The ice shards falling with the spray of water were blocked by the barrier and fell harmlessly to the ground.

“Patrick! We can’t hold out much longer!”

“I’m on my way!”

In response to Raiden’s shout, Patrick, who was wielding a two-handed sword, dashed towards the lake.

Having once lost an arm at the Troden boundary, he had both arms regenerated thanks to the power of healing.

The reason he chose a light sword instead of a heavy one wasn’t just due to his past injury.

“Damn it, I hate fish!”

Swish!

Stepping on the serpent’s tail, Patrick leaped into the air, drawing a trajectory.

From a distance, it might have looked like a mere stunt, but this was Patrick’s way of fighting.

Hiss!

His ability allowed him to materialize the sword’s trajectory. This made it possible to wound monsters without direct contact. It was the perfect ability for dealing with wriggling, thrashing creatures.

“Damn, the scales are too tough.”

Sliding down the serpent’s tail before it could attack, Patrick clicked his tongue and adjusted his grip on his sword.

The trajectory hadn’t penetrated the serpent’s scales at all. Its entire body seemed to be covered in a hard iron shell.

The White Knights also fired muskets from behind, but the bullets bounced off the thick magic aura.

“Argh!”

“Ugh!”

The serpent, flicking its tongue, swallowed several White Knights who were reloading. Its body wriggled as it digested the knights. The remaining White Knights screamed and threw down their muskets.

“Charge!”

While everyone else was paralyzed with fear, Marien and her lieutenants charged at the monster. However, most couldn’t hold back their nausea in the face of the overwhelming magic.

“Stand up, ugh!”

Marien urged her lieutenants forward.

She saw the bodies of her comrades floating on the lake. The Blue Knights also suffered significant losses. Some had died without even drawing their swords, being the closest to the lake.

“Ugh!”

Blood spurted from Marien’s mouth. If she got any closer, her insides might be damaged.

Gripping her increasingly swollen belly, Marien steadied her trembling hand on her sword.

“Damn it, aaaargh!”

Swoosh…!

Her sword left only a shallow wound on the water serpent’s body. Though she aimed to pierce it, the hard scales caused her sword to slip.

Damn it! Marien raised her sword high again. At that moment, the serpent’s glaring green eyes focused on her.

Hissss!

‘It’s going to eat me!’

As the serpent’s jaws lunged at her, Marien squeezed her eyes shut.

She thought she was going to die. Like the Blue Knights who hadn’t awakened their abilities, she had foolishly intervened and was now facing a miserable death.

But then,

Roarrrr!

The monster’s roar painfully echoed in Marien’s ears. She opened her eyes to see a man standing in front of her.

Emmett Bovir. His sword had pierced the monster’s palate.

“As expected.”

Marien stared blankly at Emmett, who was smiling calmly despite the dire situation.

Even though he was right in the serpent’s jaws, he seemed completely at ease.

“What are you doing, Sir Emmett? You need to get away!”

“Continuing to fight like this will only increase casualties. The magic is coming from this thing’s scales.”

Scales?

Now that she thought about it, the magic inside the mouth wasn’t as strong as when facing the body. As proof, the Red Knights behind her had stopped vomiting.

She couldn’t injure it through its scales. But the exposed pink flesh of the palate was easily pierced by Emmett’s sword.

Marien stood up, gripping her sword’s hilt. She had found its weakness.

“Sir Emmett, let me fight with you…”

Just then, the monster’s gaping mouth snapped shut.

Marien blinked, trying to process what had just happened in front of her.

Just now, Sir Emmett…

“The Commander has been eaten!”

“The monster swallowed Sir Emmett!”

The water serpent, seemingly satisfied with its prey, flicked its tongue and wriggled its body.

Raiden, who was maintaining the barrier, the White Knights who had fled into the forest, and the Red Knights following Marien were all too shocked to speak.

Marien dropped her sword.

“This can’t be…”

The legendary knight, hailed as the next hero, had met a tragic end. Swallowed by a water serpent, so pitifully…

Emboldened, the water serpent charged out of the lake, targeting the formation Raiden had drawn.

Boom! Boom!

Its thick tail slammed down on the red light.

Crack. The barrier Raiden had constructed began to fracture.

Raiden’s hand, gripping his shield, trembled. He could no longer withstand the relentless magic.

“Ugh, everyone, run!”

Behind him were knights with little to no resistance to magic. The remaining Blue Knights were attacking the monster, but they couldn’t even scratch it.

If they were to retreat, it had to be now.

“Callen, Bowie, you two run…”

“Captain, look at that!”

