“Catch him! Don’t let him get away!”
Arius shouted as he watched Hans flee.
Three burly paladins gave chase. There was no need to send more. From the look of it, the man didn’t seem to have any combat power at all.
‘Judging by how weathered he looks, he’s probably a veteran explorer. We need to catch him and pry out how many people are in his group, and when they arrived here.’
Arius had been certain that he would be the first to reach the ruins. Hans’s presence was far beyond his expectations.
Rufus was just as shocked. He couldn’t believe that someone had arrived at the ruins before them.
‘How?’
To force one’s way through this forest faster than anyone else would require a considerable number of people.
Moving in small numbers made no sense. In a forest teeming with spirit beasts, a small group was at a disadvantage.
Spirit beasts were evolved creatures—beasts infused with mana.
Their strength rivaled that of master-level fighters, and their intelligence was also quite high.
‘Spirit beasts are cunning and clever. They know how to judge whether an opponent is weaker or stronger than them, and whether they can be provoked or not.’
That was why numbers were necessary.
When a large group moved together, spirit beasts recognized the danger and avoided engaging.
‘If they came through that kind of forest, they’d need an expedition at least comparable to ours, if not larger. But are there any groups like that left?’
Rufus had a grasp on the overall strength and numbers of the expeditions currently gathered at the forward base.
At least to his knowledge, there was no force in Hyperborea that could rival them.
Even the mages of the Divine Mage Tower were scattered, moving in small groups due to their arrogance.
‘Another faction we don’t know about.’
This was bad. It wasn’t part of the plan. And judging by the traces around them, it didn’t look like a large group had passed through.
“Sir Arius. It seems we were too complacent.”
Rufus said.
He hated this arrogant paladin enough to want him dead, but he knew how to choose the right time and place.
The same was true for Arius. He didn’t like that a black mage dared to sit at the same table as him, but there was something more important right now.
“I agree. To think there were people who reached the ruins before us.”
“Looking around, their numbers don’t seem large. The problem is that entrance.”
Rufus pointed at the entrance to the ruins where Hans had been lingering.
“We don’t know how many went inside. We don’t even know how much time has passed. We should move in as quickly as possible as well.”
“Hm.”
Arius stroked his chin. He badly wanted to capture Hans and extract information, but Rufus’s words gave him pause.
“Fine. We can’t let precious items be taken right under our noses. We’ll move in immediately.”
Arius’s paladin order and Rufus’s black mages headed toward the pitch-black entrance.
* * *
“Stop right there!”
The burly paladins chased after Hans.
Though clad in armor, they were holy knights who had trained their bodies for years.
Even weighed down by armor and heavy gear, they ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) could easily keep up with an ordinary person sprinting at full speed.
At least, they should have been able to.
“What the hell? Why isn’t the distance closing?”
“That bastard! Why is he so fast?!”
No matter how hard they chased, the distance between them and Hans didn’t shrink at all.
If anything, Hans’s figure was gradually getting smaller to the naked eye.
Clear proof that he was faster than they were.
‘What is this? Even for a veteran explorer, isn’t this too fast?’
‘And he’s been sprinting at full speed for minutes now, yet he doesn’t even look short of breath. Is he not getting tired?’
The paladins felt their pride wounded. Failing to catch a single man who didn’t even look like a fighter—what kind of disgrace was this?
They drew up their holy power and cast blessings upon their bodies.
Vitality surged back into their tiring flesh. Robust strength settled into muscle and bone, driving their movements harder.
Boom!
As a paladin stomped the ground, his greaves crushed the earth. Using that momentum, he leapt high and dropped directly in front of the fleeing Hans.
It had cost a considerable amount of holy power, but that didn’t matter.
“Got you at last!”
If there was any consolation, it was that Hans hadn’t fled back into the forest, instead running in circles around the ruins.
Had he disappeared into the forest, even paladins wouldn’t have dared pursue him recklessly. They, too, feared spirit beasts.
