The Aftermath of Karon (2)
-Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!
Five hundred gun muzzles in the first rank spat fire simultaneously.
As hundreds of bullets, propelled by a deafening roar, tore through the air of the plain, an unbelievable scene unfolded before Count Kelrn's eyes as he watched the battle from below the command platform.
-Neeeigh!
"The horses are falling!"
"Uwaaah...!"
"The horses... the horses are fleeing!"
The first to be struck were the horses leading the cavalry vanguard. The horses, which could not shroud themselves in aura, could not withstand the hail of bullets. They fell, spurting blood, or startled by the noise, abandoned their riders and fled.
Dust clouds kicked up by dozens of horses crashing to the ground covered the battlefield. The Imperial cavalry, which had been charging bravely, shaking the earth, soon became entangled like dominoes and collapsed in an instant.
"Raise your shields! Deploy your aura!" the dismounted knights shouted, scrambling to their feet urgently. At that cry, they snapped to attention, crouched, raised their shields, and channeled mana to envelop the shield surfaces with aura. But—
"Second rank. Fire!"
-Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!
At Ian's command, another thunderous roar echoed across the plain. The bullets fired by the second-rank soldiers pierced the thick dust and rained down upon the knights' shields.
-Crack. Crack.
Everywhere on the battlefield, the sound of aura shattering could be heard.
"Kuaaaaah!"
"The aura is breached...!"
Just what is that bizarre weapon, not even a magical tool...!
Count Kelrn was astonished at the unreal situation unfolding before his eyes. Although the Imperial knights stationed in Karon were mostly trash—high-level Sword Users at best, pushed out from central power and relegated to the frontier—even for these lowlifes, it required over a decade of effort and resources to awaken aura. For such knights to be felled by mere little lumps of metal not even imbued with a handful of mana...
"Third rank. Fire!"
-Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!
"Damn...! Fall back for now! Their range can't be infinite!" the Count shouted urgently, veins bulging at the sound of another volley. At his command, the knights all turned their backs and desperately began to increase the distance.
To have two-tenths of the entire cavalry force fall after just three attacks.
How absurd. He stared at the battlefield with a dazed expression.
Beyond the gunpowder smoke and dust, the Imperial troops could be seen retreating. Their flight, abandoning all honor and pride, was quite unsightly.
Better than dying, I suppose. Not that I intend to let them go so easily. They were the ones who kicked away their last chance. I need to crush them thoroughly so they never look down on the kingdom again.
The problem is Count Kelrn. Count Kelrn is a strong figure, enough to be the villain of an episode in the middle of the original story. The subtitle was "The Runaway Sword Master".
There are three stages for a knight: Sword User, Sword Expert, Sword Master. Of course, there's also the realm of Grand Sword Master. But that's a different world entirely.
Typically, when one says "elite knight," they mean from high-level Sword User to mid-level Sword Expert. Moreover, the gap between a Sword Expert and a Sword Master, even though it's just one step, is a vast chasm that nothing can fill—a wall that can only be crossed with innate talent and a miraculous epiphany.
That's why Sword Experts become obsessed with power. Because it feels like they just need a few more steps. In the original, he ended up colluding with Black Wizards out of a mad obsession with martial strength, forcibly raising his stage. He succeeded in reaching Sword Master that way, but due to the unstable ascension, he eventually lost his reason and went berserk. The main content of that episode was the protagonist Aila and Crown Prince Kallian joining forces to defeat the rampaging Count Kelrn.
That's still a future story, so he's not at Sword Master yet... From what I confirmed during the negotiations, he seemed to be at high-level Sword Expert. I learned from tests with Roxanna that musket bullets can't deal significant damage to a high-level Sword Expert. So it's the right judgment to keep our distance in preparation.
"All troops! Increase the distance and pursue!"
Since our knights are circling around to the enemy's rear, we just need to apply pressure and drive them slowly. If a battle between knights breaks out, our soldiers could get hurt or killed. I want to minimize the casualties on our side from this war I started. You could call it hypocritical. I don't care. That's just how I feel.
"All troops, halt! Slowly encircle them in a semicircle!"
At the order, the soldiers stopped advancing and began to spread out left and right. The line formation, which had been spread wide, soon changed into a crescent formation, pressing in to envelop both flanks of the fleeing Imperial army.
"First rank. Fire!"
-Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!
Following the command, continuous suppressing fire rained into the encirclement.
"Kuaaak!"
"Don't change direction! Run straight ahead!"
"Damn...!"
