༺ 𓆩 Chapter 7 𓆪 ༻
「Translator — Creator」
᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ˚ ⚘ ᠂ ⚘ ᠃
“It’s not the main force.”
“And what is your reasoning?”
“Their numbers are too few.”
It was Rier Yung who spoke, and Arditi Günther gave a small nod of agreent.
“A scouting party.”
Ashen Wolves behaved much like ordinary wolves.
There was a reason scholars who studied the beings of Ashes theorized that these creatures had once been mundane animals, devoured by the ash and transford into monsters.
Wolves, by nature, moved in packs.
And sohow, that instinct remained intact even after their tamorphosis into beings of Ashes. The Ashen Wolves still road in tightly-knit groups.
'The problem is their abnormal scale, though.'
Roughly thirty wolves had charged at them.
Had they been normal wolves, this would have been an exceptionally large pack. But for Ashen Wolves, it was nothing out of the ordinary.
"Ashen wolves average around a hundred in number, with larger packs gathering up to several hundred."
"Because they don't need food."
"...You know quite a bit."
Ain Krieg, ignoring Günther’s glance, smiled calmly and murmured,
“If there’s a scouting party, it likely ans the Doggins squad wasn’t wiped out by the Ashen Wolves.”
“…Yes. Once those things start hunting, all the wolves unite as one."
It hadn’t been long enough for a scouting party of this size to break away again from the main group.
In other words, the Doggins squad, at the very least, hadn’t been devoured by this particular swarm.
"Well, at least we won't need to deal with overwhelming numbers."
"I genuinely like the sound of that. Truly,” Ain Krieg said, for once sounding completely sincere.
A single powerful creature would be far preferable.
A flood of bodies pressing in with sheer numbers, now that would’ve been trouble.
Crunch—!!!
Behind them, Lieutenant Langier slipped a candy into her mouth, sucking on it quietly as they moved on from the aftermath of the skirmish. It was obvious that dawdling here would only attract more wolves, and that would be nothing short of a headache.
How long did they walk?
Over the ridge, beyond the rise of a steep hill, they followed Rier Yung to the mouth of a cave nestled at the base of a towering cliff.
“This is the first supply point along Route D, the one the Doggins squad used for their reconnaissance. In case of ergencies, all units are to regroup here before returning to the fortress.”
Finding the frozen corpses hadn’t been a coincidence.
They had probably been heading for this stronghold.
Avoiding monsters was one thing, but in these brutal mountains, they would have needed supplies to make it back to base.
“It’s far too conspicuous for a so-called ‘stronghold.’”
Ain Krieg’s complaint wasn’t unwarranted.
The mouth of the cave before them was at least two ters tall, it was hardly inconspicuous.
"Normally, we'd have camouflage netting spread out..."
“Then it’s one of two possibilities. Either the monsters found the net and dragged it off to use as a blanket for the winter, or soone went inside and didn’t bother setting it back up afterwards.”
No one dared to speak the word ‘worst’, not out loud.
But it wouldn’t have been far-fetched to assu that everyone present was thinking the sa thing.
‘They might have escaped, only to be wiped out inside. Or, in the worst-case scenario…’
No. It was too early to say for sure.
There were no traces of blood near the cave entrance, after all.
With a quick glance, Arditi Günther sought Ain Krieg’s silent permission before raising her heavy lance and pointing it into the dark hollow of the cave.
She signaled slowly, standard military hand signs that any soldier of the Military State would instantly recognize.
‘Eugene Hailt. Lieutenant Langier. Stand by outside the cave.’
‘I’ll take point. Sergeant Rier Yung and Lieutenant Colonel Ain Krieg, follow my lead.’
Despite the cave’s size, it was still a potential deathtrap, isolated, enclosed. Only the most reliable would enter; it was a textbook decision, devoid of emotion.
Click—!!!
Ain Krieg followed suit, loading magic bullets into his revolver with practiced ease. On the other hand, Rier Yung, his fingers curled around the rosary looped in his palm, murmured a low prayer from the scriptures.
Step—!!! Scrape—!!!
Though they tried to muffle their steps, it was impossible to move in total silence across the uneven, lightless terrain that snaked deeper into the cave.
How far had they gone before their eyes adjusted to the darkness?
And then—
A familiar face began to erge from the gloom.
‘Human presence.'
Arditi Günther spread her palm, almost touching the faces of the two behind her, signaling them to stop; and then all their gazes turned toward the face of the man who had made the sound.
The mont they caught sight of the man’s face, both Rier Yung and Arditi Günther's expressions twisted subtly, caught between recognition and dread.
“Sergeant Doggins.”
“No.”
But imdiately after Rier Yung's stiffly frozen voice brushed past in a whisper—
—Skkkriiitch!
The grotesque sound of sothing rising, unfolding, scraping and slithering all at once, clawed at their ears; the figure that had been crouched in the shadows now began to rise, its movents disjointed and unnatural.
The mouth split wide, far too wide, stretching down beneath the neck, and in its glazed-over eyes, a flash of ashen light sparked.
—Kyehhhk. Grrrk!
A raw, grating rasp tore from its shattered vocal cords, tal dragged against rust.
It was at that very mont.
Crack—!!!
Ain Krieg, moving purely on instinct, yanked Arditi Günther by the collar and drew his revolver over her shoulder.
“What are you waiting for?”
He pulled the trigger and murmured, quiet as breath:
“Run.”
