Chapter 14
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Ambush (4)
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Whoosh.
He swung his arm forward, sending the signal.
Clop clop.
The knights who had fallen back spurred their horses in perfect unison. Some charged straight ahead, while others scattered to circle around the forest in front.
Those advancing head-on formed a wedge formation optimized for breakthroughs.
The lead knight pulled out a massive shield and planted it in front. As the knights beside him did the same, a wall of shields formed in an instant.
With that, they charged toward the forest.
Thundering hooves!
Dust billowed up, and brittle branches snapped uselessly against the horses.
They had crossed about half the forest when...
Thwack!
An arrow flew from somewhere and struck a shield. It was a powerful shot, but it couldn't pierce the solidly braced wall.
Even with the added impact from their speed, the knights gritted their teeth and held firm.
"Your Excellency!"
Mathias bellowed low.
The next moment,
"The center!"
A chilling assassin’s voice rang out from overhead.
Thud thud, thwack!
A barrage of arrows focused on the central knights—the ones shielding with the wall of shields, targeting me.
But that action only revealed their position.
I wasn't inside that shield wall. I was bypassing the forest with the other knights to hit them from behind.
All of us wearing the same armor had been for exactly this purpose.
Grip.
Mana flowed into the spear shaft in my hand, extending the mana blade with a slither.
I slowed my horse to adjust the distance. Holding my breath to steady my arm, I pulled it back.
There you are.
An assassin crouched low on a tree branch, drawing his bow, came into view. Aiming at him, I added my strength to the horse's momentum and hurled the spear.
Scree!
The spear flew with a vicious shriek and,
"Gah!"
pierced the assassin's chest dead center. It slammed his body into the ground at full speed.
Thud!
The assassin's body twitched a few times after hitting the ground before going still.
I charged toward it, dismounted low, and yanked the spear from his impaled corpse.
Drip.
Sticky blood trickled down the blade onto the earth. I recovered the mana in the spear and swung it hard.
Whoosh!
The clinging blood scattered in droplets. I infused mana into the cleaned shaft again, reforming the blade.
Scree!
After taking out the second assassin in the trees, the others noticed something was wrong.
"The target's here!"
"Damn it, not the center!"
The assassins atop the trees began hastily shifting positions, causing
rustle-crash—
a chaotic mix of shaking branches and brushing leaves.
Amateurs.
I smirked while aiming my spear at them. If they'd taken my assassination contract, they'd have heard how I dealt with the previous ones.
I hurled the spear at an assassin leaping from the tree to move sideways.
Scree!
His body froze midair.
Thud!
As he fell, his corpse tangled grotesquely in the branches.
"Argh!"
Oops.
His squirming threw off my aim from the chest. I'd gone for a one-shot kill, but it pierced his gut instead.
Thanks to that, the assassin writhed on the ground, still alive.
Thundering hooves!
I yanked the reins, turning my horse toward him.
"Grk..."
The assassin dragged himself in agony, then
thundering hooves!
looked up as he spotted me approaching.
"Da... Dane Sch..."
He never finished his last words.
Splat splat!
My horse's hooves crushed his skull into pulp.
"Ah, Your Excellency!"
Mathias screamed—not quite a scream, but close—upon seeing me.
"I said don't kill them all!"
I yanked the reins, wheeling my horse around.
Neigh!
The horse snorted roughly, stamping the ground as chunks of flesh and brain matter stuck to its hooves annoyed it.
"Easy now."
I soothed it to calm down. It had matched me well for our first time together today. Felt like a good horse.
"Eww, it's total mush now."
Mathias rode up, tongue clicking in dismay.
"Feeling sorry for him?"
"No way. This is a mercy, isn't it?"
Giggles leaked through Mathias's teeth. But his eyes weren't laughing at all.
Pop!
He pulled the spear from the assassin's body. The motion was fluid, like he'd done it a thousand times.
Mathias had endured these ambushes to the point of nausea, inevitable for anyone guarding me.
So there were assassins left after all.
