What happens if you wander around alone in the dead of night, glowing blue?
The answer is simple: you get shot with an arrow.
Tung!
At the sound of something heavy being deflected, I turned my head.
Sweeek— thud!
An arrow sliced through the wind, grazed past my ear, and buried itself deep in the tree behind me.
The battlefield had already been a scene of chaos, but in that instant, it was as if time had stopped. I went blank.
I had barely managed to gather my resolve and step onto the battlefield, only to collapse back down again because of a single arrow.
“Wh-where did that come from...?”
I looked around, but the archer hiding in the darkness was nowhere to be seen.
The terror of nearly losing my life so pointlessly ran down my spine.
I hurriedly pushed more mana into the Waterflow Shield, forcibly increasing its size.
Its defensive power must have grown along with its size, but the mana consumption was no joke.
I poured almost all of my mana into it, yet the shield only ended up a little bigger than my head.
It was somewhat lacking for use in battle, but for now, that was the best I could do.
Crouched behind the shield, I caught my breath and looked out at the battlefield. The fierce melee was still going on.
Our side had succeeded in reducing Arnold’s group to four, but we had also lost one of our own.
Of course, he was not truly one of ours, so it was not that big of a problem.
The truly big problem lay elsewhere.
Somewhere in the forest, from within the darkness, someone kept shooting arrows.
At first, I thought it was the mercenary who had come with us, but he had already fallen on the battlefield.
And the arrows flying in were clearly aimed only at our side.
“Is that... reinforcements for Arnold?”
Drek, who had returned at some point, muttered as he peeked out from behind a tree.
His gaze, like mine, was fixed on the darkness beyond the forest.
“No, look over there.”
Baldik pointed with his finger.
Arnold, too, was hiding behind a tree, looking around.
He also seemed unable to pinpoint the direction of the arrows.
“They’re getting hit too. They’re not with Arnold.”
In other words, a third force.
They had been hiding somewhere around here from the beginning, and now, at this point, they had begun to move.
And now that the situation was starting to tilt, they had revealed their true colors.
They had probably judged us to be the greatest threat at the moment.
Just how many requests had that broker scattered around? The responsibility was clear.
The other groups seemed to have begun noticing it as well, and gradually reduced their movements while keeping one another in check.
The melee had, before we knew it, transformed into another contest of watching and waiting.
“If we go out now, they’ll target us first.”
Baldik spoke in a low voice.
I quietly steadied my breathing and licked my dry lips.
If we went out now, we would be shot by arrows and finished.
But even if we stayed still like this, the tide of battle would soon turn against us.
Then Drek quietly opened his mouth.
“Can you use more magic?”
I shook my head.
“Other than the Waterflow Shield... I don’t have enough mana.”
Truthfully, even originally, there was barely any magic I knew how to use.
Baldik looked at us with thoughtful eyes, then spoke carefully.
“Then... can you use that shield to cover us a little?”
I blinked.
“With the shield?”
“Yeah. We just put that shield in front and charge like hell.”
Baldik pointed somewhere in the distance.
“Let’s just take down that bastard Arnold and run.”
I looked troubled.
“But the shield isn’t that big...”
“It doesn’t need to cover everything.”
Baldik continued.
“Just for a moment. It only needs to get us over there. We’re just looking for an opening.”
It was true that, because of the arrows flying in, Arnold had become isolated, and he was not that far from here. It did not seem impossible.
“Hmm...”
Drek looked down at the shield.
His wooden shield was already cracked in places after that brief battle.
“...It won’t be easy.”
“What is easy in this situation?”
Baldik sighed and gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.
“Still... if we’re only aiming for Arnold, it’s not as if there’s no way at all.”
One method came to mind.
“Could you possibly get some water... some water?”
“Water?”
“Yes.”
“Water, huh... There should be some lying around nearby.”
Hearing that, I looked around and saw several canteens near the corpses strewn across the battlefield.
