Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: The Lure
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Boom-!
With a tremendous roar, two soldiers holding shields were flung straight into the sky.
Garell, who had instantly cleared a path by swinging his axe, spotted Raymond mounted on horseback beyond the soldiers.
Swoosh.
‘Is he on the move?’
Rian had worried about what might happen if he charged recklessly inward, but now the enemies were finally starting to pay attention to them.
Rian glanced at the squad members around him.
“Everyone, stay sharp. A monster’s coming.”
“Have we finally caught their eye?”
“……Mother, your son will truly go meet Father first now!”
Rian chuckled at Kyle’s mutter and smacked the back of his head with a sharp crack.
“Get it together. Even if you can’t block anyone else, you can block that guy’s attacks.”
“How am I supposed to block an Aura-imbued attack?”
“……With your wits?”
Kyle’s face crumpled into a pout at Rian’s words. Rian soon turned his gaze to Garell approaching this way.
Slash!
The monster’s axe showed no mercy.
Anyone who blocked his path was cut down in a single strike, no exceptions.
And that wasn’t the only problem.
The guys coming along behind him.
‘Elite soldiers?’
There were just under twenty fierce tribe warriors, but their momentum looked as sharp as the kingdom army’s elites.
Rian immediately nocked an arrow.
“When the enemy gets close, we head inward.”
Just like Kyle said, he had no intention whatsoever of facing an Aura user head-on.
He had to somehow draw them into a crowded area and induce a melee.
Ping!
Shuuuwaaaak!
The arrow leaving Rian’s hand shot out at tremendous speed toward Garell.
Clang!
Garell, charging toward Rian, swatted away the incoming arrow and came to a halt.
“Not bad.”
He could definitely feel it—this level of precise archery was quite rare even among their own.
‘This archery skill against a moving target…….’
The face still had a very youthful look.
By kingdom standards, he’d be around 15 or 16 at most.
But if he was already at this level, who knew what kind of monster he’d become in another ten years.
Especially if that arrow were ever infused with Aura……
“Theobalr, take your ten and hit him from behind.”
“Yes.”
At Garell’s command, the fierce tribe warrior named Theobalr immediately veered off to the side.
The idea was to slip through the chaos of the battlefield and ambush Rian from behind.
Thud!
Even as he sensed Garell approaching, Rian continued the fight.
He had no choice.
This area was a chaotic melee with over two thousand people tangled up.
Their allies’ shield wall was pushing back bit by bit in some places, but formations had collapsed into pandemonium elsewhere.
“Isaac! Break through over there!”
“Yes!”
“Jedron! Semut! Protect Isaac’s flank and prevent us from getting surrounded!”
“Yes!”
And as Rian glanced at Kyle,
“I’m already on it!”
He stuck close behind Isaac, ready to defend against any potential threats.
Seeing that, Brandt sidled up near Rian.
“That guy really watches the squad leader’s cues.”
“Kyle does?”
“Well, me too.”
Heh.
But contrary to his words about watching cues, Brandt grinned, leaped at a charging fierce tribe warrior, and kicked him square in the chest.
He then mounted the enemy’s body and slit his throat with the sword in his hand.
Spurt!
“Phew…… Squad leader.”
“Speak.”
“We’ll make it back alive, right?”
As time passed, he was feeling firsthand just how dangerous this battle was.
Rian nodded at Brandt’s question.
“Absolutely.”
With that answer, Rian raised his bow.
“So move fast.”
“Yes!”
Brandt followed behind Rian toward where Isaac had dashed off.
Garell had already closed in to close range.
They absolutely had to avoid fighting him in such an open space. Moreover,
‘His forces…… they’ve thinned out?’
The fierce tribe warrior with the scarred face who had been beside him was gone.
He must have taken some warriors and slipped off somewhere……
‘Attacking us with that few?’
Of course, with Garell there, it might seem sufficient, but if they were trying to swing around for a flank attack……
“Brandt, can you climb that tree over there?”
“No problem. But why?”
“Remember that scar on the guy next to their commander earlier?”
“The fierce tribe guy with the long scar on his left cheek?”
“Yeah.”
Brandt had noticed it too.
Brandt nodded at Rian’s response.
“But…… he’s gone now. And their numbers seem a bit lower.”
“Can you find him?”
“……I’ll try.”
He had to climb a tree while on the run and spot enemies who had moved somewhere.
Obviously, time was extremely tight above all else.
But Brandt said he’d do it.
He had no choice but to trust him.
“Go.”
Rustle!
Brandt, who had been running alongside Rian, accelerated and dashed off.
The fierce tribe warriors nearby targeted the suddenly bolting Brandt, but whoosh!
