"Milady!"
Anna urgently called out as she ran toward Silverna.
However, Silverna quickly regained her stance, gritting her teeth.
"I'm fine!"
Although it couldn't be said that she was completely unharmed after being hit by the yeti's throw, Silverna brushed off her hands as if shaking off the pain and firmly gripped her spear with both hands once more.
"Throbbing…"
The yeti toyed with a human skull as if it were a ball.
And then-
"Aaah! Aaaah! S-Save meee!"
Sharen, who was being engulfed by the black liquid oozing from Polo's body, screamed in terror.
"Sharen!"
In the suddenly dire situation, the quickest to act was Isaac.
"Hold still!"
"I-I-Isaac! Isaac!"
Sharen, clutching Isaac as he approached, was in a state of utter panic. The black liquid writhing from her chest was spreading further.
Even as Isaac tried to calm her down, she desperately begged for her life.
"Save me! Save me!"
"Urgh! I get it, so calm down and let go of me!"
Despite being a 17-year-old girl, Sharen's grip, inherited from the Helmut lineage, was too strong for Isaac to break free from.
No matter how hard he tried to shake her off, Sharen, now in a state of panic, held on desperately.
"Calm down!"
Smack!
In the end, Isaac swung his hand and punched Sharen squarely in the face.
It wouldn't hurt her much, nor would it leave a mark, but-
"I-Isaac?"
Sharen, unable to believe he had hit her, momentarily loosened her grip.
"Stay still!"
Taking advantage of that brief moment, Isaac gripped the back end of his sword and brought it to Sharen's neck.
Rip!
Her clothes tore open in a straight line, exposing her pale skin beneath.
Isaac quickly tore off her top and threw it away, causing the black liquid clinging to it to squirm and consume the fabric on the ground instead.
"It's done! Sharen! It's gone!"
"Hu-huh?!"
Sharen frantically touched her body with both hands. Confirming that the black liquid was truly gone, she broke down and threw herself into Isaac's arms.
"Waaaah! Isaac!"
"Pull yourself together and let go! It hurts!"
This was no time for such behavior, and with Helmut's strength, Isaac's bones wouldn't be safe if she kept this up.
While Isaac was dealing with Sharen, Meladik Drakemoor was staring at Polo Blackson, who lay trembling on the ground.
"Polo?"
Black liquid continued to pour from Polo's mouth and wounds. Meladik could only watch in horror as the liquid began to engulf him.
"Don't go near him!"
Isaac, still struggling to get Sharen off of him, shouted a warning to Meladik.
He then quickly turned to check on the yeti, only to find that the battle had already begun.
Clang!
"..."
Silverna silently swung her spear, deflecting the yeti's bone club.
Despite the rapidly changing situation, Silverna's tightly shut lips and calm demeanor made her appear like a seasoned veteran.
'Damn it.'
But Isaac knew otherwise.
She's just pretending to be calm but is acting more emotionally than anyone else.
A moment ago, she agreed that they needed to retreat for now.
But as soon as she clashed with the yeti, she swung her spear recklessly, determined to kill it no matter what, even if the spear broke in the process.
"Anna! Grab Silverna and Sharen's greatsword!"
"Yes! Understood! My Lady! Please get a hold of yourself!"
Isaac hoisted the trembling Sharen, who was shaking in fear, onto his back.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the capacity to help Polo as well.
"Meladik, leave Polo for now and retreat-!"
"I-I-Isaac?!"
Meladik's voice was filled with confusion.
When Isaac turned his head, he saw Polo, covered in black liquid, slowly rising as though being lifted by it.
"Forget it! Just run!"
As Isaac began to run, the others quickly followed. Silverna, biting her lips so hard they bled, finally turned her back on the yeti.
Meladik shouted an apology to Polo as he took the lead.
"Human!"
The yeti chasing them didn't ignore Polo like it did the others.
To the yeti, Polo still appeared human.
Swinging its massive bone club sideways, it tried to smash Polo, but the black liquid blocked the blow.
The battle between the two threats began.
Silverna's reconnaissance team managed to escape like that.
***
Slap!
The frozen creek.
At the frozen stream, a sharp noise echoed through the snow-covered forest, startling a mountain hare into fleeing.
Silverna's head turned to the side from the slap. She looked at the man who struck her.
"That was the worst." Isaac said.
His words stabbed Silverna's heart like a dagger. She felt her emotions surge but couldn't say anything in return.
She was the leader.
And she had to admit that everything had gone terribly wrong.
"…I'm sorry."
"Isaac! My Lady did her best!" Anna hurriedly tried to defend Silverna, but Isaac's piercing glare didn't waver.
"I clearly told you not to fight the yeti there, and you agreed. But the moment I looked away, you got fixated on the yeti and completely failed to grasp what was happening to Polo and Meladik!"
"That's…"
"If the fight had dragged on, then what? It wasn't just an ordinary yeti; it was a named beast. If more beasts had swarmed in from the mountain range, we'd all be dead!"
"Anna, Isaac's right."
As the leader, Silverna had failed to fulfill her role.
The certainty that the comrades from Malidan Wall had been killed by the yeti consumed her, and she let her emotions take over.
"For the comrades who died… I momentarily forgot about the comrades still alive next to me."
"..."
"I'm sorry. There's no excuse for that."
Silverna bowed her head.
A heavy silence fell.
Sharen, wrapped in a robe, shivered and tugged at Isaac's sleeve.
"I-Isaac… I-I'm so… c-cold."
"..."
Sharen had nearly died.
If she had been engulfed by the black liquid, her survival would've been uncertain.
It was fortunate that she wore leather clothing as part of the reconnaissance team.
'If she had been wearing armor…'
It would've taken forever to remove the armor, and Sharen would've been consumed by the black liquid entirely.
