Chapter 437: One Against a Thousand
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 437: One Against a Thousand
“Wh-what is this…”
Marquis Kailix, who had been observing the situation through a magic tool, was speechless for a long moment.
Drake was a powerful warrior who had reached the level of a low-grade Aura Master.
But he was defeated in less than five minutes?
“N-no way. This can’t be happening!”
Crash—
In the end, Marquis Kailix couldn’t accept reality and flipped the table over.
It was a display that threw all his dignity as a high noble to the dogs, but it wasn’t an entirely incomprehensible act.
The talent he had spent a fortune to painstakingly recruit had just suffered a pointless death in the most unexpected of places.
“There shouldn’t be any Aura Masters besides Baron Bipolun and Count Alestro, so where in the world did a monster like that come from?!”
While it was true that Drake was the strongest among Marquis Kailix’s knights, it didn’t mean the others were unskilled.
The only reason he had sent Drake into the duel was to show off his military might to the other nobles.
But not only had he lost his strongest knight in an instant, but the army’s morale had also plummeted.
“Damn it!!!”
The nobles bowed their heads, afraid the Marquis’s fury might turn on them.
Just as Viscount Lias was rubbing the back of his neck, breaking out in a cold sweat…
“Is there no one else?”
“?!”
Kang Hyun-woo’s shout echoed across the Eastern Plains.
It was a blatant provocation, but no one dared to step forward.
Though many had dismissed Drake as a barbarian, they had all tacitly acknowledged his skill.
And that man had been utterly toyed with from start to finish, unable to land a single proper counterattack.
Everyone knew that stepping into a duel now would be nothing short of suicide.
“Darion! Kill that arrogant bastard!”
“…My apologies.”
“What…?”
Marquis Kailix’s guard knight lowered his head.
He was a cold-blooded man who would dispose of a newborn without hesitation if the Marquis ordered it, but his loyalty didn’t extend to willingly accepting a pointless death.
It was common sense. There was no way he, a mere top-level Aura Expert, could defeat an opponent that an Aura Master like Drake couldn’t handle.
He’d be lucky to last a single exchange.
“Grrr!! Is there no one else?! I’ll grant anything to the one who brings me his head! Gold, women, a title—I don’t care what it is!”
“Your Excellency!”
At that moment, a young knight stepped before the Marquis.
“I will go.”
“…And you are?”
“I am Rodin, the second son of Baron Jerus. I will surely bring you victory, for your glory!”
“Hmm…”
Marquis Kailix’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Rodin.
He was young.
Far too young.
He looked to be in his mid-twenties at most, as if he had only recently been knighted.
His youth seemed to fuel his hot-blooded nature, and it was clear at a glance that he couldn’t properly assess the situation.
But at least he was better than the others, who were cowering with their heads down like scared dogs.
“Very well! If you bring me that man’s head, I will grant you anything you desire.”
“There is only one thing I desire. Marriage to Lady Clarissa!”
Clarissa Bellua Kailix.
She was the Marquis’s only daughter.
Needless to say, the gap in status between the sole daughter of a marquis and the second son of a minor baron was as vast as that between a commoner and a noble.
The Marquis, who was well aware of this fact, was momentarily incensed by the knight’s audacity.
But perhaps because his anger had reached its peak, the Marquis readily nodded.
“You’re not all talk, are you?”
“I will show you with results!”
The knight saluted gallantly and left the tent.
But the senior knights who watched him go had nothing but grim expressions on their faces.
As expected.
Less than ten minutes after he left, he returned as a cold corpse. According to a soldier, he hadn’t even had a chance to swing his sword.
Baron Jerus, who came rushing after hearing the news, wailed as he clutched the severed head of his son.
Enraged, the knights of House Jerus challenged Kang Hyun-woo to duels one after another, but the result was always the same.
After a total of five knights, including Drake, were killed in succession, the leaders of the rebel army were in a full-blown panic.
“We cannot accept any more duels! The army’s morale has gone beyond plummeting; it’s about to drill through the ground!”
“That’s right! You must give the order to attack now. It’s not too late!”
“Besides, our objective is to win the war, not to win duels, is it not?”
Unlike their usual selves, the nobles advised him with one heart and one mind.
They, too, were well aware of the gravity of the situation.
“…Damn it.”
Bang!
Marquis Kailix slammed his fist on the desk.
He knew full well that he had to stop here. The only reason he had delayed the decision was because of his pride as a high noble.
Although he harbored ambitions beyond his station, he was by no means a fool.
As a man of power who had reigned as the leader of the noble faction for many years, he knew exactly what decision he had to make.
