actually survive this.'
'Survive.'
'I guess I… Still wanna live?'
Takeshi surged forward, cutting through the ones piling on top of Van as the mass of bodies climbed higher, swallowing him in darkness.
'I thought their bites might do something,' Van observed somewhere beneath the swarm, completely still.
'But there's no effect. They can't even scratch the surface. I expected at least some form of corrosive property. I guess that's [Overgear(EX)] making the armor as sturdy as my body.'
He recalled the sixth circle.
'...Ah. This was careless. I wanted to test myself against monsters outside the dungeon, but I can't afford to be sloppy. I was lucky these things weren't anything like the zombies inside.'
He raised his fist.
'I need to find a way to test an enemy's weakness…'
BOOM.
'...Without leaving myself open like this.'
Every last one of them detonated outward. Blood and viscera across the open field.
Takeshi was thrown back by the shockwave, hitting the ground hard.
'The only reason I survived the sixth circle was the Rotting Soul.'
'I can't keep betting on an F-rank curse every time. However useful it's been.'
Vaelthir went rigid.
"BOWS READY!! MAGES, STANDBY!! AIM AT THAT KNIGHT!!" His voice cut across the treeline.
All elves followed his command and were on alert as though they've slept a week.
'For someone to wipe them out like that… He has quite the frame. Is he an Orc? A feline halfling? Perhaps one of ours, returning from their exile or journey?' His jaw tightened.
'Either way, I can't risk trying to contain a threat like that. Not the way I am now.'
Vaelthir blinked. The bags under his eyes itch.
'Hopefully, he's not a human or related to them.'
He exhaled.
'Otherwise I might just lose it.'