CHAPTER 78………………………………………
Even Lyn, flying through the sky, saw the scene unfold.
A massive monster had smashed its way through the forest, leaving a clear space right in the middle.
Seeing her uncle struggling even from afar, Lyn dug her hooves into the wind even harder.
The huge monster, black arms swinging as if to swallow her uncle whole, looked terrifying.
No, no, Uncle Theo!
This wasn’t part of Lyn’s plan.
While training with Caligo, she often imagined this scenario:
Defeating the monsters in the hunting festival, earning praise, and making her worried uncle feel relieved.
She had pictured everyone admiring her heroic actions and Uncle Theo feeling proud.
But the reality Lyn now faced was nothing like the hopeful fantasy she had imagined.
I never imagined Uncle would get hurt…
She had never thought of that. Uncle Theo was always big, strong, and reliable, holding her safely in his arms.
For the first time, a sense of unease filled Lyn’s deer-like eyes with tears.
Fortunately, the distance had closed enough that Lyn could make out her uncle’s condition to some degree.
Clothing was torn in places, and several bleeding wounds were visible.
She felt tears welling again but held them back.
If her vision clouded, she wouldn’t be able to see.
Huh? Why all of a sudden…?
At that moment.
Someone suddenly ran out from behind her uncle.
And the monster didn’t miss its easy prey.
Boom! The creature lunged its massive body forward, blocking the crouched child, swelling its thorned arm even larger, and slammed it down.
“No!”
And Theodore threw himself in front.
After cutting through a thorned tendril the monster hurled as a powerful attack, Theodore briefly wiped the blood from his eyes.
A creature this size typically pauses briefly to recover when such a large limb is damaged.
Of course, there were times when monsters still attacked relentlessly, so Theodore didn’t relax for a moment.
Because of this, he noticed the abnormality immediately.
“Don’t come out!”
He tried to draw the monster’s attention with a loud voice, but instinct told him it wouldn’t be enough.
He had warned the children to stay hidden initially.
Perhaps thinking the monster’s brief pause was an opportunity, Payne suddenly dashed out from behind a tree trunk in a completely reckless direction.
Foolish.
Theodore couldn’t help but lament inwardly.
Did he really think the big monster would have trouble chasing him between the dense trees?
Even after seeing that this place had been transformed from forest into a clearing, Payne failed to realize it. Running through the underbrush, he stumbled and fell flat in front of the monster, which had landed like a squelching mound of mud.
“!”
Theodore braced his legs as he ran.
Even the slightest misstep could cost the child his life.
After a fierce battle, his strong bear-like legs unleashed explosive power one last time.
Kwaaaang!
Fortunately, he arrived in time.
After parrying the monster’s massive thorn-arm made from its three fused limbs, Theodore anticipated the next attack.
Those three limbs weren’t all the monster had.
Damn.
And he knew he wouldn’t be able to block everything.
Unlike earlier, when he could distribute his strength to deflect some of the monster’s attacks, now all its force was focused toward the child, and he had to meet it head-on with equal power.
Otherwise, the giant spike would have impaled the child.
He felt his hands tremble on the greatsword, swung with all his upper body strength.
As expected, the monster began hurling the remaining fused spike-limbs toward him.
“Hngh… ugh…!”
Behind him, he heard the child’s whimper.
The little one had slumped, too weak to move.
That meant he couldn’t retreat either.
Boom!
The thorn-arm slammed into his blade, and Theodore flexed every sinew in his arms to hold it back.
Kkrrik kk.
He drew all his remaining strength to withstand it, but the fight of strength was inevitable.
“Kup…!”
At least he managed to deflect the strike away from the child.
Finally, as the thorn grazed past his greatsword, Theodore saw the spike’s point approaching his eye like a pinpoint.
Ah.
In that brief moment, memories flashed before him.
“小 bear.”
The sky-blue-haired noble, who had nicknamed him as she pleased, treated the child from their gang who had lost an eye while saving him, clicking her tongue.
“Take care of yourself, too. Or you’ll be done for in no time.”
The sister who had taken in a wandering bear like him in a trivial distance.
Her vivid voice felt as though it had returned to his ears after a long time.
Yes, sister.
Seeing the spike approaching his scarred eye, Theodore let out a small laugh.
Her words were right, as always.
If they met again, he thought he would simply smile and tell her it had really happened as she had said.
I’m sorry, sister. I couldn’t protect Lyn until the end.
Even sensing his end, he stood firm, determined not to let the attack reach the child behind him.
Muttering the name that had never left his heart since holding the tiny life in his arms:
Our Lyn.
At the final thought of his precious one, multicolored light enveloped everything.
Lyn felt her horn burning as if aflame.
When the filthy monster aimed its arm at Uncle Theo, a surge of anger unlike anything she had ever felt washed through her.
How dare it! That disgusting thing!
Instinctively, the same thought Caligo might have said sprang up.
A fierce mix of contempt and rage for an opposing being swirled within her small body, gathering into her horn and radiating multicolored light.
I can’t allow this.
She could not stand by while such a creature harmed a precious life—it was in her nature.
The divine power she had trained with Caligo surged to a level she had never experienced.
“For Uncle Theo.”
It took almost no time for the enraged Lyn, the divine beast Kirin, to explosively gather and release her power.
“Don’t you dare touch him!”
Her cry, normally like a gentle ripple, spread through the forest like a whale’s violent sonic blast.
Along with her roar, the rainbow-colored light exploded like the sun, instantly engulfing the entire forest.
Everyone saw it.
The light, descending like judgment, burned all the monsters.
All forest monsters vanished instantly, like shadows erased by light, leaving no trace of their cores, evaporating into smoke.
“Wha…!”
A gasp of awe escaped the Payne gang, who had been hiding silently.
Payne, who had slumped down, certain he was about to die, cautiously opened his eyes and gawked.
“Th-the monsters? …They’re all gone. Really?”
He looked around frantically, unable to believe it.
Unlike the other children scanning for leftover monsters, Theodore’s gaze was fixed in one place.
“Lyn?”
For a moment, it was as if his imagination had come alive. The sudden appearance of Lyn was different from any time he had seen her.
Her usually flapping wings were gone. Her sleek body revealed, Lyn stood proudly on all four legs in the sky.
