Before midnight struck, the atmosphere became chillingly cold. The fog on the road thickened, making it difficult to travel.
"Why is the fog this thick? Is there a storm coming?" one of the henchmen asked.
"Yesterday, it wasn't like this. Perhaps just a change of weather?" Cid answered.
"You are still too young. This is not something ordinary."
The other passengers were huddling under their own thick blankets. Cana wore Erus's cloak, which he had pulled from his storage when the temperature dropped. It was made from beast wool and could withstand the chilling air. The girl, Dul-u, had fallen asleep in Cana's arms. The child had made the right call by clinging to Cana earlier; her family didn't have enough blankets for three, and her father would have to endure the cold all night.
"Aren't you hungry?" Erus asked Cana.
"I am," she admitted. It was the truth, but Cana hadn't said anything because she noticed the other travelers weren't eating. Erus wasn't eating, either.
Erus pulled something from his dimensional storage.
"Eat," he told Cana, holding the bread level with her lips.
Cana looked at him. Why was he feeding her?
"Just open your mouth."
Though hesitating, Cana took a small bite. The bread was good, but she couldn't enjoy it with so many prying eyes on them.
Erus, however, completely ignored the other passengers. To him, they were merely passersby.
Cana finished the entire bread with her eyes locked only on the path behind the carriage. It was Erus who had tilted her head in that direction, knowing she was an overthinker. He even gave her water. It was not difficult to drink since the carriage had slowed down due to the thickening fog.
Cana felt sorry for the other travelers, but she knew it was their own responsibility to feed themselves. She could not ask Erus to give them bread when she had no idea how much food he had brought. They were not his responsibility at all. She did not want Erus sacrificing his kindness for others who viewed him with such prejudice.
"Get used to it. This will not be the only time," Erus leaned in and whispered to Cana.
Cana nodded slowly. It definitely would not be the only time, as her life was now bound to his. Yet, she didn't feel forced into the situation. This was exactly what she wanted—to observe this new world of hers from his side.
"You did not eat," Cana reminded him.
But Erus just gave her a pat on the head.
So, he let her eat while he chose to starve like the other travelers? What kind of logic was that? She chose to remain quiet. Their small interactions were drawing attention from the people around them. To the others, they looked like aliens.
Cana leaned on Erus, wanting to sleep. She did not mean to take advantage or be selfish; her body was simply demanding rest. But before she could even drift off, she caught the scent of searing iron cutting through the thick fog. It was strong. Were they nearing a smithy?
"Stop the carriage!" Erus commanded. His voice was a thunderclap that jolted every passenger awake. The sheer weight of his shout was enough to make the horses halt.
Cana watched as Erus leaped from the carriage.
"Stay here and protect them," he said, before disappearing into the fog.
Cana was left astounded, but her senses instantly became alert. Her sight was so enhanced that she could see through the thickness of the fog. She saw Erus running ahead in stealth. Further ahead, she saw another carriage, broken and overturned.
People were on the ground, bathing in blood. The entire area was a pool of gore. There were wolves tearing at limbs, while other people stood nearby, safe from the beasts. They did not seem to be part of that carriage's group. They were holding belongings that Cana did not think were theirs in the first place. They were laughing, as if the entire scene were an amusing moment.
This was no dream. She was not watching a TV series anymore. This was her reality.
"What's happening?" another traveler in the carriage asked.
"Hey! No one gets out. Something's up. Let's wait for Solari here," Cid said.
"What? Because you let him ride with us, we're experiencing his curse too?" an elder said with a grimace. "You could have just ignored him," he added, blaming Cid for his earlier actions.
The other passengers seemed to agree with the old man.
Hearing this, Cana's eyes narrowed, but she remained silent. She looked at them with dull, cold eyes. To her, they were mere insects insulting a beast.
"How pitiful. He captured her. Her beauty makes her look like nothing more than a prostitute now," one of the passengers whispered.
Because of her enhanced hearing, Cana heard them clearly.
A prostitute? How was Erus viewed in this world that being with him would make her look like that?
