DSLA 23

Chapter 23

As the flag signaling the start opened the entrance to the forest, the knights rushed in, racing each other. The thundering hooves left behind a cloud of dust—and Lily.

Lily, still unskilled at riding, would be trampled before even stepping into the forest if she joined that chaos.

She tightly secured her robe and firmly strapped the sword she received from the young master at her side.

Her horse snorted, eager to run as well. Only after thoroughly checking everything did Lily slowly enter the forest.

Since the other knights had rushed deep into the woods, desperate not to lose the lead, her surroundings were eerily quiet.

“…They say the first ones to pass through drop silver leaves along the path.”

It was an unspoken rule to avoid overlapping trails. The vast forest was already tangled with those silver leaf tokens. Lily clutched the robe imbued with Stuart’s magic tightly in her hand.

“Beasts are more sensitive to magic than humans. Livestock are relatively dull, but wild animals won’t even come near if they sense strong magic.”

Using that principle, Stuart had infused the robe with his magic and handed it to Lily. Originally, he had wanted to enchant better armor, but Lily declined and asked him to enchant a simple black robe instead.

Stuart had looked very reluctant, but Lily couldn’t risk receiving something flashy from him. The knights would start spouting nonsense again.

“Keep it a secret that I gave you this.”

As if there was any question. Lily tightened the front of the robe. Her palms were already damp with sweat from gripping the reins.

Even though she had prepared so much, now that she was inside, she was incredibly nervous.

“This path is empty.”

Lily took a silver leaf from her pouch and dropped it on a secluded trail, one the knights hadn’t gone down yet.

Sunlight filtered sparsely through the thick canopy. Outside, it was dazzlingly bright, but inside the dense forest, it was dim. As she ventured deeper, the darkness grew, and Lily walked slowly.

She didn’t forget to soothe her horse to keep it from getting scared—but honestly, it seemed she was more frightened than the horse.

“Stop being scared, come on. If I keep this up, I’ll never get anywhere.”

She muttered to herself. Stuart had warned her about one more thing besides keeping the robe a secret: not to use her holy power.

If her holy power clashed with the magic in the robe, it would cancel everything out. But even aside from that, using it seemed like a bad idea.

If the thick trees grew any bigger because of her power, she might end up causing the first ever holy-power-related fatality. Lily shuddered at the thought of seeing her face splashed across the front page of the newspaper.

“Ack!”

About halfway down the trail, a wild boar suddenly burst out from the side. It must’ve fled this way to escape the knights.

‘W-why is that boar so big? Is that even a boar? Isn’t that a bear?’

Its glaring eyes were terrifying. If a boar looked like that… then what about bears? Wolves? Lily just wanted to go home…

Frozen stiff, trembling hands the only thing moving—she stood like that for a minute. A minute that felt like ten years. Then, the boar suddenly cried out and darted away, avoiding Lily like the plague.

Lily, still gripping the reins, melted onto the horse’s back like water.

“…Looks like the robe really works, huh?”

That gave her some peace of mind. Once she got out of here, she would definitely thank the young master. Clutching the robe like a lifeline, she continued slowly along the path.

Before long, she reached nearly the end. So far, she had only encountered that one boar, so her nerves had settled a bit.

She parted the thick underbrush with her sword when she spotted something tied tightly to a tree ahead. Narrowing her eyes, Lily took a closer look—then hurried over.

“Oh my god…”

Tied to the tree was a baby bear. Soaked in blood, its limbs dangled limp, and the deep stab wound on its neck revealed where a blade had pierced it.

“What kind of lunatic would…?”

Even if it was a hunting competition, did they really have to go after a baby bear? Anger surged in her chest. Blinded by the desire to win or not, this was going too far…

Wiping her tears with her sleeve, Lily reached out to untie the bear.

“It’s not… coming loose.”

It had been tied with a thick, sturdy rope. She tried using her sword, but whatever the rope was made of, it wouldn’t cut.

“What should I do…?”

Panicking, unsure where to start, Lily decided to do what she was best at.

She took off her robe and wrapped it around the horse’s neck for safekeeping, then laid a hand on the tree where the bear was tied. Her holy power slowly climbed up the tree and was eventually absorbed into the bear’s body…

“Hang in there, baby.”

But the baby bear didn’t move. No matter how powerful her holy power, it couldn’t bring back the dead.

Growing more desperate, Lily poured in more power, but the bear remained limp.

“Grrrrr…”

A terrifying growl echoed behind her. Lily froze.

It was the kind of roar that made the heavens shake. Her hair stood on end. The fear was so overwhelming that she couldn’t even bring herself to turn around.

‘I-I have the robe, so why…?’

She quickly checked her holy power. It had all gone into the baby bear. She turned toward the horse. Though it had the robe around its neck and was standing slightly away from her, it hadn’t run off.

‘No way…’

The mother bear?

Lily’s vision went white. Even a sleeping bear would be terrifying, but this one was enraged.

She bit her lower lip hard.

The mother bear had followed the scent of her cub’s blood and now stared at the lifeless body tied to the tree.

No pulse. And next to it… a human. It was clear where the bear’s rage would fall.

The bear roared so loudly the forest trembled.

Lily, terrified, began backing away. The bear staggered toward her. Her legs refused to move properly.

Even with its wobbly gait, the bear quickly caught up. Its massive claws came close to slashing her face—until a dark crimson energy burst from Lily’s body.

“W-what is this?!”

Just touching that crimson aura caused the bear’s skin to tear apart. It halted, shrieking.

Paralyzed, it still reached out to tear Lily apart. As the claws neared, Lily backed away, trembling violently.

“D-don’t come closer! You’ll die!”

An ominous power she’d never felt before swirled inside her. Her blood boiled as if her veins were aflame.

She collapsed, curling into herself. A red glow surged around her crouched form.

‘What is this? It’s not holy power…’

Her chest suddenly burned, and she coughed up a thick, black clump of blood. After spitting it out, the heat subsided slightly.

‘What now…?’

Her horse had run off. But she wasn’t upset. If it survived, that was enough.

She could save herself with holy power. Pour it out, suffer the pain, and escape. But the red energy in her body kept trying to surge outward.

She didn’t want to kill the mother bear in front of her dead cub. She looked from the baby bear to the mother bear again.

The bear roared once more.

Its rage-filled cry sent shivers down her spine. The bear charged and swung its massive paw again.

Lily dodged, trying to suppress the crimson power. But while she struggled to hold it back, her holy power instinctively lashed out to protect her.

It didn’t disperse evenly. A concentrated, piercingly bright blue beam of pure holy power shot at the bear.

Unrefined, potent holy power.

So pure it was toxic.

The bear screamed.

Its shriek echoed through the forest and beyond. Lily used that chance to run.

But even in unbearable pain, the mother bear couldn’t let the enemy go.

She had only left to find food. And in her absence, her cub had died. Thinking about how much it must have suffered, the mother bear endured her own agony.

She chased Lily with desperate fury. Even the searing holy power no longer felt painful.

“AAAHHH!”

And finally, Lily’s scream followed.