They immediately ran into somewhere. With maximum speed, Mr. Schmidt and Nagao were reaching the edge of the Kaldem's forest. The destination they aimed for.
A meadow field appeared before them. At the end of the meadow, several people could be seen -around tens of people had been waiting for them.
Loudly, Mr. Schmidt shouted,
"If ya do anythin' to ma daughter, don't make me to wipe out and hurl y'all into the vulture packs!" His booming voice was echoing through the meadow. Even the birds fluttered amidst the night sky.
Nagao realized his emotion clearly ...
(Looks like someone already awakened a sleeping monster. However, I didn't expect his attitude to change significantly!) Nagao thought in disbelief.
When he wanted to speak again, someone was running towards him. In a brief moment, he was already reaching halfway of the meadow. Intentionally, from his hand, he threw a long spear ...
*Swoosh!*
With high speed, that spear aimed toward Nagao ...
(Shit—!) Unexpectedly, Nagao's neck was pulled forcibly by Mr. Schmidt. Amidst those actions, he split the enemy's spear into two parts with his long sword.
*Slash!* *Bam!*
Those parts stuck unto the tree.
Nagao coughed several times. Then, he conveyed a complaint toward Mr. Schmidt,
"You really can't hold back, huh, Old man?!!"
"If I didn't save ya, ya'd fuck up like that shit!" He pointed toward those effects without changing his gaze. His tone remained the same.
Nagao reflexively looked in that direction. Nagao saw the effect stunnedly ...
(His reflexes after he saved me before ... absolutely insane!) The effects appeared in those trees. As a result of those fatal attacks, the trees fell instantly ...
*Crack!* *Bam!*
Before Nagao could speak, another loud voice came from the other side,
"As expected from Mr. Schmidt. Or, should I say ... Keldam's Former Mad Dog, Aeron Schmidt!"
Nagao immediately looked toward the source of the sound. That voice came from the mysterious man. Both his body and Mr. Schmidt's body were the same. The only difference is he wore a black-hooded cloak. Then that mysterious man spoke,
"Looks like you were having ... much good time even though you're a blacksmith now,"
"Yar rotten vibez ain't gone away either like old times, Edward!" Mr. Schmidt replied sarcastically.
"What a HIGH compliment from yours, senior!" he replied and gave a nobleman greeting. Then, he ran toward Mr. Schmidt and pulled something from his cloak ...
*Swoosh!* *Tang!* *Clang!* *Shrring!*
Their swords clashed against each other. Because of their wave of clash, Nagao bounced off a few meters ...
*Bounce!*
Before Nagao would help Mr. Schmidt, Nagao received several attacks from other directions. Realizing he was amidst a tight situation, Nagao focused on himself ...
*Tap!* *Thud!* *Whoosh!* *Slash!* *Bam!*
While Nagao was dodging several enemy's attacks, he also was wishing within himself,
(I hope you don't die first, Old man!)
***
My daughter is my whole life, ya know ...
Leastwise, ya could say ... that's my only blessing in this life. But, for a man like me, this is my penance ... the loophole o' my payback ...
The sin bein' careless ... The sin bein' reckless that I went down back in the day ...
*Tang!* *Clash!* *Tang!* *Thud!* *Woosh!*
In the heat of battle, sudden memories popped up. Those were moments when I failed to save someone I love ...
*Tang!* *Clash!* *Woosh!*
But still, yar soul showed up in our child ...
How she got mad ...
How she got sad vibez ...
Until ... the joy that grew through her smile ... just like ya ...
*Tang!* *Clash!* *Shrrck!*
Mary ... this time ...
Those memories moved uncontrollably in my head during the battle. All of that triggered one choice. The choice I decided until now ...
(Imma gonna save our child!)
***
The battle became increasingly fierce. Nagao fought against dozens of people who attacked him before. On the other hand, Mr. Schmidt was struggling with his old acquaintances. The clink of weapons reverberated when those clashed with each other ...
*Tang!* *Clang!* *Shrring!* *Thud!* *Thumps!* *Whack!* *Shrrock!* *Slash!*
Several screams occurred amidst fierce battle ...
"Arghh!" "Bu'arghh!" "Urghh!" "Uwarghh!"
Even with Nagao's current stats, He had a hard time enough with numerous people who attacked him. Due to that situation, on many occasions, Nagao changed his battle strategies to the defensive by parrying, dodging, until blocking enemy attacks. Although he changed his tactics, sometimes, Nagao also attacked the enemy's vital points ...
*Thud!* *Bam!* *Thwack!*
Meanwhile, Mr. Schmidt's fight happened very intensely. With his abilities, many thrusts from the sword until the spear was parried easily. From how to parry off, it was something that average people couldn't do. Same with the attacks launched by Edward. All the scenes were shown like someone who experienced enough in a real battle ...
*Tang!* *Shrring!* *Shrrock!*
"As expected! You haven't changed at all, especially in terms of battle!" Edward was amazed and continued to attack Mr. Schmidt.
"Zip off, Edward. I ain't the mood to fight ya seriously!" answered Mr. Schmidt and counterattacked him. "Where's Emilia?!" he continued with an attack that hit the iron hilt of Edward's spear.
