Most of the monsters in the region had been drawn to Marian, so Erika’s path was clear for the most part. She felt one monster heading her way, but it turned off in another direction after a while. Since it wasn’t going to be a threat, Erika tossed its presence into the back of her mind.

The wheelbarrow was hard to maneuver, but she finally made it far enough to where the sound of fighting could be heard, the crashing of metal on claws ringing through the trees. That burst of strength that she had felt was long gone, and she felt drained after it, but she had more than enough strength to save Marian.

Her idea was simple.

First, Erika cleared the ground in a small area of leaves, not being too thorough in the interest of time. She piled pieces of the boar’s body in the cleared spot and dragged a few dead, dry branches over the pile. Then she struck a flame with a flint and dumped a clump of burning leaves onto the piled meat and wood.

The hungry flames licked at the meat, searching for fuel, and found it in the glistening fat of the boar. The fire exploded into a roaring inferno.

For an instant, the fighting stopped, and the forest fell into silence. Only the snapping of branches exploding from the heat, the sizzle of the burning flesh, and the roar of the flames could be heard.

Erika’s reasoning was simple: no animal didn’t fear fire, especially in a forest. Although she picked a clearing with a long distance to every tree, there was still the very real risk of the fire going out of control and growing into a forest fire.

Every animal was afraid of this, and monsters should be no exception.

However, Marian probably knows what this fire meant, especially since it was spring and the weather was still cold. A fire wouldn’t start for no reason at this time of the year. Combined with the smell of burning monster flesh, it was practically a beacon.

One of the warring presences broke away during the lull in the battle while everything else was frozen and charged toward her. It was Marian. The monsters behind her gave chase, shaken out of their daze, but most of them were slower and more hesitant.

The smell of burning flesh should be a huge deterrent.

It didn’t take long for a humanoid silhouette to appear out of the gloom of the forest, charging into the firelight. It was Marian, but this time, she was clad in spiked armor that Erika was sure that Marian had not been carrying. It must be a part of Marian’s ability. She had a large shield too.

In return, Marian was a bit slower than before. She seemed to be limping too, but Erika couldn’t be sure.

Erika couldn’t see Marian’s expression through her full-face helmet, nor did her movements betray anything. She simply ran beside Erika and wheeled around to face the monsters that followed her.

The monsters paused by the trees and began circling them slowly. Their eyes reflected the writhing bonfire in the center of the clearing, flowing eerily in the dark.

Erika sensed that less than half of the monsters followed them here. Assuming that Marian could hold off all of the monsters before, then she should be able to start whittling down the numbers now.

“Erika… What are you doing here? It’s dangerous.” The question echoed out of Marian’s helmet. 

“I-I felt that signal you gave off, so I came here,” Erika said. She looked down. “I couldn’t just leave you be…” Her voice trailed off.

“That was foolish of you,” Marian said, her voice stern. Erika shrank away. But then Marian sighed. “But thank you anyway….”

Erika blushed, but she did her best to not show it. Marian wasn’t looking at her, so she had nothing to be afraid of. The issue at hand wasn’t her either. “A-anyway, can you handle the remaining monsters? Half of them didn’t chase you here.”

Marian turned to look at her, but Erika couldn’t read her expression behind the helmet. Her whole body inside that armor seemed to sag.

“I can kill or drive them all off eventually, but I can’t protect you. I’m afraid that before it all ends, you… I’m sorry, even though you came to help me. I’ll do my best, but I can’t promise anything.” 

The helmet distorted Marian’s voice so that Erika couldn’t make out the traveler’s emotions. Still, the words were enough. She helped Marian, that traveler that made such an impact on her life.

If she died here, she would have no regrets aside from leaving behind Tabitha without saying goodbye. It was the first time in her life that she had come so far from the village. She felt like she had finally broken free of the strings that controlled her for so long.

But… Erika clenched her fists. I won’t die here. 

It wasn’t like she came totally unprepared. From the bottom of the wheelbarrow next to her, Erika took out the bundle of boar skin. It was stiff, rigid, tougher than leather, and much thicker. It was the perfect armor.

The boar meat bonfire was easy to make, but the real challenge was surviving afterward. The second part of the idea was the dumbest because she had no time to think it through.

Erika pressed herself into the loam and pulled the boar skin over her.

She really couldn’t think of a better idea to survive except to hide herself and her scent under the heavy odor of the monster boar. The skin was thick enough to pad against impact and heavy enough to protect her against the claws of monsters that didn’t realize she was there.

The danger would be getting crushed.

Despite the idea being crude and stupid, it was all she had.

The fighting began anew when one of the threatening presence circling her and Marian suddenly sharpened like a spear point. It always did that the instant before it attacked— Erika remembered from their encounter with the panther. A dozen more followed in staggered intervals, all seeming to sharpen their presence to a killing edge before dashing forward.

Marian stood her ground. Her presence seemed to flatten into a shield. The spear point crashed against her wall and was flung away as if the monster was no bigger than a kitten.

From the images in her mind, Erika tried to piece together the scene. That monster that attacked first might’ve been redirected with a parry. A second monster’s pressure weakened, and it staggered away. That one was hurt in the exchange with Marian.

