Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Warcry and Victory
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The history of humanity has been a history of struggle.
Even as our kingdom passed through revival and entered its golden age, we never ceased our wars.
We fought desperate battles that decided the fate of nations, full-scale wars without a day of respite from blood, ambushes, raids, sieges, and defenses.
The battlefields I'd known my whole life and the tales they told could fill volumes, yet still fall short no matter how much I spoke of them.
But no matter how many mighty foes I felled or how many soldiers I led, one thing never changed.
This thrill.
This blood-red ecstasy born on the boundary between life and death sent tremors through my hands.
And today, as always, I shook off that crusted excitement with a savage roar.
"Aaaaaaaaahhh—!!!"
Warcry!
If a child is born crying from the cradle, a warrior must die roaring from the grave.
Bam! Crunch!
Slash!
I shoved with my shield, bashed down with it.
Sliced into flesh with my sword, then smashed the hilt gripped in reverse into the skull of the fallen foe.
Eyeballs bulged out, brain matter soaked my hands.
All around, dying screams pierced the air, entrails spilling and rolling endlessly across the ground.
I wiped my face with my sleeve.
Then, cooling my battle-heated mind for a moment, I surveyed my surroundings.
"Huu..."
The ambush had thinned their numbers sufficiently.
With their retreat cut off as well, there was no worry of them fleeing.
But no matter how strong the initial momentum or high the soldiers' morale, a war only ends when you've stabbed the enemy dead yourself.
"Uwaaaaaah!"
"Die! Die!"
A full-frontal clash to slaughter every last foe.
As time dragged on, even the formations we'd desperately held began to crumble naturally.
And as if on cue, brutal close-quarters melees erupted everywhere, soldiers and barbarians tumbling together across the dirt.
"Die! Die, guk!"
"Pow! Pow, Kraaaa!"
Thrust with spears, shove with shields.
Slipping in the churned mud, flailing desperately until I finally throttled an enemy's throat.
But the cornered barbarians weren't going down without a fight.
Instinct told them defeat meant death for all.
A scream rang out nearby.
"Kuoaaa!"
"Uwaaaah, help me!"
My gaze and body turned that way.
I snatched up a fallen short spear and hurled it at the barbarian pinning a young soldier to the ground.
Crunch!
A clean hit.
Confirming the foe collapse with a pierced body, I rushed to the soldier.
"I can't see ahead... Uncle! Brother! Wh-where is everyone! Aaaah!"
The young soldier, tripped by the barbarian, had his face caked in mud and blood.
Apparently it had gotten in his eyes too—he swung his broken spear wildly in panic, shouting he was blind.
A momentary panic attack.
Feeling that unclean unease I still hadn't grown used to, I knocked the spear aside.
"Snap out of it and open your eyes!"
"I can't see! I can't see!"
I yelled at the thrashing boy, then grabbed his face with both hands.
Quickly wiping away the blood-soaked rag and mud around his eyes.
Fortunately, no injury.
Just filth from rolling in the dirt that had smeared across his face.
With a sigh of relief, I lightly slapped the cheeks of the boy who couldn't open his eyes.
Slap!
"K-Knight... sir?"
The young soldier finally opened his eyes.
Recognizing with joy that he hadn't lost his sight, he spotted my face.
He jolted in shock, tried to salute, then hastily checked his own condition.
No life-threatening wounds, but plenty of bruises that could hinder fighting.
I bellowed at the wide-eyed youth whose pupils were already shaking.
"Take the other wounded and fall back!"
"Y-Yes? But..."
"Can't you see your comrades! Shut up and run!"
His courage was admirable, but in that state, he couldn't fight anymore.
Better to pull the wounded with higher survival chances off the field.
"Yes, sir!"
Snapped alert by my harsh words, the boy grabbed his fallen shield and spear and bolted rearward.
I saw him drag a downed soldier along the way—he'd understood the order.
"Kraaaaa!"
Grab, bam!
But it was too early to relax.
The battle raged on, barbarians charging me at every moment.
I crushed the one leaping on my back, then discarded my tattered shield.
Carving a diagonal line through the battlefield, I swung at every barbarian in sight.
Slash!
"--------!!"
A trance.
Red diagonals overflowed around me.
My sword severed their necks like a hammer slaughtering pigs—cut, cut, and cut again.
One person can't beat a group, but a single pebble can divert a river.
Swinging methodically like picking beans with chopsticks, the tally of heads I dropped steadily rose.
"It's the knight! Fall back one step!"
"Hold formation! Reform the shield wall!"
The battlefield's eyes turned to me.
Thanks to my rampage in the center, the stalled melee reached a lull, and the soldiers regrouped for a brief breather.
Momentum swung our way.
As I shook off blood and looked around, Snow-Covered came running over.
"Master!"
"The chieftain?"
"Haven't seen him yet!"
While I stirred the central melee, quick-footed Snow-Covered had scoured the field for the barbarian chieftain.
With their low intelligence, barbarians crumbled without their leader.
But he was nowhere, and the fierce fighting dragged on.
Uwaaaaaaaaah—!!!
The two sides clashed again.
Snow-Covered and I pointed our swords forward without a word, slashing relentlessly at the charging barbarians.
Slash! Slash!
Back-to-back, breaths in sync.
We rampaged like twin storms amid the battlefield.
Our synchronized swordplay amid the flying blood and flesh was enough to force the barbarians back.
Was that why?
Just as victory tipped fully our way, a neglected presence flashed past like lightning.
"Yie Kar Mi—!!"
Alarm bells rang.
Skin prickled.
The rough wind of aura licked my heightened nerves.
Unrefined energy, like muddy water.
There, in my sight—a barbarian chieftain smashing a shield to splinters.