The heat in her chest was rising, but she knew it was not the right call. Dealing with pests while Erus was putting his life on the line out there was mere child's play. Cana chose to contain her personal emotions. Erus had commanded her to protect these ingrates.
Erus was busy slashing the tamed wolves, alerting the tamers. He moved swiftly through them like a predator in the shadows. The thickened fog was not natural; it was magic-grade, and he used it to his advantage against the bandits. He killed them all using only his short, double-edged blade. Dealing with them was no sweat for him. They were weaker than higher-level monsters.
The carriage where Cana sat became quiet as everyone felt a suffocating aura radiating from her. They had no idea that while they were throwing blame at the young henchmen and insulting Erus, they were sitting with someone capable of turning them to ashes.
Fortunately, Dul-u awoke, bringing Cana back to her senses. The kid shifted her position while rubbing her eyes.
"Are we in the city already? Why does it look so dark outside?" Dul-u asked.
"Not yet, Dul-u. We stopped midway," Cana calmly explained.
"Where's Lizard Man?" the kid asked, seeing Erus was no longer beside them.
"Ah, he went outside to take a pee." Cana had no idea how to explain to a young girl that Erus was killing people to save them.
Then, the infant suddenly squalled, sounding as if it had been slapped while sleeping. It startled all of them. The mother tried her best to stop the child from crying, her face frantic and pale. No matter what she did, the infant wouldn't stop.
Cana felt steps approaching. They weren't Erus's; he was still ahead, inspecting the bodies. With a snap of her will, she enveloped the carriage in a blue shield. It was thin, invisible to anyone whose cultivation wasn't as high as hers. She expanded the shield several meters out, creating a perimeter around the carriage.
The infant continued wailing, a sound far too loud for the silence of the fog.
Erus, who had just finished inspecting the bodies, groaned. He was irritated to find there were still perpetrators left. They were advancing toward the carriage where Cana waited. The bandits were well-organized, executing a two-group attack, though the second group seemed unaware that their comrades were already dead, bathing in their own blood.
"Bandits!" Cid shouted as he noticed armed men closing in. The people inside the carriage descended into a state of panic, everyone except for Cana.
"Now we're all dead!" the overacting passengers exclaimed, their voices shrill and hopeless.
"We will die?" Dul-u's innocence tugged at Cana's heart.
"No. We have Lizard Man, remember? He is tougher than any monster."
"He will eat them?"
Erus was no cannibal. Dul-u had a wilder imagination than Cana.
"No. He doesn't eat mortals. He will whip them until their butts become numb."
Dul-u scratched her temple. "Just like when I'm stubborn? Mom also whipped me."
Cana patted Dul-u's head, but her gaze shifted with concern toward the still-crying infant. She could tell this wasn't a cry of hunger; it was a cry of genuine pain.
"The... The bandits—they're burning in blue flames! The beast wolves, too!" The older henchman exclaimed, his voice cracking with disbelief.
"They were trying to get closer, but they just... they got burned instead!" Cid seconded. He was gripped by the frame of the carriage, staring wide-eyed at the perimeter.
Cid thought it was Solari, though he was doubting himself. They had always known Solari as a yellow flame user, and this vibrant, ghostly blue was something else entirely. It was colder, more efficient, and far more terrifying. They could clearly hear the cries of the bandits and the painful howling of the beast wolves.
The noise outside had overpowered the infant's wailing.
While the other passengers were too afraid to get out of the carriage, they could see the shadows of the blue flame through the fabric cover. They could match the horror of those screams and howls with the dancing shadows outside.
Erus, who was about to launch an attack against the second group of bandits, stopped in his tracks. He saw the erected blue shield setting a large perimeter for the carriage. He was certain it was Cana's magic. The shield was a sphere; he could trace the aura of the other half surging even underground.
He could also clearly see the horror on their faces upon touching the blue shield. It was like a living beast biting anyone who dared get close to it. He had not seen a blue flame user create a shield like this one. But maybe a true blue flame user really had perks.