“…Give the order to attack. The games are over.”
*
Doo-woong—!!
The sound of a war drum echoed across the Eastern Plains.
It could only mean one thing.
“That’s unexpected. I thought they’d send a few more.”
Kang Hyun-woo flicked the blood from his sword and gazed at the rebel camp.
Just by looking at the expressions of the soldiers on the front line, he could see the signs of a full-scale war about to begin.
But Kang Hyun-woo didn’t back down; he held his ground. Now that it had come to this, there was only one way to end the war with the fewest casualties.
As he had said before, the outcome of a war is not decided by infantry, archers, or cavalry.
‘About 1km, I guess?’
Screech—
It is decided by superhumans like knights and mages.
[Extreme Blood]
—!!!
His blood flow accelerated explosively, and the muscles all over his body swelled. His senses expanded, and his brain began to secrete adrenaline.
At the same time, the wounds he had sustained the night before began to throb again.
It was obvious that once this was over, he wouldn’t be getting out of bed for a while.
[Foresight]
Fwoosh—
His left vision distorted abnormally, and the world was drained of color, turning black and white.
Immediately after, the sight of the rebel army surging forward like a raging wave filled his vision.
‘Is 30 seconds still the limit?’
The maximum time he could see into the future with Foresight was thirty seconds. Even then, the longer he maintained it, the more severe the drain on his mental power.
Moreover, despite using Extreme Blood, he could still feel a faint pain.
It’s probably because of the difference in skill ranks.
Of course, even considering that, the combination of Extreme Blood and Foresight was ridiculously overpowered. It almost completely offset the burning pain, one of Foresight’s greatest weaknesses.
But that didn’t mean there were no problems.
Extreme Blood consumed stamina, while Foresight consumed mental power, making it impossible to maintain them for long.
His stamina was manageable, but Foresight was starting to cause not just mental fatigue but also pain, so he had no choice but to deactivate it.
“All troops!! Advance!!!”
““Waaaaah!!!””
Rumble-rumble-rumble—!!!
Right on cue, after thirty seconds had passed, the rebel army began to charge.
As the army of hundreds of thousands moved in unison, the ground shook as if an earthquake had struck.
“All troops!! Raise your spears!!”
The commander on the Duchy’s side immediately issued an order. Soon, the two armies would clash head-on.
But I had no intention of waiting until then.
“Wh-what?!”
I activated Formless Electric Body and Ghost Divine Art simultaneously and charged toward the rebel army.
From the very beginning, my objective was singular.
To secure the identities of the nobles from the noble faction within the rebel main camp.
After all, a war with a weak justification ends once you take out the leaders.
Crackle—!!!
Red lightning sparked, and a gauntlet of Crimson Cloud Thunder Qi formed around my fist.
“He-he’s coming!!!”
“Scatter quickly!!”
Sacrifice the plum tree to preserve the peach tree.
It was the eleventh of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, a strategy stating that since battles inevitably involve losses, one should accept small sacrifices to achieve a greater gain.
In other words, it was natural for the ‘small’ to be sacrificed for the ‘great’ on the battlefield.
But if you were the one who had to be sacrificed, could you still say such things so calmly?
‘May you rest in peace.’
I offered a short, silent prayer for the soldiers and threw my punch.
Crimson Cloud Thunder Art, Heaven-Shattering Fist.
Kwa-rururung—!!!
The red lightning, imbued with my full power, incinerated everything in its path, stretching endlessly forward.
As if a hole had been punched through a giant tsunami, the rebel army’s front line collapsed in an instant.
It was truly Heaven-Shattering.
Screams and cries of the survivors echoed from all directions, but I paid them no mind.
Instead, I used the opening in their broken formation to push deeper into the rebel ranks. The last blow must have killed at least several hundred, but before me, like a boundless ocean, thousands of soldiers were aiming their spears at me.
Of course, I wasn’t the least bit nervous.
I didn’t even need to catch my breath.
Kiiiiing—!!!
The black aura surrounding the Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword revealed its presence.
With Formless Electric Body active, I mercilessly slaughtered the soldiers. Dozens died with every swing of my sword.
Even so, I refrained from using the Formless Sword Art.
If I were to commit mass slaughter with that sword, I would never be able to face my master in the future.
Though, I suppose it would be difficult to meet him proudly even now.
‘About 700 meters left?’
“Aaaargh!!!”
“R-run away!! It’s a monster!!”
“Call the knights, call the knights!!”
I had already killed over a hundred, but I felt no emotional turmoil.
