Chapter 151
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 151
"Don't push yourselves. We didn't come to this battlefield just to die."
At the center of the phantom beast pack, a manticore was visible. The creature, which had been running alongside the pack, suddenly slowed its pace. As the leader, it seemed to intend to send the others ahead first.
"I'll handle the manticore."
"A-Are you going alone?!"
Barisik let out a smirk at the bewildered question.
Even on the savage battlefields he’d roamed before the Empire recruited him, and even after becoming a knight, there had been others who fought alongside him.
Gwyn and Ainar immediately came to mind. Those two knew how to fight without getting in his way.
But they were all dead now.
"I've always fought alone."
As if he needed no help, Barisik rummaged through the pockets of his uniform coat and pulled out a few magic scrolls. Gathering them in one hand, he tore them all at once. The mana from the scrolls began to swirl around his body.
"It's dangerous!"
Ignoring the voice calling from behind, Barisik lunged forward.
His claim of fighting alone was the absolute truth. Gwyn and Ainar had been anomalies, the only ones ever able to adapt to his fighting style.
Barisik swung his sword so recklessly that he often harmed nearby allies. As he ran toward the pack of phantom beasts, he adjusted his grip.
The blade of the magic sword 'Blood Mary', one of the 36 Masterpieces, vibrated faintly.
Breaking formation, Barisik plunged straight into the center of the phantom beast pack. The beasts, seeing him, did not stop their charge.
The first to attack was a four-legged phantom beast that swung its forepaw at him.
Barisik ducked, exquisitely dodging the attack, and slashed straight across the belly of the charging beast.
Slash!
'Blood Mary' tore through the phantom beast's abdomen, and blood gushed out. Given the creature's massive size, it wasn't a fatal wound. But Barisik hadn't intended to thrust his sword deep into a charging enemy anyway.
His goal was the blood.
Blood began to coat the blade of 'Blood Mary', drawing in and absorbing the surrounding gore like a magnet. The more blood it drank, the redder the blade became.
Landing on the ground, Barisik saw the hind leg of another rapidly approaching phantom beast and leaped into the air.
He swung his sword straight at its leg.
It was a limb far too thick to be severed in a single blow, and yet—
Rip!
The leg was severed in one strike.
The blade, shimmering as it drank the blood, stretched out like taffy. Droplets of blood coating the blade bubbled and boiled.
It was a snake-belly sword—a weapon of a design impossible to replicate with the continent's current blacksmithing technology.
"Kieeeeeeeek!"
Thud! A thunderous crash echoed. Having run another ten meters, the phantom beast lost its balance and collapsed. The beast next to it couldn't withstand its companion's weight and tumbled down as well.
The screams of the two monsters filled the air. However, the remaining phantom beasts paid them no heed and continued their charge.
Barisik swung his sword again in quick succession. This time, he put his full strength into it. As he swung 'Blood Mary' upward, the blade extended over ten meters, slicing an entire torso clean in half. The monster collapsed to the ground.
"Ha."
Wiping the thick blood from his face with the back of his hand, Barisik clicked his tongue.
He passed through the charging pack of phantom beasts and found the manticore standing right before him.
"I told you to come to me, but you made me come to you."
The Hero Uin Historia had once fought on equal terms against Hexabel. Kart of the Nixir Red Dragon Subjugation Squad had remained on the battlefield to burn his own life away even after defeating the Orc Gatekeeper.
"I have my own pride to uphold."
His arm tingled. It wasn't from fear, but from the sword's vibration. 'Blood Mary' was trembling, craving battle. In moments like this, even Barisik found it difficult to restrain himself.
Barisik spun his body around. Utilizing the rotational force, he extended the blade to its maximum length and swung it toward the manticore.
The whip-like sword and the manticore's claws clashed head-on.
*
The Annun Plains, before the Imperial Army's encampment.
The 2nd Imperial Prince, Kazimir Joachim Logphellus, stared blankly at the battle unfolding in the distance. Afterimages of a red sword danced wildly, and the monster's roars could be heard from kilometers away.
"...Will he be alright?" the Prince asked his adjutant.
The manticore was a calamity. While it could never compare to Swallow, and fell far short of the Great Evil Caves that were deemed true calamities, it was still a disaster that was difficult for human hands to stop.
The two great phantom beasts of the land: Behemoth and Manticore.
The villages they had damaged numbered in the hundreds. Unlike the Great Evil Caves, they moved constantly, so reinforcements always arrived too late. In the past, an A-rank Subjugation Squad sent to hunt Behemoth had been completely wiped out.
"Shouldn't we send reinforcements?"
"There is nothing our forces can do right now, Your Highness. As you can see, the regular Imperial soldiers cannot even damage the other phantom beasts. To send reinforcements, we would need siege weapons at the very least," the adjutant replied.
He was beating around the bush, but his meaning was clear: it was impossible. If they sent a large army, the Orcs wouldn't just stand by and watch. It would only force another all-out war.
"Then, even 'the Red Spear of Roa'..."
"Your Imperial Highness," a firm voice cut in. "Do you know that knight's true identity?"
"...I do."
As the leader of the anti-Ar faction, the Prince had naturally investigated Ar's forces. That man, Barisik, was once a barbarian. Ar had founded the Ar Knights when he was seventeen and had immediately recruited him. Barisik had been under Ar's command for nearly ten years.
Though he had shed most of his barbarian traits over the years, watching this battle made one thing certain: you can't hide your true nature. That man relished bloody combat.
"Once he's fired up, he pays no attention to his surroundings. If we send reinforcements unnecessarily, we might only increase our own casualties."
Indeed, the blood-red afterimages stretched for dozens of meters. It was so unrealistic that one might mistake it for magic. Certainly, if they clumsily intervened in that tempest, their own allies would be torn to shreds.
