Extra's Perfect Ending-Chapter 238: Worse

Two days felt long for Reeva. The constant snowy weather made the sky unbearably dull, always the same. Today, he was still worried. While the deer had stopped piling up outside the castle, their numbers were still significant. For the past days, all he had done was help the villagers with the bridge repairs and listen to the high priest’s sermons.

After hearing about the Sun God, the people’s faith in him had grown, and now they frequently came to speak with him.

When Reeva first met Quin, his impression of the man was that he was very quiet. But after gaining his trust, Quin had started to open up. He was still reserved, but far more talkative than before.

Whenever he had the chance, Quin always struck up a conversation with Reeva, asking about his life. Since Reeva hadn’t grown up in the Antores household, he could only offer vague answers about his upbringing and circumstances.

The only topic Reeva could speak about in any detail was the past three months, the time he had spent in this body. He didn’t reveal everything about himself, just surface details that anyone could learn on their own—like his business and how it came to be, or how he had been tracking down the cult with Holen’s help.

Thinking back, he missed the company of Theia and Hilda. He enjoyed Hilda’s quiet, informative nature, and Theia’s shaky but brave attitude. He wondered if they were still surviving in the north, but these deer infestations were becoming more dangerous by the day. He could only convince himself that they would be okay.

"Apostle, what are you thinking about?" Quin asked, noticing Reeva’s distant gaze.

"Nothing..." Reeva replied, giving a vague answer. "How much supplies do we have left?"

"As I said before, we left in a hurry. If we ration tightly, we have about a week’s worth of supplies before we starve."

When they had left the village, they grabbed whatever supplies they could, but normally they wouldn’t have this problem if the village hadn’t been overrun by malformed deer.

"Tch," Reeva muttered. "The bridge will need more time to finish."

They had originally hoped to rebuild the bridge in two days, but constructing a sturdy bridge from the old wood left behind was proving more difficult than expected. They needed more time to reinforce it.

"Don’t worry, Apostle," Quin said. "We’ll get out of this together."

"I hope so," Reeva replied, his voice tinged with doubt.

-----

Back at the village, after getting Hilda and the others inside, the tribesmen decided to leave them alone, tossing them into the jail. Hilda couldn’t help but sigh when they took all her knives away.

This content is taken from freёnovelkiss.com.

At least, all the ones that were easy to find.

Her maid dress, combined with the winter jacket, felt like a maze of layers to search through. They would have stripped her clean if not for the threat of Egul. The tribesmen had been warned that if Egul found out, it wouldn’t look good for them.

Once the commotion died down, the tribespeople went about their business as usual. Hilda could only assume the reason they hadn’t searched her more thoroughly was because of the threat regarding Egul. It worked, and now all they had to do was sit tight until he came to rescue them.

"Was this really your tribe?" Hilda asked, looking around the small cell.

She could understand why she, Theia, and the doctor were there, but she still didn’t understand why Leon was locked up with them.

"I haven’t been here in... like, five years," Leon replied, his tone heavy.

Hilda wanted to ask more, but seeing his closed-off expression, she decided against it. He didn’t seem ready to talk about it.

"Mchp mcoo."

The tribe didn’t bother to untie the doctor, so they threw him into the same cell as hers. With a quick sleight of hand, Hilda managed to sneak a knife from one of her hidden pockets and cut the ropes binding her hands.

Truthfully, any of them could have escaped sooner or later since their mystic power wasn’t restricted like it was in the mobile prison. This cell only had wooden bars to keep them from breaking out, and a rope tying their hands together.

Even without mystic power, Hilda could have easily escaped. The thin rope the tribesman had used was a sloppy attempt at containment. It could only limit their movement, especially since they were all grouped together behind one barrier. Hilda used her hidden knife to slice through the rope the tribesman had tied.

She slid the knife along the rope and finally freed her hands. From what she saw on their faces, she guessed they’d have to rely on him soon.

Aside from her ability to break out herself, Hilda thought of another way to escape the cage. They could use their mystic powers to slip through the bars and vanish into the forest.

Their summons were strong enough to shatter the wooden cell and cover their escape. However, Hilda recognized the risk—causing such a commotion would draw far too much attention.

In the first place, they hadn’t come here to get captured. Egul was supposed to cover their retreat after he was done talking with the other village chief.

While they waited for Egul, Hilda, and Theia exchanged light chitchat, keeping their focus on the task at hand. But before Egul arrived, something bad happened.

From the distance, Hilda heard the rising commotion. Theia and Leon also heard it and turned to look. As they did, they quickly realized the source of the panic—people were screaming and running away from something.

A flood of villagers ran past the cell, giving Hilda a full view of what was scaring them. And after seeing it, she immediately understood why they were fleeing. A malformed deer had entered the village, charging recklessly at the people.

Luckily, no one had been injured yet. Even the women and children were quick enough to dodge the deer’s attacks. Once the common folk had retreated to safety, the hunters arrived. Dressed in hunting uniforms with leather armor, their bodies still covered in snow jackets for warmth, they quickly took their positions.

Four hunters appeared in the midst of the chaos. Two wielded spears, while the other two notched arrows to their bows. The arrows whistled sharply through the snow and struck the deer’s back. However, the creature didn’t slow down.

The moment the arrows hit, the deer turned toward the archers, its eyes locking onto its new targets. But the spearmen quickly stepped in front of the archers, their spears raised to defend against the charging beast.

And charge it did.

The malformed deer barreled directly into one of the spears, which had been planted securely in the snow. The spear acted like a defensive wall, the back end braced against the ground to absorb the force of the impact. But the deer wasn’t deterred—it powered straight through the spear, its momentum unstoppable.

The spear’s steel tip sank deep into the animal’s flesh, but the deer kept pushing forward. Its body had been altered to withstand such an assault.

One spear lodged deep into the deer’s shoulder. Had it been a normal deer, the wound would have been fatal. But this was a mutated creature. Its enhanced body absorbed the blow, and it showed no signs of stopping.

The spearman who had lost his spear quickly stepped back, searching for another. Meanwhile, the spear still embedded in the deer’s body slowed its charge. The archer notched another arrow and loosed it at the creature.

The arrow whistled through the air once more, but again, it had no effect. The deer’s toughened hide shrugged off the shot as if it were nothing more than an insect bite.

With no other options, the hunters began to retreat. It was clear they would need the chief or another mystic to deal with the threat.

But Hilda wasn’t just standing by and watching. She had been working quickly to get her party out of the cell. After cutting her own ropes with the knife she had secretly kept hidden, she swiftly moved to free Theia and Leon.

Now that they were all free, the next challenge was escaping the cell. Hilda found the solution quickly. She slit her palm slightly, letting the blood soak into the blade. Then, she used the blood to activate her mystic power, coating the red steel with force.

With a swift slash, she cut through the wooden bars, creating a hole wide enough for them to slip through—just in time for the deer’s next charge.

With the hunters retreating and the villagers already fleeing in panic, only Hilda, Theia, and Leon were left in the area. The deer had no other targets but them.

Seeing the situation unfold, Leon quickly picked up a nearby piece of the wooden cell and froze it solid. Having faced these mutated deer enough times, he was confident he could handle this threat.