Marian’s strength seemed to grow as she fought, and the feeling that Erika got became more and more overbearing. The shield-like feeling seemed to morph into a spear point the instant before a monster’s presence weakened.

The traveler— no, warrior, because that’s what Marian was— balanced between offense and defense perfectly, defending until she found an opening to strike. The spear appeared more and more often until Marian was dashing all over the battlefield, but never too far from her, dispatching monsters wherever she went.

Her worry of being crushed never came to be. Marian was close enough to stop any monster from coming near her, and the monsters had no real interest in a seemingly dead boar corpse anyway. Part of Marian’s shield-like feeling seemed to expand over her like a blanket, making her feel safe underneath.

As she drew out the battlefield with her mind, Erika slowly realized that she really could sense monsters and Rovers and that she hadn’t been losing her mind. The thing that she always referred to as a presence marked the locations of these magical beings.

By keeping track of these presences, she could locate travelers and monsters without seeing them. She could tell when they were about to attack the instant before they did by reading their presences, too.

Marian had been surprised when she had first mentioned it, but that surprise quickly disappeared. There was a chance that Marian knew something…

Slowly, the battle came to an end as Marian’s greatsword slaughtered the monsters until every single one that chased her here was either dead or escaped. Whenever she was about to be overwhelmed, she retreated back to the flames, leaving the monsters unable to approach without being burned.

The smell of blood that filled the air flooded into Erika’s nostrils as soon as Marian pulled the boar pelt off her body, and she doubled over retching. Marian dropped to her knees beside her, hand poised to rub her back, but she put her hand up.

Spitting out the last of the vomit, Erika looked at Marian’s helmeted face, then at the carnage around her.

Erika counted five presences that escaped and seven dead bodies in the clearing, not counting her boar pelt.

That meant that before she started the bonfire, Marian was facing over twenty monsters alone. She felt sick, and not just from the stench of death around her. It was sickening that Marian had to face so many monsters at once.

The image of Marian being torn apart by the shadows she had seen earlier flashed through her mind, and she almost threw up again.

Marian’s blood-splattered armor disappeared in a flash along with her greatsword, leaving just her normal longsword in her hand. Her attire was pristine as if she hadn’t just been in a pitched battle. 

When Erika stared at her in confusion, Marian gave her a reassuring smile. “My ability manifests armor and weapons over my body, so even if I get dirty, it won’t matter as long as nothing gets inside. More importantly, Erika, are you hurt?”

She rubbed Erika’s head, and this time, Erika didn’t resist. Marian’s hands were clean.

On the other hand… Erika looked at herself. She looked like a mess, her dress covered in mud and ashes. Some blood that seeped into the ground got on her body as well. She covered her mouth to stop herself from throwing up, only to throw up again as she got a mouthful of bloody dirt from her hands.

“Sorry… Yes, thanks to you….”

Marian sheathed her sword. “Keeping the monsters away after you did so much was only natural. If you hadn’t come, I’d have died. If you didn’t bring that boar skin with you, you would have traded away your life.” She looked away. “And I’m not sure I can handle having your blood on my hands after talking so big about our differences and your weaknesses, only to have you save my life.”

“I’m just repaying a debt I owe,” Erika said, curtsying, trying to be as graceful as she could in her present condition.

A smile lifted the corners of Marian’s mouth, then quickly faded. Erika blurted out her thoughts at the same time. “What happened to your horse?”

Marian blew a long breath. “He died.”

Erika hesitated. Some questions were better left unasked, but her curiosity won. “How?”

The traveler in front of her shook her head. “We were attacked. There were too many, so he panicked and broke his leg when he fell. I managed to get enough breathing room to retreat at first, but only at the cost of him being torn apart and eaten. That’s when I set off the flare.”

Erika’s hand flew to her mouth in horror. “I’m sorry….”

“Why are you apologizing!” Marian said, looking at her sharply. “You have no part in this. It was my fault. I wasn’t perceptive enough. I should have been more alert, and now Shade, who had been with me for so many years, is dead.”

Erika shook her head. “No, it’s also partially my fault. I shouldn’t have interrupted your sleep. Because of that, you weren’t as alert as you could be...”

“Interrupted my sleep? Wasn’t alert as I could be?” Marian repeated. “No, I was careless, pure and simple. You had nothing to do with it. If an interrupted night’s sleep could leave me so useless after I’ve had two whole days of lazing around, I might as well retire now.”

Using her ability again, Marian destroyed the bonfire with a swing of her sword and stomped out the small piles of flame, seemingly venting. However, the worst of her grief seemed to have passed.

“Come on, let’s go back, Erika. It looks like I’ll have to journey on foot, and there’s no point in camping out in the wild with the village right there. Next time, I won’t be so careless.”

…careless. Although Marian tried to hide it, Erika could see it. Marian was limping. Her horse must have fallen on her leg when it panicked. However, since Marian hid it from her, then Erika would not say anything.

A traveler had a traveler’s pride. However, she did catch up as quickly as she could and put Marian’s arm over her shoulder. And Marian did lean on her, ever so slightly.