Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: The Knight Captain's Charge
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At the same time, a massive horn blared from atop the ramparts, accompanied by the cheers of the soldiers.
From the ramparts and the gates poured five hundred swift cavalrymen, yelling as they raised their weapons high overhead.
As I charged forward alongside my black steed, a system message appeared before my eyes.
- The sixth day phase begins. 06:00:00
- From the sixth day onward, failure to defend successfully will incur a penalty.
The message about a penalty wasn't particularly surprising.
Yeah, now that's more like the System!
But I had no time to worry about that penalty right now. I'd been standing on the edge of a cliff from the start.
On the enemy side, the archers in the front row swapped places with those in the second row, the new ones nocking arrows as they awaited the knight's command.
Unlike before, this time I was within their range.
Should they shoot once more, or switch the front line to bring up the spearmen behind?
If it were me, I'd confirm that scene I'd just witnessed by ordering another volley.
The moment I made that judgment in my head, the knight mounted on his horse raised his hand in signal.
"Fire!"
Unlike the first volley, this time it wasn't an arcing shot—hundreds of arrows flew straight at us.
"Captain!"
Damon, who had followed me out the gates, urgently called for the knight captain from behind.
I'd set out from the beginning with the intent to provoke, so I'd naturally anticipated all attacks focusing on me.
If the real knight captain had been at the front now, he'd be a pincushion, but I was a cheater from another world and time.
Instead of looking back, I deployed the arm shield I'd equipped in advance.
- Protection Beneath the Wings activation time: 00:03:00
- The item's activation time may shorten depending on external attacks.
Massive transparent wings of wind unfurled in the air. The spread wings enveloped the incoming arrows.
Extending the holy sword's blade to its limit to deflect the first volley had been purely to seize the initiative.
No need to do it twice. It consumed too much mana.
That's why I'd prepared Protection Beneath the Wings ahead of time.
In Tartarus, this was actually junk loot. It only blocked physical impacts.
And once broken, it took quite a while to repair.
Even now, the wings flickered and faded moment by moment as they wrapped around the arrows.
But that was enough. In a place without magic attacks, it was a total cheat item.
See? Hoarding gear is never a bad idea.
You watching, Lucas?
"Wowwww!"
The moment the multitude of arrows wrapped in the wings fell to the ground once more, groans rose from the enemy side and excited cheers erupted from ours.
Damon, sticking close behind me, shouted.
"Captain! What miracle have you learned?!"
His eyes shone with admiration, his voice thick with excitement. To them, I still looked like their knight captain.
"Got time for jokes?"
Damon burst into loud laughter at my words.
Honestly, I'd half-expected a "Who are you?" for using items like this, but since no message popped up demanding I act as the character, it seemed using my items and skills was fine.
This was a bygone time anyway, and I was on a mission.
In the end, it was all to boost my stats and prevent dungeon breaks. I had to act as the character but carry out the mission efficiently.
I calmly settled my mind.
After the second attack fizzled out, the black steed carrying me was now charging across the moat bridge toward the enemy.
Thanks to Protection Beneath the Wings, the soldiers behind me hadn't taken any damage yet.
Damon yelled loudly.
"Isn't there a spell to just crush them all like this?"
"Never learned that trick. Sorry for the shortcoming!"
To be precise, it'd been taken from me.
The distance between our forces and the enemy had closed dramatically. At this rate, we'd clash in minutes.
Even with death on the line, Damon's laughter echoed above the horse's head.
"It's our job to cover the captain's shortcomings! Right, lads?!"
"Yes!"
"You got it!"
The soldiers' resounding roars filled the air.
Maybe because I'd firmly seized the initiative, their morale remained high despite the overwhelming enemy numbers ahead.
Yeah, now my mana expenditure feels worth it.
The enemy spearmen stepped forward, preparing to receive us. The well-trained black steed didn't flinch at the sharp spear tips and pressed on.
I counted down the time in my head.
50 seconds, 40 seconds, 30 seconds...
With the enemy right in front of us, Damon bellowed.
"Bearing the will of the noble ■■■■■-nim!"
Noise again.
But this wasn't the time to worry about it. Someone unknown wailed on the brink of death.
"Heaven's punishment upon those who dare insult the noble ■■!"
"No!"
I had no idea who they meant, what had enraged them so, or why they'd ended up in this state even in death.
The System had blocked it.
Still, there was one thing I could say.
"You do it yourself!"
"Waaaaah!"
"For the captain!"
That was the last cheer I heard.
And then, hell began.
* * *
The soldiers charging with me collided with the enemy without faltering, spears be damned.
Human screams echoed from all directions, cries of agony and the stench of blood blanketing the field in an instant.
My black steed leaped over the advancing spearmen and trampled the enemies behind them with its hooves.
"You're seriously amazing!"
The words slipped out unbidden.
Genuine admiration. Truly well-trained horses like this were rare.
Damon swung his sword and shouted.
"Praise me like that!"
"Shut up!"
Damon's mounted combat skills were excellent too. So were the soldiers following behind.
Come to think of it, this was an open-field map. The castle's inhabitants might be locals specialized in cavalry.
Outnumbered, the unmounted enemy infantry struggled to handle the hundreds of charging horsemen.
The cavalry began weaving skillfully through their ranks.
Melee chaos erupted.
"Don't break formation!"
"The enemy is only a few hundred!"
"Advance!"
An enemy knight bellowed from the rear. The clash of spears and swords rang out, horses whinnied in pain, and screams tore through the air from every direction.
"Die!"
"Evil ■■'s ■■s!"
One enraged enemy soldier roared like thunder and charged me atop my black steed, spear leveled. I'd just sliced through a wave of foes ahead and was pulling my sword back.
