Ch.9595. Green Monsters in the Blizzard (1)

The situation wasn’t good.

No, I think it was the worst possible scenario that could happen.

We had entered combat.

Siabel and the soldiers were advancing, taking the hearts and necks of the kobolds.

Sione was shooting arrows from beside the priest.

I wasn’t much different.

I had Sione support the frontline from the safe rear.

I was merely aiming at kobolds while staying close to Flora to teach her archery techniques.

While hiding behind a thick tree trunk and silently drawing my bowstring, something happened.

Among all possible scenarios that could unfold in the current situation, this was undoubtedly the worst.

Kobolds in front. And wolves behind us.

Literally caught between a rock and a hard place.

“Kyung…!”

Pulling Flora into my arms as she nearly lost her life to the surprise attack, I pierced the wolf that lunged at us again after its failed ambush.

My snow-white blade entered the wolf’s muzzle and tore through its insides. I felt a strong resistance from the shaking blade for a moment, but it didn’t last long.

With a shudder.

The wolf’s body trembled violently once before collapsing.

“This is insane.”

When we set out on this scouting mission, I had resolved to just comfortably shoot arrows from the back.

Yet here I was, drawing my sword again.

I quickly scanned my surroundings and helped Flora, who was terrified in my arms, to her feet.

“Please stand up. There’s more than just one wolf.”

The wolves revealed themselves as if they no longer intended to hide.

However, they didn’t surround us.

They just growled lowly, as if they merely wanted to pass through.

None showed any overt signs of aggression like the one I had just impaled with my sword.

Rather.

‘…They seem frightened.’

I don’t have any special ability to read emotions from a dog’s face, but there’s something like an intuitive feeling about the atmosphere.

At least to me, these wolves—normally wise hunters—appeared to be afraid of something.

I noticed a wolf at the very back of the pack.

It was carefully watching the path they had come from, not us.

‘That direction.’

The west of the county, where the Beltrin Mountains are located.

Just as Siabel had mentioned, it was the exact place where excited orcs were supposedly causing havoc.

“Ray! Are you alright?!”

Sione shouted, shielding the priest from the sudden appearance of wolves.

“I’m fine!”

I briefly responded to Sione before attending to the dazed Flora.

“The situation isn’t good, so I’ll keep this short.”

Flora blinked at my words and nodded.

“Any injuries from the wolf?”

“N-no…”

“You didn’t twist your ankle when you fell, did you?”

She stomped the ground and rotated her ankle to assess her condition.

“My ankle is fine…”

“Then get your wits about you and prepare to run.”

If her ankle was fine, there was no need to support her.

With those words, we immediately returned to Sione’s side.

Some wolves tried to pounce on us as we turned our backs and ran, but Sione shot them all down with her arrows.

Once we safely rejoined Sione and the priest, Sione fired another arrow to keep the wolves at bay and asked:

“Any injuries?”

“None. My body isn’t so fragile that it would break from rolling on the ground a bit.”

“That’s a relief.”

With the kobold battle raging in front and the tense standoff with wolves here,

Siabel finally began using her mana in earnest.

She layered condensed mana over her sword. The aura blade formed faster than before. Using her body, which had become more powerful through mana manipulation, she quickly began dispatching the remaining enemies.

‘At this rate, Siabel’s group will soon finish off the kobolds and come to help us.’

Now that we had put some distance between us and the wolves again,

I swung my sword widely to shake off the blood, then sheathed it.

As I took out another arrow from my quiver and nocked it, Flora cautiously approached and whispered:

“Th-thank you for saving me…!”

“Save your thanks for later. Right now, why don’t you nock an arrow to your bowstring?”

Flora returned to battle with tension clearly visible on her face.

Indeed, as Flora drew her bowstring with obvious nervousness,

the tip of her arrow couldn’t steadily aim at a single point and trembled slightly.

We didn’t have that many arrows left after several battles.

It would be a waste to use each arrow without landing effective hits.

I spoke to help ease Flora’s tension that was undermining her skills:

“Even if wolves come close, I’ll protect you like I just did, so try to relax a bit.”

“…Thank you.”

At my words, Flora briefly studied my face.

Then she looked at the wolves with a focused, calm gaze.

Her arrowhead no longer trembled.

But then, I suddenly felt a cold chill down my back that made me shiver.

…It wasn’t even windy.

Wondering why, I turned around briefly to check and saw Sione smiling with twisted lips.

“What’s wrong?”

“…You’re too kind for your own good.”

…My mouth is really the problem here.

Sione muttered that and then said to me with a displeased expression:

“We’ll talk about this later, just the two of us.”

I awkwardly nodded at Sione’s words and returned to the standoff.