"No!"
"Uwaaaah!"
Soldiers fought in threes as I'd ordered.
But their momentum collapsed like dominoes before the sudden intruder.
Finally here.
I grabbed Snow-Covered mid-combo and pointed to the rear ranks.
"Fall back. I'll finish this."
"Win for sure."
Leave him be, and the tide turns.
Without hesitation, I shook blood from my sword and charged.
Fear of aura had long dulled through experience.
Swoosh!
A killing blow in pursuit.
Closing fast from behind, I swung straight for his neck, no mercy.
Clang!
As expected, my blade met his hastily raised weapon and glanced off.
Unrefined or not, an aura user after all.
In that instant, sensing the threat, he spotted me and snarled like a beast.
"Grrrrr..."
He was furious.
Proof: vivid aura dripped from his deer-horn club.
This level—nearly a senior knight.
Born northern, he'd lead a full unit.
But I felt relief, not regret.
This battle would uproot the threat entirely.
With a calm face, I said,
"You've lost."
"........."
"Just this much."
Boom—!!!
"Kraaaaaaaaaaa!"
Good—taunt landed perfectly.
I grinned at the berserk fool and twisted aside.
Explosion where I'd stood; thread-like aura sprayed everywhere.
Shing!
"Just this much," indeed.
Cheesy line, but saying it felt pretty good.
Riding that mood, I leaped lightly and swung.
My blade shot forward like wind, aiming true for his heart.
Pfsh!
Tch.
He twisted desperately.
Regrettably, the tip missed the heart, carving mere flesh and muscle.
I clicked my tongue, landing lightly.
No follow-up.
Intentional.
"Qer...?"
Shocked face checked the wound.
First defeat in a life of unbroken victories; sword slipped from his grasp.
What does it feel like for a born predator to become the prey?
Denying reality, he swung his aura-clad weapon again.
Boom!
Parried.
Boom!
Parried again.
No worry for blade damage—his swings were pathetic.
Confidence gone, even his attacks dulled.
"--------."
Utter silence.
Looking around, our forces had pushed the barbarians to the brink, surrounding us in the center, awaiting the end.
Only the blazing wood pile behind danced obliviously in the quiet.
Time to finish.
Step.
My parrying stance shifted low; aura halted.
Beyond First Form—now Second.
For Snow-Covered watching somewhere, I slowly traced the fierce wind's changed form.
Like a line on white paper.
Whoosh, clang!
A mere handspan gap.
Clang! Slash!
"Gui...?"
Purposeless sloppy swings flowed off my blade effortlessly.
At the perfect moment parrying the second, my sword sliced precisely below the aura—severing the fragile club hilt.
Thud!
Tip grazed past.
No room for 0.1cm error—severing only aura from user.
What becomes of flame without fuel?
The aura at the club's end winked out like a spent torch.
Recasting takes time.
Facing swordplay he'd never seen, he entered my range helpless.
Blade-tip to edge.
No aura, no defense.
I stepped again, swinging for the neck.
Slash!
Head floated free.
Many aura users err.
Thinking this power makes them immune to mere blades.
Ironically, what slays most fresh aura wielders is the "pathetic" ordinary sword.
Thud.
Clank.
The sword is purpose, not tool.
Forget why you grip it, and you crumble like this.
I sheathed my unstained blade, picked up the fallen head.
Hurled it at the monkey-like barbarians; survivors scattered.
Thud.
Rooooaaar—!!!
I raised my scabbard.
The battlefield erupted in massive cheers.
Some in ecstasy, others in tears.
Emotions exploded uncontrollably, sweeping over me like a storm.
Our victory.
[Qu-quick. Meat! Meat!]
With every warrior who could fight sent to battle, only a few barbarians remained in the village to guard the women and children—their spoils.
But before the chieftain returned, a soot-black barbarian burst into the village.
Drooling spit and blood, he frantically grabbed dried meat.
One villager tried to stop him.
[What? Chieftain fights. We wait.]
[No! Dead! War, uwaaaah!]
The intruder was covered in stab wounds and horrific burns.
Scratching his wild hair like he'd seen a ghost, he screamed.
But the dumb villagers ignored it, trying to snatch the meat.
A hunk of meat mattered more than an injured tribesman.
[Huk, huff! Go! Run!]
[No! Wait for chieftain!]
Too stupid for full sentences, communication failed.
The idiocy their chieftain feared shone through—without a head, they crumbled like sandcastles.
[Don't! Don't do it!]
No words worked.
Fury peaked; they swung fists at each other.
Cackle cackle.
Waaah!
Village center turned chaos.
But women and children creeping from huts laughed at the sight, hurling food and clapping.
Did they know?
That hordes of kin lay slaughtered, and even now as they laughed, death raced toward them.
Sudden wind blew.
Fight and laughter halted.
Thud thud thud thud thud thud.
"?"
The world shook violently.
Tremors from the ground struck the noisy village heart.
Earthquake? No.
Something massive approached.
Barbarians felt chilled skin, turned eyes outward.
Thud thud thud thud thud thud—!!!
Far off, a white wave surged.
The wave spewed angry foam from white noses, horns lowered toward vengeance.
Ooooooh—!!!
The white-horned deer bellowed.
Not for revenge's thrill, but remembering countless kin slain by these foes.
Snort!
Clop clop clop!
Noble, honorable leader.
White as snow, he charged like wind, leading countless white-horned deer.
Target clear: the barbarian village of their enemies.
[R-run! Die!]
[Uwaaaahhh!!]
Crunch!
Craaack, boom!
The white wave crashed into the village.
Fences and huts swept away like by tsunami; barbarians trampled under massive hooves.
Humans arriving late found no traces left.