Turning Chapter 1136

Chapter 1136

"Yuder!"

Yuder turned his head at the voice coming from behind him. The Northern Branch members, who had clearly rushed over in a hurry, surrounded him while panting slightly. They were all wearing thick cloaks similar to what Yuder was wearing due to the cold weather.

"We heard you were away on an urgent mission with the Commander, when did you get back? You surprised us!"

"And what was that ground tremor we just felt?"

The members seemed curious about the current situation, but didn't seem to care much about where Yuder had been. This was fortunate for Yuder.

'Well, I guess it's natural since I didn't raise them to be the kind of people who focus more on other things with a goal right in front of them.'

Yuder looked around at their faces and then pointed to the distant sky with his hand.

"Can you see?"

"Huh? What?"

"There, there are monsters."

Only then did the members raise their heads with tense faces. Isias, who was staring in the same direction with her hand shading her eyes, was the first to turn her head.

"Yes. I can see them. Monsters that look like winged birds."

"What about their size and number?"

Isias answered Yuder's slow question with a confident voice.

"About the size of an adult man. Seventeen in total. They're flying in a circular formation as a group. Like predators looking for their chance while targeting prey."

"Anything else you can detect?"

"It seems they'll use their hard wings to create tremendous wind to obscure vision and buy time, then when they decide on a target, they'll all dive together towards that target with their claws and beaks out to attack."

Isias Keltar's ability was 'danger detection'. It was quite vague, but depending on how it developed, it was also a power with many possibilities.

When she had just joined the Cavalry, all she could do was read and avoid the direction of attacks coming towards her, but now, after Yuder's training, she had reached a level where she could detect distant enemies relatively clearly.

'It's a bit different from seeing with your eyes. Since it's detecting with an ability. There aren't many who can grasp the direction of enemy movement and predict attack methods this clearly.'

In the past, she seemed to be constantly worrying after realizing that her ability had the potential to branch out in various directions depending on training, but seeing her today, she had become a force that knew how to make excellent choices and focus.

Yuder nodded as he looked at her.

"It seems no additional training menu will be necessary."

"...Was that, a compliment?"

"Isias got acknowledged by Yuder...?"

The rest of the members murmured and showed various reactions.

'Of course it's a compliment.'

If there had been any signs of dulling from neglecting training even a little while in the North, Yuder would have started special training with all of them personally as soon as today's work was finished.

"As you just heard, monsters have appeared in Jilbang. They say it's a completely different kind from the ones that usually appear. The Peletta Knights dispatched to Jilbang can't handle these creatures alone, so they're currently luring them to the basin in the middle ground between there and here. Seeing that they've come to a place visible to the eye, it seems they've almost reached it."

"What? But why are we here instead of going towards where the monsters are?"

"Sir Zuckerman is there now."

The members all let out an "Ah" sound at the calm reply.

"Right. Sir Zuckerman, he became a swordmaster, didn't he?"

"Maybe because I didn't go to the South, I still can't quite believe it..."

Is that the only thing they can't believe? Those who hadn't visited the South and the capital were likely to not yet properly realize Kishiar's sword skills either.

Not only them, but in fact, many people who had lived in the North all their lives still didn't know exactly how skilled Nathan Zuckerman was. Whether they were acquainted or not, it was the same. This meant that Nathan Zuckerman had thoroughly hidden his skills, or in other words...

'It means he didn't have a proper opportunity to reveal and show his abilities.'

There was one thing Yuder had noticed since coming to Peletta. Despite Peletta's main business being monster subjugation in other regions, which was somewhat like mercenary work, there weren't many noticeably outstanding skilled individuals among the troops.

'Starting with Captain Welliven, and even the Peletta Knights I met before, there weren't many with exceptionally outstanding talents.'

Although there was the master Nathan Zuckerman holding the fort, he didn't play the role of a pillar participating in all of Peletta Knights' battles. Most people in Peletta lived well without even knowing he was a master. Whether their master and Nathan were swordmasters or not didn't seem to matter much to them.

