Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: Clash with the Overlord
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[Chapter 63 - Barrier]
“Come at meee! I am Anun of Eltaaa!”
The spear-wielding knight, Anun—the de facto leader of Elta’s warriors—charged straight at the lord, bellowing at the top of his lungs.
Even in the face of a colossal snake-man so massive that gods themselves might quail, his courage held firm. Truly a feat worthy of praise.
But that bravery failed to reach the mount he rode.
The leopard with a lion-like mane, his mount Idir, slowed in terror before grinding to a halt and tucking its tail between its legs.
Kiiing...
“What’s this? Don’t stop! Charge! I said don’t be scared!”
He kicked the sides of his mount to spur it on, but once it had frozen in fear, it refused to muster any courage again.
The knights following behind him likewise found themselves unable to close in, their own mounts seized by panic.
As if mocking them, the lord approached at a leisurely pace, sauntering forward.
Finally, as the mount began to backpedal, the knights had no choice but to dismount and plant their feet on the ground.
“Damn it, charge!”
Seven knights who’d been unable to keep their mounts charged ahead, shouting in unison.
The size difference was so vast that they looked pitiful, like mice charging at a lion.
The lord, gazing down at them disdainfully, straightened its body and swung its tail.
Even though it was just a part of its body, the tail—thick as a pillar—came crashing down on the knights.
“Dodge!”
The knights leaped aside just in time, so the tail struck empty air and slammed into the ground with a hollow thud.
A deafening roar echoed as the earth shook, startling nearby soldiers and raiders into glancing over.
The force felt like an earthquake.
The knights, who had felt it up close, wore expressions of sheer pallor.
Seizing the opening from their shaken state, the lord lunged its upper body toward them, moving its enormous frame.
Its sheer size created an illusion of slowness, but in reality, its speed was like a bolt of lightning.
Caught off guard by the discrepancy, one unprepared knight fell into the lord’s grasp.
“Gaaahhh!”
Only after he was seized did the other knights realize that while the lord’s upper body resembled a human’s in shape, its scale dwarfed any man.
Its disproportionately massive hand could encompass an armored knight’s entire torso.
Like shelling a shrimp, the lord deftly twisted the knight’s arm to strip away his weapon.
Then, with one hand on the head and the other on the legs, it began to wring him like a rag.
A gut-wrenching scream rang out, followed by the crack of bones. The lord tossed the mangled remains aside like a discarded toy it had lost interest in.
Something no longer resembling a human tumbled noisily before the knights.
“What in the world are we even fighting? Is that thing truly a ma-in... or a god?”
The despairing mutter from one of Exekia’s knights spoke for them all.
A sense of utter powerlessness and terror against the overwhelming being gripped them.
But only for a moment. Three madmen from Elta—brave to the point of fearlessness—began pounding their armor with their weapons and singing their ritual chant to banish fear and summon courage.
“Behold my whole body! I am here! I fight! I shall fight to my death and join you!”
“Through fighting unto death, we are made complete!”
The knight who had spoken in despair moments before gritted his teeth at the sight.
Even outsiders could muster courage; it shamed them that they, the very ones under attack, quailed.
Soon, one knight clenched his jaw, invoked Exekia’s god, and stepped forward.
“Mikelin watches this battle!”
“Let us fight honorably before the god and die!”
The lord gazed down imperiously at the swarming insects charging anew. Sparks flew from its eyes.
As if declaring that even the attempt to reach it was an unforgivable affront.
The sparks soon took definite form.
Blazing flames now spewed from its eyes, aimed at incinerating the knights on the ground.
“Block it!”
One knight raised his shield—a rare ancient relic few among them possessed.
Despite the ferocious blaze hot enough to melt nearby stones, it failed to melt the shield.
“Now! Get in close and stab!”
With someone’s shout, they reached the enemy’s torso—which had halted, focused on spewing fire.
At last, a spear thrust by one of them pierced the scales.
* * *
“Uwaaaah!”
“Die, you bastard!”
“Guhk!”
Shouts, curses, screams.
Amid the cacophony, the two forces clashed.
Exekia’s elites formed a shield wall with massive shields covering their upper bodies, while waves of disorganized raiders—far more numerous—surged forward.
The raiders shoved at the shield wall with weapons and bodies, but the territory soldiers held firm.
“Brace!”
The front-line soldiers leaned against the comrades right behind them to absorb the incoming impact.
The combined force of the frontal shove and rear push felt like it would crumple their bodies, but they gritted their teeth, endured the pain, and held position.
The soldiers in the rear, supporting their comrades, overcame the oppressive pressure threatening to topple them and pushed back with all their might.
“Thrust!”
At the second command, they jabbed their spears through the gaps between shields in unison.
Screams accompanied the sensation of piercing flesh.
The chaos made it hard to even discern enemy cries, but the soldiers believed each thrust felled one foe.
They had to believe it, or the stress would break them.
In the melee, soldier Rabo felt his shield growing unbearably heavy.
“Damn it!”
He shook it vigorously, but it wouldn’t budge—like it was caught on a rock.
At least two were surely hanging on.
“Let go, you bastards!”
He thrust his spear forward, but felt no give of flesh—only resistance against something hard.
Beyond the sagging shield, he glimpsed two foes in identical metal armor.
Raiders wearing dead comrades’ armor, clinging to his shield.