In the original story, Dane got ambushed on the day Rose arrived, pushing himself to return to the mine.
I'd thought maybe they left since I didn't go yesterday.
But they could wait a day, apparently. Persistent bastards.
Whoosh.
Mathias whistled at the vividly shimmering mana blade.
"As expected of Your Excellency. Incredible mana capacity."
He handed it to me reversed.
"Mine never glows this bright when I infuse it."
This spear was a kind of magic tool.
There were two ways to activate magic tools: embed mana stones or infuse your own mana.
I overwhelmingly preferred the latter. Born with an absurd amount of mana.
"Talk less, Mathias."
I shook off the blood like before and gripped it anew.
"Take the rest."
"Your Excellency, come on. No plans to dig into who's behind this?"
Mathias grumbled as he adjusted his sword grip.
His blade gleamed with fresh blood too. He'd already cut down an assassin before coming to me.
"Dead is dead."
"But they keep sending more even after we wipe them out?"
No guild had ever accepted and succeeded my hit contract. Yet the attempts never stopped.
Either stubborn pride to be the first, or the client offering a massive upfront fee.
One or the other.
"Wonder where they get the manpower. Training costs money too."
His admiring tone was close to sarcasm.
"So, don't you think it's time to change strategy?"
"How?"
"Grab one, torture him, find the base. What do you say?"
I stared at Mathias silently for a moment.
"..."
He shuddered as my lip curled up slowly.
"Your Excellency, no way."
"If you really want to—"
Thud!
"—try it."
A heavy resistance came from the other side of the tree I'd suddenly stabbed through.
"Guhk..."
I'd skewered the assassin hiding behind it, aiming at us.
Pop!
I twisted and pulled the spear free, charging ahead. No need to look back—a huge hole would be in his chest.
"Argh, hopeless."
Mathias scratched his head furiously and followed.
"By order of His Excellency!"
His bellow echoed through the trees.
"Save one if you can!"
The echo hadn't faded when,
"Gah!"
I killed another assassin. He clutched at the blade in his death throes, but
pop!
I withdrew the mana, and his hand flailed into empty air.
Splat!
My horse trampled his body as it passed. His severed hand dropped limply to the ground.
"Your Excellency, please!"
"Just one, leave just one alive!"
The knights clamored. They tailed me diligently, trying to take out assassins before I could.
"Keurk!"
Unlike them, who showed mercy, I focused solely on killing without hesitation.
Above all, my innate mana capacity widened the gap between me and the knights. What they had to squeeze out with all their might flowed from my fingertips like a waterfall.
"Argh!"
Kill, slash aside, crush. I moved as if born solely to slaughter enemies. I had to, or I couldn't endure it.
Three years of relentless assassination attempts had forged me this way. Any normal person would've gone mad.
"Don't panic!"
An assassin's voice reached me as I tore through the forest.
"We outnumber them! Stay calm and fight!"
He shifted position right after speaking—seemed skilled.
That one from earlier.
The first to spot me and direct the attack. He must be the leader of this ambush.
Thundering hooves!
I spurred my horse roughly toward the sound.
Up close now, the assassins couldn't use their bows anymore. Instead, they hid from the knights scouring everywhere or
clang!
lunged from behind for surprise attacks.
In that chaos, I deliberately made a racket to draw eyes. And he bit the juicy bait I dangled.
Thud!
An assassin landed on my saddle from behind. His left hand clamped my shoulder; his right dagger aimed for my throat.
"Got you...!"
As the assassin smirked triumphantly,
Stab!
a spear blade erupted out of nowhere, piercing his gut.
"Wha...?"
He froze, staring down at his body in bewilderment, utterly clueless where it came from.
"This thing,"
I waggled the spear I'd been holding toward him. It had been just a shaft moments ago, but now it was a long spear taller than a man.
"can extend too."
As I finished speaking, I detonated mana into it explosively.
Whoosh!
The blade shot out longer and wider in an instant, shredding the assassin's body.
"Argh!"
He twisted in agony and tumbled to the ground. Blood sprayed everywhere from his mangled abdomen.