Chapter 36
Together, they quickly filled the sack with oil-soaked rags.
Eki lit the candle inside the lantern. Then, she held the lantern, shielding the light with her voluminous sleeves and skirt so that no light escaped. She and he made eye contact.
"Shall we go?"
"Let's go."
Baraha took a rag from the sack. He held the rag to the candle in the lantern she was holding. The oil-soaked cloth quickly caught fire.
Baraha threw it out of the barracks with all his might. A growling sound was heard, and a couple of Monsters in front of the barracks followed the flying ball of fire. They quickly slipped out of the barracks in the meantime.
They moved between the barracks, and when a Monster was wandering around, they lit a rag and threw it. They didn't say a word to each other, but their teamwork was perfect with just eye contact.
The center of the camp was an empty lot. Red liquid was pooled inside. More than ten Monsters roamed inside. Around it were the barracks for the commander, vice-commander, and their Squires.
Eki's barracks had burned down. Ian's corpse would have been ashes inside, or it would have been a meal for the Monsters that gathered when she set the fire. She glanced at it for a moment, then quickly turned her head. Baraha quickly slipped into the vice-commander's barracks, which was closest to where they were standing. Eki followed. They put down the lantern and sack they were carrying and caught their breath.
"There are too many Monsters in the open space."
Baraha muttered as if he had a headache. Eki looked outside through the gap between the cloths. As she carefully observed, Baraha came up behind her and put his head above hers to look outside. Eki said softly.
"Senior, there."
"Huh?"
"Above there, in the air above the head of the Monster with three horns... can you see it?"
"...Is that it? That starting point."
There was a strange mark in the air. A long scratch like a folded and unfolded piece of paper. The scratch started above the open space and stretched long into the sky with the red sunset. The end of the scratch flickered like a heat haze. It was a bizarre sight.
"Leaving aside getting there, should we even touch that? The contents of that book are just speculation..."
Eki asked as if talking to herself. From above her head, Baraha let out a sigh that sounded like a groan. Then a large hand was placed on her head with a thud.
"It's not like we can get out of here by just staying still, right? We have to try something."
"That's... true."
"Let's see."
Baraha looked around the inside of the barracks and drew his sword. He muttered with a playful expression.
"Sorry, Lord. I'm going to break something."
"Senior?"
He smashed the cot with his sword. Then he piled the broken wood on the bed sheet. Eki understood what he was trying to do. To keep those many Monsters away for a while, a fire with just rags would be impossible, so he was trying to make a bigger fire using wood.
She helped him find and pile up flammable items on the bed sheet. The vice-commander's barracks quickly looked like it had been robbed.
Baraha bundled up the bed sheet full of firewood and slung it over his shoulder. Eki grabbed the oil bottle before he could even say anything. Seeing that, he smiled.
"I'm sorry to say this to you... but I want to thank God that you're here with me."
"Am I trustworthy?"
Eki replied with a smile. Baraha chuckled softly and nodded.
"Of course. But there's something more important than that."
"What is it?"
"I might have gone crazy if it wasn't for you."
"...Huh?"
She didn't quite understand what he meant. Baraha passed her and casually added.
"If I was left here alone. Let's go, we need to set fire to this nearby. A little away from the open space, yeah, Sir Dietrich's barracks would be perfect. I wanted to set fire to that guy's barracks at least once anyway."
Eki was silent for a moment, then followed him. She lifted the cloth at the back instead of the entrance facing the open space and slipped out, and as she moved to the targeted barracks without being detected by the Monsters, she pondered his words.
'I have the power to resist, and I've experienced the bizarre state inside the Node, but... Senior Baraha has no way to fight and survive, and he was suddenly dragged into the Node.'
She glanced at her feet. The thick, pooled red liquid felt like blood no matter how she looked at it.
A perfectly fine camp is submerged in blood, and huge Monsters that she has never seen before are roaming around. The sky is blood red, and the shadows of soldiers stabbing each other and being eaten look like madness itself.
If she was left alone in a place like this, with no way out and no strength to fight, and had to wait for death in despair, she might really go insane.
So, for Baraha, Eki's very existence and the slight hope she presented would have been a great comfort.
And she knew how strong his heart was to hide his anxiety as much as possible in this situation and tell her to trust him and that he would protect her.
'A person who becomes stronger when they have something to protect than when they are alone.'
In a different sense than Alice, he is a person fit to be a knight. She looked at his large back as he walked ahead. In his erased past, he died without becoming a knight. This time, she wanted to see him become a knight alive. Like Alice.
'I'm glad I tried to save him.'
Eki smiled without realizing it.
Dietrich's barracks were in a location clearly visible from the open space. They found a couple of Monsters on the way to that spot, but they skillfully avoided them using the remaining rags.
