Chapter 99
Chapter 99
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: The Ogre Chieftain's Fall
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"N-No! Stay back!"
Slash!
I grabbed the fleeing Redskin squad leader and thrust my sword through the gap in his helmet.
A chilling sensation ran through my fingertips as the blade cut through bone, and he collapsed, blood pouring from the wound.
Krrrk.
That made twelve Redskin squad leaders I'd slain in total, with him as the last.
From the start of the clash, I'd relentlessly hunted their heads, reaping quite a harvest.
Yet even after I'd dismantled the enemy's command structure, the battlefield lay strewn with countless corpses, friend and foe indistinguishable.
Those who shed blood... and those made to shed it.
The cost of annihilating the Redskin mercenaries had been the Eastern Army itself.
Thud.
I set down the heavy severed head.
To offer some solace to the spirits of our dying comrades, I doggedly pursued the scattered Redskins in retreat.
No finesse or technique needed.
Like a slaughterhouse machine, severing bones and slitting the throats of squealing pigs was enough.
Kaaaagh!
Clang! Slash! Crack!
They had to pay the price for coveting the East.
I sawed through necks exposed at armor joints and smashed faces inside helmets with my sword's pommel.
Hah... hah...
My breath came heavy in the weighty armor.
I shook the blood from my hands, panting ragged breaths thick with the stench of entrails.
Uwaaaaaah—!!
Then, from afar, I spotted a slinger unit charging with frenzied roars.
They were diving into pursuit—the deadliest phase of battle, where the heaviest losses occurred.
Die, you bastards!
The berserk slingers hurled themselves mercilessly at the gruesome field.
They dragged out the wounded and fleeing, swinging warhammers wildly.
Kill them all!
Uwaaaah!
Any who twitched were bashed in the helmet, skulls crushed.
Suspected squad leaders were swarmed, limbs pinned, throats slit.
No prisoners. No mercy.
Just as they had shown the innocent Easterners—pain and death filled the field.
Ptoo!
By now, our flanking cavalry would've hit the retreating Redskin archers.
I spat the blood and mud pooling in my mouth, finally easing my stance to inspect my sword.
The blade was caked thick with gore, the hilt slick with flesh and fat.
I indifferently wiped it on the inside of my elbow, then tossed aside the bothersome helmet.
Caw! Caw!
The sun was already high noon.
Unwelcome crows had arrived in the sky, and the screams echoing everywhere had faded.
But one spot remained.
The final duel raging at the battlefield's heart had yet to end.
"Raaaaagh!"
Boom! Kwang! Clang!
Each swing of the beast's massive axe burst the humid air, sending tremors all the way here.
Was that power truly from one hand? The Redskin chieftain, aptly named Ogre, was a formidable warrior.
Tzzzzz! Ping!
But Richard, who'd left the Ogre's right hand in that state, deflected attacks in a trance using aura gathered on his blade.
Northern Swordsmanship perfectly fused into his small frame, courage unyielding even in crisis!
The naive prince, once ignorant of the world, had become the little giant who raised the East.
The war was over.
Most Redskins had lost their lives beneath the mud, with only a few survivors fleeing.
All that remained was their chieftain.
The surviving Eastern soldiers flocked toward the duel like men possessed.
"......"
Yet none dared intervene.
Despite the lethal exchanges, no one thought the Eastern King would lose.
And I felt the same, so I silently sheathed my sword and stood watching.
Richard was already putting the finishing stroke to the history he'd written.
"Graaaaa!"
The Ogre must've been going mad.
This tiny human, barely reaching his waist, wouldn't fall despite teetering on the brink, desperately parrying every blow.
Why won't he drop?
Why won't he yield!
The blood-soaked vermin should've been pathetic, but this bloodied human was terrifying.
"Krrk?"
Fear unturned to rage clouded his judgment more and more.
In a duel demanding controlled force, he'd burned too much stamina.
'Wait for the moment.'
Richard's swordsmanship was defensive.
He'd first learned to block foes on battlefields teeming with deadly enemies.
'The moment will come.'
Those who'd mocked it as turtle-like had all died to this 'counter'.
It was a trump card only one who swung silently could unleash.
'Now!'
Crack!
A shiver ran through me as I clenched my fist.
Then the one who'd only blocked flashed fierce eyes and gritted his teeth.
Kclang!
He parried the weakened axe.
The hefty Ogre lost balance, and Richard finally dropped his guard.
"Aaaah—!!"
Perfect parry! Swift stance shift!
