Chapter 101 : Chapter 101

Chapter 101: The Road Ahead Will Be Long

The encirclement formation of the Archduke surrounding the Solari Order was said to be like a swamp.

If one blindly charged in, judging only by the loose outer front, they’d be swarmed by the Archduke’s forces from all sides, like a pack of jackals, and wouldn’t even have bones left to collect.

‘A lure tactic.’

The core of the White Night strategy was the same.

And we finally succeeded in drawing a significant number of troops from their main force, disrupting the balance of the enemy’s formation.

‘Now, I leave the rest to my comrades.’

I was galloping across the plains on horseback, alone.

As planned, I was the only one charging into the enemy’s camp.

Clop! Clop! Clop!

A fierce headwind blew.

Dust and blades of grass swirled in the air, trailing like tails.

My heart began to pound fiercely from deep within my chest.

‘To stand in for the might of an entire legion alone. That is why masters exist on the battlefield.’

An old adage of the Empire came to mind.

It was a phrase I’d heard and repeated countless times in the military.

Of course, a one-on-one duel to the death and a war where many clash are worlds apart.

From breathing to basic stances, every trivial detail is inevitably different.

But the moment one surpasses the pinnacle of mastery, such distinctions gradually lose meaning.

“Enemy—! It’s an enemy ambush!”

“Wait, hold on! That guy… he’s alone…?”

In the distance, straight ahead, I saw a barricaded encampment with wooden stakes.

At a glance, it seemed large enough to house about two centuries of soldiers.

“No… no way…!”

“Bihen Benkou…! Bihen Benkou is here! Prepare—!”

My senses were sharpened to their utmost limit.

The voices of the soldiers scrambling in panic within the camp were crystal clear.

Thud! Thud! Thud—! Thud! Thud! Thud—!

I yanked the reins hard.

With one hand, I stroked the horse’s mane.

“We met suddenly today, but I’m counting on you.”

Did it understand?

The snorting was so fierce it seemed ready to charge at any moment.

Good, I like its spirit.

“Form a defensive line!”

The soldiers who emerged from behind the barricade spread out into a long horizontal formation.

In an instant, a wall woven of spears and shields was complete.

“Don’t retreat!”

“Uooooh!”

A spirited war cry shook the plains.

The sheer force of their shouts was enough to make an opponent’s shoulders shrink.

Thud! Thud—! Thud! Thud! Thud—!

Spear tips protruded sharply between the gaps in the shield wall.

Horses smell death faster than humans.

Unless it’s a well-trained warhorse, most would panic and bolt uncontrollably at this point.

‘Lucky me.’

In that sense, ‘Goodboy’ was a born warrior.

“Wha— what…!”

“He’s insane, he’s charging straight in!?”

“He’s coming!”

The first difference between a mere swordsman and a soldier.

Advanced horsemanship is a fundamental skill for Imperial officers.

When I was close enough to the shield wall that I could almost touch it, I gripped the reins tightly.

My body’s muscles moved instinctively, guided by memories of a past life.

Goodboy soared through the air.

Fwoooosh—!

Goodboy stumbled slightly as he landed after leaping over the shield wall.

The landing was a bit rough, but expecting more would be greedy.

Heeeyah!

Goodboy let out an enraged roar and charged forward again.

Somehow, it felt like this horse had been waiting its whole life for a rider like me.

“Good, let’s go.”

We were still inside the encampment.

Soldiers stationed here and there stared at me and Goodboy with dumbfounded expressions.

“What are you doing?! Stop him!”

I gripped my bastard sword with one hand.

It might strain my wrist a bit.

Slash—! Thwack! Thwack!

I cut down the enemies in my path like mowing grass.

They fell with every strike.

Goodboy kept charging without pause.

The second difference between a mere swordsman and a soldier, the grand one.

Mounted swordsmanship.

The essence of cavalry lies in tearing through and disrupting enemy lines.

It’s about clearing a path for allies at the vanguard.

Thud! Thud! Thud—! Thud! Thud!

I finally broke through the encampment.

The shouts of the enemies behind me grew fainter.

My current goal was to pierce the Archduke’s encirclement and reach the Solari Order first.

I had no time to glance elsewhere.

“Keep running.”

Goodboy answered with angry neighs and the sound of hooves.

Thankfully, he showed no signs of tiring.

We broke through encampments large and small one after another.

Each time we passed a stronghold, the number of pursuers trailing us grew.

It was somewhere within that mob.

“Knight Encrid—!”

A shout rang out, and a figure burst forth.

Uncharacteristically for a Kingdom native, he was a rather ruggedly handsome man.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

In no time, he caught up to my side.

Was it the power of his steed, or his exceptional horsemanship?

Of course, it could be both.

“You die by my hand today, Bihen Benkou!”

He released the reins and gripped his weapon with both hands.

A halberd.

A Kingdom-style pole weapon combining a spear and an axe.

All the while, he kept his eyes fixed on me, a man seemingly made of muscle and grit.

“Hraaah!”

He swung it right beside me.

I bent backward at the waist.

The sound of the axe blade slicing through the air sent chills down my spine. Its trajectory was vividly clear.

Thud!

While leaning back, I struck the knight’s side with the base of my bastard sword.

It was faster than drawing the blade.

“Gaaah!”

The knight was thrown from his saddle and rolled across the ground.

His horse, which had been galloping alongside Goodboy, veered off without its rider.

Without sparing them another glance, I quickly left them behind.

Well, he was brave, but his approach was poor. If he gets another chance in his next life…

“They’re coming! Take aim!”

The next enemies targeting us were at a small outpost ahead, like a scouting post.

