Chapter 26

“It’s the Guardian’s Graveyard!!”

Anyone could see it.

Beyond the storm that threatened to melt the entire prairie, the torrential downpour ended abruptly at a clear boundary line.

Rectangular stone monoliths, like tombstones, stood in a row along the edge of the blue sky.

Covered in moss and leaning against trees, the weathered stones radiated a deeply peaceful atmosphere.

Swoosh—

Of course, that peaceful scene was still on the other side of the prairie. We still had to push through the raging storm.

But… our morale was incomparably higher than before.

“Not much farther!”

“Run, run! Ruuun!”

Even the horses seemed to know that safety awaited beyond. 

Mounts that had been foaming at the mouth and ready to collapse suddenly flashed with renewed determination in their eyes and began galloping 1.5 times faster.

The final sprint!

Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones who realized the end was approaching.

[Simulation End]

I had activated a simulation to avoid the whirlwinds, but now I was momentarily speechless.

I looked at Teacher Sena.

She was standing on the large, round stone wrapped in sacred ropes—our mobile barrier—protecting it from falling feathers.

What escaped my lips was a scream.

“In about 1 minute 20 seconds! Whirlwinds will form!”

“Sigh… again? The money I’ve spent today could buy a protective talisman.”

Teacher Sena grumbled as she pulled out another 1-Shine mana bill. Unlike earlier, her movements now showed some composure, thinking we were almost safe.

But…

“The number of whirlwinds! Too many to count! Duration… until we reach the boundary!”

After hearing my report, that composure instantly vanished.

“Switch places!”

I jumped onto the mobile barrier while Teacher Sena took my position at the front.

The nomad members frantically guided their horses into the range of Teacher Sena’s Dispel.

After half a day of fighting together, we worked like a well-oiled machine.

“Aaaaargh! F-ing HELL!”

This was probably the hundredth curse from our usually proper Teacher Sena today.

Crackle!

Teacher Sena frantically pulled out mana bills and threw them.

The denominations had changed.

Now she was throwing 1-Morning bills instead of 1-Shine.

She pulled them out 10 at a time, throwing them one after another.

She’d already burned through more than 30 Mornings—over thirty million Korean won.

“Aren’t you, aren’t you going overboard?”

The situation was dire, but my mother still couldn’t help asking about the extravagant spending.

“No! I’d like to burn even more if I could!”

Teacher Sena shouted desperately, completely forgetting formal speech.

“Right now! That damned calamity! Knows we’re escaping and is preparing for us!”

Whoosh—

Massive amounts of mana erupted from the incinerated mana bills.

The flourishing gray energy split into two streams.

About one-third flowed into Teacher Sena’s protective talisman while two-thirds flew into the mobile barrier.

Woong—woong—woong—

The mobile barrier groaned,

Ziiing—

Teacher Sena’s talisman resonated in harmony.

Having absorbed far more mana than usual, the talisman and mobile barrier emitted very dense and vivid mana patterns.

“Dispel!”

Swoosh—!

Thick gray lines flowed from Teacher Sena’s talisman, forming patterns of circles and squares.

The magical energy ahead was pushed aside, creating a magical vacuum.

“Barrier! Maximum expansion!”

Wooong—!

The mobile barrier also released mana patterns several times thicker than normal.

Patterns of circles and triangles burst forth endlessly, causing the defensive shield around the barrier to expand even further.

The shield grew beyond the cart, past Teacher Sena, and finally enveloped our entire nomad.

An incredible output compared to normal.

Was this even possible?

Screech!

Crack! Whirr!

But… was it too much strain?

The mobile barrier and protective talisman emitted ominous sounds as if they might explode from the overflowing mana.

“This won’t last long! We must break through within fifteen minutes! Everyone stay focused!”

What more needed to be said?

We all slapped our horses’ rumps.

We hit them so hard the horses might have taken offense, but they shared our desperate situation. They had no choice.

They channeled every bit of their irritation into moving their legs faster.

Crunch!

