Book 2: Chapter 322
“Hoffman, Yuriah, you guys are okay.”
“Naturally. What’s that way? Why are you alone? Where are the others?”
“Everyone’s fine too.”
The other two members of the Swordnaz appeared from the grass.
“I’m sorry. As the leader, I failed to maintain my cool in a situation that demanded it. Instead of blindly chasing after the Monster Queen with no hesitation, I should have done my best to fully understand the situation in the forest first.”
“Enough of that. It’s already in the past.”
Eric smiled bitterly at Hoffman’s words.
Then, he finally looked at Lukas and opened his mouth as well.
“Ah. I’m glad you’re safe as well.”
“Yuriah helped me.”
“Is that so?”
“Look at this, Eric. There are traces of Lady Snow here.”
When Hoffman spoke in a slightly urgent tone, Eric nodded calmly.
“We saw that before and decided to hide here and wait for you guys to arrive.”
“You were waiting for us to arrive?”
“Thanks to Raven, we were able to ascertain Lady Snow’s whereabouts.”
“R-, really, Raven?”
“…”
The man called Raven was a blunt looking man with dark blue hair. Instead of responding, he simply nodded his head slightly.
“Lady Snow is headed towards the heart of the forest. It’s possible that she also eliminated all of the undead along the way instead of avoiding the enemies like we did.”
“Right. Even if hundreds of millions of undead were to gather here, they would not be a threat to Lady Snow.”
“…hundreds of millions?”
After softly muttering for a moment with a strange expression on his face, Eric continued.
“In any case, after following Lady Snow’s traces for a while, we eventually arrived at a cave. But we can’t go any further.”
“Why?”
“There is someone guarding it. Someone that the three of us can’t handle on our own.”
“…mm.”
Hoffman let out a soft sound, and Yuriah finally spoke up.
“The Monster Queen.”
“Right.”
Eric nodded and continued to explain.
“Do you guys remember? The Queen didn’t actually attack us, instead, she only burned the forest and passed through without caring about our life or death. What if her goal wasn’t to follow us, but instead, she was aiming for this forest from the start?”
“I don’t know. Regardless of what her goal is, it’s none of our business. Plus, there’s something that’s much more important than that.”
Hoffman’s eyes became cold.
“Can we break through the Queen and get to that cave?”
“…”
Eric didn’t easily respond.
The Monster Queen.
To be honest, when they first saw her, he judged that three of the Swordnaz would be unable to defeat her, and decided that it would be best to wait for Hoffman and Yuriah.
But even with their addition, he couldn’t guarantee that they would be able to win even if they were to go all out.
That was because he knew just how strong their opponent was.
“There is a chance of victory.”
It was Yuriah, not Eric, who muttered those words.
She wasn’t just saying this because she wanted to. Instead, it was a realistic and logical conclusion that she reached after carefully estimating the Swordnaz’s strength.
Eric asked in a cautious tone.
“Do you have a plan?”
“No. However, we have a helper.”
“…a helper?”
After she finished speaking, Yuriah turned to look at Lukas.
“If this man helps us, we can win.”
“Huh?”
Surprised, Eric turned to look at Lukas.
“Does this person have some kind of special power?”
Eric could also tell that Lukas was not a well trained Swordsman or Martial Artist from the state of his body.
He was not a Wizard either. It was none other than Yuriah herself that had affirmed this fact. (TL: How would Eric know that?)
“I can’t really explain it. But still…”
Just as a trace of doubt appeared in Eric’s eyes.
“Yuriah is telling the truth.”
An unexpected man bluntly came to stand beside Yuriah.
It was Hoffman.
Crossing his arms, he continued.
“This guy is reliable. If it wasn’t for him, we probably would have died.”
“…”
This was surprising.
Hoffman might seem like a hotheaded person at first glance, but surprisingly, he had a very keen eye when it came to people. It was also very difficult for someone as prideful as he was to acknowledge another person.
He even had a history of openly displaying hostility to Lukas before. This made Eric wonder why Hoffman, who hated to take back what he said, had changed his mind so easily.
‘Is this man that powerful?’
…He wasn’t sure.
However, Eric trusted his teammates.
“…you’re called Lukas, right? I’m ashamed to ask this, but can you help us?”
“I don’t know if I can be of any help, but I’ll do my best.”
Lukas didn’t want Snow to die, so it could be said that he and the Swordnaz shared a common interest.
“Thank you.”
After a brief word of gratitude, Eric’s expression became serious once again.
“Then let’s hurry there. Time is of the essence.”
* * *
“…”
Lukas blinked.
His expression was blank as if he was seeing snowflakes in the desert.
“What’s going on? Did he always blank out like that?”
“…he wasn’t like that last time.”
“I’m starting to feel a bit worried.”
The Swordnaz’s conversation didn’t enter his ears at all.
Instead, his attention was focused on the striking red hair.
The hair swayed gently in the breeze as if it was a flickering flame.
“…from what I heard, the Monster Queen often mumbles to herself while grabbing her head.”
“Is she mentally unstable or something?”
“I don’t know, but isn’t this a good opportunity?”
As he said this, Hoffman drew his sword.
“…be quiet. Shut up. Don’t interfere… I told you I don’t know… You can’t interfere… I… I…”
A faint muttering could be heard.
Her head was lowered so it was impossible to see her face.
Nevertheless, Lukas knew who this woman called the Monster Queen was.
It was at this moment that the Monster Queen lifted her head.
“…!”
Her red eyes met his.
Her lips parted.
“…I.”
Her identity was exposed.
It was the Phoenix that Lukas himself had named.
“Humans… burn them all.”
Burning hate was mixed into Nix’s voice.
“Kuk! Yuriah! Barrier!”
“Everyone, gather around!”
“Shit! This is a familiar sight!”
A sea of flames spread out as if it intended to consume the entire forest.
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