That was because Kishiar had raised the people of Peletta to be able to protect themselves sufficiently even without him and Nathan Zuckerman. Although each individual's ability might be ordinary, when they all gathered together, there was a firm confidence throughout the knights that they could exert a strength stronger than any army or knightly order.

It was truly Kishiar's way.

'But now that Nathan Zuckerman has also decided to make his name widely known to the world, he should show what he can do.'

If the first stepping stone for that was a place to protect Peletta, that taciturn knight would also be satisfied.

Yuder swallowed a sharp smile and said.

"Sir Zuckerman will take over from those luring the monsters and participate in the battle. Not alone, he plans to go with about five agile knights. And we..."

After pausing for a moment, he turned his body in the members' gaze and moved his hand as if to show the entire eastern tower.

"We'll support them from here."

The top of the tower, which would be crowded if about ten people entered. A place that was open without a roof, but that was all. Amidst the smell of dust and moss emanating from the piled old stones, only Yuder's voice rang out steadily.

The members were speechless for a moment. They seemed dazed, unable to guess what they should do here, and also seemed to think it was nonsense.

However, after that silence passed, the first person to open their mouth said something completely different from Yuder's thoughts.

"Alright. What should we do? Tell us."

It was Edin, who in his previous life had stopped activities shortly after returning from the Red Stone recovery mission, citing health issues.

"You must have a plan if you asked for a bow to be brought, right?"

Ax, who had disappeared silently with a dark face as if following Edin.

"I was actually a bit disappointed I couldn't go to the South, but now there's no need for that. I'm looking forward to it! I'm confident in anything, so just tell me what to do."

Persaila, who had been among those who left saying they couldn't accept Yuder as the new commander after Kishiar stepped down from the position and disappeared.

"I know how to shoot a bow a little too..."

Balmore, who had been one of the many who had deserted and disappeared without even submitting a resignation notice, making it unclear when he had left.

"Then all opinions are settled! What should we start with?"

Finally, even Isias, who had disappeared without showing any particular presence within the unit.

The members who had protected the Northern Branch, and who had entered the Red Stone recovery team following Kishiar in their previous life, all expressed their intention to follow Yuder's words.

As when he had received similar trust from other members, Yuder's feelings were more complex than ever because he knew what they had done in their previous life.

'Probably... the Kishiar of the previous life didn't choose these people thinking they could really help him.'

At that time, he likely tried to recover the Red Stone as secretly as possible, by himself alone. To do that, he would have chosen those in the best position to keep their mouths shut no matter what happened, and indeed, they quietly disappeared without speaking about the accidents that occurred during the recovery process. It means that from the start, it was completely different from this time when he chose Yuder and pointed out those around him who were somewhat close and capable.

'Before, I found it suspicious and hard to guess why Kishiar chose me differently from the previous life... but now I understand.'

The Yuder of the previous life had hidden nothing, but the Yuder of this life, on the contrary, hid everything. Kishiar is a person who wants to keep suspicious people even closer to observe them, so he probably wanted to watch closely what Yuder was hiding, using the Red Stone recovery mission as a starting point.

Yuder looked over the members in front of him.

'In the previous life, they would have been used only as hidden pieces... but not today.'

Today, Yuder intended to mix his own method with Kishiar's method to work with them.

So that if they had the power needed to protect others, they could fully reveal it.

And yet, to make them realize that they could act independently without relying too much on exceptional talents like Yuder or Kishiar.

Yuder held out his hand to Isias, who was holding the bow.

"Give it to me."

Welliven had fulfilled Yuder's incomprehensible request very well. What he sent was a well-maintained wooden bow paired with a thin quiver. Inside the quiver were about twenty arrows with well-sharpened tips.

"Aren't there too few arrows? Should we go down and bring more?"

"No. There's no need for that."

Yuder separated the quiver that was tied together with the bow, then placed it down just below the tower parapet as if inserting it. The members gathered around Yuder.

He examined the empty bow and without hesitation, spread both hands wide to take a stance. At the empty end of the bow, he could see the shadows of monsters flying in a circle like small dots in the distance. He stared at that dot and then relaxed the tension from the string he had been aiming.

"This should be enough."

Monsters aren't the only ones who know how to hunt.

A voice announcing the start of the drive rang out ominously.