BOOOOM—!!!
A thunderous roar that couldn't possibly co from re mana bullets shook along the cave walls.
Rier Yung, Arditi Günther, and Ain Krieg rushed out of the cave without anyone taking the lead.
Thunderrrrr…!!!
The sound of sothing massive pounding against the cavern floor reverberated behind them. A glance backward showed fragnts of shattered rock flying through the air as the light slowly returned to their vision.
Squeltch—!!!
The grotesquely warped husk that had once been Doggins was torn to shreds, twisted and ripped apart like wet cloth as its own weight crushed it upon the debris-strewn floor.
By the ti they neared the cave’s entrance, the full horror of the thing revealed itself.
A grotesque amalgamation of rotted timber lashed together into the crude shape of a scarecrow, draped in what had once been the flayed skin of a human.
No, not just any human. It wore the peeled hide of Sergeant Doggins.
Ain Krieg recognized it instantly.
Of course he did.
It had been over two hundred years since he’d last killed this type of abomination, so many tis, in fact, he’d grown tired of it.
That thing… its na was—
“Dual Number. Number 98. Reaper of Ash!”
“How the hell do you know that?!”
“I got a little too curious and did so digging!”
“Is it strong?”
"Strong enough that I'd like to punch the Brigade Commander in the face right about now!"
Running beside him, Rier Yung’s voice was thick with sincerity.
Well, he was a priest of the Atonent Order, he couldn’t lie even if he tried.
“Huaaaahm… Hm?”
As they neared the mouth of the cave, Lieutenant Langier let out a long, languid yawn.
“...............”
Eugene Hailt, leaning casually against a tree and smoking beneath his hood, turned his gaze toward the three sprinting figures, and then toward the monster following behind, its eyes flaring with ash-gray light.
"Strangers."
“..............”
For a mont, Eugene Hailt blinked, dumbfounded.
Then ca swift judgnt, and even swifter flight.
Without a shred of hesitation, Lieutenant Langier spun on her heel and broke into a sprint toward the fortress.
Eugene Hailt wasn’t far behind her.
The sheer speed of their abandonnt was, in its own way, awe-inspiring.
Even Ain Krieg, who prided himself on pragmatism, found himself genuinely impressed.
“Now that’s fast decision-making!”
“One of our finest traits in the Cerberus Brigade, sir!”
“You think that’s a complint?!”
Ain Krieg sighed, half-exasperated, half-impressed by the raw survival instinct on display.
Ah, knighthood be damned, this was how soldiers were supposed to act.
Then, turning to Rier Yung behind him, he shouted,
“Take a hit. Just once, block one attack, Yung! That’s all we need for an opening!”
His voice brimd with certainty.
So Rier Yung, with a spark of desperate hope, asked the obvious question:
“You have a plan?”
Of course, it was Krieg, after all.
He might have fallen, a noble left to rot, a disgraced heir rely awaiting the date of his execution…
But still, that bloodline belonged to a ducal house. Surely he had sothing.
Especially in a mont like this, with all their lives on the line.
And perhaps sensing that expectation, Ain Krieg looked over with utmost sincerity and declared:
“We’ll make it out alive, and avenge you!”
“…Did you really just say that?!”
Before Rier Yung could even voice his disbelief, Arditi Günther shouted in his stead.
‘Ah, O Forgotten Lord,’ Rier Yung prayed briefly, even as a part of him felt strangely relieved by Krieg’s idiocy.
Then, sha prickling down his spine, he charged forward with all his might.
—Skreeeeeeee!
Behind them, the Reaper of Ash gave chase, still in mad pursuit of the next ragged corpse to wear.
Had they been running for another few dozen minutes?
Running through snow-covered mountains while dodging attacks from the pursuing monster's appendages, whether wood or tentacles, was absolutely no easy task.
Even Rier Yung and Arditi Günther, both Grade 4 specialist officers, were starting to falter.
That alone said enough.
‘At this rate, we’re finished!’
Arditi Günther grit her teeth
Rier Yung wasn’t faring much better.
Just as desperate thoughts swirled through both their minds—
“Jump off the cliff!”
Ain Krieg shouted without warning.
And before either of them could protest, his body vanished, plunging past the cliff’s edge.
That left the two of them with no real choice.
Neither had any desire to end up as the grotesque scarecrow’s next fur coat, sewn from their own skin.
“…Ain Krieg. Damn him to hell.”
“This goes beyond penance! It’s sadism!”
Both cursed the man who had dropped ahead of them, and without hesitation, they threw themselves from the cliff as well.
The wind slashed against their skin like razors, biting cold and wild.
Eyes squeezed shut, they could only pray that the writhing monster above wouldn’t have the sense, or the anatomy, to leap after them into the river below.
But their terror was short-lived.
Soon both felt sothing off and simultaneously looked at each other.
“…Huh?”
And then, looking up, toward the ledge from which they had just leapt, they saw the answer to their silent question.
“Haha…”
“…What the…?”
Ain Krieg.
He stood calmly beneath them, black eyes blinking in his usual deadpan fashion, one hand casually gripping a thick branch jutting out just below the cliff edge.
He gave them a little wave.
Then, with all the effort of soone climbing a staircase, he vaulted lightly back up onto the cliff top.
"We've been had."
That was the last thing Arditi Günther heard from Rier Yung before they plunged into the river.
END σϝ CHAPTER
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