"Even so, do you think he can defeat the manticore?"
Even as he asked, the Prince's eyes remained fixed on the far reaches of the plains.
Although it was too far to see clearly, straining his eyes revealed something unmistakable.
Something red was spreading across the battlefield. It wasn't just afterimages. A bloody mist, mingled with the streaks of red, was scattering in all directions.
"...I asked a foolish question."
Before the adjutant could reply, the Prince withdrew his words.
*
The Annun Plains, the front lines.
Claws harder than steel and sharper than swords lunged at Barisik. A tail resembling a scorpion's repeatedly stabbed the ground, firing acidic stingers the moment an opening appeared. Sometimes the beast would charge with its full weight; other times it would roar to throw him off balance.
Yet, Barisik paid the barrage of attacks little mind as he swung his sword.
A sword? No, it had long since transcended that category. What Barisik wielded was closer to a whip that possessed the power of a sword.
The snake-belly sword, bending freely, was not easily controlled even by someone like him. He simply swung it as his hands guided him, and with every swing, its speed gradually increased.
With that alone, he deflected most of the attacks.
He tore through the manticore's flesh. He didn't know how much damage his attacks were doing; he only felt it through the droplets of blood bursting between his sword strikes.
It was exhilarating.
Only after hundreds of attacks, when the sword had absorbed a satisfying amount of blood, did Barisik finally regain full control over 'Blood Mary'. Only when the manticore backed away did he slow the blade that had been tearing everything apart and take a moment to assess the battle.
The surrounding earth had been stripped of grass and gouged deep. The manticore's entire body was covered in blood. However, aside from its movements slowing slightly, there was no major change. It should have been collapsing by now, yet it stood firmly on all fours.
I didn't pierce deep enough.
There was still more fun to be had.
Barisik grinned. He twisted his body to loosen his joints, only then noticing that his left shoulder had been slashed open, exposing the bone.
There was pain, but not enough to hinder him. Barisik raised 'Blood Mary' once more.
"Graaaaaaaaah!!"
The monster's roar became a shockwave that shook the ground. Blood trickled from Barisik's ears. It was a pathetic sight—a creature with a human face shrieking with the voice of a monster.
Time to finish this.
The magic sword 'Blood Mary' hummed. This was different from its earlier trembling. It was a signal of satisfaction, having already drunk enough blood.
Resonating with the sword, Barisik became utterly calm and lunged at the manticore once more.
The manticore's sharp scorpion tail aimed for his heart. He deflected it with his sword and leaped onto the tail itself.
When the monster's forepaw swung at him, Barisik leaped again, landing on top of the paw. He raised his sword and plunged it straight down.
'Blood Mary', now sharpened to its absolute limit, sank into the manticore's forepaw without the slightest resistance.
"Kieeeeeee!"
Another shriek echoed. The manticore reflexively jerked its forepaw upward.
"Stupid beast."
Not missing the opportunity, Barisik pulled out his sword and leaped high into the air.
He landed precisely on the crown of the manticore's head.
This foolish beast had no way to attack what was directly on top of it. An ordinary human would have been thrown dozens of meters just by the beast shaking its body, but Barisik was not someone who would be shaken off so easily.
Thrust!
He drove his sword into the crown of its head. The bone was so hard that only the sound of scraping echoed.
But there's another way to shatter its head.
He unleashed the energy condensed within the blade through its tip. A massive explosion erupted inside the manticore's skull.
The dreaded phantom beast slumped forward and collapsed. Its massive weight alone sent shockwaves rippling out in all directions.
"Ha."
Barisik sighed. Although he hadn't taken a direct hit, 'Blood Mary' was not a particularly friendly weapon to its wielder, and he was covered in numerous shallow cuts.
It was over.
He needed treatment, but...
"The world never makes things easy."
Barisik turned his head.
A gaze was watching him. It belonged to someone who had been sitting cross-legged on the manticore's back, completely motionless. In truth, Barisik had faintly sensed the gaze earlier but had doubted his own senses. He couldn't understand why the figure had just watched from above instead of helping the manticore.
"No wonder the difficulty felt so damn absurd. It was a shortcut straight to the final boss."
On the back of the manticore, the Orc Legion Commander, Kurak, was staring down at him.
*
"Damn it."
He clicked his tongue. He tasted the metallic tang of blood, though he didn't know when his lip had been cut.
He was trying his best to act nonchalant, but he had only truly registered Kurak's presence a few seconds ago. That meant Kurak had simply watched the entire battle between him and the manticore from above.
He could have launched a surprise attack at any moment.
Especially when he’d driven 'Blood Mary' into the manticore's head… If Kurak had lunged at him then, Barisik would have had no choice but to leave his back completely exposed.
"Just taking it easy up there, huh?"
Without any change in his expression, Kurak stood up. The manticore's fur was flattened where he had been sitting. He truly hadn't stood up even once until the battle was over. If any other Orc had done that, Barisik would have deemed them foolish, but this was the Legion Commander of the Orc army.
A chill ran down his spine at the thought of what hidden scheme Kurak might have.
"That was a fine sword dance," Kurak spoke in a low voice. Though his build was only slightly larger than an average Orc's, the weight of his voice was as heavy as a thousand gold pieces. It felt even heavier because the praise was genuine.
"You are a knight."
"Bullshit. Stop playing dumb," Barisik scoffed as Kurak scanned his attire.
Most knights wore heavy armor. Only members of subjugation squads granted the honor of a 'knightly order' by imperial decree wore uniforms while holding the title of 'knight'. Since Kurak had called him a knight upon seeing his white uniform, it meant he had known his identity from the very beginning.
"The Edelbreas Black Wolf Knights... Can those who are not Heroes possess such strength?"
