32. Monster in the Air

dawn. Ian was already awake. Time before the knights wake up.

"Yesterday I was strangely tired until the evening due to the monsters and the choking, but it's the same as muscle pain coming the next day when you're middle-aged, so it doesn't seem like the fatigue of the day will hit you during the day." I had surprisingly little sleep. He will come at once in a few days.

Another reason why I didn't sleep well was that I didn't feel like I could use that monster's body.

"I don't know how to handle it." From Doldren's story, it looks like no one has tried it. But if anything helps. --The safety of the knights may also be improved.

I knew that Doldren, who I saw during my two-day trip, was the first to rush into monsters. And he will keep fighting till the end. Doldren is incredibly strong, but if he continues to fight, he wants to have something to help him just in case. Ian had been preoccupied with it all evening.

Doldren sleeps soundly with a blanket on his side. He is a man who, regardless of danger, leaps from his horse and swings his sword at monsters.

When he's on the verge of going into battle, he signals himself to go - often feels like he's being kissed in a harmless place. And the occasional hug - it makes him smile when he thinks of it. He's doing it naturally, so he has to be unaware of it...

He is a really hardworking and kind person. A truly sincere and warm person. 　

Ian leaned over to Doldren's side and briefly stroked his shiny hair. and whisper in his ear.

"Please wait. I will definitely make something useful for you.』

Gently kissing his shapely ear, Ian began to change.

After sunrise, the troops finished their simple breakfast, cleaned up the tents and bonfires, and set out again for the rocky mountain of Iorai.

Doldren was in a very good mood this morning, and Ian was easily taken to the carriage. He changed the wounded knight's bandages and told them, 'I'll show him to the doctor as soon as I get back to the branch.'

The three wounded knights were terribly injured on the first day, but because of that, they were relieved to be taken care of by Ian. They whispered to each other that it would be nice to have Ian take care of them instead of the doctor when they got back.

"That person is already a mother." "You must be younger than your mother." "That's not true. It means it's good to be pampered." "That's right. It seems that the President is treating you like a mother." ``The President is unfair.'' ``I understand that the Chancellor is acting like a child. There was no reason to know.

It takes about two hours for him to reach his destination on the rocky mountain. The unit headed to the other side instead of yesterday's location.

The scenery is similar, but there is a lot of shade behind the rocky mountain. The slope rises gently to the rear, and after passing through several valleys and ridges, it seems to connect to the mountain range in the back.

From the time Doldren started climbing the rocky mountain, he felt uncomfortable being watched. Weird noticed it too.

By the look of his eyes, he realizes that there are other knights who are beginning to notice. When Dordren's left hand is swung horizontally, the troops all change to trot, splitting into five and moving to their posts.

"We may already be in a circle of demons."

Ian was nervous at what Dordren's low voice indicated, and looked around, "Where are you?"

"Ian. Hey, I'm going early today....let's get some ingredients for something Ian's going to make for me."

As he said that, he kissed Ian on the head lightly, said, "I'm looking forward to it," and hopped toward the center of his squad, defying gravity.

Ian realized that what he had said was what she had told him earlier in the morning, and blushed a little at that careless action. You were awake, weren't you... The trotting Wead let out a short whine as if to answer his inner voice.

A middle-aged knight with blue-gray hair, walnut-colored eyes, and marble-colored armor――Krohal asked Doldren, who landed behind his horse.

"Above, Dordren." "Above this time."

"Should I tell Padrei and Cornice to shoot it to the summit?"

Clawhal pulls on his reins to turn him around and command the Padrei and Cornice archers to the left forward. Doldren jumps to the next horse and follows the movement of the mountaintop with his eyes. Then he saw Phionu's horse troop moving in the corner of his eye.

The arrow that was shot toward the seemingly empty mountaintop drew an arc at the top and burned down with a shriek echoing just before it fell. The next thing I saw was a scene where the rock wall at the top of the mountain began to peel off, and countless fragments were scattered and emerged. The rock wall shard has a head and wings, and emits a shrill, air-splitting scream and flames from its slit mouth.

Aiming at a monster that began to descend while spewing flames with a shout, Doldren instructed the knight who was pulling his standing horse to ``run through'', and when the monster came within reach, he drew his sword while jumping. and mowed down one wing. The monster loses its balance and falls. Leaping onto the monster's body, Doldren swiveled his sword and decapitated him, quickly jumping onto a nearby knight's horse.

Phionu's squad, which serves as Doldren's scaffolding, controls horses and follows Doldren's instructions to run along the wall while avoiding falling monsters.

"It's coming"

Doldren's sword was raised overhead, and the flash of the sword sent a signal to the entire squad.

Realizing that the first monster had been killed, the other monsters shouted in unison and began to accelerate and descend. "Those who can jump, give up their wings! Drop your head as you fall! 'Doldren's roar roared the troops, and the knights challenged the swooping horde of monsters.