“Hah!”
Hans’s eyes widened in surprise as the paladin landed right in front of him.
The paladin thrust out a massive hand.
At the very least, he wanted to grab this guy and slam him into the ground to vent his frustration.
The moment the paladin’s hand reached for Hans’s collar—
Hans’s body vanished from his sight.
“What?”
It was only for an instant, but he’d lost track of Hans’s movement. The paladin realized too late that Hans had slipped past his side like a loach.
‘What kind of movement was that?!’
It wasn’t something a human should be able to do. It was closer to a beast—unpredictable—and that was what made it shocking.
Hans ran desperately, doing everything he could to escape the paladins.
The plan was to shake them off and then hide somewhere quiet.
‘Just have to hold out until Boss comes back! Once he does, he’ll wipe the floor with those guys!’
It sounded like the muttering of a third-rate alley thug, but Hans didn’t care.
Even if he worked as an unofficial imperial informant, he didn’t want to fight like this.
He’d had enough of fighting during the crusade. Now he wanted a peaceful remainder of his life.
He’d earned enough money to last a lifetime, built the wheat fields and beautiful estate he’d always wanted—
And even gotten a wife with a slightly—no, very—eccentric personality.
‘There’s absolutely no reason to fight paladins in a place like this!’
Despite fleeing with such desperate resolve, Hans soon hit his limit.
Clang!
A blade of light slammed down right in front of him.
Instead of stopping, Hans instinctively veered aside to avoid the spear.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
But several spears flew in, surrounding him like a cage.
Hans immediately realized there was no longer any path to escape.
“Ah.”
The moment he hesitated, a paladin caught up from behind, grabbed Hans, and slammed him to the ground.
“Got him! You rat bastard!”
“Huff... huff... damn, you’re fast on your feet.”
The paladins, having spent a great deal of holy power to catch Hans, were drenched in sweat and panting heavily.
They couldn’t remember the last time they’d run themselves this ragged.
Now that they had him, all that was left was to take him back and hand him over to the commander.
Squeeze some information out of him, and something was bound to come up.
Just then, a bird made of light flew toward the paladins.
The bird, formed by holy law, delivered Commander Arius’s order.
“What? We don’t need him alive—just kill him?”
“Then what the hell did we work so hard for?”
It was a hollow ending after all the trouble they’d gone through to capture him alive, but the paladins decided to look on the bright side.
At least they were being given a chance to vent their frustration on the man who’d annoyed them so much.
“Hey. Consider yourself unlucky.”
“Yeah. Who told you to run so hard? If you’d just let yourself be caught, you wouldn’t have ended up like this.”
They forcibly hauled Hans to his feet.
“N-no...”
Hans murmured to himself, his face pale with terror.
The paladins thought he’d realized what his future held.
“Huh? Blood?”
But then they noticed that Hans’s chest was soaked red.
It looked like he’d been stabbed by something sharp.
“What’s this?”
They found beast fangs in the inner pocket of Hans’s coat.
Not just fangs—there were claws, scales, and more.
Every one of them was large. They weren’t things you could get from ordinary animals.
“Why would he carry stuff like this?”
“He’s an explorer. Probably picked up samples that looked valuable. Still, unlucky. Did he fall and stab himself on his own collection?”
The paladins let out hollow laughs as they looked at Hans.
Seeing his blood-soaked front, they felt oddly deflated.
Since he’d die even if they left him like this, they decided to just finish it cleanly.
“Goodbye.”
A paladin raised the club in his hand, about to smash it down on Hans’s head—
Thud!
Without even looking, Hans reached out and grabbed the club.
“Huh? W-what is this?”
The paladin who’d swung it froze in shock. No matter how hard he tried, the club wouldn’t budge.
It was impossible to believe that this scrawny man had such strength.
Meanwhile, Hans continued muttering to himself.
“I really didn’t want this to happen. This... this might be something even I can’t handle.”
