With her exhaustion completely forgotten, Max couldn’t help but burst into a smile at the good news Ruth brought. Whenever the wizard came back from a meeting led by Grand Duke Aren, he would always provide the details afterwards.

  Max’s heart felt lighter at the prospect of victory. Ruth has always been cynical, but if even he was being this optimistic, then things must finally be looking favorably.

  Turning the gears in her head in thought, Max returned to tend to the boiling medicine. It took about a day and a half on horseback riding from Ethylene to Pamela Plateau. Considering the knights’ mobility and stamina, it wouldn’t take them more than three- or four-days roundtrip. They only needed to send supplies a few more times, within a month or a month and a half……

  At Ruth’s voice, Max quickly came to her senses and removed the pot from the heat, setting it aside. A new car full of wounded arrived last night, filling the infirmary. The wizards who stayed behind did their best to heal them with magic, but it was impossible to heal all of them in a day or two.

  Because of that, they had to categorize the men based on the severity of their injury and heal them in that order. And it was Max’s job, along with the priestesses, to make sure these thirty men didn’t die.

  Max transferred the detox medicine she made into a small bottle and rubbed her tired eyes. Seeing her so exhausted, Ruth asked with his eyebrows furrowed.

  His gaze on her grew more and more stern.

  Max muttered as she avoided his gaze. The truth was, since Riftan left, she hadn’t had a proper meal. Perhaps because she was too nervous. Whenever she forced bread into her mouth, she would feel her stomach churn so it was only more difficult.

  Sighing, Ruth looked at her tired face.

  He glared at her and grabbed the ladle and bottle out of her hands, then came out and called Garrow and Yulysion, who were standing guard outside.

  In fact, she healed five wounded people. When Ruth went to speak with the Grand Duke, she healed two more. But staring into Ruth’s narrowed eyes, Max kept her mouth shut. Ruth pointed firmly to the exit.

  He responded annoyed when her stubbornness began to get on his nerves.

  Max awkwardly turned her body around at Ruth’s pointed words.

  Ruth instructed Yulysion. Max gave him one last look and headed back to Riftan’s tent. She doubted she would be able to fall asleep as she lay down on the pillow and closed her eyes.

  Rubbing her throbbing head, Max pulled the blanket up to her head and somehow, miraculously, fell into a deep sleep.

  In her vague awareness, Max felt someone shake her shoulder. She groggily opened her eyes, but found herself still half asleep. ‘How long did I sleep?’ She wondered as she rubbed her dazed eyes and suddenly heard Yulysion’s urgent voice burst into her unconsciousness.

  Startled, Max looked up at him as Yulysion, He hastily helped her up without waiting for permission.

  Max quickly got out of bed and followed him. Then a loud, deafening noise drummed against her ears.

  Max looked around, wondering what all the fuss was about. When she focused towards the southern gates, her eyes widened. The armed knights were engaged in battle with black, clay-like beings with weapons.

  Then, she heard cries and screams from all corners of the fortress. Everyone was in a panic as they screamed and ran frantically. Max unconsciously took a step back. She only closed her eyes for a moment…… did she fall into another dimension?

  Yulysion grabbed her by the arm as he screamed in anger. Max’s eyes widened in shock.

  The young man wove through the barracks, and Max gasped as she desperately tried to keep up with his pace when suddenly something emerged from the ground and grabbed her ankle.

  Max shrieked in a shrill voice, her throat almost tearing a part. A cold, decaying hand with rotted black bones wrapped around her skin and wretchedly pulled her.

  In a panic, Max screamed and kicked, trying to push the hideous thing away. Yulysion immediately drew his sword and slashed the ghoul’s arm emerging from the ground with a single swing. But the undead hand that gripped her ankle still remained.

  Max quickly tore it off with trembling hands and threw it away. The feeling of those bony fingers touching her lingered, and it was a feeling that would never go away for the rest of her life.

  In the midst of her anguish, and rubbing the skin the ghoul had touched, Yulysion screamed and placed her behind him, using his body as a shield.

  It was then that she realized that it wasn’t just one ghoul crawling out of the ground. Surrounding them were half-rotting corpses crawling towards them from all directions.

  Yulysionon relentlessly swung his sword at the creatures. The speed of his swing was almost invisible to the naked eye if not for its blue glint. With a single hit, the heads of three ghouls were sent rolling on the ground.

  Max watched, surprised by the decapitated monster searching desperately for her head, as Yulysion hastily grabbed her and dragged her away.

  There was nothing Max could do but sprint after him. Yulysion cut through the overwhelming number of ghouls on their way without a second of hesitation and led her to the castle walls.

  As soon as she managed to do what she was told, Max climbed the watchtower. Once she was on top, she turned and her breathing stopped. At the top, a full view of Ethylene’s chaotic situation unfolded before her.

  Half of the barracks had been brought down. The horses were running around frantically, and the armed knights screamed and fought the emerging ghouls with long spears. It was hell on earth.

  Yulysion’s words entered one ear and out the other. Her eyes became unfocused at the sheer chaos before her. What about Garrow and Hebaron? Idcilla and the other priestesses? Will everyone come out safe from this chaos?

  Max looked around everywhere, trying to see if she could find a familiar face in the midst of the loud commotion, when a loud roar came from behind her.

  She turned her head. The installed defensive magic devices had been activated, and huge barriers began to form on the walls. Beyond the barriers, hundreds of trolls in black armor were marching towards them.

  Yulysion muttered in disbelief.

  The young man clasped his face in shock but immediately came into senses. He picked up the big horn by the watchtower and blew into it with all his might. The thunderous sound echoed throughout the fort and in the distance. It was an invasion.

  The boy’s normally confident tone was now cloudy like smoke. This was beyond anything anyone could have imagined, and they both knew it.

  Max grabbed and held her forehead as she was barely able to process this reality. There were hundreds of ghouls attacking within the walls, and now, an army of trolls had gathered outside the walls. It was a living nightmare.

  ‘Didn’t the Allied forces push the trolls to the north? And since when have these ghouls been buried in the ground?’


  Suddenly, realization hit Max, and a petrifying fear shook her to the bone. Yulysion said that a large number of corpses were probably buried in the castle prior to their arrival. It could only mean that when Ethylene first fell, it was the monsters who buried the dead beneath the ground.

  Was the monster’s defeat in Ethylene merely a trap to gather all the allied forces in here? Then why did the monsters wait for a moment to attack when the allied forces are not here?

  Perhaps the monsters are aiming for the chance of ransacking the supply of food. There was enough food left to feed 15,000 soldiers for a month and a week. If that supply is taken away, no matter how much power and upper hand the allied forces have, they will not be able to hold out.

  Max wrapped her arms around her shoulders, there was a foreboding chill that ran through her body. At that moment, she heard Garrow’s voice screaming from below the wall.

  Max looked down and saw five to six soldiers standing at the base of the stairs. Yulysion led her down and immediately, Garrow and the soldiers surrounded her in protection.

  Garrow supported Max with one arm and strode forward. Max quickly took his help and followed along. As they approached the battle scene, Max saw knights and soldiers stabbing ghouls with spears measuring 10 kvet (3 m) long.

  They were able to quickly reorganize and drive the ghouls into a corner. Even in the face of an unexpected attack, the soldiers remained calm and engaged in a strategic battle. Seeing this has brought a sense of relief to her.

  If they are able to defeat the ghouls and defend the walls until the Allied Forces have returned, they will be able to protect the supplies and the lives of those in the castle.