Of course, that didn’t mean I was addicted to killing or had become numb to it like a psychopath. It was just that, at some point, I had started to treat killing as a means to an end.
—Kiiiiit!!!
Every time I beheaded a soldier, a fraction of the emotions Tam felt flowed into me.
Ecstasy, joy, thrill, a sense of liberation.
Needless to say, Tam was by no means a benevolent being.
Killing hundreds of ordinary soldiers yielded barely a handful of energy.
But Tam still rejoiced.
As if it enjoyed the very act of killing itself.
‘Tsk.’
“You demon!! I, a knight of House Orion, will now pass judgment on you— Keoheok?!”
After beheading the needlessly chatty knight, I imbued the Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword with divine power.
—Kieeeek!!!
Tam immediately began to cry out in pain.
It had greedily devoured even the Vajra Qi, which contained the power to destroy evil and establish justice, but divine power was the one thing it couldn’t seem to absorb.
Thanks to that, I was able to give it periodic mental training.
‘That’s enough.’
—Kiiit…
Soothing the sulking Tam, I turned my attention from the regular soldiers to the elite troops and knights.
Their resistance grew fiercer, as if they were making a last stand. That also meant I was getting closer to my destination.
As expected.
‘…Found him.’
About 250 meters ahead.
I saw a sleazy-looking noble pointing a finger at me and shouting at the people around him.
I was sure I had seen that face in Dermier’s memories.
Balthazar Erebon Kailix.
The head of House Kailix and the leader of the noble faction.
But he wasn’t the one I needed to focus on right now.
The 6th Circle Mage, Birellion Rix Belmort.
He was the deputy commander of the Eustaff Empire’s Magic Special Task Force and had been deployed as a staff officer for this mission in the Orsia Duchy.
He was, without a doubt, the one I needed to be most wary of on this battlefield.
But no matter how wide I spread my senses, I couldn’t feel Birellion’s presence.
‘Is he hiding inside a barrier?’
As I dodged the rain of spears and swords, I scanned my surroundings meticulously and noticed that the main camp’s guard force was surprisingly thin.
The moment I saw that, the suspicion that the Marquis was being used as bait to lure me in flashed through my mind.
The Empire’s goal was, after all, to turn the Orsia Duchy into a puppet state.
Even if the Marquis died on the battlefield, they could just place a substitute on the throne, so it wouldn’t be strange for them to use him as bait.
Countless other possibilities raced through my mind, but retreat was not among them.
I didn’t care if it was a trap.
“Die!!!”
Swish—
I beheaded a knight charging on horseback, then used the saddle to leap into the air.
The entire battlefield came into view.
‘The state of the battle… doesn’t look too bad.’
Thanks to my disruption of the front lines earlier, the Duchy’s army was holding its own against the rebels in a tense battle, despite being outnumbered.
‘Some parts are being pushed back, but all they need to do is buy time—’
Fwoosh!!
At that moment, a giant fireball flew toward me.
It was the 3rd Circle fire magic, ‘Mega Flare.’ It was a familiar spell, but the formula itself was incredibly crude.
Iris would have been furious if she saw it.
I swung my sword and split the fireball in half. For a spell used against a knight, it was far too slow.
But as if to make up for the lack of speed with quantity, dozens more spells came flying at me.
Normally, I would have blocked them with a barrier, but I wanted to avoid putting a strain on my magic circuits if possible.
Pak!!
I used the air as a foothold and ran through the sky, dodging the magic. Unfortunately, I hadn’t yet reached the realm of Sky-Treading Steps.
As I got closer to the main camp, the faces of the mages targeting me twisted in astonishment.
Nevertheless, the magical bombardment didn’t cease, as if it were their only path to survival.
But among all those spells, not a single one inflicted any meaningful damage on me.
Just like that, I landed safely in the middle of the rebel army’s main camp.
Countless gazes were fixed on me at once. At the same time, my eyes met Marquis Kailix’s.
“A pleasure to meet you, Your Excellency the Marquis.”
I removed my helmet and offered a polite greeting.
But no answer came.
The knights and soldiers all aimed their swords and spears at me, while the nobles trembled like frightened dogs, sending hostile glares my way.
Feeling awkward, I took a rope from my inventory and threw it to the Marquis.
“This is an order from His Highness the Grand Duke. If you admit to all your crimes and accept your sentence, the punishment will end with the extermination of three generations of your family. However, if you resist arrest, nine generations will be annihilated.”
“K-kill that bastard right now!!”
The moment the Marquis’s order fell, the knight orders stationed at the main camp charged at me in unison.
I sighed and raised my sword.