The permafrost of the Northern Lands was as hard as rock.
Reinhardt felt every bone and muscle in his body scream in protest.
Broken.
Bruised.
Torn.
His body kicked up a spray of dirt and gravel as he tumbled and crashed, carving a deep trench in the ground!
A sharp ringing was all Reinhardt could hear. His vision blurred, his mind went blank, leaving only the sound of his own weak breathing.
In that moment, death had never been so close.
His consciousness sank into chaos. He vaguely felt his body leave the ground as a familiar voice called his name over and over.
"Reinhardt—! Wake up! Reinhardt!"
"It's catching up! Run!"
The distorted, blurry figure of the Red-robed Knight appeared in his vision. Like waking from a nightmare, Reinhardt gasped, sucking in the cold air of the Northern Lands. He realized someone was carrying him, running across the wasteland.
"Boss, he's awake! God, I thought he was a goner for sure this time. Reinhardt, it's us!"
An endless, silent wasteland. Withered yellow and pale gray were the only colors here.
Faint sunlight filtered through the thick clouds of the Northern Lands, falling dim and dying on the Red-robed Knight as it rode at a slow walk, as if savoring the fear of its fleeing prey. Under its mocking gaze, the three youths carried Reinhardt, gasping for breath as they sprinted for their lives!
As Reinhardt regained consciousness, a face radiating a deep-seated cunning came into view.
"Lupu?... Robie?"
Lupu's face was a mask of anxiety. He glanced back at the Red-robed Knight following unhurriedly behind them, and sweat poured down his back.
"Let's get one thing straight, the boss and I weren't nice enough to save you. You came flying over here on your own. Ober was the one who insisted on carrying you.
Damn it—I told you we shouldn't have brought you! Now that thing has its sights on all of us!
Run! It's starting to speed up!"
Reinhardt tried to move, but the searing pain robbed him of control over his limbs.
Every jolt from the run sent a fresh shock through his wounds and nerves.
"Put me down! I'm its target. If you carry me, none of you will get away."
Lupu's brow furrowed, and he complained impatiently, "We're dead either way. What's the difference if you die first or I die first?
You think it'll let the three of us go after it kills you? Don't be ridiculous!"
'He'd spent a full three years fighting with these three at the training camp. The word "friend" was hardly the way to describe their relationship.'
'Enemies was closer to the truth.'
'But carrying him while they fled... that was exactly the kind of thing a dim-witted, simple-minded kid like Ober would do.'
'Unlike Lupu, who was full of bad ideas, and the envious Big-nosed Robie, Ober usually just did whatever they told him to.'
However, for the first time, the simple-minded kid from the training camp who had no opinions of his own and always followed Robie and Lupu's orders had ignored Lupu's suggestion.
He wasn't much of a talker, but he knew that a Knight should not, in a moment of crisis, stoop to kicking a comrade when he was down—especially one who was fighting for his life to protect them.
Ober's mind didn't quite grasp how Spiritual Power helped to condense Power, but he knew that if he abandoned Reinhardt today, he would definitely have nightmares.
Seeing the Red-robed Knight getting closer and closer, Lupu was so frantic he was practically jumping up and down, with tears of terror welling in his eyes. "It's coming! It's coming!
Robie! Reinhardt! You guys have to think of something!"
Robie's face was drained of all color. The bravado that had allowed him to run rampant at the training camp was long gone, and the uncontrollable trembling of his hands betrayed the deep-seated terror in his heart.
The next moment, before the three horrified youths, the Fear Knight's blood-red robes shot over their heads like a cannonball, accompanied by a sharp whistle of displaced air, and landed heavily in front of them.
Robie's legs went weak with fright, and he collapsed to the ground.
Lupu skidded to a halt and stumbled back several steps. Beads of cold sweat dripped relentlessly down his cheeks as he let out a despairing cry.
"It's over—!"
But the Fear Knight didn't kill them immediately.
Beneath its red robes, its figure was tall and imposing. Its eyes, burning with sulfuric fire, stared directly at Reinhardt, who was struggling on the ground where he had fallen.
Its face, formed from pure Abyssal Fire, split open as it spoke in a low, hoarse, and clumsy human tongue.
"My master... appreciates your talent, Knight. Come back with me, and these three... can leave alive."
After speaking, its face of molten lava twisted into a terrifying smile.
Lupu was too tense to say a word. He gently kicked Reinhardt, who was half-kneeling on the ground, signaling him to hurry up and agree, and not drag them all down to die with him.
Reinhardt raised his head. He looked directly into the Fear Knight's dark, abyss-like eyes and grinned. Blood trickled down from his forehead, and the smile, born of excruciating pain, was both savage and insane.
He stuck up a middle finger straight and firm—his answer to the Fear Knight's invitation.
"If you don't kill me today, then sooner or later, I will go to the Abyss and kill you and your master!"
Lupu and the other two were already like lambs to the slaughter, but not only did they not get the compromise they were hoping for from Reinhardt, the madman's answer was like viciously throwing another log on the fire, as if it wasn't burning hot enough!
Just hearing Reinhardt's answer, Lupu's eyes rolled back in his head, and he nearly fainted on the spot. He wanted nothing more than to grab the bastard by the collar and slap him silly!