It’s Not Night - Chapter 116

“All troops! Halt!”

Viola slowed her horse down and started giving hand signals. As she shouted, the knights who had been spaced apart gathered around the two members of the imperial family.

The sound of loud footsteps gradually began to come their way. Boom, boom, boom… Andra held her breath and looked around. It was difficult to see as their surroundings had gotten obscured by the haze.

Could it be a monster? If they were discovered, where would the attack start? Since the surroundings were all foggy, it was difficult to tell the other side’s appearance.

Meanwhile, as the sound grew louder, Viola drew her sword. Jonathan, who was behind her, also raised his sword. The march stopped at some point and was waiting for the uninvited guest to appear to them soon. Andra, who had no combat experience at all, was looking around with anxious eyes.

Neigh, neeeigh!

All of a sudden, the horses started neighing and struggling in unison. They all looked terrified. The knights hurriedly pulled the reins to calm the stomping horses, but they started to fall to the ground one by one. The horse that Viola and Andra were on struggled as well, bringing its front legs up high—but fortunately it did not throw the riders to the ground. But the horse Jonathan rode was troubled.

“Damn it! Lerna, calm down!”

When they wondered whose kicking horse it was, it turns out it was Jonathan’s. Viola turned her head and narrowed her eyes to see Jonathan clinging precariously to his horse.

“Jonathan! Let go of the horse!”

“My feet got tangled in the reins!”

“Even in this situation, you’re still clumsy!”

Viola immediately turned the reins and headed for Jonathan. In front of Jonathan’s struggling horse, she jumped down. She thought that in this situation they could not keep their horse any longer. Andra followed Viola and dismounted from the horse.

However, the booming footsteps continued uninterrupted, so the horse got even more frightened and could not easily calm down.

“Sir Airak!”

Andra, who couldn’t bear to see it, called Dustin who was covering them. She then asked him if she could break the horse’s reins from Jonathan’s feet. Dustin’s reaction was nothing. He glanced at the wild horse and Jonathan clinging to it, then nodded his head naturally.

“Then do it. It would be faster to cut the line and drop Jonathan than to calm the horse.”

Andra was frightened at Viola’s words, which calmly thought of dropping Jonathan. A fall from a rampaging horse could cause serious injury. Jonathan could be hurt. Andra hurriedly stopped Viola.

“Your Highness, if the prince gets hurt…!”

“Don’t worry, lady. Sir Airak will take Jonathan too. Right?”

Viola asked, staring at Dustin. There was a subtle pressure in those eyes. Dustin looked disapproving of the idea, but all he could do was nod his head without saying anything. I have received your order. Dustin put his sword down for a moment and pulled out the dagger he was wearing on his thigh. Then he tossed it towards Jonathan’s feet together with the messy reins.

Riip— Tak!

The dagger cut the horse’s reins neatly and tumbled to the ground. At the same time, Dustin caught Jonathan falling from his horse.

Jonathan, who looked sullen, clung to the back of Dustin’s horse and was carried up to Viola. Andra, who was finally at ease, was startled by the wildfire passing over her head. Then there was a hand pulling her down.

“Ah…!”
As soon as she lowered her head, there was fire passing over her head once more. After the flames passed, she looked around and saw that everyone was lowering their bodies. It was Viola who pulled Andra and made her duck her head. Jonathan had been picked up by Dustin’s hand.

“It must be a monster that uses fire!”

Viola was getting annoyed, she clicked her tongue. The fact that monsters knew how to control fire meant that their battle here would be tough. Soon, a fire broke out in the woods and started burning everywhere. The area was filled with acrid smoke, making it harder to discern the surroundings than when there was only fog.

“Lady! Use magic!”

When everyone was confused because they couldn’t see, Viola suddenly shouted. In response, Andra hurriedly created a wind with her magic. The smoke receded for a moment, but as the flames grew stronger, more and more smoke rose. Even so, Andra did not stop making the wind. It would be hard to even see each other’s faces if she didn’t do this.

“Aarghh!”

But, of course, there were places where Andra’s wind didn’t reach, so there was a sound of something moving quickly and the screams of the knights being beaten.

The scream made Andra increasingly nervous. Wouldn’t everyone be killed in this way? They were at complete disadvantage in this situation. Their view was blocked, and the opponent knew how to use a large flame and moved swiftly.

“Lady, there…”

“Your Highness? What were you sayi—”

“Andra, get down!”

Guooooh! Soon, flames flew toward Andra with a huge roar. Dustin picked up Andra and rolled hastily across the ground.

“Cough! Cough!”

As Andra accidentally inhaled the fumes and was coughing, Dustin angrily tapped her on the back.

“Are you insane? Knowing what the situation is like right now, yet you looked away!”

“What the hell is going on…”

“There isn’t just one monster. One big one, a few more small ones.”

