UNDER THE OAK TREE

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Maxi's face fell. This could only mean that Sektor was fully awake now.

She turned to Agnes. "H-How is this possible? Wasn't the barrier supposed to suppress the dragon's powers?"

"Changing the weather must be an easy feat for it, even in its weakened state," the princess replied gravely.

Fear constricted Maxi's throat. She had been told that it would take a full month for the campaign party to reach the dragon's lair - a considerable time, given the thousands of foot soldiers and numerous supply wagons.

How could a lone creature wield such power? Even a great mage like Calto had to exhaust his mana to create a shield big enough to cover an entire city. At less than half of its original strength, Sektor's magic stretched far beyond the Lexos Mountains, which crossed the three kingdoms of Wedon, Dristan, and Arex.

Fear chilled Maxi to her very bones. She could not believe that humans had once fought such a powerful being and wom. Though many had told her that Riftan and the Remdragon Knights had risked their lives to slay the dragon, it was only now that she truly understood the full might of the creature they had faced.

And he is risking his life once again.

Clutching the iron grate, Maxi peered at the snowstorm engulfing the foothills and the hazy mountain ridge beyond. Another flash lit up the sky, followed by a crack of thunder. There was no doubt that a harsher blizzard was raging in the mountains themselves.

The anxiety she had desperately suppressed reared its head at the thought of Riftan fighting with the colossal monster amidst a blinding tempest. Had it been possible, she would have raced to his side there and then. She was willing to pay any price; that was how much she wanted to go to him.

I may never see him again.

She shook her head, driving the thought from her mind. No, Riftan would surely return to her as he always did.

"W-What now?" came Sidina's quivering voice.

Removing her forehead from the grate, Maxi swept her gaze over the hardened faces around her. "Th-This is a good thing. The weather should make it difficult for the monsters to detect our movements. Sidina, summon a windbreak. I'll cast a concealment charm."

Sidina tentatively hunched her shoulders before nodding. "A-All right."

"My lady, allow us to lead," Garrow said, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Please stay behind us."

Maxi willed her rigid legs to step back. Once the knights took their positions, they signaled the sentries. The portcullis lifted with a clang.

Almost immediately, Maxi cast a concealment charm, hiding their presence by blocking airflow and refracting light. Although a monster with particularly keen senses could see through it, she doubted they would be detected in such weather.

She nodded to the knights. Gabel and Garrow then led the way across the bridge into the raging snowstorm. Even though the wind was growing wider by the minute, Sidina's windbreak allowed them to move faster than usual.

"F-First, we must secure a golem behind the barrier. After that.." Maxi flickered a glance at the golem that was still perfectly intact. "Another one over there, and we will be done."

"And the remaining golems? Will they be placed by the other mages?" Agnes asked.

Maxi could only nod in response. The windbreak did not ward off the cold. And her face felt almost frozen solid, making it difficult to move her jaw.

With each breath crystallizing in the frigid air, Maxi trudged through the ankle-deep snow. Time seemed to stretch on, but eventually, she found herself standing before the mages' towering barrier. She gestured to the knights on guard.

"Th-This will do."

Two young knights stepped forward. "We will begin digging, my lady."

Stepping back, Maxi watched them swiftly dig a hole about a forearm's length deep. She knelt down, slipping the figurine out of its leather wrapping and into the earth. The knights promptly refilled the pit.

While they flattened the soil, Maxi took out a small knife. She was about to make a cut on her finger when Gabel abruptly pushed her back and drew his sword.

A startled shriek escaped her as she tumbled on the snow. Though her knife flew out of her grip, she did not have the mind to search for it. Her eyes darted across the fifteen assailants that had materialized like ghosts.

"Get back!" Agnes cried.

Maxi whipped her head around to see Agnes fending off a bulky, six-kevette dragonian. She parried the monster's attack and summoned flames around it, causing it to emit a sharp cry.

As soon as it pulled back, Agnes seized the chance to attack, severing its arm. However, it was not a critical blow. The monster grabbed its sword with its remaining hand and charged at the princess, their steel clashing again.

Everywhere Maxi looked, the knights were locked in battle. Gabel crossed swords with two dragonians, while Garrow and the others were equally beset.

A sudden thought gripped Maxi.

Where on earth did they come from?

It was difficult to believe the monsters had been able to approach without Gabel or Garrow noticing. She bit her lip. That meant the monsters must have been lying in wait for them there.

I should have searched the area with magic first. I should have been more -

A loud noise shook the earth. Maxi stifled a groan as soon as she saw it - the undead army pouring down the hill toward the golems.

Knowing that the final battle between the dragon and the campaign party had begun, the monsters had likely launched a desperate assault to destroy the Invoked Sanctuary as quickly as possible.

"Max! Watch out!"

At Sidina's ear-splitting cry, she snapped her head up to the plummeting shadow above. She did not have time to summon a shield.

An enormous blade came whistling down, but before it could make contact, Garrow threw himself in front of her.

There was a great thud. The young knight's heels plowed into the snow. Veins bulged from his neck as he blocked the massive greatsword, forged like an iron mace, with only his slender bastard sword.

"My lady, quick! Get back!"

Maxi hastily retreated. After glancing around, she darted to the buried golem figure.

"C-Cast a shield!"

Sidina, terror-stricken and pressed against the barrier, somehow managed to regain her composure enough to summon a shield. Now protected, Maxi knelt and rummaged in her pocket for her knife. Then, remembering she had lost it, she drew the short sword at her waist.

The bluish blade glistened in the dark. Maxi made a small cut on her finger and sprinkled her blood on the snow.

