I Became a Ruined Character in a Dark Fantasy
Chapter 428

Chapter 428

"Stop!" At Seren's shout, the galloping warhorses began to slow. The fog, which had crept in gradually, had now thickened enough to completely obscure their vision.

They really didn't rest even once.

Ian let out a faint, bitter smile as he tugged on the reins. His inner thighs ached. They hadn't been sprinting, but riding nonstop at a brisk pace for nearly half a day had taken its toll. If these weren't demonic warhorses, some of them would've collapsed by now.

Huff... grrr...

The horses were clearly struggling too. As the procession came to a full stop, the sound of their labored breathing filled the air. Ian's black steed lowered its head and exhaled heavily, growling deep in its throat.

"Good job," he murmured, placing a hand on the creature's neck. A small stream of chaos power flowed from his palm into the horse before he looked up at the sky.

The fog had climbed higher than he'd realized—now blanketing the sky so thickly that not a single patch of it remained visible. Visibility had narrowed so much that he could barely make out Seren up ahead.

"This is insane," came a voice from the front. It was Diana, who had just leaped down from her horse. "I had a bad feeling the moment you said we were heading for a rift. And now we're bringing warhorses along the edge?"

She met Ian's gaze and gave her trembling legs a lazy swing, trying to shake out the stiffness.

Ah. Looks like she only just figured out the plan.

He shrugged. "Well, I heard they're planning to blindfold the horses."

"As if that's going to work. You know that too, don't you?" Diana let out a dry laugh, tossing the question back at him.

Shrugging, Ian looked ahead at the Wolves. Having dismounted, they were each slinging bags—previously strapped to their saddles—onto their backs.

"At least they're preparing for the worst," he said as he jumped off his horse. His black steed let out another breath, this one noticeably lighter.

"Does the rift connect to the Shadow Forest?" Lucia asked as she dismounted, stretching her stiff limbs before pulling her loosened hood back down over her head.

"Supposedly, it leads somewhere quite a bit away from there. Still, it should be somewhere near Inaskurgl's territory," replied Ian.

Lucia nodded, and Diana responded with a sigh—probably already regretting her decision to come along.

"I'm not expecting you to fight," Ian said, tugging the reins as he walked up behind them. "But I know you're capable of surviving. Just do that much. If you can cover Lucia while you're at it, even better."

"Yeah. Was planning to." Diana replied without a hint of hesitation.

Honestly, she's the kind who gains and loses points with her mouth alone.

While Ian snorted in quiet exasperation, Seren stepped forward.

"Once the horses calm down, we'll proceed," she said, holding something out.

It was a wide leather strap, large enough to wrap around Lucia's waist. It was the blindfold meant for the warhorses.

"What are you planning?" Diana asked, and Lucia accepted it without question.

As Seren met her gaze, Diana added, "No matter how well-trained a warhorse may be, it's still a beast. Less than half will survive, and if they panic and scatter the formation, it'll cause even more damage."

"Don't worry." Seren handed the leather blindfold to Diana and continued, "We've made preparations for that."

"Preparations?" Diana narrowed her eyes, passing the blindfold to Ian.

He approached his black steed. Perhaps it was the chaos power he'd given it earlier, but the horse's breathing had already calmed. Even as Ian slipped the blindfold over its head, it didn't resist.

The sharp black horn jutting from just above its nose stood out clearly. It was still growing, but even now, it looked sharp enough to pierce chain mail in a single thrust.

Shouldn't a horn like that normally grow from the crown?

Wondering, Ian turned to look at Lucia.

She was fearlessly tying the blindfold around her warhorse's head. Though the beast shook its head, irritated, she remained calm, tightening the knot securely.

"You'll understand soon enough," said Seren. "You've done this before—I won't worry. Just focus on keeping formation."

Watching Seren go with a doubtful look, Diana glanced toward Lucia, who was gently stroking her horse as if to calm it. "If it doesn't feel right, just let go of the reins. It's dangerous either way, but holding on when things go wrong could get you dragged."

Lucia's warhorse let out a low growl, almost as if it understood.

Diana grimaced but continued stubbornly, "No. It'd be better if I just held the reins."

Now that's unexpected, thought Ian.

Lucia looked up at her, concerned. "Will you be okay, Diana?"

"If you're the one holding the reins, I'll be stuck following your lead. That's even more dangerous."

"Ah..."

"I said this last time too—just keep your eyes on my back, Lucifer. You too, Ian."

Ian met her gaze and gave a small nod. In this, she was the expert.

Then, suddenly, Diana flinched and turned her head forward.

At the head of the procession, a deep blue darkness had begun to seep through the air. It wasn't as thick or vivid as what they'd seen during the last battle, but it was still enough to sweep over the warhorses and Wolves.

Shhhhhh—

Thanks to their heavy protective gear, the Wolves didn't seem affected by the Blessing of Darkness. The same went for Diana, Lucia, and Ian. They only felt a cold stickiness clinging to them. The darkness didn't seep into Ian's body in the slightest.

But the warhorses were a different matter.

Snort... grrr...

The warhorse Diana held by the reins blew hot breath from its nostrils. The others let out heavy, entranced breaths as if under a spell.

"So this is what the preparation was, huh," Ian murmured.

His black steed remained the only one unaffected. Likely thanks to the chaos power he'd infused it with earlier. He placed a hand on the back of its neck and sent another pulse of energy into it.