Thanks to Siabel’s efforts, the kobolds were cleared out faster than ever before.

The expert knights and soldiers who joined us quickly dealt with the wolves as well.

The battle wasn’t long.

The wolves were devastated before the aura blade, and as their numbers dwindled, they chose to flee.

The only concerning thing was that the wolves seemed frightened by something…

That’s when it happened.

“Kerreuk!!”

“Kyung!!”

From the forest where the wolves had appeared,

kobolds suddenly burst out.

“…They seem terrified.”

Sione was right.

The kobolds that broke through the undergrowth showed no fighting spirit whatsoever.

All that could be sensed from them was fear and terror, just like the wolves earlier.

I frowned, feeling an increasingly ominous premonition.

* * *

The weather suddenly turned bad.

A cold wind became a biting gale like those that sweep across the northern permafrost, tormenting us.

It would be nice to get even a little sunlight on our chilled bodies.

But the once clear and empty sky was now filled with dark gray clouds, making even that difficult.

Whoosh!

As a strong wind blew, not only the undergrowth but also tree branches swayed greatly. The wind was getting stronger. Flora, Sione, everyone—not a single person wasn’t shivering from the cold.

Before the weather conditions worsened further.

“That’s enough for today. We’re returning to base!”

Finally, Siabel determined that further advance would be difficult and decided to return to base.

We slowly began retracing our steps.

After walking for about five minutes,

Sione, who had been rubbing her hands together trying to generate heat, looked up at the sky.

“Ray, Ray.”

“What is it?”

“Look up at the sky.”

“The sky?”

I raised my head at Sione’s words and could immediately see it.

“The county’s first snow of the year is finally falling.”

From the sky, white flakes were fluttering down.

“Looking at it like this, even this forest path seems quite charming.”

Sione said that and walked forward energetically.

* * *

“I just want to go home now…”

Sione whined while sniffling.

She had been so excited when the snow first started falling.

Now she was praying with both hands clasped that the snow would stop.

Severe weather.

We were left stranded on a forest path in severe weather.

The biting wind and the relentless snow combined to create a blizzard that made it difficult to even see ahead. In this wretched situation, we trudged forward, hoping the base would appear soon.

Siabel and the other women were pressing against each other as they pushed through the blizzard.

I was following behind them, using them as a windbreak, taking care of Sione whose strength had fallen so much I worried she might fall behind.

“Sssip…”

My body temperature was starting to drop.

Even the fur hat Sione had given me was getting cold, gnawing at my consciousness.

At this rate, my body would freeze and become difficult to move.

I too needed to share body heat with someone like the others.

So I immediately clung to Sione.

“Ugh… Ray…?”

Without answering, I wrapped my right arm tightly around her waist.

It was to block the wind coming from behind.

“Could you cup your hands around my left hand for a moment?”

“Suddenly…?”

“Just try it, please.”

“Hmm… alright.”

Sione cupped her hands around my left hand.

Then I manipulated my mana.

Whoosh!

I could control two elemental magic attributes: wind and fire.

Using the fire attribute, I created a flame.

Sione was unnecessarily close to the flame, but there was no need to worry. Elemental flames can be controlled to burn only what the caster wishes.

I filled Sione’s hands with warm heat.

“This is…!”

The typical reaction of someone who glimpsed new hope.

Sione’s lifeless eyes began to shine brightly.

After warming both her hands,

I immediately took her hands and placed them against my cheeks.

“Haah…”

Now I feel like I might survive.

With my face a bit warmer, the headache from the cold seemed to subside a little.

“Why don’t you try warming your face too, Lady Sione?”

“Huh? M-me?”

“Well, who else would I be talking to?”

“…Alright.”

Sione brought her face closer to mine.

I placed my warmed left hand on her cheek.

“How is it? Warm, right?”

“…Yes. Very warm.”

“Then quickly cup your hands again.”

We were secretly warming ourselves while moving forward, hidden from the women ahead.

Thump… Thump…

“…?”

I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination.

The pulsation of the ground traveled up through my feet.

The vibration climbed up through me and put my nerves on edge.

I extinguished the small flame in my palm and turned around.

“Ray, what’s wrong?”

“It’s—”

I trailed off, delaying my answer.

Beyond my vision limited by the blizzard,

something like a dark shadow was approaching, hiding itself in the sound of the fierce wind.

The shadow drew closer to us,

and Sione and I could clearly identify what it was.

“Ah…”

A goblin-like face with a distinctive pig nose.

A massive body with broad shoulders, and that dark green skin.

Snort.

Seeing it exhale forcefully through its nose, I nervously uttered in Korean:

“Shit.”

Why do my bad premonitions always come true?

The orc’s eyes were bloodshot.

As if to prove just how ferociously savage it had become.