The knights who couldn't endure and tried to break out to the sides were mercilessly struck down by the incoming bullets.
"Damn it all... pathetic fools...!"
Count Kelrn, the Imperial commander, was cursing and using his aura to slice or deflect the incoming bullets. As expected of a Sword Expert. His visual acuity and reflexes to read and deflect the bullets' trajectories are certainly impressive. But war isn't fought alone. He was barely managing to protect himself, and didn't seem to have the capacity to protect his subordinates falling around him.
"Just a little more! Once we get out of this damn range, we can regroup!"
He shouted with bloodshot eyes and ran forward. He looked like he wanted to charge at me with his sword raised right away, but with bullets flying from all directions and Elisa beside me aiming her musket at him, he must have considered closing the distance nothing short of suicide. It's not that he's afraid of the musket; he probably instinctively sensed a threat from Elisa.
In the end, the only path he could choose was the escape route we had intentionally left open.
When the fleeing Imperial troops reached the edge of the plain—
"They've arrived."
"Yeah."
At Elisa's words, I nodded. From beyond the ridge directly ahead, where the Imperial troops were desperately running, the sound of the kingdom's advance bugle began to ring out.
-Boooom. Boooom.
Following that, dust rose along with the sound of hooves shaking the earth as if from an earthquake.
"Wh...what is this!"
In the moment of the startled Count's hesitation, breaking through the dust, the kingdom's elite knight order—which had made a wide detour around the mountain range—revealed their imposing presence atop the ridge.
"Block the enemy's retreat!"
As our knight commander at the forefront shouted the thunderous order, the kingdom's knights rode down the slope, blocking the front of the Imperial forces. With bullets constantly flying from behind, and the kingdom's knights with swords raised blocking the path ahead—
"A trap... it's a trap!"
"The retreat path is cut off!"
The Imperial troops, who had been fleeing for their lives, froze in place when they saw the knight order blocking their path. Count Kelrn's eyes widened as he looked back and forth, then he shouted in a furious voice, "How dare... how dare you kingdom bastards humiliate me?"
The Count gritted his teeth and reached into his coat, pulling out a murky black bead.
"That is... Everyone, fall back!"
After confirming the object in the Count's hand from the platform, I immediately ordered the soldiers to retreat. I thought it was something he only obtained in the middle of the original... He already has the Seed of Greed?
The Seed of Greed is a magical tool that Count Kelrn created in the original by colluding with Black Wizards and secretly running a monster ranch. It is a crystal formed by compressing the mana obtained from breeding and slaughtering countless monsters. It forcibly raises the user's stage, but the user's body is consumed by the monster's mana and they lose their reason.
"I was saving this to become a Sword Master...!"
The Count clenched the bead tightly with bloodshot eyes.
-Crunch.
A sound of the black bead shattering was heard, and the Count's body became enveloped in a dark black aura. A horrifying and repulsive mana spread in all directions.
"Uweegh-"
The Imperial knights standing nearby, affected by the mana, began to retch and collapsed to the ground.
"Kuaaaaaagh!"
The Count threw his head back and roared in agony. His muscles swelled abnormally, and thick veins bulged across his skin.
Berserk. The situation I saw in the original was unfolding before my eyes. At the ominous energy spreading everywhere, soldiers and knights instinctively stepped back.
In that moment when no one could step forward—
-Click.
Elisa, who was beside me, set down her musket and stepped forward. "I will kill him." Mana, even darker than the Count's aura, gathered at her fingertips.
I reached out and grabbed her wrist. "No. You stay back. I'll do it."
"I am your guardian, Master."
"Still, no."
Elisa is a witch. Using magic secretly once or twice in the chaos of battle is fine, but if she engages in full-scale combat, her characteristic witch's mana will inevitably reveal her identity. That would be troublesome. I could silence them if I had to, but the risk if I can't is too great. If the Holy Kingdom were to learn that Elisa is a witch... The Great Witch of the original might be reborn. Above all, I didn't want Elisa to get hurt.
"There are too many eyes watching. We can't have your identity exposed."
"...Understood."
"But it'll be hard alone, so if I give you a signal, use it just once."
"Yes, Master."
Elisa nodded and withdrew her mana.
"All troops. Maintain formation and increase the distance!"
After giving the order, I mounted the horse prepared below the platform. I pulled the reins and galloped straight toward the Count, who was emitting dark mana. Even though he had lost his reason, he must have noticed me approaching, as he came charging with his sword raised.
Let's do this.