Gallo was still asleep when he suddenly felt a shaking hand; it was one of Afara’s kin. He was in charge whenever Afara and Gallo were asleep.

“Sir Gallo… a red paper is glowing,” the forest folk said.

There was only a single meaning behind it: Simon must be in trouble. As per his instructions, the hero should still be out there in the field… they should be finished in about an hour or so.

<--->

The hero’s party came back. They successfully created another wall on the battlefield; some of the walkers they sealed were confirmed to have escaped, but they didn’t go closer to the walls. Everything was good and according to plan.

But there was bad news… an emergency. They were quickly called by Gallo.

Gallo was just behind the gates when the hero's party arrived back safely in the wall.

The hero’s face distorted when he heard it, there was a certain glare of worry on his face “When was this received?” Paramour asked.

“2 hours ago… it’s a red piece. I’m not sure of the location, but as long as you bring this red paper, it will glow if you are closer to him,” Gallo said.

“Can you handle the front line for a while?” Raphael knew what was going to happen so discerningly asked.

Gallo nodded. The earlier they go, the better the chances to save him.

“I will come with them! I can use earth magic to guide you!!! We can evade them safely!” Carla suggested while smiling.

“Princess… this is a favor I will not forget… we will leave after a few hours… please bring only necessities,” Paramour smiled and handed a shake with his hands, to which the princess gladly responded.

Gallo was still a bit sleepy; he only had 3 and a half hours of sleep. It was now his time to command on top of the wall; well, he was busy tinkering with the snowboards, he was messing with the wind propel formula, and he had just a breakthrough last night.

“This is a good chance to test my new snowboards,” Gallo said to the hero's party.

<--->

The gate that leads outside loomed to the party that was getting ready in front of it. The wolf carving of the gate showed intimidation. The hero’s party was together with the princess and Andy; they had just gone out of the gates earlier and they had to go out again.

Gallo needed to do the same thing he did when he sent Simon outside; to fire cannons to clear out the horde of spikes. All 4 of them were going to use the new and improved snowboards.

It took a little while navigating into the battlefield full of corpses and large meat walls, but with the help of the princess, they quickly found a safe path into the ice forest east side of the mountains, just following the ice tree borders.

With the camouflage they were wearing, the spikes were oblivious to them. The princess said that there were also walkers nearby, but it seemed that they didn’t detect them.

In just a few hours of sliding on the border of the ice forest, they went past the desolated land.

They finally reached the valley. The princess was already used to the snowboard and was enjoying it, but she had to stop for a while because to activate her magic she needed her feet in the ground, but not necessarily soil. They found a good spot to stop for a while.

However, sometimes they would need to dig a little bit since standing on soil extremely increased the efficiency of her magic.

“I can’t believe the knights allowed you, my princess, to come with us,” Andy said while stopping for a while and using his shovel to dig through the snow. The hero was doing this effectively by using his spear with fire magic on it.

“The hero is actually very popular; being a hero of the era would take you so far,” the princess answered. “Oh, Paramii is actually at the age where he wants a girlfriend; in a few years, the princess will be a looker!!” It was Raphael; Paramour hit him lightly with the blunt edge of his spear.

“Shut up, please,” the hero said. “I’m not particularly interested, and getting tied with me comes with royal problems,” the princess coldly said.

Andy looked at the princess and spoke. “You do know that you are a child, right? Ugh!!!” and he got hit by a snowball, a full swing that came from the princess. “The princess is at the right age to entertain suitors,” it was the black hood that answered.

“Maybe I will execute you when we come back,” the princess glared at Andy, who was really confused. Paramour and Raphael laughed; Andy came from the frontier, so he didn’t have an idea of how girls her age think. Girls in the central continent would like a certain degree of respect that reflects the older ladies, but the older ladies would like to be treated young ironically.

The digging was then enough; the princess stepped into the soil.

“Hmm… that’s a lot of them,” the princess said. She then pointed down the valley. “I can’t pinpoint it very well, but they are coming further up north,” the princess said in her assessment.

“We travel on the high ground…” Andy said. Paramour then takes out the red piece of paper; it was glowing slightly better than before.

The weather in the valley was completely different; it began to snow, and even Andy mentioned that it would likely worsen. Traveling on the higher ground of the valley wasn't smooth, as they encountered some spikes they couldn't avoid.

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They even encountered a walker twice and engaged in battle. Paramour knew precisely how to defeat them, and Raphael's break magic was nearly instantaneous, as he already had analyzed the walker's magic.

The princess could clearly sense the movements of the spikes moving in waves; it helped them select a route. Andy noted that the place the princess said they were coming from was totally unexplored, and the snowstorm didn’t allow them to see further where they stood.

The party continued on until the princess stopped them, and they started digging again for the princess. She jumped off her snowboard and laid her feet on the ground… “This is weird,” she said…. there was a mountain in front of them and a large cave and some kind of structure underneath it.

“There are… thousands of them… is it still possible to rescue him?” Carla asked. It was a negative question, but still, the hero party didn’t waver.

“What about their movements?” Raphael asked.

“... There are some who are standing; they are walkers… and the 6 legs just keep on flowing out of some kind of underground ruins, while more flowing from the bit far east, there is a path there… there are 6 legs as far as I can sense.” The princess started calling the normal spikes as 6 legs.

The magic Carla was using is called Earthen Sense; the earth’s vibration is interpreted to her so that she can tell the layout of the field or even the living things that produced any vibrations.

But she noticed something; a single spike was walking in their direction.

“One is coming…” Carla said. The party quickly got ready. Carla pointed forward.

