Cursed System-Chapter 120: Wolves 4

[Author Notes:

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RAGNA POV...

I was still standing at the campsite when the black steel knight bellowed out, his voice cutting through the chaos like a hammer striking an anvil.

"Alright!"

That single word rang in my ears, sharp and commanding, and before anyone else could even process it, I had already leapt onto one of the carriages. The wood creaked under my boots as I straightened myself and looked down at the cursed children of my alliance—wide eyes, trembling hands, fear crawling all over their faces like parasites.

"Get ready," I muttered, my voice low and rough, meant only for them and the pair of brothers standing beside me. "Unless you don’t want to die, fight for your lives."

I didn’t bother adding anything inspirational. There was no need. At times like this, honesty was far more effective than comfort.

As my eyes swept across the battlefield, a grim sense of satisfaction settled in my chest. Because of my early warning, my alliance had suffered the least. A few had tripped while fleeing, scraping knees or twisting ankles—minor injuries, nothing fatal. No corpses. No broken bodies beyond saving. Compared to the rest... it was almost merciful.

The others weren’t so lucky.

I caught sight of Marcus’s little team and felt my jaw tighten. Two of them were gone—simply missing, swallowed by the chaos. The ones left were alive, yes, but only barely, each carrying wounds that screamed how close death had come. They had escaped with their lives clenched tightly in trembling hands. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Alright! We’ve rescued everyone who can still be rescued!" the captain shouted. "Support members, do your thing. Minor injuries—two minutes of rest. Major injuries—five to ten minutes, you’ll recover enough to move."

The captain himself—a black steel knight—returned to the defensive formation, his armor smeared with blood, both enemy and ally alike. As he moved, his gaze fell on us: the siblings, and me—the one the rank three knight corps loved to call a pain in the ass.

We were already issuing orders, already pulling the wounded out of danger.

Reiner looked almost unrecognizable. His horns, once just stubs, had grown to nearly six inches, curling menacingly. Crimson bled into his eyes, and thin, bloody lines ran from his lower eyelids down to his cheekbones like ritual markings. Berthold stood beside him, gripping a blood-soaked cross shortsword in each hand. He looked almost the same as Reiner —except where Reiner’s hands ended in claws, Berthold held steel instead.

And then there was me.

Three pairs of crimson eyes burned beneath my brow, and judging by the way the knight’s gaze lingered on me, I knew I looked worse—far worse—than both of them combined. I stood in a low battle stance, every muscle coiled tight, ready to spring.

"Even though I know you kids aren’t normal," the black steel knight said slowly, "aren’t you still afraid?"

I scoffed inwardly.

"At a time like this," I replied, my voice carrying a faint growl I didn’t bother suppressing, "when our lives are about to be snatched away... fear won’t help us at all, right?"

My fingers tightened around my silver daggers. Earth-elemental mana poured into them, sinking deep. The silver dulled, shifting into a hardened bronze as the blades grew heavier, denser, more lethal.

I could feel it—the way the knight looked at me differently now. Even among the black steel knights, he could tell. Despite being barely five years old, I had something they didn’t: experience. Real experience. The kind that crawled under your skin and whispered when death was near.

The siblings came next in his assessment—I could see it in his eyes. Their presence gave off an odd, unsettling vibe, as if they were standing on a level far above the other demon children. Still, even they paled compared to the strange energy leaking out of me, the same energy that made the knight’s instincts scream faint warnings.

"Be careful," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "These vicious wolves are more cunning and intelligent than I thought. As long as we show them we are not prey, but predators... they can be subdued."

I barely listened.

My attention was elsewhere—on the fallen.

The cursed children who had collapsed during the initial ambush were dead now. The smell of blood saturated the air, thick and intoxicating. My heart began to pound violently, endorphins flooding my veins, euphoria clawing its way up my spine. Madness hovered just beneath the surface.

If not for the steel knight standing beside me, I would have already charged out, torn into the dying, and fed.

Holding back was agony.

I forced myself to breathe. Slowly. Carefully. It wasn’t time yet.

"Here they come!" the black steel knight roared. "Everyone, be careful! We’ll protect you as best we can—but there are only so many of us. If we miss you, you fend for yourselves!"

In a flash of light, he vanished.

A heartbeat later, he reappeared on the front lines alongside the other knights. They moved like living weapons, launching themselves into the horde with mana-fueled strikes and refined martial arts. Watching them fight was like witnessing an avalanche gain speed—each blow increasing their momentum, each skill layered upon the next, leaving nothing but destruction behind.

One knight vanished and reappeared in midair, his blade flashing sideways toward a charging wolf. The beast sensed danger and tried to dodge, but it was too slow. Its head flew clean off, body collapsing as blood sprayed across the golden sand.

The knight didn’t even pause. He vanished again, already striking somewhere else.

For several moments, the dozen black steel knights formed a living fortress, holding back the endless tide of wolves.

"We should fight too," I said sharply to the siblings as I started forward. "Even if it barely helps, it’ll reduce the knights’ workload."

"Yes," Reiner replied, nodding fiercely as he followed. "If this drags on, even the knights will get exhausted. And when that happens..."

"We all hit rock bottom," I finished.

And with that thought burning in my mind, I stepped into the slaughter.