Chapter 20
Chapter 20
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Genius Divine Archer Who Became a One-Man Legion
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It was a sweet rest, like honey.
Some might call it a long time, others a short one, but the fatigue from running nearly twenty hours without a break was considerable.
Rian stopped at an inn in a village along the route, immediately ordered hot food, ate with his squad members, and then passed out in his room.
Four hours of blissful sleep later, the squad members gathered again, fully geared up.
“Everyone rest well?”
“I feel a bit alive now.”
“Now we’ve gotta go all the way.”
Of course, fully recovering their stamina in this short break was out of the question. But they had enough fuel to keep moving.
Rian set off once more for the Isis River with his squad.
It was dawn, so visibility was poor. And in this region, their exposed cheeks felt like they’d freeze solid.
How long had they walked like that?
When frost had formed on the hoods over their heads and their lips had turned blue, Rian spotted the river in the distance.
“We’re here. The Isis River!”
“...We made it somehow.”
“Wow... I didn’t think we’d really get here this fast.”
The squad members were a total mess after just two days, but they all felt a strange thrill at having arrived on time.
But Rian immediately pulled out his pocket watch to check the current time.
‘Search window at most six hours...’
With night falling, though, he expected that time to drag out even longer.
Rian gathered his squad and spoke right away.
“We’ll head upstream along this path. Then at the spot we reach, we’ll split up and search for the broken ironwood.”
“The broken ironwood?”
It was called ironwood because of its steel-like hardness.
He didn’t know what had happened, but if it was broken, it would surely stand out.
‘The encroaching darkness is a bit worrying...’
Still, with the oil they’d prepared, they could make torches and search in time.
Rian began quickly ascending the river’s upstream with his squad. And then,
“This is the spot...”
Rian arrived at where the river bent, spread out his map, and took in the surroundings.
He didn’t know the exact location, but he knew from his past life that the Isis River crossing had happened somewhere around here.
“Everyone scatter and find the broken ironwood. Blow your whistle the instant you spot it to signal your position.”
“Yes!”
“Got it.”
The full search finally began.
In truth, just arriving here on time was already impressive.
But if they failed to find a shallow spot from here on, all that effort could go to waste.
‘Worse, they’d fall behind the main force and might not even reach Saleron on schedule.’
That was why this search was the most critical part.
Rian fashioned a torch from oil and cloth, then began scanning the riverbanks.
-Near the broken ironwood, there’s a shallow spot in the Isis River due to rocks piled on the riverbed.
That was the information Rian had.
Claire had crossed there with fifty soldiers and flanked the enemy for a great victory.
But...
“Why isn’t it here...?”
They’d already been searching the riverbanks for over four hours nonstop. The darkness made it hard to distinguish anything.
‘What am I missing?’
Think, think!
Rian hurriedly unrolled his map and held the torch close.
The map fluttered wildly in the wind, and the river breeze made his hands feel like they were freezing solid.
Rian pinned the map down with a large rock and pulled the torch in close to examine it.
“Upstream broken ironwood...”
If it wasn’t broken yet, they should at least find the ironwood itself.
But there wasn’t even anything resembling a tree, let alone ironwood.
Then, suddenly,
“...No way, did they cross from the opposite side?”
Rian hurriedly checked the map.
Come to think of it, it only said they crossed the river—no mention of which side they started from.
‘I naturally assumed downstream to upstream.’
Since they were fighting barbarians, after all.
But what if it was the other way around?
‘You idiot...!’
Suspicion gradually turned to conviction.
Even if wrong, it was worth checking.
Rustle!
Rian spread out the arrows he had on the ground.
He then wrapped spare cloth around the arrowheads and slathered them with oil.
The location was definitely around here.
Plus, ironwood was inherently thick and massive by nature.
If intact, they just needed to find a tall tree; if broken, it’d be easy to confirm either way.
The key was shooting the bow accurately toward that spot.
Rian steadied his breathing and drew his bow.
It was the bow he’d received as a reward for his previous exploits.
‘Feels solid, alright.’
Just lightly plucking the string told him its quality.
Creak.
Rian nocked the cloth-wrapped arrow and lit the tip.
Whoosh!
Once the flame caught properly, Rian slowly drew the string.
No rushing—pull it all the way.
‘The Isis River’s about fifty meters across.’
An easy distance to shoot. The trick was spotting what happened when the flame arced to the opposite side.
Twang!
The arrow left Rian’s hand, slicing through the darkness toward the far bank.
Rian widened his eyes toward its path.
‘Tree... tree... tree...!’
First, find anything tree-like, ironwood or not.
But the first shot was a miss.
Rian immediately marked an X on the map with a charred twig.
He planned to check gradually upstream from there.
“Squad leader!”
“Squad leader, what’s going on!?”
The squad members who’d scattered began gathering, drawn by Rian’s shot.
