Chapter 44
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 44
Thalia shoved through the panicked soldiers scrambling for their weapons. Amidst the collapsed tents, several corpses came into view—so mangled they were barely recognizable as human.
Fear twisted her stomach into a painful knot. Yet, the terrifying thought that Barkas might end up like that made it impossible for her to stop.
She sprinted across the campsite, a chaotic graveyard of discarded belongings, desperate to catch up to Barkas. He had already moved a considerable distance away.
Suddenly, a heavy thud shook the earth.
Thalia turned toward the sound, the color draining from her face. Not far away, a Wyvern had landed. It was currently swallowing a soldier whole.
Every time the monster’s massive jaws ground together, blood overflowed, drenching its black maw in crimson.
The sight was so surreal that her mind struggled to process the horror. Thalia stumbled backward, her legs trembling violently. Then, amidst the sea of soldiers rushing forward with leveled spears, she spotted Barkas. She screamed his name at the top of her lungs.
“Barkas! Barkas!”
She ran toward him with the frantic intensity of a child who had finally found their parent in a crowded marketplace. Barkas, who had been shouting orders to the knights, snapped his head toward her.
The moment their eyes met, his widened in surprise before narrowing into a sharp glare. He looked furious that she had ignored his instructions and run into the fray.
His cold gaze sent a chill down her spine, but Thalia didn’t stop. Her mind was consumed by a single, desperate thought: she had to get to safety with Barkas.
Don’t fight. Let your subordinates handle it. Just stay by my side.
The words were little more than a silent, selfish tantrum, tangling incoherently within her ragged breaths.
Though it was impossible for him to have heard her over the din of battle, Barkas strode toward her as if he understood. Thalia reached out her hand, desperate to touch him.
At that moment, a faint scream pierced the air.
“Barkas!”
Barkas’s head snapped toward the sound instantly.
Following his gaze, Thalia’s eyes widened. Aila was standing alone in the middle of the carnage. She must have been separated from her guards in the confusion. As she stumbled blindly, a massive, dark shadow loomed over her head.
Seeing this, Barkas threw himself forward without a second’s hesitation.
Thalia watched him move away from her in an instant, her mouth hanging open in a daze. A miserable plea escaped her constricted throat.
Don’t go.
Don’t go to her.
A sob, hot as lava, erupted in her chest, burning her throat.
He snatched Aila up, pulling her into his arms as they rolled narrowly out of the monster’s path.
The beast, having missed its prey, let out a savage roar. Its black claws raked the ground, tearing through earth and stone. Barkas drew his sword and pushed Aila behind him, shielding her from the enraged creature.
However, the monster did not dwell on the target it had missed. Its massive head swung back and forth, nostrils sniffing the air, until its glinting red eyes locked onto Thalia.
She froze. As if excited to have found a new target, the monster’s pupils dilated. In the next heartbeat, its heavy body lunged at her like a snake gliding across water.
The movement was so swift she didn’t even have time to scream. Thalia felt herself hoisted into the air, her body hooked by talon-like claws.
Looking down at the ground as it rapidly receded, Thalia’s eyes darted around in a panic. She saw the soldiers scurrying below, shrinking until they were the size of ants.
Overwhelmed by the impending doom, Thalia thrashed her limbs desperately. But the pressure crushing her chest only grew tighter. It felt as though the sharp claws would pierce her skin and tear her apart at any moment.
Looking up at the monster with terror-stricken eyes, Thalia finally managed to find her voice.
“He—help me…! Someone, please…!”
But her voice sounded pathetically weak, even to her own ears. She gasped for air, struggling to scream again.
Just then, a flash of light flickered in the bluish darkness, and a powerful gust of searing air brushed past her face. Thalia shrieked. The monster holding her let out a piercing screech and began to thrash its body violently.
The force squeezing her waist felt as if it would snap her in two. Her vision blurred into a white haze. Overcome by a profound sense of exhaustion, her limbs went limp. A moment later, her body was flung into the void, and she began to plummet.
After a few seconds of freefall, a heavy impact slammed into her, and everything sank into darkness.
*
She couldn’t tell if she was awake or unconscious. The thought occurred to her that she might be dead. But soon, as if to deny that possibility, an immense wave of pain washed over her.
Thalia gasped for breath like livestock moments before slaughter, letting out a low, guttural groan.
It hurt. It hurt so much. Yet, she couldn’t even tell where the pain was coming from—it was everywhere.
“Ugh… hngh…”
She tried to crawl away from whatever was weighing her down, but the intensifying agony was too much. She buried her forehead in the cold dirt, sobbing. Then, catching a pungent, acrid smell, she forced her head up.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw the limp carcass of the Wyvern. A terror-filled sob escaped her as she realized the monster was dead.
As if it had been caught in a magical blaze, half of the creature’s wings were charred black and shriveled. Embers still glowed red on its heavy, scale-stripped hind legs.
She stared blankly at the corpse before bracing her palms against the ground and painfully pushing her upper body up.
That was when she saw the large rocks and pile of dirt crushing one of her legs. It seemed she had tumbled down a slope during the fall.
I have to get out of here…
Thalia twisted her body desperately to pull her leg from the debris, but she collapsed again, unable to endure the white-hot pain. It wasn’t just her leg; her chest, shoulders, and arms—every inch of her throbbed.
She wondered if every bone in her body was broken.
It was entirely possible. In fact, she didn’t even know how she was still alive. Or perhaps, she was simply in the process of dying.
She looked around with eyes clouded by fear.
Deep darkness had already settled over the ravine. She wondered if this was what it felt like to be buried alive. It was becoming increasingly difficult to breathe.
She wanted to lose consciousness, but strangely, her mind only grew clearer. Unable to bear the escalating agony, Thalia clawed at the ground with mangled fingernails. Tears streamed down her face incessantly.
“It hurts… it hurts so much… Barkas…”
She had no idea why she was murmuring that name. The image of him turning his back on her to run toward Aila flashed through her mind like a brand.
She could never be the most important person to Barkas. To him, the ones he had to protect at all costs were always Aila and Gareth.
Hot tears soaked her cheeks.
“No… still… he’ll come looking for me.”
She whispered the words as if to convince herself. She was the Emperor’s daughter, after all. He was a man with a strong sense of responsibility; surely he would at least try to find her body. He wouldn’t just leave her like this.
Clinging desperately to that thought, she stared intently into the deepening darkness.
Before long, even the embers glowing on the monster’s skin faded away, and the world was submerged in total blackness.
When there was no sign of anyone coming, no matter how long she waited, she squeezed her parched, cracking throat to murmur a little louder.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. He’ll be here soon. Soon…”
But her voice was quickly swallowed by a sudden burst of sobbing.
Thalia bit her lip and covered her mouth with a trembling hand. She didn’t want to cry.
If I cry, it’s like I’m admitting it. That no one is coming for me…
She forced the bitter wail, a mixture of pain and despair, back down into her gut. Then, she repeated her murmur once more.
If she just waited a little longer, Barkas would surely come. And just as he had once pulled her out of the mire, he would save her again.
Surely he would. Surely…