“Haa… Fast. They’ll be here soon.”
Miryeong frowned.
“There really isn’t a moment to breathe.”
Before she had even finished speaking, Erdin lowered his body.
Mendel took a step back and drew moisture to his fingertips.
Bido reflexively glanced back at the box,
then quickly looked away.
Now was not the time.
Aslo had already stepped forward as well.
Miryeong gritted her teeth.
“They’re fast. They’re not taking the forest. They’re just forcing their way through.”
From outside came the sound of trees breaking.
No, splitting.
Mendel quickly assessed the situation.
“We have to watch out for Mirkin.”
At that, Erdin nodded.
“Once you’re caught, you can’t move.”
“…It would be better not to assume the same trick will work this time.”
Aslo’s voice sank low.
“We cut him off before he can use Mirkin, if possible.”
He set his hand on the hilt of his sword.
“We have to cut him down before he unfolds it.”
Miryeong drew in a short breath.
“Aslo. If we’re stopped?”
“Then—”
Miryeong cut him off.
“Then we only have Bido.”
Mendel immediately responded.
“It won’t be as easy as yesterday. It’s dangerous. And we’re not even certain yet.”
“Lady Miryeong.”
Erdin turned his head.
Miryeong was already loosening her body.
She stamped her heel once against the floor and bounced lightly.
“I know. I’ll try to dodge somehow.”
She bared her teeth in a grin.
“That’s what I’m best at.”
Bido was listening to that conversation.
No, rather than listening, she was almost letting it flow past her.
Her gaze was already turned outside.
Beyond the wall,
another impact rang out.
This time, it was much closer.
The abandoned house trembled faintly.
Only then did Bido open her mouth.
“…The moment I should move.”
Aslo looked at Bido.
For a very brief moment.
Calculation and judgment passed between them at once.
“You’ll know.”
That one answer was enough.
Miryeong clicked her tongue.
“What a pain.”
Her ears stood completely upright.
“They’re right in front of us now.”
At that moment—
the sound coming from outside was no longer that of the forest.
It was the footfalls of a gigantic man.
Slow, but heavy,
and above all, they did not stop.
Erdin said in a low voice,
“He’s here.”
Aslo drew his sword and went outside first.
When he pushed aside the frame that could hardly be called a door,
cold air poured in all at once.
The damp air pooled inside the abandoned house scattered,
and the scent of the forest filled its place.
Miryeong followed him out.
Erdin and Mendel,
and Bido as well.
The four naturally spread out.
Though unintended,
the distance between them was already close to a battle formation.
The forest was quiet.
Before them, a massive man was already standing.
His armor was clean.
There was almost no sign that he had forced his way through the forest.
With a greatsword, neatly kept and without a speck of dust, resting on his shoulder,
he slowly walked forward.
He did not hurry.
He did not even catch his breath.
As though he had already arrived,
and was only now revealing himself.
Miryeong gritted her teeth.
“I’m getting sick of this…”
Adel looked over the group.
One by one.
His gaze was neither fast nor slow.
And then—
that gaze stopped on Aslo.
A very faint change came into Adel’s eyes.
“…I thought it might be.”
He spoke low.
“The demon hunter, Aslo.”
There was confirmation in the way he called the name.
It was not a question.
Aslo did not deny it.
“Paladin.”
With that brief title alone,
he made it clear that he recognized his opponent precisely.
Adel’s gaze moved again.
This time to Miryeong, behind Aslo.
The white-haired Haraya he had encountered yesterday.
“White weasel.”
Miryeong’s ears reacted,
but she said nothing.
Adel looked back at Aslo.
“Since when has a demon hunter been working with the Silver Moon Order?”
The moisture gathered at Mendel’s fingertips grew denser.
Erdin moved one foot forward.
Aslo did not move.
“You’re free to speculate.”
At Aslo’s words, Adel gave a short laugh.
“I am Adel Hartmann, paladin of the Empire.”
It was a short, dry laugh.
“The charges are already sufficient.”
He lowered the greatsword from his shoulder and planted it on the ground.
The sound of metal striking earth rang out low.
“A demon hunter.”
“The Silver Moon Order.”
“And—”
Adel’s gaze turned toward Bido.
Only for a brief instant.
But in that moment,
his brow narrowed ever so slightly.
Adel looked back at Aslo.
“Today, it seems I will cross swords with a demon hunter.”
Aslo spoke with his hand on the hilt of his sword.
“I suppose you have no intention of simply turning back.”
Adel cut him off.
“I begin the execution.”
