Ch.122Chapter 122

A land of raging blizzards.

Four lost knights walked along the railway path—if you could call it a path, as it was covered in snow and one misstep could send you sliding—with anguished expressions.

They were stragglers who had been sent on a mission by the duke’s orders to patrol the region.

The barren lands of the empire showed them no kindness.

Even their team leader had only held the position of regular knight for two years.

While he could somewhat read the flow of battle, it meant he lacked the skill to properly lead his men.

“Damn it. Where the hell are we supposed to go from here…!”

The team leader gritted his teeth and looked back.

His team members followed his path, their faces pale with hunger, fear, and cold.

If one fell, no one would help them up.

They would simply get up on their own and continue following.

In other words, the moment the team leader broke down, everyone would lose hope and give up on life.

The weight on his shoulders grew heavier.

But where were they supposed to go from here?

If they took a wrong turn, they would be killed by Candles, and if they ventured into the vast wilderness to find food, they would either get lost or encounter an Outer God.

A large snowflake struck the team leader’s nose.

Sorrow washed over him.

Why did he have to endure this?

The team leader had only acted out of a desire to protect his territory.

And this was what he got in return—such a miserable death?

He didn’t want to continue anymore.

Just as he was about to give up and collapse where he stood…

“T-Team Leader! There’s light over there!”

One of his team members pointed toward a light.

Could it be a Candle’s torch?

If so, they were in serious trouble.

He quickly tried to hide with his team members, but then noticed something strange.

The bright energy wasn’t moving.

It just remained stationary.

He remembered something from knight training.

Candles believe they might die if they stop moving, so they rarely settle in one place unless in extremely dire situations.

The team leader ordered his members to wait while he carefully advanced.

“Team Leader!”

“Shh.”

He didn’t want his team members to step forward.

He didn’t want them to face a cruel death because of his incompetence.

When he nearly reached the light, the team leader was shocked.

It was a cold cave, and inside the cave, an anomalous space had opened up.

Yes, if space were forcibly connected to another place, it would feel just like this.

It looked ominous, but the team leader thought it would be much better than where they currently were.

“Everyone, enter that space! Follow me!”

“Yes, sir!”

There was no guarantee of food, but perhaps it was the hope of escaping the immediate cold.

The faces of his team members, previously filled with despair, brightened immeasurably.

The team leader, now excited enough to run, finally entered the space.

And immediately regretted his decision.

The moment he witnessed what was happening inside, he turned back and shouted to his team members.

“Everyone retreat! Retreat!”

But his team members couldn’t react quickly to his sudden change of heart.

They had no time to think, and they didn’t want to leave the warm inner space.

So all team members stepped into the space.

And simultaneously, the entrance to the space closed.

Only then did they realize.

The reason why the team leader had told them to retreat.

Pandemonium.

That four-character word perfectly described the situation inside.

Corpses with parts of their skulls sliced off.

Decapitated corpses.

Corpses with their lower bodies severed, dead from excessive bleeding.

All kinds of corpses were scattered everywhere.

For a team already mentally exhausted from their arduous journey, this sight was the final blow, and they all sat down in shock.

They couldn’t take it anymore.

Suffering for no reason.

Then, footsteps were heard from the other side.

The sound was heavy but very fast.

The team leader instinctively knew.

Even if they hid right now, they couldn’t escape from the owner of those footsteps.

So he tried to shout for his team members to run, but…

The once-living team leader became a corpse on the spot.

“G-guh…”

The team members couldn’t breathe when they saw what happened to their leader.

They instinctively knew they would be next.

The entity that had done this to their leader was staring at them, breathing heavily.

A monster.

That gaze was definitely not one a human could possess.

The moment the monster took a step…

Only the wretched screams of humans remained.

The last surviving team member, crawling on the ground trying to escape, had his neck severed, and the sight before his dying eyes was…

A man with split-bladed axes in both hands, his face covered with scale-like skin.

