Chapter 114
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 114
Oscar’s posture drew an invisible line down the middle of the carriage.
Thanks to this, Seo-ah’s personal space felt strangely spacious. The same couldn’t be said for Abel, who was crammed beside Simon in the remaining area. Simon, for his part, kept stepping on Abel’s feet.
“I’m fine, so you drink first.”
Not wanting to disturb the tense atmosphere, Seo-ah leaned toward Abel and whispered. He leaned closer in return.
“If you start to feel sick, let me know. I have medicine.”
“I’m fine.”
“Or should I give you a hand or neck massage? It’s surprisingly effective.”
“Ha.”
Before the playful smirk could fade from Abel’s face, a frosty scoff cut through the air—as sharp and intrusive as the black shoes planted firmly between them.
“…”
“…”
Flinching in unison, the Outsider and the Gold Digger shot a stealthy glance at the master of the carriage.
He seemed thoroughly displeased with the documents he was reading. Or perhaps even their quiet whispers were a distraction.
Just as Seo-ah hurriedly tried to pull back to her side of the carriage—
“……!”
An indescribable chill seized her entire body.
The strange uneasiness that had been stirring in her stomach suddenly began to churn violently. A shudder that made the hair on her arms stand on end raced through her, a visceral revulsion like seeing a writhing, swarming mass of maggots.
Her unsettling premonition had been right all along. Her mouth fell open. She had to tell them something was coming, but the skin-crawling, swarming presence choked the words in her throat.
“Hey.”
She must have shivered, because Abel reached out and grabbed her arm. But the trembling wouldn’t stop.
Sensations she could previously only grasp with deep concentration now flooded her senses, unbidden and overwhelming.
Something was swarming beneath the earth, beginning to rise. It wasn’t just one or two. It could only be described as a legion.
As she focused on the unseen threat, a pair of hands suddenly gripped her shoulders. He spun her around to face him, sending his documents scattering across the floor.
Oscar didn't spare the papers a single glance. Having yanked Seo-ah around to face him, he realized her eyes weren’t meeting his. Her gaze was unfocused. Worse still, she wasn’t breathing.
“Breathe!”
Oscar’s thunderous shout startled the Wolves both inside and outside the carriage.
His powerful voice snapped Seo-ah’s consciousness back from where it had been reaching beyond the carriage walls. As she gasped for air like a drowning person breaking the surface, Oscar barked at her again.
“Breathe, and pull yourself together!”
As if that weren't enough, he cupped her cheek with one hand, forcing her wandering eyes to meet his.
“Look at me.”
“…”
“Look straight at me!”
“…It’s… it’s coming…”
The carriage screeched to a halt, the sudden momentum throwing Seo-ah forward into Oscar. He held her so tightly that she didn’t fall, even as the remaining papers cascaded around them.
The scattered documents and the suspicious stares of the Wolves didn't register. Oscar’s world had narrowed to her brown pupils, which were darting about in a way he had never seen before.
The carriage came to a complete stop.
Her focus returned, and their eyes locked. The moment their gazes met, it felt as if an invisible line had finally connected.
“Your Excellency, what is the matter?”
The carriage door flew open, revealing one of the Wolves. As the wind whipped stray hairs across her face, Seo-ah spoke in a trembling but focused voice.
“Something has come up from the ground.”
“What?”
“There are too many of them. Too many… There’s… there’s no end to them.”
“What on earth do you mean by—”
Oscar’s frown deepened, but he cut himself off, his eyes widening. Still holding her by the shoulders, he shot a quick glance out the window before barking an order to the Wolf at the door.
“Check if the Magic Dome is active.”
But before the man could move, a shout echoed from outside.
“The Magic Dome has stopped!”
That shout was like a detonator.
Simon, who had been venting his irritation on Abel’s feet, was the first to bolt from the carriage. Oscar immediately released Seo-ah’s shoulders and followed. Abel swept the fallen documents from the floor, shoved them into his bag, grabbed their essential gear, and took Seo-ah’s hand.
Wolves instantly swarmed around Oscar and Simon. Amidst the frantic stamping of hooves, the scouts from the front and rear of the convoy galloped into view.
“Earthworms are rising to the surface!”
“We’ve come too far to turn back!”