At that moment, Arnold’s voice rang out through the darkness.
“Hey! You sons of bitches, how about we all just go our separate ways?”
Even after surviving two clashes, he was still in good shape.
No, if anything, he was even acting sly, as if he were enjoying the situation.
The battlefield had entered a brief lull because of the arrows flying from somewhere in the darkness, but he did not miss even that opportunity and was trying to shake us.
“I don’t know what the hell you’re doing this for, but at this rate, you’re the ones who’ll be fucked!”
That tone. That expression.
It was definitely not the attitude of someone who “knew nothing.”
‘So he knows it’s because of the ring.’
If it was something important enough that he could not let it go even though it was this dangerous, then there was definitely something about the ring.
“Is there any need to listen to that bullshit?”
Baldik said in a low voice.
“But if we go out now—”
Just as I was about to object,
“Ah, screw it! I’ll just go and get them.”
Baldik cut me off and launched himself forward.
“Baldik!”
I shouted, but he had already burst out from behind the tree.
His small frame quickly slipped through the dark battlefield.
In that brief instant, the figure that shot out moved like a shadow between bushes and corpses, heading for the target point.
Tung!
The sound of a bowstring rang out again.
Sweeek— thud!
An arrow pierced through the darkness and flew in.
But this time, its trajectory missed.
Did he dodge it?
Holding my breath, I stared in the direction Baldik had gone.
His silhouette quickly picked up two canteens lying on the ground.
“Got them...!”
And soon, he threw himself back into the bushes at the edge of the battlefield.
A leap and retrieval completed in the blink of an eye.
His senses and reflexes were astonishing.
I thought he had returned safely.
“Are you all right?”
I approached him as he collapsed into a sitting position, gasping for breath, and asked. He handed me the canteens while panting.
“Something like this... is nothing.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than blood dripped from his shoulder.
“...Blood! Baldik, you were hit by an arrow!”
A short, sharp arrowhead was protruding from his left shoulder.
Drops of blood slowly flowed down from the tip of the arrowhead.
“Damn it... shit, you’re right. If only I hadn’t hurt my leg earlier.”
Baldik cursed under his breath and grimaced.
“Still, I can move with this much.”
He forced a smile as he spoke.
But his face was already turning pale.
As if the wound was painful, Baldik quickly lay himself down. Struggling to hide the pain on his face, he tried to catch his breath for a moment.
I was worried about his condition, but there was something more important right now.
Behind the bleeding Baldik, Drek slowly rose to his feet.
His eyes were still staring into the darkness.
“...”
I focused on the Waterflow Shield once again.
When I opened the canteens, the water inside was smoothly drawn in.
The streams of water became part of the shield and slowly expanded, but once it grew a little past the length of my forearm, it stopped getting any bigger.
‘Damn it, were two not enough?’
I needed more water.
I was thinking of going to pick up more canteens, but at that moment, Drek spoke.
“That’s enough. Let’s go.”
“...Will it be all right?”
We decided to carry out the so-called reckless charge—or idiotic rush—that Baldik had mentioned.
The plan was for me to charge in front with the Waterflow Shield raised, while Drek followed behind and blocked enemy attacks.
It seemed insane, but in the current situation, it was the best method we could choose.
Baldik was, for all intents and purposes, out of combat.
Only the two of us remained.
I raised the Waterflow Shield high.
The shield was large enough to cover almost my entire upper body, but fear still surged over me.
The feeling of breaking through the middle of the battlefield brought a pressure I could hardly even imagine.
But I was not alone.
Drek was behind me.
If not for his reassuring presence, I would not have even attempted it.
“We go on three.”
Drek’s low, firm voice reached me.
I took a deep breath and emptied my mind.
‘I can do this.’
One, two.
“Three!”
I put strength into my legs and charged forward.
Tung!
The sound of something being released rang out the moment I kicked off the ground.
As expected, they were aiming for us.
Sweeek— thud!
