MILWTG 118

~Chapter 118~

“Senior…!”

She hated him, and she thought she never wanted to see him again, but that didn’t mean she wished him dead.

Kraaaang!

A huge sound roared as the giant bird’s beak struck like lightning.

Dust and stone from the collapsing ceiling completely blocked her view.

In an instant, the world turned gray.

More stones from above whipped through the air, entering her nose and mouth.

Riden felt the bitter dust in her mouth and shouted:

“Sir Damian!”

Fortunately, Damian had barely dodged the bird’s attack.

Through the gray dust, she saw a faint silhouette moving.

Damian staggered to his feet.

Fragments were stuck in his shoulder, and red blood ran down his forehead.

‘What a state…’

The giant bird was attracted to shiny objects.

Damian had brought a small hand mirror in his jacket pocket to lure it away. He didn’t need to risk himself—he could have just thrown the mirror somewhere empty.

That had been the plan, but reality was very different.

Once the bird had chosen a target, it wasn’t going to change direction for a mere mirror.

If a plan fails, you just give up. Losing the hero’s favor is one thing, losing your life is final.

But at the moment Riden McCurry’s life was in danger, Damian acted without thinking.

He didn’t know why he risked himself.

He had only meant to pretend to save her—but ended up actually saving her.

Anyway, he owed her his life, so the goal was achieved.

And then—

“Sir Damian!”

Riden’s desperate voice calling him like that was completely unexpected.

The blood running down his face felt hot, sticky, but hearing her voice made him feel all was worth it. He felt strangely irrational.

But now wasn’t the time for feelings.

The giant bird, having failed to strike its target, was preparing a second attack.

“Damian, come here! Behind me!”

Ethan’s voice.

This was enough. Now the duke would finish it.

Ethan drew his sword, which gleamed beautifully in the moonlight.

The bird’s attention was completely drawn to the shining blade.

Damian, watching the bird, slowly shuffled toward Ethan and Riden.

Then—

Kiiiiieeek?

Something fell through the hole in the ceiling.

It looked like the giant bird, but only one-fifth its size. A baby giant bird.

The baby had fallen while watching its mother from above.

Kkiieee!

It cried as if blaming Damian for its fall.

The mother bird, whose eyes were on Ethan’s sword, suddenly snapped her head toward the baby.

Her speed now was far faster than when she had been preparing the second attack.

Kkiieeeeee!

Bang!

The bird’s attack split the space between the baby and Damian.

The already cracked floor couldn’t withstand another hit.

The mother bird’s beak pierced the stones, and the floor around it cracked like a spiderweb.

Creak… rattle…

The ground collapsed below.

“Ah!”

Damian reflexively grabbed the edge of the intact floor.

But fragments in his shoulder sent sharp pain through him, weakening his grip.

“Ugh…”

Below, the grand underground crypt stretched out.

Falling wouldn’t kill him, but serious injury was certain.

“Damian, hold on a little longer!”

Ethan drew the bird’s attention.

The baby in its beak made the mother dive at Ethan again.

Riden alternated her gaze between Ethan fighting the bird and Damian barely hanging on.

The bird was dangerous, but Ethan could handle it alone.

Yet Damian losing his grip was only a matter of time.

She couldn’t let him die in front of her.

Riden got up, though sore, and Ethan shouted urgently:

“Don’t try to pull him up, you’ll fall too! Stay still!”

“I’ll use the altar cloth!”

“Riden!”

She ran and grabbed a long altar cloth to use as a rope.

She tied one end to a pillar and threw the other toward Damian.

“Grab it!”

The red cloth fluttered in the air and reached him.

Damian held the floor with one hand and the cloth with the other.

He just needed to pull himself up.

Then—

Sssiiik!

The old cloth began to tear under his weight.

Riden’s face went pale, but she didn’t hesitate. She reached down:

“I don’t have the strength to pull you up. Grab my arm and climb!”

But Damian’s shoulder pain made it impossible. One hand couldn’t pull him up.

Neither from above nor below could they help.

At that moment, seeing the bird, Ethan’s shout drew the knights inside the temple.

They pulled Damian up.

“Hah… hah…”

Riden, flushed from effort, turned to Ethan immediately.

But Ethan seemed odd.

His lightning-fast movements against the bird had slowed.

“…Your Excellency?”

Damian hung by the floor edge, barely holding on.

Fighting the bird nearby could collapse the floor beneath him.

Ethan calmly kept the bird’s attention and created distance.

Riden’s movement came then.

“Don’t try to pull him up, you’ll fall too! Stay still!”
“I’ll use the altar cloth!”

It was the right decision.

If she hadn’t acted, Ethan would have first pulled Damian up.

Watching Riden move away stirred strange feelings in him: a mix of sadness, loneliness, and resentment.

She hadn’t abandoned him; she simply tried to save someone dying in front of her.

Even thinking that, irrational feelings surged in him.

‘What is this?’

But there was no time to think. Ethan focused on the bird with his sword.

Then, a strange woman appeared in his mind.

‘Who is she?’

She had long brown hair and fresh green eyes.

Calm and gentle, comforting. Though he had never met her, she felt nostalgic.

A memory played:

“Don’t go to humans. Stay by my side.”

It felt as if she reached for him, startling him.

Another memory followed:

“I’m sorry. But rather than stay only for you, I want to be with humans who need my touch.”

She turned away and left.

The one calling for her begged her not to leave, but she didn’t stop.

“Siraka!!”

She glanced back at the shout.

Then, Damian’s memories mixed with Ethan’s own:

“Riden…”

‘I told you not to go…’

A cold, dark energy rose from his toes, filling his body.

The stirred memories and feelings of Berbes began to consume Ethan.