Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Duel (1)
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Please take good care of me.
During the one-hour break, the expedition took various measures to recover their stamina.
They cut down a few relatively straight trees nearby to erect poles, then draped cloth around them to hastily construct a large tent. Inside, they activated a magic orb that emitted heat to raise the temperature.
Everyone entered to shelter from the rain and warm their bodies.
And before the duel began, they established a few rules.
Do not attack if someone shouts surrender, drops their weapon, and raises their hands. If an opponent loses consciousness and cannot get up, declare it a loss by judgment and stop the attack. If one side is knocked off their Jin, the other must also dismount...
With differing cultures on both sides leading to raised voices at times, they still managed to finalize the rules relatively quickly.
"Alright, let's get started!"
From between the two formations facing off, ready for battle at any moment, one knight emerged from each side to represent their camp.
The Belluan knight wielded two axes, while the Atar knight held a long sword with a blade on one side and a shield.
"Knight of Belluan, Amund, son of Pird!"
"Shalman, son of Andin!"
After brief self-introductions, the two knights spurred their Jins forward and clashed in an instant.
The Atar knight, with the slightly longer reach, struck down first with his sword, but Amund blocked it with one axe while swinging the other.
The opponent deftly parried with the shield in his left hand.
The fierce battle wasn't confined to above.
Amund's Jin reared up on its front legs, raking sharply at the body of the opponent's Jin. In response, the enemy's Jin twisted its serpentine neck to bite at the head of Amund's Jin.
Exchanging blows atop a shaking Jin in the heat of combat was one of the most crucial techniques in a knight's duel.
After several clashes, Amund's axe finally grazed the enemy's side, drawing first blood.
"Urk!"
"Ha! Rookie!"
Seeing his opponent clutch the wound and fall back slightly after the successful strike, Amund bellowed triumphantly and shook his axe to fling off the blood.
The knights from the Belluan estate side broke into smiles at the sight.
"As expected of Amund. That guy's axes are vicious."
"He'll win the first bout handily."
From there, Amund continued to dominate, pressing the enemy knight relentlessly.
With his sturdy build came immense strength, and even wielding an axe in each hand, he matched the power of an average knight gripping a weapon with both.
After pushing hard, Amund saw his opponent drop his sword. He grinned cruelly and raised one axe high.
At that moment, Arsen, who had been watching the duel, shouted.
"Sir Amund! Watch below!"
They were close enough for his attack to land, so the Jins ridden by Amund and his opponent were pressed together.
In that situation, as defeat loomed, the Atar knight maneuvered his Jin's long neck to wrap around Amund's Jin and fling it aside.
In the instant Amund's balance wavered and his focus slipped, both knights' Jins were already toppling sideways.
Naturally, the knights atop them were thrown to the ground.
"Kuhak!"
"Amund! Get up quick!"
"Sir Amund!"
"Kill him, Shalman!"
"Now's the time!"
Before the suddenly fallen Amund could even grab his dropped axe, the enemy knight, who had prepared for this, swiftly mounted his back.
The opponent hooked his left arm around Amund's neck and twisted the other arm to lock his.
This was a grappling technique for subduing an armored foe without weapons—a master's level, no less.
To counter such an attack required exceptional defense or overwhelming strength, and unfortunately, Amund had neither.
Amund tried to endure, but a gruesome crack from his arm brought excruciating pain, and he couldn't hold out.
"Urk, kuaaaagh! I surrender! I surrender!"
As Amund cried out his surrender, the Belluan camp shouted to stop in unison and rushed forward.
In response, the knight pinning Amund deliberately wrenched the joint one more time before clicking his tongue, releasing the arm, and standing.
A jeer reached the ears of Amund, who groaned face-down on the ground.
"Begging for your life—aren't you ashamed?"
"Grk, you bastard..."
Amund ground his teeth, clutching his grotesquely twisted arm, but the opponent snorted dismissively and returned to his camp without a care.
Amund barely remounted his Jin and returned with slumped shoulders. Friendly fellow knights approached to console him.
"You were unlucky, Amund. You had the fight under control the whole time."
"It was as good as a win for Sir Amund."
"Using a trick like that is cowardly, isn't it..."
Among them, Ramun cut in with a cold voice.
"Don't console him by belittling the opponent like an amateur. The bout was fair. A loss is a loss."
The knights deflated at his words, but Palato chuckled dryly and reined Ramun in.
"Don't be too harsh. He gave it his all, didn't he? Sir Amund, come here. Let's fix that arm first."
"Understood, Sir Palato."
Palato carefully removed the arm section of Amund's armor, then forcefully reset the dislocated joint in one go.
A groan escaped as Amund clenched his teeth to stifle a scream.
"There. Step back. You won't be able to fight with that arm."
"I have no face to show."
As Amund bowed his head and withdrew, another knight stepped forward from the enemy side and shouted.
"I am Marshan, son of Utr. Come out, you who crawl in the dirt after defeat!"
"Sir Latia."
At Ramun's low call, the second scheduled knight, Latia, stepped forward.
"Latia, son of Izro! I'll be your opponent!"
Gripping a single spear, Latia charged forward with a spirited shout.
* * *
"This is..."
"I never imagined it would turn out like this."
With even the second knight, Latia, defeated handily, the Belluan camp was now gripped by anxiety.
