One Day, My Fiancé Brought His First Love Along - Chapter 111

“Loose the arrows!”

Imperial soldiers fired volley after volley at the monsters swarming the skies, dropping strange objects as they flew overhead.

Thwack, thud. The arrow-struck corpse of a monster plummeted to the ground. Knights trampled over it, driving their blades into the monsters and northern tribesmen scaling the fortress walls.

“Watch out over there! Move!”

“Go for the monster’s eye! Drive your sword in!”

“Over here! Help—Aaargh!”

The battlefield was utter chaos. Screams and shouts erupted from all directions. It was no different from hell.

Aireen had no time to think. After saving a soldier from being torn apart by the claws of a one-eyed monster, another winged beast suddenly dove at her from above.

“Hah.”

With a short breath, she twisted to the right. The creature, with a beak the size of a grown man’s forearm, barely missed the ground as it pulled up, then turned its head sharply to find her.

“Skreeee!”

It shrieked like it was enraged, spreading its beak wide as it shot toward her. The monster was nearly her size and already upon her in the blink of an eye.

“Die!”

She swiftly dodged and slashed her sword upward. The blade tore clean through its wing, shredding it like fabric.

“Skraaaaagh!”

Its earsplitting scream stabbed her eardrums. Aireen plunged her sword into its throat as it tried to flee with its remaining wing.

Splurt.

Its bodily fluid splashed across half her face. She didn’t have time to wipe it off. She dashed toward another soldier, whose leg was nearly clamped by sharp fangs.

“We’re heading out! Open the gates!”

In the midst of the brutal battle, Carlisle shouted to open the fortress gate.

As planned, he, Aireen, and Siran led their knights and soldiers outside the walls. This time, even Niar, insistent on making up for his past failure, followed close behind.

“Don’t break formation!”

“Yes, sir!”

Carlisle’s massive black steed surged forward like lightning. Aireen followed, swinging her sword with one hand to cut down the bald enemies charging her.

“Die, Imperial scum!”

“Seriously? These bald freaks…”

“How dare you insult the proud Netar tribe! I’ll kill you myself!”

Enraged by her words, the surrounding Netar tribesmen swarmed her. Their blood-drenched bald heads were almost comical in appearance.

“Look at them, ganging up like cowards.”

Aireen scoffed openly, taunting them. There were quite a few of them, but not so many that she couldn’t handle them alone.

Unlike her, fighting alone in a sea of both allies and enemies mixed together, they couldn’t move freely enough to fight at full strength.

“Watch out!”

Just as she finished one opponent, a worried shout rang in her ears.

Carlisle, who had been cutting down tribesmen in headscarves, had joined her side without her noticing.

“I don’t need help.”

She coolly spoke as she ducked back to dodge a flying greatsword.

Clang! Carlisle blocked a longsword aimed at her chest, then immediately beheaded its wielder.

“We’ll subdue them faster if we work together.”

As he spoke, Aireen slashed through another enemy’s shoulder and fell silent.

Carlisle had feared she’d tell him to go elsewhere, so when she didn’t protest, he quietly let out a breath of relief and began eliminating the enemies surrounding her.

Perhaps because of Santinu’s instructions, the ones attacking them weren’t the Nitu tribe. That meant their strength wasn’t overwhelming, and the group reached the shamans with minimal resistance.

It wasn’t hard to find where the shamans were hiding. All they had to do was look for the most heavily guarded spot, where monsters and northerners were gathered tightly together.

“Attack, now!”

Realizing the shamans were the target, nearby enemies rushed at them like a swarm of bees.

“So you’ve come this far, Carlisle Avergue!”

A man with a notably long and massive spear spun it high in the air and charged forward with a roar. The surrounding tribesmen stepped aside, making way.

Carlisle stepped forward without a word.

Clang! The clash of steel echoed violently. The man was built like a bear, yet Carlisle—leaner by comparison—met the blow without budging an inch.

The sheer force of their impact drew attention, but no one could afford to be distracted by someone else’s fight. Aireen turned her focus to the wave of spearmen surging toward her in tightly packed ranks.