An arrow scraped past the dirt.
Fortunately, perhaps because reloading took time, we were able to run for a short while without threat.
Tung!
Sweeek—
Soon, the second arrow flew in.
Kang!
The arrow struck the shield and bounced away with a sharp metallic sound.
The impact forced my arm back and made me slam my nose hard, but this was not the time to care about minor pain.
Arnold stood before my eyes.
The look in his eyes as he glared at us was cold and unwavering.
Unlike us, he had no shield to hide behind, and was holding his ground behind the tree as he was.
Thanks to that, we were able to get almost right in front of him.
“Fuck me. Shit. The good days are over.”
Seeing us close in right before his nose, Arnold muttered as if sighing.
Even so, he slowly raised the sword in his hand.
“...What a foul mouth.”
Drek said in a low voice.
Now, a collision was unavoidable.
I gripped the shield firmly.
I drew my mana up to its limit and compressed the Waterflow Shield even more solidly.
Was it because I had wrung out too much mana?
Or was it the aftermath of slamming my nose into the ground earlier?
I felt something warm flowing down from my nose.
Arnold still showed no sign of backing down.
He lightly rotated his sword, adjusting his strength.
“Hoo...”
I took a short breath.
Then I threw myself forward.
Thud!
I kicked off the ground and thrust the shield straight ahead.
I tried to slam it into Arnold’s upper body, but—
Thud!
“Kgh!”
Arnold swung his sword sideways in an instant and diverted the flow of the shield.
The shield was pushed aside powerlessly, and my balance wavered.
There was no way he would miss that opening.
Shuuk!
Arnold’s sword cut sharply through the air, coming toward my side.
I instinctively twisted my body to dodge, but—
Slash!
It tore through my leather armor and scraped across my skin.
‘Ghh—he’s fast!’
It happened in an instant.
But I could not just take it, either.
I raised the shield with all my strength and pushed forward again.
Thud!
The shield struck Arnold’s shoulder hard.
“Ghk...!”
Arnold lost his balance and was pushed back one step.
I could not let this chance slip by.
“Drek!”
The moment I shouted, Drek was already moving.
Shwak—!
His dagger cut through the air like lightning, aiming for Arnold’s waist.
Clang!
However, Arnold reflexively twisted his body and blocked the blade with his chainmail.
It was thanks to his gear, but his reaction speed was astonishing.
“Not bad...”
Arnold smirked and raised his sword again.
Our plan to rush in and end it in an instant had failed.
‘If this drags on...’
Then we would be the ones at a disadvantage.
The third force that had been shooting arrows from the forest might move again.
I quickly racked my brain.
Then—
Tung!
Sweeek— thud!
Another arrow flew in, and this time as well, it struck the shield dead-on.
Pat—!
The Waterflow Shield shattered into pieces, bursting apart in a spray of water.
The shape maintained by mana scattered, and my upper body was exposed in an instant.
“Kgh...!”
My arm went numb. At the same time, fear surged over me.
Facing him without a shield was suicide.
Arnold’s sword dug in sharply once again.
I barely managed to roll away and dodge, but a shallow cut appeared on my forearm.
‘Fuck...!’
Drek tried to pounce from behind, but Arnold instead pressed close to me.
‘I have to create an opening somehow—!’
My breathing grew ragged.
My mana was almost depleted, and there was only one thing I could do now.
A handful of water scattered on the ground, and all the mana I had left.
I drew the remnants of the water being absorbed into the earth up into the air.
As I swept my fingertips, small but dense droplets of water rose into the air.
[Condensation]
I scattered the droplets that had gathered and condensed above my palm straight at Arnold, who had charged right up to my nose.
On a battlefield without sunlight or moonlight, in the darkness where only firelight flickered, the droplets veiled his eyes.
“What the hell is this...!”
A moment of confusion.
There was someone who did not miss that moment.
Drek moved.
A short but sharp one-handed thrust.
