Jade trusted Axel. He was confident that he wouldn’t be in danger. Since he wasn’t one to boast needlessly, it was probably confidence based on his abilities.

The method was simple. Axel would be angry, but there was no other choice.

She didn’t stop walking. She had to be the clueless prey wandering by the water’s edge.

But at the same time, with the magic stone in her hand, she slightly pushed up the sheath of her dagger inside her clothes.

No one knew why monsters preferred magicians as prey. In fact, it would have been better for them to avoid magicians. They were, after all, more powerful than ordinary people and therefore difficult to hunt.

So everything was just speculation.

But someone claimed it was because monsters were life forms abandoned by God.

That’s why they became obsessed with magicians, who were said to have inherited the spirit of God. To reach God.

Among them, the essence left by God was magic power. A gift from God to people and a trace left behind.

And while magic power flows throughout a magician’s body, the place where its energy is felt most strongly is in the blood.

Thud.

Something red dripped down at her feet. It was cut deeper than she thought.

Jade thought she might have to wait patiently for a while. It would take some time for the smell to spread.

But there was no need. Immediately, the shimmering on the water’s surface stopped moving. And the water shot up into the air like a fountain, finely reflecting the moonlight.

No, it might have been the monster’s white gleaming teeth reflecting the light.

Even though it was what she aimed for, she was greatly surprised by the unexpected speed of the reaction.

Jade tried to throw the magic stone on the ground to use it, but her hand was caught by something.

Suddenly, Axel’s body was blocking her from behind as if to protect her, and his longsword in front was fixing the monster’s mouth open.

“Should I have told you not to bleed either?”

His voice was fierce, but Jade shrugged.

“This was the only way to lure it out of the water. It wouldn’t have come out even if you swam in the lake.”

Even though she had shown it the most delicious bait, the monster hadn’t completely left the water.

No, it might have been closer to being unable to leave. Its shape was similar to a mermaid. The back part submerged in water didn’t seem to be legs.

Where human ears would be, there were just holes, and nearby were torn-like textures that looked like gills. However, proving its carnivorous nature, its multiple rows of teeth were sharp as knives.

The monster tried to break the sword by applying pressure with its mouth, but the sword remained steady and sharp without wavering. He was holding it properly with just one hand.

“You really.”

Don’t listen.

He quickly grabbed her hand with his other hand and wiped off the blood. Then he smeared it on his own face. A long red mark was drawn across his cheek.

“Hey, are you crazy?”

“As much as you are.”

Axel pushed Jade back with one hand.

“Go. Use the magic stone if it’s dangerous. Run!”

Jade hesitated for a moment, holding the horse’s reins. The monster wailed pitifully. As if it knew its desperately desired prey was about to escape.

Axel shouted sharply.

“Keep your promise, Jade!”

Stepping backwards, she mounted the horse with a familiar movement. And she started running without looking back.

The horse ran very fast. Jade muttered curses inside her mouth, almost biting her tongue.

“Damn, hell, like Denebola’s booger…!”

Denebola was the only monster with a name and the one who died in the stupidest way in the world. When two people ran away in opposite directions, it stamped its feet in frustration and tried to split its body in half to chase both of them, resulting in its death.

So the booger of that monster was the worst curse in the world. It was very appropriate to express this situation.

But Jade admitted that she wouldn’t be of help.

If Jade were there, Axel would have to fight while protecting her. So just running was the right thing to do. That was actually the way to help him.

Even so, the feeling of helplessness was unavoidable. Jade cursed and cursed again at the Athanase Forest where magic couldn’t be realized with every hoof beat off the ground.

Damn forest. Why does no one answer my prayers here? God is supposed to be everywhere! There’s a sky here too!

The horse finally reached where tall trees lined up.

If she ran a little more, there would be a space with slightly shorter trees lined up, and from there she could walk to the house. The house was really close….

Then, a sound that made her whole body shudder was heard.

Grooooowl.

Startled, Jade quickly pulled the reins to stop the horse.

“This sound….”

And as if to prove she hadn’t misheard, the same sound shook the sleeping forest once again.

