The chilling wind swept across the ruins, as the cries of battle echoed through the air.
My senses sharpened.
As always, before a fight, my body became hyper-aware. My mind cleared, my heartbeat quickened, and an eerie sense of exhilaration enveloped me.
I forcibly expanded my sense of presence.
With the excruciating pain of my head splitting apart, half of the ruins were drawn in my mind.
What I needed was life forms.
Everything else was discarded.
Thick blood trickled from my nose.
"Noah! You're bleeding—"
"I'm... fine... Just, keep quiet..."
The positions of the gnolls formed in my mind.
The sound of battle had drawn them together.
Elite Beasts.
The gnoll leader howled, and the others responded.
Over five hundred beasts gathered, all barking in the same direction.
The first group began charging toward us.
The second circled behind.
The third moved left.
The fourth covered the right.
They were surrounding us. There was no escape.
The battle continued in the distance, and I could already see some fighters who were incapacitated.
I gripped my greatsword.
The handle rattled in my hands, and the dull blade scraped the ground.
Blood surged from my mouth.
"Noah!"
"I told you, I'm fine... Just shut up."
The two men were strong. Probably platinum-ranked.
Even the knights weren't bad.
But no matter how skilled they were, they couldn't stand against a gnoll horde led by their leader.
I pictured a plan in my head.
A plan to draw their attention.
A plan to handle the gnolls.
I gripped Aileen's hand tightly.
"Aileen."
"Y-Yes...?"
"The gnolls are coming."
"What do you mean..."
"A horde led by their leader is headed our way. About five hundred of them. Luckily, there's no Red Wolf."
Aileen's hand trembled violently.
I squeezed it tighter.
"So, stay here."
"Y-You're going to go out there... right now?"
"Yes."
"N-No, Noah, stay here with me... I-I can shoot from a distance... Or better yet, let's just run..."
"Aileen."
I stroked her cheek, like how my father used to do for me when I was young.
Though I had to reach up a little to do it...
"I'll be back. Just make sure the food's ready."
Because if I make it, it won't taste good.
"What are you... even saying..."
"I'll be back soon."
I smiled at Aileen, then jumped out the window.
I narrowed my focus, centering my senses.
I needed to draw attention.
Using Aileen's handkerchief, I tied my greatsword to my hand.
The smell of horse saliva hit my nose.
The nauseating stench that made me gag loosened my tense muscles.
Damn horse.
One day, I'll eat you for dinner.
"Fuu..."
I focused my mind.
Even if my bones shattered, I had to do this.
As long as I made it back to Aileen, she could heal me. I had to trust the free walking potion.
I dashed toward the battlefield, expanding my senses again.
The gnoll horde was approaching.
I mapped out the terrain I had previously discarded.
Stone walls.
Half-collapsed walls made of stone came into view.
The sound of metal clashing with metal grew louder.
One by one, the fools started to notice me.
I kept running without stopping.
A knight in armor stepped in front of me.
I swung my greatsword sideways, hitting him in the gut with the flat of the blade.
The knight flew back, crashing into the wall.
Another knight blocked my path, stronger this time.
Just as I wondered if I should stop, the man holding a halberd next to me pushed the knight aside.
Thanks to him, I didn't have to stop.
I reached the wall in front of me.
The gnoll horde was now visible, fast approaching.
There was no time.
I raised my greatsword, holding it level with my shoulder.
With my left hand, I gripped the base of the hilt.
In about 10 seconds, the vanguard would reach me.
"Fuu..."
This isn't a game.
Can I do it?
This isn't a game.
This is reality.
That's why...
It's worth trying.
In this world, there are no status windows.
No level-ups.
No experience points, skills, or mana traits.
There's none of that in reality.
But I know what happens when you push 'sensing' to its extreme limits.
I can do it.
I focused all my senses on a single point.
Blood dripped from my nose.
I discarded all other information around me.
Blood began seeping from my closed eyes.
I accepted only one thing: the information from the wall.
Blood spilled from my mouth.
The shape of the stone. The carved patterns. Every detail of the wall's structure appeared in my mind.
My heart pounded as if it would explode.
Grrrraa-!!
And then, finally.
"I found it."
I swung the greatsword.
Not too fast, not too slow.
But with absolute precision.
Slowly, I followed the line I had traced in my mind.
Swoosh—
It sounded like cutting through wood.
With that sound, a small crack appeared in the wall.
The crack spread across the entire wall.
Rumble—!
With a sound like the sky collapsing,
the massive stone wall that once protected the village crumbled, crushing dozens of the vanguard gnolls beneath it.
It's too early to celebrate.
I turned around and opened my eyes.
Everyone was staring at me.
Just as planned, I had drawn their attention and crushed the vanguard.
I opened my mouth, and blood gushed out.
Swallowing the blood stuck in my throat, I forced myself to speak.
