That voice echoed in Bido’s head once more.
‘Dodge!’
Bido reflexively raised his sword.
*Screech!*
A metallic grinding sound exploded.
“*Kuh…!*”
Bido felt pain like the upper right side of his chest was burning with fire.
He hadn’t blocked it completely.
He had moved according to the warning in his head,
but he’d only managed to slightly deflect the incoming sword’s trajectory.
Tiller’s sword, which had originally been aimed at the heart,
had now diagonally pierced straight through the upper right side of Bido’s chest.
Heat.
Bido’s breath caught.
It felt like something was tightening from the inside.
From beyond the mask, Tiller’s voice flowed low.
“…Strange. Your reactions are quick, as I said.”
Tiller’s figure was already fully visible once again.
Bido gritted their teeth,
but their body wouldn’t obey immediately.
“No!!”
Ed shouted.
Without hesitation, Wolryeon fired her heavy crossbow at Tiller, who had revealed himself.
*Thwang!*
*Swish—*
*Clang!*
Tiller immediately twisted his body the moment he pulled his sword from Bido’s.
The blood-soaked blade knocked the crossbow bolt aside, sending it flying off in another wrong direction once again.
Bido’s body swayed.
Tiller raised his sword again.
“Now… let me finish this.”
Everyone’s gaze turned toward Bido.
Wolryeon, Ed,
and even Jincheong, who had returned late, were rushing forward at the sight, but—
It was too late.
Tiller’s sword fell again.
*Tak.*
“…Huh?”
This time, something blocked the blade of Tiller’s sword.
A low, familiar voice rang out.
“…Tch. I’m late.”
Even through blurring vision, Bido recognized that silhouette.
A familiar build.
But his face was covered in flames.
It was Maho.
He had transformed his face into a visage of fire
and was grasping Tiller’s sword blade with his bare hand.
Tiller pushed the sword.
“…*Ugh.*”
But the blade would go no further.
*Sssss—*
“*Ugh…!*”
Tiller let out a short groan.
The heat of the heated blade was spreading directly into his hand.
The moment he reflexively let go and stepped back—
*Slam!*
Maho grabbed Tiller’s head and slammed it straight into the ground.
Dirt and stone fragments flew up.
*Fwoosh!*
Flames spread as if devouring Tiller’s face and mask.
“*Kuaaaack!!*”
For the first time, Tiller’s scream tore through the air.
At that sound, both Hadin and Shell turned their heads.
Shell muttered in a voice tinged with amusement.
“What the… what’s that now.”
Miryeong didn’t miss that opening.
*Fwip—*
An invisible trajectory of wind flew diagonally toward Shell’s neck.
Shell reflexively crossed and raised the saw-toothed blades in both hands.
*Kriing—*
*Crunch!*
He blocked it.
But not completely.
Shell’s hands were forced back,
and one of the saw-toothed blades he’d been holding was split clean apart.
“*Ugh…* what the!”
For the first time, the amusement vanished from Shell’s face.
Meanwhile,
Hadin, who had been turning his head toward Maho, felt something brush past his side.
In that instant—
*Rattle!*
A chain swept past and coiled around his body,
and a blue light flashed across it.
“*Geugh…!*”
Hadin’s body instantly stiffened.
His muscles twisted and convulsed, and his knees shook.
Ailla gritted her teeth and shouted, holding the end of the chain.
“Not even you can endure this, you son of a bitch!”
Blue light blazed even more fiercely from her eyes.
Only then did Maho remove his hand from Tiller’s head.
A nauseating stench of cooking meat spread around.
Only smoke rose from the gaps in the mask; Tiller couldn’t even twitch.
Maho spoke low.
“Next.”
Shell glanced down at the split sword,
then immediately turned his body.
“…Rotten luck.”
He plunged into the forest without hesitation and disappeared.
Miryeong gritted her teeth and tried to chase Shell,
but immediately turned her gaze.
Bido.
The next moment, her body rode the wind and flew straight toward Bido.
Hadin finally sank to one knee.
“*Geuugh…* you bitch…”
Ailla roughly caught her breath and tightened the chain further.
“*Haa… haa…* bastard…”
In the meantime, Wolryeon, Ed, and Jincheong had all rushed to Bido.
Bido’s knees buckled.
“Bido!”
Ed stretched out his arms and barely caught the collapsing Bido.
The vital spot had been missed.
But even to the naked eye, the wound was deep.
A long laceration dug in from the upper right chest toward the side.
Her clothes were quickly soaked red.
Bido was barely keeping her eyes open.
“*Uh… kugh…*”
It was pain she’d never felt before.
Every time she breathed in, it felt like the inside of her chest was tearing,
and together with the sensation of her blood cooling, a cold fear crept up her spine.
She might die.
The moment that thought flashed by,
Bido’s face turned deathly pale in an instant.
Wolryeon shouted.
“Stay with us! Don’t close your eyes!”
“Bido!”
Miryeong, arriving late, immediately knelt down.
Maho stared blankly down at that scene for a moment.
Beyond his face twisted by flames, no words came.
He no longer met anyone’s eyes.
*Pop.*
The next moment,
his form vanished from that spot as if an ember had gone out.
