“My God, what are you doing here?” Maxi couldn’t stop staring at him.
Riftan looked so surprised as he helped her up.
“Did I hurt you?”
His glove poked painfully into her skin as his large hand held her shoulder.
Coming back to reality, she swept her eyes over him from head to toe.
His vision became blurry as tears began to well up.
She carefully observed his powerful body, black eyes round with surprise, the cold expression on his dark features and messy hair.
Her lips trembled, and she threw herself into his arms.
Riftan remained still for a moment, then his arms came around her.
All the tension in his body seemed to dissolve at once.
Leaning against his breastplate, she felt the thin thread of her self-control snap, and she began to sob.
"W-What the hell happened?
D-Do you have any idea how worried I was?"
"There's no need for that now.
I'm fine."
With his arms still around her, Riftan began to gently rock her back and forth.
Maxi looked up through her tears to study his face.
He seemed to have lost weight, and the sight of his stubble jaw tugged at his heart.
"A-Are you hurt anywhere?
H-There was a trail of blood."
“I think this belongs to someone else.”
Surprised by the dry comment, Maxi turned her head to see Ruth standing in the cave.
He looked around with a gloomy expression.
She followed his gaze and froze when she saw the figure lying in the darkness.
“U-Ulyseon…”
“Was it a monster?”
Kuahel Leon entered the cave.
The light he summoned pushed away the shadows, revealing a sight that left Maxi speechless.
Virtually none of the missing group members were in good shape.
Ulyseon was leaning against the cave wall, pale as death.
Kneeling beside him, Elliot, soaked in blood, tended to his wound.
On the other side, Sidina was tied with a rope, with a Temple Knight pinning her to the ground.
Maxi remained frozen in shock.
"Are you just going to stand there?
Come help!"
Geoffrey's urgent call brought her out of her daze, and she left Riftan standing in the doorway to run toward the others.
She was lost on what to do.
As she hesitated, Ruth pushed her aside to crouch beside Ulyseon.
“It appears to be under a lamia spell.”
“U-A lamia?”
“An abominable monster that can dominate the human mind,” Elliot explained.
"Once bitten, its venom deprives the person of their will, turning them into beasts.
A trained knight can resist, but..." His eyes turned to Sidina.
"It slows her movements and paralyzes her muscles.
She is in this state because she continued to fight despite her condition."
Elliot wrapped Ulyseon's arm with a torn piece of cloth.
Maxi looked at the older knight in surprise.
I had never seen him so serious or his eyes so worried.
He pressed on Ulyseon's wound, where his shoulder armor met his chest armor, and called out to Ruth.
"We need a cure!
The bleeding won't stop!"
"Max!
I need you here.
This guy is also seriously injured."
Maxi ran to Geoffrey and found a Temple Knight lying on the ground.
Abett, if she remembered correctly.
Kneeling beside him, she cast healing and restorative magic at the same time.
It had no effect as his complexion remained pale and his eyes closed.
Another Temple Knight approached from behind her.
“You have to use a lot of divine magic”, he explained calmly.
“He will recover in time.”
Regaining some composure, Maxi looked around the cave.
Thanks to Ruth, Ulyseon's face was slowly regaining color.
Sidina was better, having been pacified with a purification spell.
Albern and Geoffrey, who were ready to fall due to mana exhaustion, seemed to have regained energy after consuming some of their emergency medicine.
Once the most pressing matters were resolved, Hebaron turned to Riftan.
“How did you guys get into so much trouble?”
"Explanations will have to wait.
We need to search the surroundings first." Riftan's tone was calmer, presumably relieved that Ulyseon was improving.
He continued, "Some of the lamias managed to escape.
They will be hiding somewhere, waiting for an opportunity to attack again."“Did the monster army discover you?” Kuahel asked, with a dark expression.
Riftan frowned.
"I doubt they were part of the monster army.
They were feasting on armored trolls they had hunted when we found them."
An image of the scene flashed through her head, giving her goosebumps.
Seeing her trembling, Riftan walked over and squeezed her shoulder.
Despite the kind gesture, there was no hint of affection on his face.
After staring at him robotically, Riftan turned to Hebaron.
"We haven't had a chance to cover our tracks, so it's only a matter of time before they find us.
Everyone should stay alert."
"You heard the commander.
Search the surroundings and take care of the horses," Hebaron shouted to the knights waiting behind him.
He surveyed the tired faces of the mages and added, "But first, food.
These people need to eat."
“We got some scraps during the journey, but the knights fought off monster after monster with barely a bite,” said Geoffrey.
Maxi turned to grab the food packets from his saddle.
Riftan grabbed her shoulder to stop her.
“Let the knights get the food.”
She obeyed silently, not wanting to be separated from him.
Her mind would only be at peace if she had him in sight all the time.
Knowing he was safe again filled her with relief.
