The Black Knight of the Blizzard

By mid-December, the winter cold had reached its peak. The raging cold snap was merciless, and the snow pouring from the leaden clouds showed no sign of ever letting up. The Vincent Marquisate was enduring that brutal winter along with everything else.

WHOOOOSH!

A blizzard swept through. In weather like this, it was hardly a rare thing—but the storm howling now was plainly beyond the natural order.

KUWOOOOOH...!

A roar shook the snow-covered earth. With every step of the massive snow yeti, the blizzard whipped all the more savagely around it.

"Damn it! That monstrous thing."

Uland, vice-captain of the Rombel Knights, spat out a curse as he watched its overwhelming advance from a distance. Draped in the swirling storm as it came on, the beast looked for all the world like it ruled nature itself.

Rare though it was, some monsters held the power to command nature itself—and the yeti striding toward them was exactly that kind.

A Corrupted Snow Spirit.

Its true nature was a warped existence—a once-pure spirit stained by destructive tendencies until, in the end, it had fallen into monstrosity. The essence of a spirit was gone from it now, but its dominion over nature remained, and every appearance it made brought calamity in its wake.

Uland turned to his men and gave the order.

"Mages, prepare your spells at once. Archers, the moment it enters range, fire on my signal."

"Yes, sir!"

They had rushed out on an urgent report, and the force Uland had brought numbered fewer than fifty. Of those, he had only two mages.

It was a thin line to be facing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a Corrupted Snow Spirit.

We have to pin the thing down until reinforcements arrive.

Knowing full well how difficult that would be, Uland steeled himself. And at last, the Snow Spirit stepped into range.

"Loose!!"

Thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip!

At Uland's command, a volley of arrows flew at once. With a target that large, there was no need for careful aim—the arrows simply streaked toward the spirit.

But—

Kuuuoh...

Before the arrows could even touch it, the blizzard circling the Snow Spirit batted them all away.

It was like armor.

Now and then an arrow pierced the storm and struck home, but it did no harm at all.

"Damn it."

Uland's face twisted at the sight. To fell a Corrupted Spirit, they had to destroy the core hidden somewhere in its body—and there were only two ways to do it. Either learn the core's location and strike it directly, or push through with overwhelming firepower.

The trouble was that the blizzard made even approaching the thing a struggle.

"Mages! Are the mages not ready yet?!"

"Just finished now, sir."

And with those words—

FWOOOOSH!

Riding a wave of searing heat, a rain of fire poured down from the sky. The target was the Corrupted Snow Spirit. It melted the snow in a single sweep, and the steam born of that fearsome heat blanketed the entire area.

"Kgh. Did it work?"

The power was greater than he'd expected, and a flicker of hope stirred in Uland. Even a spirit could hardly come through that unscathed.

But what followed betrayed that hope.

KUWOOOOOOH!

With another roar, a fresh gust scattered the steam in an instant—and out of it emerged the Snow Spirit, one of its arms gone. By appearances alone, it seemed gravely wounded.

Then, smoothly—

The snow all around it was drawn into the spirit as if absorbed, and the missing arm grew back before their eyes.

"Damn monster."

That was precisely what made the Corrupted Spirit so troublesome. So long as its core survived, it would simply keep regenerating its flesh.

"Fall back for now—"

The order died on Uland's lips.

Hundreds of ice chunks had formed around the Snow Spirit before anyone noticed, and they were already streaking toward them.

"S-Scatter!!"

KWAGAAAAAANG!

Even as he shouted, the ice came down like a hailstorm. It was closer to a natural disaster than an attack. Shields and armor were crushed like paper, and the chunks punched clean through the soldiers' bodies.

"Aaargh!"

"Kgh!"

The pristine white snowfield ran red.

When the barrage finally ended, the survivors could be counted on one hand—Uland among them. Even they were so gravely hurt they could not move.

Thud. Thud.

The Snow Spirit came closer. The blizzard howled around it.

Is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this the end?

Perhaps it was the cold, but he felt no pain—only a creeping drowsiness. Yet to close his eyes before an approaching enemy would be a knight's shame, and so Uland clung to his fading consciousness with sheer will.

And then a vast shadow fell over him.

The Corrupted Snow Spirit reached out its enormous hand.

Uland glared wide-eyed, as if he would resist to the very last.

And then—

WHAM!

A sudden explosion rang out, and the Snow Spirit went flying.

And sometime between one breath and the next, a knight in jet-black armor stood before Uland.

"Wh-What—?!"

"Are you all right?"

The black knight asked the stunned Uland. The voice from within the helm was younger than expected.

At the gaze that turned slightly toward him, Uland gathered his wits.

Reinforcements?

But racking his memory, he had never once seen a knight like that in the Vincent Marquisate.

"Please rest a moment. I'll finish this quickly and come help you."

The black knight walked toward the Snow Spirit.

Uland muttered under his breath, a strange look on his face.

"...Who is he?"

That was close.

