At Creta’s shout, Kilian, swaying but standing tall on his legs, tightly gripped the axe he had been holding on to.

Then, Hailey clung to Kilian’s legs like she was hanging from them.

Seeing that, Creta, Raymond, Blat, and Elizabeth also threw their bodies.

Kilian added weight to his lower body, ensuring that he didn’t sway in the wind.

Thanks to that, Kilian stood, with the axe held high, ready to swing.

Swoosh, the sound of the wind, and then a dull crashing sound cut through the air.

Their judgment was correct.
The axe flew with unwavering precision through the whirling wind.

However, just before it reached its target, it fell with a sound as if something exploded in the air.

Boom.

It was only for a moment, but the deafening noise exceeded the limit, making their ears feel stuffed, and for a brief moment, they couldn’t hear anything.

Whether it was due to the air shaking from the noise or not, a thick pile of snow collapsed over Jilian, revealing him.

“Duke!”

Without anyone being the first, a grieving call erupted, but it wasn’t certain whether Jilian looked at them.

Because, the moment he felt close, he literally flew past them in an instant.

As they watched it pass above their heads, they whispered simultaneously.

“It’s a dragon.”

With their realization, a terrifying vibration echoed again.

A familiar vibration that stung their toes.

As soon as they sent the dragon, they were immediately hit by another wave.

Thanks to the huge wings stirring the wind so fiercely, their field of vision exploded.

What they saw in the momentarily clear view was the appearance of monsters pouring down, smashing the remains of the 7th fortress.

The commanders stood still for a very short time.

They couldn’t figure out where to send the catapults.

“What are you doing! Hurry up! The Lord hasn’t escaped yet!”

It was Elizabeth who decided the direction to launch the catapults, with her face paler and more crumbling than anyone else.

Dropping round and hot ice from her eyes, Elizabeth broke the ice on the rope of the catapult, shouting again.

“I mean, hurry up! We need to save at least one!”

“What about that!”

At Blat’s words, Elizabeth wiped away the frozen tear marks on her face with her shoulder.

“We have to believe in the dragon that built Termina with Shizo!”

“Didn’t you see that it just grabbed and took away the Duke?”

“Then is there any other way besides believing?! The monsters seem more doable! Move!”

At Elizabeth’s shout, everyone began to move as if coming to their senses.

Soon, fireballs began to rain down like a meteor shower, filling the white sky.

The surroundings became dark and bitter.

And soon, it became acidic.

Bianca climbed up to the watchtower connected to the 4th floor and looked up at the sky.

Despite the raging snowstorm, so cold that her whole body felt like it would faint, Bianca stubbornly gazed into the distance.

The only thing filling her field of vision was pure white snow; there was nothing else to see.

But her gaze didn’t falter.

Somehow, it seemed like she had to do that.

She had asked the knights who participated in the wave before Laphin left, but the answers weren’t convincing.

Jilian ran away and disappeared faster than ever before, they said.

And after he disappeared, there was no news at all.

Then there were orders to retreat.

What did the commanders hear?
Bianca held hands with numb sensations and gazed endlessly at the northern sky.

It felt as if the world was trapped inside a white curtain.

Apart from the occasional fierce sound of the wind, it was eerily strange, making it difficult to distinguish between reality and dreams.

With nothing heard or seen, the only thing accompanying Bianca was the dreadful cold.

How much time had passed?

Her entire body was in such pain that, at that moment, all sensations truly started to fade away.

The snow stopped.

The wind stopped.

Except for the occasional white breath emerging like a new one, everything felt as if it had come to a standstill.

Bianca noticed that one corner of the white sky was distorted.

“Ah…”

No, it wasn’t distorted.

As she furrowed her brows, it became clearer, and as she blinked, it became even more evident.

Something was flying towards them.

Although it appeared as white as the sky, upon closer inspection, it was different.

It had a subtle radiance.

“A wyvern?”

However, it was a bit different from what Bianca had seen before.

It wasn’t like searching through history books or folktales.

She should have looked for information about creatures in the Demonology or those dwelling in the Balrog’s territory.

Regretting it too late, it had grown to a size where she could vaguely make out its form.

Even from a distance, it was enormous, and as it approached rapidly, it now looked truly gigantic.

Suddenly, it seemed like their gazes met.

For some reason, Bianca felt it when she was just staring at it.

Zzzick.

A chilling sound, as if glass were being scratched, began to be heard again.

Just when this happened.

Bianca clenched her teeth, but there was nothing she could do since the auditory hallucination had started.

Zzzick.

At the moment Bianca, shivering at the sound that made her nerves tremble, realized that something was flying towards her.

Although it looked like a white lump…

“… A person?”

Muttering quietly, Bianca felt a familiar sensation about that person.

The silver hair caught by the giant claws was shining!

Thump.

“… No way.”

Thump.

Her heart pounded heavily, pumping blood fiercely through her head.

Amidst that, the unpleasant sound resonating in her head persisted, but for the first time, Bianca couldn’t properly sense the auditory hallucination.

In her widened pupils, the clear vision of the person became more distinct.

The finely combed silver hair carried by the wind.

The long and straight legs swaying in the air.

The elongated arms hanging over the claws.

Bianca knew those arms.

They were the arms that used to embrace her with strength.

“No, no, no, no!!”

With a feeling of vomiting blood, Bianca screamed.

“Jilian!”