The true danger of the Rock Forest had always lurked beneath the ground. Just then, a rustling, scraping sound began to echo through the quiet woods. The skin-crawling sound of hard shells scraping against earth rushed toward them like a tidal wave.
There was no time for anger.
The Wolves in charge of navigation immediately spread a map of the Rock Forest before Oscar and reported their position. He made a split-second decision.
“We go through the underground tunnels. Put all unnecessary baggage in the carriage and burn it. Abandon the horses. We travel as light as possible.”
Oscar drew a longsword from the side of the carriage. As his blade left its sheath, the Wolves surrounding him drew their own in silence. Abel, holding Seo-ah with one hand, gripped his own sword with the other.
The sound of the creatures drew closer by the second. That was how the earthworms always were. Like a tsunami that reveals its true power only when it crashes ashore, the silent, swift creatures only appeared when they were right on top of you. Because these were experienced Wolves, they had sensed the threat just in time; normally, victims were devoured without a moment to prepare.
The Wolves moved like a single organism. Even in this crisis, no one had to ask what their role was.
Among them was the Outsider.
Seo-ah had only managed to throw on Theresia’s coat. All her other belongings were abandoned in the carriage, which was now being doused in oil. Though she looked intimidated, she didn’t ask frantic questions or make a fuss. Her head was slightly bowed, her expression unreadable.
“Hurry…”
Her quiet murmur was lost in the howling wind.
Having finished his preparations to lead the charge, Oscar glanced back. Seo-ah stood with her head bowed, dwarfed by a coat far too large for her. The Backup Team surrounded her, and Abel held her hand in a tight grip.
“…”
He had faced situations like this as naturally as breathing. This barely even qualified as an incident. No matter what it took, he would get through this place.
Never once in his life had he considered failure. Armed only with the absolute certainty of success and the will to make it happen, he had carved his way through countless hells.
Yet, on every one of those journeys, he had always been prepared to lose a limb. Wolves had died tearing through those hells, and his own body was covered in scars. But he had never been afraid. When all he had to protect was his own life, there was nothing to fear.
But now, Oscar found himself terribly distracted by what he was leaving behind him.
The sensation of dread licking at his heart was disgusting. It was true even though he knew the Backup Team would keep the woman alive, no matter the cost.
The navigator wolf began to run. Oscar cast all distracting thoughts aside and followed. The moment the Reinhardt carriage was engulfed in flames, every Wolf dashed into the Rock Forest.
The pack split into two groups.
The core forces ran alongside Oscar, forming a protective vanguard, while the rest of the pack guarded the target who had to be protected at all costs.
“Ahead!”
At the shout, the Wolves running near Oscar surged forward, overtaking him. In the hazy moonlight, filtered through a lunar halo, dozens of scorpions as large as a human torso swarmed over the rocks.
It was a sight so grotesque it could have given a faint-hearted person a heart attack.
Yet the Wolves who overtook Oscar threw themselves at the swarm without hesitation. The blue-tinted blades they raised in unison gleamed menacingly in the dim light. Swords infused with mana sliced through the air, carving through the beasts’ hard carapaces.
Slice, slice.
The skill of the Combat Team 1 Wolves was peerless, easily the best in East Norfolk.
Like an icebreaker, the pack plowed forward, carving a path through the pitch-black tide of demonic beasts. Despite the monsters rushing at them like a raging torrent, the Wolves did not slow down. In a place like this, losing momentum meant getting trapped. The moment they were surrounded, defeat was certain. Everyone was desperate.
Seo-ah gritted her teeth and ran to keep up. The training her master had forced on her every day was finally bearing fruit. Her own ragged breathing roared in her ears, and a quick glance to either side revealed a terrifying swarm of beasts that made her blood run cold. If she looked any longer, the endless horde would plunge her into despair.
So, she ran while looking only at that man’s back.
Dressed in his white shirt, he seemed to shine, a lone point of light in the blackness that filled her vision.
Just then, a scorpion’s tail whipped toward his flank as he kept his eyes fixed ahead.
“Your Excellency!”
A Wolf’s urgent shout echoed through the chaos. Seo-ah, who had been running with her eyes glued to Oscar’s back, gasped, her eyes widening in shock.