Behind the enemy lines, a member of the Tanil tribe was seen frantically murmuring something while moving his hands. Aireen gritted her teeth.

The root of it all. The evil that had recently tried to take her life once more.

Aireen’s fury boiled like molten lava. Her expression faded completely as she silently swung her sword, cutting down the enemies who charged at her.

The northern tribes, confident in their numbers, launched an endless assault with spears and arrows.

But they were no better than moths rushing into a flame. With just a few gestures from Aireen and Siran, many of the northern tribes were mercilessly wiped out.

The northern tribes were a coalition, unlike the Diert Empire, which had a more solid unity. Even when facing a common enemy, they wouldn’t sacrifice their own for the sake of another tribe.

Moreover, the strength and scale of the imperial knights far exceeded expectations.

The unexpected counterattack from the empire began to spread confusion among the enemy ranks. The brittle trust and unity that barely held the tribes together began to crack like fragile glass.

“What the hell is this? You were so confident this was a surprise attack!”

“Do those look like soldiers caught off guard? It’s almost like they were expecting us!”

“Are we the ones getting ambushed now? What are we supposed to do?”

Some who had been swayed into joining the fight by the persuasion of the Tanil and other major tribes couldn’t contain their anger. They struck the ground with their weapons in frustration, blaming the misinformation and manipulative speeches they had been fed.

Even though they had agreed to it themselves, they now tried to wash their hands of the responsibility.

“You all tagged along like eager dogs, and now you’re complaining?”

“What did you just say? You’re the ones who dragged us into this, saying it was foolproof!”

“We’re all here to get our share—just shut up and do your job!”

Tensions erupted. The larger tribes, especially the Tanil, retorted shamelessly, enraging the others.

“Urgent news! Urgent news!”

A breathless scout from one of the tribes charged in. He looked like he might collapse at any moment, barely able to speak.

“The Empire! They’ve invaded our hideout! It’s being torn apart as we speak!”

“What?! Our hideout?!”

“It’s the Lekta and Sepah tribes! It’s a critical situation!”

The messenger stamped his feet in panic, his voice nearly breaking. Only then did the others grasp the gravity of the situation.

The tribal representatives grimaced, then shouted with barely restrained rage.

“They’ve struck Lekta? Everyone, gather now! We’re heading back!”

“Damn it! Just wait, Tanil bastards! Once this battle’s over, we’re calling a full tribal assembly to hold you accountable!”

It was pure chaos.

Those communicating with their bases via the magical relays set up by the Tanil were panicked at the news of the surprise attack on their homes.

They were still in the midst of battle, but they didn’t even need to hesitate. They weren’t one nation—they were separate tribes. And protecting their own was more important than this war.

If their base was destroyed, so was their authority and power within the larger coalition. From their perspective, their hideouts mattered far more than defeating the Empire here.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

The Tanil tribe shouted furiously at the tribes turning away.

“My tribe matters more than your worthless lives!”

“Can’t you see the imperial dogs right in front of us?!”

“You think we’re your bodyguards?! Handle it with your great shaman magic!”

“Wait!”

The shamans cried out in vain as the tribes whose bases had been hit began their retreat without hesitation.

“D-Damn it!”

The lead Tanil shaman trembled with rage.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. The Empire had surged forward, and now the tribes were being hit in their own homes.

Unresolved fury first targeted Carlisle, then the Marquess of Hessiden, and finally—Santinu.

“Where is Santinu?! Where the hell is he?!”

“He’s still on the front lines. He hasn’t returned—we can’t find him anywhere.”

Everyone was present—every tribal leader except for him.

Only Santinu was missing.

Watching the chaos unfold from the shadows, old Gibita’s eyes darkened. A chilling sense crept up her spine.

She had been so sure of victory that she had come herself. She wanted to see Carlisle Averg’s despair with her own eyes.

But now…

This was undeniably her mistake. She should never have trusted the Marquess of Hessiden so blindly. No—she should have scrutinized Santinu’s words more carefully.

She had thought they were one step away from seizing victory. It always felt within reach, yet slipped through her fingers.

And in that obsession, she had lost sight of reason.

As Gibita bit her lip, retracing her failure.

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