Pushing the Spirit Beasts into the flames to burn was the only fun part of this entire battle. Although for me, it was worse than fun — it was survival.

I was positioned where I'd been the whole time, and as I tried to move, my legs immediately failed me. It was almost like I couldn't feel them anymore. I was reduced to the ground, falling.

But before my knee could kiss the dirt, I felt a gentle grab on my arm. Someone had stopped me from going down entirely.

My eyes rose to meet who was holding my hand.

"Hey little man, you okay?"

The dull-faced man was looking at me and smiling. He drew me up and placed my arm over his shoulder, assisting me toward the wagon.

People were long already climbing on, and the front rows were beginning to move forward. I settled down, completely fatigued.

Right now, getting ridden by someone like Kassie would have been a surefire way to relieve myself of all this exhaustion. But unless I wanted to die, never again would I let her ride me.

If she was going easy on me because of my weak state — and yet her supposed going easy was dealing me detrimental blows — I couldn't even begin to imagine what going toe to toe with her in a healthy body would be like.

One really had to train their body if they wanted to fuck Kassie. At the very least, to withstand her monstrous power.

But that aside, it wasn't like she was going to let me hit that again.

'Maybe if I become her best student and somehow manage to surpass her, she might show vulnerability?'

It was barely a second later that I sounded really obnoxious to myself.

Surpass Kassie…

I had better chances at a Vietnam war with a booboo gun.

While I, of course, drifted away in my thoughts and fantasy of one day dominating Kassie, the wagon also began to roll away.

The speed picked up. Unlike the subtle movements of before, there was a haste to the manner at which the entire caravan pressed forward.

The flames burned with insanity, so there was no telling when they could begin to lick off the edges of the forest. The fact that the forest floor was waterlogged had also helped to delay that.

It was a race against time. Or against flames? The fire got stronger, and at a point — as it burned deeper — transitioned from the white color to the cantaloupe color of natural flames. Smoke rose into the air, signifying that something heavy was burning.

All the while, I was too fatigued to think or consider anything. And there were many others like me also. Everyone just sank into their position, heaving, breathing, washing black blood off their faces. Some didn't even care and just laid there, seeking the warm embrace of rest.

It was difficult to even sleep because of how the wagons moved hurriedly.

The flames looked like they were not going to give up, but alas, we began to reach checkpoints with lesser flames and lesser Tercet flies, until we completely abandoned them and pressed forward into a new forest region in Ferndale.

By the time we were deep into Ferndale, which was already late afternoon, the caravan reduced its speed and we moved at a more manageable but not slow pace.

The race period, if I had to count, lasted around an hour. Judging by the way the atmosphere looked, we were certainly around 4pm. Judging vaguely from the moment we got attacked till now, it seemed we had been fighting the Spirit Beasts for something close to five hours.

'No wonder I almost died.'

My legs burned like I had spent three days running from death itself.

I sighed and just rested, letting the wagon do its thing, letting the people who were strong enough to care about safety do their thing.

For me, darkness slowly slipped into my vision. Before I knew it, sleep had claimed me.

***

Light and the Thorn Sisters rolled forward on ferocious, holy-bred horses. Light himself was on a white-skinned one. The creature, while it looked like a mundane horse, was more built than that.

The horses had stoic bodies, longer than mundane horses, their hooves larger also. And the sound and weight of their hooves against the ground really spoke volumes about their strength.

Light and the Thorn Sisters were already close to Mishard Thicket, currently traveling through a hill that was supposed to lead them down into the forest.

But the Inquisitor caught sight of something that made him narrow his eyes and stop his steed.

He was far in front, so when he stopped, the Thorn Sisters also came to a stop on reaching him. Mercy looked at him with a blank expression.

"Why are you stopping?"

Light did not say anything. Instead, he continued looking forward.

Judgment stared forward, her eyes narrowing too.

"Ohhh… looks suspicious."

"Fire, fire, fire, fire…" Faith's tone sounded really excited, and her eyes were radiating with twisted pleasure.

Mercy spoke with no emotion in her tone.

"That amount of smoke… it has to be something big."

Light inhaled deeply and exhaled, then dismounted from his horse. Judgment gave him a hostile look.

"What are you doing?"

Light did not respond to them. In fact, he looked rather disgusted.

"Vaelthyrn."

The wind picked up and a white whirlwind of sparks flew around them, coalescing into a massive creature before Light.

The massive white wyvern dropped low, and Light slowly moved towards it.

The three sisters looked at him with subtle anger, not speaking — well, two of them. Faith seemed truly awed by the massive wyvern.

"A greater Wyvern! Can I kill it?!"

Light paused for a moment. His hands twitched, but he forced himself to stay calm.

'Harbor not hatred in thy heart. For Love is only of the Light. I am of the Light, hence I am capable of Love and Love alone.'

'But dammit, I really want to beat her up.'

He exhaled.

"I'm not used to working with people. I'll deliver him to you without fail this time around."

Light climbed his wyvern and the creature beat its four wings — one slightly off beat, as though slow. It rose into the sky, displacing a massive amount of wind and soon took off, leaving the three sisters standing at the edge of the hill with their horses.

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