Chapter 23: The Lost Village of Zephyrion

’Why is there a civilian out here?’ Ren stared at the guy in absolute disbelief, his mind short-circuiting for a split second.

"Hey! Who are you people, and what are you doing here?!" the man yelled, thrusting his torch forward.

Miku, Reika, Ryu, and Ren traded bewildered glances.

The man closed the distance fast, his shoulders hitched high in a defensive stance. But the moment his gaze dropped to Princess Evelyn unconscious across Ren’s lap, his eyes went wide.

"Why is Princess Evelyn here?!" he blurted out, rushing over with raw panic written all over his face.

Ren’s brow furrowed. "Who are you? And why are you in a place like this?" he asked, his tone hard as the stranger dropped to his knees to check on her.

"We need to move her first—we can treat her," the man urged, his voice trembling.

Ryu’s eyes narrowed into slits, sizing the man up with cold precision. Ren did the same. Running into a defenseless civilian inside a hostile dimensional pocket was completely absurd. It defied every rule of survival in this world.

Reika and Miku stepped closer, their expressions laced with deep suspicion as they hovered over him. Sensing the heavy silence, the man looked up, meeting four pairs of ruthless, analytical eyes.

"What are you waiting for? Grab the Princess and follow me!" He pushed himself up from the dirt, turning toward the shadowy tree line. "Come on, hurry!"

Nobody moved. Caution kept their boots nailed to the soil. For all they knew, this guy was a dark illusion or a decoy designed to lure them into an ambush.

Miku leaned in, her voice barely audible. "Should we actually follow him?"

Ren narrowed his eyes. Strangely enough, he couldn’t pick up a single trace of malice or hidden hostility from the guy. His gut said this wasn’t an anomaly, but if he was real... how the hell did an ordinary human survive inside a rift?

Besides, the guy had said we. That meant he wasn’t alone.

"Hey! Move it!" the man called out, his voice snapping through the cold wind.

Reika and Miku nudged each other nervously. Ryu crossed his arms, shooting a look at Ren. One wrong move here could land them straight back into a meat grinder.

Unwilling to gamble blindly, Ren turned to his internal system. It reads Aberrant core ranks and abnormal energy flow. It should work on him too.

System, run a diagnostic on this guy.

[ANALYZING TARGET...]

[SPECIES: HUMAN]

[EMOTIONAL STATE: ANXIOUS / HIGHLY CONCERNED]

’He’s actually human...’ Ren exhaled a silent breath.

What kind of twisted realm housed living civilians inside its borders? And since he recognized Evelyn, he had to be an inhabitant of the real world, not a creature native to this dimension.

Ren gave a quick nod and a sharp wink to Reika, Miku, and Ryu.

Slipping his hands under Evelyn’s shoulders and knees, Ren lifted her securely against his chest. Step by step, he carried her toward the stranger. The man pivoted and began leading the way, while Ryu, Reika, and Miku fell into formation behind them, putting their trust in Ren’s call.

They didn’t have to walk far. After a few dozen meters through the dense foliage, the path cleared out into a hidden hollow.

The guide halted. Before them lay a crude campsite illuminated by scattered torchlight. Dozens of people were gathered together on thick mats of woven leaves—some sitting in hollow, traumatized silence, while others lay resting from utter exhaustion.

"We’re here," the man announced. "Set Princess Evelyn down right here." He pointed to a broad, layered bed of large green leaves. ℴ

Ren stepped forward and carefully lowered Evelyn onto the soft foliage, letting out a faint grunt as the tension left his aching arms.

The man turned toward the far side of the camp, waving his hand frantically. "Grandma! Over here! Quick!"

An elderly woman in a faded, simple tunic shuffled forward, leaning heavily on a wooden cane. The moment she caught sight of Evelyn’s pale, bloodless face and the gashes along her arm, her slow pace vanished. She practically sprinted over as fast as her fragile legs would carry her, using the stick to brace her fall.

She dropped down beside the princess, her hands trembling with grief. "Oh heavens... How did Princess Evelyn end up like this? What is she doing here?"

Reika, Miku, Ryu, and Ren exchanged baffled glances at the old woman’s intense reaction.

A teenage girl rushed over and handed the elder a small medicinal pill. With practiced care, the old woman gently pried Evelyn’s mouth open, helping her swallow it down with water. She then reached into a small wooden bowl filled with crushed herbs, took the moist green paste, and applied it directly over the raw cut on Evelyn’s arm, binding the wound tightly with a broad leaf.

The man turned around, wiping cold sweat from his brow as he faced the group. "All of you... what in the world happened to Princess Evelyn?"

Ryu stepped up, his tone cold and unyielding. "Before we answer anything, we need to know who you are and what you’re all doing here." He swept his eyes across the camp, taking in the hollow faces of displaced families and scared teenagers. "It makes zero sense for civilians to be living inside a dimensional rift. You aren’t royal knights or mercenaries—you’re ordinary citizens."

The man went quiet, absorbing the question. He drew a long, ragged breath, his jaw clenching tight as raw bitterness welled up in his eyes.

"We’re trapped here because of Vora," he spat, his voice heavy with venom.

Ren’s brow twitched. He locked his full attention onto the man’s words.

"Vora destroyed our home—the Village of Zephyrion," the man explained, his hands shaking with rage. "She attacked us with a massive horde of monsters and burned everything to the ground."

"During the raid, she rounded up our teenagers and young villagers indiscriminately, shoving them into spatial portals she summoned out of thin air."

"She dragged us into those portals and dumped us right into this nightmare. But right after we arrived, she slaughtered several of our young men and boys right in front of us... executed them brutally without a shred of remorse, leaving us stranded in a sea of blood."