If they had been alone, she would have clung to him and never let him go.
Of course, it would be terribly indecent for her to worry about him while the others were in terrible condition.
She had to be content with holding her cloak.
Looking at him pleadingly, she bit back the words she wanted to say to him.
Kuahel's cold voice echoed through the cave.
"Make everything clear to me.
If you weren't discovered by the monster army, why didn't you come back on the appointed day?"
Riftan's brow furrowed with displeasure at the paladin's questioning tone.
He took a sip of the wine Hebaron had brought him and said brusquely, “We had reason to continue our investigation despite the risks.”
“And what“”
"Please.
Can we continue this after we have something to eat?" Geoffrey begged.
“It's been a while since we've had anything to eat, and we've only gotten this far by stretching out the provisions Sir Elliot saved for us.”
As soon as Kuahel nodded, they began a rush to prepare the meal.
While the Kabala wizards prepared barley porridge in a pot, Maxi distributed mulled wine to the tired members.
Tired faces gained a little color after a few sips of the hot drink.
“Shouldn’t we try to wake everyone up so they can eat too?” Maxi asked.
Calto shook his head.
"Casting restorative magic is the only thing we can do for them at the moment.
A lamia's spell drains a person's mental energy.
We must wait until they recover naturally."
“T-There won’t be any long-term side effects, right?” she asked, looking at Sidina’s pale face with concern.
Ruth removed the glove from Sidina's hand, placed her hand over her elemental rune, and allowed her mana to flow into her.
After a while, a faint smile appeared on his lips.
"There is no reason to worry.
Everything is as it should be."
Relieved, Maxi covered her friend with a blanket.
When the barley porridge was ready, the group gathered around the fire to eat.
Kuahel and Hebaron searched the area near the cave with their subordinates, returning later with no news of the monsters.
Hebaron clicked his tongue irritably.
"Lamias, was that it?
There's no sign of them, but we left some traps just in case."
He seemed to be back to his usual self, with a distant tone.
“Traps won’t be enough,” Riftan said, pouring himself more wine.
He frowned and pointed his chin in Ruth's direction.
“Cast a barrier around the cave to immediately alert us if anything approaches.”
Grumbling, Ruth got up and left the cave.
When he returned, Kuahel had lost his patience.
“I would like to hear your explanation now,” he said irritably.
"Your failure to return on time has ruined our plans in every possible way.
What was so important for you to persist despite the dangers?"
Maxi glared at the Temple Knight.
He was about to retort when Albern, who until now had been focused on his bowl of porridge, spoke."I was the one who insisted on continuing.
Sir Riftan did his best to keep us safe."
Kuahel's piercing eyes seemed to pierce the wizard.
Albern had pieces of porridge in his mouth and chin, evidence of how he had devoured his meal.
He wiped it off with his sleeve and continued, "We were running low on provisions, but… I couldn't turn back.
Not when I knew it could lead to serious problems later."
Kuahel's eyes sparkled.
“Did you find anything in the city?”
Albern hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"It was while I was scouting the city with magic.
I found a wyvern breeding ground with over a hundred of the creatures."
A silence took over the cave at his revelation.
Until Ruth grumbled.
“The army of monsters holds them captive with magic,” said the sorcerer.
"We found a basilisk breeding site in the mountains, probably similar to yours, where the creatures were simply confined because their magic was suppressed.
I'm sure these wyverns are being bred in the same way."
"You're wrong.
The monster army had complete control over the wyverns “ we even witnessed several training sessions.
We had to find out how the monsters were controlling them."
“Don’t tell me… you infiltrated the city?!” Ruth exclaimed.
Maxi was equally horrified.
Seeing their reactions, Riftan frowned and said, "Don't you understand the gravity of the problem?
Imagine dozens of wyverns attacking from the air, under the absolute control of their monster master.
And have you forgotten that we are planning a siege?
Our forces would be decimated with an airstrike while we are in the open, surrounding the city.
If those damn dark wizards are also involved, the result would be even more disastrous.
We have no chance of winning this war if we don't find a solution.”
“B-But, don’t knights hunt wyverns?”
Riftan narrowed his eyes at Maxi and shook his head.
"A hunt is different from a battlefield.
While we would only deal with one species of monster during a hunt, in a war we would face trolls, ogres, goblins, and those damn slippery dark wizards.
If well-trained wyverns joined the battle, we wouldn't stand a chance."
"And?
Have you managed to find out how the wyverns are being controlled?" Kuahel asked sharply.
It was Albern who responded.
"We copied the runes inscribed within the breeding site.
We should know better once we analyzed them."
He took out a stack of parchments from the leather pouch he kept at his side.
The mages' eyes sparkled with interest, and they clustered around him to look at the parchments.
Maxi did the same, standing on tiptoe to get a better look over his shoulder.