Together they filled the sack with oil-soaked cloth bundles. Echi lit the lantern. Then, using her voluminous sleeves and the spread of her skirt, she shielded it so no light leaked out.
Their eyes met.
"Shall we go?"
"Let's go."
Baraha took one of the cloth bundles and held it to the lantern flame. The oil-soaked fabric caught immediately. He hurled it outside the tent with everything he had. A guttural roar, and the monsters nearest the tent wheeled toward the blazing bundle. They slipped out in the gap.
They moved tent to tent, lighting and throwing whenever something approached. No words were exchanged — only glances, and they were already in sync.
At the center of camp lay an open clearing, submerged in crimson liquid. More than ten monsters prowled its edges. Around it stood the tents of the commander, the vice-commander, and the squires.
Echi's tent had already burned to the ground. Whatever remained of Ian was either ash or had been found by the creatures the fire drew. She glanced in that direction and looked away.
Baraha ducked into the vice-commander's tent — the closest.
Echi followed. They set down the lantern and sack and caught their breath.
"Too many of them in the clearing," Baraha muttered. Echi looked through a gap in the fabric.
She scanned carefully; Baraha leaned over her head to look as well.
"Senior. Up there."
"Hm?"
"Above the three-horned creature — in the air. Do you see it?"
"…That must be it. The starting point."
A mark in the air above the clearing — a long, faint crease, like paper folded and smoothed back. It ran from just above the clearing upward into the red sky, shimmering faintly at its tip, like a mirage.
"Getting there is one problem. But touching it — the books were only guessing." Echi murmured to herself. Baraha exhaled slowly, his breath brushing past her ear, and placed his large hand on top of her head.
"Staying still won't save us. We try something."
"…You're right."
"Let's see."
He drew his sword, looked around the tent with a mischievous expression, and said:
"Apologies, sir. I'll be breaking some things."
He struck the folding bed with the flat of his blade, splitting it apart, and began piling the pieces onto the bedsheet.
Echi understood immediately.
The cloth bundles wouldn't hold the monsters' attention long enough. He wanted a larger fire. She started gathering anything flammable — furniture, bedding, papers — and stacking it without being asked. The vice-commander's tent looked like it had been ransacked by the time they were done.
Baraha bundled the sheet and slung it over his shoulder. Echi picked up the oil flask without needing to be told. He glanced at her and smiled faintly.
"I don't want to make you carry more than your share. But — I'm glad you're here."
"Do you think I'm reliable?"
"Completely. Though there's something even more important than that."
"Which is?"
"If I'd been left in here alone — I might have actually lost my mind."
"…What?"
She didn't quite follow. He had already moved past it.
"If I'd been here by myself, that's all. Let's go. We'll light this near Dietrich's tent — it's far enough from the clearing. And honestly, I've always wanted to set that man's tent on fire at least once."
Echi followed him in silence. They moved through the back of the tent, avoiding the clearing, slipping between structures.
While she watched their path, she turned over his words.
'I have experience and fighting ability. But Baraha had none of that. He was dragged in without warning.'
The crimson liquid pooled at their feet looked exactly like blood. The camp — once intact and busy — was drowned in it, enormous creatures prowling the banks, shadow soldiers endlessly destroying each other in the red light.
Being alone here, with no way to fight back and no way out, waiting for death — it really would break most people.
His presence had been something to hold onto. And he had suppressed his own fear, reassured her, promised to protect her — knowing it was a promise he couldn't keep.
'A person who becomes stronger when they have something to protect.'
Not unlike Alice, but differently.
He suited the title of knight.
Echi glanced at his broad back ahead of her. In the erased timeline, he hadn't become one — he had died before the chance came. This time, she wanted to see it happen.
'I'm glad I chose this.'
She was smiling without realizing it.
Dietrich's tent was highly visible, near the clearing. They dealt with the few monsters en route using their remaining bundles, then Baraha threw the woodpile inside and Echi drenched it with the oil flask plus the extra bottles she'd found inside. They exited and hid nearby.
Baraha threw a lantern through the entrance.
The tent exploded into flame.
Nearby monsters flinched, then crept toward it, drawn by the fire.
They ran.
Crimson liquid splashed up with every step, soaking them further — no time to care. They reached the clearing. Empty now. The plan had worked. But there was no telling how long that would last.
The starting point hung high above them. Baraha grabbed the camp flagpole immediately and angled it upward toward Echi.
"Climb on — I'll hoist you!"
No mana. He was seriously planning to lift a person on a pole. She turned to him in disbelief — and then saw his arms, and didn't argue.
She climbed. He braced. Muscles coiled under strain, and the flagpole rose. The hawk-emblem flag snapped open above them.
From her elevation, Echi could see across the camp. The monsters were still occupied with the burning tent.
"Test it with the sword first before you touch anything with your hand!"
She was already extending the blade. The scabbard clattered down into the crimson below.
She touched the tip of her sword to the crease.
The moment it made contact, the entire space stiffened.
"KYAAAAAAAH!"
Every monster in every direction screamed. Hundreds of eyes — hollow, twisted, grotesque — swung toward her.
Baraha felt it before he heard it. He lowered the pole fast and let go, spreading his arms.
"Echi!"
She dropped toward him without hesitating. He caught her. Her dress billowed and settled. She pressed her hand to his shoulder.
"Senior — I think this is—"
"We run first," he said, and ran, carrying her.
The ground shook under the impact of what was coming.
Ripples spread through the red liquid with every trembling step, and behind them, hundreds of creatures converged.
"Put me down!"
"I'm faster. Don't worry, as long as I — just — we hide—"
He was breathing hard and talking through it. His arms held her firmly. She looked at his face and then at the horde behind them.
Baraha was extraordinarily fast for an unenhanced human. But each monster's stride covered more ground than five of his.
They were out of time.
Echi closed her eyes. Opened them, violet going deep.
"I'm sorry, Senior Baraha."
She brought the edge of her hand against the back of his neck. Not hard enough to harm — hard enough.
"Ugh…"
He folded. She caught him as best she could on the way down. The weight still almost buckled her arms.
"So heavy."
[He's essentially solid muscle. What were you expecting? But — now what?]
"What else?"
She heaved him onto her back. His feet dragged — there was nothing to be done about the size difference. She started running.
Mana surged, and her speed with it. Even carrying him, the distance between her and the monsters widened. But that wasn't sustainable. She needed a wall.
She stopped at the camp's edge.
[Is this the node's boundary?]
"Yes. No attacks from behind here."
She propped Baraha against the invisible wall and turned to face what was coming. Hundreds of them. She tucked the cheap longsword into the folds of her dress.