He gripped his torch until his knuckles turned bone-white. "We couldn’t go back. We can’t escape. Only Vora has the power to open and close those portals."

Ren’s eyes widened slightly.

"Then how have you managed to stay alive?" Ren asked, his forehead creasing deeply.

The man turned his head, looking sorrowfully toward the exhausted crowd—at the teenagers huddled together in hushed circles, and a few young children gathering near a patch of red roses blooming in the clearing.

"We survived because of Liora," the man said softly.

He let out a heavy sigh while the group listened intently.

"When we first got stuck here, Aberrants hunted us every single day. We were chased, cornered, and forced to endure a non-stop nightmare."

"We reached our absolute limit. We were ready to commit mass suicide just to end the torment... but then Liora appeared."

"She gave us hope. She comforted us, motivated us, and physically stopped us from giving up."

"If Liora hadn’t found us back then, none of us would be standing here today. We would’ve surrendered to despair long ago."

A heavy silence settled over the four warriors. These people weren’t hostile entities—they were the tragic survivors of Vora’s sadism, left to rot in an artificial hell.

Ren clenched his fist until his fingernails bit into his palm, holding back a surge of rage at Vora’s sickening cruelty. Beside him, Reika and Miku looked on with profound sympathy.

The man let out a long exhale, as if dumping a crushing weight off his chest. He looked back at Evelyn, then returned his gaze to the party. "Now tell me... why are you here? How did the Princess suffer such horrible injuries?"

"We were dispatched by Lady Elysia to track down Princess Evelyn and bring her back to the kingdom," Reika explained gently. "Her trail led us straight into a dimensional portal. Once we stepped through, Liora found us and helped us search for her."

"We eventually located Princess Evelyn on top of a northern ridge," Reika continued. "She was already severely wounded, standing among the corpses of dead monsters."

"She had been fighting Velista up on that hill."

The moment the name Velista fell from Reika’s lips, the man’s eyes flared with pure horror.

Observing his reaction, Ren confirmed his earlier hypothesis. Both Princess Evelyn and Velista were legendary figures well-known across the continent. Humanity lived a cramped, isolated existence behind high kingdom walls—a reality where monsters controlled ninety percent of the land, while humans hid within the remaining ten percent.

"If you came down from the ridge..." the man pressed, his voice suddenly rising with panicked urgency. "Where is Liora?!"

Miku and Reika exchanged a hesitant, painful glance, dreading the answer.

Ryu folded his arms over his chest, his expression dark. "She stayed behind on the ridge to fight Vora alone."

The man’s eyes dilated in horror. The torch in his grip wobbled violently, nearly slipping from his fingers. His knees buckled, his face draining of all color.

"W-What...? No... That’s impossible!" he stammered out.

Seeing his extreme distress, Ren, Miku, Reika, and Ryu immediately grew concerned.

"What’s wrong?" Miku asked quickly.

Ignoring her question entirely, the man spun back toward the camp, shouting at the top of his lungs. "Everyone! Liora is in danger! Liora needs us! Hurry!"

The peaceful camp erupted into total mayhem. Men, women, and teenagers scrambled to their feet, their faces contorted with absolute terror. Young boys and girls cried out in alarm, rushing toward the center of the camp as the refugees swarmed together.

Ren, Miku, Reika, and Ryu stood frozen, their minds struggling to process the sudden outburst.

"We have to save Liora! She’s fighting Vora alone! We have to help her!" the man roared.

In an instant, the weary, starving refugees transformed. Their eyes hardened with raw, desperate hostility as they rallied together like a militia preparing for war.

*Are they out of their damn minds?!* Ren thought, completely dumbfounded. *They’re actually going to charge at Vora?!*

With fierce shouts echoing through the clearing, the refugees grabbed burning torches, heavy tree branches, and crude tools, ready to throw themselves into combat.

Ryu’s brow furrowed tightly as he watched the mob assemble.

*Just how important is Liora to them?* Ren wondered, staring at the desperate crowd lining up with makeshift weapons. Only the old woman and two young girls remained seated beside Princess Evelyn’s leaf bed. *To think they would throw their lives away like this...*

Reika and Miku shouted at the top of their lungs, warning the refugees that charging up the ridge was suicidal, but the mob ignored them entirely, marching resolutely past them toward the northern trail.

"Damn it! What do we do now?!" Miku panicked, clutching her hair as she paced back and forth.

"Miku, Reika, stay here," Ryu commanded sharply, drawing his longsword with a crisp metallic slide. "Guard Princess Evelyn, the old woman, and those two girls."

"Ryu?" Reika gasped.

"I can’t just stand by and watch a mob of defenseless civilians march straight to their slaughter," Ryu declared, stepping forward.

Reika and Miku gave a grim nod, recognizing his resolve.

Ren’s eye twitched as he listened to Ryu.

’You’ve got to be kidding me... Do I really have to go back up that hill and face that lunatic again?’ Ren screamed internally, feeling his soul leave his body.

Honestly, Ren was sick and tired of jumping from one life-threatening situation to another. This dimension was a non-stop nightmare. But watching Ryu charge out to protect a suicidal mob hit his pride as a man. Staying behind with the women while everyone else marched into danger felt completely wrong.

Ren let out a heavy sigh.

"I’m coming too," Ren said, picking up his pace to match Ryu’s heavy strides as they rushed after the crowd.

It was reckless, forced, and dangerous, but Ren refused to abandon his principles. Leaving Ryu to walk into the fire alone while he hid in the woods was something he couldn’t accept. If he was going to die in this cursed dimension, he would rather go down fighting for his pride than watch everyone perish and die in regret later.