Callen, who had dropped his shield, pointed at the serpent’s body.

Raiden, whose priority was to protect Callen, quickly pulled his hand down.

Then, an ominous sound was heard.

Rip…!

The sound of tough leather tearing.

Raiden stared ahead. The monster was thrashing, letting out a horrific scream. Between its writhing tail, a body enveloped in light was visible.

Rip!

The light bursting from within was tearing the serpent’s body vertically.

Roarrrrr!

“Captain, could it be…”

The Commander’s sword. It had to be. The sword slashing the serpent now was Emmett’s Sword of Lanes.

Hissss…

The once impenetrable scales became as flimsy as wet cloth. The monster’s blood turned the lake black.

Soon, Emmett, covered in black blood, tore through the tough skin and emerged.

A knight who witnessed this up close fell back in shock, as if he had seen a ghost.

“He let himself be eaten on purpose. As expected of the Commander.”

Bowie clasped his hands together in relief. For a moment, he truly believed the Commander had been eaten by the serpent.

“Are you alright, Sir Emmett!”

Marien, who had dropped her sword in shock, ran towards Emmett. But Emmett, unfazed, wiped the blood from his face with his hand.

“I didn’t think you let yourself get eaten on purpose. That was truly bold.”

“We’re short on time.”

Having roughly wiped his face, Emmett began to remove his knight’s uniform.

Marien, standing idly by, blushed as she caught sight of Emmett’s firm chest.

My goodness, why is he undressing now? Well, regardless, his chest is… quite…

“Sir Emmett, ahem, what are you doing?”

Marien coughed awkwardly and asked. Glancing out of curiosity, she saw him stripping down to his trousers.

Marien realized that the stones gathered on his abdomen were his abs and coughed again.

Though she had rolled around with half-n*ked men countless times during her days as a cadet—in the training yard—she had never seen muscles so perfectly sculpted like puzzle pieces.

“Ah, even if you’re covered in blood, ahem. You’ll catch a cold.”

Marien offered her red cloak for him to wear, but Emmett declined.

“The lake thawed because of the magic. The parts where the monster hasn’t been are still solid.”

“That’s true. But if another monster appears like before, everyone will sink under the lake. Sir Emmett, crossing the lake is dangerous.”

“Yes. It would be dangerous for everyone to move together.”

Emmett inserted a blade from his supply bag under his boots. Was he planning to recover the bodies of the knights? Touched by his exceptional initiative, Marien placed her hand on her chest and spoke.

“Sir Emmett, we knights will handle the recovery of the bodies…”

“That’s why I’ll move alone. Let’s meet at the path to Restilia that Sir Oster mentioned.”

Suddenly, Emmett went down to the lake. Though the ice was weak, there were still paths that were not broken.

Emmett minimized his contact with the ice using hexes and began to run across the frozen lake.

What am I seeing? Marien, stunned, shouted hastily.

“Sir Emmett! What if the ice breaks? Come back, Sir Emmett!”

Marien stomped her feet, watching Emmett skate across the lake like a fish in water.

My goodness, look at that incredible speed. And his movements are so graceful, like a nobleman dancing at a ball.

“I heard that his nickname during his days as a cadet was the Ice Prince…”

“There’s a famous story. At the winter ball three years ago, he was chosen as the Ice Princess over the Second Princess.”

The Red Knights, who gathered by the lakeshore, began to murmur, each recounting the rumors they had heard. They admired how his silver hair made him stand out even more when dancing on the ice.

“Ha, this is why I can’t leave the Commander.”

Patrick, who was staunching the blood on his forehead, sighed as he gazed across the lake.

Bold decisiveness and unmatched initiative.

Even when the guild offered a huge sum, he couldn’t leave the Blue Knights because of Emmett’s brilliant achievements and admirable looks.

Patrick passed the Red Knights and approached Raiden. He’s usually proud of anything concerning the Commander, but Raiden seemed unusually rigid today.

Patrick poked him and said,

“We should head into the forest. Ordinary people always walk behind heroes.”

Heroes. Raiden’s lips twisted as he turned his back to the lake.

—Why are you trying to save that woman!

—It’s not something for Your Highness to worry about.

A person who acts as a knight out of personal feelings is called a hero.

“Knights! Reorganize the formation to go through the forest!”

The moment they heard Marien’s shout, the knights gathered one by one, excluding the injured.

Raiden knew he was also assigned to the forest entry team and smiled bitterly.

Yes, compared to that guy, I was always just ordinary.

Raiden clenched his teeth unconsciously as he glared at the forest path.