Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Conclusion
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Please take good care of it.
Despite Palato's shout, the chaos in the Beluan camp showed no signs of calming down.
With everyone except the eight knights writhing on the ground and vomiting blood, there was no way they could prepare for battle.
Fortunately, the poison didn't affect the magic beast lizards serving as mounts, so the riders' mounts were unharmed—but with the riders in this state, combat was out of the question, let alone escape.
Arsen hurriedly asked Eloise.
"Eli, can you detoxify the others too?"
"Yeah. But I have to touch them one by one and purify them directly."
"Got it. Ramun Knight! The lady can cure the poison!"
At Arsen's shout, Ramun leaped forward in one great bound and landed beside him.
Unlike his usual calm demeanor, he now pressed urgently, as if interrogating.
"How long to heal all the soldiers?"
"About ten seconds per person."
After pondering briefly for a few seconds at Eloise's firm reply, Ramun answered.
"Heal them as fast as you can. All forces, prepare for battle!"
The knights alone could retreat even now, but abandoning thirty-seven squires and five soldiers and fleeing would be politically too burdensome.
Ramun decided to stand and fight while somehow recovering the soldiers.
Eloise dismounted from her Jin and began detoxifying those nearby, but her pace was absurdly slow.
She had to concentrate for nearly ten seconds while holding each one, so detoxifying the forty-odd suffering from poison would take several minutes.
By the time she'd recovered only about ten, the enemy was already approaching.
The other mounted forces would take time to arrive, but the enemy knights had shaken off their escorts and charged ahead first.
Seeing this, Ramun called out to Knight Amund, whose arm was broken.
"Knight Amund, return to the fortress and bring reinforcements. Bring every last one."
"Won't I be more useful here?"
"With that arm, you'd just get in the way. Better to fetch more troops."
". . . Understood."
Amund nodded heavily at Ramun's cold words, then broke from the formation and galloped north.
In the Atar camp, one knight who spotted this asked Batayan.
"There's a runner—should we chase and kill him?"
"Ignore him. As long as we crush their main force here, whatever tricks he pulls won't matter."
As he reined in his subordinate, Batayan noticed Eloise purifying soldiers with a cleansing spell.
Light poured from her hands for a while, then the soldier caught his breath and sprang up—no one but a fool could miss what she was doing.
"Damn it, she knows healing spells? The mage is treating soldiers! Kill the mage first! Javelins!"
* * *
"Protect the lady, soldiers!"
At Arsen's command, the soldiers quickly stood in front of Eloise, forming a human wall.
Fortunately, the squires and soldiers near Eloise had all received her cleansing spell and been cured of the poison, so their response was swift.
Two shieldbearers immediately overlapped their large shields to cover her.
As the charging Atar knights drew their javelins, a shrill voice from the Beluan camp cried out like a scream.
"Javelin attack!"
With those words, the Atar knights hurled their javelins in unison.
Their targets weren't fellow knights, but the poisoned, groaning squires and soldiers—and Eloise, who was recovering soldiers with her cleansing spell.
The sharp javelins thudded into the shields, and two or three slipped through to fatally wound squires who hadn't blocked in time.
Arsen stood firm in front of the shields guarding Eloise, batting away one particularly menacing javelin.
Wary of counterattacks, the Atar knights retreated immediately after their volley.
'The knights number exactly seven to seven . . .'
The knight whose arm Palato had severed had fully recovered and rejoined the fight, evening the numbers.
The Beluan camp's weakness was the many troops still unrecovered from the poison.
Even if they recovered, the Atar side had more soldiers—but half of Beluan's forty-odd were still poisoned.
The standoff lasted only a moment before the Atar estate's regular infantry joined from afar, charging in.
"Eli, a little support!"
"Got it!"
A sphere of light formed between Eloise's hands, then thorny green vines erupted from the ground.
The vines writhed across the earth, avoiding the guarding soldiers, and rose like a wall in front of the charging Atar forces, blocking their path.
This sudden vine wall was no obstacle for knights, who leaped over it easily, but it was effective enough against mounted squires and infantry.
They slammed into the sharp thorns at full speed, foiling their plan to overrun with momentum.
One Atar knight who vaulted the vines bellowed at the sight.
"Damn mage!"
He roared and hurled his javelin viciously, but Eloise was shielded by two layers: the soldiers' shields and Arsen.
Arsen snatched the incoming javelin barehanded and hurled it back at the enemy.
Since it wasn't aimed at a knight, it pierced the chest of a following squire, who toppled without a scream.
"You bastard—!"
Enraged by the strike, the javelin-throwing knight drew his greatsword and charged.
"Fight! There's no retreat!"
Ramun and the other knights pressed forward to clash with enemy knights, while squires and soldiers exchanged spear and sword thrusts in support.
The melee quickly turned against Beluan.
One soldier straining to cross blades coughed blood and was impaled on a spear.
"I am the son of Valtan—"
The moment an enemy knight reached Arsen and began his grand introduction, Arsen lunged, stabbing through the opening.
He had no patience for formalities in real combat.
The instant Arsen's sword tangled with the enemy's greatsword in defense, a spear thrust in from the side.
It was a squire on a mount.
'Damn!'
A bit more and he could kill him—but Arsen abandoned the attack, leaning back to create an opening.
