Subjugating the Female General (14)
Dong-hyun had been sleeping deeply in the knight commander's quarters when a commotion outside finally dragged him awake.
He'd let his guard down so completely that if an assassin had come for the commander, he would have died right there in his bed. No one quite that bold had shown up, though — and that was the only reason he was still breathing. He'd figured a night raid was coming eventually. It was too sound a strategy not to. He just hadn't predicted it would be tonight.
He snatched up the sword lying beside him and drew the blade. There was no telling when they might burst in. He had to be ready.
He'd learned something called Krantz swordsmanship, but Dong-hyun was a shut-in who had never once been in a real fight. There was no universe in which someone like him could suddenly hold his own in combat. His heart hammered so hard he could hear it in his ears.
He had never once thought of this as just a world inside a quest. This was real. This was actually happening. The terror of dying here and never seeing Yuria again seized his entire body. Even if death in this place wouldn't mean dying for real, the thought of never seeing her again was more than he could bear. For the first time in his life, someone he truly loved had appeared — and that feeling ran deeper than anything.
"Calm down... just calm down..."
He kept repeating it to himself.
That was when someone entered his tent. A man in black night gear.
An enemy.
The man didn't say a word. He just swung.
Dong-hyun barely rolled aside as the blade came screaming down from the upper right. The attack wasn't over. The man thrust at him the instant he hit the ground. Dong-hyun rolled again and kicked out — less a strike than a desperate stay back.
The man snorted. A smirk crossed his face. Anyone looking at Dong-hyun right now would have seen a terrified, spineless weakling, and the clothes made it obvious he was a noble at the very least. The man spun his sword with an almost leisurely expression, then lunged without warning.
Dong-hyun twisted at the waist, barely evading the thrust, and swung on pure reflex.
"Guh..."
The wild, flailing cut had caught the man in the arm. As he clutched the wound and staggered back, Dong-hyun scrambled to his feet. Landing a hit — even a clumsy one — sent a flicker of confidence through him. It had been a desperate swing, sure, but just knowing the man in front of him was bleeding made everything feel a little more manageable.
That's right. Don't be scared. This guy isn't even knight-class. I'm not dying to some regular soldier.
He steeled himself and raised his sword. The dizziness, the crushing sense that he couldn't even see his surroundings — it all seemed to recede. The man's expression shifted from easy confidence to a mix of anger and alarm.
He's scared too. I can do this.
Dong-hyun actually started advancing on him, step by step.
"Raaagh!"
The man roared and drove his sword in with everything he had. Maybe it was the sudden clarity, but Krantz swordsmanship unfolded from Dong-hyun's body as naturally as breathing. When he had first crossed into this world, the memories of the Krantz Emperor had been poured into him — and with them, the swordsmanship the emperor had trained in since childhood had settled into his muscles, whether he'd realized it or not. It felt like a body remembering something it had practiced since it was a child.
He knocked the man's blade upward at the midsection, then drove his own sword straight into the man's chest.
Shunk!
A famous blade was a famous blade. The sword punched through the man's chest and sheared through bone as if it weren't even there. There was no resistance at all.
Having dispatched him, Dong-hyun knew he had to get outside. If he stayed here and a knight-class fighter walked in, he wouldn't stand a chance.
He threw back the tent flap and stepped out into a battlefield — swords clashing in every direction, sparks flying through the dark. Things had gotten this bad, and Schmalz was nowhere to be found. He'd left the emperor completely unguarded.
As Dong-hyun scanned the chaos, a voice called his name from somewhere. A woman's voice.
It was Adrian Wendelin — the woman from his memories.
Dressed in black night gear, sword in hand, she was charging straight at him at a dead sprint. Adrian knew that if she captured Ailes, the entire war would be over. She closed the distance in two or three strides of terrifying speed and swung.
Dong-hyun barely got his sword up in time.
CLANG!!
The impact blasted his hands off the hilt. The instant his guard dropped, Adrian's boot slammed into his gut and sent him tumbling across the dirt. It had all happened in a heartbeat.
