Chapter 305
Chapter 305
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.63 – A Knight's Valor Knows No Recklessness (15)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The tide of battle flipped in an instant!
It changed so drastically that a single sentence could sum up the entire situation—and without a doubt...
[Grrr!?]
[Kek...!]
[!!]
...this was nothing short of a catastrophe for the monsters.
The fiends known as demonic beasts scattered in panic, fleeing for their lives.
The insectoid spawn of the evil god charged forward fearlessly, only to shatter like ice sculptures over and over, while the rest of the monsters fared no better, reduced to bloody pulp.
The northern warriors, who seemed to prove they were the undisputed kings of ground combat, and the lake guardians tore through the battlefield like a storm, butchering tens of thousands of demonic beasts in the blink of an eye.
Enraged, the flying beasts—masters of aerial warfare—swooped down on the knights...
Slash!
Stab-!
[Ke, ek......]
...only for the flying monsters, who thought the skies were their domain, to have their wings torn off and bellies pierced, plummeting to the ground.
Incredibly...
[Keeek?!]
...humans—knights, no less—were flying.
A knight order waving banners embroidered with crimson eagles and arrows.
No mistake about it. If they weren't called knights but rangers instead, no one could complain if they claimed to be the finest ranger corps not just in the south, but across the entire continent.
"...Why are those knights flying through the sky?"
"Ma, magic?"
"No mana flow at all—what...?"
"????"
The Crimson Eagle Knights.
Just as they proved themselves the overlords of the skies, they dashed through the air, slaughtering flying beasts left and right. They even rained down arrows like bombs, steadily thinning the ground monsters as well.
Carpet bombing. That was the perfect way to describe the Crimson Eagles' display. They didn't match Galahad or Lionel in raw power, but they undeniably dominated a chunk of the battlefield.
Of course, they weren't the only ones shining.
Thwack!
"If you spot any distortion beasts using warping abilities, eliminate them immediately! Don't miss even the slightest anomaly, got it!"
"Yes, Grand Master!"
The sword masters of Oppen.
A house without a formal knight order, yet no one in the kingdom dared belittle them.
True to their name as the Sword Family, their strength came from countless swordsmen ready to step up for Oppen and the masters residing in their halls.
Rumor had it that Oppen's masters boasted skills and experience rivaling high-grade knights or black-rank mercenaries—and now, those rumors proved true as they overwhelmingly dismantled even the trickiest demonic beasts.
Low-tier beasts fell in a single swing. Even massive mid-to-large ones didn't take more than five strikes.
Distortion beasts with illusions, mind control, or special powers took a bit longer, but in the end, Oppen's sword masters always came out on top.
...It was an astonishing sight.
Distortion beasts that could wear down a fighter all day were being toppled one-sidedly, handled like misbehaving children.
It showed exactly why Oppen's masters outranked high-grade knights and black-rank mercenaries—a testament to the Sword Saint's household.
Boom!!
A mere three hundred-plus knights toying with six hundred thousand foes.
It was so unrealistic, you'd scold a movie for exaggerating—but the battlefield's heat proved it was all too real, the suffocating pressure crushing every inch of your body.
"Wh-why are there so many damn monsters swarming?!"
"This is insane!!"
"Senior! Help us!"
"Why the hell are we even here...!?"
...Well, there was one knight order whose armor bore a proud lion emblem, yet acted more pitifully than alley cats.
Despite having the largest contingent—one hundred fifty strong—the White Silver Lions, tasked with fortress defense, looked utterly pathetic.
You had to wonder if bringing them to a battlefield was even right, but fortunately...
"T-take the potions over here!"
"Bring bandages and weapons!"
"Potions! We're running out of potions...!"
...the White Silver Lions, lacking in combat prowess, were at least nailing their assigned role. They weren't fighters, but logistics runners—and doing their best at it. Each one pulling their weight, in a manner of speaking.
Ironic for a knight order, but...
Boom!!
