"Aghhhh—!"
I couldn't even manage a proper scream as I flailed, the ground rushing toward me at terrifying speed. Through the fierce winds stinging my half-lidded eyes, I caught sight of something—
A tent-like structure. It was the garrison of the hunting party. The latitude and longitude were perfect… but the altitude was way off!
'Leo!'
I wasn't even sure he could save me. But his constant warnings—Call me if you're ever in danger!—had been drilled so deep into my brain that I instinctively reached out for help.
Even if he was sleeping in the barracks right now, what difference would waking him up even make—
Mid-thought, my fall suddenly stopped. It was as if a powerful gust of wind had caught me, pushing me back up. And then, in the next instant—
POOF!
Familiar arms caught me midair.
I had my eyes squeezed shut, too tense to see anything, but I heard it—the sound of branches snapping one after another as my fall gradually slowed.
"Hah… hahh…"
I clung to him, arms wrapped tightly around his neck. I had really thought I was going to die. Judging by the way I suddenly felt weightless at the last moment, it seemed like I would've landed safely regardless… but still.
As I struggled to catch my breath, strong arms secured themselves around my waist. Only then did I finally look up at him.
"…Leo."
Why did I ever doubt him? He never missed anything. And he always arrived in time.
Leonardo let out a relieved sigh, brushing his forehead lightly against mine before slowly descending. From the looks of the shattered branches around us, they had served as both footholds for his leap and buffers to slow our momentum.
When my feet finally touched solid ground again, my legs gave out beneath me, and I collapsed—not onto the dirt, but onto the one who had been holding me. It wasn't exactly soft, but it was warm.
Instead of getting up, Leonardo simply lay there beside me, still holding me tightly. Then, in a quiet, low voice, he murmured—
"…Didn't you say this would be a safe night stroll?"
"Mm, yeah, I did. Things… got a little complicated."
Leonardo remained silent. We lay on the ground, bodies overlapping, for quite some time. My heart, which had been pounding wildly, had finally calmed, and I wanted to get up. But no matter how much I squirmed, he held on tightly, refusing to let go.
Aside from the faintly blue glow of the shallow snow under the moonlight, everything around us was dark and quiet—so much so that it felt as if we were the only two left in the world.
Just as Leonardo had once said, the sound of a heartbeat echoed loudly, resonating in the silence. He must have been just as startled as I was. That was the only reason I stayed still, lying there without resistance. A rare opportunity to get reacquainted with his pectoral muscles. While we lay there exchanging unspoken words, Leonardo seemed to gradually regain his composure.
"Should we start heading back? Your clothes are too thin—you're going to freeze to death."
Sensing that his body had finally relaxed, I subtly nudged him. In his rush to get here, he hadn't dressed properly. I had wrapped my cloak around us like a blanket to share as much warmth as possible, but at this rate, we'd both end up catching a cold.
Leonardo sluggishly sat up. Since I had been lying on top of him, I naturally followed suit. But when I finally straightened myself, I realized that only one of us had their feet on the ground. Leonardo had pulled me into his arms again, not letting go. I never even got the chance to stand on my own two feet.
"Uh… I can walk now, you know?"
"I just feel more at ease holding you like this… Can't I?"
Faced with his dejected expression, I couldn't bring myself to say no. In the end, I surrendered and quietly accepted my fate as cargo.
"Oh, my lord—I didn't realize you were out here."
No matter how late at night it was, there was no way to completely hide the silhouette of two grown men tangled together.
The knight on guard had been about to salute upon spotting Leonardo emerging from the forest, but he abruptly stopped mid-motion. His gaze flickered between the two of us—disheveled, dirt-streaked, and covered in twigs—before settling into a thoroughly perplexed expression.
"…Why are you outside at this hour?"
"I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk."
"…A walk. A walk, you say. A walk."
The knight didn't believe a word of it.
Not that I could exactly admit to bungee jumping from the sky without a cord and getting rescued by Leonardo. This was the best explanation I could offer. Being held like this in front of someone else was embarrassing enough. Couldn't we just go inside and put this whole situation behind us?
But instead of letting us pass, the knight glanced between us again and asked,
"Are you injured? Should I call for a medic?"
Seeing Leonardo carrying me, he must have assumed I'd hurt my leg while hiking or something. I hesitated, at a complete loss for how to respond. My silence only made the knight's expression grow even more dubious.
In the end, Leonardo answered on my behalf.