Richard unleashed a counter with an inhuman roar.
Tzzzzz! Crack!
Stab!
"Kaaaaagh!"
The sword pierced the armor.
Agony wracked the Ogre with a horrific scream, thrashing wildly.
But the blade had already transfixed his chest.
No resistance could pull it free from flesh and bone.
Thud!
He finally dropped to one knee.
Blood streamed from his helmet, soaking the armor; the axe fell limply.
Winner and loser decided at last.
The filthy oppressor who'd devoured the East trembled empty eyes.
"Kuh... krrk... kuh!"
The Ogre couldn't accept reality.
His lifelong mercenary band annihilated by these tiny humans.
Was fate jealous of him? Or had his kingly ambition been too much?
In fading consciousness, the Ogre had no choice but to concede.
But he didn't go quietly.
Like the East's past golden age that waned, this victory and glory wouldn't last eternal.
"Krrk... kuh... heh... Do you think this is the end for us? No. It'll go on forever. You'll be tested with extinction looming. Now, in the future, your descendants too—for life."
This attempt wasn't the last.
Second, third champions would arise anytime; the East would face extinction's trial.
Could they endure?
Even if they did, their offspring would die countless times under the same injustice.
"So don't rejoice, humans."
A realistic curse, all the more cutting.
The Eastern soldiers who heard it felt today's wounds sting deeper.
"No."
But Richard, who'd secured victory, firmly rejected the curse.
His resolute hands gripped the sword embedded in the Ogre's chest.
"The East will be fine."
Crunch!
"Guhk! Kk!"
Richard pulled with both hands.
The blade tore free with gore.
Drip.
Cold death crept in.
In his dimming vision, the last he heard was solemn recitation.
"As long as humans die for freedom."
"Opportunity will always come."
In the war's fierce end, Richard's Eastern Army annihilated the Redskin mercenaries.
But contrary to the hard-won victory, nearly two-tenths fell in battle, with more wounded shipped to the rear.
With fires at our feet, we hastily camped around the plain.
We treated the injured and recovered comrades' bodies tangled in the mud.
With the final battle's triumph, no enemies threatened the Eastern Army anymore.
I left minimal sentries and ordered indefinite rest for the weary troops.
They needed it.
In the deep night, I lifted my head at laughter drifting from campsites.
"Where's Richard?"
Helena burst into the tent after my summons amid treatment.
Her face, much brighter, brought good news to my urgent question.
"Just fell asleep."
His combat wounds so grave, he'd passed out right after.
But thanks to my quick field aid, he survived.
He'd nearly died before becoming king.
I grumbled softly at Richard, who'd hidden his injuries: just you wait.
Smack!
"Quiet. You're in no position to talk."
Black Arrow stitched my gash silently, then smacked my back hard.
As she said irritably, my mud-rolled body was a mess too.
The war had been brutal, after all.
I scratched my stinging back and asked Helena, who chuckled softly.
"Sir Ronald?"
"Tracking stragglers."
While we crushed the main force, Ronald and Helena's Eastern cavalry massacred the Redskin archers.
But Ronald didn't stop, scouring the area to slay fleeing remnants.
Pent-up rage, it seemed.
I donned the clothes Black Arrow handed me and outlined future plans.
"We'll rest here awhile. Send severe cases to Sodom, regroup mobile troops into divisions."
"Straight to the capital?"
"When Richard wakes."
Only wrap-up remained.
Feeling my return North neared, I told Helena:
"And the crows have work."
"What?"
"Sneak into the capital Dufidia. Scout Wilhelm II and the traitors' locations. Tracks are fine—just don't get caught."
The puppet Wilhelm II aside, the traitors who'd dragged things this far couldn't live.
I'd deploy the crows specialized for this; Helena, hating the royals, nodded with fierce eyes.
"Orders like that? Always welcome. Kill if located?"
"Cull the small fry. But never touch Gregorz."
"......Got it."
Especially the prime suspect, ex-Prime Minister Gregorz—someone else was marked for him.
Recalling that vile fox from memory, I clicked my tongue.
Never dreamed the kind old statesman would turn like that.
I nodded to saluting Helena, then sank onto the bed.
Thud.
The worst hurdle passed.
Now, enthrone the new king and rebuild the vanished Iron Alliance.
I reached for the saved stationery and final messenger bird.
Time for the watching Northern Kingdom and Knight King Snow-Covered to step in.
Black Arrow asleep beside me, I scribbled furiously with the quill pen as cheerful soldiers' laughter echoed from another tent.