There was no one who could stop the completely rampaging Ascan.

The soldiers of the Razent Empire, chasing the traces of Tanashia, found Ascan but were unable to move beyond him.

“Aaaaah!”

A soldier whose body was on fire screamed desperately, but no matter how much water they poured, the fire didn’t extinguish and raged even more fiercely.

As per Dekain’s instructions, Ascan had been confronting the soldiers of the Razent Empire alone for a long time.

Numerous spears were aimed at Ascan, and he, too, was using the unquenchable flames to block countless enemies.

It seemed like the entire forest would turn into a sea of fire.

In the distance, pursuers from the Kalua Empire, who had spotted the flames, began to gather.

Their original purpose was to capture Ascan.

There was no reason to hesitate when the target was right in front of them.

Tendai, a former knight, spoke first.

“Subdue that lunatic first. We’ll deal with the soldiers of the Razent Empire.”

“Hey, this is the moment we’ve been waiting for.”

Andro laughed as if possessed, then pulled out a violet liquid from the glass bottle he had been holding in his arms.

The mysterious liquid emitting an aura was none other than an anesthetic.

Andro, injecting the anesthetic into five syringes, threw them towards the wildly leaping Ascan as if throwing darts.

Quish!

One syringe was caught by Ascan’s hand, and the others couldn’t penetrate his steel-like body; the needles broke.

Suddenly appearing behind him, Andro, who had a sly smile, forcefully stabbed a syringe into Ascan’s neck.

“Kkeut!”

The wildly thrashing Ascan’s pupils momentarily clouded over.

Due to the anesthetic, the force throughout his body was forcibly drained. At the same time, lost consciousness gradually returned, and thoughts came to mind.

‘Miss…’

Ascan’s gaze involuntarily turned towards the direction Tanashia had left riding a horse.

‘By now, has she safely escaped?’

In his mind, there were only worries about Tanashia.

Andro didn’t leave Ascan, who collapsed like a broken puppet, alone. Immediately, he stepped on Ascan’s head and, with an angry voice, murmured lowly.

“You son of a b****. Do you know how many comrades died when you escaped?”

Squish! With dirty shoe soles, Andro forcefully pressed down Ascan’s head.

“I promised that if I caught you, I wouldn’t leave you alone.”

Thud, thud! Immediately, Andro, who had fallen to the ground, mercilessly began to beat the fallen Ascan.

Due to the anesthetic, his steel-hardening ability was not working well, so he could fully feel the pain. However, Ascan didn’t even groan as he usually would.

It was then.

With a rough kicking, a handkerchief that had been in Ascan’s arms fell.

Inside the fallen handkerchief were dried flower petals.

It was the flower that Tanashia had inserted into Ascan’s ear in the research room.

─ Beautiful.
Tanashia’s playful laughter and the way she had affectionately touched Ascan’s face last night vividly came to mind.

Because he couldn’t bear to discard that precious flower, he had secretly kept it.

“What’s this?”

Andro was about to step on the flower with his shoe, imitating how he had stomped on Ascan’s head.

Without any resistance until now, Ascan, who was taking a beating, quickly reached out and covered the fallen flower petals on the ground.

“Hey, look at this.”

Andro repeatedly kicked Ascan’s palm, which was holding the flower petals, as is, but he didn’t withdraw his hand at all.

It belonged to Ascan.

It was the precious flower Tanashia had given him.

Andro stared at the scene as if dumbfounded, then drew the sword hanging from his waist. Anyway, he had no intention of taking Ascan away unscathed.

“I don’t know what it is, but if it’s that precious, hold onto it well.”

Andro raised the sword high into the air, shouting once again as if he was about to strike.

“I’ll cut off your hand along with that if you don’t let go!”

With a fierce momentum, Andro thrust the sword towards Ascan’s wrist.

Clang!

Unexpectedly, the sound of metal colliding rang out.

If he were an ordinary person, his wrist would have been cut off, but miraculously, Ascan’s body hardened like steel, protecting himself.

Seeing that, Andor let out a chuckle, arms crossed.

“Alright, let’s see how long this steel-hardening lasts.”

The moment Andro was about to swing the sword again at Ascan, Tendai, who had finished cleaning up the remaining soldiers of the Razent Empire, approached and said.

“Enough, let’s go.”

“What? It was just getting fun.”

“Do it later. The location isn’t good now. I don’t know why the soldiers of the Razent Empire came all the way here, but we need to leave before more gather.”

“Ugh.”

Andro, dissatisfied, stuck out his tongue as if complaining, then grabbed the limp Ascan, who was lying like a corpse, by the neck and dragged him away like a sack.

Due to this wind, Ascan could no longer protect the fallen flower petals on the ground.

‘No…’

In Ascan’s eyes, the flower petals he had cherished were being trampled and crushed under several people’s feet.