[TKOSINM] 172 - Snow Forest

 Finally, both of Louiselle’s legs touched the ground. There was a loud noise, but Louiselle still casually held Irene and started running. She was heading toward a stable. She put Irene on the ride first, and then Louiselle climbed up afterwards. Tumultuous noise was heard from afar, but it was gradually getting closer and louder. Seemingly, the assassins were chasing right behind their backs. Louiselle quickly unleashed the reins and kicked the horse on the side hard with her heel.

Neigh!

Surprised by the hit, the horse ran at full speed and passed through the gate. “Louiselle, you can keep going straight in this direction.”

“Yes.”

The horse crossed the forest whilst the assassins on horseback constantly pursued them. Holding onto the horse’s neck tightly, Irene took a deep breath and cried out the name of the person whose presence she most craved for right now.

‘Noel!’

♔♔♔

 Noel’s group had entered the Snow Forest.

 “Wow, is this the Snow Forest I have only heard of through words? It’s snowing, but it’s not cold at all.”

 One of the mercenaries, Dan, murmured as he walked down the path covered in snow. Starting from the border between hard dirt and soft snow at the entrance, the sound of horses’ hooves could provoke the demon, so they got down and went in on foot.

 “But is the Snow Forest usually this foggy? I can’t see anything in front of me since it’s a little misty and gloomy.”

 “It wasn’t foggy until now, it could be a change in the climate, or it could have something to do with the emergence of the demons. I won’t save you even if you are attacked, so stop babbling or you will trigger the beast.” At Noel’s heartless claim, Dan muttered, kicking his tongue.

“If you treat me half as nice as you do to your wife, I will shed tears of joy…”

 “Shh. There’s something ahead.” At that moment, as Noel’s warning, something colossal was approaching them with heavy footsteps.

Thump. Thump.

The mercenary corps and the knights looked around with immense tension at the echo of the horrific sound. Noel stared straight ahead quietly, then pulled out a bow and an arrow from the bow barrel attached to his horse. As the atmosphere was dead silent to the point that none of them dared to breathe heavily, Noel’s composure remained unchanged. He steadily pulled the bowstring, aiming at a certain point, waiting for the target to make its appearance then let go. Eyes of the mercenaries and the guards followed the direction his arrow was flying. Everything seemed quiet the second later, but how unfortunate, it was just the calm before the storm.

“Screech!”

 It ran towards Noel, the monster’s roar sounded as if it was piercing through his ears. What appeared in the mist was a monster with thick fur all over its body. Every time the demon took a step, the ground shook from each stamp. The things on its fingers were too long and sharp to be called nails. It gave them a hunch that even the slightest touch of its wildly swinging claws would split their body in half. Even with such an intimidating build in front of him, Noel drew his sword without a moment of hesitation.

 “Protect the Duke!”

The soldiers screamed and came running, but that was the most useless and redundant act. It was because Noel was handling the fight just fine on his own. Even without their protection, he would still without a doubt, take down the hideous creature. The reason he was able to fight on an equal footing with a monster with its five senses working at its utmost in the thick foggy forest was that the arrow he shot penetrated through one of the monster’s eyes. Thanks to it, the monster swung its claws in the air aimlessly and unavailingly, while Noel took advantage of that chance to dig in between them and injure the monster’s body.

It’s hard on the outside.

However, its skin was so solid that it only suffered minor wounds, no fatal wounds were applied. Noel avoided the monster’s claws and stood next to his horse. As they were trained for this kind of situation, the horse did not run away and stayed in place even in a sudden break-out battle. Noel grabbed all ten arrows from the bow barrel hanging from his horse and approached the monster which was fighting in a rage.

 “My Lord! Don’t come close! It’s dangerous here!”

---