Baraha threw the firewood he had carried into Dietrich's barracks. Eki poured oil on it. She also found the oil bottle in Dietrich's barracks and poured it all out. After that, they slipped out of the barracks and hid elsewhere, then threw the lantern at the barracks.
With a bang, the flames flared up. The Monsters nearby could be seen flinching. The Monsters began to slowly move towards the barracks burning like a huge bonfire.
Eki and Baraha did not miss the opportunity. They ran silently. The red liquid splashed up under their rough steps and soaked their whole bodies, but there was no time to mind such things.
They reached the open space. The open space was empty. It seemed they had successfully lured the Monsters away. But there wouldn't be much time. Monsters are attracted to fire because there is a high probability that there are humans nearby, and if they confirm that there are no humans, they will quickly lose interest.
The starting point was high in the air. Baraha quickly grabbed a flagpole on one side of the open space. A flag embroidered with a hawk spreading four wings was attached to the end of the flagpole. He held the side with the flag out towards Eki.
"Get on, I'll lift you up!"
He's not even using Mana, but he's going to lift a flagpole with a person hanging on it? Eki was flustered and looked back at him, and the moment she saw his forearm, she understood.
Instead of answering, she immediately climbed onto the flagpole. Baraha took a deep breath and lifted the flagpole straight up. The flag drooped and the Azure Crest fluttered. His muscles bulged as if they would burst.
The scenery of the camp came into full view in Eki's heightened vision. The Monsters were still rummaging through the burning barracks.
"Be careful! Don't use your hands, touch it with your sword first!"
Baraha shouted from below, adjusting the flagpole. The starting point of the Node was getting closer. Eki held the flagpole with one hand, stretched her upper body, and drew her sword. The scabbard fell down with a splash. She stabbed the air that looked like a folded mark with the tip of her sword.
The moment she stabbed, she had a feeling that something was wrong.
"Kyahhhhh!"
"Grrr, grrr!"
From all directions at once, the Monsters howled. All the Monsters turned their eyes and looked at the starting point. Hundreds of eyeballs, bloodshot, hollow, distorted, or protruding, were looking at her at the same time. Even for Eki, it was a chilling sight.
Baraha below also realized that something had gone wrong. He immediately lowered the flagpole. He lowered it to some extent and then threw it away, opening his arms towards Eki.
"Eki!"
Understanding the signal, she jumped down towards him. Baraha caught her. The hem of her dress swelled up and then subsided. Eki opened her mouth anxiously, holding onto his shoulders.
"Senior, this doesn't look good."
"Let's run away first."
Baraha cut her off and started running with her in his arms. Heavy footsteps approached from all directions. The liquid on the floor created small ripples in the vibration. The ground shook.
Eki saw the huge Monsters gathering over his shoulder. At least hundreds. The Monsters' eyes were all fixed on him and her.
"Put me down!"
"I'm, faster, than you. It's okay, if we hide somehow..."
Baraha replied, panting. Eki looked alternately at his arms that were holding her tightly and the Monsters running, shaking the earth and trampling the barracks. The red liquid was pushed out like a wave by the Monsters' momentum.
Baraha's speed was very fast for a human who was not a Master, but the Monster's one step was longer than his five steps. It was only a matter of time before they were trampled.
Ekinesia closed her eyes tightly, then opened them. Her purple eyes sank deeply.
'I'm sorry, Senior Baraha.'
After apologizing in her mind, she struck the back of Baraha's neck with the side of her hand. She put enough force into it to knock him out at once.
"Ugh..."
With a short groan, Baraha's body collapsed. Eki jumped down as soon as the strength in his arms was released and caught his falling body. Her arm almost snapped despite preparing for it. She unknowingly complained.
"Ugh, damn heavy..."
[He's big. He's full of muscles, so he'll be heavier. But Master, what are you going to do?]
"What else can I do?"
Eki carried the unconscious Baraha on her back. Because of the big height difference, his feet dragged on the ground. That was an unavoidable problem.
She started running. Mana swirled explosively. Even though she was carrying a man much bigger and heavier than herself, she was moving at a significantly faster speed. The distance between her and the Monsters gradually widened.
It would be easy if she could just run away like this, but she knew very well that it was impossible. Eki, who had left the camp, stopped at some point.
[Is this the edge of the Node?]
"Yes, it's a wall."
The Node is a separated space. Of course, there was an end. Eki pushed the air with the tip of her shoe. It was blocked in the air and did not move.
"That's enough, here I don't have to be wary of the back."
She sat Baraha down against the invisible wall. Then she turned away from him and looked at the side where the Monsters were coming. She estimated the distance with her eyes and pushed the cheap longsword she was holding into the hem of her dress.