...in this deadly battlefield, only knights trained in Fighting Techniques could handle supply duty instead of regular soldiers. A positive spin, all things considered.
And overseeing this entire spectacle from a 360-degree view was a certain great evil spirit...
[What is this?!]
The great evil spirit was beyond flustered—her head spun in confusion.
They had been winning. Dominating, even...
Why?
How...!?
A scream-like wail.
Inanna couldn't hide her rage and injustice.
One reason for Inanna's panic was the reinforcements arriving for Modred.
After all, anyone coming to Modred's aid was an 'impossibility.'
Back when Inanna was sealed, she swiftly inscribed numerous curses on Modred's lands. The most powerful was the 'Curse of Isolation.'
The Curse of Isolation had one role.
To cut off Modred—no, all of Wales—from the outside world.
Even Inanna, who scorned humans as vermin, couldn't deny the potential threats lurking in the south's mystical lands. If such beings came to Modred's aid, it would spell disaster for her, especially without her full strength restored.
Thus, over three hundred years, she poured immense effort into maintaining the Curse of Isolation, forcing Modred into solitary defiance.
That was how potent it was.
For example...
Not death or plague-level calamities, but troubles that pinned them down, preventing departure. Ignoring them only escalated to greater disasters, even cataclysmic ones.
So Inanna hadn't even considered outside help.
It was impossible. Utterly so.
...Or it should have been.
Even as the curse activated in real-time, reinforcements arrived unscathed by any incident.
For Inanna, it was baffling—infuriating, even. Her mind couldn't process it.
How was this possible?
...Throb!
Even rotten, a god is a god, it seems.
Inanna instantly pinpointed who ruined her curse—and her resurrection.
A mere hunch, but a god's intuition never erred; it revealed only truth.
Thus, she declared:
The saboteur wrecking all her plans, grudges, even resurrection...!
That 'wretch.'
"Hm..."
Lee Han scratched his ear and tilted his head.
Wondering why his ear itched out of nowhere.
"...What's this? Why'd so many show up?"
He'd only asked for a moderate helping hand—why this crowd?
...Everyone off on a holiday?
"And why are the white kitty kittens here? This ain't their spot."
[Gigigik!]
"...Not talking to you."
Lee Han delivered final judgment to the interrupter of his thoughts.
Crunch!
[!!]
The Sky Bull, the great evil spirit's mystical beast, thrashed to the end—but futilely, crushed in Lee Han's grip.
No intact parts left; legs, ribs, horns gone long ago.
It headbutted with its final strike, but Lee Han blocked the desperate struggle and pulverized its skull.
Ground to sand so fine regeneration was impossible—and the next instant...
Whoosh!
The powder ignited and incinerated rapidly.
[───.]
...Its hollow eyes fixed on Lee Han until the end.
"......"
Lee Han didn't avert his gaze from the Sky Bull's eyes.
A mere skull without will of its own, yet its stubbornness was oddly admirable—
[─A flawless defeat, warrior. I count it an honor to fall to you and cross the river to the afterlife.]
"...What? You could talk?"
A voice echoed in his mind; Lee Han blinked.
Realizing this thing had been playing mute fool until now.
[Nay, warrior. I was merely under that 'demon's' control. Now, departing the living world, I am truly free at last. Haha. Freedom in death rather than life—an ironic existence.]
"......"
[Warrior. You who freed my soul from unfree life. Please, defeat that demon. You can do it.]
"J-just go already—why dump this on me?"
[Haha, a burden? You, of all people, wouldn't feel it. Wise warrior, looks aside.]
"......This bastard?"
[Ahaha! Win the day.]
Sizzle...
With hearty laughter, the Sky Bull—Gugalanna—fully incinerated and vanished.
Seeming utterly relieved.
Lee Han, watching to the end...
"...Dumps a needless burden and leaves, that guy?"
Shrugged at the massive bull horn left in his hand, then descended from the 'mountain.'
...A mountain made of thirty thousand demonic beasts.