It continued to produce Ronan’s voice. The skin that he had found strange from the first time he saw it was loosely, barely clinging on like rotten clay. Cold sweat trickled down his spine. The man he had saved… was not human.
[Master Mage? I’m hungry, so I want to eat Master Mage.]
How could it produce Ronan’s voice if it were human?
Something was spat out from its mouth with a plop. A single finger rolled across the floor. Its lips tore up all the way to below its ears. As the black shadow staggered toward him, Anya couldn’t move a single step, as if his feet were bound.
Run, run, run, run, run, run away!
Though the voice inside continuously cried out, he dared not move. His teeth chattered against each other.
It muttered as if whispering in an incomprehensible language. The voice, layered with several others, was low and murky, and somehow seemed like mockery.
“Did you… ea-eat Ronan? Is, is that it?”
Tears kept welling up, and Anya repeatedly rubbed his eyes with his robe sleeves. At the foolish question, it said nothing. Blue pupils expanded to the point where no whites could be seen, staring intently at Anya before raising its hand. In the death-like silence where a snowstorm raged, it slid and approached Anya in an instant.
The torn mouth opened.
It opened wider and wider.
It continued to open, knowing no limits.
Only then did Anya begin to step backward. Though he knew it was already too late, his body, foreseeing cold slaughter, belatedly succumbed to fear and turned to run.
[Hungry, hungry, hungry, hungry!]
A sharp, irritable child’s voice followed. It was a terrible and painful voice, enough to make his head ache. Anya didn’t get far before tripping on a stone and rolling disgracefully across the ground.
“Ugh… huk….”
His hair became disheveled and his clothes tore.
The completely skinned thing’s belly swelled round and then split in half. From there, a red tongue like a vine shot out. It was the appearance of a complete monster, covered with a large torn mouth. The monster ran at tremendous speed and climbed atop Anya’s prone body.
As sharp nails dug into his skin, Anya screamed shrilly and covered his eyes that felt like they would burn up.
The blue energy surrounding his brown pupils rapidly expanded its force to fill the pupils before soon fading away. At the same time, Anya coughed up blood.
‘Ah, yes… how could I forget. The one who summoned the monster to Northernmost… that person… it was me.’
In that moment, intense memories that should not be forgotten flashed rapidly through the boy’s mind. Anya looked directly at the monster mounted on top of him.
‘…A being I summoned.’
Its mouth opened wider and wider.
[Master Mage.]
Ronan’s voice was heard.
Hearing that young voice, he couldn’t even bring himself to beg for his life. Tears flowed endlessly along the contours of his face, but before they could reach the ground, they hit the cold air and shattered into grains.
“I-I’m sorry…. I’m sorry, Ronan.”
It was an already too late apology. Anya barely swallowed down the emotions welling up before the monster.
Finally, at the moment it was about to devour Anya, blue light gathered beneath his drooping hand. The light, which had been only as small as a bead, grew bigger and bigger, without end.
Finally, when the blue light was more than enough to illuminate the dark view.
The boy threw it into the monster’s mouth.
[Kwaaaaak!]
What the evil beings beyond the Wall fear is the product of sacred nature—magic. The ghoul screamed desperately and removed its body from Anya. Taking advantage of the gap, Anya quickly threw his body and rolled to the side. He thought he had escaped from the ghoul’s sight, but it was only for a moment.
His blood-covered palm trembled finely in pain.
[The smell of that bastard vibrates from you.]
Its writhing in pain was only brief. The monster raised its lowered face and looked at Anya. That could never be called a face. Already, the monster’s face was bent bizarrely and dangled loosely to the side. Anya’s hand hesitantly moved toward the holster where Haebing was inserted.
The monster laughed with a grotesque sound. Strength entered the back of the hand that gripped Haebing. Instinctively, he had a premonition that he wouldn’t be able to defeat that monster. To defeat a monster, 5 to 10 well-trained knights had to come to barely subdue it. So how could he, a greenhorn knight, defeat it? Nevertheless….
‘I have no choice.’