Having confirmed that Uland and a few others still lived, Luden let out a breath. He hadn't been too late—but if their wounds weren't treated quickly, frostbite would set in and they might yet die of them.

Kuuuoh!

At that moment the Snow Spirit rose to its feet and fixed Luden with a monstrous glare. It had marked him—an enemy who had appeared from nowhere and dared to interfere.

A chill killing intent rolled over him, and tiny ice shards came pelting down like rain.

But the spirit's fury never reached Luden.

Driven into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a greater frenzy, the Snow Spirit began wielding its power in earnest. The blizzard surged savagely, and enormous icicles came hurtling in.

KRA-KOOM!

Under the spirit's relentless assault, cracks began to spider across the once-solid Mana Shield.

Yet there was no urgency in Luden's face. If anything, he was waiting—waiting for the spirit to pour even more of its strength into him.

That would make it far easier to strike at an opening.

"Sarah!"

"Waaargh!"

A black shadow streaked across the snowfield. At Luden's call, Sarah tore through the blizzard in an instant and drove her fist at the spirit.

POW!

The spirit's head burst apart in a single strike. But the gruesome scene he'd expected never played out—the instant the head went flying, it turned to snow and scattered.

"Ehhh?"

Sensing something wrong, Sarah let out a puzzled sound.

Unless its core was destroyed, the spirit would not die, no matter how completely its body was smashed apart.

"Good work."

But that was enough. Thanks to Sarah, the spirit had frozen in place—if only for a moment.

His eyes turned gold, seeing through to the spirit's very essence—the core hidden deep within its constructed body.

Having found it, Luden drew his sword.

A single bolt of lightning pierced precisely through the spirit's left breast.

Crunch.

With the distinct feel of something shattering, the spirit's body turned to snow and scattered down. With its core destroyed, it could regenerate no more.

Uland and the surviving soldiers, sprawled where they lay, were struck speechless by the sight. They could hardly be blamed—the monster they had struggled against so desperately had been cut down by just two people.

Feeling their gazes pour over him, Luden spoke.

"First, those who can't move—raise a hand. We'll start with you."

After felling the Corrupted Snow Spirit, Luden and Sarah carried Uland and the other survivors to a nearby village. Moving nearly ten people between the two of them was no small task, but Sarah ran ahead to the village and returned with a borrowed cart, and they managed to bring everyone in. Fortunately, the survivors were treated before long and pulled through the danger.

"Truly, I thank you. Without your help, my men and I would never have escaped annihilation."

Uland started slightly at the sight of Luden with the Night Armor dismissed, but he quickly bowed his head and offered his deep gratitude. If not for this man, he and his subordinates would have met their deaths at that monster's hands—even if not all of them had come home alive.

Reading the gloom in Uland's bearing, Luden spoke.

"The villagers have gone to recover the soldiers' bodies, so rest for now."

"I would like to, but I must report this to my lord without delay. I intend to leave as soon as the men's remains arrive."

"I see."

"If you're willing, why not come along with us? Speak to my lord, and he'll see you rewarded."

There was no reason to refuse. They were headed that way anyway, so Luden accepted the offer.

Three days later.

Arriving in the Vincent domain with Uland's party, Luden and Sarah were granted a meeting with the lord almost at once.

"A pleasure. Luden Kaisar, and Sarah."

The lord of Vincent was a middle-aged man streaked with white hair.

Luden greeted him according to the etiquette of the nobility.

"Luden Kaisar pays his respects to you, Marquis."

"Sarah greets you too, yep."

Sarah clumsily imitated the greeting beside him. Perhaps the sight wasn't bad, for Marquis Vincent chuckled and offered the two of them seats.

"I've heard the story from Uland. Without you two, it would have been a disaster, I'm told. I'm in your debt."

"You flatter me."

"You'll be formally rewarded for this, of course—but I hear you're a knight of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠considerable skill, Luden. Would you consider becoming a knight of our domain?"

It was an offer made in good faith. However much help he'd received, it was no common thing for a marquis to offer a knighthood to a man he had met for the first time that very day.

But Luden declined with an easy smile.

"I'm sorry. I still fall short in too many ways, and I have no intention of settling anywhere yet."

"A shame. In times like these, having someone like you around would put my mind at ease."

"Has something happened?"

At what sounded like a complaint, Luden asked, puzzled.

"Monsters have been appearing in the domain rather frequently of late. Even with the entire knight order deployed, we're short of hands."

Marquis Vincent spoke as though the mere thought ached.

A corrupted spirit was a monster rarely seen, but incidents much like it had been occurring one after another in the Vincent domain of late. The villages that had already suffered damage were more than a few. The reason they had failed to send Uland proper reinforcements in the first place was simply that they had no strength to spare.

"Goodness. What an uproar."

"It seems you've had your hands full."

"Which brings me to my point—while you remain in the domain, if only for the time being..."

At the pointed look in the man's eyes, Luden smirked.

"If someone like me will do, I'll help. However—"

"Of course you'll be compensated."

Marquis Vincent nodded readily.