Wolves of Hader

Suddenly, a standoff with the Tak tribe broke out.

Four humans. Six Tak warriors.

We weren't facing each other in lines—the humans and Tak warriors were all mixed together. The dark knights just stared at us blankly.

"Yhw Tark!"

"Don't attack first!"

"Ereh yeht era yhw!"

"Young lord! What should we do?!"

"Thgif ton od!"

Our team and the Tak warriors all started shouting at once. If even one person made a move, a brawl would erupt. We could win, but we'd get hurt as well.

"Wait! Everyone, stop!"

Our team fell silent, but the Tak warriors kept yelling. No matter what language I spoke, it must have sounded different to them.

On our side were myself, Donnie, and three members.

On the Tak side, six warriors of varying builds.

Exactly the same as the number of our party.

After Eilin and Allen disappeared, Tak tribe appeared out of nowhere, walking right next to us.

The Tak warriors were just as shocked and stared at us with confused and flustered faces. It made sense—they were just like us.

"Allen!"

I shouted.

A small Tak warrior looked at me.

His eyes grew wide.

I shook my head at him.

Don't attack.

"Eilin! You're Eilin! Take the holy sword out from the backpack on your back! That will restore everything!"

One of the Tak warriors stared at me.

He looked scared, but then cocked his head at my actions. He looked like a male warrior through and through.

"It's me! I'm Roger! You're Eilin!"

"Rojer?"

"Yes. I'm Roger. Right now, you must see me as a Tak warrior! It's the same for us! That small Tak warrior there—that's Yuri!"

The team let out helpless laughs.

We'd all seen each other as Tak tribe warriors. Their words had sounded like Tak language to us, and my words sounded like Tak language to them.

As the smallest Tak warrior said something, 'Eilin' finally took off her backpack. The backpack didn't even look like ours, but like a rough Tak tribe backpack.

She pulled the holy sword from the pack.

The moment she unwrapped the cloth, a burst of light exploded.

At the same time, the illusions all vanished.

"Whew!"

"Good grief!"

"What the heck was that?"

Everyone who had looked like a Tak warrior now reverted to their true forms. The same went for us; Eilin and Allen both sighed in deep relief.

The dark knights gathered in front of us looked at the humans with puzzled faces. Since they weren't alive, they hadn't fallen under the illusion.

"Was it the devil's sorcery?"

"Yes. It was so convincing—I saw Eilin as a male warrior!"

"You saw us as Tak, too?"

"That's how you appeared to us."

Yuri tilted her head.

"Huh? But I just saw you as big brothers."

"Not Tak warriors?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Suddenly, unni and big brothers seemed like they were about to fight, so I tried to stop you all. I was about to cry."

I looked at Eilin.

"That's right. Yuri was about to cry and asked why we were doing that. When the Tak warrior said he was Roger oppa, I had no idea what he meant."

"Well done, Yuri."

Yuri just smiled innocently.

She didn't know why I was praising her.

"That was close. If we'd been fooled any more, we would have killed each other."

"I bet ancient wars used tricks like this too. There could be more to come."

This time, our goal was to erase the power of darkness and uncover the devil's sorcery. We couldn't fall for the same trick twice—it was a type of magic that would catch you if you lost focus.

Anyway, the holy sword showed its power.

The billowing darkness and green mist in the reeds began to recede. Black smoke rose in the distance.

"Dark knights, advance! Eliminate all traces of darkness ahead as you go!"

― We heed the king's command.

The dark knights began to move forward.

They spread out, sweeping the area.

After a while, everyone gathered in the middle of the marsh.

There was an object on a small island.

It was a medium imbued with the power of darkness.

It was a gem-encrusted sword, but having been burned by the holy sword, it turned pitch black. The smoke from earlier had risen as this sword burned with dark ashes.

Before we knew it, all the evil energy that had filled the marsh had vanished. With no mediums left, the devil's sorcery must have been broken as well.

And so we moved on.

There were still three places left.

/ / /

This time, it was a corrupted village.

The whole village was drowned in darkness, and infected goblins and beasts were rampaging.

"Dark knights and bronze knights, purge all monsters from this village!"

The dark knights entered the village and started capturing the rampaging infected monsters. The darkness was quite strong, so we didn't go in.

After waiting about an hour,

the darkness that had engulfed the village gradually faded away. Then, the dark knight captain came out holding a rusted sword.

He said the darkness disappeared as soon as the sword was pulled out.

Once again, a sword had been the medium.

We burned this sword away with holy power as well.

After purifying the village, we took a break.

After about two hours' rest,

the Tuji brothers and two members returned.

They had defeated the yokai count.

They also brought food and horses.

"Was it really a yokai?"

"Yes. That thing was a giant spider. Not only it, but the butler and even all the house servants were spiders."

"So, we burned the manor down too."

"Well done."

It wasn't out of charity.

Even though we knew, it felt wrong just to walk away. It wasn't a job others could easily handle anyway.

We ate near the village and then departed again.

We rode for about five hours.

With horses, the journey was much easier.

"This place feels strange."

"Let's not go in for now."

We all stood at the edge of a plain.

Beyond the plain was a battlefield. Corpses were strewn everywhere, and spears and flags stood planted in the earth.

I'd never heard of a war happening here. According to the restaurant owner who told us about this spot, no one comes out alive after entering here.

But the field was devoid of demonic beasts—just corpses. No war had taken place here, yet it looked like a freshly abandoned battlefield from yesterday.

What's more, the soldiers' gear.

All of it was old. There were some good armors and swords. Even things that looked like treasure chests.

If someone found this place, they wouldn't be able to walk past. Even just collecting the swords would be enough money for years. There were even some fine armors.