Latia had held his own early on, but at the critical moment, a single enemy strike sliced his arm, causing him to drop his weapon and lose.
This time, before he could even surrender, the opponent thrust his sword into his chest, leaving him to die without a fight.
"We'll have to hold Sir Latia's funeral back at the estate... You're up next, Palato."
"What if I lose too? Will you attack right away?"
At Palato's question, Ramun glanced toward the Atar camp.
Their side had two duel participants slightly fatigued but still combat-ready, while ours had one with a broken arm and another dead.
The knights' numbers were already reversed.
"Our morale is already broken. Attacking now would be too much. If you lose, we'll concede defeat, withdraw, and raid at night. Of course, winning would be better."
"I'll do my utmost."
Palato advanced slowly, having stuck several javelins into his Jin for quick access.
His opponent this time was a middle-aged knight who looked older than the previous two.
"Honorable knight of Atar, Limoda, son of Ashun."
"Palato, son of Lude."
After the customary introductions, the enemy knight tilted his head at the javelins in Palato's hands.
"A knight using javelins? Unusual. Normally, squires use those."
"That's exactly what I want to say. What is that bizarre weapon?"
The opponent's weapon resembled a sword blade elongated into something odd.
Not quite a glaive, it was like a straight long sword blade attached to a long haft— a strange design.
The man spun it around and grinned before shouting.
"You'll know once you taste it. Come at me!"
"You're the one who should charge."
Replying in a calm tone, Palato twisted his body with a javelin at the ready, crouching his Jin low.
Like a spring compressing before release, his entire body's power coiled tight.
Then, as the Jin's four legs sprang forward, propelling them like a shot, Palato spun and hurled the javelin.
A terrifying strike combining pinpoint accuracy and power—enough to fell most magic beasts in one blow—flew at the enemy.
The opponent knight, who had planned to deflect the first javelin and close in, gaped in shock and raised his weapon defensively.
"Urk!"
He deflected it with a clang, but the force reverberated through his body, halting his charge in place.
The power and momentum were so fierce it rattled his bones.
That brief hesitation cost him the perfect opening.
Having exposed a momentary gap after his full-power throw, Palato quickly regained balance and launched the second javelin.
Not as powerful as the first, but far from negligible.
"Damn! Like this...!"
The instant he blocked the second, the third arrived almost simultaneously, piercing the body of his Jin.
This absurd rapid fire was possible only because Palato alternated hands.
The knight's eyes widened in astonishment at the feat beyond imagination.
Palato spoke in his characteristic mild, gentle tone.
"How about it? Javelins aren't bad, are they?"
With his Jin unable to move properly after the piercing, the knight gritted his teeth and steadied himself.
If both dismounted, he might turn the tide, but since he was attacked off, jumping down voluntarily wouldn't force the opponent to follow.
'Damn, I'm still fine. I can block or dodge those javelins if I watch carefully!'
Javelins were limited in number, so if he endured and prevented recovery, he could win.
Controlling his faltering Jin, he moved toward the fallen javelin.
Then, Palato suddenly spurred his Jin forward and drew his sword.
"Have you gone mad!"
For an inexplicable reason, the knight grinned broadly in the favorable situation and aimed his sword at him.
Compared to Palato's mere one-handed sword of moderate length, his own weapon was far longer and heavier, so he was confident in close combat.
As he thrust forward to impale the approaching Palato, a stinging sensation hit his abdomen, and strength drained from his body.
"What..."
Glancing down unwittingly, the knight saw a javelin protruding from his belly as if it had grown from inside.
"Good heavens."
"Is that even possible?"
The Atar estate knights in the rear stared wide-eyed at Palato's technique.
Unlike the enemy knight with narrowed close-range vision, they watched from afar and saw exactly how Palato attacked.
He had feinted a sword strike to deceive, while using his Jin's tail to hurl the javelin.
Skilled Jin handling was a knightly virtue, but no one had imagined using it that way.
'As expected of Sir Palato. Perfect except for his head.'
Arsen applauded in admiration.
Of course, given his specialty, Arsen was confident he could beat Palato a hundred times out of a hundred, but Palato's skill was genuinely impressive.
That was why he ranked high despite using the disadvantaged javelin in man-to-man combat.
Ignoring the shock and awe, Palato swung his sword fiercely, intent solely on killing.
Realizing he couldn't block in his current state, the enemy knight leaped from his Jin immediately.
His quick reaction saved his head, but his right arm, caught by the blade, was severed clean.
Before he could scream, seeing Palato close in again, the armless knight bellowed.
"I surrender! I surrender!"
"...You're lucky."
He considered ignoring it and slashing anyway, but the swift surrender meant doing so could invalidate the duel.
Trusting his comrades later in the order, Palato sheathed his killing intent.
The opponent was combat-incapable from the mortal wound anyway.
With his sword at the man's throat, Palato slowly withdrew. Two Atar knights rushed to retrieve their injured comrade.
Seeing the bleeding from belly and arm wouldn't stop, Batayan shouted urgently.
"Mage! Hurry, bring the mage! It's urgent!"
At Batayan's yell, soldiers quickly fetched something from the rear.
Arsen recalled a palanquin from historical dramas.
Specifically, a closed type with roof and walls to hide the occupant.
Soldiers set it down before the wounded knight and opened the door. Someone slowly emerged from within.