"Who's talking?!"
But that spear never reached me.
Damon's longsword plunged deep through the gap in the enemy soldier's helmet and withdrew.
Without glancing at the falling corpse, Damon and I charged into the enemy ranks together.
"You're not tired yet, are you, Captain?!"
"Nonsense!"
For someone so flippant, Damon's skill was impressive. He could take down about one and a half for every three I cut.
The enemies ahead wailed in grief as Damon and I bore down.
"Don't fear them! Only those two have skill!"
"Kill, kill them!"
Right—once battle joined, someone had to die. Our reckless allies were falling too.
"For the castellan!"
One soldier, pierced countless times by enemy spears and swords, cried out in a scream-like voice. I tried to wheel my horse toward him, but a system message appeared first.
- The ghost's wish has been fulfilled. The ghost has quelled its rage and entered eternal rest.
- You have acted admirably as the character! Bonus achievement points will be added upon dungeon clear.
Admirably? What exactly?
The moment I thought that, I recalled what I was supposed to protect—what the knight captain had wanted to safeguard.
Innocent lives and his comrades' honor.
...He'd preferred dying in battle like this over surrendering.
I cut down another enemy soldier lunging from behind.
Our allies kept their momentum and cavalry skills, but the numerical gap was overwhelming.
"Don't fear! We outnumber them vastly!"
"Stab the horses! Unhorse them!"
"Charge in waves!"
The enemy soldiers, initially thrown into chaos by the cavalry plunging into their midst, soon moved in disciplined unison at their commander's orders.
Especially once the spearmen regrouped and used their long spears' reach to target the horses, the beasts faltered under wounds, and our soldiers began tumbling from their mounts everywhere.
Countless blades descended on fallen horses and riders, hacking them to pieces.
Yet each time someone died, a system message appeared.
- The ghost's wish has been fulfilled. The ghost has quelled its rage and entered eternal rest.
- You have acted admirably as the character! Bonus achievement points will be added upon dungeon clear.
What on earth had happened that even dying honorably in battle like this resolved their grudges?
For someone like me, who'd only swung a sword to survive, it was impossible to fathom.
No, don't think. Focus on the fight ahead!
I gritted my teeth and swung my sword.
These were ghosts, echoes of a summoned past, but the blades and spears were real.
Dying here meant game over.
"Captain! Their main force is advancing!"
Damon yelled as he snapped an enemy spear.
Looking up at his shout, sure enough—the enemy excluding the front line we'd crashed into was marching across the moat.
With our small numbers here, they'd decided to ignore us and target our home base, the ramparts, first.
Hah, funny.
"Then I'll make sure they can't ignore us!"
Every soldier talks big about dying for the cause, but deep down, none believe an enemy blade will find their throat right now.
Especially not when they hold such a numerical advantage.
But they'd already retreated once last summer. The moat's nastiness and the ramparts' climb hadn't changed.
No matter their numbers, that was the commander's view.
Those receiving orders were an army—a collective of individuals—and someone had to lead and die first.
No one truly wanted to sacrifice themselves at the vanguard.
"A one-versus-thousand battle. Want me to show you how to win?"
Alicia's words suddenly echoed in my mind.
"No need to overthink it."
With a bold grin, she'd always swung her sword.
"Swing this until the bastard in front of you drops! Before you know it, they'll all turn tail—no need to kill all thousand."
I'd cursed her as crazy at first, but Alicia wasn't fundamentally wrong.
Disassembling a group into panicked individuals through fear.
That was the first step for the outnumbered to claim victory.
And I could do it now.
"Cover the rear, Sir Damon!"
Without a word of protest, Damon swiftly fell back. As he peeled off from my side, enemies surged into the gap.
The black steed roared thunderously, kicking aside soldiers thrusting spears and swords at it, and plowed through.
Right—I'll do what your master couldn't.
The steed overtook the marching infantry in a flash. Dozens of soldiers were crushed under the pursuing hooves.
"Behind—it's behind us!"
"Coming from the rear!"
By the time the enemy realized I was striking from behind, the black steed had already raced ahead of them.
"This far and no further!"
As if reading my mind, the steed slowed and wheeled around right before the moat, in the space before the enemy horde arrived. I raised my sword.
- The Apex Holy Sword responds to your will!
- Caution! Mana consumption is accelerating rapidly.
Hot blood surged in my gut, but I clenched my teeth. My sword hand didn't tremble.
The enemy charging forward cried out in belated shock as my sword miraculously extended, but they couldn't slow down.
The elongated blade swept across, claiming hundreds of lives in an instant.
Screams exploded wherever it touched, the sensation of piercing flesh and cleaving bone transmitting through my hand endlessly.
Why were these sensations so vivid when these were just dead ghosts?
No one stood on two legs in the wake of my swing.
Deadly silence blanketed the once-noisy battlefield.
"Wh-what..."
A few lucky unscathed enemies backed away, faces drained of color. An irate enemy knight screamed from behind to advance, but terror overpowered orders.
I pointed my sword at the retreating foes and declared.
"If you fall back now, I won't pursue."
"Don't spout nonsense! It's just one man! Charge!"
"But!"
The soldier at the blade's direction glanced at it and stumbled back.
I flashed a grin at the enemy.
My face must've looked like a demon's, drenched head to toe in blood. All eyes—enemy and ally—locked on the gleaming blade.
"Anyone who enters where this sword reaches will die."
In this moment, I dominated the battlefield—not their army of thousands.
The soldier where my sword pointed turned tail. Behind him, another did the same.
"G-go back!"
"I can't do it!"
"R-run!"
For the first time, the enemy front line collapsed.