The next day, after cleaning up the camp and putting everything back into the dimensional storage, they continued their journey across the grassland. Ard, walking in front with Geoffrey, Irwin, and Ainsley, looked back. He saw Eva, Alicia, Milia, Patricia, Rosalind, Beatrice, Mirea, and Claudia looking exhausted with bags under their eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong with them?" Ard asked.

"Oh... them? Looks like they didn't sleep all night," Ainsley said.

"Yep, they were arguing all night... except for Rosalind, who just kept sitting by the fire," Irwin countered.

"Exactly. I, for one, got plenty of sleep and feel great now," Geoffrey boasted.

"Yeah, which is why I had to stand guard all by myself," Ard replied, annoyed.

"Relax, bro, don't get mad," Geoffrey said, putting his arm around Ard.

They continued walking along the road that cut through the grassland. After walking for quite a while, "kyaaaaa," they heard a scream in the distance. Ard and the others immediately stopped and glanced at each other.

"Did you guys hear that?" Ard asked.

"Yeah, I heard it. Someone screamed," Eva answered.

"I hear a lot of wild animals," Patricia said, touching the back of her ear.

"Where? Do you know the location?" Alicia asked.

"Up ahead, I think... wolves," Patricia replied, pointing toward the grassland.

"Let's go check it out," Ard said.

"Yeah," everyone agreed.

They immediately ran toward the direction Patricia had pointed, into the middle of the grassland. Not long after, they saw several people standing in the center of the grassland and a carriage that seemed to belong to a noble. Several men dressed as soldiers and barbarians were seen swinging their spears and swords. When Ard and the others arrived, their eyes widened as they saw a carriage with a collapsed horse, two soldiers who appeared to be Ateras Kingdom troops, and a barbarian warrior leaning against the carriage, all injured, but no enemies were visible nearby.

"Look at that," Patricia suddenly pointed out.

When they looked where Patricia was pointing, they finally saw a pack of large, grey-furred wolves hiding among the tall grass, but the terrifying sight was two human-sized, black-furred wolves with horns on their foreheads.

"Phantom Wolf... this is bad," Ainsley said.

"True. They're strong and annoying... we have to help them, Ard," Mirea said.

"Eva, we'll handle those two Phantom Wolves. The rest of you, please take care of the dire wolf pack surrounding the carriage, and be careful," Ard said, grabbing Exgrandal.

"Yes, let's go," Eva said, retrieving Exelion from dimensional storage.

"Yeah!" the others yelled, drawing their swords.

Without hesitation, they all ran forward at high speed. The few still-standing, injured soldiers looked over and seemed slightly relieved. Alicia, Milia, Geoffrey, Rosalind, Ainsley, Irwin, and Claudia immediately summoned their familiars and attacked the large, grey wolves, while Beatrice, Patricia, and Mirea headed for the carriage to help the injured soldiers with their familiars. Ard and Eva immediately approached the two Phantom Wolves, which acted like the bosses or Alphas of the attacking wolf pack.

The two of them leaped and fired black-and-white crescent moons at the monsters. Both creatures easily avoided the attacks, but they were separated. Ard immediately engaged the wolf on the right, and Eva faced the one on the left.

"Graah!"

The black wolf swung its claws at Ard, who dodged to the side, then thrust his sword at the wolf, but clang, the wolf quickly parried Ard's thrust with its horn, then jumped back.

"Hoo... interesting," Ard said, smiling.

Suddenly, the wolf's horn emitted a purple light, and blaar, lightning struck towards Ard, who jumped back to avoid it. The purple lightning slammed into the ground, burning the grass. The wolf kept firing at Ard, who ran in a circle to avoid the shots.

"Whoa... that's tough, and that attack isn't magic. Alright, here's the deal," Ard muttered.

When the lightning fired again, he immediately blocked it with Exgrandal and leaped forward, then jumped and sriiing, crack, Ard immediately sliced off the horn on the wolf's head. Naturally, the wolf immediately shrieked and shook its head. Ard instantly slashed its neck, severing it before landing, and the large wolf's entire body collapsed sideways onto the ground.

