Frost Wind (2)
The monster wave occurs every year. Only its scale varies wildly. Some years, a handful of beasts prowl about; in others, so many monsters cling to the wall that it seems ready to collapse under their weight.
Whenever signs of an impending monster wave appear, the Northern Grand Duke immediately visits the Ice Wall. He does so to gauge the monsters’ numbers with his own eyes. Because the event follows the same pattern year after year, the duke’s destination can hardly be kept secret.
“My lady!”
Dina Karmilton, daughter of the Karmilton Duchy, assisted the scouts with a small contingent of rangers. As the future heir to the ducal title, it was essential for her to learn the practical duties by helping her parents little by little.
“Something is wrong!”
“Report.”
“The monster tracks have vanished! It looks as though someone approached and the monsters fled!”
“A person?”
“Yes. A human.”
Dina frowned. This forest lay not far from the Ice Wall. The locals were no fools; when a monster wave drew near, no one ventured close to the wall. There should not have been anyone here.
Yet before long, the suspicious figures revealed themselves.
“Ambush!”
“!”
“My lady! You must fall back!”
Warriors clad in beast-hide armor and fur coats burst through the swirling snow.
“Form a defensive line!”
“Protect the lady!”
The rangers moved swiftly, shielding Dina. Their eyes burned with courage. Though the odds were overwhelmingly against them, not one showed fear.
But courage alone could not win the battle. The difference in numbers was too great. When a storm of arrows and hand axes rained down, the rangers fell one by one, bleeding.
Dina squeezed her eyes shut. The fallen flashed before her, yet she knew she had to press forward. She and her companions fought desperately to break through the encirclement, but the net refused to give. Comrade after comrade dropped.
“Haa… haa…”
Dina drew ragged breaths. The air of the snowfield was cold enough to freeze her lungs, yet her own breath burned hot.
“That will be far enough, Princess.”
“…!”
A man approached her. Tall, with a fierce gaze and a scar across his cheek.
“You are…”
“Sir Dan of the Liberation Army. It is an honor to meet you, Princess.”
“!”
Dina struggled to mask her shock. Sir Dan of the Liberation Army—the man whose name echoed louder than any other in the makeshift organization known as the Karmilton Liberation Army. His swordsmanship was exceptional, his movements elusive. Though a warrior, his reputation rivaled that of the commanders.
‘The Liberation Army…!’
Dina glared at him in silence. Outside, monsters raged ahead of the coming wave, and now rebels stirred within as well.
“This place is unsuitable. I will escort you somewhere safe.”
“Escort me…?”
Dina drew both swords. Their keen edges gleamed like frost.
Sir Dan met her gaze and knew at once: This will not be an easy fight.
Capturing her alive had never been simple. She was a skilled dual-sword wielder trained in the duchy’s secret techniques. If she fought with death in mind, the task would become far harder still.
“Take the Princess. Not a single scratch.”
“Yes!”
The Liberation Army warriors tightened their circle. Every escape route was vanishing.
‘I need to find a way…!’
Just as Dina racked her mind for a plan, a scream tore through the frozen forest.
“Aaaagh—!”
“…?”
A man in a black uniform burst from the trees. Without hesitation he shouted to Dina.
“Are you the lady of the house?”
“Watch out—!”
The stranger slipped past an enemy strike with fluid grace, then countered and sent his opponent flying. Dina’s mouth fell open. His movements were highly trained; this man had received proper instruction.
“You are…?”
“Dante Aision. I’ve come to escort you home, my lady.”
Dina’s face lit with a bright smile. A letter from her friend, Princess Esilia, surfaced in her mind.
A man named Dante of the Aision family will be heading your way. He’s a very close friend of mine. I’d be grateful if you could help and look after him.
Dante Aision. This man had to be the one Esilia had sent.
“Then I’ll be counting on you for an escort, Dante!”
“Leave it to me.”
Though only one man had joined them, the atmosphere shifted at once.
“…”
Sir Dan regarded Dante in silence.
Originally, Sir Dan had expected a difficult fight. Lady Dina herself was a first-rate swordsman, freely wielding the duchy’s secret dual-sword style. A careless approach would leave him torn to shreds. He had therefore fought with caution—until Dante Aision appeared and completely overturned the flow of battle.
The man fought with his fists. Not sword or blade, but bare-handed strikes. Sir Dan had thought such methods were only for men posturing with pride, yet what Dante displayed was entirely different.
He moved purely on the defensive, never overextending. He waited for attacks, then deflected blades with mana-infused punches. It defied every convention of hand-to-hand combat. A fist fighter’s natural instinct was to close the distance first, yet Dante simply waited, as though inviting his opponents to strike.
Absurdly, the tactic worked.
