"My lord, whatever happens, stay close to me." Ashina grabbed Phield's arm and whispered urgently. "I'm confident I can break us out."
Phield understood her meaning and nodded. "I will. But unless it's truly the last resort, I refuse to run."
"Abandon the carts here. Take out the crossbows and load them." Learning from the previous encounter, Phield had deliberately brought crossbows this time.
"Roar!"
A monkey-like monster swung over a crumbling wall using its elongated arms, landing on one of the guards. It bared a massive maw and began tearing at him.
Crunch, crunch~ The plate armor emitted sharp, grating screeches under its teeth.
The guard panicked, flailing wildly, but couldn't dislodge the creature.
Fortunately, Ashina reacted instantly. She drew her long sword and cleaved the monster in two.
"Is that… a corrupted monkey?"
Long arms, long legs, and a tail—undoubtedly a monkey.
As if receiving some signal, the entire Rum Village erupted into chaos. Monsters bounded and leaped everywhere, a black mass surging like a torrential flood.
Phield forced himself to stay calm, quickly scanning the minimap and calculating. One wrong step could doom them all. "Run—head southeast! There's a large courtyard that way!"
One, two, ten—more and more corrupted creatures vaulted over the village ruins and into view.
"Fire!" At Phield's command, the guards—who had been waiting for this moment—unleashed their crossbows. The leaping monkey monsters burst into sprays of blood, as though slamming into an invisible wall. Corpses rained down.
"Clear the path." Ashina waved her hand.
Drakewolf strode forward, spewing deadly flames while advancing rapidly.
Ashina herself stayed behind to mop up the monsters. Five monkey creatures pounced at once. When they aligned in a straight line, she flashed forward. Her long cavalry sword swept through in a chilling arc of light, and all five were bisected at the waist, spilling blood as they fell.
From the corner of her eye, she spotted one crawling low and fast across the ground, preparing a sudden ambush leap. Ashina raised her pale, graceful leg and stomped down hard. Splat~ The monster's head exploded, its eyeballs popping out like marbles.
Thanks to the time Ashina bought them, Phield led the men in a frantic rush into the courtyard. Guards nearby had already barricaded the gate with stones and rotting furniture.
"This isn't safe enough—withdraw farther back and defend from the buildings." Phield glanced at the minimap again. The tide of red markers stretched endlessly. The only consolation was that the monsters weren't targeting them specifically; they were heading elsewhere and merely passing through Rum Village.
"Block the gate. Rotate rests. They're just passing by—they'll be gone soon." Phield rallied the men to boost morale.
With Drakewolf, Ashina, and the troops, holding the gate wasn't difficult.
Soon, the corrupted monkeys launched a storm-like assault.
Yet Phield's formation stood like an unyielding wall. The fully armored guards, equipped with heavy shields, held the entrance firmly. The monkeys couldn't break through.
Drakewolf was like a flamethrower tank—its thick scales couldn't be pierced even when the corrupted swarmed it into a ball. The only downside was that Ashina was forced to dismount and fight on foot.
Phield breathed heavily, his heart pounding. The infamous reputation of the cursed lands was well-earned. Surviving this long owed much to luck.
"We need to erect tall walls as quickly as possible." Rubbing his temples, Phield felt relieved the horde wasn't heading toward the great vineyard.
Covering one another, they held out for half an hour until the monster tide gradually thinned and vanished.
"Whew… so exhausting."
Ashina flicked the foul blood from her long sword. Even as a Divine Chosen, her strength had limits. This was the largest corpse tide they'd encountered since arriving in the Nightfall Domain. Fortunately, the final corrupted monkey fell, and the surrounding area was cleared.
"You've worked hard." Seeing Ashina panting, Phield's heart ached for her. She had tanked the front line, dealt massive damage, and constantly relieved pressure on the others. Without her, there would have been guard casualties.
It was fair to say everyone had been dragging her down—yet training the guards was essential.
Ashina winked playfully. "Hmph! No meat goes uneaten for free."
"Thank you, Lady Ashina." The guards thanked her somewhat sheepishly. The hostility and wariness in their eyes were gone, replaced by pure awe.
People in this world weren't like certain oddly inclined folks back on Earth. Humans here had always harbored prejudice against Demi-humans, viewing them as monstrous hybrids of beast and man—unclean abominations.
"Rest for half an hour, then we'll move again." Phield prodded the monster's corpse with his longsword, curious about their structure and the reason for their migration.
Rum Village had suffered ten years of corruption. Most of the houses had collapsed, windows shattered; calling it a village was generous—it was little more than a sprawling garbage heap. Phield didn't hold out much hope.
Once the break was over.
"Groups of five. Search for anything useful and take it."
The Nightfall Domain lacked everything; even scraps of wood had value.
Phield placed the mist-dispelling lamp in the center of the village and gazed across Rum Village, wondering whether this place could serve as a foothold.
After walking a circuit through the ruins, Ashina returned to report. "My lord, I noticed a strange plant earlier in one of the farmyards. It glows faintly green, and I sensed magical power from it."
"Oh?" Phield stood at once—magic was a word that always seized his attention. "Could it be one of those plant treasures from novels?"
They went to the house on the western side of the village. The main building had collapsed long ago, but the courtyard's outer wall was built of stacked stone rather than flimsy wattle, so it had survived relatively intact.
Phield spotted the small patch of green plants immediately. They glimmered with pinpoints of light, as though radiating the instinct of life itself. He hurried over and crouched down to study them closely.
"They look a bit like young cabbage shoots just breaking through the soil." He reached out and poked one with his finger.
A strange, pungent odor flooded his nostrils.
"Achoo!" Phield sneezed violently.
Ashina chuckled softly when she saw him choke. "My lord, you shouldn't touch strange things so casually."
"Wait—are you all right?" Her amusement vanished the moment she noticed Phield growing dazed, his eyes unfocused. Alarmed, she stepped forward quickly to check on him.
The veins on Phield's forehead throbbed fiercely. Beads of sweat broke out across his skin, and a certain part of his body reacted instantly.
He caught the scent of fragrance on Ashina's body.
As though he could no longer control himself, Phield reached out and seized her wrist.