Two weeks later, deep in the Maze Woods.
This time, they hadn’t used the Shackles of Golgotha. It was understandable, since this march wasn’t just a scenic route along the roadside. We were heading deep into uncharted forest territory. Real danger. Real risk.
And they’d made that clear up front. In the past decade, two students had died on this very exercise. That was enough to light a fire under everyone.
Even the most arrogant kids had been studying like mad: learning to identify claw marks that marked monster territory, analyzing droppings to estimate distance and size, even factoring in moisture content to track movement patterns. Grim stuff, but it could save your life.
Guys like us, from the bottom rungs, usually ended up doing grunt adventurer work anyway. Dirty jobs, escort missions, monster cleanup. Knowing this kind of stuff was the difference between scraping by and ending up dead in a ditch.
In its own brutal way, it was one of the more practical things the Academy actually taught.
As we moved through the forest in tight formation, I cast a sideways glance at Lilith walking beside me and asked, voice low, “Lilith. You feel that?”
“Yeah.” Her response came slowly, reluctantly, like she was hoping I wouldn’t bring it up. But she nodded all the same.
“Fifteen minutes. That’s my guess.”
“Fifteen minutes…?” she repeated, brows knitting.
“Our instructor has a whole arsenal of ranger-type skills,” I said, gaze fixed on the dense canopy above us.
“I don’t remember him saying anything like that,” she muttered, skeptical.
“He didn’t have to. Just watch him move. You can see it plain as day. And if I’m right, it won’t be long before he realizes what’s going on.”
She exhaled, the weight of the situation settling onto her shoulders. “And when he does, it’ll be full-blown panic.”
“No doubt,” I said grimly. “There’s an entire swarm of ogres sweeping across the Maze Woods, way beyond what anyone would call natural. Two hundred Ogre Generals. Two thousand standard ogres. This isn’t something a small knight detachment can deal with. This is an extinction event.”
Lilith didn’t reply right away. Her voice was quiet when she finally asked, “So what’s the plan?”
I looked out toward the east, where Cordelia’s unit was stationed. The fortress was four kilometers away, close enough to reach on foot if I pushed it.
But that wasn’t where I was going.
Instead, I unshouldered my hiking pack and tossed it to the ground.
“The ogre formation’s center is west, two clicks that way,” I said, jerking my chin in the opposite direction.
“You’re going west?” she asked, confused. “But Cordelia’s to the east. If we’re trying to help her, shouldn’t we go toward her?”
I didn’t hesitate. “I’m going to herd the Ogre Generals from behind. Push them.”
Lilith stared at me for a beat, frozen. Then gave a bright, incredulous smile.
“Sorry, I think I misheard. That made no sense.”
I shrugged, tilting my head slightly. “There are about two hundred Ogre Generals, right? And around two thousand ogres.”
“All I know is it’s over a thousand total,” she said cautiously. “But go on…”
I met her gaze. “So?”
“If you’re the one saying it,” Lilith murmured, her tone calm but utterly firm, “then it must be true. One hundred percent.”
She didn’t blink, didn’t waver. Just nodded with quiet conviction, complete trust etched across her face.
“Exactly,” I said, watching the treetops as I spoke. “Which means, it’s just a massive crowd of weaklings. No real threat.”
Lilith gave me a dry, sidelong glance. “You say that like you’re talking about a bunch of goblins,” she said, voice laced with exasperated disbelief. “For regular people, ogres are lethal. And Ogre Generals? They’re serious monsters, enough of a threat that even veteran adventurers tread carefully. This isn’t some minor monster problem. This is the kind of thing that forces lords to coordinate across territories, where the kingdom itself gets involved—”
I raised a hand to cut her off. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. But the point is—”
She tilted her head, wary. “What?”
“I can handle it. On my own.”
Her reply came instantly, flat and bitter. “And that’s the part that really pisses me off. You actually can.”
A grin tugged at the corner of my mouth. “Then that settles it.”
“Settles what?”
“I’m going to drive them from behind. Chase the bastards forward.”
She groaned, throwing her hands slightly up. “That’s the part that still makes no sense!”
I shrugged casually, feigning innocence. “You’re not following?”
She folded her arms. “We’re mid-march, Ryuto. You know that.”
“Right.”
“And we’re not allowed to leave formation. If we break ranks, we’re out. Done. Expelled. You know that.”
“Exactly. But I also know Cordelia’s out there, and she’s the target. Which means I have to help her. So…”
“So?”
“I’ll make the instructors want to retreat. Back toward Cordelia. Voluntarily.”
Lilith stared at me, baffled, until realization bloomed in her eyes.
“You’re going to spook the ogre horde. Get them to scatter. Make them run. And once our instructors see that, see those monsters bolting in terror, they’ll freak out and head straight for Cordelia’s unit.”
“Exactly,” I said with a nod, letting a small, smug grin creep in. “Simple, right? Clean. Efficient.”
“The tricky part,” I said, stretching my legs in a slow crouch, “is which direction the ogres run. If they scatter in the wrong direction, they’ll end up crossing paths with Cordelia’s unit too soon. That forces a roundabout retreat, and things get messy. So I’ll need to steer them. Drive them just right.”
Lilith sighed, her arms folded tightly across her chest. “You’re completely insane. You know that, right?”
I gave a small shrug, rolling my shoulders. “Which is why I’m off. I’ll leave Koharu to you, okay?”
I turned and cast a glance behind us at Koharu, still half-crushed under the weight of her own hiking pack, lying in the underbrush like a beetle flipped on its back.
“I’ll leave Koharu here,” Lilith said calmly, her eyes tracking me. “I’ll head for the fortress. That little critter is technically A-rank, isn’t she?”
“She is,” I admitted, my expression tightening, “but she’s got some serious trauma.”
“She won’t have time to think about that once the flames are licking her heels,” Lilith said flatly. Then, with a sharp edge in her voice, she added, “You really are soft on pretty girls, Ryuto.”
The words struck deep, sharper than a blade. Lilith’s glare turned icy, piercing, as she’d just driven a frozen dagger into my chest.
“She’ll awaken when push comes to shove,” I muttered. “Probably. But why are you heading to the fortress ahead of me?”
Her tone didn’t waver. “Because once you spook those ogres, there’s a real chance they’ll charge the fortress with everything they’ve got.”
“It’ll only take me a few minutes to clean them up,” I countered. “Cordelia’s an A-rank level fighter. She can hold out.”
“She can’t. Not alone,” Lilith snapped, the first crack of heat in her voice. “That’s why I’m going. Ryuto, you’ve gotten too strong for your own good. You’ve forgotten what it’s like for the rest of us. Two hundred Ogre Generals against a solo A-rank adventurer? That’s a serious threat.”
I frowned, unconvinced. “Are they really that tough? I mean… they’re still just ogres.”