Anya quickly looked around. There was nowhere to hide on top of the Wall. The edge of his robe sleeve was dyed red by the blood flowing down his forearm. Perhaps he had sprained his ankle when he fell, as throbbing pain came rushing in.
“I, I will ki-kill you.”
He must not run away. If he didn’t stop that thing, more children of Northernmost, more people would be devoured.
“Even if… I die in the process.”
Above all, that monster beyond the Wall was a being he had brought over. As Evernight said, he had to fulfill his responsibility.
“……”
The monster’s expression was unreadable. Its face was merely a decoration, after all. Anya drew Haebing from its sheath. With his body turned to the side, he aimed the sharp sword tip toward the monster. Sabelli had said to hold the sword like a ‘feather,’ but in his tension, he kept putting strength into his hands.
[Master Mage.]
Ronan’s voice called Anya. A pitiful, moisture-filled voice.
The tip of Haebing trembled minutely. Anya shook his head forcefully.
‘That’s not Ronan. Pull yourself together, Anya. That’s the damned thing that ate Ronan!’
Because of the snowstorm that had approached close by, wind blew exceptionally hard between them. Anya put strength into his toes.
Before long, Ronan’s voice came over again, piercing through the pure white blocked curtain of snow.
[Will you kill me?]
The voice was heard instantly, as if whispering right next to him. Anya involuntarily gasped and turned his head. The monster had approached his side without a sound. As it slowly opened its mouth, dozens of voices whispering in an incomprehensible language overlapped and were heard.
I’ll be eaten. I’m going to be eaten.
The moment that thought dominated his mind, as if it had been waiting, a damp tongue shot out. Anya raised Haebing high to cut it down. But in the blink of an eye, the damp tongue changed direction and bound Anya’s body. He struggled with all his might to break free, but its strength was beyond imagination. His pale fingers barely held onto Haebing.
[A mage’s heart is always delicious.]
The ghoul, noticing Anya’s actions, squeezed his body even harder. It felt like his bones would be crushed.
[Not as good as those elf bastards’ hearts, but not bad.]
Ronan hummed and laughed.
Now all that remained was to be helplessly sucked into that large mouth.
‘Dragcals, Dragcals, please!’
Anya desperately called the spirit’s name. But regrettably, nothing happened. Even the moment of falling into despair was a luxury for Anya. Anya gathered his mana forcefully once more.
‘You will only aim for one moment. The very moment when the opponent lets down their guard.’
The moment when the monster completely captured a human. This moment was precisely when the monster let down its guard. Blue light rapidly swelled in size beneath his scraped red palm. Then an enormous amount of blue light began to drive away the surrounding darkness like waves.
‘…Now!’
Below his line of sight, he saw the monster’s hideous feet hesitantly stepping back. Anya quickly raised his right foot and struck down hard on the ghoul’s abdomen. At the same time, as the pressure of the damp tongue loosened, he adjusted his grip on Haebing. And without delay, he thrust the thin, graceful sword into the monster.
Toward the solar plexus that Evernight had taught him about some time ago, Haebing’s sharp blade dug in.
A tremendous scream echoed across the Wall. As the thick tongue that had been compressing his body slid back into the monster’s mouth, Anya’s body fell helplessly onto the floor. Without even time to feel pain, the boy propped himself up on his elbows and retreated backward.
Blue blood poured out in torrents beneath the feet of the monster that writhed here and there, crouched as much as possible. Haebing was still embedded near the monster’s heart.
Before long, the monster collapsed onto the ground with a thud. It was so unbelievable that his body trembled finely. Anya couldn’t even walk and crawled toward it almost on all fours. The monster seen up close was truly sprawled out like a corpse.
Dark blue veins bulged irregularly on top of its swollen belly that looked like it would burst. Thinking that Joel’s younger sibling and Ronan were inside it, guilt burned his insides.
[Ma… Master Mage… nim.]
It was at that moment. The monster’s abdomen began to split in half with a ripping sound. Anya blankly stared at the bloody curtain unfolding before his eyes.
[Foolish human]
[We….]
[Don’t die that easily.]
Half was Ronan’s voice, and half was the voices of some others. A red tongue wriggled out and instantly seized Anya’s throat.
