Chapter 19 : The Road to Loren Castle (3)

Chapter 19: The Road to Loren Castle (3)

“Uh? Uhhh?”

“Gyaaaaah!”

The imperial soldiers who had charged in the vanguard screamed.

“What is it. Report the situation!”

Only then did Baron Jalcha sense instinctively that something had gone wrong.

But they had already run too far.

Everything around him looked too dark to see anything.

“No. Do not come!”

“Stop pushing! Aaaagh!”

Screams rang out.

The imperial soldiers who had surged in so boldly were being sucked down into a deep, dug-out moat.

‘W-What on earth is happening!’

Baron Jalcha screamed inwardly.

From behind he saw only one thing.

Soldiers who had been running suddenly vanished, and…

“Gyaaaaah!”

-Crunch.

-Sluuurrrp.

With those ghastly screams, a thick smell of blood began to spread.

And amid the reek of blood, there was a faintly sour, foul stench.

-!!!

Realizing what it was, Baron Jalcha shouted like a madman.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it! Come back. Stop advancing. Do not go!! I’m telling you all to fall back right now!!”

“B-But, my Lord, our men who fell into the trap are there.”

“Abandon them! It is already too late. We have to start going now or…!”

But it was too late.

-Blaaaze!

Suddenly flames flickered up from Count Bellua’s camp to the east.

-Fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh!

A rain of fire arrows cut through the air, spewing crimson fire.

“…We’ll all… die...”

Baron Jalcha muttered in resignation.

-Fooooooosh.

In answer, a sheet of scarlet flame hungrily rolled over the pit in front of the tents.

A wall of fire spread along the dug trench.

The searing execution by fire began.

“Gyaaaaah!”

“Aagh. Ggeh-aaaagh! My arm! My body, my boooody! It burns!”

Imperial soldiers who had not escaped in time writhed in agony and burned to death in the pits.

Howling pleas to be saved.

Cries begging to be killed instead.

-Gulp.

As the fiery hell unfolded before his eyes, Baron Jalcha felt as if he were witnessing the Last Judgment.

“U-Urrgh!”

“My Lord! Fire! Flames are rising below us!”

The soldiers panicked at the blaze that was devouring the distance and racing toward them.

It turned out that pitch had been scattered throughout the grass.

And this was not the end.

The judgment of fire had only just begun.

-Shiiing.

-Clang.

From a shadowed space where the flames did not reach, he heard swords being drawn, and then

-Bwwoooooooooo.

A horn sounded, heralding the coming of the reaper.

“Kill them!”

“Grant death to those who know no honor! Charge!”

-Waaaaaaaa!

With thunderous shouts,

-Rumble—!

The ground shook as troops that looked like Count Bellua’s soldiers poured out of the darkness like madmen.

He gave up trying to count them.

He could not see in the first place.

If they kept fighting, again and again, he would find out in the end anyway.

‘D-Damn it.’

Baron Jalcha gripped his drawn sword and blamed himself. He was the fool who had been deceived.

“Fight with the fire at your back! Raise your swords!”

Even so, he could not simply offer up his neck.

Biting his lip, Baron Jalcha shouted,

“Chaaaarge!”

“Show the Emperor’s majesty to these filthy traitors!”

-Wuooooh!

-Wuooooh!

And soon after, the two forces clashed.

* * *

“Huff, huff.”

Sweat ran down Shatien’s forehead like rain.

But the imperial troops did not leave him alone for even a moment.

-Slash.

“Ghk!”

Shatien split the charging imperial soldier in two from the front.

His face, already stained with clotted blood, flushed red once more.

“Kill the Swordbreaker!”

“Cut down that disgusting monster!”

The imperial soldiers glared at him with naked hostility.

He did not know why, but their ferocity had grown even stronger than before.

Strangely, they focused on Shatien more than anyone else.

‘What is wrong with these bastards? Are they crazy?’

It was absurd, but what could he do?

He had to take it as the price of gaining renown.

“You. I will avenge my subordinates!”

A veteran of the imperial army flashed his sword free and aimed for Shatien’s neck.

A single thrust meant to pierce him in one blow!

‘Like I will let you!’

-Clang!

But that committed strike was stopped cold by Shatien’s guard.

