A Walking Battery

Steadying myself, I glanced around. The other knights were struggling too, their faces tight with strain. Selene's expression stayed unreadable — as always — but I caught a flicker of discomfort in her eyes.

The knights yanked their gear from the horses. Edric slung both his and Selene's bags over his shoulders without effort. Show-off. I reached for my own bag, bracing for it to feel like a sack of bricks — but it felt normal.

…Maybe two weeks of hell toughened me up?

Behind me, Garrick wrestled with his horse but It barely budged before locking up again. The other knights faced the same problem.

"Do we leave the horses?" I asked.

The commander's jaw tightened. "We have no choice. Staying here is worse."

"Then why not turn back and regroup?"

"We can't."

"Why not?!"

He met my eyes, voice low. "Take a step toward Edric."

Confused, I turned. Edric and Selene stood a few paces behind me. What kind of nonsense test was this?

I took a step forward — and the weight doubled. My knees buckled. My breath hitched in my throat.

I whipped around to the commander. He gave a stiff, grim nod.

We weren't just trapped.

We were being funneled.

The group gathered, and the commander led us forward. I fell into line, my legs trembling after only a few steps. With each stride, the weight piled on — heavier and heavier — like I was dragging my own execution behind me.

Soon my pace slowed and others began to overtake me.

Garrick and Ranald fell into step beside me, wearing matching smug grins.

"What's this? Looks like our young master's lagging again," Ranald said, voice dripping with mockery.

"Yeah, guess it's tough when you can't use mana. Dead weight," Garrick chimed in.

"Shut up and keep walking. I'm not wasting energy on you idiots," I shot back through gritted teeth.

"Hah! Still got that mouth, huh?" Ranald snorted. "Come on, young master. We both know you can't keep up. How about this — we carry you?"

What the hell are they up to now?

"I can walk on my own," I growled, eyes fixed on the path.

"Don't be stubborn. Just say the word. We can see you're at your limit." Garrick's voice was sickly sweet, his lean body tilting toward me.

Hah… these assholes are really testing me.

"Fine." I looked between them, my lips curling into a smirk. "Since you're begging to help, you can carry me. But you'll need to crawl on all fours so I can ride comfortably."

Garrick's teeth clenched so hard I could hear them grind.

"You're a real bastard, you know that?" he spat.

Ranald laughed, shaking his head. "We tried to help you, young master." He leaned closer, voice dropping to a whisper. "But you're still an insufferable asshole… so what can we do?"

"Piss off. I never asked for your help anyway," I snapped.

Ranald straightened, turning toward Edric. "Sir Edric, we offered to help the young master, as you asked, but he refused."

Wait — Edric asked them to help me? I spun around to face him. He met my gaze, his expression unreadable.

"Tch. Nuisance till the end," he muttered before walking ahead.

My fists clenched. Even if he meant well, I wasn't about to take charity from him.

"Get lost already," I growled at Ranald, who still walked beside me with that damn smirk.

Ranald raised a brow, then chuckled. "As you wish, young master." He turned away — but his leg shot out, hooking mine on the way.

"Huh—?!"

I stumbled hard, barely catching myself before face planting in the dirt.

Garrick caught my shoulder, steadying me.

"Careful, young master," Ranald called, voice full of fake concern. "You wouldn't want to break that pretty nose of yours."

Garrick chuckled beside him.

These bastards… My temple throbbed with barely restrained fury. I slapped Garrick's hand away.

"Don't touch me."

"What? I just saved you." His smirk only widened.

I ignored them and pushed forward. My breath quickened, and sweat streamed down my face like I'd been wrung dry. Each step felt heavier than the last, my legs trembling under the weight.Honestly, I was at my limit.

Can I ask Evan for help?

No. He would refuse. And I'd rather die than humiliate myself. He already passed me, anyway.

I glanced back. The horses were still visible — distant shapes between the trees. How would they survive this? We left them behind like broken tools, useless and forgotten. If things got worse… would I end up the same?

In the game, there was always a pattern.

Every trap followed a logic — a design. Cracking that logic was the key to breaking the formations. But this? No matter where I stepped — sideways, backward, diagonally — the weight only grew heavier, pressing down like the earth itself wanted me crushed.

Jumping was out of the question. Just getting off the horse earlier felt like slamming into a wall.

"Hah… hah…" My breath rasped.

"You alright?"

A soft voice from behind.

I turned to see Koala — or whatever her real name was — strolling along like this death march was a casual morning walk. She looked downright refreshed.

The healer beside her was winded but still better off than most.

"What the hell? You're not tired?" I rasped, blinking through the sweat dripping into my eyes.

"Oh, we're tired," she admitted cheerfully. "But divine mana keeps healing us, so we recover faster."

What the... Is there such a cheat available for healers?

The healer man piped in. "It's not much, but it's enough to keep us from wearing down completely."

"Then why don't you heal everyone here" I asked.

He hesitated "Well.... The divine mana is scarce in other places except Sanctora, so we can only use mana from our reserve."

Right. Divine mana element is rare beyond the Sanctora region. They're saving it for emergencies. Makes sense.

My eyes narrowed. "Then why does she look like she just woke up from a nap?"

The healer scratched his head awkwardly with a hesitant face. "Well… she's special. Her mana reserves are larger than most."

Special, huh? I glanced at her again. She tilted her head, unsure of what to make of my expression.

A slow grin tugged at the corners of my lips, spreading across my face.

"Oii, Koala. Come here a second."

"My name's not Koala!" she huffed. "And why would I?"

"Come on. I've got a secret to tell you."

She squinted at me, clearly suspicious. Smart girl. Too bad for her, I was desperate and shameless in equal measure.

After a moment, curiosity won out. She sighed and stepped closer.

The second she got within reach, I leaned in — and threw an arm around her neck, slumping against her.

Her body went rigid.

"Wha—Hey! What are you doing?!" she yelped, trying to pull back.

I held on like a lifeline. "Relax, Koala. You've got mana to spare. Sharing is caring."

"Get off me!" She squirmed, trying to shove me off.

"Nope. I'm dying, and you're a walking battery." I sagged further against her, making myself as heavy as possible. "Let me have this."

She let out a strangled noise, part outrage, part disbelief. The healer looked like he wanted to step in, but I shot him a dead-eyed glare. He wisely decided to mind his own business.

"You're unbelievable," she muttered, cheeks flushed red — probably from anger.

"Yeah, yeah. While talking heal me with your hands."

Her shoulders slumped in defeat, and I could feel the faint, tingling warmth of divine mana seeping into me. The weight didn't vanish, but my legs stopped trembling like they were about to snap.

"Well, would you look at that," I sighed dramatically. "Koala's as comfy as she looks."

"I'm going to kill you when this is over," she hissed.

"Get in line."