It wasn’t heard through the ears, but seemed to run from the tips of her toes and fingers to pierce her head with a tingling sensation.

It was a very uneasy and eerie reverberation. It was also a sound that heightened some kind of energy.

Jade had heard such a sound before during the Western Subjugation Campaign.

It was the sound of a very strong monster calling out monsters weaker than itself. So it meant that the monster in that lake was a powerful individual dominating this area.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

From experience, most knights easily handled one monster, but dealing with two simultaneously was tricky.

From three, there was a risk of injury, and from four, injury was certain. Even if they were insignificant ones, they were dangerous when attacking in a group.

That’s why pairing with magicians was important. If there was no pair, at least a magician who could realize defensive magic had to accompany them.

“−. −−.”

Jade muttered the spell sharply, but there was no change. The flames that always flickered around her were calm without a trace.

“Damn it, damn it!”

How could magic betray her at the moment she needed it most?

Her head was boiling with anger. She hadn’t imagined it would be such a powerful creature. She thought it was just a small one since it only targeted children.

Jade admitted that she had ignored the danger lurking in the Athanase Forest due to the peace so far. Even though that peace wasn’t created by her hands, but by Axel and Ollie.

She tightly gripped the stone in her pocket. At least she should have given this to him! Since he said magic stones work….

‘By the way, magic stones can be used. I tried using it to create flames.’

Suddenly, something struck her mind. Wait. What conversation did we have before that?

‘Jade, why do you think magic doesn’t work in this forest?’

‘I don’t know the reason, but in the Athanase Forest, could it be that God can’t hear those prayers?’

His wrinkled mouth stretched into a gentle smile.

‘Think about it carefully.’

Think about what?

It felt like everything that happened throughout the day was scattered like puzzle pieces in her mind. They were spinning around haphazardly in her head.

Jade took a deep breath and started to put all the pieces together in order.

The face of Nina, who had the courage to recall what she didn’t want to remember, and Pavel, who loved his daughter. Ollie’s gift and enigmatic words. All the places she walked through the forest with Axel, the unspoken promise she made with him. The monster in the lake.

And, the sword blocking her path and the strong body holding it.

When her thoughts reached that point, it felt like she had been struck by lightning.

If this land was really cursed, and God couldn’t hear her voice. If that’s why He couldn’t hear her spells.

‘Magicians and knights form pairs.’

‘Magicians inherit the spirit of God, and knights receive the body of God.’

Then, if there’s a knight there, aren’t the two of us enough? If spirit and body come together, isn’t that surely a complete God?

It was just logic pieced together without any evidence.

Nevertheless.

Jade turned her horse around. Axel would surely scold her later, but it was worth trying.

She didn’t want to leave him alone knowing he might be in danger. Even if that was arrogance that had been accepted outside the Athanase Forest.

She started galloping back to the lakeside.

The time it took to return to Axel’s house had felt very long, but once she decided to go back to the lakeside, it felt as if her horse had grown wings.

She retraced the path in an instant. The small trees disappeared, and she was buried between trees that swallowed even the moonlight, then the smaller trees near the lakeside began to appear again. She thought she caught a glimpse of the rippling lake in the distance.

Jade didn’t slow down.

Soon, a horrific scene unfolded in the distance.

The monster, its tough skin already scarred with gashes, was still not defeated. At that moment, Axel, seizing an opening, swung his sword down again, and with great force, inflicted a wound so deep on the monster that its internal organs were visible. Blue blood trickled down.

However, in just a few seconds, that wound began to heal. It was a peculiar ability that monsters who had eaten many humans sometimes possessed.

But before he could get irritated by this, Axel had to behead another monster charging from the side and kick away yet another one.

His sword seemed to have grown longer again, but it was unclear whether that was just the gleam of the blade reflecting the moonlight.

At that moment, Jade’s eyes caught sight of monsters crawling out of the water, keeping their bodies low.

She tried to shout a warning to him, but at the same time, the largest monster opened its mouth and lunged at him.

So she acted on pure instinct.