Although they were flustered, they did not despair.

High-ranking knights were trained to handle combat against mages.

They had also experienced being trapped in barriers numerous times in real-life scenarios, not just in training.

Thus, they all knew the basic methods for breaking out of a barrier.

So time passed—day by day, week by week, and eventually a month went by.

“…”
“…”

Yet, they still hadn’t broken the barrier.

“What kind of barrier is this?”
“It’s a space-time distortion, a warped barrier.”
“Casting such a massive and long-lasting barrier… This isn’t the work of an ordinary mage.”

Breaking a barrier was straightforward in theory:
The method involved walking around within the barrier to find subtle distortions between reality and the barrier.

Once such a gap was located, mana would be channeled into the distortion to widen the divide between the real world and the barrier. Then, a blade wrapped in aura would cut through the gap to destroy the barrier.

But no matter how much they wandered, they couldn’t find the distortion.

The reason was simple: the barrier was far too vast.

“This is bad. Our food supplies…”

They didn’t know how much time had passed in the outside world, but time for Arina and her knights inside the barrier flowed quickly and heavily.

Despite rationing their provisions as much as possible, their food supplies were depleted.

But their ordeal wasn’t over yet.

When you hit rock bottom, you’ll find there’s still a deeper pit.

Whinny… Thud!

One day, the special-grade horses they had been riding all collapsed simultaneously.

“It’s a curse! A curse!”
“But how?!”

In a world devoid of monsters, humans, and even simple fruits from trees, the horses had been surviving by eating the sparse weeds and snow from the tundra.

Even though their situation seemed better than the humans’, the horses ultimately succumbed.

“It must be the work of those damned necromancers,” one knight said grimly.
“Could it affect us too?”
“We’re superhumans who’ve mastered mana and the sword. If it were a curse potent enough to harm us, they would have already revealed themselves.”
“Hmm… What kind of curse is it?”
“It appears to be a plague curse. They must have suffered terribly but showed no signs of it… What loyal and faithful companions they were.”

Sir Doyle inspected the fallen horses and reported the grim findings with a pained expression.

“Bury the horses,” Arina ordered solemnly.

Hearing Doyle’s report, Arina and the knights closed their eyes tightly, their faces filled with grief.

“And from now on, no one should consume snow directly. Always boil it first.”

Another challenge had descended upon Arina and her knights.

“Could we… eat the horses?”

Some of the knights, exhausted from hunger, looked at the corpses of their fallen companions with conflicted eyes.

“They’ve been cursed with a plague. Eating them would kill us as well,” Doyle warned.
“You’d end up losing more nutrients vomiting it out the other end.”
“Damn it…”

In the end, no one touched the horse meat.

All they could do was bury their loyal companions in the snow, bitterly lamenting their loss.

With the horses gone, Arina and the knights were forced to continue their search for the barrier’s distortions on foot.

“Damn it! If we’d died in battle, at least it wouldn’t have felt so shameful!”

Their patience was at its limit.

For knights who considered dying in combat the greatest honor, their current situation was an unbearable disgrace.

“Come out, you wretched necromancer! Face us openly if you dare!”

Rumble… Roar!

As if in response to their cries of frustration, monsters began appearing before them, as if they had been waiting for this moment.

“Undead monsters!”
“Raise your swords!”
“Find the necromancer controlling them! Defeating them is the only way out of this barrier!”

The monsters that appeared were precisely the undead creatures Doyle had warned about.

Unlike ordinary monsters, these undead beasts required their limbs, tails, wings, tentacles, and even heads to be completely severed to render them harmless.

This made them the most exhausting type to fight.

Despite their already dwindling strength, Arina and the knights faced these monsters head-on.

Slash! Flash! Boom!

True to their reputation as the strongest fighting force in the North, the knights triumphed over every wave of undead monsters.

“How dare you try to overwhelm us with these reeking zombie beasts!”

Arina and the High Castle knights were each a force to be reckoned with.

Even with their strength nearly depleted, they managed to slay over 500 monsters.

These weren’t ordinary creatures but beasts that only appeared in the deepest depths of the Abyss.

Although they had lost the agility they once had in life, their undead forms granted them formidable resilience.

“Come on, you damned fiends!”
“Renslet! Rune Renslet!”

They tore through the waves of death itself.

It was clear why Arina and her knights had been so confident before leaving Haven.

But even their confidence couldn’t last forever.

The battles continued, and the barrier remained unbroken.

Their food supplies had long been depleted.

The knights’ strength and stamina were steadily waning.

“Will we… ever make it out alive?”
“I want to eat Arad’s Stew from Haven one last time before I die…”

Their initial resolve faded, just like the gray tundra around them.

Prolonged hunger and wandering within the barrier had driven them to the brink of despair.

“I just want to sleep peacefully for once.”
“If we die here, will we find peace? Or will we become undead, denied even rest?”

Even sleep was no respite.

Whenever they tried to rest, monsters would swarm them as if waiting for the opportunity.

No matter how resilient Northerners were against the cold or how strong their survival instincts were, everyone had their limits.

“This is bad. Our weapons and armor…”
“Even sharpening them can’t slow the corrosion anymore!”

The worst part was the state of their equipment—their last line of defense.

Unbeknownst to them, their weapons and armor had been corroding during the constant battles with undead monsters.

This further weakened their already dire combat capabilities, pushing them closer to the edge of survival.

 

In front of the fire, Arina sat in a daze, staring at her sword.

The blade, once a masterpiece forged from North Iron, now looked like a piece of scrap metal, worn and battered.