Seeing them, Rabo sensed his death.
“Let go, you fucking dogs! Let go!”
He screamed, but they wouldn’t release.
He held for a moment, but finally succumbed to the pull and tumbled forward.
“Urk!”
His comrades behind could share the pushing pressure but not counter a pulling attack.
Exposed and defenseless, Rabo squeezed his eyes shut.
In that instant, a green barrier sprang up before him, blocking his view of the enemies lunging for his life.
“Huh...?”
He stared at it blankly for a second before feeling something lift his body.
Realizing it was thorns sprouting from the earth, he was already standing upright, naturally positioned.
“What the...”
Looking around, green thorny vines had spread across the battlefield, endlessly aiding allies and hindering foes.
The range spanned dozens of meters at least.
* * *
[Don’t push yourself too hard.]
[This much is fine! I’m controlling it perfectly.]
While sending a reminder to Eloise through his earring, Arsen swung his sword vertically at an oncoming raider.
Without resistance, the raider’s body split cleanly in half.
The well-forged black star-iron longsword cleaved through metal armor or flesh alike, so Arsen targeted armored enemies primarily.
This one had been no exception.
‘The situation’s not bad.’
As the estate lord had boasted, the well-trained territory soldiers stood firm against several times their number of raiders.
Eloise ceaselessly attacked raiders and supported allies with vine spells, while the other mages unleashed lightning.
The raiders, realizing the spells harassing and slaughtering them came from somewhere, tried to target Arsen’s unit.
But it wasn’t so easy.
Anticipating they’d be prime targets, Arsen’s unit had slipped into Exekia’s elite ranks the moment combat began.
Flanked by walls of steel and guarded head-on by Arsen, Bazkal, and relic-armed soldiers, raiders had to break through to reach the mages.
Not to mention the vines striking at their feet and lightning ready to char their bodies.
With cutting-enhancement swords and shock-absorbing shields, Arsen’s soldiers outperformed other Exekia troops by a wide margin.
Though few in number, they maintained tight formation, mowing down charging raiders like bundles of straw.
As he felled another foe lunging at him, Arsen frowned at a nagging unease.
‘These guys... something’s off.’
Every raider’s face was flushed red, eyes bloodshot with burst vessels staining even the whites.
Their ferocity was inhuman—arms or legs severed, yet they pressed on like machines, not men.
Normal raiders would have fled after losing ten or twenty for each enemy killed, but these fought with the fury of holding out to the last man.
‘Did that roar earlier have some special effect?’
He’d never heard of raiders being berserked, but the lord’s transcendent size made any ability plausible.
Momentum alone didn’t win battles, though.
With steady mage attacks and support plus the soldiers’ desperate stand, the fight progressed overwhelmingly in their favor.
Hundreds of raider corpses littering the ground proved it.
Ironically, their reckless aggression hastened their demise.
“Captain! Ma-in ahead!”
At Reno’s shout, Arsen turned to the massive enemy charging through the raiders toward the mages.
A bipedal tiger-shaped ma-in, mixed in with the raiders.
Even relic-armed soldiers couldn’t be trusted against a ma-in.
“Bazkal!”
“Got it, bro!”
Bazkal, who’d just cut down a raider, rushed over at Arsen’s call.
His Exekia-forged sky-blue alloy armor and greatsword gleamed slick with blood.
“Attack from the left! Sir Marun, support us!”
After a quick order, Arsen spurred Jin straight at the ma-in.
Spotting him, the ma-in roared and swung a hand tipped with long claws.
Charging head-on would mean losing his upper body.
“Hup!”
Arsen leaned back, dodging by a hair’s breadth.
As the claws whistled past, he slashed at the ma-in’s exposed flank.
Poor footing limited his power, but Jin’s momentum split the gash wide, spilling blood.
“Graaaah!”
Before it could clutch its side and scream, Bazkal followed up from the opposite side, exploiting the gap with his greatsword.
A severed forearm flopped on the ground.
“You filthy curs! Come one at a ti—!”
“Take this!”
The cheeky voice rang clearly. Arsen recognized it as Sir Marun’s from behind.
An arrow from the rear struck the ma-in’s face, erupting in flames.
Screaming, the ma-in flailed its remaining arm.
“Smells nice, kitty! Pissed off?”
Marun’s gleeful taunt was so infuriating it made even allies want to smack him.
Arsen didn’t indulge in such banter.
He circled behind the shrieking ma-in, channeling full strength and mana into a thrust.
He felt the sword pierce charred fur, then spine, vividly.
A twist and wring, and the ma-in’s head lolled limply to the ground.
“We got it!”
“Back to formation, quick!”
After ordering the cheering Bazkal, Arsen dispatched a couple of raiders trying to attack nearby, then rode Jin back.
The soldiers parted the shield wall for the returning knights.
“For a ma-in, that was easy!”
Bazkal grinned, clenching his fist proudly.
Three knights lynching one ma-in wasn’t exactly heroic, but dispatching such a powerhouse so swiftly was brag-worthy.
Arsen nodded in agreement.
“Hold out a bit longer! They’re almost done for!”
Reno’s encouragement to the weary soldiers reached him as Arsen surveyed the field.
Just as said, few raiders remained—fewer than the soldiers now.
The battle’s outcome hinged on one thing: the knights versus the raider lord.
Arsen turned his gaze afar to check it.