Turning Chapter 1140

Chapter 1140

"Huh?"

Just as the members turned their heads in confusion, Isias shot up her upper body as if struck by lightning. Her danger detection ability, which had been loosely relaxed from fatigue, suddenly sent signals to her body.

"A monster is coming this way! One of them!"

"What?!"

"I guess they didn't kill all of them over there...!"

While the other members groaned and scrambled to get up, Yuder opened his mouth while checking the bow he was holding.

"I can only see one with my eyes too, but I want to ask just in case. There really aren't any more, right?"

"Uh, yeah. That's all the enemies I can detect with my ability."

"Right. If you say so, it must be true."

The members who had completely stood up again while listening to the conversation witnessed a black dot gradually growing larger in the distance. A monster was indeed flying unhesitatingly towards Peletta Castle.

"Yuder. Let's make a bead right now!"

"No. It's fine."

"Huh?"

The members who were trying to somehow squeeze out more strength despite their exhausted state blinked in surprise at the unexpected answer.

"I said earlier that we don't need to make any more."

After saying that, Yuder looked at those who could barely open their eyes.

"What are you trying to do when you can barely stand? You've done your part, so it's over. Sit back down."

"But then what you said about shooting the arrow one more time..."

"I meant that since there are arrows left, I can handle one monster easily enough."

So, Yuder's 'need to shoot one more time' meant he would handle it himself.

The members felt both amazement and astonishment as they watched Yuder, who showed no signs of fatigue, finish checking the bow and walk steadily to the edge of the tower parapet.

'Certainly... even if we tried to squeeze out more power now, I'm not confident we could make it like before... He's probably saying this because he knows trying in this situation would only be dangerous.'

'He looks so fine that we can't even worry about whether he'll be okay alone... He's really amazing, amazing.'

'Ugh. I should have done more stamina training usually.'

Between absolute faith in Yuder and worry just in case, the members gathered awkwardly and stared at his back.

Standing at the edge of the tower parapet, Yuder drew one of the three remaining arrows and nocked it. Even after shooting more than ten times using his power, his movements hadn't changed at all from the beginning. Looking at his arms that were still straight and unwavering, the members all thought the same thing.

'Whatever happens...'

The victor would be Yuder Aile, not that monster.

Isias swallowed hard, clenched her fists, and shouted loudly.

"Yuder! Take it down in one shot, true to the Cavalry spirit! I-if it looks like that thing might do something unexpected, I'll tell you!"

At that, Yuder turned back slightly. Although only his nose and lips were visible as he had pulled his hooded cloak down deeply, somehow it was clearly felt that while he found it ridiculous, he wasn't displeased.

"...I told you to sit down, but you won't listen."

"How can we?! We're Cavalry!"

"That's right! The Cavalry never collapses comfortably in a place like this!"

The others joined in shouting. Yuder looked at them for a moment and let out a short breath.

"...Anyway, it's fine. That monster, I think I've seen it before."

"You've seen it before?!"

Yuder didn't explain further and turned back around.

Noisy voices were growing louder from below the tower as well, seemingly having spotted the approaching monster.

"Ah... right. The people below probably don't know Yuder is going to handle that thing. They must be surprised."

As Isias muttered, Ax and Balmore, who were supporting each other with their arms around each other's shoulders, looked at each other's faces. After a moment, they shouted as if by agreement.

"Right. We'll go down and explain the situation to the people below!"

"And help with whatever else we can while we're at it! We can still do that much at least!"

Before anyone could stop them, Persaila followed after them towards the stairs, shouting "I'll go too!"

Isias watched their figures with disbelief, then burst out laughing and grabbed Edin's arm beside her.

"Should we go too? Or do you want to stay here and watch more of Yuder's legendary moment?"

"I don't want to be a spectator. Someone will need to handle and clean up the corpse when Yuder kills it, so I'll go too."

"Right. Come to think of it, that makes sense too. Then let's leave this to Yuder and go!"

They chose to go down rather than rest comfortably watching the legend.

At that moment, Edin, who was about to go down the stairs with Isias, suddenly felt something strange.

'What is this? A scent?... though it's too faint to tell for sure... from somewhere...'

He, the only second gender awakener among the first generation Northern Branch members, turned his head following the strange sensation he felt unconsciously. In the opposite direction from the stairs they were about to descend, at the passage connecting the eastern tower and the inner castle, someone was standing.

The shadow of someone wearing a winter cloak much larger than what they were wearing, pulled up to cover their head.

It was just a moment so the face wasn't clearly visible, but the moment Edin saw the exceptional height and the golden color glimpsed under the long hood, he thought of one person.

'Commander...?'

Unlike his usual appearance of always standing proudly, the shadow leaning obliquely against the wall seemed to be staring somewhere without moving. Edin knew there was only one direction that could be seen from there.

The end of the eastern tower.

The only person who would be there would be standing at the edge of the parapet aiming a bow.

"Edin!"

Edin came to his senses, his shoulders stiffening at his companion's voice calling him. He answered loudly as if he hadn't seen anything and ran down the stairs.

'I told them to sit and rest, but they insist on going.'

Yuder sighed as he heard his companions' voices fading behind him.

They had done all the necessary work and might suffer ability side effects if they pushed themselves too hard, so it would be better if they just rested, but the Cavalry members increasingly acted like people who didn't know what resting meant.

'Well, the others were like that too.'

He recalled the faces of those who had endured with determination even while nearly dying in the southern sea. Those who had struggled for their duties even while suffering from side effects as well.

Had such life-risking actions somehow become the spirit of the Cavalry?

'In my memory... I'm sure such things weren't considered the Cavalry spirit in my previous life.'

But honestly, it didn't feel bad at all. Yuder raised the corner of his lips crookedly while staring at the monster that had come close enough to make out its entire form.

'Bad luck for you... and good luck for me.'

The statement about having seen this monster before was true. It was just not in this life.

Two large wings similar to bat wings. A head that seemed mixed with a bird of prey. Small distinctive hooks attached to the wing tips, and abnormally large and sharp beak and claws.

It was definitely a monster the Cavalry had faced in his previous life.

'Back then it was easy to handle because Elpkins was there. Thanks to fighting it in the air similarly, we could quickly identify its weakness.'

Its exterior is covered with cold, hard feathers that look like scales, making it difficult to pierce with ordinary weapons. However, there was a spot where these feathers didn't exist at the joint between the wings and body, and that was this creature's vital point.

The only soft and tender spot on its body.

Although piercing that spot deeply could end its life in one breath, when its wings were folded, it was protected by the hard outer feathers, making it very difficult to deal with from the ground. The easiest way was to approach and stab it when its wings were fully spread while flying.

'Of course, that wouldn't matter to a swordmaster like Nathan Zuckerman.'

For him, it would have been enough just for the enemy to come down to the ground and show itself.

And for Yuder as well, it didn't matter where the creature was.

'It's easy enough when it's alone after breaking away from the group.'

Yuder intended to deal with it before it folded its wings and landed.

'Come a little closer.'

His power inevitably loses almost all strength when it gets close to monsters. So this time, even though it was a similar type of attack, distance control was more important than anything else.

Beyond his unwavering arms, the prey letting out fierce cries drew closer and closer. Although there was some commotion below the tower as if startled by those cries, Yuder wasn't shaken by them at all. Beyond the dark eyes that coolly gazed back at the opponent.

Finally, the moment Yuder had been waiting for came.

'Now.'

Golden light burst brightly from one eye hidden by his hood.

Yuder pulled the bowstring a bit more strongly and released it, sending along the most concentrated wind power of all so far.