While Erus was letting his eyes savor the moment of Cana's savageness, he noticed some of the bandits who had not yet come in contact with the blue shield retreating. His lips curved into a smirk. As if he would let them live after what they had done to the other carriage. They had not spared even a pregnant woman or the young children.
No one was going home—not the bandits, and not their tamed beast wolves.
Then they heard screams coming from the forest, far beyond the perimeter of Cana's shield. It sounded like a beast had appeared and was hunting them down.
Cid and the other henchmen froze. The screams weren't the short, sharp cries of those hitting the blue flames; these were elongated, filled with the sheer terror of being chased through the dark.
Then, suddenly, everything went silent.
"S...someone's coming," Cid pointed into the fog. But when the silhouette cleared, he identified Erus quickly. "Solari!"
"The first carriage was attacked. Take a detour," Erus said, his voice cold enough to scare the passengers further.
"Aren't we helping them?" the older henchman asked, glancing toward the darkness.
"You cannot carry all those dead bodies while you have living passengers in the carriage."
The henchman shut up.
When Erus showed up at the back of the carriage, Cana's eyes landed on his bloody cloak and shirt. She immediately put Dul-u in her seat and jumped out of the carriage. She was unaware her eyes were striking deadly.
Erus stood his ground, his gaze meeting hers. He didn't look like a man who had just struggled. He looked like a man who had walked through a slaughterhouse and didn't mind the mess.
"Were you hurt?" Cana asked. She was dead serious.
"No?" Erus was surprised at Cana's reaction, sounding unsure in his answer.
He was even more surprised when Cana lifted his shirt and inserted her hand, touching his back as if checking if he had sweat there. He did not dare move when he felt the familiar warm sensation she was giving him.
She was transferring energy to his mark again. Did it act up again without him noticing?
"You can't have the younger ones see you like that," Cana said after letting him go. She was about to remove the cloak he let her borrow, but Erus stopped her.
"I have spares," he said.
He undressed in front of her, burning the bloody cloak and shirt to ash. He pulled a new shirt and cloak from his storage and put them on.
"Can I have the shield's flame?" He asked Cana before they went back into the carriage.
Without a second thought, Cana retrieved the blue shield. It was a blue fire the size of a candle's flame. She added energy and made it larger before handing it to Erus.
Erus ate it and felt contented. That was the best reward for him.
Then, they heard a cry from one of the passengers. It was the mother of Dul-u. Erus had no idea what had happened inside, but Cana remembered the infant.
"It's the baby! It was crying in pain a while ago," Cana told Erus, making them both return to the carriage immediately.
They saw that Dul-u's parents were crying as the infant made no more sound. His lips were slowly turning dark purple.
"That's the magic-grade mist's curse," Erus said.
He stepped closer to the parents, not minding the horror in their eyes or the stares of the others. He removed the infant's clothes while the mother was still holding him, revealing the blackened chest of the child.
Erus tried to use his basic healing magic. Small green orbs emitted from his hands were absorbed by the infant's body, but the blackened skin did not change. Cana approached them and placed her palm on the infant's forehead before looking at Erus.
"Use the higher one," Cana said.
"But he's still an infant. I might crush his core," Erus hesitated.
"I'm absorbing beyond his capacity. Trust me."
"My baby brother will die?" Dul-u was beside Cana now, hugging her arm.
Seeing that Dul-u was fine even after the prolonged exposure to the magic-grade mist, Erus was convinced it was Cana's absorbing proximity. She had protected the girl the entire time. He finally found the courage to do what Cana said.
"I'm doing it."
Small golden orbs started to form in Erus's palm and were immediately absorbed by the infant's body. Cana's palm on the forehead glowed gold as well, her white aura containing the golden orbs to prevent them from overflowing.
Erus had no idea how Cana had learned this. Even Uruja had not taught him that something like this was possible.
Then, they noticed that the blackened skin on the infant's chest lifted fast. It was fully erased, as if it had never been there. The infant began to breathe steadily.
"My child," the mother cried.
"Your brother isn't dying, Dul-u. Mister Lizard Man healed him," Cana explained.
Erus was confused. "Lizard Man?" Had a lizard beast approached the carriage while he was out?