The guard did as much. “The way through the tents should be clear of monsters, but it’s possible some of them got through. We can barely keep them at bay.”

They had been fighting the tree-bark bear fairly deep into the fort, while most of the battle was still happening on the outskirts and walls. Hence why they were afforded this moment of reprieve and a safe path to move through the battlefield.

Narcha snorted. “Why do you think we would take the safest way? We are here to help, so help we shall!”

The soldier frowned. “But the captain said you should-”

“Screw your captain!” She cut him off. “We can meet him in battle, isn’t that right, Eiwin?”

The warrior looked at her companion with an eager gaze.

The younger woman sighed and nodded. She looked over at the guard. “We’ll make our way through the outskirts and deal with the monsters as we move towards your captain. We can clear the battlefield of other threats too, this way.”

The soldier looked hesitant, but just nodded. “I’ll try to inform him of this.”

He walked away and started to give orders to the surrounding men. Although they had cleared the battlefield of a large threat, there were still dozens of monsters around that the soldiers still needed to deal with.

After the man was gone, Eiwin looked back at her companions. “We will take the same usual approach. Miss Valt and I will take the vanguard and Master Rog and Mister Rimold will offer us ranged support. As for Young Master Allen and Red, you will offer your help as a pair where needed, whether to keep monster away from our ranged companions or to reinforce both me and Miss Valt.” She looked at Allen. “Young Master Allen, you are to listen to Red’s decisions in these matters. Is that clear?”

Allen nodded without hesitation. “I will do whatever he says!”

Eiwin smiled. “Good. Then we are settled. Believe it when I tell you this, but Master Hector put a lot of thought into the kind of training he provided to each and every one of you for moments like these. We can all cover each other’s weaknesses and reinforce our strengths, and if we can work together as a proper squad, then not even Lesser Ring Realm monsters can stand in our way.”

‘Is that really the case?’

Red was skeptical, but the truth was that they indeed managed to kill that bear in a series of quick blows. Although they had the help of a talisman, the wordless coordination the group showed at that moment was indeed impressive.

She looked over at Narcha. “With that being said, I will let you take the lead, Miss Valt.”

Narcha nodded with an eager expression. Without hesitation, she charged in the direction where the sounds of battle were more intense.

It didn’t take them long to come face to face with another skirmish. This section of the wooden wall was completely collapsed, and the fighting here had been turned into a chaotic melee as the guards found themselves unable to keep formation.

Dozens of soldiers did their best to hold their own against these monsters, but under their inhuman strength, they continued to fall one by one. One kind of these beasts in particular seemed stronger and more vicious than the rest.

‘Skycrown wolves.’

Even amidst the diverse horde of monsters, they were still a majority. Red could feel at least twenty monsters spread through this section of the fort’s walls, while the guards numbered in the forties.

“Take out the wolves first!” Narcha called out to them without looking back.

Their wordless agreement came in the form of them taking out their weapons. Narcha and Eiwin charged ahead, while Rog and Rimold prepared to shoot or throw their weapons at the monsters.

Red looked over at Allen. “Stay close. We need to watch each other’s back.”

The young master nodded with a nervous but still resolute expression.

Their aim seemed to be two white Skycrown wolves and a large brown ibex with spiked vicious horns. Rog’s arrow and Rimold’s dagger arrived before Narcha and Eiwin, striking at one of the wolves.

The creature growled in pain as the projectiles stuck into its side, and turned around to look in the direction where it came from. As soon as it turned around, though, it was met with an uppercut from Eiwin at its muzzle that made it stagger backwards.

Before it could even notice what was happening, Narcha followed up Eiwin’s attack with a slash of her saber at the wolf’s neck. The weapon cut straight through, and the monster was decapitated in a swift one-two combo.

At this point, the other monsters noticed their presence, and immediately turned away from the guards to face this new threat. The ibex charged at Narcha with its spiked horns, while the wolf jumped at Eiwin with its claws.

Narcha put her saber in front of herself to block the head-on charge, being pushed back almost three meters, but still holding her ground as she managed to drag the ibex to a pause.

As soon as the monster stopped moving, an arrow and a dagger shot into its side, making it wail in pain. Still, the beast didn’t fall with just that, and continued to attack Narcha, this time striking at her with its hooves.

Eiwin, in the meantime, was dodging the wolves’ claws and bites, being put into the defensive. Red was considering going over to help them, when he felt another fluctuation approaching their location from the flanks.