If this keeps up, I’ll be fighting with my bare hands in the next battle…

The fragile state of her sword seemed to mirror her own situation, like it could break at any moment.

Growl

Her stomach let out a pained growl, as though it were shrinking inward.

Four days had passed since she last ate anything, and now the hunger had transformed into pure agony.

In a futile attempt to distract herself from the gnawing hunger, she dipped a cup into the pot of water boiling over the fire.

Even this pouch of Arad’s Salt is almost gone…

She opened the luxurious leather pouch, pinched a bit of Arad’s Salt, and sprinkled it into the water.

The warm, lightly salted water moistened her cracked lips and parched tongue, filling her stomach, however slightly.

“…”
“…”

Around her, the other knights sat in similar states of dishevelment, or worse.

All of them were so drained of energy that even talking felt like a burden.

Hm…?

At that moment, her senses, sharpened to their limit by hunger and sleeplessness, picked up on something.

She turned her gaze to the direction of the disturbance, using the heightened eyesight of a Sword Master.

A carriage…? In the Abyss?

In the distance, a golden carriage was slowly approaching.

Now I’m seeing hallucinations…

She let out a bitter laugh, shook her head, and closed her eyes before opening them again.

But the golden carriage was still there, shimmering like a mirage.

She rubbed her eyes and even splashed her face with snow, but the sight didn’t vanish.

“…”

One by one, the other knights began to rise as well, as if realizing that what they were seeing wasn’t a figment of their imagination.

The golden carriage I was driving, thanks to my Luck stat, had managed to avoid any attacks as it came to a stop in front of the gray tundra.

You might wonder why I didn’t cover the carriage with fabric or something similar, but in the Abyss, it’s better to travel openly.

The mere sight of a carriage moving through the Abyss was bizarre enough that hiding it would only draw more suspicion.

If I was going to stand out anyway, it was better to travel boldly with my golden carriage, projecting an air of confidence.

At last, I arrived at the depths of the Abyss.

The gray tundra stretched out like a border, clearly marking the entrance.

I hope I’m not too late…

After sending the Grand Duchess and her knights ahead, it had taken me nearly fifteen days to reach this point.

Hmm…

I quickly noticed something was off.

The compass says the Grand Duchess and her knights are within 500 meters, but there’s no sign of them anywhere.

The desolate, open landscape of the gray depths spread before me.

Rumble… Screech…

The distant roars of high-tier monsters echoed in the air.

But Arina and her knights were nowhere to be seen. Not even a trace.

Could it be…?

A troubling thought crossed my mind, and I retrieved something from inside the carriage—a mana stone about the size of a fist. I combined it with the compass in my hand.

Beep!

A sharp, bird-like chirp sounded, and a laser-like beam of light pointed toward a specific direction.

As I thought, it’s a barrier. And not just any barrier—a very expensive one.

It seemed likely that the Grand Duchess and her knights were trapped inside the barrier.

Rustle… Rustle…

At that moment, I detected movement and killing intent in the area around me.

Even as a non-combatant, the threat was so palpable that I could feel it clearly.

It’s not monsters… It’s humans!

The aura was distinctly different from the savage energy of monsters.

If it were monsters capable of piercing the defenses of my golden carriage, the horses pulling it would’ve been in a panic already.

No, this killing intent was definitely human. And what’s worse, it was aimed at me with malicious intent.

Wham!

About a minute later, a group of around ten people came into view, quickly approaching across the gray plains.

They weren’t on horseback, but they were running faster than most horses.

A top-tier adventurer party! And not the good kind!

Whether they were Northern adventurers or from the Empire, it was clear from their demeanor that their intentions were far from friendly.

Click, clack.

I armed myself with the magic crossbow and mana stone bolts.

As I began to move the carriage to create some distance, I observed the group more closely.

Four of them are levitating with magic—at least 4th-circle mages. The other six are at least A-rank mercenaries. Of course, in the depths of the Abyss, you’d find a band of superhumans you’d rarely see even in Haven.

My enhanced eyes, with scanning capabilities akin to a scouter, quickly assessed their combat strength.

If I fight them, I’ll lose. No question about it.

From their capabilities, it was even possible that they were the ones behind the barrier.

If I wanted to keep my life and my golden carriage intact, I needed reinforcements—fast.

“Let’s go!”

Neigh!

With that, I urged the golden carriage forward and plunged into the barrier indicated by the compass.

“This… I was just in time, wasn’t I?”

My words weren’t directed at myself, but at the six figures trapped in the barrier ahead.

Was this barrier the reason the Grand Duchess and her knights disappeared in the original timeline? If so, they might’ve essentially starved to death here.

Inside the barrier, the surroundings were eerily similar to the Abyss outside. The same desolate landscape, the same oppressive silence.

In the distance, six knights sat in ragged, pitiable states, staring at me in stunned silence.

What a hollow and tragic end this would’ve been…

Recalling the history of Era of Silver 1, I drove the golden carriage closer to their fire.

They look like they haven’t eaten in quite a while. I’ll start with something light, like stew, to restore their energy before giving them a proper meal.

As I approached, I mentally planned out their treatment.

Still… Their condition seems far worse than what fifteen days of deprivation should cause.

The closer I got, the more harrowing their state appeared.

Could it be a barrier that distorts space and time? Who could’ve created such a high-level barrier? With this much investment, it must be…

My train of thought was cut short as I reached the group.

“It wasn’t an illusion!”
“Thank the gods!”
“Renslet! Rune Renslet!”

Finally, close enough to see each other’s faces clearly, the knights seemed to realize that neither I nor the golden carriage was a mirage.