“What—! Urgh!”
Enemies who had merely been parried suddenly staggered and collapsed. One cried out in agony as he fell.
“Everyone, be careful! That bastard uses poison!”
“!!!”
The warriors scrambled away from Dante. He stood calmly, fists raised in a guard, waiting. His physical skill was devoted entirely to defense; the offense came from the Noon Fairies he dispatched with lightning speed. The result was that Dante only defended, yet his foes dropped one after another.
“Fall back!”
“…Captain!”
Sir Dan threw himself forward. Having watched Dante’s style, he had already devised a countermeasure. Dante’s hand-to-hand skill was nothing extraordinary—on par with any knight who knew how to fight. The real problem was the mysterious poison.
Sir Dan closed the distance in a flash. A streak of light erupted from his scabbard.
“…!”
Dante leaned back instantly. A chilling blade grazed his face, severing several strands of hair that danced in the air.
‘Fast!’
Dante was genuinely surprised. The big swordsman’s attack was faster than any he had ever faced—an overwhelmingly swift draw that felt like swinging light itself.
Sir Dan raised his sword and brought it down. A menacing mana blade roared toward Dante; one solid hit would split him like firewood. Dante poured every drop of mana into his body and knocked the strike aside.
Kaang—!
Sparks of mana flew, and a shockwave burst outward from the clash of opposing energies.
‘Quite the mana reserves.’
Sir Dan, too, was impressed by Dante’s capacity. For someone so young, he had clearly trained diligently.
‘…Still not enough!’
Before Dante could fully recover his stance, Sir Dan seized the fleeting opening and drove a kick into him.
“!”
Dante felt it clearly. This man… was truly strong. The pressure matched—or even surpassed—his father’s.
Dante detonated his mana to absorb the impact. At the same moment, the honeybee larvae embedded throughout his body released a massive surge of mana. His depleted reserves refilled at an incredible rate. Dante’s true mana capacity far exceeded what his appearance suggested, for the insects within him continuously replenished what he spent.
‘…?’
Sir Dan tilted his head, sensing something strange. It felt as though mana was regenerating inside the boy in real time. Was it his imagination?
He pressed the assault without pause, mixing sword strikes with kicks and shoulder charges. Whenever Dante blocked a blade, a kick followed; whenever he stopped a kick, a fist or shoulder ram came next. Yet Dante burned through mana at full throttle and weathered every blow. In an ordinary war of attrition he would have been at a disadvantage, but the Noon Fairies—larvae and bees alike—kept feeding him mana without rest, allowing him to endure the inefficient exchange.
At last, even Sir Dan could no longer ignore the anomaly.
‘What in the world is this guy?’
He stared at Dante in disbelief. ‘Mana is just… appearing inside him?’
It was not appearing by itself. It was being generated by the insects he nurtured within his body.
‘Just a little more…’
Dante’s eyes gleamed. Sir Dan’s attacks were growing faster, which meant he was growing desperate. He needed to finish Dante quickly and abduct the princess, yet his target refused to fall while defending, so his strikes grew wilder.
‘Come in a little closer.’
Dante waited for the perfect moment. Sir Dan was an extraordinary warrior; any half-hearted attack would only heighten his vigilance. Dante could not summon the massive swarm he had used in the capital—the northern cold rendered that technique unusable. So he had prepared a single trump card: sending every red honeybee in his body out at once.
“Let’s end this!”
Sir Dan swung his sword with abandon. It was the exact opening Dante had been waiting for.
‘Now!’
Dante deflected the blade and, instead of guarding against the follow-up, unleashed every insect at his command. From head to toe, dozens of red honeybees erupted outward.
“What…?!”
Startled, Sir Dan halted his attack and kicked, generating a violent gust of mana that scattered most of the swarm. Yet the red honeybees were mana lifeforms. One survived and drove its stinger into him.
[Don’t mess with our hive!]
“…!”
The sting sent Sir Dan’s internal mana into violent turmoil. An unpleasant sensation spread through his entire body.
“What… is this…!”
He realized too late. A toxin that disrupted mana itself. Some grotesque venom, born of an insect he could not even imagine, was flooding his system.
“…”
Sir Dan staggered backward. His mind grew hazy, as though he had drunk himself senseless.
“Retreat… Retreat!”
At his command the Liberation Army warriors hesitated, then melted into the forest like the tide receding.
“…”
Dina caught her breath. Most of the rangers lay injured, yet she herself was unharmed—thanks to Dante Aision’s timely arrival.
“Are you all right?”
The lady turned. Dante stood before her, offering a flawless bow. Dina found herself smiling without meaning to.
“Yes. Thank you. Thank you for your help, Dante of Aision.”