Isaac pulled Sharen into his arms, hoping to warm her.
The trembling girl burrowed deeper into his embrace, her sobs muffled against his chest.
"She's just seventeen." Isaac thought.
Earlier, she'd acted confident, pretending to be unaffected, but she was still at an age where she'd never truly faced the threat of death.
The realization that she could actually die had shaken her to the core.
Especially after encountering a situation where the sword she had trained with her entire life proved utterly useless.
'The fear must've been amplified by the sheer helplessness she felt.'
"I-I made a mistake too." Meladik stammered. "When we were escaping, I should've run toward the wall, but I lost my bearings and…"
Meladik's awkward apology shifted the atmosphere, turning it into an unexpected contest of admitting faults.
Having taken the lead while running, he had panicked and ended up in a random direction. If they hadn't stumbled upon the creek, they might still be running aimlessly.
"It's fine. We took a detour, but we didn't stray too far from the wall," Anna said, trying to reassure them with a smile as she checked the map.
"Hey, do you think we could make a campfire?" Meladik suggested hesitantly.
"I don't think that's possible."
Anna replied with a shake of her head. "Technically, we're still in beast territory."
Unable to light a fire, they needed to conserve their energy to make it back to the wall. But the biting cold made enduring difficult.
Despite gritting her teeth and trying to endure, the sound of Sharen's chattering teeth was audible. She looked visibly cold.
Isaac unbuttoned his shirt and embraced her again.
"Skin-to-skin contact might help warm you up." he explained.
"I-Isaac…"
"We have to survive. You're our second strongest here after Silverna. Conserve your energy."
Sharen's eyes brimmed with tears, but she buried her head again, hiding them.
"Okay. I understand," she whispered.
The cold air hung thick, their white breaths visible in the silence.
Sharen, her voice barely audible, asked, "Isaac… how are you staying so calm?"
Her question drew the attention of the others, who all looked at Isaac. The man with the least combat experience had remained the most composed, making quick decisions and acting rationally.
No one could deny that If Isaac had faltered, at least two or three of them wouldn't be alive right now.
"I've had my fair share of near-death experiences." Isaac murmured with a bitter smile.
Before his regression, though he had been injured and unable to fight, he hadn't been spared from the dangers of the battlefield.
The overwhelming assault of the transcendent beings made the threat of death terrifyingly fair for everyone.
'At least this is a relief.' Isaac thought.
He had worried that holding a sword again might cloud his judgment, but the events earlier proved otherwise, easing his concerns.
"Achoo!"
Everyone's gaze turned toward Silverna, who seemed startled herself, her face showing a rare moment of vulnerability.
"You must be cold too, aren't you, Lady Silverna?" Anna asked gently.
"No, I'm fine—" Silverna started, but then stopped mid-sentence.
The words Isaac had spoken earlier echoed in her mind. She realized that her condition, as the strongest among them, directly impacted the group's survival.
"…You're right. I am cold." she admitted, nodding.
With that, Silverna strode over, wrapping her arms around both Isaac and Sharen.
"I'll be relying on you for a bit." she said.
Isaac smiled faintly at her pragmatic decision, appreciating her willingness to set aside pride for the group's survival.
"Of course." he replied.
Silverna was someone who learned and adapted quickly. She was the type to act first and think later.
"Come on, everyone else. We need to preserve our body heat." Silverna commanded.
Anna immediately joined, squeezing into the huddle, while Meladik hesitated briefly before awkwardly wrapping an arm around Isaac's back.
Huddled together to fend off the cold and conserve their strength, the group felt an unexpected warmth.
It wasn't just the shared body heat. It was something deeper—an emotional connection—that made them feel truly warm.
However, it didn't last long.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The ground trembled with the sound of heavy footsteps.
"Screech! Screech!"
The yeti's voice was now drawn-out and eerie, different from before. It seemed the scent of the deodorant hadn't completely faded, and it had tracked them down again.
As Silverna moved hastily, Isaac spoke to her.
"Silverna, this time, can I trust your judgment?"
The question, as if testing her, made Silverna nod without hesitation.
"Trust me."
Even as the booming footsteps approached, Silverna calmly examined Anna's map.
Then she declared,
"We intercept it."
Gripping her spear tightly, she continued,
"Running is impossible. With our current stamina, we can't shake off a named yeti."
Everyone nodded.
Though their bodies had warmed up a bit, the cold had left them stiff and sluggish.
"That's why we have to kill it before it summons other beasts. It has to be quick and decisive."
"Can you handle it?"
Silverna had already faced the yeti once.
If it were an ordinary yeti, it wouldn't stand a chance against her.
But this one was a named.
A beast with intelligence, far more challenging than regular ones.
"I'll make up for it."
With just that one statement, Silverna gripped her spear tighter, a resolute look in her eyes.
That was enough.
As the others prepared for battle, ready to face the oncoming yeti—
Sharen, who had been nestled in Isaac's arms, slowly pulled away, taking a deep breath.
"..."
Isaac stared at her silently.
Could she really fight?
He had his doubts.
But then—
"I'll protect you." Sharen murmured, gripping her greatsword tightly, determination shining in her voice.
"So that I can sort out my feelings… and have the chance to say what I need to."
People often say that children grow up in an instant.
Isaac felt as though he was witnessing that moment firsthand.
Faced with a life-threatening crisis, Sharen seemed to have found and realized something that would change her life's values.
"I'll avenge Polo!"
"Yes! We must!"
Meladik and Anna chimed in as they prepared themselves.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sound of the yeti's footsteps grew louder.
From the direction it was coming,
A chilling, maniacal laughter echoed—
"Gahaha… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
It was Polo's twisted laughter, tearing through the air.