"Hah... what?"
"Ahaha, honestly. I’d always wanted to have a taste at least once."
I had feared as much. I never thought what it meant by being hungry was that it really wanted to eat a dragon.
I could not even laugh anymore. I only fixed my eyes on Varen standing in the distance, perfectly unharmed.
Unable to breathe fire or rush in carelessly because of me, Varen paused for a moment and steadied his breathing. Then a faint light began to glow all over his body.
This time, realizing it was a sign that he was about to change into his dragon form, I shook my head violently.
"N-no... don’t...."
As if it had been waiting for that exact moment, dozens of insects came streaking through the air toward Varen, who had paused for only an instant.
Varen, who had been trying to change forms, lost his concentration when the unexpected interference hit him.
"Ghk, enough already...!"
The insect that had flown right up to Varen’s face was barely caught in his hand. Even crushed in that powerful grip, its body still writhed, and the tip that served as its mouth split wide open.
Its mouth opened in four directions, east, west, south, and north, like four petals, and from between them a thin, long tongue flicked in and out.
Varen glared straight at it and twisted his face in disgust.
"For a mere insect, you’re repulsive enough."
When Varen tightened his fist hard, the insect burst in his grasp like a water balloon, splattering fluid everywhere.
Shaking his hand sharply as though disgusted, Varen looked this way again. His gaze, full of naked anxiety, pierced into me.
I wanted to tell him to run for now, since he could do nothing either way. But as something slowly wound around my throat, I could not make a sound.
"I’ve heard dragon meat is a rare delicacy even among monsters. It truly is lively."
"Ghk... you, fu...."
"Hehe, I have a picky palate, so I don’t eat humans. I’d grown tired of most monsters, but to think I’d come across such a special dish."
Just as expected, the insects coiled around my neck as if they meant to snap the bones there. My breathing stopped completely, and I could not even cough. No matter how I gasped in pain, not enough air reached my lungs.
My mouth fell open, and everything before my eyes turned white. I could hear a voice desperately calling my name through the ringing in my ears, but I could not even tell whose it was.
"Ghk... khh...."
"No, that’s not right. I should say he came rolling over on his own feet. Thank you for bringing me a dragon, Aylos."
With death right in front of me, a surge of bitter resentment rose in my chest.
If I had not been captured, Varen would have burned insects like these to nothing in an instant.
If only I had not become a hostage like this. If only I had at least been able to protect my own body....
"Lord Ceryl!"
At that moment, together with a high, sharp voice, air suddenly rushed back into me.
The insect constricting my throat was sliced clean through and sprayed filthy fluid everywhere.
I could not turn my head, so I only moved my eyes, and I caught a glimpse of orange hair moving quickly below my feet.
"Ugh, damn it!"
Judging by Adeline’s voice from behind me, she finally seemed to be feeling at least a faint trace of pain. At the same time, I felt my arms and legs, which had been unable to move, become free again.
But that freedom lasted only a moment. My body, which had been suspended about a meter off the ground, dropped straight down.
In that brief instant I squeezed my eyes shut, but just before I hit the ground, a soft warm gust wrapped around my body.
"Ceryl!!"
And before I could properly grasp what was happening, an invisible force swiftly dragged my body away.
It was not like before, when I had been pulled through the dirt while crashing into stones, but with injuries all over my body, even the wind brushing past me felt like blades.
At the end of that pain that had seemed endless, a body as hot as a mass of fire caught me.
"Haa... agh...."
"Ceryl, Ceryl! Stay with me, Ceryl!!"
As soon as I was held in the safe embrace of the dragon, tears started streaming down for an entirely different reason.
The relief was so overwhelming that I could no longer even feel the pain in my body that had moments ago made me think dying would be better.
I looked up at Varen while letting out a shallow °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° cough through my ruined throat. But when I saw the face looking back at me, I could not even cry as freely as I wanted.
"Hah... damn it, you... khk, why... are you crying...."
Varen was shedding tears in a face even more twisted than mine. Big as he was, that still-youthful face was dripping huge tears.
I wanted to lift a hand and wipe them away, but my shattered wrist would not permit even that tiny motion.
"Ceryl, I’m sorry.... Ceryl, ngh...."
Varen carefully pulled me closer with his thick arm. Resting my head against his chest and listening to his uneven heartbeat, the tension slowly began to ebb away.
Is it over now? Through the gap between Varen’s arms, I looked toward the place where I had been bound just moments ago.