After landing and letting out a sigh of relief, Ard immediately turned to see Eva, who still hadn't defeated her wolf. But Ard saw Eva sitting on the wolf's back, which was trying to buck her off, while its horn shot lightning everywhere. Eva plunged Exelion into the wolf's nape, and sriiing, she twisted the blade, cutting the wolf's neck. The wolf's horn stopped emitting purple light, and its head dropped down. Eva then jumped off just as the large wolf's body collapsed.

"Oh... I guess she didn't need my help," Ard thought to himself.

Ard immediately ran toward Eva, who had just landed and let out a sigh of relief, holding her chest. Then she turned to see Ard approaching her.

"Are you okay, Ard?" Eva asked.

"Huh... shouldn't I be asking you that?" Ard asked.

"Same difference. Come on, let's help the others," Eva replied.

"Okay, let's go," Ard agreed.

Both of them immediately shot off to join the others, but when they arrived, they saw that the others had already stopped fighting because the pack of Dire Wolves had scattered in all directions since their two leaders were taken down by Ard and Eva. They looked more focused on helping the injured soldiers, collecting the two dead horses, and covering the bodies of the slain soldiers and the carriage driver. Geoffrey and Alicia seemed to be checking the condition inside the carriage. Ard and Eva walked up to them.

They saw a maid inside, along with a female knight and a crying little girl, perhaps only 8 years old. As soon as Geoffrey and Alicia saw Ard and Eva standing behind them, Geoffrey immediately turned and explained the situation. It turned out the child was the youngest princess of the Ateras royal family, named Elizabeth Lorie Ateras. They were traveling from the port city named Tramund to return to the kingdom. On the way, they were attacked by a pack of Dire Wolves and tried to flee, but ended up trapped in the middle of the grassland because they followed the panicked horses pulling the uncontrolled carriage.

"So, were there still a lot of troops on the main road?" Ard asked.

"That's right, Your Highness. The soldiers were fighting the monsters there," the female knight inside the carriage replied.

"Alright, Eva, let's go check the situation over there first. Geoffrey and Alicia, please help them out," Ard said.

"Sure thing, bro," Geoffrey replied.

"Leave it to me, Ard," Alicia countered.

"Let's go, Eva," Ard urged.

"Yeah, let's go," Eva replied.

Both of them immediately sped off toward the main road the carriage had taken earlier—the road they would have been on had they not turned into the grassland. Ard released Ace, and Eva released her griffin, which flew ahead of them. When they reached the edge of the road, Ard and Eva were stunned. Ard froze, looking at the sight before him, while Eva covered her mouth. Their two familiars circled above them. In front of them, lay about ten Ateras Kingdom soldiers, a knight, and about five barbarians, all sprawled in pools of blood, lifeless. There were even two or three bodies that were charred.

"The Dire Wolf and Phantom Wolf packs finished them off earlier. We were too late," Ard said.

"Yeah, let's go back, Ard. We can't do anything else. No one survived," Eva said.

"Yes, let's go, Eva," Ard replied.

They immediately returned to the carriage to meet the knight inside and inform their friends. Mirea, Patricia, and Beatrice had managed to heal some of the injured barbarian and Ateras Kingdom soldiers, but they were still weak, while Claudia and Rosalind had managed to secure the runaway horse. Meanwhile, Irwin, Ainsley, and Milia checked the carriage's condition. Ard and Eva rejoined Geoffrey and Alicia. Then they spoke with the knight in the carriage and told her the situation on the main road.

The knight, who introduced herself as Annalusia "Anna" Ros Casadora, looked utterly devastated and sad, yet she also seemed grateful to see Princess Eliza doing fine, though the child remained silent, clinging to the maid and only staring at Ard and Eva with her blue eyes. Then Claudia, who had finished harnessing the horse to the carriage, approached Ard, Eva, Geoffrey, and Alicia.

"How about we take them to the barbarian village nearby? It's clearly much safer there than here, and they'll definitely be happy to help Princess Eliza," Claudia suggested.

"What do you think, Anna?" Ard asked the knight.

"It seems there's no other choice. Very well, I understand. I request your assistance," Anna said, bowing respectfully.

"Alright, everyone, let's get ready to leave before noon," Ard said.

"Yep, ready," the others replied, including Eva.

After that, they began helping the now-healed but still-weak soldiers to walk and escorted the carriage back onto the road, traversing the vast grassland while remaining on high alert.

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