Your War, My War (4)
The road leading into Murat was narrow. The city itself sat atop a high plateau. The mountain range stretching across the eastern side of the kingdom formed two separate ridges, like the spine of a dragon. As a result, the path into Murat was hemmed in by rugged peaks, creating a single route that stretched all the way to the wasteland bordering No Man's Land.
The dense forest served as a natural fortress. And as one pushed further east from Murat, the greenery gradually faded, giving way to No Man's Land. For monsters to reach Murat, they first had to break through this mountain range. The approach to Murat was the kingdom’s final line of defense—the last ground it could afford to yield.
If Murat fell and allowed the monsters to pour through, tens of thousands of them would scatter in dozens of directions, spreading like a plague. The creatures currently tearing into the soldiers likely didn’t understand this, but the Behemoth, which had roamed the continent for thousands of years since the age of myths, remembered it all too clearly.
Boom!
The mantis’s enormous scythe-like foreleg slammed into the shield bearer’s buckler. The soldier clenched his teeth and held his ground, refusing to be pushed back. When its attack failed to land, the giant mantis shrieked in rage and raised its foreleg even higher. The moment the monster’s torso was fully exposed, the spearmen who had been crouching behind the shield bearer thrust their weapons forward.
Their spears shot out and pierced straight through the mantis’s chest and head. As the soldiers flinched and tried to pull their weapons free, the shield bearer barked at them.
“Push! One stab won’t be enough!”
Just as he said, the mantis was still swinging its forelegs wildly. The spearmen belatedly shoved their arms forward with all their strength. The creature staggered, lost its balance, and toppled over. A swarm of other monsters immediately piled on top of it. The mantis never even got the chance to fight properly; it was trampled beneath the feet of its own kind and burst apart, dying in an instant.
“They’re coming again!”
This battle looked less like war and more like people desperately fighting against a flood. The soldiers shoved back the monsters trying to break through their shield wall once more.
“Hold them!”
“Don’t let them through!”
There was no strategy, no tactics. They simply stabbed the oncoming monsters with spears, shoved them back with shields, and hacked them down with swords. Like scooping out overflowing water with buckets, the soldiers kept bailing out the tide of monsters.
“Fuck!”
Another soldier was dragged away by claws. The troops’ movements grew even more frantic. There was no time to mourn their fallen comrades. They could only move their hands faster to fill the gaps left by the dead.
A sound like a dog barking echoed across the battlefield. A high-ranking monster, a Fenrir, was charging toward them like a mad beast. From behind the soldiers desperately stabbing with their spears, a stern voice rang out.
“Clear a path!”
A knight came running. The soldiers parted to make way for him. Blue aura blazed along the blade of his sword.
“Move aside!”
“The knight’s here! Make room!”
The knight threw himself into the monstrous torrent. The creatures howled in frenzy the moment they saw the aura radiating from his blade.
“That’s right. Come to me.”
The knight spoke as if casting a spell on himself and brought down the arm he had raised high. On the battlefield, aura was nothing short of a miracle. A surge of blue light, like a violent wave, tore through the monsters. Every creature standing in the knight’s way was sliced apart in a single swing, collapsing in heaps.
Each time the knight swung his arm, a path opened before him.
“I told you not to charge ahead!”
More knights were rushing up behind the one radiating blue aura. Not all of them could manifest aura, but it was more than enough to turn the tide of battle. As the other knights joined the one blazing with power, the fight shifted from a desperate defense to an all-out offensive.
The soldiers, inspired by the sight of knights carving through monsters like they were worth a hundred men each, roared with renewed vigor and followed in their wake.
“Push them back!”
“Stab them!”
Whenever the knights opened a path, the soldiers behind them cleaned up the remaining monsters, stabbing and slashing until nothing was left. The creatures couldn’t even mount a proper resistance against the knights leading the charge. Even as they charged forward with red eyes glowing, they offered their heads to the knights’ blades one after another.
Two Hexapeds leapt into the air, clearly intending to drag the knight down with them in a mutual kill. Of course, the knight’s swift reflexes rendered every such ambush meaningless. The Hexapeds were cut cleanly in half.