And at a sight I could not believe, more precisely, did not want to believe, my eyes narrowed.
"That... crazy, cough, bastard...."
So who was it that had saved me from that mad insect monster?
Margon was standing there at an angle to Adeline, a sword gripped in his left hand. Margon’s longsword, thicker and heavier than the kind ordinary swordsmen used, had pierced straight through Adeline’s neck.
I could only see his back, but even without seeing his face, I could clearly imagine what expression he wore.
"You damned monster bastard.... How dare you lay a hand on Lord Ceryl!"
He had only one arm left, but Margon was proving that the claim he had graduated first in his academy class was no lie.
The hand gripping the hilt, as big as a pot lid, was taut with force. Margon twisted the blade buried in her vital point without hesitation.
"Lady Adeline!!"
Cries burst from the Rebels surrounding them. Even seeing that, they were still showing their stupid loyalty, unable to accept that their leader was no human being.
But my guard was several times more foolish than they were. Despite all the scolding I had given him, he was throwing his life away yet again.
The sight of that brown-haired back holding a sword to protect me was something I never wanted to see again, not even in a dream.
"M-Margon... don’t...."
A thick blade was embedded in Adeline’s neck and had even been twisted, yet not a single drop of blood flowed out. Her skin, which had no elasticity whatsoever, only caved around the blade like rubber.
That face, with its gently drooping eyes and bizarrely lifted mouth, turned toward Margon.
"What should I do? Humans... especially males, are not to my taste."
"Kgh!!"
The insect that had crushed the limbs of the human it had taken hostage burrowed without hesitation into the abdomen of a human who was not even fit to be a hostage.
"Kyaaah! Margon... khk!"
Kallen, who had rescued me using the sword Varen had given her, was struck by a wildly swinging insect and thrown through the air. When her small body slammed into a large tent, I heard the crash of the monster cages stacked inside collapsing one after another.
The once peaceful tent instantly filled with the loud cries of startled monsters. A few of the timid smaller ones shot straight outside and fled into the forest.
Only then did the Rebels finally seem to sense something was wrong with their leader, and they stared at Adeline with bewildered eyes.
The quicker ones drew the swords and arrows they carried on them and took up attacking stances.
"Haa... ha, Mar... Mar, khk, gon...."
But my eyes were fixed only on Margon. His body, his abdomen pierced clean through by a thick insect, hung limp in midair.
No. No, no, no. I cannot let Margon die too.
I repeated the words inside my head that would not come out of my mouth. My hands and feet were broken, but with the will to crawl there if I had to, I pushed at Varen’s arm.
"Ceryl, it’s okay. I’m here, so don’t worry."
But Varen would not let me go. Instead, he pulled me tighter into his arms, pressed his lips into my hair, and whispered.
Perhaps it had already lost interest in Margon, because the insect piercing his body slid right back out. As soon as the thing that had inflicted the wound was removed, blood sprayed from Margon’s injury like a fountain.
When Margon, drained of all strength, dropped heavily to the ground, several nearby Rebels dragged him back.
Watching that happen in real time, I could only let out a thin moan through my tightly clogged throat.
"Ah... Ma, Ma... ah...."
In the blink of an eye, I had lost another companion right in front of me again.
Leobin had died with his throat pierced, and now Margon was going to die with his stomach pierced open.
It’s all my fault. If they hadn’t followed me, they would have been somewhere else, living their lives, maybe fishing. I got them killed. It’s all because of me.
The world before my eyes kept turning white, then flashing black, then staining red. Blood running from my split forehead mixed with tears and streamed down my cheeks.
But I did not even have time to sink fully into the shock. Once again, I could hear the sound of those damned insects crawling toward us from underground.
I gritted my teeth and leaned my head against Varen’s chest. I was the one in his arms, but all that ruled me was the thought that at least Varen had to be protected.
"Va, Vaha... don’t, hh... go...."
"Shh, Ceryl. I’ll heal you soon."
But whether he had not understood me or not, Varen only spoke in a calm voice. I wanted to shout that this was not the time, but the one who screamed instead of me was Adeline, farther away.
"Kyaaaargh!!!"
At that desperate scream, I turned my head hurriedly.
Adeline, who had been standing there in all her arrogance just moments before, was now trapped inside an explosive pillar of fire, burning. The dozens of insects that had acted as her limbs had become firewood.
I turned my gaze back and looked at Varen’s face. He was staring at Adeline in silence, his eyes shining with a cold so sharp it hurt.
