Chapter 200
Chapter 200
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 200
Chapter Title: Chapter 5-1. These People Here Are Gifts Prepared for You.
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If this had been a unit of mercenaries or adventurers, this outcome never would have happened. Judah was genuinely shocked by the enemy infantry's formation. Impressive. Even knowing that arrows lose power the farther they travel, he hadn't expected them to block them so completely without a single casualty.
'The main force?'
Just from this one glimpse, it was clear the Silan Kingdom's regular army had made thorough preparations. Whether encountering the main body was good luck or bad, he couldn't say. But as the enemy infantry approached with confident strides, Via's eyes narrowed. The sneer curling her lips seemed to say not to get cocky over something like this.
"Sylphid."
Via uttered a single name. No incantation of magical language, no special medium required. Just the name alone rippled the air like a stone skipped across water, whipping up a chill wind from all around.
'A spirit?'
It wasn't visible to the eye, but he could sense something alien manifesting.
"Reload the unit. Fire straight ahead, then fall back this time."
As the enemy infantry advanced with shields raised, Via gave the order. As if relayed by the spirit through the wind, the elves drew arrows from their quivers and nocked them in perfect unison—timing so synchronized it was as if they moved as one.
"Loose."
The elves' arrows left their strings simultaneously. The infantry, advancing in groups of sixteen across four ranks, formed their shield wall just as before. But they had overlooked one thing.
This time, the elves hadn't fired in a high arc—they'd shot straight ahead. From a distance of 300 to 400 meters.
Ordinary arrows lose power and accuracy the farther they fly. At this range, even a straight shot would seem unlikely to hit.
Screeeeech!
But that doubt proved unfounded. The arrows suddenly accelerated with astonishing speed, vanishing from sight in an instant. Judah jolted in surprise at the sheer power, utterly unlike the previous volley.
"Scatter!"
A desperate shout carried all the way here. As defensive magic flared and the shield-bearing infantry reacted—some dispersing at the call—the front-liners held firm, bracing in place with shields forward.
Rather than dodge the impossibly fast arrows, they'd chosen to trust their shields. To Judah's eyes, though, it was the worst possible decision. The arrows streaked forward like bolts from a siege ballista, piercing the blue barrier and shields alike to turn the clustered soldiers into pincushions. Those pierced through heart or head died instantly—the lucky ones. The soldiers who, the moment "scatter" rang out, dove behind thick trees proved wise. They survived. The dead and wounded spilled blood across the snow.
"Hmph! We're pulling back."
Via scoffed at the screams of the bleeding, agonized enemy soldiers. With a gesture from her, the wind spirit vanished, and the elves retreated in unison.
'?'
Withdrawing alongside Via, Judah belatedly spotted red dots on his fanning out from both flanks to close in. He whipped his head around at their rapid approach. Far off, knights in fluttering black cloaks charged toward them.
They looked formidable, but not spirit sword wielders. Though no separate command had been given, some retreating elves turned and loosed arrows. The oncoming knights didn't block with the shields on their left arms—they simply dodged with ease.
'More agile than they look?'
Bear-like brutes moving like rabbits. Despite heavy plate armor and shields, their agility in evading arrows drew admiration. They showed no strain from the weight, suggesting enchanted gear.
Mimicking the blue lance knights of the Byron Empire, perhaps.
Enhancements like <Particleization> and <Lightweight> were standard, alongside spells boosting armor durability and joint flexibility. The production costs were exorbitant, but for Silan, aspiring to empire, it was pocket change.
'...Better to kill them now.'
Leaving them alive meant dealing with them later, and they'd just get in the way. Judah glanced at Via beside him as the knights closed from both sides. Their eyes met—she knew too.
"Let's clean up those pursuing knights before we go. The fewer of them, the better for us."
"I'll take the right."
"I'll handle the left."
No need for further words; agreement reached, they split. He shifted mid-leap to the next branch, turning back. En route, he drew Yakal from his <Bag>. The knight, boldly advancing in heavy plate with black cloak billowing like a wave, spotted Judah charging them instead.
"A human!?"
Through the gap in his helmet's visor, Judah was unmistakably human. The knights, never imagining a human among elves, recoiled in shock. For a split second, they wondered if their foes weren't elves but soldiers from another kingdom or empire.
But sensing hostility in Judah's gaze and drawn blade, they gripped their swords tight. Elves, they'd capture. Anything else—they'd kill.
"You could've run and lived a bit longer."
Yakal's red blade glinted in the sunlight. Stark against the snowy expanse, he leaped down one-handed.
He activated skills one by one, skipping Shadow Deployment. Buffs active before he even landed, his body dissolved into black mist, leaving only a haze behind. He erupted from the shadow of the lead knight.
"Behind!"
The following knight yelled. Judah's target sensed him too, planting his feet to halt and whirl, swinging his left-arm shield. Not a sword—an area attack with the broad shield. Impressive situational awareness.
But spirit sword wielders couldn't be countered by reaction and judgment alone. Judah ignored the sweeping shield, merely stepping back. Yakal—in flamberge form, light as could be for such a greatsword—sliced up diagonally.
The red blade sheared through the knight effortlessly. His body launched skyward. Masterwork armor, etched with buffs and reinforcements, betrayed him—torn like paper despite meant to protect.
"—!"
He tried to speak, but only screams poured out. Knowing death was upon him. Covered in the knight's spraying blood, Judah spun.
"Hup!"
Another knight charged, hostility blazing, sword raised to smash down like a club. Judah summoned Altemia to his left hand and hurled it at his brow. Shield up, the knight blocked—the dagger's blade buried deep but snagged at the hilt.
"Ha!"
Startled briefly by the embedded dagger, the knight soon scoffed as if to say "That all?" and shook it off. Then his eyes locked on the massive black lance now in Judah's left hand, smile vanishing.
'What the—?'
A thrown dagger, fine—but where'd the lance come from? It thrust forward at blinding speed, piercing clean through. No time to think. A skilled mana-user, rigorously trained, yet just human. Heart impaled, instant death.
The other knights flinched at two comrades felled in seconds but didn't hesitate. Bent on killing Judah, they swarmed, striking as one. He whipped Yakal to parry the mana-charged blades raking the ground.
Mana clashed, sparking like electricity. As Judah faintly smiled, sword extended, knights thrust from all sides—no room to dodge. Their blades sank into him successfully.
"!?"
Not the feel of piercing flesh. As the knights recoiled in shock, Judah—now behind them—swept Yakal, felling one while muttering.
"So much blood?"
The snow was soaked with hot blood from all three fresh kills. The near-black gore boiled at Judah's will, steaming away snow to assert its presence.
Chill—
The knights shuddered. Alarms screamed danger, but no counter in this brief moment.
"!"
One knight voiced disbelief. Then the fragment-empowered blood erupted into dozens of spikes as they closed. Swords wreathed in mana cleaved some thorn-like points, but not enough. Blood spikes pierced shields and armor, hoisting bodies aloft.
They'd entered the forest with high hopes—only for such futile ends.
Judah dispatched the last knight swiftly and exhaled. Blood dripped from Yakal's blade.
[You have killed a member of the Silan Kingdom's Black Knight Order.]
[In the war of trees, steel, elves, and humans, you have chosen to side with the elves.]
[You must defend the elves against well-trained knights and soldiers, and adventurers and mercenaries lured by false honor and promises of riches.]
[We support your choice to stand with the elves, however desperate it may seem.]
A message at last. Sides drawn only after killing humans?
Judah read the floating text impassively, dismissed it, gave the distant watching humans a glance, then leaped back to the trees to rejoin Via.