His eyes began to turn red.
Aslo moved without hesitation.
Before his eyes had fully flushed red.
Before the air had completely settled—
the instant before Adel unleashed his power.
His leap left no sound behind.
Without even the sound of metal scraping through the air,
Aslo’s body vanished forward in an instant.
Lightless Slash.
It was the same as what Bido used, but its form was entirely different.
It was not a straight line.
Nor did it rely solely on speed to press forward.
Aslo thrust his sword out as though throwing it.
The moment his center of gravity leaned forward,
that very weight became the trajectory.
The air tore apart.
Adel’s eyes flashed.
The greatsword was raised at once.
He blocked it, certainly.
However—
Thud.
With a heavy impact,
Adel’s feet scraped against the ground as he was driven back.
His armor held.
The greatsword did not break either.
Aslo did not stop.
Letting the recoil from the deflection flow through him,
he twisted his body and drew his sword back again.
Azure Light Flowing Slash.
The movement of his sword did not break.
Slash—
flow—
and slash again.
Three connected trajectories continued like a single current.
Adel gritted his teeth.
The greatsword clashed again and again.
The sound of metal striking metal resounded through the forest.
He blocked them.
But this time, he had no leisure.
Aslo’s sword was not heavy.
But he knew how to use weight.
Each time Adel blocked,
vibrations built up in his arms.
That opening—
Mendel did not miss it.
The moment Aslo’s sword obscured his vision,
a mass of water flying in from the side slammed into Adel’s flank.
“—Kgh.”
Adel’s expression twisted for the first time.
At that moment, Miryeong moved.
She decided not to give him an opening.
She did not lower her body or measure the distance.
She simply stepped forward,
and drew up the wind as she did.
Compressed wind pressure struck Adel head-on.
The forest air was driven away all at once,
and the trees twisted.
However—
the air suddenly grew heavy.
The wind did not spread.
As if pressed down, as if torn apart, it scattered.
It was not Mirkin.
Vitality surged from Adel’s body as though exploding.
Idrin.
An aura of power amplified around his body crushed even the air.
They could not breathe.
It was not that their throats were actually being constricted,
but the sensation that the air they inhaled could not reach their lungs seized them all.
Their feet grew heavy.
Even taking a single step required will.
Miryeong gritted her teeth.
‘This is…’
In an instant, she realized her calculations had gone wrong.
The sense that he was fundamentally different from the paladins they had faced until now.
He was not strong.
He was higher.
A power looking down from one level above
the place where she stood.
Miryeong’s wind could no longer continue.
It had not been caught, nor repelled.
It simply—
did not reach.
Erdin’s body stiffened as well.
Mendel, trying to maintain the moisture, felt his fingertips trembling faintly.
Even Aslo could not immediately step forward again.
In the gap where a brief silence emerged,
that short opening—
Adel did not miss it.
His gaze slowly lifted.
His pupils turned red.
This time, it was clear.
The air sank once more.
In a different way from before.
Deeper, more blatant.
Mirkin began to unfold.
The air settled heavily.
There was no visible change.
No light, no sound.
But everyone there felt it at the same time.
Something had descended.
Aslo’s feet sank deep into the ground.
His body, which had been about to take a step back, no longer obeyed him.
“Kgh—”
His breath caught.
It was a pressure like an invisible hand pressing down from above.
Erdin gritted his teeth and endured,
but his back bent on its own.
Mendel barely kept his balance by bracing one hand against the ground.
And—
Aslo’s knee finally touched the earth.
He held himself up with his sword,
but anything more was impossible.
It was not a matter of strength.
The space itself would not allow him to stand.
Adel was looking down at that sight.
Mirkin was still being maintained.
The domain had not narrowed, and the pressure remained steady.
Then—
the flow of air deviated at a single point.
It was Miryeong.
She had barely twisted her body out of the domain that had been closing in on her.
The moment her foot kicked off the ground,
the pressure swept past to one side.
Miryeong did not stop.
The instant she landed, she changed direction,
and drove straight into Adel.
There was no time to hesitate.
The moment she entered his range,
Miryeong’s movements changed.
As she drew in a breath,
the air scattered around her was pulled in to match her motions.
Gale Dance.
Her fist went out first.
Immediately followed by a kick,
a turn, and a low stance once more.
The air clung to Miryeong’s limbs and flowed,
moving together with her actions.
Forward, to the side,
from above to below.
It was a movement like a dance,
but within it there was no pause.
A series of blows hammered at Adel without rest.
However—
Adel did not retreat.
