A born commander

Thirteen warhorses raced single file out of the secret passage, escaping the fief that had become hell. They had barely covered a hundred paces when a dull tremor rumbled through the ground behind them.

Brilliant platinum light illuminated the night sky, and eerie blue alchemical flames erupted from cracks in the earth.

The old lord had tried to detonate the Sacred Flame Altar and take the monsters with him, but he had clearly failed.

The shock wave swept in from behind, carrying rubble and scorching gray snow. They struck the knights' refined steel backplates in a rapid clatter of metal.

Several horses stumbled sideways, thrown off balance by the blast.

A knight at the rear tightened his reins and instinctively looked back toward the fortress.

"Eyes forward! Don't slow down!" Hughes controlled his reins with one hand, his voice carrying through the blast to the entire squad.

"The White Fang Fief's defense line has fallen! Get the intelligence back to the Blackpine Coordination Office!"

The twelve knights clamped their legs around their horses again, tightened their formation, and charged down the post road at full speed.

But the crisp clatter of hooves against frozen earth gradually became the sticky sound of sinking mud.

Hughes lowered his gaze. The frozen surface of the road was melting into semiliquid gray-red sludge. Beneath it, gray-red fleshy veins dragged the mud into heaps along the squad's escape route, blocking the way ahead.

Crack.

The third knight on the left flank misstepped, his horse's forehooves plunging through the surface. Gray-red fleshy veins sprang up beneath the mud, wrapped around the horse's belly and the knight's leg armor, and dragged both underground.

The knight tried to draw his sword and cut the veins, but realized it was useless. He hurled the sealed brass cylinder containing White