Arnold tried to raise his sword to block it, but
I appeared from behind and seized his body, dragging him down.
“Ghk! Get off—”
That brief interference broke Arnold’s balance, and thanks to that, Drek’s dagger succeeded in striking its mark with precision.
Puk.
“Ggk—!”
With an agonized groan, Arnold clutched his throat and collapsed.
Leaving Arnold to crumble where he was, we quickly hid ourselves behind a tree.
It was time for arrows to come flying. I had no shield to protect me, either.
For a long while, I lay flat behind the tree with my heart pounding madly.
I held my breath in the air mingled with the stench of blood, earth, and damp sweat.
But strangely, with Arnold’s death, no more arrows came flying.
In the silence that settled over the battlefield, the sound of someone walking—step, step—echoed from behind the tree.
...Who is it?
My mana was depleted, and my body would not obey me properly.
Gripping my dagger in trembling hands, I waited for the sound to draw closer.
Then came a familiar voice.
“...Is everyone alive?”
It was Baldik.
Relief spread through me.
Whether he had stopped the bleeding on his own or not, a bandage was wrapped around his shoulder.
“...Is your shoulder all right?”
“Of course. This much’ll heal in a day!”
“That’s a relief.”
“Did that bastard shooting arrows run off? I should’ve caught him!”
“Probably...”
While we exchanged idle words, Drek appeared holding something small and glittering.
It was a ring set with a deep blue gem.
When did he grab that?
Had he gone in alone and taken it?
Perhaps it was his own way of being considerate.
Not only the ring, he also had a suit of chainmail slung over one shoulder.
The bloodstained chainmail dangled and swayed.
“Oh! Is it finally over?”
Baldik said, looking at the ring, his voice tinged with expectation.
“It’s just beginning.”
Drek’s brief words lent an odd sense of reality to the moment.
Right. It wasn’t over yet.
Above all, whether the mercenaries remaining back there would let us leave so easily was uncertain.
Preparing for any possible situation, we put Drek’s small shield at the front and slowly retreated.
As we fell back carefully, watching every direction, we found someone who had remained.
“What the hell? Where did everyone go?”
Aside from us, there was only one survivor.
Bleeding, he sat collapsed on the ground, staring at us with hollow eyes.
Had his stamina run out, or had his spirit broken first?
He simply sat there.
He wasn’t a traitor, and there was no particular reason to kill him, but... one must never let one’s guard down.
I glanced back.
While we had been fighting, it seemed he had not simply stood by either.
Traces of battle remained all around.
What was stranger than that was the fact that the others—the survivors—had all disappeared.
Only one remained alive. The rest had all vanished.
What remained were several corpses stabbed to death, and a blue-green corpse lying face down with a sword buried in its abdomen.
...Blue-green?
In that instant, a chill ran down my spine.
“Run!!”
Drek shouted sharply.
At the same time, something came rushing through the forest with a rustle, sweeping through the leaves.
“Damn it, are we too late?”
“Shit, what the hell is this!”
I reflexively drew up my mana.
[Waterflow Shield]
But my mana had already hit bottom.
A shell-like shield, barely retaining its shape, rose above my hand.
Baldik fell back with a heavy breath, and Drek approached my side with his shield raised.
“They’re coming from behind, too!”
“There are... too many!”
Thud—
Something fell from a tree.
A small, withered figure.
“Kiek!!”
It was a goblin holding a spear.
And behind it,
two, three... no,
more than ten of them appeared.
“What the hell is going on...!”
In a frenzy, I looked back.
The path we had come from.
Beyond it, goblins were crawling out as well.
“We’re surrounded.”
Drek’s words were short and firm.
“Damn it. How did they know this place?”
Baldik gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his sword.
“They weren’t aiming for us.”
Drek turned his head.
“From the start, this entire forest was a trap.”
Only then did it make sense.
Why the others had disappeared without a trace.
They hadn’t fled.
They had been eaten.