Prologue

"Is everyone already dead?"

Kalyptos looked up at the shining stars. Moments ago, he had found himself buried underground, and now he was searching for a communication channel.

He could hear the echo of a signal within himself, but there was no response at all. After staring at the stars for a moment and confirming his position, he looked down.

"Mobility systems require slight repairs."

Kalyptos looked at his metallic hands, which felt a bit stiff as he moved them. He could see rust and moss clinging to his body and legs, indicating he had been buried for quite a long time.

"Must return to base to receive further orders."

After cleaning and making minor repairs to himself, he walked through the forest, which appeared completely white through his visual sensors.

His heavy footsteps made the ground tremble, and the forest beneath him was flattened just by his sheer mass. He detected animals running away, but Kalyptos ignored them.

"Winter."

Kalyptos decided not to turn off his signal ping. Judging from the position of the stars, he only needed to walk straight, although his systems registered a slight shift in the stars' alignment.

"How long have I been buried?"

Not wanting to make that a priority right now, Kalyptos kept walking until he came across a vast, equally white plain.

"Identity... horses approaching."

His visual sensors showed a herd of horses approaching from his right, running swiftly and kicking up snow as they passed him.

"Resuming journey."

Kalyptos ignored them and began moving again, though he suddenly remembered a log where Commander Adalhard had said something about horses on the battlefield.

‘Look, Kalyptos. Even though ours is a modern world, we still use horses.’

‘You know, this horse survived all alone. Even when the officer riding it had passed away, it returned.’

‘This horse never gave up. I hope you will never give up either, partner.’

Thinking about that again, Kalyptos decided not to give up so he could finally reach his station.

"I will return, Commander."

* * *

[Count Fiero's POV]

At the exact same time, within the herd of horses that had just passed Kalyptos...

"My Lord, what is that monster?! It is incredibly huge!"

"I-I do not care! I just want to get back inside the castle right now!"

Unbeknownst to Kalyptos perhaps due to an error in his visual sensors or simply because it was nighttime he completely failed to notice the people riding those horses

"Damn it! The one time I try to hunt monsters, a monstrosity like that shows up! Damn it!!"

The leader of the group, a skinny man in his twenties with blonde hair named Fiero, rode as fast as he could. He could even feel his pants get slightly wet... just a little bit.

Earlier that day, Fiero had thought about hunting monsters at night, but everything had turned into a complete disaster. It started with his hunt failing and ended with him losing several of his knights.

Just as he had finally decided to head home, he ran into a giant that made him feel absolutely minuscule.

"Damn it! To think a gallant noble like me has to run away like this... damn it!"