With each drop, the bond between them deepened—but he didn't mind. It wasn't the first time he'd taken on a familiar.

"We're moving," Diana said tensely.

As the formation began to advance from the front, she quickly glanced back at Ian and Lucia. "Don't let your guard down."

Lucia nodded, and Diana turned, guiding her horse to fall in behind the Wolves. The gap she left between them was precise—calculated. A buffer in case anything broke loose up front.

She really is a professional.

Woosh, rumble...

In an instant, the fog thickened around them. The edges of Ian's vision, fixed on Lucia's back, began to warp. It was like his senses were slipping out of focus. The magic woven into the mist grew clearer by the second, as did the chaos power seeping from the warhorses.

Swoosh—

It felt as though they were entering the eye of a massive tornado. The pressure steadily intensified, and with it, Ian's senses grew more and more distorted, twisting on their own. The world spun in circles, and the ground seemed to tilt and roll beneath him.

Still, this is definitely more manageable than last time. Guess they weren't lying when they said humans adapt.

He kept walking without pause. To his relief, his black steed followed without a hint of panic. Judging by the others' behavior, the chaos power seemed to have a stabilizing effect.

Thump, thump—

The steady rhythm of the march continued.

His sense of time quickly began to blur. It could've been just a few minutes or several hours—it was impossible to tell. Either way, at some point, it became clear they were moving away from the edge. The pressure eased, and his scrambled senses began to realign.

Ian's brow twitched not long after.

Faint traces of unfamiliar chaos power had mixed into the fog. He couldn't see it—only feel it—and no one else seemed to notice. The Wolves likely couldn't sense it at all, protected by their heavy gear. But the intensifying chaos power emitted from the warhorses told him it wasn't just in his head.

Is it being neutralized?

Just as Ian tilted his head in thought, a sudden whinny rang out as one of the warhorses up ahead reared up on its front legs.

"Shit, seriously?!" Diana's voice rang out, sharp and cutting.

The Wolf riding it had already dropped the reins. The panicked horse bolted, hooves thundering as it disappeared into the mist.

Grrrraaahk, neigh—

And that was all it took. The remaining horses began to shift—some stamping, some pulling back, others clearly on the verge of following.

They seemed to have sensed the one that had bolted, pushing back against the flow of the formation. But the other Wolves didn't let go of their reins. They simply tightened their grip and kept moving forward, not missing a step.

"What... are those lunatics..." Diana spat through her clenched teeth.

Ian had no trouble understanding why the Wolves had pressed on like that. The pressure from the magic was thinning, the disorientation fading fast. Just a little farther, and they'd be through the rift.

Clop—clop—

The runaway warhorse disappeared into the fog, its hoofbeats growing fainter, swallowed by the haze.

Since Ian's group had kept some distance from the rest, they avoided getting swept up in the chaos and were able to press on. They pressed forward steadily, and before long, the weight of the rift lifted entirely.

Huff... huff...

The warhorses' ragged breathing echoed in uneven rhythms. The Wolves were also breathing heavily, but they didn't stop. They kept pushing forward, clearly intent on resting only once they were well beyond the fog.

"Those crazy sons of bitches—" Diana muttered, sounding one breath away from yelling at them.

Just as she took a step forward, Lucia reached out and grabbed her wrist. "Don't go, Diana. Either way, we made it through, didn't we?"

"Still—" Diana's voice rose with frustration, but she bit it back. Her gaze met Lucia's for a moment before she let out a long sigh. "Yeah. Saying anything would be a waste of breath. Damn fools."

Her frustration wasn't misplaced. If even one warhorse had gone out of control in that fog, it could've broken their line—and once that happened, lives would've been lost.

Even knowing that, Ian said nothing. He just frowned slightly and raised his gaze to the sky.

The chaos power still clinging to the fog had grown thicker, more tangible. And yet its source was nowhere to be seen. No matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find it.

Grrrr... grrhh...

The heavy, grating breaths of the warhorses rang in his ears.

At last, Ian's eyes widened slightly. The thick fog was beginning to thin, gradually peeling back to reveal the sky above.

"Doesn't it feel a little strange?" Lucia murmured, walking just ahead.

Diana, still holding the reins, scratched the back of her neck and glanced over her shoulder.

"So you felt it too. Guess it wasn't just me—" She broke off mid-sentence, catching Ian's expression.

"What are you looking at?" She turned her head instinctively—and froze.

"Oh, shit...."

Above their heads, a pitch-black sky stretched endlessly. It looked almost like a hole leading into the abyss. A swirling mass of ash-gray clouds, like a storm of black smoke, churned at the distant edge of the sky.

"Lu Entre, have mercy—" Lucia whispered, her voice catching in her throat.

They weren't the only ones who had noticed the change.

"Halt!" Seren's urgent shout rang out, and the entire procession came to a stop.

The Wolves exchanged brief glances before spreading out in a wide circle, positioning themselves for all-around vigilance. The blindfolded warhorses, still panting heavily, were drawn in close.

"What even is that?" Lucia murmured, stroking the neck of her panting warhorse.

"It's a domain barrier," Diana replied, her voice unsteady. "We've crossed into Inaskurgl's territory."

"What? But I thought this place was far from the Shadow Forest—didn't you say that, Sir Ian?" Lucia turned her head, frowning slightly.

Only then did she spot Ian, standing alone far behind them. His eyes, fixed on the sky, were glowing with a vivid, overwhelming violet.

"Sir Ian?"