“Hey, Hara! Take this bastard!”
Ailla roughly shouted, pinning Hadin to the ground with her foot.
“Hurry! Are you going to let that kid die?!”
“Tch…”
Miryeong immediately kicked and snatched the sword from Hadin’s hand.
Then she stomped on his masked face, pinning it to the ground.
“You move, I break your neck.”
Leaving only those words, Miryeong immediately turned her body.
Ailla was already kneeling beside Bido.
“Tch…”
She roughly tore open the blood-soaked collar.
The wound was deep, diagonally dug in from below the collarbone on the upper right chest toward the side.
Blood kept flowing out,
but it wasn’t a position that would pierce the heart head-on.
Ailla’s gaze turned grim.
“The vital spot was missed. But it’s deep. This isn’t a shallow wound.”
Bido’s body trembled every time she breathed.
“*Ah… ugh…*”
“Don’t breathe deeply.”
Ailla grabbed Bido’s chin and forced her head up.
“You hear me? Don’t breathe deeply. Short, slow.”
Bido looked at Ailla with hazy eyes.
Her lips had already lost their color.
Ailla immediately tore off the inner lining of her own clothes and folded it thick.
And pressed it down hard on the wound.
Bido’s body shook violently.
“*Kgeuegh…!*”
“Endure it. Pressing down is the only way you live.”
Ed knelt close by, holding his bleeding arm.
“What do I do?”
“Cloth. Clean, thick. Hurry. Prop her up from behind.”
Wolryeon wordlessly tore off her coat lining and handed it over.
Ailla received it, placed it over Bido’s wound, and pressed down hard again.
“Not there, below. Yes, support it like that. Tell me right away if the blood spreads.”
Then, from the wagon side, Reimeon was urgently climbing down.
Behind him, the medic came running nearly at a sprint, clutching a medicine box and bandages.
“What’s the status?”
The medic asked as soon as he arrived.
Ailla spoke without removing her hand.
“Upper right chest. It went in deep.”
“It seems to have missed the heart, but the inside is unknown. Blood keeps coming.”
The medic immediately pressed close to Bido’s side and checked the wound.
His fingertips were quick.
He examined the edge of the wound for a moment and immediately raised his head.
“You did well pressing on it. It tore open further when the sword was pulled out.”
He opened the medicine bottle cap with his teeth and soaked a cloth.
“Bido. Can you hear me? Do not close your eyes.”
Bido barely lifted her eyes.
“Yes…”
“Good. Very good. Stay like that. Don’t breathe deeply—keep it short.”
The medic wiped away the blood and quickly cleaned around the wound.
When Ailla briefly lifted the cloth she had been pressing, new blood immediately seeped out.
The medic’s expression hardened.
“Bandage. Long.”
Reimeon personally unrolled and handed over a bandage.
The medic placed thick padding over the wound,
then began wrapping Bido’s shoulder and chest, pulling it tight.
Bido groaned.
“*Uugh…*”
“Please endure. I must tighten it now.”
Ailla grabbed Bido’s shoulder and held her down so she wouldn’t shake.
“Hold on. If you collapse now, it’s really over.”
A red stain seeped through even the bandages wrapped in several layers,
but the flow was clearly slowing little by little.
The medic tied the final knot and spoke without wiping the blood from his fingertips.
“She won’t die right away. But she absolutely must not move.”
Reimeon asked low.
“Is movement possible?”
The medic hesitated briefly and answered.
“Lying her down would be more dangerous. She must be kept half-upright, secured so she doesn’t shake.”
“And you must not let her fight again.”
Ailla muttered roughly, catching her breath.
“Of course we won’t…”
Only now did she remove her hand.
Her palm was soaked red with Bido’s blood.
Bido was barely keeping her breath with a face drenched in cold sweat.
Her eyes were open,
but her focus was still shaking unsteadily.
Only then did the sounds of the battlefield begin to reach them again.
The two patrolmen with slit throats ultimately never rose.
Another fallen patrolman and two guards some distance away were also groaning, bleeding.
Fortunately they were still breathing,
but they were in no condition to be allowed to walk immediately.
Wolryeon had stowed her heavy crossbow and was keeping watch over the surroundings,
and Ed stood with his torn arm roughly wrapped in a bandage, gritting his teeth.
Jincheong was scanning the edge of the forest,
checking to the very end that no more enemies remained.
Reimeon’s face was also set in a pale grimace.
The medic, while remaining by Bido’s side,
had no time to rest, turning his attention to the other wounded.
Ailla looked down at the blood on her hand for a while.
Her fingertips were still trembling,
but it was a different trembling than before.
Miryeong kept Hadin pinned to the ground,
wordlessly looking around the battlefield.
It had been a short engagement.
But what they had lost was by no means small.
The wind swept past the narrow pass once.
The smell of blood still lingered thickly.
Miryeong muttered low.
“…This isn’t over yet.”
No one could answer those words.
The sun was already setting,
and the envoy left on the narrow pass, with too few people,
had come to a halt after shedding far too much blood.
Two Shadows had been subdued, and one had fled into the forest.
The battle was over,
but none could accept it as a light victory.