"Why can't people leave?"

"It must be some kind of hallucination magic."

"Eilin. Will you take out the holy sword?"

"Yes."

She unwrapped the cloth surrounding the sword.

At that very moment!

A burst of light erupted, and the vivid battlefield disappeared without a trace. In its place, countless skeletons lay scattered. Most were ancient.

Some weapons were planted here and there, but the soldiers' skeletons were gone. The others wore the clothes of herbalists or woodcutters. Or wanderers. Some clutched swords buried in their chests.

"No one killed them, then."

"It seems so."

They had all killed themselves.

Those who entered, hoping to make a fortune, fell under the spell and took their own lives.

If we'd gone in, we might have met the same fate. That's how powerful the devil's sorcery was. Did the devils make this just for fun?

I doubt it. There must be another purpose.

Eilin and I took the holy sword and picked up a helmet that stood at the center of the field. The sorcery was activated from the skull inside the helmet.

The skull burned away immediately.

Once the holy sword was sheathed, only the plain full of skeletons remained, no longer a battlefield.

We set off again.

Now, the last Forest of Death in this kingdom. It was, indeed, an actual forest. The most dangerous spot.

Once we got past this forest, there wouldn't be any more dark woods for a while. North of here was the equator, and beyond that, you could reach the Dran dominion.

/ / /

On the sixth day since we set out again,

we finally arrived at the true Forest of Death.

A sea of pitch-black woods.

We stood at the timberline in front of the forest, and the sheer scale alone was overwhelming.

Although we were now near the equator and the weather was hot, the area around the forest felt cool. A damp, chilling aura drifted out from the woods.

"Dark knights, advance."

The dark knights began to enter the forest. Not in a parade, but carefully, alert like regular people. In their unique gait.

Of all the Forests of Death south of the central region, this was known as the most dangerous. It was said that only about one in a hundred made it out alive.

Supposedly there was an immense source of darkness in the center, but near the edge, the darkness was weak. Maybe this place was the origin of the darkness.

"Eilin, can you sense the power of darkness?"

"Yes. Somewhere deep inside."

"Keep holding the holy sword."

"Alright."

Eilin gripped the holy sword.

Maybe because the darkness here was weak, the sword didn't shine with holy light. On the other hand, my right hand glowed.

The elemental of light was reacting to Saihan's power. Since the light wasn't strong, there probably weren't any immediate threats nearby.

With no bright glow, there was nothing to purify here. Still, the forest stretched on endlessly, and we had no idea how far it went.

Regardless, we kept walking.

As we went deeper in, it got so dark we had to use torches. Flames flickered, and strange energies drifted past us.

After about three hours,

everyone was hungry, so we decided to rest for a bit. We ate, and boiled coffee over a little firepit.

I even dozed off for a bit as we rested. When I woke, I felt something was off. There was this unplaceable sense of wrongness. Nothing looked different, but—

"Did anything happen?"

"No. The others just went over there to relieve themselves. You only dozed off for a moment."

Strange.

Something didn't fit. And—

The light in my hand glowed brightly.

I glanced at the forest darkened by shadows.

I'd never seen anything like this before. What should I call it? The air itself seemed layered and doubled.

"Donnie, doesn't something feel odd?"

"What do you mean?"

"Can't you see that? That transparent wall over there."

Donnie looked at the other side of the woods.

"It does seem weird, I guess."

"What does it look like to you?"

"I'm not sure."

I stared at Donnie.

He seemed a bit off, too. I couldn't put my finger on exactly why. There was this unfamiliar sense of distance.

"Yuri, can you see it?"

"Yeah. It's weird here."

"Right?"

So it really was strange.

But only a few of us sensed it. More than half looked at us in puzzlement.

Were a few of us under a spell,

or was it actually the others who'd been ensnared? I couldn't tell who was normal anymore.

The holy sword glowed gently. That meant there was darkness here, but it was weak. It hadn't burned anything away.

"The sun will set soon."

"We should head toward the shore, right?"

"Yes."

"Let's head west."

Checking the compass, we started walking west.

But the compass behaved strangely too. It would point north, then suddenly refuse to indicate west.

"Wait. Everyone halt."

The party sat down where they were.

The dark knights spread out in a perimeter.

But then—

The number of dark knights had decreased.

They couldn't have wandered off without my orders.

What the hell had happened?

"Donnie, where did the knights go?"

"I don't know."

We'd lost our sense of direction.

And within a moment, even more of the dark knights had vanished. Nearly forty were missing.

"Did anyone see the dark knights leave?"

No one answered.

Everyone looked confused. Some looked expressionless, as though truly ensnared. Hans, too.

"Young lord."

"Things feel strange, don't they?"

"Yes. Even my younger brother—it's odd, the way he treats me like a comrade now, when we aren't close."

"A comrade?"

"Yes. And he was about to speak, which is strange."

Uson was reluctant to talk.

His tongue was cut, which made speaking hard.

But he was about to speak?

The only ones still normal were myself, Tuji, Eilin, and Yuri. The rest had changed. And all of them were staring toward the western woods.

Then—

Tuji and I saw it at the same time.

"Something's coming."

We looked north, toward the forest.

Amid the darkness, we saw eyes glinting.

They were watching us.

The eyes cautiously approached. I didn't know what they were wary of, but they crept toward us, watching carefully.

"Who are you?"

No response.

Just as I was about to ask again—

"Hey. Don't attack."

A short man.

He wore something like armor and hid behind a huge tree. He scanned the area, then poked his head out.

"It's me."

I flinched in shock.

I looked behind me, then looked forward again.

Allen was definitely right behind me.

And now another Allen had appeared.

A bearded, shaggy Allen.