Accompanied by Diddon, Ian turns around on a horse running away from his men. What jumped into my eyes was the appearance of the flakes that changed shape after the rock wall peeled off, holding wings and wiping the flames with a high voice.

A small ultramarine light jumped there, and in an instant, the flame-breathing body came apart. After that, the monsters flying near the summit shouted at the sky all at once.

"Doldren――"

Ian feels the hairs all over him stand up and pulls on Wead's reins. Didon, who was holding Wead's reins, noticed Ian's twitching expression and shouted from behind his mask.

"No, I'm not going back."

"but"

Slowing down the horse, Didon grabbed Ian's arm.

"You're just going to confuse me, Ean."

"Didon. Please take me back! If you go straight to such an opponent, there will be injuries!"

At Ian's frantic voice, Didon stopped his horse, raised his mask to his forehead and asked Ian in puzzlement.

"Fight straight, is there anything else?" Does this person have any ideas? And remember the situation the other day.

"How many people can run head-on and move like Doldren?" Ian explains quickly.

"The monster might be putting out flames with that voice. If everyone has a shield, they might be able to avoid it."

"I don't understand what you're saying. You want me to catch the fire with my shield?"

"It's not the fire that's affected, it's the sound! We have to hurry."

Ian couldn't stand still, and when he said that, he grabbed Wiad's reins and shouted, "Wiad, go to Doldren." Wiad rushes to the battlefield without any hesitation.

The dumbfounded Didon clicked his tongue. "What is it? Doldren, Doldren.' He sighed and rode on with great haste.

The troops were struggling. The knights with physical abilities similar to Doldren took the wings of the descending monster, but some faced the falling monster's face and almost burned their faces, while others held their ears and screamed. The horse from which the Lord tumbled is tossed on the chaotic battlefield.

Podrick shouted as he knocked off the monster's neck with Doldren's sword. "Doldren, there are too many! These guys are calling their friends and increasing! ] 　Clawhal also turned around and said, ``You might get your ears hurt before you beat him! ' and cut off the monster's head. Doldren also quickly ran his eyes around and gave instructions without stopping his movement.

"Squad 3, evacuate the wounded. Those who can fight, avoid the flames!"

Looking up at the sky from the knocked-down head, there are still more than 200 monsters that can be confirmed. In my heart, I worry that there will be casualties. Dealing with sky monsters consumes far more physical strength than fighting on the ground. I can still fight, but the others—

"Doldren! Reverse the shield"

A lovely voice suddenly reached my ears. When I turned around, my beloved horse ran toward me while avoiding the flames.

"Ian, it's dangerous!"

"Alright, give me a shield!"

Ian comes over to Doldren and points to the back of the shield on his back. Doldren jumps on his horse, removes the shield from his back and hurriedly hands it to Ian, "What are you going to do with the shield?" At that time, monsters descended in a straight line with screams and flames. Ian stared at the monster and smiled for a moment while swallowing his fear, saying, "Maybe it's there." With only a few meters left from the monster, Doldren raised his long sword and the monster flew away.

「Here you go.」 　Ian turned around while hiding behind his shield and laughed troubledly at Doldren's reaction.

"you····· "

Doldren muttered dumbfoundedly at Ian's smile.

"Let's leave it for later. Tell everyone to turn their shields upside down and point them at the monster's front."

The knights were surprised to see the monsters attacking Doldren and Ian scattered, and when Doldren gave instructions to ``turn over the shield and point it at the mouth of the monster'', those who had already been in that state were surprised. There were many.

Whether it was a monster coming straight down from above, or a monster making a sharp turn and thrusting in from the side, they all let out screams and flames. The knights turn their shields upside down and hold their swords with the other side facing the monsters. The moment I gripped my sword with the force of the monster's attack, the monster disappeared in front of me with the sound of rocks breaking.

From there, the tide turned.

The knights who stood still and held up their shields were attacked by monsters one after another, breaking into pieces just before they hit the shield. The monsters, who didn't understand why they were crushed, were enraged at the death of their comrades and kept coming down, but it seemed that the monsters jumped in to crush themselves. Some of them seemed to have noticed something strange, but Dordren and others cut down the monsters that closed their mouths and tried to rise again to the sky before they broke.

"When the moving monster finally disappeared and the sound quieted down." The knights looked around, checked the corpses lying at their feet and the overhead, and lowered the shields they were holding in their numb arms.

"Are you done?"

Podrick came to Doldren's side on his horse. Doldren nodded, "Probably." Other captains also came to report to Dordren, telling him that the total number of wounded was 12, minor, and that there were no fatalities.

"It was intense"

"Yeah, but they all make it home alive."

Clawhal smiled wryly, and Doldren laughed back at Clawhal and let out a sigh of relief at his return. He rested his chin on Ian's head in his arms and muttered, "My guardian angel." Ian laughs funny.

The other knights watching the exchange between the two gave a wry smile and returned the horses to their squad, saying, "Do it after you return."

After carrying the wounded to the carriage, the exhausted troops left Iorai's rocky mountain behind.