Worse, it left the veteran wide open to Shatien’s counter.

-Pwuk.

Shatien drove his blade into the exposed opening.

“Gkuh.”

-Clatter.

Burning pain made the veteran drop his sword. Even so, with superhuman will, he grabbed Shatien’s sword stuck in his abdomen with both hands.

“Now! Strike—!”

At once the imperial soldiers swarmed like moths to a flame.

It was the perfect chance, or so it seemed.

Shatien was startled by the unexpected situation, but that did not mean he failed to respond.

He let go of his hilt without hesitation.

“?!”

A martial artist throwing away his weapon sounded unbelievable, but to Shatien, who broke his swords every battle anyway, it meant little.

His mindset was simple, anything in his hand became a weapon.

“Ghk! How can you abandon your weapon….”

So the imperial soldiers who rushed him ended up falling to Shatien instead, against their expectations.

As the veteran clutched the longsword, Shatien released it, snatched up a blade rolling on the ground, and danced a dance of slaughter.

-Chenng chaaang!

-Shraaack.

They were cut down helplessly.

Each time the sword light flickered, one more man fell, spraying a jet of blood.

“What kind of monster is this!”

“Uwaaaah. We cannot win!”

At the overwhelming display, the imperial soldiers wailed.

No matter what they tried, the monster would not fall. In fact, he butchered their own men.

Perhaps one could call it pity, but not for Shatien.

‘Three to the front. Two to the left!’

Like a predator sizing up prey, Shatien swept his gaze around.

If he stopped, his allies would be hurt.

On the same battlefield, the same enemy.

Shatien had no intention of living through his horrific past experiences a second time.

He would rather become more ruthless himself.

‘!’

Just then, in Shatien’s sight, an imperial soldier lunged at Miles.

“Go to hell—!”

Seizing his chance, the imperial soldier’s sword swung for Miles’s back.

‘Shoot—!’

Shatien startled and whipped the dagger from his belt.

-Swhiiish.

-Thud!

Then, the imperial soldier’s head burst like a smashed melon and he crumpled.

“Uwaaaugh!”

Seeing it a heartbeat late, Miles flinched and broke into a cold sweat. If Shatien had not helped, the head that flew might have been his.

“Ahahaha! Shatien, that is fantastic!”

Miles hid his fear and laughed boisterously, throwing up a thumbs-up.

“Jeez, be careful, Miles.”

“With you here, what would I have to worry about? Hahaha. There is no one more reassuring.”

Shatien chuckled at Miles’s banter. Take away the mouth and there would be nothing left, indeed.

‘Good. Just gotta keep it like this.’

Shatien caught his breath for a moment, then sprinted toward the front of the formation.

There were still plenty of enemies resisting. He meant to crush their momentum here and minimize allied losses.

And before long, that proved exactly right.

“No. It is over!”

“Surrender! I suuuurreeender!”

Except for a few scattered pockets of resistance from the Holy Empire’s imperial soldiers, most either lay dead or dropped their weapons and threw up both hands.

Their will to resist had completely broken.

And then,

“I-I am Baron Jalcha, a noble of the Holy Empire. As a noble of honor, I demand the proper rights of a prisoner….”

Even Baron Jalcha, the commander who had led this raiding force, was captured by the mercenary band.

After roughly thirty minutes of urgent fighting, the battle had effectively ended.

Of course, Captain Mordo had no intention of stopping here.

The field was still wide, and there was time.

For this battle to be truly over, it had to end elsewhere, in the center where Count Bellua stood.

That was where it had to finish.

“Move out! Black Ravens Mercenary Corps! We run as we are and relieve Count Bellua!”

“Wuaaaaaaaah!”

* * *

Burning tents and corpses.

Severed limbs and broken swords lay strewn across the field.

‘What a mess.’

Unlike Captain Mordo’s mercenaries, who had repelled the enemy raid well, Count Bellua’s army seemed to have taken heavy losses.

It looked to be because they had widened the intervals to build a paved road for the cavalry to move with ease.

-Wuoooooh!

“Kill them! Slaughter them all!”

“Bellua’s men are weak. Push them back!”

