"Oi, oi, what's with this shaking?!" Luke said, clearly confused about why the ground had suddenly started to tremble.
That's right. The tremor Iris and I felt back then happened in the underground area near Yggdrasil. Naturally, those who were near the barrier wouldn't be able to feel it.
If this tremor was indeed caused by monsters, could it be that the anonymous force was summoning something massive here?
That was entirely possible. They had also created a magic circle whose purpose we still didn't understand.
But… when I looked more closely, the pattern of that magic circle wasn't much different from the one I had seen in the ancient ruins.
Could it be that the enemy forces were summoning monsters and planning to attack from within?
From the road that ended at the corner of Yggdrasil, an elf holding a magic staff ran toward our forces, who were currently replenishing their Mana.
The elf was visibly out of breath, making me feel that something serious had happened to him.
All of our gazes immediately turned toward the elf, prompting Loki-san to rush over to him as he arrived before us.
He supported the elf's body, which was about to collapse from exhaustion after running.
Grawr!
From the direction the elf had just come from, we all heard an unfamiliar roar, as if something was about to attack us.
"What happened to you?!" Loki-san asked, his voice filled with confusion and anxiety.
I understood why he felt that way. In a situation like this, none of us had any other choice but to stay constantly alert to our surroundings and what was happening in the settlements.
"Over there… monsters are appearing as if they're coming up from beneath Yggdrasil. The elves who live in their homes are trying to flee."
"I don't know how I managed to survive until now… leader, I think we're already surrounded." The elf said as he looked at Loki-san.
The look he gave us was not the look of a liar or someone joking around.
His eyes trembled incessantly, as if he had just witnessed something truly horrifying.
"Calm down! We'll divide the forces again, prepare yourselves—" before Loki-san could say anything more, we heard a loud explosion coming from the direction of Yggdrasil.
The sound came from an explosion near the massive tree, and we could see parts of it already engulfed in flames.
If it wasn't extinguished quickly, Yggdrasil would be completely consumed by the ferocity of the fire.
From the same direction, we saw a large number of monsters moving rapidly toward us.
They appeared to be wolf-like monsters or something similar, which explained their incredible speed.
Our forces immediately scattered in all directions, and it seemed that the troops waiting outside the barrier had begun to move as well.
Damn it, damn it!
"Iris, we're leaving first!" I said.
Iris didn't respond, but from her eyes, I could tell she was utterly confused and didn't know what to do in a situation like this.
I turned my gaze toward Luke and gave him a few signals, indicating that our party would also retreat.
"Hime-san, Yuu-chan, we're leaving together with Yukito. Hurry!" Luke said to Hime and Yuu-chan.
The two of them immediately came over to us, and the five of us headed toward the forest, taking a detour in search of a safer place.
Returning to Yggdrasil at this moment seemed like a terrible choice, especially since we still didn't know what was happening there.
I glanced back briefly and saw countless elves being slaughtered mercilessly by the wolf monsters.
"AHH!!"
"W-wait for me—"
"You filthy monsters!"
"Run, Princess!"
Their bodies lay scattered on the ground, blood flowing from the wounds that had been inflicted upon them.
Even when their lives were truly at stake, they were still thinking about whether Iris would be able to escape safely.
…Tch. This time loop isn't going well at all.
Everything has fallen apart. My original plan is ruined, and there's a strong chance that time will reset again. I have to be prepared for when that happens.
—
"Hah, hah…" I could only regulate my breathing after the exhaustion finally caught up to me.
We had gone deep enough into the Riruyo forest and stopped by the edge of a river with crystal-clear water.
Iris said that the water was safe to drink, as it contained no harmful substances.
That was why we decided to take a short break here. We also hadn't seen anyone chasing us.
That meant that, for the time being, we could relax just a little before moving again.
We couldn't afford to stay here for long, especially with the situation being this chaotic.
"Let's go. I can hear footsteps about a kilometer away from us. They're definitely chasing us," Luke said.
I nodded at him, and the five of us set off again in search of a safer route.
Indeed, we'd be safer if we could escape from the besieged Riruyo—but how?
It felt like we were going in circles within the forest, unable to find the barrier anywhere, so all we could do was move based on instinct.
—
Not long after leaving the riverbank, we unknowingly emerged from the forest.
Ahead of us stood what appeared to be a settlement. Did that mean we had arrived at one of Riruyo's many settlements?
"Iris, do you know this place?" I asked.
"Y-yes, if I remember correctly, this settlement takes about four hours to reach if you depart from Yggdrasil," Iris replied.
That meant the place in front of us really was a settlement.
What worried me was the possibility that this was merely an illusion meant to trap us, which was why I asked Iris.
The five of us entered the settlement, only to see that almost every house had been destroyed by an attack.
There were countless victims crushed beneath the ruins—nothing we could do for them anymore.
But whether it was just my imagination or not, the number of bodies I saw was far fewer than the number of houses.
What did that mean?
"Yukito-san, don't you feel like something's strange here?" Hime asked.
"Hime's right. Ever since we entered, I feel like we're being watched by something from afar. It's really unsettling," Yuu-chan added.
We decided to keep moving through the settlement, hoping to find someone who was still alive.
Still, I never expected the monsters that emerged from beneath Yggdrasil to spread across all of Riruyo so quickly—it felt like a fairy tale.
"What is this…?" Luke said, walking at the front of the group.
He stopped in front of a fountain, and the sight around it left all of us stunned.
Numerous elves lay there, their bodies riddled with wounds. The five of us immediately did what we could.
We checked each of them one by one, hoping someone might still be alive.
I crouched down and gently shook the body of a young boy lying in front of me.
"Hey, answer me if you're still alive," I said.
He didn't respond even after I shook him several times—but just as I was about to leave—
Like a surprise gift carefully prepared in advance, the boy's hand suddenly moved.
His eyes slowly opened, and I immediately helped him sit up.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"T-thank you… my body feels really weak right now, but I can still stand," the boy replied.
The other four hurried over after hearing me talking to someone.
"You're badly injured. Let me treat you," Hime said.
"Yukito-sama, what should we do?" Yuu-chan asked.
"Luke, can we bring this child with us? I don't think we can leave him alone in a situation like this," I said.
"I agree. We can't leave a child like him in a place like this," Luke replied.
After helping the boy to his feet, he fell silent for a moment before looking at us with his pitch-black eyes.
"I-I'm scared I'll be a burden… I-I'll look for my mother here…" he said.
Naturally, Luke immediately approached him and said a few things that I couldn't hear.
The boy looked a little happier and smiled widely—but that smile wasn't the kind of beautiful smile I often saw on Hime or Yuu-chan.
"Thank you, all five of you… as a reward, I'll take you to meet others who are still alive, just like me," he said.
"Really? Where are they?" Iris asked.
The boy's grin widened even further, making me feel uneasy.
Kleck, kclek.
We heard a sound like bones moving behind us. Naturally, we all turned to see what it was.
The people who had been lying on the ground suddenly stood up and began walking toward us at the same speed.
"What's going on—" just as I was about to ask the boy, he vanished from before our eyes.
Damn it. So that means we've been caught, huh?
Alright… I guess time will reset again soon.
Before that happens, though, I want to kill a few of these zombie-like things.