“Good! Let’s go!”
The knight shouted. They could push further. No—they might even be able to drive every last monster out of this canyon. The knight drew up the mana within his body. He still had plenty of fight left in him. The aura radiating from his sword grew even brighter.
Those following the knight charged forward with even greater fervor at the sight of that vivid light. But from behind them came a sharp warning.
“You must not go any further!”
Yet the voice failed to reach the charging knight and soldiers. The young knight and his men had already broken far beyond the front line, plunging deep into enemy territory. The only thing dominating their minds was to cut, cut, and kill. The fact that no high-ranking monsters had appeared yet had completely vanished from their thoughts.
The troops advanced. They sliced through the monsters like a surging current.
“You bastard!”
The knight roared as he cut down another monster. Every time he felled one, the cheers of his comrades acted like a whip, spurring him on. He swung his sword again and again.
By the time the knight realized something was wrong, he had already gone too far. He suddenly looked back. The main force was nowhere in sight. He and a handful of soldiers had become isolated.
“When did… the rear…”
The knight’s voice trembled. The soldiers and knights who had been following him lowered their weapons. From behind, high-ranking monsters that had stayed hidden until now were slinking forward. Behind the knight, a massive Fenrir bared its fangs and growled. Its gaze was fixed on the aura the knight was emitting.
Grrrr.
The Fenrir’s growl sounded closer than anything else. The knight lowered his sword. The aura still burned bright blue, refusing to die. If it’s just one… The knight thought about the path back. If he could just make it back, everything would be fine. His mistake could still be covered up. But if he couldn’t return, responsibility would no longer be the issue.
The knight raised his sword again. As if hope had not yet been extinguished, the aura shone brilliantly.
“Let’s head back.”
At the knight’s low command, the soldiers and other knights assumed a defensive stance.
“I’ll go first. Once I break through, follow me.”
Without waiting for a reply, the knight charged forward.
“Uaaaaah!”
The sword, laden with every ounce of his aura, swept outward. The soldiers watched with eyes full of both terror and hope as the knight swung his blade, trying to carve a path back to the main force. The Fenrir that met the aura-infused strike was killed instantly. Heartened by the hope that he had slain a Fenrir in a single blow, the knight stepped forward. The soldiers followed desperately behind him.
“We’re returning!”
As the knight shouted and swung his sword, a massive shadow fell over him from the side. It was another Fenrir. The knight twisted his body, trying to counter with a slash, but the Fenrir was faster. It sank its teeth into the knight’s armor. Unable to withstand the wolf’s enormous weight, the knight toppled sideways. Yet his hand still gripped his sword with unyielding strength.
Another knight rushed forward to save the fallen leader. Thud. That knight, too, was brought down by a surprise attack from a different high-ranking monster. There weren’t just one or two. The knights froze in place. And in that brief moment of stiffness, the Fenrir’s claws and fangs pierced through their armor. Schlick. Heads and limbs flew into the air.
The knight’s severed right hand, still soaring through the sky, continued to clutch the sword tightly. But the blue aura that had burned so brightly along the blade vanished like morning mist. No one could speak. The moment the knight’s life was taken, time itself seemed to freeze. The helmet floated in the air for what felt like an eternity before it clattered to the ground with a heavy thud. The knight’s severed head rolled to the feet of a soldier with a sickening sound.
The soldiers stood there in a daze, unable to fully process what had happened. The monsters closed in around them. A few knights remained, but they didn’t seem to do much for morale. The monsters’ gazes tightened around their throats like nooses. A Fenrir with its muzzle stained bright red lowered its body close to the ground and growled. The soldiers could only close their eyes and await the death that was coming.
Boom!
What snapped their eyes open was a tremendous explosion. The soldiers instinctively raised their arms to shield their faces from the intense heat they felt.
“…!”
The monsters that had been blocking their retreat melted away as if they had never existed. The mages’ massive joint spell had wiped out hundreds of monsters in a single cast.
“It’s magic!”
“Damn it, I really thought I was going to die.”