"Can you see? The gnolls are coming. There are five hundred of them. They're spreading out, and their leader is with them. So."
Swallowing the rising blood, I continued.
"Kill them all, or do whatever you want."
* * * *
"Kill them all, or do whatever you want."
I stared at the girl in front of me.
The small girl I had seen in Alrba.
The girl who reminded me of my dead sister.
The girl I was supposed to protect.
And...
The girl who had just brought down Havlon's wall.
That massive beast, the wall that even the red wolf had barely destroyed.
This tiny girl.
With that old greatsword.
She brought it down in a single strike.
I watched the wall, now collapsed, forgetting to even breathe.
Could I do that?
Could Heinzel, standing next to me, even pull that off?
No.
It's impossible.
At least, only a 'Master' could manage such a feat.
"Luchi..."
"Why are you calling me?"
"Our protection target... is something else."
"I'm thinking the same."
"Well, looks like the gnolls are coming this way after hearing us."
"We were fools."
"Indeed."
"But what can we do? They want to kill the mascot of Alrba."
"That's true."
I looked around.
Even the knights of Erden couldn't take their eyes off the girl.
Ahem— I cleared my throat and shouted.
"Lord Knights! It seems the young lady is right. So, what do you say? Shall we stop fighting for now and join the hunt?"
Heinzel chimed in.
"But, I wonder if these softies have ever hunted such beasts before. Hahahaha!"
My voice, along with Heinzel's, echoed through the ruins.
The knights ignored the two adventurers' jests and regrouped their formation.
"They're preparing for a hunt."
"Good idea."
I turned back to the girl.
Her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears were all bleeding, but there was no sign of her will faltering.
Her red eyes resembled those of a savage predator.
I began to doubt if this was really the small girl I had seen in Alrba.
A moment later, the girl growled.
"Move when you're ready."
She turned around and sprinted off.
I let out a small laugh.
"Hah... She's something else."
"Luchi, no matter how I think about it, our target is wrong."
"Indeed."
Heinzel and I followed, chasing after the girl.
* * * *
My body, still unhealed from the earlier battle, screamed in agony. The blood inside me churned violently.
But I still had to fight.
I had to protect Aileen.
She entrusted her life to me, so I had to keep her safe.
Clenching my teeth, I swung my greatsword.
It barely qualified as a greatsword anymore.
With the sound of tearing flesh, the gnoll's body exploded.
I didn't cut it, I crushed it.
My strength had doubled.
Still, I kept moving.
Again.
Without catching my breath, I swung again.
The handle rattled, throwing off my balance.
A gnoll's mace came down toward my shoulder.
Too late.
Clang—
"Whoa there, your gear's falling apart."
The mace that should have crushed my shoulder was blocked by a halberd swung from behind.
It was the adventurer.
"And isn't it amazing how much blood is coming out of that tiny body of yours?"
From the right, a playful voice came as another sword swung.
A simple sword, but the one wielding it was anything but ordinary.
Without a sound, the sword cleaved through six gnolls.
And the sword dance continued.
I recognized that swordsmanship.
That familiar voice.
That familiar sword.
Once, while playing [Black Sun], I had seen that elegant swordsmanship.
It was Luchi's swordsmanship.
"One-eyed Luchi...?"
"Hmm? Ahahaha! Did you hear that?! They know my name!"
"Wow, really... Then, by any chance, do you know my name...?"
The man wielding the halberd beside Luchi shyly glanced at me, despite his large frame.
The adventurer swinging the halberd beside Luchi was...
"Bald... I mean, Bald Heinzel."
"Hahahaha! Bald! Heinzel! You're bald now!"
Luchi laughed obnoxiously as he swung his sword.
But his blade accurately decapitated a gnoll.
"Damn it! It's really depressing!"
Even though Heinzel launched a furious attack, every one of his strikes precisely crushed the gnolls' skulls.
Why were they here?
I didn't remember the entire story, but I was certain of one thing.
At this point in time, the NPCs Luchi and Heinzel weren't supposed to be here.
Grrrr-!
I grabbed a charging gnoll by the neck and slammed it into the ground, shoving my greatsword into its mouth.
I took a deep breath and tried to organize my jumbled thoughts.
The situation was terrible.
Even with two platinum-ranked adventurers, it was still bad.
However, if those two platinum adventurers were Luchi and Heinzel, things were different.
These two were exceptional, even among NPCs with platinum status.
Watching them massacre the gnolls made me relax.
My mind grew hazy, and the heat in my body slowly dissipated, turning cold.
It seemed like...
I shouldn't have come.
I thought of my body, screaming in pain, and of Aileen, who was likely curled up, crying quietly in the room.
Like a husband heading off to war, I had raised so many death flags.
Honestly, I'd even considered the possibility that I might die.
But if I had known Luchi and Heinzel were here, I would've stayed in the room...
Ah.
I really didn't need to come.
I should've just eaten dinner with Aileen.