Watching helplessly as Weiss was swallowed by the black mist storm, Lortisa felt as if all the blood in her body had frozen solid.
She looked down at her own fists—those fists that should have been able to shatter calamity—only to be left with a profound sense of powerlessness.
Her shoulders trembled uncontrollably, and a cold chill crawled up her spine.
It was as if she was still trapped in the past.
She clearly already possessed strength—the kind that could protect others—
Completely different from the weak girl who used to hide behind others.
But what was the outcome?
In the face of true danger, she still couldn’t protect anything.
Couldn’t protect the most important person.
Powerless.
That word stabbed into her heart like a poisoned dagger.
But she didn’t give that useless self too much time to sink into despair.
Almost immediately, she forced down the sinking emotion.
—Right, she had to find Weiss.
Weiss wasn’t that fragile.
The mercenary she knew was a madman who dared to charge headfirst into danger again and again.
His methods seemed reckless, but each time carried a logic no one else could understand.
He must have a way.
What she had to do was find him.
Just as Lortisa recalibrated her mindset, urgent hoofbeats sounded from afar.
The main force of the border army had arrived late.
A warrior captain took the lead—he was also a core member of this hunting squad.
When he charged up the hill and saw Lortisa standing alone before the forest, he instinctively exhaled in relief.
—They had won.
After all, this was “Golden Lortisa” herself stepping in; what problem couldn’t be solved?
This had become the consensus among the entire border army, from officers to soldiers.
However, as his warhorse approached closer and he took in the full scene, that sense of relief instantly froze solid.
The piles of fallen were a harsh slap in the face.
The warhorse nervously pawed at the ground, snorting repeatedly.
The captain nearly toppled from his saddle.
Not because the dead were heaped like mountains or blood flowed like rivers.
He had witnessed far more brutal battlefields and countless casualties before; those were just dust specks in the shadows of his past.
What shattered his soul was the identity of those who had died here.
Knights of the Holy Patrol, and the accompanying pilgrims.
Against calamity, they were the elite of the elite—the strongest sword and shield the kingdom had to cleanse the Blight.
And now, that unbreakable shield had been utterly shattered here.
Annihilated.
More importantly, the expressions on their faces in death.
Not the indomitable or serene calm of dying in battle, but terror twisted to its utmost extreme.
Each face frozen at the moment of their greatest fear,
as if their souls were being dragged alive by demons into hell.
The captain couldn’t imagine what could frighten the steel-willed Templars into dying of sheer terror.
He wasn’t unfamiliar with war against the Blight.
On the contrary, he had experienced it.
This scene immediately brought back memories of the terrifying outbreak of the Blight in the North two years ago.
Those fears he had buried deep in memory, convinced he had long overcome, now resurfaced like vines breaking through soil, clutching tightly at his heart once again.
The long scar stretching from his brow to his cheek twitched uncontrollably on his dark, fierce face.
If a seasoned veteran like him reacted this way, the younger soldiers trailing behind were even less able to bear it.
They reined in their horses in shock, unwilling to even approach the dead zone. They stopped at the foot of the hill, standing by.
Only one fully armored, burly female warrior lagged a few steps behind but charged forward without hesitation.
The heavy armor clanked sharply with metallic friction.
She swung down from her horse and, forcing down the nausea rising in her stomach and the instinctive fear of death, finally removed her helmet.
“Captain, are you alright?”
No sooner had she spoken than she shook her head self-mockingly.
“No, that’s a useless question—what happened here? How did it come to this?”
Hearing the familiar voice, Lortisa snapped out of her thoughts and turned around.
As expected, standing behind her was that familiar square-shaped face—
Her vanguard squad’s deputy officer, Karin.
“The Soul-Devouring True Lord has lost control.”
Lortisa’s reply sounded somewhat perfunctory, almost coldly indifferent.
But Karin knew her well.
Her superior always spoke straight to the point; these six words were already the most direct, core information she could glean.
As for the unsaid parts, Lortisa clearly didn’t know either.
So Karin didn’t press further. Instead, she stepped forward and spoke loudly and decisively:
“Do you need us to do anything? Please give the order!”
Those words were like a thunderclap, pulling Lortisa out of her solitary, isolated state.
She was reminded that she was the revered and trusted captain.
As Karin spoke, the hesitant soldiers below on the hillside and the shaken captain’s eyes all turned to her.
Those gazes were mixed with fear and confusion, but more than anything, hope.
Lortisa paused, rapidly sorting through the chaotic information in her mind.
“It lost control.”
She repeated, then added,
“But it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s stronger.”
Those present were stunned for a moment.
Lost control, but not stronger? What kind of logic was that?
But soon, they grasped the reasoning.
Indeed, if a Blight of this kind was strong enough, it would stay in place, ravaging everything and turning the area into a disaster zone.
Moreover, this time the calamity was the Soul-Devouring True Lord, a necrotic aggregation of the undead. If it had lost control and exploded in power, it would act on instinct, wiping out all life—plant and animal alike.
Since it wasn’t expanding the blight here, there was only one explanation.
It fled.
Because it couldn’t defeat the kingdom’s strongest captain, “Golden Lortisa.”
In an instant, the cloud of fear that had hung over everyone’s hearts dissipated significantly.
Looking at the corpses of the Templars, they no longer saw only fear; a surge of righteous fury replaced it.
The urge to avenge their comrades guarding the kingdom’s front line.
Karin gritted her teeth, quickly surveying the scene and instinctively following her captain’s thought process.
She spoke on behalf of her taciturn superior, clearly conveying her thoughts:
“So it means it’s running away now, right? What we need to do is split up and find it.”
“Exactly.”
Lortisa nodded quietly.
“It’s grown in size.”
“So it’s quite conspicuous, then.”
Karin folded her heavy steel gauntleted arms, pondering.
“If a large, uncontrolled calamity is moving around, but the valley is still so quiet, no major disturbances…”
She looked up and exchanged a glance with Lortisa.
When she saw the captain’s firm nod, Karin immediately turned to face the entire force massed at the foot of the hill and shouted in a voice loud enough for all to hear.
“Everyone disperse! Search along the mountain ridges and valleys! If anything is found, immediately mark the location with signal fireballs!”