“—Kyaaaah!”

The last monster to descend was nearly twice the size of the others. Riled up by the scent of its own kind’s blood rising from below, it broke formation and dove straight for Nathan Zuckerman, unlike any that had come before.

“Sir Zuckerman!”

“Senior Nathan!”

The knights watching all cried out, but Nathan himself didn’t even flinch. Letting his sword, still dripping with black monster blood, hang loosely at his side, he met the monster’s gaping jaws head-on.

The moment it looked as though the monster might bite Nathan Zuckerman’s head clean off—

—a flash of blue light tore through the air.

“——!”

The light pierced through the monster’s gaping mouth and burst from its back, shooting endlessly upward into the clear sky in the form of a straight, unwavering pillar.

It didn’t even look like a sword. It resembled a spear—so long and massive that no normal person could possibly wield it.

That spear cleaved silently through the monster, from top to bottom, splitting it in two before vanishing into the air.

A moment later, black blood and bodily fluids gushed explosively from the monster’s mouth and the back of its head. Its enormous body split to either side, collapsing before Nathan’s feet.

Thud. Compared to before, the tremor that followed was almost unimpressive.

Only when Nathan wiped his blade, sheathed it, and turned away did the knights finally snap out of their stupor.

“Ah...!”

He was the kind of knight children heard stories about as they grew up.

A knight with a single sword, able to cut through anything, afraid of nothing.

And now that legend was alive and breathing before their very eyes.

Who wouldn’t be moved by such a ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ sight?

They all rushed over to surround Nathan Zuckerman—but no one dared speak first. Though they had known for years that he was incredibly strong, seeing his power firsthand had been an entirely different experience.

Until now, hearing he’d been recognized by the Emperor as a Swordmaster had brought vague pride and amazement. But witnessing his true strength for themselves—this was something else.

Caught between awe, joy, and a strange new reverence that made him feel distant, the knights hesitated.

Then Nathan Zuckerman spoke.

“Anyone injured?”

The same words he always said after a battle.

His tone, calm even while soaked in blood, was so familiar it almost made them forget the overwhelming shock they had just felt.

“Uh—ah, no. We’re fine!”

“N-No injuries here, sir!”

“Good. Then gather the remains and mark them. We’ll head back.”

A very Pelleta-like thing to say—gather the monster byproducts, which could be sold for profit.

Their eyes involuntarily turned to the surrounding corpses, then flicked back to Nathan.

“Gather the... byproducts? Even though they’re all chopped in half?”

“There’s still salvageable material. They’re a new species—we might find something valuable.”

“I mean, I guess, but...”

“Make sure to take a sample for Helrem as well. He’ll be interested.”

“You don’t even need to tell us that, sir...”

They had begun speaking naturally again, until they all suddenly paused and glanced at one another. After a beat, short chuckles broke into full-blown laughter.

“Hahaha!”

“Ahahaha!”

“What was that? We were all so scared for no reason!”

It finally sank in—they weren’t standing beside some distant Swordmaster, but Nathan Zuckerman, the same man they’d always served with. Only now did the overwhelming fight they’d just witnessed start to feel real.

“Thank you, Sir Zuckerman! No one got hurt, all thanks to you!”

“Same here! You saved my neck again!”

The tension vanished. Surrounded by laughing knights, Nathan Zuckerman quietly turned his head to gaze off into the distance.

Toward Pelleta Castle.

There were seventeen monsters originally. But only sixteen bodies here.

The implication was simple. One of them hadn’t descended into the basin—it had escaped.

It probably flew toward wherever that light had come from.

Not surprising. Not all monsters were the same. One of them might’ve avoided being blinded.

It might’ve already reached the castle by now.

It had wings, after all—faster than any horse.

But Nathan neither informed the others nor rushed off in pursuit.

He knew exactly who was guarding that castle.

And so, he had no reason to worry.

“Sir Zuckerman! These claws are insanely tough—we can’t get them apart! Help us out!”

Nathan lowered his gaze and walked without hesitation toward the struggling knights. There was no worry, no lingering concern in his stride.

At that same time, atop Pelleta Castle’s eastern tower—

The Northern Branch members of the Cavalry were collapsed on the floor, drenched in sweat, gasping for breath.

“Is... is it finally over?”

“We don’t have to make more light, right?”

The only one among them still standing with no sign of fatigue was Yuder Aile. He looked over his comrades and clicked his tongue internally.

Already this exhausted...

Then again, they’d just pushed through a completely unfamiliar task while under high tension. The fact they had lasted this long was impressive in its own right.

Power was harder to control when anxious—and fatigue set in that much faster.

Yuder gave a small nod toward the group, who looked like they might collapse.

“It’s done. Looks like the battle over there is finished. You can rest now.”

“Ah... thank god.”

The members all flopped flat onto the stone floor of the tower, staring at each other’s sweat-soaked faces and grinning.

“I seriously thought I was going to die—what if the orb exploded mid-assembly?”

“Hey! I almost went blind from your light blasts. Learn to control it!”

“I mean, honestly, when Yuder first said we could make something like that... I didn’t think it was possible.”

When Yuder had first proposed fusing their abilities to create light-infused orbs, none of them had confidently believed it would work.

Of course not—it had never been done before.

But what pushed them to try anyway was their belief in Yuder Aile.

If he said it could be done, then it could.

He had already succeeded at the impossible so many times. And when he said this was "completely doable," they hadn’t questioned it. They tried, and on the very first attempt, without a single test run, they had made a functioning orb.

They would probably never forget the moment their light-filled orb flew on an arrow through the sky—and exploded in a glorious blaze above the clouds.

“I didn’t expect even the fragments to keep exploding like that...”

“Tell me about it. I couldn’t believe it while I was detonating it!”

“Ha... No way anyone else could pull something like this off.”

“Just imagining how jealous everyone else will be makes me feel amazing.”

“Heheheh...”

They had always secretly envied the legendary achievements of their comrades dispatched to the South.

But now, the Northern Branch had its own triumph. And they were proud.

“When Yuder leaves, I bet we won’t be allowed to use that ultimate move ever again...”

“Why not?”

“Huh?”

Ishias, murmuring contentedly, blinked in surprise at Yuder’s quiet voice.

“Well... there’s no one else here who can use wind to guide an arrow that far and accurately, right?”

Yuder looked around at the five of them and spoke evenly.

“I’m disappointed. Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten who your superior is.”

“Ah...”

All five of them immediately pictured their superior—the other Northern Branch member who had gone with the recruits to the capital.

“...Pieni!”

“Oh right! We have Pieni!”

Pieni Mofle—an Awakener with wind arrows.

If she were with them, they might not reach this level of destructive power, but they could definitely recreate the same type of combination attack.

Everyone’s faces lit up.

“Yeah! When Pieni gets back, we should practice this again!”

“If we can use this properly, our branch could be the best!”

Watching the energetic team, Yuder nodded quietly.

They were realizing exactly what he had hoped they would.

If they hadn’t been nervous, they could’ve lasted twice as long. With training, they’ll get much better.

Time would take care of the rest.

But for now...

“I think I need to shoot one more arrow.”

“Huh?”