"He's not hurt. His legs just gave out, that's all."
The knight's jaw nearly hit the ground. Was that really so shocking?
The other knight, one I recognized as being from the Ertinez Count's household, calmly pushed his stunned colleague aside and nodded with a composed expression.
"I'm relieved to hear that neither of you are injured. I'll see you both in the morning, then."
Leonardo gave a brief nod and started walking toward the barracks. As I glanced over his shoulder, I caught a glimpse of the two knights whispering in hushed but frantic tones.
"In this weather?!"
"Well… our second young master is a bit… like that."
"He's going to get frostbite!"
"…That's not information I needed to know."
…What on earth were they talking about?
[
[
[
…Why is that one so excited all of a sudden?
When we arrived at the barracks, Leonardo left for a moment to prepare some water for washing up. He kept glancing back at me, clearly uneasy about leaving me alone.
"You two went out together…?"
Vittorio, who must have woken up from the sound, rubbed his eyes and leaned against me.
"You're awake. Sorry, go back to sleep."
I pulled his still-warm, drowsy body close and silently gazed upward. Instead of the vast grey sky, all I saw was the barracks' canvas ceiling, but I no longer felt Godric's presence. Thinking back, I might have shoved him away just as I was exiting that white void beyond the stage.
…Could he still be stuck there?
I waited until I was on the verge of sleep, just in case, but Godric never returned. From beginning to end, everything remained chaotic.
***
By morning, the hunt resumed.
The convenient part was that, thanks to reaching 100% exploration on the Dragon's Tail, I could now use the map.
'Mark all hostile lifeforms.'
The map lit up with a dense cluster of yellow dots. A rough estimate put the count well over fifty. That was more than enough for the quest conditions—fortunate, in a way. Thinking positively, I decided to take a more detailed look.
'Highlight particularly dangerous and high-threat leader-class entities in red.'
Some of the yellow dots turned crimson. If the map was capable of this level of categorization, it would prove quite useful. Given the vast terrain and the multitude of creatures gathered here, this function would come in handy.
But something seemed off.
I felt my brows furrow as I examined the map. While most of the monsters were clustered together in groups, a few of the markers… were in strangely isolated locations. After a brief moment of thought, I added another condition.
'Mark humans in green. And those… in blue.'
Just in case they weren't actually monsters. A blue pool appeared where the hunting party was located. And then—
The previously isolated dots, now layered with multiple colours, darkened into a murky, almost ash-grey hue.
I had never designated grey as a separate colour, yet my mind reached an instant conclusion.
The nameless ones.
Entities that had absorbed humans, infiltrated them, and now hid inside the husks of monsters. The three designated colours had merged into a murky, mud-like shade. This wasn't a mere interference during the intermission. They had stepped onto the stage of Act 3.
There were about three of them in the Dragon's Tail. As I quietly focused on those grey dots, one of them suddenly surged forward, diving straight into a cluster of monsters. Without hesitation, the ashen dot cut through the sea of yellow and halted before a small red marker.
A small movement followed—likely combat. But from this compressed, bird's-eye perspective, all I could perceive was a faint tremor, like a minor ripple on the surface.
Blink.
The next moment, the red dot vanished.
"What the…?"
The anomaly didn't end there. The grey dots were blatantly hunting down the red ones. On this teeming board of coloured circles, only the red markers were disappearing. The nameless ones… were hunting the leader-class monsters.
'Why?'
At that moment, Sub-writer 1's declaration flashed through my mind—their claim that the difficulty needed to be adjusted.
'But this…'
This wasn't what I had expected. I had assumed they would intervene using a writer's authority, something akin to narrative control.
Instead, it was the Nameless Ones who were carrying out that role—almost as if they had formed some kind of alliance with Godric.
'Why? The Nameless Ones didn't seem like the type to easily surrender their free will and bow to a writer.'
Before I could fully process the confusion, another set of letters intruded upon my vision—a status update on the expedition forces, which I had been monitoring.
[Troop List – Spearman Raul: (Approaching the Dragon's Head…)]
That was all it had said up until now. But suddenly, the text began to change at an alarming speed.
[Troop List – Spearman Raul: (Encountered 'Nameless Ones'… hiding.)]
[Troop List – Spearman Raul: (Standing by and observing…)]
[Troop List – Spearman Raul: (Feeling disgust…)]
What the hell is happening?
Episode 200