episode_0043

The man, who appeared to be a knight, had already fought a monster once, as his armor was stained with blood that could be either human or monster blood.

His expression was as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have seen, his face was pale and his hands were shaking like a person in a panic.

When Aion saw the man like that, he intuitively felt that something was wrong.

He said this while looking at Ailee, who seemed to not have a proper grasp of the situation.

“Go to your parents right now and evacuate. I have a bad feeling about this.”

Aion said while looking at Ailee who was flustered.

At Aion’s words, she looked at him with worried eyes.

“Oppa..!Oppa what should I do!”

Ailee looked at Aion with worried eyes as he tried to evacuate her first.

Her trembling hands held tightly to the hem of Aion’s clothes.

“……….”

He looked at her like that and was speechless for a while.

He smiled and gently stroked her hair.

“Thank you for your concern. But I have to go. Protecting people is what adventurers are for, right?”

Aion said, kneeling on one knee to get down to her level.

She nodded cautiously at Aion’s actions.

“If you take refuge first, I’ll defeat all the monsters and definitely come back to see you again. Got it?”

Aion said to her, holding out his little finger.

She nodded and ran towards her home, leaving her promise to Aion behind and embarking on the escape route.

Aion saw her back and smiled without her knowing.

After watching her back for a while, Aion headed towards the place where the thick smell of blood was coming from to join the fight.

***

“Kkaaah…!!!”

“Wilson!!”

Meanwhile, at the entrance of the village where the monster invasion had begun, the sounds of monsters crying and the groans of injured people filled the air.

The knights were doing everything they could to block the monsters’ movement until everyone in the village had evacuated.

As time passed, the initiative gradually shifted to the monsters.

Of course, it was obvious that monsters had bodies and stamina that were far superior to those of humans, and no matter how weak a monster was, it was not only reckless but also outrageous for an ordinary person, not a knight or adventurer, to fight it one-on-one.

That’s why it’s common sense to form a party and hunt even the weakest monsters.

However, looking at the overall situation, the current situation is not so good.

Even for a knight who was stronger than an ordinary person, fighting multiple monsters was a task that consumed a lot of stamina.

Even if they were lucky enough to defeat one monster, another monster that smelled the blood of their comrades would appear from somewhere and they would end up in danger.

“What the hell are these monsters..Where did they come from..!”

And one knight, having seen countless monsters, spoke with a desperate look on his face.

Originally, this village was located in a remote area compared to other villages, so it was a place where monster attacks were relatively frequent.

Because they were located in a corner where people rarely passed by, they were constantly attacked by monsters, but they were still living while defending against the monsters’ invasion.

The reason is that, first of all, if people who had settled in the village were suddenly moved to another place, chaos could arise.

Above all, it was because the power of the monsters that appeared was not that great.

Although it was undeniable that they appeared frequently in the village, the monsters that appeared were relatively weak.

They did not come in groups, but in groups of one or two, or at most five, so they continued to settle down in this village.

But today. The village was raided by monsters that appeared to be in the tens or hundreds, far more numerous than usual.

The knights remaining in the village were not enough to stop them.

‘Ugh…! There are…there are too many…’

The man who appeared to be the leader was able to block the monster’s attack, but he also knew that this was impossible.

He was a person who was born and raised in this village and had more affection for the village than anyone else.

He too was losing hope as the monsters kept appearing endlessly.

Even though he had been fighting against monsters for a long time and had saved many lives and properties, he was being pushed back by the monsters that were gradually coming in.

He closed his eyes for a moment as if lost in thought, then opened them and shouted to his junior knights.

“Take the injured and retreat!! I’ll block this place!! Quickly take the injured comrades and get on the evacuation route!”

The knight commander, who was fighting off the monsters’ attacks, looked at them and shouted.

They looked at him as if they had misheard his command.

“Hurry up!! Hurry up!!”

He couldn’t let the young sprouts die in a place like this, so he had no choice but to make this choice for them.

He had no regrets about dying here because he had no family waiting for him, but the knights here each had their own families and homes to return to.

Above all, they were so young that he wanted to save them even at the cost of sacrificing his own body.

“I don’t like it! I don’t want any sacrifices from you, Captain..!!”

One of the knights spoke up loudly in response to the captain’s words.

The one who disobeyed him was an orphan who had followed him while wandering in the village where he had been deployed when he was young, after losing his parents.

He was a follower of the captain, considering him like a father.

“That’s right.. No one wants the captain’s sacrifice…!”

Those who heard his cries also began to rise from their seats, clutching their wounds.

The captain couldn’t say anything as he watched them gradually rise from their seats.

To be honest, I hoped they would survive.

There was no way we could stop this many monsters, so he wanted to save at least as many as they did.

They also had no intention of running away, leaving him behind, as they were all concerned about the captain. One by one, they got up from their seats and approached him.

“Wait..! I can’t let you die in a place like this..! I’ll buy you some time..!”

“Chief, if we do it too, we can double the time.”

“If I run away like this… I’ll blame myself even when I’m alive. In that case, I’ll go with you, Captain!”

They stood beside the captain, dragging their tired bodies.

He saw their grown-up appearances overlap with their childhood appearances.

***

“Do you understand?! Our knights’ mission is to protect the people! You must never run away while there are people left! I will find those people and kill them!”

“Ah..Okay..!”

About ten years ago. Before he became the commander of the knights.

He was working as a teacher, training young children to become knights.

He taught young children the path of a knight and gave them the strength to protect what was precious.

All of those who are by his side now were children who had received help from him when they were children.

‘It’s cut like this..’

The captain thought as he watched his disciples grow into respectable knights.

They have lost all of their childish appearance and now look like real knights.

He looked at his disciples who had grown up and put on his hat.

So they resumed their fight with the monsters once again.

They repelled the invasion of monsters with burning will.

They were fighting against their limits, drawing out all their remaining strength to protect their village and their families.

But even so, the number of monsters did not decrease.

As the snow melted away, their health gradually dwindled and eventually they were surrounded by monsters.

They surrounded the knights in a wide circle, and with such behavior of the monsters, they thought that their lives would end with this.

However, there was no regret. They had far surpassed their own limitations, held back their invasion for a long time, and dealt with a large number of monsters.

But despite their efforts, they were eventually surrounded by monsters.

They resisted until the very end, but soon they felt that it was over. The captain looked at them and said.

“Thank you for being my disciple.”

He looked at those who fought with him until the end and said:

The knights smiled at his words.

‘It’s over now… but I have no regrets.’

The captain closed his eyes slightly as he watched the monster running towards them.

“It’s not over yet.”

A man’s voice was heard by them and they opened their eyes in surprise.

Some of the monsters that surrounded them were dead.

“This…this is…!”

The captain looked around in surprise at the dead monsters, and there they were.

“It’s just beginning.”

There was Aion casting magic with both hands.