As she pushed through the soldiers wavering about with weapons in hand, several corpses, nearly crushed beyond recognition, came into view among the fallen tents.
Fear painfully tightened her stomach.
But when she thought that Varkas might end up like that, she simply could not stop her feet.
She frantically crossed the campsite, where all sorts of miscellaneous things lay scattered, to catch up with Varkas, who had already moved far ahead.
Just then, a boom rang out.
Thalia turned her head toward the sound, and her face turned deathly pale.
A wyvern that had landed not far away was swallowing a soldier whole.
Each time the monster’s huge mouth moved up and down, blood that overflowed from it drenched its black jaw.
The sight was so unreal that she could not even feel fear.
Thalia staggered backward on trembling legs.
Then, among the soldiers running forward with spears in hand, she spotted Varkas and shouted loudly.
“Varkas! Varkas!”
As she ran fiercely toward him like a child who had found their parents in a marketplace, Varkas, who had been giving orders to the knights, turned to look at her.
The moment their eyes met, his eyes widened slightly up and down, then narrowed again.
He seemed angry that she had ignored his order and run out.
For an instant, her heart chilled at his sharpening gaze, but Thalia did not stop and continued toward him.
The only thought filling her head was that she had to go somewhere safe with Varkas.
Don’t fight.
You can just make your subordinates do that kind of thing.
You should stay by my side.
Words no different from childish whining became jumbled incoherently amid her rough breathing.
Even though there was no way he could have heard that sound in the middle of this chaos, Varkas strode toward her as if he had understood her words.
Thalia reached out toward him.
At that moment, a faint scream rang out from somewhere.
“Varkas!”
Varkas’s head immediately turned back.
Following his gaze, Thalia found Ayla left all alone in the middle of the chaos and opened her eyes wide.
As if she had been separated from her escort in the turmoil, she was moving hurriedly, and a pitch-black shadow was falling over her head.
The moment Varkas saw it, he launched himself forward without hesitation.
Watching him move away from her in an instant, Thalia opened her mouth in a daze.
A miserable plea flowed from her tightened throat.
Don’t go.
Don’t go to that woman.
A sob like lava burst out as if it would burn her throat.
He snatched Ayla into his arms and rolled aside by a hair’s breadth.
The monster, which had lost its prey right in front of its nose, scraped the ground violently with its black claws and let out a savage roar.
As if to protect Ayla from the enraged monster, Varkas drew his sword and moved her behind him.
But the monster did not bother to cling to a target it had failed to capture once.
The monster shook its enormous head from side to side, sniffing, then suddenly turned its eyes toward Thalia.
She stared at the pair of flashing red eyes while frozen stiff.
As if excited at having discovered a new target, the monster’s pupils widened greatly.
And the next moment, its massive body flew toward her like a snake gliding over the surface of the water.
Its movement was so quick that she did not even have time to scream.
Thalia rose into the air, her body caught in its hook-like claws.
Looking down at the ground as it rapidly grew distant, Thalia rolled her eyes in dismay.
She could see the soldiers wavering about in confusion.
Even that became as small as the palm of her hand in the blink of an eye.
Overwhelmed by a powerful sense of danger, Thalia began desperately flailing her arms and legs.
But the force squeezing her chest only grew stronger and stronger.
It felt as if the sharp claws would pierce through her flesh and cut her body to pieces at any moment.
Looking up at the monster holding her with terrified eyes, Thalia soon shouted loudly.
“H-help me.....! Someone, please.....!”
But even to her own ears, her voice sounded terribly faint.
She gasped harshly, then opened her mouth again with difficulty.
Just then, something like a flash of light glimmered in the bluish darkness, and a strong blast of hot wind brushed across her face.
Thalia screamed.
The monster that had snatched her let out a hideous cry and began shaking its body violently.
At the force squeezing her as if it would snap her waist, her vision went white for an instant.
Overcome by a powerful sense of exhaustion, she let her arms and legs hang limply.
Immediately after, her body floated up into the air, then began plunging down somewhere.
How many seconds passed like that?
A heavy impact struck her entire body, and everything sank into darkness.
She could not tell whether she was awake or unconscious.
Perhaps she was dead.
But soon, as if denying that thought, tremendous pain swept over her.
Thalia gasped for breath and let out a groan like livestock just before slaughter.
It hurt.
It hurt so much.
And yet she could not even tell exactly where it hurt.
“Sniff..... hngh.......”
Unconsciously crawling along the ground to escape from whatever was crushing her, Thalia could not endure the pain that was growing more and more severe and buried her forehead in the cold dirt.
Then, smelling an acrid odor that stung her nose, she lifted her head with difficulty.
In her vision, which had grown used to the darkness, she saw the limp body of the wyvern.
Thalia, who had been letting out terrified sobs, blinked in confusion when she realized that the monster was dead.
As if it had been swept up in flames, half of the monster’s wing was charred black and shriveled, and red embers were sizzling on its massive hind leg where the scales had been stripped away.
She stared blankly at the sight, then planted her palm on the ground and struggled to raise her upper body.
Then this time, she saw a large rock and a heap of dirt crushing one of her legs.
It seemed she had rolled down a slope when she fell.
‘I have to get out quickly.......’
Thalia desperately twisted her body to pull her lower half out from beneath the pile of rocks, but unable to withstand the extreme pain, she went limp again.
Not only the leg pinned beneath the fallen rocks, but also her chest, shoulders, and arms—there was nowhere that did not hurt.
Could all the bones in her body have been broken?
It would not be surprising if they had.
In truth, she could not even understand how she was still alive.
No.
Perhaps she was in the middle of dying.
She looked around in every direction with eyes soaked in fear.
Before she knew it, thick darkness had settled over everything around her.
Was this what it felt like to be buried alive?
It became harder and harder to breathe.
She wanted to lose consciousness instead, but strangely, her awareness only grew clearer and clearer.
Unable to endure the pain that was gradually becoming more violent, Thalia scratched at the ground with her crushed fingernails.
Tears streamed down without pause.
“It hurts...... it hurts so much...... Varkas.......”
She had no way of knowing why she was murmuring that name.
She recalled the sight of him turning his back on her and running toward Ayla.
She could never become someone important to Varkas.
To him, the ones he had to protect at any moment were only Ayla and Gareth.
She felt hot tears soaking her cheeks completely.
“No...... still...... he’ll come looking for me.”
She murmured as if trying to convince herself.
She, too, was the Emperor’s daughter.
He was a person with a strong sense of responsibility, so surely he would try to find even her corpse.
He would not leave her here like this.
Clinging desperately to that thought, she stared intently into the darkness that was growing thicker and thicker.
Before long, even the embers smoldering on the monster’s skin died out, and the world sank completely into darkness.
No matter how long she waited, there was no sign of anyone coming to find her, so she squeezed her throat, which was so dry it felt as if it would split, and murmured a little louder.
“It’s all right. It’s all right. He’ll come soon. Soon......”
But that voice was soon swallowed by the sobs that burst out.
Thalia crushed her lips together and covered her mouth with a trembling hand.
She did not want to cry.
Because if I cry, it feels like I’m admitting it.
That no one will come looking for me.......
She forced the bitter wail, where pain and despair were mixed together, back down into her stomach with difficulty.
Then she murmured again and again.
If she waited just a little longer, Varkas would surely come.
And just as he had once pulled her out when she had fallen into the mud, he would help her.
Surely he would.
Surely.......
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