#

Knights’ Order Headquarters.

After barely escaping from The Huntsman, I headed straight to headquarters.

Well, after reading the books the saint recommended, I realized one thing.

You have to suffer to get stronger.

In other words, just like when I absorbed the White Mask’s pain and passed out, Outer Gods become stronger by repeating such acts. The Outer Gods aren’t avoiding such acts; it’s just that the level of pain that would make a human pass out is weaker than a tickle to them.

That means my mindset of “I’ll absorb the Knight Commander’s pain after I get stronger” was backward.

I need to absorb the Knight Commander’s pain to become stronger.

With that in mind, I came straight to headquarters, but…

“V-Vice Commander.”

“…”

“Should I come back later?”

“Wait! Are you trying to make me look strange again?!”

This time I found Marenne lying on the floor, entangled with the Knight Commander.

Heh.

It’s nice to see them expressing affection for each other at all hours.

The Knight Commander was just staring blankly at the Vice Commander.

“C-Commander. Please get up?”

“Hmm. I was just about to.”

The Knight Commander nodded as if nothing had happened and immediately got up, returning to her seat.

The Vice Commander exhaled in exasperation at the Knight Commander’s behavior, then grabbed her forehead and returned to her own seat.

“…Tanthyn, you seem to have impeccable timing.”

“Indeed. Perhaps I should have come in a bit later to give you two some time…”

“A-ahem!”

The Vice Commander deliberately cleared her throat loudly to stop what I was about to say.

Oh?

Isn’t that what she wanted?

She even broke into a cold sweat, looking quite flustered.

“Anyway.”

Sensing that I would continue on this subject, the Vice Commander finally cut me off.

Hmm.

How did she know?

“What brings you here?”

“Ah, it’s about that topic I mentioned before.”

Realizing it was a rather serious subject, the Vice Commander erased her flustered expression and looked at me directly.

“Hmm. Have you found something out?”

“First, I think it might be a good approach to try absorbing the Commander’s pain.”

“…Hmm.”

Is she worried that something beyond passing out might happen this time?

Now that I know I need to go through such experiences to become stronger, I’m no longer concerned.

“It’s fine, Vice Commander. I feel like I’ve gotten much stronger since that incident.”

“If something happens to your body, it doesn’t seem like a good exchange.”

“Come on, surely that won’t happen?”

“‘Surely’ is what gets people killed.”

The Vice Commander sighed.

“As I always feel, your problem is that you push yourself too hard.”

“But I think it’s good to try this time.”

“…When you insist so much, what can I do?”

The Vice Commander said that and closed her eyes.

It was a signal of approval.

The Knight Commander was listening to our conversation with a blank expression.

In the Vice Commander’s dream, the Knight Commander had seemed like a confident career woman with years of experience.

This is why they say knowledge is important for humans.

“Excuse me, Commander.”

“Mm.”

The immortal has nothing to fear.

The Knight Commander maintained an infinitely calm expression.

I could see the bright red energy above the Knight Commander’s head.

It looked much denser than the White Mask’s, instilling fear in the observer.

But since I need to endure this to become stronger, I’ll have to bear it.

With that thought, I swept my hand through the energy.

I had considered observing the reaction before absorbing it, but since the pain itself would help me, I absorbed it immediately.

As the pain began to creep in, I felt something strange.

I tried to expel the pain right away, but perhaps because the concentration was too dense, I couldn’t control it with my power.

“Ugh…?!”

Suddenly, my head felt like it was turning completely white.

Wait a moment.

This seems to be going wrong.

“Tanthyn!”

Perhaps because my body had been strengthened from previously absorbing the White Mask’s pain, I didn’t feel like I was going to pass out.

But the sensation of my head gradually turning white was very unpleasant.

“Pull yourself together!”

Yes, this sensation…

It was similar to that.

“Bleeeegh.”

“Tanthyn! Not here!”

The hangover that comes the morning after drinking.