Dimensional Descent

The location was dark. It was difficult even to see one's hand even if it was placed before one's eye.

Up above, the place the moon should have been was completely shrouded by dark clouds that rumbled every so often. However, even this rumbling couldn't mask the heavy breathing that pervaded the atmosphere.

At that moment, a group of men and women ran with everything they had. But, their speed was slow. Whether it was because of the disadvantageous terrain or the fact they were at the end of their ropes, both were reasons.

The group of 30 or so wore bits of torn linen covered in dirt and mud. It was impossible for fugitives to appear in the Border Region. The only explanation was that these few consciously chose to discard their armor.

At that moment, one of them suddenly stumbled and fell.

"Kid!"

An older man snapped his head around, reaching beneath the arms of the fallen knight and pulling him up.

He was the only one who stopped. It wasn't that the others were callous, but rather that they were under expressed orders not to.

"Jejejejejeje…"

An eerie laughter caused the blood of the group to run cold. They dug deep, pulling all the reserve strength they had left to power forward.

The forest they ran in could hardly be called as such. It looked as though a blazing fire had charred everything to ash. Let alone having canopies of greenery, the various trees didn't even have branches, they were made entirely of blackened and battered trunks.

It was one of the roots of these godforsaken trees that had tripped the young knight.

It was quite hilarious. Even as the young knight held back tears, unable to take his eyes off of the commanding officer who had come back to save him, he too found the humor in this situation.

He, a dignified Three Star Official Knight, had been beaten and battered to the point of tripping and falling. Not only that, but he had actually fractured his ankle and couldn't even walk on his own anymore.

"Captain, just leave me."

twice your size I've carried in my life to reach my current strength?

the end, he could only chuckle and

moment. And, despite the blustering of the Captain, he

moment, the Captain felt a sharp wind assaulting his back. With his years of trained reflexes, he didn't even need to think before he jumped to the side.

the Captain knew that

his long sword, setting down the young knight that hung next to his

kid. I'll hold these

knight clenched

reinforce his ankle, he could probably last another half hour. Such a skill was something he had learned as a mere Apprentice Knight. The only reason the older knight hadn't allowed him to do so was because their Force was already running low.

he was

it

shielding the fracture in his foot. He pulled out his own sword,

more, but the sharp wind

only source of light in the

BANG!

His expression couldn't help but change, how could an arrow

"Jejejejeje…"

a shadow slid out from the darkness. Even though it was just a few steps away from the pair, it

moment, the Captain

"Demon Lord!"

All he needed was his years of experience to tell just how powerful the

knight felt his

to go all out. When I engage him, turn back and run as fast

of a knight truly weren't few. Amongst them, there were even techniques that could

chance to respond. His aura

hooked a hand behind the young knight, took

a kernel of truth to them. As a One Star Grand Knight, throwing 200 pounds a few dozen meters away wasn't a problem at

next left the Captain

"Oof…"