The soldiers gripped their weapons properly again, their will to survive reignited. But the high-ranking monsters that had been outside the flames’ reach clearly had no intention of letting them live. They bared their fangs and advanced on the soldiers.
Then, schlick.
The sound of meat being sliced rang out. It wasn’t the sound of humans being cut. The Fenrirs were chopped apart like logs, unable to offer any real resistance. There wasn’t even a trace of aura on the knight’s sword. She was cutting down high-ranking monsters with nothing but pure swordsmanship.
“…! That’s…!”
The soldiers’ voices filled with hope.
“The Raven Knight Order’s…”
The knight wore armor dyed pitch black. And during the entire time she butchered the Fenrirs, she hadn’t allowed a single attack to land. Once the last Fenrir’s head was severed, the knight stood before the surviving soldiers and slightly lifted her visor.
There stood a beautiful knight with silver-gray eyes and slightly flushed cheeks. Not a hint of exhaustion showed on her face.
“Everyone, return to the main force.”
Theodora’s resolute words cut clearly through the chaotic noise of the battlefield. The soldiers nodded as if entranced by her voice and hurried past her. After confirming they were retreating safely, Theodora turned her gaze toward the oncoming tide of monsters. She frowned at the sight of the knight who had charged ahead and lost his life.
As if questioning where she was looking, the monsters let out low growls. Theodora let out a small sigh and turned to face them. Their momentum was different now. The monsters bared their teeth and growled lowly, but none dared to charge recklessly.
Theodora unleashed her aura. White energy rose like mist, coiling around her blade and shining brilliantly. The monsters grew even more agitated at the sight of her aura. A few of them tensed their leg muscles, looking ready to pounce at any moment.
And then, a roar that seemed to tear the sky apart echoed across the battlefield.
Theodora unconsciously took a step back. The ground was shaking. The monsters’ momentum was steadily rising. It seemed the main body was finally beginning its advance in earnest. Theodora responded by raising her own presence even higher. The aura enveloping her sword thickened, stirring up the wind. A fierce gale exploded from the ground and swirled violently. The tremors grew stronger.
Theodora gripped her sword tighter as she felt the Behemoth’s presence growing increasingly powerful.
“We ended up pushing the front line forward unintentionally. I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad.”
A voice came from Theodora’s right. Paola now held a sword in one hand and a spear in the other. When Theodora glanced at the weapons, Paola shrugged.
“…I lost the mace. Threw it and smashed a monster’s head, but never got it back. A shame, really.”
Seeming to interpret Theodora’s gaze as concern, Paola added defensively.
“It’s not like I can’t fight properly without a mace.”
“That wasn’t my intention…”
And from Theodora’s left came another voice.
“It’s been a while since I fought like this.”
The Margrave had tied up her long hair. She held a massive sword—one that would normally require both hands—with effortless ease in just one.
“Margrave, is it really alright for you to come this far forward?”
When Paola asked, the Margrave snorted.
“I may have run away because I valued my life, but the skills you saw back then haven’t all died yet.”
As if to prove her point, the Margrave raised her greatsword. The blade, soaked in blood, didn’t reflect the sunlight at all.
“Well, if you’ve maintained the same level of skill I saw back then, I can feel at ease.”
Theodora glanced behind her. Shield bearers had moved forward and were reforming the battle line.
“We will hold the line here.”
“Nothing wrong with that.”
Aura wrapped around the Margrave’s greatsword and Paola’s blade. The Behemoth’s silhouette grew clearer. Its presence, like a single enormous rocky mountain, was drawing steadily closer. How long until they collided with it head-on?
The knights raised their swords with tense expressions. And with the second large-scale spell prepared by the mages, the second act of the battle began.
===
The dream felt like swimming through thick, hazy fog. Within it, Maxim’s consciousness flickered like lightning—brief and faint.
Wake up.
His consciousness commanded his body.
Wake up.
The fog surrounding his vision began to lift. Thoughts that had sunk deep started to rise to the surface.
Crack.
The sound of a branch snapping rang out. Maxim opened his eyes inside an unfamiliar carriage.
Theodora.
Still half-dazed, Maxim recalled a single name in his mind.