Without dressing her wound, she slipped her glove back on and cried, "I-It's done! We must get away-"

She was pulling on Sidina's arm when a dark-scaled dragonian appeared in their path. Though Maxi promptly summoned a barrier, the monster's power was beyond imagination. Her eyes widened at the loud impact, and the barrier shattered. She hastened to cast a shield, but the monster was already right in front of them.

She instinctevely covered her head and twisted away. Right at that moment, a sword burst out of the dragonian's torso, accompanied by a great ripping of leather.

"You dare to attack our lady?" Gabel snarled as he twisted the blade from behind the dragonian.

In one swift motion, he sliced diagonally. The silver blade came out of the dragonian's side, spraying dark red blood over the snow. Maxi flinched and backed away.

When the monster dropped to the ground, Gabel drove his sword into its body once more for safe measure.

"Are you all right, my lady?"

"Y-Ye-"

Before she could answer, another dragonian charged at them. Gabel swore under his breath and parried the monster's attack. free webnov el.com

"Garrow! Take the mages away from here!" he bellowed.

His fellow knight, who had been clashing with a hulking, eight-kevette dragonian, swung his sword to push the monster away and sprinted over to Maxi. When the other knights opened up a path for them, Garrow broke into a run with Maxi and Sidina in tow.

"G-Garrow, we still have one more golem to secure!" Maxi shouted as they sprinted across the field.

"We have no time for that, my lady! Our northwest defense has fallen!"

Maxi whipped her head around. True enough, there was only rubble where the golem had once stood. The undead army was already over the drawbridge and advancing on the gate. The sight made Maxi sick to her stomach.

"We must enter the city through a different entrance. Follow me," Garrow shouted as he changed course following the embankment. Fortunately, the northern side's defense had yet to fall.

Just as they approached the embankment to cross the drawbridge, something slammed into Maxi with great force.

All the air was pushed from her lungs as she rolled into the snow. When she finally managed to lift her head, disoriented, she saw that a ten-kevette wall had burst from the spot she had been standing on.

Rubbing her aching ribs, she staggered to her feet. Garrow was fighting the monsters that had chased after them, while Sidina was nowhere to be seen. Maxi wondered in horror if she had been flung down the ditch. She was scurrying toward the embankment when something came darting toward her.

"My lady!"

Though she heard Garrow's urgent cry, her reply died in her throat. Before her stood a lithe monster, its red eyes gazing down at her.

Maxi recognized it right away. It was the white dragonian they had encountered in the basilica. The strangely human-faced creature leaned close, its glinting blade poised just above her. Maxi only realized then that she had managed to block the monster's attack.

She had not had time to sheath her sword, which meant it was still in her hand when she reflexively moved to defend herself from the incoming blade.

"Humans..." the dragonian hissed, baring its fangs. "Nuisance...humans...be gone."

The monster pressed down on Maxi's sword with more force, bringing its gleaming edge a hairsbreadth away from her nose. Though she tried to push back with all her might, it was no use. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Just then, a strong gust blew past. The monster froze and jerked its head up. Maxi grew rigid as well. A distant cry echoed overhead, slowly growing louder until it seemed to shake the sky. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, it ceased.

Time itself seemed to stand still in the eerie silence. Nothing moved. Maxi, the hostile dragonian, the monster besieging the city, and even the soldiers firing arrows all froze, looking up at the sky.

A ray of light broke through the dark clouds and streamed down on a particular summit in the Lexos Mountains.

Maxi blinked at the sight. It was the first pure sunlight she had seen in a while.

The monster on top of her suddenly made a strangled noise. Clutching its face, it let out an ear-splitting shriek. The ghastly sound finally jolted Maxi back to her senses. Now was not the time to be gawking.

She thrust her sword with all her strength and felt the blade slice through tough skin. It only sunk in part way. Exerting more force, she slowly pushed the gleaming blue weapon deeper into the monster's chest.

The dragonian heaved and grabbed the metal. Clearly, she had failed to pierce its heart. Clenching her jaw, Maxi gripped the hilt and twisted.

She froze when she glimpsed the dragonian's face. Tears were gliding down the creature's pale, white-scaled cheeks. It regarded her with eyes filled with despair and began mumbling something.

Suddenly, it gripped her sword with both hands and drove it into itself. Maxi watched, stunned, as the blade plunged in.

She could not comprehend what was happening, not even as a shadow appeared behind the monster. Wide-eyed, she placed Garrow's face.

The young knight swung his sword, and the monster's anguished, tear-streaked face dropped to the ground. Maxi hunched her shoulders against the spray of hot blood pouring from its severed neck.

"Are you all right, my lady?" Garrow asked breathlessly, his chest heaving. He pushed the limp monster off her.

Max was still in shock. She shakily sat up, saying, "I-I am all right, but Sidina..."

Managing to rouse herself, she pried her eyes away from the dead dragonian to search for her friend. She soon spotted Sidina lying a short distance away, apparently unconscious.

Without a second thought, Maxi hurried toward her. She was almost there when she realized the surroundings were strangely calm.

Out on the battlefield, the thick hordes of undead surrounding the city were disintegrating like a mirage.

Am I dreaming?

The staggering monsters crumbled one after another. Maxi released a ragged breath as she watched plumes of white bone dust blow across the snowfield.

Rays of gold and sunlight broke through the clouds, playing over the shimmering snow. The pulverized monster remains looked like specks of silver carried on the wind. Hope bloomed in Maxi's chest at the sight.

It was victory at last.

They had won.