Knara watched Arlan out of the corner of her eye, but with the monster in front of her, she had no time to worry about him.
Unlike the woman, the beast didn't even notice Arlan's existence, for the monster it wasn't worth worrying about an ant.
Not that Arlan had any intention of helping Knara either, so after looking at her for a few seconds, he grabbed his knife and climbed the stairs once and for all.
When he reached the second floor, the fight between the monster and Knara started again. From the sound of the blows, it was clear that this was not a fight in which Arlan could participate, nor did he intend to.
Ignoring the fight, Arlan looked around. The second floor of the building was nothing special either, just a large room with various furniture and doors that should lead somewhere.
However, Arlan wasn't there to investigate the place, so he continued up the stairs to the third floor, where it was definitely not an ordinary place.
The building didn't have four floors, it only had three, with the third floor being half the size of two full floors.
'...Damn it'
At the back of the room, there was a large statue that was at least 4 meters tall, the statue carved out of stone showed a woman wearing a long dress that covered her legs and arms. There wasn't much to notice about the statue, except for the bandage covering her eyes.
If Arlan had any doubts before, they were gone now. There was something about the young girl and the woman he had met in his dreams, or else why was there a sculpture of her in this place?
Apart from the sculpture, the young woman who had brought Arlan food the last few days was kneeling in silence, praying.
'...Is she praying with everything going on outside?'
Arlan definitely didn't understand what was going through the young woman's mind, but he had no time to waste.
He had entered the building because he thought it was a safe place, but after seeing the monster that appeared on the first floor, he only went up because he had no place to escape.
The young woman seemed to hear something, so she spread her hands and stood up before turning and asking.
"Is anyone there?"
Arlan hesitated for a few seconds, but finally sighed and answered.
"Yes..."
The young woman tilted her head slightly, not recognizing Arlan's voice; she could easily remember the voices of all the people in the village, so it was easier for her to identify the ones she didn't know.
"Who are you...? no. You're one of the people Knara brought, aren't you?"
Arlan was a little surprised by the young woman's deduction.
"Yes, I am one of those who were captured"
The young woman put her hand to her chest and sighed.
"Whew...thank God, I thought it was a monster"
Arlan took a few steps towards the young woman.
"Aren't you worried that I might hurt you?"
The young woman cocked her head again in obvious confusion.
"Why would you do that? It won't do you any good. The monsters are coming, so if you stay, you'll die"
'…She's smart'
Although the young girl seemed to be quite innocent, she was kind of smart.
She was right, Arlan definitely had no time to waste. But to their misfortune, a low growl was heard, causing both of them to turn their heads towards the stairs.
There, one of the monsters Arlan had encountered in the forest when he left the bunker was slowly climbing the stairs, shaking its head as if searching for something.
The monster reached the third floor and as soon as it saw the two of them, it let out a hungry growl and immediately started running towards them.
"Shit!"
Arlan held his knife and positioned himself to receive the monster's jaws.
For almost 5 months he had practiced using a sword, but a knife was not the same as a sword. Still, Arlan knew the basics.
There was less than 5 meters between them and the monster, a distance the monster covered much faster than Arlan expected.
'I cannot defend myself against this!'
As the monster was about to bite him, a thin golden layer appeared between them.
The monster's mouth collided with the barrier, and it moved, pushing Arlan backwards.
Behind him, the young girl had clasped her hands together in a praying position, and as she gathered, Arlan crashed into her, and they both fell to the ground in front of the giant statue.
"Ugh..."
The young woman groaned from the blow as Arlan quickly got up to face the monster.
The barrier had lost its glow and looked much more transparent than it had a few seconds ago. Without thinking, Arlan looked at the young woman and asked.
"You did that?"
The young woman, still on the ground, looked at him and answered quickly.
"Yes"
"Can you do it again?"
"Just one more time"
'Enough…'
"When she's about to jump, create the barrier and make it as small as possible" Arlan instructed.
The young woman nodded and at that moment the barrier disappeared. The monster wasted no time and jumped at them.
Arlan had already noticed in the forest that this type of monster had a high speed, but its ability to maneuver was affected.
Using this to his advantage, Arlan approached the young woman and hugged her tightly.
Arlan didn't even know if the young woman could adjust the size of the barrier, but he had to trust her, he had no other choice.
The young woman was momentarily surprised by Arlan's action but did not hesitate and made the barrier as small and tight as she could.
The monster crashed against the barrier, and it bounced like a rubber ball against the statue, but it did not stop there and went through the wall of the building, falling in free fall.
The barrier was about to disappear from the blows it had taken against the statue and the wall, but it was enough to reach the ground.
Arlan felt his whole body go numb as he fell backwards to the ground from nearly ten meters. The barrier had cushioned a good part of the fall, but still Arlan was the one who took the impact for the young woman.
The barrier disappeared and Arlan stood up with some effort, the young woman also standing up wearily and looking at him bitterly as she gasped for breath.
"Are you crazy?"
There was no anger in her tone, she didn't have the strength to fight him. She had spent all her energy on those barriers and was now completely exhausted, even her clothes soaked with sweat.
Arlan massaged his shoulder with a pained expression before answering.
"Enough to survive, ...now let's go"
Arlan started to run, but when he noticed that the young woman wasn't moving, he grabbed her hand and forced her to walk with him.
Now that Arlan had found a good shield, he wasn't going to let her go. Not if this young woman could stop an attack of those monsters.