“What’s this bastard rambling about? Hey, Gilbert. What are you doing? Finish him already.”
“T-this guy’s strength is no joke.”
“What? Did you eat something weird today or what?”
The two paladins were about to scold their comrade Gilbert, then stopped.
Crack!
A chilling sound rang out as the club snapped.
It wasn’t an ordinary club—it was made by mixing holystone and metal so it could hold holy law, sturdier than most maces.
And yet it shattered in Hans’s grip, crushed by the sheer strength of his hand.
The paladins weren’t fools. An instinctive chill ran through them.
They wrapped their entire bodies in holy power.
They realized that if they didn’t kill Hans right here, it would be dangerous.
But that realization came too late.
“Kraaaaaah!”
Hans threw his head back and roared.
Countless animal voices were mixed into his human cry.
That massive howl spread through the entire forest, centered on the ruins.
Flutter!
Birds burst into the air in fright. Even the spirit beasts that had returned to their territories flinched and turned back toward the ruins.
They felt it—the immense power embedded in the distant roar.
Power so vast and feral that even they couldn’t fully comprehend it, born from countless forces mixed together.
The refined power of many spirit beasts manifested through the vessel called Hans.
Crack!
Hans’s body swelled. Fur, scales, and carapace erupted across him.
All of it intermingled, forming a bizarre shape.
A contradictory sight—things that didn’t quite fit together, yet somehow formed a strange harmony.
The paladins doubted their eyes.
The Hans they’d been looking down on had grown so large they now had to look up at him.
Five meters? No—his height had already surpassed ten.
“T-that... what is that?”
As Hans was pierced by the spirit beasts’ fangs, claws, and scales, their factors were injected into his body.
If it had been just one, he could have controlled it through his own will.
But multiple factors entering at once was beyond even Hans’s control.
Power surged wildly through his entire body. The external spirit beast powers flowing in clashed violently within him.
And in the deepest depths of his being—
The monster of Jévaudan, long dormant, opened its eyes at the arrival of an uninvited guest.
* * *
Ludger walked through the corridors of the ruins.
He’d expected it from the outside, but despite their age, the ruins were remarkably intact.
“Incredible. I didn’t think they’d be preserved this well.”
Casey muttered that she’d never seen anything like this either.
“More importantly, is everything outside all right?”
Veronica asked.
“Inside here—this may just be my imagination—but it feels slightly disconnected from the outside.”
“It’s not your imagination.”
Ludger corrected her assumption into certainty.
“I suspected it from the mana layered over the surface of the ruins, but this space is isolated from the outside as much as possible.”
“So that means...”
“Whether it was to prepare for external invasion, or to preserve what’s inside over a long period, any disturbance here won’t leak outside.”
The reverse was also true. Whatever happened outside would be difficult to perceive from within the ruins.
“Then isn’t Mr. Hans in danger, being left alone out there?”
Veronica thought of Hans. As far as she knew, he was an unofficial imperial informant.
He might not be entirely without combat ability, but considering the dangers outside, it wouldn’t be enough.
‘Shouldn’t you tell him?’
Casey whispered to Ludger.
She was one of the few people who knew about Hans’s unusual constitution and abilities.
‘There’s no need to spell it out. Hans will handle it on his own.’
‘What if he runs into the Lumenis Church?’
‘Hans isn’t that naive. Even if he looks like that, he’s a veteran who lived through the crusade. He knows better than anyone how to look after himself, so don’t worry.’
‘So he’ll be fine?’
‘Yes. Didn’t he bring spirit beast fangs with him?’
‘True. If he has those, then it should be fine.’
‘As long as he doesn’t do something stupid like using them all at once.’
Ludger thought to himself.
He has experience. Surely he wouldn’t do something like that.
“Trust Hans. He’ll survive just fine on his own. Let’s focus on exploring the ruins.”
With Ludger saying it so confidently, Veronica decided not to worry about Hans anymore.