*Tang!*
They clashed with each other with their weapons. Then, Edward replied,
"I don't know, maybe she's already die—" Before he could finish it, Edward got a hard kick in his stomach—"Urghh!" The effect made him bounce off until bump into one of the trees.
*Bam!*
"Shut yar rotten-ass mouth!" Mr. Schmidt uttered firmly. "I asked ya one more time, WHERE IS EMILIA?!" He shouted angrily.
His sound was loud enough that even Nagao could hear it clearly. Not only that, but Mr. Schmidt's shout also frightened some people.
Hearing the question, Edward, who was wiping blood from his mouth before, answered,
"Die! She died .... like your wife! Died like a corpse and torn into pieces by monsters!" He laughed terribly after saying his answer.
Hearing that, Mr. Schmidt was shocked.
No ... He was aghast ...
"Right! That's the truth!" Edward continued his laughter. "Did you know how 'sweet' she called you when I tortured her ... 'Papa!' 'Papa!'?! It all turns my enthusiasm on!" His grin grew bigger, along with the laughter effect.
Hearing Edward's replies, Mr. Schmidt's attitude changed. His body was shaking violently, feeling stunned and disbelief on what he heard. The weapon he was holding suddenly fell ...
*Fell!* *Tang!*
As if to refuse Edward's words,
"No ... No... Ah ... Ah ... IMPOSSIBLE!!!" his expression of anguish grew gradually.
"Good! VERY GOOD!" Edwards's maniac laugh grew continuously. "That's the expression I wanted to see all along! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
Mr. Schmidt bent to his knees. With mixed feelings flashing through his head, his heart as if shattered hearing his words, feeling almost crazy,
"YA BASTARD!!!" Mr. Schmidt screamed angrily.
At that mean moment, a voice shouted toward them abruptly,
"DIE? YOUR DARK JOKE IS ROTTEN INTO THE ROOTS, YOU PIECE OF TRASH!"
Hearing that voice, both of them looked over at the source. They reacted with opposite reactions ...
"HOW??!!"
"Nagao ... ?!!"
Nagao appeared in an exhausted condition and full of wounds. However, it wasn't what surprised them, but what he was carrying on his back ...
"Wake up ... you ... Old man! Don't show ... that ... pitiful side ... before her!"
***
Several times ago, before Mr. Schmidt became crazy ...
When Nagao tried to defeat the remaining enemies, a notification appeared suddenly ...
[Warning danger: Save Emilia before time runs out. Otherwise, you'll be penalized.] [07:00]
Seeing this, Nagao faced his enemies effectively ...
*Thumps!* *Thud!* *Whack!*
With the effectiveness he made, Nagao defeated the remaining enemies. Then, Nagao started to search for Emilia ...
*Run!* *Search!*
With tired and scarred conditions, Nagao ran against time to find Emilia. Still, he couldn't find Emilia's existence yet ...
*Run!* *Thud!* *Whack!*
Even Nagao asked his enemies with coercion ways, but they shut their mouths off. With only time left, Nagao only relied on himself ...
(Must ... find her!) He focused on searching without caring about his condition now.
*Run!* *Search!*
After searching in the forest for a while, Nagao found a large cage. It covered by a large cloth. Realizing the cage was strange, Nagao rushed there ...
*Tap!* *Tap!* *Tap!*
When Nagao opened the large cloth, Nagao found Emilia within it ...
"Ughhh ...! Come ... on ...!" He tried to unlock the padlock.
Despite the difficulty of opening it, with all his strength, Nagao could break the padlock ...
*Tang!* *Tang!* Crack!*
It opened, and Nagao immediately opened the cage door quickly. While carrying her, Nagao rushed into Mr. Schmidt's spot.
Even so, when he wanted to do that, Nagao was exhausted from fighting and breaking the padlock. Meanwhile, at the same time, only several seconds left ...
[Warning danger: Save Emilia before time runs out. Otherwise, you'll be penalized.] [0:30]
Not only those matters, but his injured body influenced his running. Due to his injuries, Nagao had time to fall when he carried Emilia ...
*Thud!*
(Come on ... asshole! Just ... a little more ...!) He thought angrily at his limitations.
He tried hard to stand up and walked in a limp condition. With a limping walk, Nagao carried the fainted Emilia hardly ...
*Srrk!* *Srrk!* *Srkk!*
After a while of walking ...
(Almost ...!) He thought within him to force himself to walk.
[Warning danger: Save Emilia before time runs out. Otherwise, you'll be penalized.] [0:10]
[0:09]
[0:07]
[0:05]
[0:02]
[0:01]
Before the time was out, Nagao reached in front of Mr. Schmidt's location ...
*Ting!*
[You've completed the urgent mission: "Save Emilia before time runs out. Otherwise, you'll be penalized."] [0:01]
[Claim your reward.] (1/1)
Before he could claim it, Nagao realized that Edward had said something and affected Mr. Schmidt's reactions reversely. At that momentum, Mr. Schmidt shouted loudly,
"YA BASTARD!!!"
When he saw the expression Mr. Schmidt, Nagao started shouting at them,
"DIE?! YOUR DARK JOKE IS ROTTEN INTO THE ROOTS, YOU PIECE OF TRASH!" He said firmly.
Nagao received many expressions from them because of his words. Also, Nagao started to speak confidently,
"Wake up ... you ... Old man! Don't show ... that ... pitiful side ... before her!"