The Wild Lioness on Her Instincts

“You bastard…! Get the hell out of here!”

I had no idea why, but Cha Heera was definitely chasing me.

The look in her bloodshot eyes was enough to raise goosebumps all over my skin, and she was grinning like some deranged beast while letting out a low, rumbling growl, as if she were imagining all sorts of horrible things.

Damn it…

Cha Heera had always been someone who could at least handle herself, and now she’d turned into a bomb.

Unlike Jung Hayan, who I had managed to stop just before she blew, Cha Heera was completely outside the range of anything I’d expected.

Normally, when you do something, there are things that fall within the realm of prediction.

No, most things are like that.

This expedition was the same. Even if I’d realized it a little late, I’d still been able to infer the cause of the wave, and the collapse of the First Wall had already been an expected outcome.

We’d prepared for a great many variables in this defensive battle, and there was already a manual for what to do when a named monster appeared.

Just the variables I’d simulated myself numbered in the dozens.

But I had never, not once, imagined a lunatic situation where one of my allies would come charging after me.

I’d never once simulated a scenario like this in my head.

That kind of thing was never in the calculation.

After I’d blown the head off the monster next to her, watching her sprint straight toward me was almost comical.

It was absurd enough that she could even run up the wall.

For some reason, I felt like I knew why ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she wasn’t looking at the enemy but at me.

Once I thought of her unique quirk, the Fierce Lioness True to Her Instincts, the answer came quickly enough.

Cha Heera was in a state where her intelligence and reasoning had been lowered. She probably hadn’t considered a situation like this, either.

Normally, if Cha Heera activated that trait, she would have rampaged across the battlefield like a blood-crazed madwoman.

She would have focused on unleashing the violence that had always been coiled inside her.

This time, it felt like something other than violence had exploded instead.

If something like this had happened before, I was sure she would have warned me at least once.

So this is the first time for her, too.

It had to be.

Useless overall evaluation! I’m definitely tearing you apart later.

As I’d expected, she was already completely swallowed by instinct.

What stood out most was her absurdly high strength stat and the fact that her growth limit was listed as Mythic or higher.

Is that even possible?

That alone told me everything I needed to know.

She felt like the kind of woman who’d blow away if she sneezed too hard.

The Red Mercenary members staring at her as she charged this way were filled with a bewildered, almost unbelieving confusion.

“W-Why?”

“Run, for now!”

Of course I needed at least one shield to stand between me and her.

I casually skimmed the status window and immediately saw his stats.

Not bad.

He looked like he could hold Cha Heera off once or twice.

He wasn’t bad to keep around.

“Has something like this happened before?”

“N-no. Never. Not like this….”

Even while he was answering me, Cha Heera kept climbing the wall.

I’d run as far as I could to put distance between us before she made it up, but with my agility and stamina, even if I ran, it was no better than a flea trying to outrun a horse.

“Block her!”

“R-right!”

At my order, he thrust out his shield in a daze and tried to stop Cha Heera, but he was sent bouncing into the inner side of the wall before he could block the foot she’d kicked out.

Crack!

“Aaaahhh!”

There was no doubt his bones had shattered.

She’d retained just enough reason not to make the mistake of killing one of her own subordinates, but if he’d been an ordinary person, he probably would have burst apart and died before he even hit the ground.

“Yuliena! No! White Fall! White Fall!”

What came to mind in that instant was the gryphon White Fall, who had come here with us.

I had no idea whether it heard me, but screaming for it was the only thing I could do.

But the creature I’d thought would be brave said nothing back at all.

I didn’t know whether my voice couldn’t reach it, or whether it was simply being cautious because it thought it would be in danger too, but if it was the latter, then that gryphon was mine through and through.

I had considered whether maybe I could just let Cha Heera catch me, but in the worst case, every bone in my body could be crushed, so running was the wisest course.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Yuliena hanging at my waist shot off toward Cha Heera in a hurry.

She’ll buy me a little time.

She definitely would.

Even in the middle of a defensive battle, for this kind of thing to be happening was absurd beyond words.

One section of the wall was failing to conduct a proper defense because Cha Heera had lost her reason.

Win or lose, if we wanted this siege to end in victory, the right move was to drag her into the city first.

Get her down below the wall first.

Even without Cha Heera or me, the defense would continue without much trouble. Of course, if the mother of that cub held captive by Small Rock showed up, things could get a little different, but the troops fighting to defend Castle Rock already knew the tide of battle had turned in our favor.

So long as the remaining command staff weren’t idiots, there wouldn’t be any immediate problems.

Even as I ran in a panic, I could hear screams behind me.

She was probably smashing through everything in her path with her arms as she charged. Of course, a light shove from her would be damage no one else could endure, but now wasn’t the time to worry about other people.

“Grrrrr….”

What the hell is she, a monster?

Her breathing was getting closer and closer.

I had a thousand terrible possibilities flickering through my head for what would happen if she caught me, but no one could guarantee my body would remain intact.

It was right then that someone grabbed me.

I’d almost screamed without meaning to, but the sensation of my body ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shooting upward made me realize something different had happened.

When I opened my eyes, the one holding me was not Cha Heera but Cho Hyejin.

“Phew!”

“What in the world is going on…?”

“It’s a long story. For now, it would be best to run deeper into the city.”

“Ah… yes.”

“Please be careful, Ms. Hyejin.”

“Yes.”

“How’s the defense battle going?”