As the space widened, so did the area they had to defend, and in the midst of that they were hit by a surprise attack, so holes had opened everywhere.

Forces that should have clung together were scattered by commanders, fighting in small pockets of resistance.

-Clang clang-clang clang!

Because of that, the front and rear of the battlefield lost their meaning.

Even now, imperial soldiers of the Holy Empire had infiltrated the very center of the camp where the roads crossed.

“Surrender! Count Bellua fled! You fools. Do not give your lives for a lord who ran.”

“Silence! Where do you spout such drivel!”

“Hahaha. Then tell us where Count Bellua is. Hmph.”

The imperial soldiers’ mocking laughter carried even to here.

Many looked visibly shaken, but Shatien was different.

‘Count Bellua fled?’

If anything, he snorted at the imperial claim.

‘That can’t be true.’

Shatien did not know much about Count Bellua, but he knew one thing for certain.

Count Bellua valued fame and honor more than life itself.

‘If my memory is right, Count Bellua has never fled.’

Not once.

Even in the most desperate situations, Count Bellua led victory with brave charges.

This battle would be no different.

-Swish.

Shatien flicked the blood from his longsword.

The scorched ground darkened with red.

Across the road, the Holy Empire’s army pounded Count Bellua’s lines in a square formation.

At the fragile sight, Captain Mordo shouted to the mercenaries at once,

“Go! Sweep away the sniveling lackeys of the Holy Empire’s Emperor—!”

These were the mercenaries who had already routed the imperial army once.

Their morale soared into the sky.

-Wuaaaaaaaah!

-Rumble—!

With a roaring cry, the mercenary band struck for the imperial army’s flank.

The soldiers who turned on the alarm showed a mix of despair and relief.

“R-Reinforcements!”

“We are saved. It is the Black Ravens Mercenary Corps!”

“Hahaha! Kill every last dog of the Emperor!”

Count Bellua’s troops, their morale surging in an instant, fought back desperately.

The Holy Empire’s formation also shifted.

“Faster! Hurry! We cannot be late.”

“Shields! Raise a shield wall!”

As soon as they saw Captain Mordo’s mercenaries, they placed very heavy shields at the rear and formed a kind of shield curtain.

From the front it looked so dense it could sap your will, but the mercenaries were not the sort to have their spirit broken by that.

“Those fools trapped themselves!”

“Hahahaha!”

“Charge as we are and grant them eternal rest.”

But then,

-Swhiiiiiish!

-Papapapapap!

Suddenly, from the flank, a massive rain of arrows smashed into the mercenary band.

“Gkhhh!”

“Urk.”

It was the imperial archers.

Because they were shrouded in darkness, the mercenaries had not identified their position.

And Captain Mordo’s army had to pay the price.

“S-Shoot!”

“Shields! Raise shields!”

Focused on the front, their sides were left open.

Under the continuous hail of arrows, dozens of mercenaries toppled in an instant without being able to do anything.

“We must bunch up. Close ranks quickly and form a shield square.”

Captain Mordo snapped orders, massing them into the tightest formation he could.

-Fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh!

-Papapapapapapapa!

But under the archers’ relentless attacks, they could not advance and had to crouch on the spot.

“Hahahahaha! They are helpless too. Look at those turtle shells!”

“Heheheh!”

Seeing that, the imperial soldiers began to jeer.

Normally they would not dare make a peep, which made the fury rise, but that was all.

Captain Mordo’s mercenaries, under the archers’ fierce assault, could hardly move.

‘…This is not great.’

Watching the situation unfold, Shatien gave a bitter smile.

“You filthy scums!”

“We will grind the mercenaries to paste!”

Emboldened imperial troops bellowed threats.

Considering how crucial morale was in battle, the situation was the worst.

‘Hmm… can I do it?’

He did not know.

But one thing was certain, he had to show them something.

And for now at least,

-Shing!

Shatien did not feel like he would fall and die under that rain of arrows.

In fact, it felt like the exact opposite.

He could make it.

He could punch through this damned arrow storm and reach them.

And that conviction became reality.

-Tik-tik.

-Ting!

-Tiktiktiktik!

Breaking from the formation, Shatien burst out, batting arrows aside as he hurtled forward like a bolt.

“?????”

“…Huh?”

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