Even with the Second Princess’s power already chilling the air, it felt as if the atmosphere could freeze solid at any moment, cold enough to turn everything to ice.

No one here misunderstood the cause—it was the standoff between our Knight Order and the bandits.

After a long, heavy silence, the Knight Commander finally shattered the stillness.

“…Before we cut you down, I’ll ask you one thing.”

“Well, sure. What’s the harm in humoring a dead man walking?”

Their unyielding exchange made my throat dry.

When the man who seemed to be the bandit leader spoke, the Knight Commander responded with a scoff.

As she stomped her foot, the snow-covered ground trembled slightly, as if feeling the impact.

“You’ve got spirit. Fine, let me ask.”

The Knight Commander gestured loosely at the bandits with a flick of her chin.

“What’s your goal?”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“I mean this ridiculous plan of yours. Gathering forces to strike Lontan at this timing—it’s hard to see it as anything but resentment toward our efforts to resist the external gods.”

The Knight Commander’s words made the bandit leader sneer.

But she wasn’t finished.

“For bastards scraping by in a land of snow and death, shouldn’t stopping the Giant of the Snowy Mountain be good news? Or do you actually want to freeze to death?”

The bandit leader suddenly burst into laughter—loud and deranged.

But from the reactions of those around him, it was clear the laughter wasn’t a sign of joy.

As the Knight Commander glared, the bandit leader’s grin twisted. He pointed at us with a warped smile.

“A savior of justice, huh? Of course, that’s how it must seem to you soft, warm-blooded folks from the south. You probably think we’re just miserable up here.”

Raising both arms like a zealot in prayer, the bandit leader bared his teeth.

“What a joke. I don’t want you to kill the Giant of the Snowy Mountain.”

“What?”

“We like this snow.”

His face twisted into something deranged—rabid with madness.

“We like the chaos caused by the external gods. We like looting in the disorder. We like this snow as if it’s our own domain. We like robbing stranded travelers and burning their warmth to fuel our fires. We like sleeping wherever we want, living however we want.”

As the bandit leader rambled on, the knights—starting with the Commander—visibly grew disgusted.

Their selfishness and twisted greed were enough to churn anyone’s stomach.

I wasn’t any different.

“Even when we find people collapsed and crawling in the snow, we like it. That catharsis of robbing them to keep ourselves alive—it’s indescribable.”

“Bullshit.”

“We had common ground with the Hunter Followers. They don’t want the Giant of the Snowy Mountain to fall either. If the external gods disappear, so will the Hunters. Do you even understand what it’s like to lose the object of your devotion? To watch the absolute being you worship vanish?”

The bandit leader flailed his arms and gazed up at the sky as if possessed.

“The Giant’s calamity is a blessing to us. In this land the gods have filled with death, we found life. In this land they filled with cold, we found warmth. And you think we’ll let you take that away?”

The Knight Commander’s expression twisted into something I had never seen before—pure, unrestrained disgust.

Even the bold Commander couldn’t stomach the lunacy on display.

“You selfish bastards.”

“Even stray dogs and cats think like us. The only difference is that we’re strong, and they’re weak. Have you ever actually tried to understand what the gods are? If you seriously confronted their cruelty, could you still love them?”

It was clear—there was no point in continuing this conversation.

The Vice Commander seemed to come to the same conclusion. She suddenly raised her greatsword and brought it down in a devastating swing.

The massive slash created by Meditatio tore through some of the bandits.

However, the Hunter Followers quickly threw together a makeshift barrier—using bodies as meat shields.

Of course, the Vice Commander’s action only solidified the inevitable.

“You’re spewing nonsense I don’t care to understand. You’re dead men anyway.”

The moment she said that, the Knight Commander roared.

“Knights—charge!”

Battle cries erupted from both sides, filling the frozen air.

*****

A massive force was bearing down on us.

Was this what it felt like to stare down a tsunami?

Unlike the chaotic assault of the previous bandit invasion, the Hunter Followers’ influence brought a sense of terrifying order to their ranks—an oppressive pressure of a different kind.

Yet the Knight Commander and Vice Commander didn’t flinch.

The morale of the knights didn’t waver.

Instead, like Vikings chasing glory in Valhalla, the knights carved through the bandits with what could only be described as ecstatic fervor—bordering on madness.

“Die!”

“Argh!”

There was no way untrained thugs, hardened only by survival in the wild, could match the strength of elite, professionally trained knights.

But the problem lay in their overwhelming numbers.

As the saying goes, ‘Even the strongest can’t handle a dogpile.’ No matter how skilled a knight was, getting swarmed by six opponents would end the same way—getting beaten into the ground.

To handle this, I turned to her for help.

The deity currently perched on my shoulders, cheerfully waving her hands.

“Fighting!”

“…They can’t hear you.”

“Oh, really? How embarrassing.”

Pawra, trying her best to cheer us on, was busy pulling food out of some mysterious space.

Thank god.

What she called failures—though they looked like flawless dishes to me—had piled up into a literal mountain.

Pawra’s food had a positive effect on humans.

It healed wounds instantly, strengthened weakened minds, and replenished drained muscles.

I learned that firsthand when I got beaten to a pulp during training with Baek Gamyeon.

And later, when I shoved Pawra’s food down the throat of a knight who had been on the brink of death, it felt like witnessing a miracle.

A grotesque wound—from his right shoulder down to his left hip, caused by a bandit—closed up in an instant, as if touched by divine intervention.

But relying on this alone was dangerous.

It only worked if the person was still alive—if I was even a moment too late, it would all be for nothing.

“Everyone! Don’t bother with the other knights—target Raydan Tantan! The food he’s handing out reeks of something foul!”

The leader of the Hunter Followers shouted, and suddenly every bandit’s focus shifted to me.

I should have felt overwhelmed by the sheer numbers closing in—but no.

This was all part of the plan.

“He’s spreading his wings! Stop him!”

“After him, now!”

I unfolded the wings of the draconic spirit, picking up speed and weaving through the attackers.

I stayed low, deliberately maintaining a low altitude. If I flew too high, the knights would become targets again.

As long as I kept their attention, the Knight Order had room to breathe.

“While Tantan draws them in, we’ll hit them from behind!”

“Yes, understood!”

At the Knight Commander’s order, the knights surged forward, cutting into the rear of the pursuing bandits.

The fools who had been chasing me were suddenly flanked, trapped between two forces.

“N-No!”

Their cries of despair echoed, but it was already too late.

I whipped up a gust with the draconic wings, the fiery energy from Zumya swelling in my chest as flames began to rise in my throat.

The bandits tried to flee, panicked by the sight of fire gathering in my mouth.

But there was no outrunning the speed I had with divine power.

I unleashed it.

A brilliant rainbow-colored flame erupted from my mouth, engulfing the bandits.

“Gyaaaaah!”

Their screams of agony tore through the battlefield.

But all I saw were bodies writhing under the rainbow inferno.

The knights didn’t hesitate—they charged in and began subduing the survivors one by one.

“Retreat! Fall back!”

Even the bandit leader, who had been so confident, finally broke and called for retreat.

Some of the bandits followed him, scattering in panic.

“Don’t let a single one escape!”

The Knight Commander’s shout rang out, but it seemed the enemy had planned for this—they left behind rearguard troops to slow us down.

Grinding her teeth in frustration, the Commander pushed forward, but it was clear we wouldn’t catch them all.

Still, this was enough.

Lontan would be safe—for now.

As the dust settled, the Knight Commander raised her voice.

“This is our victory! Knights, you fought well!”

The knights’ roar of triumph shook the sky.