“6 legs?” Paramour checked. “6 legs…” Carla answered back.

“Para-mee!!! The red paper is glowing,” Raphael reported, pointing to the red paper that was clipped near the hero’s collar. Paramour took it with a terrible face…

‘Was he already consumed or something?’ They thought the worst of the worst... The Spike continued to walk towards them until it was visible... It was bloody, with a shadow looming over it... The party was ready to attack, but as it approached... riding behind it was Simon... his body covered in blood.

“Simon!!!” the party exclaimed, except for the princess; she hated the smell, so she covered her nose.

Raphael quickly took some potions, and the Black Hood was ready to heal him.

“I’m not wounded… I just slayed too many spikes… now I’m covered in their blood,” he explained further; the smell of the meat that was sticking to his bag permeated.

“Now I’ve got a way to go around with them,” he broke the neck of the spike. Simon started removing his cloak and using his water blade, he created running water. The party was confused as Simon nonchalantly cleaned himself.

“If you put a knife under their head, they would continue to move forward… then turning it will change their direction,” he quickly explained how he rode on the spike.

“But you tore off an emergency signal?!! What the hell happened?” Raphael asked but it was more of a complaint.

“I need backup… we can end this siege here I think,” Simon sighed and sat, the white snow around him instantly turned red as he started washing, and he started telling his side of the story.

<--->

A few hours back.

Simon ran into the endless ruins.

It was dark inside the four-sided ancient walls, the tunnel in front of him, and an endless number of spikes chasing him. He could outrun them… but there were also spikes emerging from the other side of the tunnel, he kept on killing as he dashed but the warm air told him that there was more coming.

He had to do something or he will be pincer-attacked. On his back was the water blade he held with his left hand and the Walker x4 blade on his right hand that he used to slay spikes in proximity, he began charging the water blade.

The spikes chasing him were frenzied; when he cut down a few of them earlier, they had no regard for their life unlike the spikes he dealt with on the surface; he would feel fear from them when he cut them down. It was annoying how far one could go if one disregarded their life.

The waterblade has begun to glow a dim violet. A combination of the blue color of the blade and the magic edge. If he understood even a tiny bit of the magic edge’s theory of how it works… it's all about imagination. Simon slayed down another frenzied spike behind him, from the slash he continued his momentum into another swing this time using the charge waterblade. ‘Should work like Paramour’s’ Simon thought as he swung it.

A water blade slices through the air, clearing and cleaving spikes in its path. It was sufficient, and Simon sprinted forward, unaffected by the red splashes. He didn’t know how far that water blade had flown, but he wouldn’t overlook the space and advantage it created for his escape.

A few more meters, and he could hear them… the spikes emerging from the ruins itself… but there was also a strong air coming. He immediately noticed the varying temperature of the air… warm going up… cold going down.

He sped up and arrived at a four-way crossroads. The cold air was to the left, and warm air blew in from the front. Traces of movement were etched on the ground, leading to the right. This must be where the spikes are emerging from. If he could seal this path, it would be over. Glancing behind him once more, it seemed he had emerged from a large door.

Spikes started emerging from the darkness in front of him; it was not that cold inside the ruin. He charged and launched water blades multiple times, and the dying sounds of the spikes filled the tunnel.

Simon smiled; he missed doing that waterblade attack.

“Tuk!! Tuk!!” it was faint, but he didn’t miss the chipping sound on his left.

It was a bit far, but he started feeling the bloodlust in all directions except on his left. It was Walkers; he had no choice but to go left and follow the cold air.

He arrived in a large cavern again… spikes were hugging the wall, and another mutated walker was standing there in the middle.

“Crap!” Simon immediately stuck to the wall, making sure he was small enough; then he quickly traced where the cold air was coming from and noticed that the cavern had a hole in the ceiling. He quickly scanned the cavern’s walls… the mutated walker didn’t change its demeanor… Simon started moving. He trusted his instincts.

The mutated walker did not do anything; the spikes who were there just kept on with their work; it seemed that they were excavating some kind of carvings in the cavern. The mutated walker just stared at him… he could feel it sensed him but… it was not acting on him. Simon then saw the corpse of a dead scout that was just lying near the wall the spike was excavating.

He wanted to take it, but there was no time; the walkers were closing in.

Simon quickly reached the hole exit… before that, he scanned the whole area one more time… It had a resemblance to the door he went from earlier… it seemed that the spike was excavating some kind of a large door… the walker then arrived at the scene and Simon made his escape.

The escape hole was very deep. He didn’t know how far it was, but he kept on jumping on the rigid rocks. He then heard the flood of the spikes below… it seemed that they didn’t fit the hole.

<--->

“So you are telling me that this large walker is the one who commands this siege?” Simon nodded at Paramour’s query.

“They are intelligent… they baited me and pincer me first on that cave tunnel” Simon then pointed out the cave that was leading into the mountain. “The second is that they are trying to open a gate down there in the tunnels”

“The tunnels of the ruins… I think they might have found a way to travel underground through those…” Carla who was listening touched her arms as she shuddered.

After contributing to the defense of the northern wall, she was now terrified by the spikes; if it wasn’t for the hero and his party leading their group, she wouldn’t feel assured.

“You know the legends about the underground roads… where all of humanity came from, right?” Carla was telling them a story that if you went to any kind of church, would be taught to children as common knowledge.

“That is very scary… you are saying that there is an underground tunnel that leads behind the northern walls?” Raphael started to sweat.

“Simon… you came to us… do you have a plan?” the hero was expecting it.

“But we will have to climb the mountain for a while; the Spikes are good for it, we have to catch some on the east side,” Simon answered with a smile.