The spear scraped across his breastplate, sparking.
At that moment, the attacking squire screamed and dropped his spear.
Thorny vines had burst from the ground, coiling around his legs like a python and squeezing.
Arsen promptly beheaded the enemy, then shouted his thanks amid the din of battle, knowing it wouldn't carry.
"Thanks, Eli!"
Eloise wasn't aiding only Arsen.
She floated an invisible magic eye overhead for vision, extending thorny vines everywhere to harass enemies and control the field.
Her spells couldn't significantly harm knights due to their anti-magic resistance, but to squires and soldiers, they were a massive threat.
In effect, Eloise alone was filling the gap of dozens of Beluan troops.
Realizing this, Batayan shook off Ramun mid-fight and charged toward Eloise.
He exposed a huge opening in his reckless assault; Ramun slashed his back deeply, but Batayan endured on his regeneration ability and leaped at her.
Arsen, facing an enemy knight with Eloise at his back, caught it in his sight.
"Stop, you bastard!"
In his panic, Arsen cursed as he yanked a javelin and threw it.
No expert with javelins, it wasn't lethal to a knight—but it stalled Batayan's rush on Eloise.
As Batayan staggered from the impact and Arsen blocked his path, a cruel smile curled Batayan's lips.
"Yes, Arsen! We still have unfinished business, you and I!"
Beyond Batayan's shoulder, Ramun—who had pursued him—faced a pincer from two knights.
Arsen's accelerated thoughts flicked his gaze: one Beluan knight lay dead, bisected at the waist.
The unfamiliar armor style marked him as surely Ludas.
This clash of elites from Beluan and Atar was too harsh for a fortress knight who'd lazed with drink.
And without a mount, even more so.
In any case, with Ramun pincer-attacked by the knight who killed Ludas and the one Arsen had fought, he clearly couldn't help here.
"Come on!"
At Arsen's taunt, Batayan thrust his spear. Compared to Rasika earlier, he surpassed in mana, physical prowess, and skill.
Arsen matched his mana quantity, but Batayan's strikes carried honed strength and technique from years of battle.
Rich in experience, he parried even Arsen's hyper-reflex counterattacks as if matching his speed.
For several exchanges, Arsen's longsword and Batayan's spear clashed in sparks, neither drawing blood.
"Sloppy, whelp! Ten more years of training and you might've been something!"
Batayan crowed arrogantly, shoving Arsen's sword back with brute force—when a warped orange orb flew from behind, smashing into his helmet.
In slowed time, Arsen spotted it precisely and ducked, eyes shut.
The orb settled on the helmet like a massless shadow, then erupted in a massive boom on contact.
Batayan reeled back with a shocked scream, senses overwhelmed by shock and noise.
It was one of Eloise's specialties: an explosion spell. Not enough to kill or disable a knight outright, but plenty to stagger.
Arsen swung for Batayan's neck without hesitation.
But with his regeneration specialty, Batayan recovered faster than expected, dodging back.
It grazed lightly, scratching his neck but not fatally.
Clutching his bleeding neck, Batayan pulled away; seconds later, the blood stopped, and he sneered, releasing his hand.
"Can't win alone, so you borrow the mage? No shame?"
"You're the one who poisoned instead of dueling fair—did you forget your conscience at birth?"
Stung, Batayan skipped retort and swept his spear low-to-high.
Their Jins fought fiercely too, clawing with forepaws and teeth for dominance.
The fight dragged without resolution.
Arsen fell behind several times, but Eloise countered with vines or blasts each time.
Mid-clash, as Batayan paused to catch breath, something slammed into his back.
A javelin of black star iron from tip to haft. Only one in Beluan used them.
Looking toward the throw: Palato, having subdued his opponent, providing covering fire.
"Ugh, ack . . ."
Batayan spat blood, fighting to stay conscious, but blood loss blurred his mind rapidly.
Palato's strike had ruptured several organs.
Regeneration or no, it was beyond recovery.
If only they had a healing mage—but theirs was hidden in the rear woods to avoid interference.
'Damn it all. To die so pointlessly.'
Through fading vision, a young knight charged to finish him.
He wanted to apologize to his sister for failing her vengeance, but only blood came from his lips.
Moments later, darkness claimed him forever.
Arsen, who took Batayan's life, steadied his ragged breath and gazed at the corpse.
The estate's sole unbeatable knight—strong enough to rival Ramun—lay fallen.
Pure skill-wise, still beyond Arsen; victory borrowed allies' aid, bringing no triumph.
Only relief at bare survival.
And the lesson: even mighty knights die pathetically to ambushes or flanks.
Briefly, but battle raged on—Arsen scanned the field.
Just then, Ramun finished the last pincer-attacking knight.
Eloise's ongoing support and intermittent detox spells had reversed the tide.
Force balance had flipped.
An Atar knight, sensing Batayan's death, leaped back and shouted.
"Retreat! Scatter! Regroup at Ruda Fortress!"
Recognizing the voice and situation, Atar knights and squires dispersed every which way.
Mountless squires and soldiers dropped weapons, signaling surrender.
Some knights and squires glanced at Ramun for orders.
"No quarter. Kill them all and pursue!"
With Ramun's blood-soaked command, the war's outcome—and the vanquished's fate—was sealed.