His sword moved, and dull sounds rang out in succession.
Miryeong’s fist was blocked by the sword,
and her foot was deflected by his armor.
The air whirled violently,
but Adel’s stance did not waver in the slightest.
Mirkin did not tremble.
The domain was being maintained,
and Adel stood at its center.
Bido was watching that scene from a short distance away.
Bido was not looking at Miryeong.
Her gaze was fixed on Adel.
The timing with which he raised his sword to block,
the intervals at which he moved his feet,
his breathing, utterly undisturbed even under pressure.
And—
within that defense that seemed perfect,
the fact that Adel’s movements always repeated in the same rhythm.
Bido did not miss it.
As long as that rule was maintained,
Adel would not waver.
However—
rules always created openings.
Bido steadied her breathing and began waiting for that moment.
Miryeong’s wind burst out once more.
This time, it was a movement meant less to push forward and more to shake his vision and balance.
Adel raised his greatsword.
A familiar, relaxed motion meant to receive Miryeong’s attack.
That opening.
Bido moved.
She reduced her sound.
She lowered her speed.
This time, it was an approach that clearly minimized the risk.
Red Light Severance.
It was not a slash meant to end everything in one stroke.
A single blow aimed only to touch briefly, deeply, and surely.
Bido’s sword dug toward Adel’s side.
Adel already knew.
His greatsword moved at once.
Sword clashed with sword.
Clang—!
The sound of impact burst out.
It was blocked.
There was still composure on Adel’s face.
The expression of a man who had already accounted for an attack of this degree.
But,
the moment the blades touched—
the air loosened.
The pressure that had settled around Adel
was cut off as though severed.
The weight vanished.
Aslo’s body sprang up as if released,
and Miryeong’s feet lightly left the ground again.
Moisture gathered once more at Mendel’s fingertips.
Adel’s eyes shook greatly.
“…Again?”
He immediately stepped back.
But it was already too late.
He had felt it.
Clearly.
The moment he touched the girl’s sword,
his Mirkin—
vanished.
Adel’s gaze fixed on Bido.
This time, it was not a coincidence.
It was not merely a second instance.
“That did it.”
Miryeong said as she caught her breath.
“…When Lady Bido touches it.”
Mendel added in a low voice,
“Mirkin… disappears.”
A brief silence passed.
And at its center stood Bido.
Without lowering her sword or relaxing her stance.
Adel adjusted his grip on the greatsword.
This time—
there was no leisure.
“…I see.”
He spoke low.
“Now it’s certain.”
Adel’s eyes were no longer red,
but they still shone as though burning.
That gaze did not leave Bido.
Adel gritted his teeth.
But he was not rash.
A domination-type Mirkin could be maintained.
However—
it was not a power he could immediately draw out again.
Adel knew that fact more accurately than anyone.
In the space where the weight had vanished, Aslo regained his stance.
This time, he did not waver.
Miryeong also lowered her posture.
The wind gathered around her again.
Mendel and Erdin spread out to the left and right.
Even without intending it, they were already in a position close to encirclement.
Adel looked at that formation.
It was pressure.
It was a threat.
However—
it was not fear.
“Hmph.”
He exhaled shortly.
“I did not think you would be able to drive me this far.”
Then—
Miryeong’s ears trembled faintly.
The tip of her nose moved.
“…Aslo.”
She spoke low.
“Behind him.”
Adel’s gaze moved at once.
Beyond the forest behind him,
a slow but unmistakable presence.
It was the priest.
And—
the attendant following him.
Miryeong ground her teeth.
“They’re approaching.”
“From the feel of it, they’re not combatants.”
Even without saying more, the meaning was clear.
If he could not press down the battlefield again in this state,
then the priest would become someone he had to protect.
Adel’s eyes narrowed.
A variable against which Mirkin did not work.
The battlefield control that had collapsed because of it.
And—
his exposed rear.
Adel adjusted his grip on the greatsword.
“That is enough for today.”
It was not a declaration of retreat.
It was simply an assessment of the situation.
He looked at Bido.
This time, it was clearly the gaze of one looking at an enemy.
“If you had not interfered,”
“this would already be over.”
Aslo stepped forward.
“Next time—”
Adel cut him off.
“I know.”
He turned his gaze away.
“Next time,”
“your side will be the one forced to defend.”
The priest’s figure appeared faintly from the direction of the forest.
Adel turned his body toward the approaching priest.
With that single choice, the nature of this fight changed.
What remained was—
the girl whom Mirkin could not reach,
and the silence of everyone having understood that fact.