There was a small strain at first. Then, as I applied more force, my legs — which had seemed like they weren’t going to respond — moved.
I applied the same tactics to my hands and eventually my entire body. It was comparatively easier than commanding something else. Perhaps that was because it was my own body.
It made me wonder if commanding my legs to move faster would actually be effective.
As I pushed myself up, Nisha glanced between me and whatever the hell I was doing.
"Hey, what are you doing? Stay down!"
My scleras were red with exhaustion, almost looking like I’d been put under a great strain. Which, fair enough — I had been.
"Not... yet." I managed to convey the words and slowly stood up. When I stood fully on the wagon, my legs felt like my own again. Mine by my command.
The pain in my muscles was gone for a bit, and as I jumped down from the wagon, the impact threatened to fold my legs again. But I instantly commanded it.
’Stand!’
I steadied myself and clenched my hands tightly around my dagger.
The dull-faced man glanced back at me with slight amusement.
"You..."
But he didn’t have time to say more than that. The Gorewraiths were pooling toward us in greater numbers now, and the Cratakitis were crawling out of the forest too, moving with annoying haste and throwing their curved tails, targeting people’s legs.
As one came closer, striking with that tail, instead of raising my legs to dodge, I slammed down with all my might. Both daggers sank into the segment between its carapace. A Gorewraith rushed at me from the side. With the same fervor, I commanded mentally:
’Stand!’
Then I shoved myself up with all my strength again, turning my dagger on the way. I drove the blade into its jaw from below and wrenched it out, immediately returning a stab to its neck. I glanced over it — another one was coming. I threw it a kick and sent it skidding backward, crashing into the other one.
I rushed in and pinned it to the ground, burying multiple dagger strikes into its underbelly.
[You have killed a Savage (Tier 2) Spirit Beast]
[You have killed a Savage (Tier 2) Spirit Beast]
"Boy!!"
My partner pulled me away by the hood of my cloak and used the momentum to shoot forward. He had his chains wrapped around his hands now and used them to crush the jaw of the Gorewraith that was tumbling toward us from beneath.
The creature faltered for a second, disoriented by the powerful punch, the serrated edges of the chain tearing into its skin. He drove in another punch from the side, throwing the jaw sideways in a spray of spit.
The beast staggered, giving space. The man had already unleashed the chains and sent them whirling into the air. As he swung his hand, the chains whipped coldly through the air and slashed across the creature’s massive body with a wet squelching sound.
I glanced around, looking at how much everyone was still holding on.
Many were already leaving the lines. Some were falling. The Cratakitis stabbed their tails into them and dragged them away across the ground. Others were trying to save the ones being dragged, but that also meant exposing themselves to the Gorewraiths that would just rear up and tear off their necks.
Some other people were retreating to the wagons, breathless.
And that was just this side. I didn’t know how things were going on the other side, or the upper parts.
’We can’t keep going like this...’
We were slowly getting cornered. Our fatigue was giving us a losing hand, and the Spirit Beasts’ numbers were clearly overwhelming the entire Caravan.
Battling head to head with these creatures was certainly not going to cut it. But then, it wasn’t like I was the most experienced person here — everyone ought to have known they were in a losing battle from the very beginning.
Circumstances had driven us to confront the monsters like this because we had to protect the wagons at all cost.
At the same time, I also knew someone like Tristan and Levi was holding back. Nisha simply wasn’t in her best fighting condition, and yet she was holding her own against the enemies.
And then there was me. The guy who could’ve finished this quickly with the help of both of my villainesses but had to stay low. The moment the villainesses were sighted, people might begin to grow suspicious.
’It’s not like there are two Spirit Summoners on the run right now. Just me. Just the heretic everyone’s looking for.’
While I wanted to say no one could recognize them, there was still no certainty. There seemed to be a tell that made people recognize villainous spirits — or at least the Arch-bishop did.
Or maybe it was just about Kassie.
Even if they didn’t identify them as villainesses, they’d still suspect me as a Spirit Summoner. That alone was enough.
With that, I wanted to shove back the thought of using the last grain of essence I had in me to summon Maggy and execute my plan. But it just kept biting. I couldn’t just lay low and watch people die because my cover would get blown if I did.
’What kind of person does that make me?’
I tilted back, dodging a teeth clamp from another Gorewraith. I lunged my dagger forward, stabbing into the flesh area just above its rows of teeth. I tore the stab to my left, yanking out my dagger and managed a sloppy kick to the side of its head.
The creature staggered out of balance nonetheless, giving me space to reverse-hold both daggers and ready myself for a follow-up combo strike.
But someone faster got to it.
Tristan was moving across the battlefield like a wind of justice. He appeared before me already airborne, hauling a scissors kick. The creature flattened to the ground as he smashed his leg into its back.
He landed smoothly and held me by the shoulder, pushing me back in a casual walk. We reached behind the line quickly and he fixed me with a serious gaze.
"What are you doing? You should be resting."
I looked at him. I wasn’t sure how my gaze appeared to him, but I knew something was burning in my heart.
"Tristan, I can’t just rest while everyone is fighting."
He frowned.
"The older people that are resting aren’t?"
"They’re not on the run from the church. And they don’t have a vow to destroy the church even if it takes everything they own."
The cold red light in my eyes reflected in the depth of Tristan’s blue eyes.
"Tristan, look, I have a plan." I quickly cut through the tension. "A plan to end this for good."