Her sword came at his neck again. She wasn't trying to kill him — it was a subduing cut, not quite as fast as it could have been. If she killed him, the Krantz Empire would never end this war without annihilating the Kairan Kingdom. A nation that murdered their emperor could not be left standing. The empire's honor would be in the dirt.
Dong-hyun knew that too — so he shoved his neck toward the incoming blade.
Adrian yanked her sword back in shock.
"You lunatic!!"
She recovered instantly and came at him again, this time aiming the flat of her blade at the back of his neck. She meant to knock him out cold and drag him away. Dong-hyun got his sword up and blocked.
"Nngh!!"
The force behind Adrian's blade was enormous. His whole body reeled — and then her left fist drove into his stomach.
"Ghak!"
As he doubled over, her left hand came up and smashed into his jaw.
CRACK!
The moment her fist connected with his chin, his legs gave out. Adrian caught him as he collapsed, hoisted him up, and was about to sling him over her shoulder — and that was when Count Schmalz closed the distance and thrust his sword at her.
Caught off-balance in the middle of lifting Dong-hyun, Adrian abandoned the attempt and leaped back. Dong-hyun crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
Count Schmalz's blade followed her as she retreated. She had no choice but to keep leaping backward to stay clear. But the sword didn't pursue any further. He had the skill to press the attack if he wanted — instead, he planted himself in front of Dong-hyun and held his ground.
For Schmalz, it must have felt like being whipped between heaven and hell. Hunting down the infiltrating Adrian had been going well enough. He just hadn't expected her flight path to lead straight to the emperor. He'd been delayed fighting one of the enemy's knights on his way to protect His Majesty, and in that brief window he had arrived just in time to watch Adrian beating the living hell out of the emperor.
Adrian bit her lip. She had a decision to make: cut down the knight commander, secure the fallen Ailes — or withdraw. The way he'd sent that thrust at her, the linkage had been too clean. This was not someone she could put down easily. Frustrating as it was, it was time to pull back.
"Adrian!!"
Muriel came running, calling her name. Muriel, who normally addressed her with the utmost formality as Your Grace, had seen Adrian under attack and, in her panic, come sprinting while shouting her given name.
"Muriel!"
Adrian was glad to see her. With the two of them, they might just overwhelm Schmalz and take Ailes.
"Keep that knight commander occupied. I'll grab the emperor while you do."
"The emperor??"
Muriel didn't understand at first — then she realized the man the knight commander was protecting was the emperor himself.
"Understood."
Muriel raised her sword and moved to Schmalz's right. Adrian moved to his left. Even with two powerhouses in front of him, Schmalz's expression didn't so much as flicker. He raised his sword and extended it toward them — a warning.
Muriel's blade flashed toward his lower left. He didn't even bother blocking. Instead he stepped toward Adrian and sent a cut flying at her. Adrian, who'd been widening the gap after seeing Muriel move, suddenly had a sword coming at her face. She got her blade up and caught it.
"Muriel! You have to do it!"
At Adrian's shout they switched roles. This time Muriel went for Ailes — but Schmalz used the rebound from Adrian's block to spin his body and thrust at Muriel's throat. The attack forced her to leap back. In a flurry of clashing steel, they were right back where they'd started.
Then the Krantz Knights began pouring in around Schmalz.
"It's no good. Muriel, we pull out!"
"Understood."
The situation had turned ugly. Those few extra moments had been enough for dozens of knights to close in around the emperor. That was when Schmalz made a snap decision and went after Adrian. With knights arriving, they could protect the emperor well enough on their own.
"No!!"
Adrian had already turned her back, never expecting Schmalz to attack — and she couldn't react in time. Muriel screamed and thrust her sword, barely knocking his blade aside. But she herself was now trapped inside the encirclement.
Even so, Muriel sent her sword flashing in brilliant arcs, cutting down at the knights streaming toward Adrian. Schmalz pressed her harder and harder. Adrian stopped mid-retreat and looked back at her.
Tears spilled from Adrian's eyes. But cold reason told her this was the moment to withdraw.