“It seemed to be proceeding smoothly. For now, the vice guild master appears to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be being chased by Cha Heera-nim….”

“Good. Does command know about this situation?”

“I told them that the vice guild master and Cha Heera-nim were leading part of the forces to intercept the monsters infiltrating through the underground waterways.”

“Who said that?”

“W-well, I said it for now… ah! I’ve left overall command of the defense battle to the Giant Guild Master.”

She’d become a little more flexible.

It was probably to avoid causing confusion among the troops, but I still felt like praising her a little for lying.

I also liked the fact that the Giant Guild Master had taken command.

He was sharp enough to question the troop deployment on the western wall, so he’d surely run the defense battle according to the manual.

“But… Cha Heera-nim all of a sudden….”

It was extremely awkward to explain.

In the first place, even I didn’t understand what was happening.

I kept my mouth shut, and perhaps she took that as a sign not to ask any more, because she quietly nodded.

Right now, though, it seemed like she was barely able to focus because Cha Heera was chasing us.

The difference in our stats was so absurdly huge that even though we were weaving through alley after alley, Cha Heera was smashing the buildings inside the city as she came after us, clearly furious that she’d lost sight of me.

While carrying me in one arm, Cho Hyejin kept sprinting deeper into the city, dodging every fragment of debris that flew from the shattered buildings.

Because she was moving so fast, the scenery kept changing in an instant, flashing by in a blur.

“Grrrrrr….”

The creepy growling that never stopped echoing through the streets was so absurd it made me let out a hollow laugh.

That’s how ridiculous the situation was.

It was beyond the level of a variable I never expected.

By now, it was almost enough to make me wonder whether Song Jungwook, now a corpse, had squeezed out the last of his strength just to curse me before dying.

That was how unreal this situation felt.

There was no way she would stay in that state forever.

As a trait, it almost certainly had a penalty and a time limit attached.

Once more, I looked at Cha Heera through my Mind’s Eye, and her trait information flew into me like a dagger.

I was certain this function hadn’t existed before. It looked like a new feature that had come bundled in with the evolution of my Mind’s Eye.

One hour.

Only eleven minutes had passed so far.

It felt like thirty minutes had gone by already. Still, the fact that there was a time limit was something I could only be grateful for.

If the condition had been that it lasted until Cha Heera ran out of stamina, I might have made a far more extreme decision.

“I can hold out for about an hour.”

“What?”

While Cho Hyejin was still reacting to me, Cha Heera was already visible in the distance, hurtling toward us.

“Watch out!”

At my shout, Cho Hyejin turned sharply, but it felt like we were already too late.

Clenching her lips, she hurled me toward the outside and drew a spear in one smooth motion.

She probably wouldn’t be able to stop her. The difference in their stats was just too severe.

But my prediction was wrong.

A heavy crash rang out, yet Cho Hyejin wasn’t sent flying outward. After the first burst of air split the space between them, what I saw was Kim Hyunsung blocking Cha Heera.

Hyunsung!

Our Hyunsung had saved me and Cho Hyejin from danger.

Of course, the gap in their stats was enormous.

Kim Hyunsung, trembling as his hands shook, was hardly a familiar sight.

And yet, after I saw divine power pouring into him, I understood that he hadn’t come here alone.

Turning around, I saw Sun Heeyoung reaching out a hand toward Kim Hyunsung, while Jung Hayan silently glared at Cha Heera.

With Kim Yeri and Hwang Jeongyeon here too, I was left just a little dumbfounded.

“What the hell is this all of a sudden, sir?”

Park Deokgu was also standing in front of me with his shield raised.

“I don’t really know either. I’m not sure why, but she seems to have gone berserk….”

“That’s probably right. I’ve heard enough about the Mercenary Queen’s trait to know the basics.”

“I see.”

“It’s a trait that lowers Intelligence to increase attack power, and the expected time is about an hour… Some time has already passed, so if we hold out just a little longer, it should end. I don’t know why this happened, but for now, I think stopping Cha Heera-nim comes first.”

“What about the wall?”

“The defense battle itself is going smoothly so far. It should be fine if we step away for a little while.”

The one who answered me was my lovely regressor.

“Ah… yes.”

“We subdue her without killing her.”

“Is that even possible?”

At Park Deokgu’s skeptical question, Jung Hayan shook her head.

I didn’t know whether she was planning to sever Cha Heera’s breathing right here and now, but the way Jung Hayan’s eyes were burning gave me a slight chill.

Of course, if Cha Heera died here, the situation would become even more complicated.

No, to be honest, if we looked at things purely in terms of strength, our party was at a severe disadvantage.

The one who should be worrying about losing her head wasn’t them. It was us.

The reason the balance of power could still be maintained at all was the presence of Hwang Jeongyeon, who was essentially a high-ranking mage, and the regressor, who was showing more than anyone could have imagined.

Cho Hyejin was also one of the finest talents available for keeping that balance in place.

If the three of them weren’t here, then Park Deokgu, my human shield, would be cut down in about three seconds.

Kim Yeri would last around fifteen.

Once the vanguard collapsed, there was no need to even mention what would happen to the rear line. They’d all be flattened in a heartbeat.

“I don’t know what the hell is going on, but….”

I wasn’t the only ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one confused.

No one here could have predicted that the monster wave would turn into a situation where we’d have to stop Cha Heera instead.

This was supposed to be such an important event….