Horse hooves trampled the ground like a downpour, and the mud and water splashed upward against the rain, reaching above our heads.

And… the harpy finally launched its final assault.

Swoosh, swoosh, swooosh!

As if it had been waiting for us… a storm of blade-like feathers rained down from the prairie’s edge.

And that wasn’t all.

Boom! Crash! Whiiirrr—!

Like carpet bombing, whirlwinds filled the prairie, exploding everywhere.

There was nowhere to retreat.

Trusting in the Dispel and barrier shield… we plunged into that hell.

Thump!

Wheeee…

Whirlwinds dissipated with lingering gusts when they hit the Dispel,

Swooosh… ring… clang!

Blade feathers noticeably slowed after passing through the barrier shield and bounced off the nomads’ shields.

‘We can do this! We’re going! We’re going!’

We all internally repeated words of hope as we pushed forward, and forward again.

‘We’re almost there! It must have been about ten minutes already?’

But every time I looked up, thinking a significant amount of time had passed, the boundary of blue sky didn’t seem any closer. Fifteen minutes felt… endless.

Clang! Ting!

Standing on the mobile barrier, I deflected blade feathers in all directions.

My nerves were stretched to their limit.

Feathers that had been occasionally flying toward the mobile barrier now seemed to arrive every five seconds.

Screech! Crack!

The mobile barrier was already making strange noises as it operated at its limit, so we couldn’t allow even the slightest impact. I frantically jumped around, protecting our precious barrier stone.

Ting! Ting! Crack!

The shield I was swinging split in two as a blade feather sliced through it.

Either the barrier shield was weakening or the feathers were growing more powerful.

“Damn it!”

I threw away the broken shield and—

‘Are the others okay?’

Just as I had that thought,

“Eek!”

A familiar scream struck my ears.

Through the downpour, I clearly saw blood flowing down Yuria’s arm.

“Guh!”

Lidia, who had been riding beside her, fell from her horse with a blade feather stuck in her shoulder.

Clang!

Yuria barely deflected another feather with her shield, using just one arm. But her body swayed precariously, looking like she might fall from her horse any moment.

‘Yuria!’

My heart sank, but… I couldn’t go help her. I had to protect the mobile barrier. If I couldn’t protect it, we’d all die.

“Huff…!”

I took a deep breath and continued deflecting the heavy blade feathers with my hands and sword. But the crisis seemed endless.

Whoosh—BOOM!

This time a whirlwind broke through Teacher Sena’s Dispel.

It exploded magnificently on the left side of our procession.

Two carts were thrown into the air, and the powerful gust made our entire formation stagger.

Screeeech!

“Oh no…!”

And then, as if perfectly timed… in the worst possible way.

During the chaos, with attention diverted, a blade feather rode the storm directly toward us.

It was heading straight for the mobile barrier.

‘No!’

Swoooosh!

The feather accelerated with the storm’s power.

I threw myself to intercept it, but the feather was approaching from the opposite side of the barrier. I needed to get around the stone, and I was just a moment too late.

Slash—!

The feather cut across my fingertips as I reached for it and—

Crack!

Finally penetrated the side of the mobile barrier.

Rumble!

The massive body of the mobile barrier shook as if in an earthquake.

The protective barrier and concealment shield around our nomad weakened significantly.

…and with that, the harpy finally located our exact position.

Screeeeeech—!!

A massive cry overwhelmed even the storm’s noise.

Whiiiiinny!

The horses that had been galloping at full speed panicked and began bucking wildly.

The formation fell into chaos, two carts overturned, and the nomad’s advance came to a complete halt.

People and animals alike just stared blankly at the sky.

Flap!

The sky split open, and spreading its brilliant silver wings, the harpy—the Calamity of Night and Storm—descended.

Between the parted clouds, sunlight fell like a spotlight, illuminating the harpy with breathtaking brilliance.

[Found you……]

I couldn’t really understand the words.

But I felt like I’d heard them. Similar to when I heard the magical powers murmuring.