Rian looked at them and said,
“I think I got it wrong. The ironwood might be on the opposite side.”
“The opposite side?”
“It’s so dark... I can’t see a thing...”
They could’ve found it in seconds if it were daytime.
But they had no luxury to wait for daylight.
The main force would bypass the Isis River at dawn today.
“We have to find it before the sun rises.”
“What do you need us to do?”
“We’ll help.”
Rian said to them,
“Then when I shoot across with the bow, check if there’s a broken tree there. Or at least a large dead tree.”
“Yes, we’ll keep our eyes peeled!”
Rian lit up another arrow on his bow.
Two shots this time.
He’d angle them slightly to illuminate a wider area at once.
Twang!
The arrows rose into the sky, crossing to the opposite bank and lighting up the view.
Rian and the squad all strained their eyes, but still nothing.
But when he shot a bit further upstream,
“Huh?”
“There it is! There’s a broken tree!”
At the left edge of the illuminated view.
One broken tree stood there, surrounded by a few others.
Rian quickly readied two arrows.
One with fire, one normal.
He first loosed the flaming arrow into the sky.
Twang!
As the soaring flame arced down, lighting the surroundings in a half-circle—
Creak!
Rian drew the normal arrow as hard as he could and gave the string a slight twist.
The moment the flare revealed the tree—
‘Now!’
Zing!
The string snapped forward at tremendous speed.
The target was the broken tree across the river. The instant Rian’s arrow struck it—clang!
A sharp sound rang out, utterly unlike hitting ordinary wood.
“It’s ironwood! Ironwood, squad leader!”
“It really was on the opposite side...!”
Brandt shouted loudly.
But unlike the others rejoicing, Rian grabbed a long wooden pole and dashed toward the river.
‘Using that as reference... about here.’
He thrust the branch, man-height long, deep into the river.
The current was fierce enough to snap it, but soon he felt it catch at the tip.
“Squad leader, the wet spot...”
“Here.”
He pulled the branch out—depth just over a meter.
They could cross.
But there was one problem...
“The current’s too strong.”
He’d felt it putting in the branch—the water nearly flung it away the moment it touched.
And in conditions where they couldn’t even see properly, who could cross this?
But if that were the only issue, it wouldn’t matter.
They could wait for daylight and the main force to link up.
That wasn’t the real problem.
“We need to cross here.”
“Huh? Can’t we just wait for the main force?”
“Can you be sure this depth runs all the way to the other side?”
“That’s...”
Isaac clamped his mouth shut at Rian’s question.
That was the real issue.
‘Claire definitely used the broken ironwood as her marker to cross. But we can’t guarantee this exact spot is the same.’
What if they judged it shallow and fired the signal flare, but the depth increased after the river’s center?
What if some variable since Claire’s crossing had deepened it beyond passable?
Or if the current was too fierce to cross even if shallow!
“We have to confirm it. Otherwise, it’s meaningless.”
Rian looked right at the squad member beside him.
“Get the rope. I’ll cross myself.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“Are you insane? How do you cross here right now?”
The squad members tried to stop him.
His small frame couldn’t possibly handle a river with this current.
But Rian shook his head.
‘I have to take responsibility.’
This was an operation that had to succeed.
He couldn’t push someone else into danger.
“...Ugh, who can break the squad leader’s stubbornness?”
Kyle, who’d been watching, suddenly approached Rian and snatched the rope from his hand.
As Rian furrowed his brow, Kyle said to him,
“I’ll cross. I’m way better suited than our rat-dung-sized squad leader.”
“What did you say?”
“K-Kyle!”
“Don’t try to play the lone hero, squad leader. We’re a team, aren’t we? We face it together.”
From his first defeat to Rian and starting to train under him, and the more time he spent with Rian, Kyle grew convinced.
‘This guy’s worth following to the end.’
Short enough to barely reach his chest, with a slender build to boot.
But those fierce punches of his, and the character that never shoved hard tasks onto his juniors—Kyle was completely won over.
“I’ll definitely make it across, so don’t worry.”
Kyle patted his chest.
He was over 190 cm tall and weighed 120 kg.
If anyone in the squad could withstand this current, it was Kyle.
“...Alright.”
Rian nodded. Then he handed Kyle the potion he had.
“Drink it.”
“Huh? This precious stuff?”
“Precious or not, it’s not more valuable than you. If you’re doing this, make it succeed. Never give up halfway.”
Kyle stared wordlessly into Rian’s eyes. But soon enough, he snatched it.
Gulp, gulp.
“Kuh! Drinking something this precious. Kyle, you’ve hit the big time!”
He flung the empty vial to the ground and said to Rian,
“Hah, stating the obvious. Who am I? Kyle, that’s who!”
Kyle tied the rope tightly around his waist and declared,
“I’ll succeed for sure!”
With that, Kyle began slowly wading into the dark river.