Glinting arrowheads dotted the area, reflecting the light.

“Fire—!”

I was charging at full speed.

Goodboy and I weren’t yet close enough to dodge incoming arrows with serpentine maneuvers.

I kicked Goodboy’s flanks hard with both feet.

Goodboy let out a guttural cry and surged forward even faster.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

I glanced back slightly.

Arrows fired from the outpost and watchtowers had embedded themselves in a long trail behind Goodboy.

Dozens of soldiers were still fiercely pursuing us.

The numbers that had accumulated with each encampment we breached had grown to this extent.

“If we let him break through any further, we’re dead! Stop him!”

The scenery of the plains and the shocked faces of soldiers flashed by on both sides, gradually slowing until it felt like the world itself had frozen.

Even the deafening sound of hooves pounding the ground began to feel eerily quiet.

‘Haa, haa…’

Only my breathing rang distinctly in my ears.

Had I reached a state of transcendence?

…No, it was different.

Heeeyah—!

It wasn’t the spirited roar from before.

This was the instinctual scream of a beast crushed by fear.

The sound snapped my sluggish senses back to life.

Crunch!

The next moment, Goodboy’s body shuddered, and his front legs buckled.

In that split second, I kicked off the saddle and leaped.

Goodboy’s body tilted sharply, throwing off the balance of my feet in the stirrups.

Crash! Bang! Bang!

My shoulder hit the ground, and I rolled three times, cloaked in dust, before finally stopping.

At that moment, I thanked Jewel.

Without the Lenoir fur, my shoulder might have been scraped clean off.

‘…!’

I sensed a murderous intent rushing toward my back.

I hadn’t even caught my breath.

Whoosh—!

I tilted my head to the side to dodge.

A spear shaft, wrapped in sand and dust, grazed my cheek.

A shiver ran down my spine.

This chilling sensation wasn’t new.

Clang!

My reaction was swift.

In both hands, spread wide, I already held Zahara Toxeed.

‘A spearman.’

I had my back to him.

Since falling from my horse, I hadn’t even glimpsed a hair of this guy.

That meant I’d been completely unaware of him. It pissed me off.

Whirl!

I spun my body quickly.

Zahara Toxeed’s blade scraped his shield once, and when it was Zahara’s turn again, I finally faced him head-on.

Behind a large shield, a grizzled middle-aged man glared at me fiercely.

“Hup!”

He swallowed his breath.

His thick jaw clenched tightly.

The stifled breath in his mouth growled like a beast.

In that fleeting moment, the swirling dust around us seemed to contract and get sucked into his shield before scattering again.

The ominous shift in the air passed in the blink of an eye.

It was enough time for me to notice.

‘…Balgyeong?’

Kwa—ang!

My body was pushed back hard.

I barely mitigated the impact by thrusting Zahara Toxeed, held crosswise, in front of my chest.

Screeeech—

My feet carved a long trail in the dirt.

I slowly raised my head.

The remnants of a colorless shockwave rippled around the spearman’s shield.

“Bihen Benkou. To think we’d meet again here.”

“…Isn’t that a bit too cliché for a greeting?”

“You won’t pass this point alive.”

“That too.”

I glanced sideways.

Goodboy lay collapsed on the ground, wheezing.

His wet eyes seemed ready to close at any moment.

The third and final difference between a mere swordsman and a soldier.

I gave the spearman a brief look, then crouched to stroke Goodboy’s neck.

‘Thank you.’

As I stood, a hearty laugh rang out in front of me.

“Hahaha! Who’d have thought the Sword Fiend had a heart? This is unexpected.”

My head tilted instinctively.

Being called that by the Archduke and his lackeys felt a bit off, didn’t it?

“…That’s rich.”

“That’s my line. Imperial swordsman. Why the hell did you come all the way out here to meddle in someone else’s succession dispute? By your own standards, isn’t this far from righteous?”

Before answering, I silently scanned my surroundings.

Soldiers had surrounded me from all sides.

The ones chasing me and Goodboy, the spearman’s direct subordinates, and more troops gathering from who-knows-where.

‘…’

But my gaze lingered far above them.

On the distant horizon, the Solari Order stood tall.

As I stared at it…

Somehow, I felt like I’d become a ‘Knight of Elderwood,’ recklessly chasing an ideal.

Without turning my gaze from the Order, I murmured quietly.

“Do you know Cervantes?”

Murmurs spread among the soldiers.

Since I wasn’t looking at them, I couldn’t tell exactly what kind of atmosphere my question had stirred.

But one thing was certain.

The voices treating me like a madman were growing louder.

That’s fine.

Cervantes was a man mocked by the masses too.

“Are you talking about the protagonist of some third-rate novel that went out of fashion ages ago?”

Only then did I lower my head to look at the spearman.

…Yes, that’s right.

The Benkou family is a third-rate house.

But.

“Cervantes.”

I, Bihen Benkou.

“Is not third-rate.”

I infused Sword Aura into Zahara Toxeed, my dual short swords.

A faint vibration coursed through the hilts.

From beneath my feet, a rising surge of energy carried dozens of sword beams, radiating outward in all directions.

“Oh, Aura…!”

“Gaaah—! Dodge! Get out of the way!”

“Everyone, behind me now!”

I’ll be your sword…

Tszzzt—!

So spread your wings, Cervantes.

Whirl!

I spun in place.

The Sword Aura rippled outward like a wave, centered on me.

It was a silent, white tsunami.

Screams overlapped from all directions.

Soldiers fell in unison, like grass swept by a gale, while bodies were flung upward and tangled in every direction.

Tip: Tap/click the left or right side of the screen to go to previous/next chapter.