He looked over and saw another wolf charging towards Rog and Rimold from afar, having finished up with a guard. The two of them had not even noticed it yet, but Red wasn’t about to let the beast get this close to them.

He looked over at Allen. “With me!”

The young master nodded without hesitation.

Red led him over to the side in a sprint towards the wolf.

This didn’t go unnoticed by Rimold and Rog.

“What are you-” The rogue was about to protest when he looked in the direction they were running towards and saw the large vicious wolf charging at them.

“Let them handle it!” Rog said, still shooting at the Ibex.

This was all Red heard from their conversation as he continued to approach the wolf. He stopped midway through his charge, causing Allen to be caught by surprise.

“Get ready and stay by the side!” Red said.

The young master nodded and walked over to the side.

The wolf was quick to spot these two small humans who dared get in its way, and it didn’t stop its charge at all. There was no more than thirty meters between it and the two boys right now, and the final distance would be closed in a matter of instants.

This scene reminded him of the trial when he first met these wolves. Back then, the boy was slogged down by the snow and got battered away like it was nothing. Now, however, nothing was slowing down his steps, and the boy had learned a lot under Domeron’s guidance.

His Tranquil Beak Weapon Art was mainly used for assassination, but the tricks and techniques it taught him could be used in combat or in any other kind of situation, too. So it was that the boy planned to deal with the wolf.

He stood in a ramrod straight stance, laying his new dark sword flat against his forearm by the side of his body. Red looked like he was an official paying his respects at court, and not like someone who was in the middle of a war.

He even felt some uncertainty from Allen, who stood by his side, but the boy remained still. Although nothing much seemed to be happening on the surface, Red knew better.

His muscles were tensing, being awakened and prepared to deliver his attack. Like a heron, the boy stood at the ready to strike, to finish this fight with one fatal blow.

Even if the enemy was aware of his presence and trying to kill him, his assassination arts would still prevail.

The wolf leapt forward, crossing the final distance with a large jump. Its vicious maw opened midair, ready to close around Red’s entire body with a single bite.

That was when the boy moved.

Like the string of a bow when released, all the potential energy the boy was building inside his own body exploded. He shot forward, diving under the monster’s maw and raising his sword up in a single fluid movement, keeping low to the ground.

The wolf’s jaws closed just inches above him. Then there was the sound of something ripping apart. Red’s sword found purchase on the beast’s underside, using the monster’s own charging momentum to carve a vertical line from its neck to its belly.

Then, the beast’s back legs crashed into Red, causing both wolf and boy to tumble away to the dirt. They crashed down about five meters away from each other.

“Red!” Allen hurried towards him.

“Finish it off!” Red waved his hand at the young master as he got on one knee with no apparent wounds and still holding onto his now bloodied sword.

Allen looked over and saw that the wolf was lying on its side, struggling to get up. A bloody cut travelled all the way from its underside, making the crimson fluid pool at its feet.

The young master hesitated for just a second before charging at the wolf. The beast did its best to strike Allen down, but it was too slow.

The young master circled around the half-collapsed wolf and stabbed its neck, causing the wolf to spasm in pain again. Allen then pulled his sword back and retreat before being caught up in its death throes.

It turned out, however, that the young master didn’t need to worry. The wolf only struggled for a few more seconds before falling completely still.

“It’s dead…” Allen said with an expression of shock.

“It is.” Red nodded, approaching him from the side.

“How did you-”

“It doesn’t matter.” Red cut him off. “Let’s rejoin our companions. There are still many monsters around and we don’t know when-”

The boy himself was interrupted by a howl of pain. He looked over, noticing the ibex was just collapsing on the floor with a large bloody gash on its side and several arrows and daggers stuck into its body.

The wolf himself wasn’t faring much better, limping on its front leg as Eiwin continued to circle and strike it with her punches and kicks. Before long, the wolf too collapsed as Narcha cut halfway through its body from behind.

Just like that, four monsters were dead.

As soon as their immediate battle was finished, Eiwin looked back in confusion at Rog and Rimold, and noticed the absence of Red and Allen.

Some panic came to her expression. “Where are they?”

The hunter pointed to the side, where both Red and Allen stood by the corpse of another snow white wolf. What had taken the rest of them a minute to accomplish, the boys had done in less than thirty seconds.

None of Red’s companions seemed to believe it.

Narcha snorted. “Maybe we should have put the two of them on the vanguard.”