Dustin said, lifting Andra up and putting her behind his back.

“Be careful. You never know where they might attack you.”

Andra’s wind has also stopped, and now the surroundings are all white with smoke. And here and there came the sound of metal clashing. The battle had truly begun. Fortunately, Viola and Jonathan were all right, came the sound of them looking for others.

“Your Highness…”

Andra was just about to open her mouth to answer. Dustin pulled Andra into his arms and covered her mouth.

“Shh, don’t make a sound. Making a sound in this situation is the same as letting the enemy know that prey is here.”

“What about the princess and the prince?”

Andra and Dustin’s mission was to protect the imperial family. To get separated in this way could be dangerous for them. Then Dustin shook his head excitedly.

“It could be a trap. And the princess will protect the prince several times better than you.”

“Still, the princess also needs to be protected—”

“Does the princess look like someone to stand still and be protected? Surviving here is the first priority.”

There was nothing wrong with Dustin’s words, but from the point of view of a servant serving their lord, it was clearly disrespectful. Could a knight act like this? Andra had a lot to ask, but she held back. As he said, surviving was the first priority.

“Then how… Are we going to get out of here?”

“The best thing is to remove the elements blocking the view. It would be less if water poured out, but there are no rivers around here…”

“The next best way?”

“We just need to kill all the monsters attacking us.”

It was a simple answer, but it was also a sure way. However, it was difficult to execute both the first and the second. Andra thought hard. How would she be able to disperse the smoke and deal with the monsters? But she was more of a non-combatant, so it was difficult for her to think of a good plan.

“Damn it, one came this way.”

Dustin swung his sword at the barrage of attacks right away, clang! There was the sound of something thick and hard hitting the sharp blade.

Andra tried to keep an eye on the monster as she shrunk her body in surprise. Every time Dustin fought it, the monster that appeared seemed to have antennae at first glance, and the more she looked at them, the more they resembled bugs. Like…

“An ant?”

Slash! At that moment, Dustin pressed his sword into the monster’s chest. Then, with the sound of the hard shell breaking, the monster’s movement stopped.

Andra raised a wind and pushed the surrounding smoke away at once. Then, the monster that appeared was very similar to an ant. Antennae and hard snout jaws. and several pairs of legs.

“I have a bad feeling.”

Andra frowned slightly.

“What’s the matter?”

“Ants live in groups. Killing the ants here might not be the end. Especially if the tunnels are around here…”

The ground shook greatly. Boom! Baaam! Andra struggled as she lost her balance so Dustin quickly grabbed her.

“Are you okay?”

“No, it’s not okay.”

“What?”

“What if there is an ant tunnel around here? Oh my God. That hypothesis might be right!”

“What hypothesis?”

Dustin didn’t look like he understood her, so he urged Andra for an answer. Of course, the conversation was interrupted for a while as another monster attacked them in the meantime. Dustin cut off the ant’s leg with a quick, precise motion and pierced the body with his sword through its slender waist.

All of this action took less than a minute. Dustin asked again, kicking the ant’s squirming jaw.

“What hypothesis. Say it.”

“That this must be a dungeon’s exit. Actually, before coming here, I had a brief conversation with the princess about this… The princess asked if the reason why monsters appeared in the Morgennis area was related to our power. I agree with that opinion, but I can’t tell the truth about the power we have, so I just hypothesized it.”

“…Can’t you just summarize the points?”

“So, there must be something related to our power in Morgennis, and when we came, it created its own dungeon here related to that power. The fact that monsters started appearing outside the dungeon instead of inside it… This could also be an ordeal.”

“Ordeal?”

“It’s a metaphor. That’s what the phrase on the scroll says.”

Andra replied with a slight shrug. Dustin then stood still for a moment, contemplating something.

“Then do we have to go inside the dungeon again?”

“I don’t know. However, after clearing the dungeon the other day we had a clue telling us to go to Morgennis. It’s the same this time… Wouldn’t it?”

Andra looked at Dustin’s eyes. It was because saying that they had to enter the dungeon again meant that they had to go into the ant tunnel.

And Andra knew from a book that dungeons with bug-type monsters were quite cumbersome to clear, even if the strategy was simple. They had to deal with the king in the last room of the dungeon after defeating monsters who were mere soldiers.

“No… Maybe there is another way. We haven’t even met the two counts yet. Well, as far as I know, there are ancient tomb sites in the County Norrant, so I think we should take a look there too.”

In the end, that means they need to get out of here. Whether or not to enter the ant tunnel dungeon is a matter after that.

Dustin nodded, indicating that he understands.

“Okay, let’s move first.”

Then they heard a piercing sound in their ears. Aarrgh! It was Jonathan’s scream. Andra’s head turned to the direction of Jonathan’s screams.