Rian halted mid-stride, nocked two arrows, and fired.
Shiiiiiing! Thunk-!
The arrows veered around Brandt and pierced the throats of two fierce tribe warriors ahead.
Ignoring the stinging sensation in his fingers, Rian whipped his head around to glare at Garell again.
Tremendous speed.
At this rate, getting caught was only a matter of time. But,
‘Just keep following properly.’
Rian kicked off the ground and started running again.
* * *
This wasn’t the scenario he had envisioned.
“How could those barbaric scum……!”
Baron Biovan could sense something was off as time dragged on.
The kingdom’s proud shield wall, boasting the strongest defense, was slowly crumbling.
Of course, the fierce tribe suffered massive casualties in the process.
An enormous number had fallen in a very short time.
The problem was that the casualties were severe on both sides.
“Baron! We must keep reforming the formation! This is a fight we can’t avoid anymore!”
It had devolved into a strategy-less brawl.
Formations were collapsing, and the battlefield of thousands had splintered into skirmishes everywhere.
His own impatience had created this hellish situation.
But retreating wasn’t an option either.
“Platoon leaders, quickly get the soldiers back into formation! With things like this, we’ll form platoon-level units and engage the enemy!”
“Yes!”
The company commanders around Baron Biovan swiftly moved out, relaying orders to the platoon leaders.
The soldiers, who had been fighting haphazardly, sprang into action at the commands and began forming platoon shield walls.
The orders had come so abruptly that the formations weren’t perfect, but the melee seemed to calm a bit.
The tide, which had been tilting, started shifting back slightly toward the kingdom army, but
‘The problem is their commander.’
Unfortunately, none of the knights under his command could match that fierce tribe leader.
They had no choice but to lure him into a trap with the other officers……
‘The balance of power isn’t breaking easily.’
In the current state, their enemy commander Garell was far too big a variable.
If they couldn’t stop him properly, this situation could collapse at any moment.
‘My oversight…… my oversight.’
He had been too hasty.
It was a decision meant to shift the political struggles within the kingdom, but it had turned into a fatal blunder.
Baron Biovan furrowed his brow while surveying the battlefield from this awkward spot.
That was when it happened.
Thud!
“……Hm?”
The enemy general charging toward the center of the battlefield suddenly changed direction and veered off.
Biovan’s gaze naturally followed where he was heading.
“Eagle Company?”
A small unit with the 3rd Battalion emblem and eagle shoulder markings.
But it was unusual.
‘What…… is that formation?’
Shield-bearing soldiers front and back, four spearmen guarding each other’s backs and sides while attacking simultaneously.
And one soldier fighting alone with dual swords against the enemy……
“A bow?”
Baron Biovan’s eyes widened in an instant.
The bow-wielding soldier’s presence was just too striking.
He moved his soldiers at opportune moments, slaughtering the enemy in places advantageous to them.
At the same time, he covered the lone melee fighter with his bow, issued commands to the other soldiers, and shifted the shield bearers’ positions.
It might be possible because it was a small unit, but the insight piercing the situation and the ability to judge in real-time made him look like an exceptional commander.
“L-Lei—Raymond! Where’s Raymond?”
“You called, Battalion Commander!”
Raymond approached, sword dripping with blood, at Biovan’s call.
Biovan pointed at the distant Eagle Company soldier.
“Who’s that soldier?”
At those words, Raymond looked at the soldier Biovan indicated.
A unit fighting on the outskirts of their formation with a unique setup.
Just ten men, but quite a few fierce tribe warrior corpses littered around them.
Raymond’s eyes sparkled.
“Rian?”
“Rian?”
“That soldier’s the Rian, the squad leader I mentioned.”
“Hmm…….”
He looks awfully young……
Biovan quickly scanned the battlefield.
Some soldiers near the enemy commander had peeled off toward the chaotic melee area.
But Biovan saw through it as their ploy.
The dozen or so fierce tribe warriors splitting from Garell were heading straight for Rian’s 6th Squad.
“Raymond, take your soldiers and head there!”
“Pardon?”
“That’s where victory lies.”
Biovan was certain.
They had to kill him there, where the enemy commander was focused.
Raymond nodded immediately.
“I’ll follow.”
“Hyah-!”
Soon, Biovan set off toward Rian’s position with Raymond and about a hundred swift soldiers.
* * *
Rustle-!
Brandt scaled the tree in an instant and hurriedly searched for the fierce tribe warrior with the sword scar on his left cheek.
The face had such a strong impact that he remembered it clearly. And,
‘Found him!’
Unlike Garell charging straight ahead, Theobalr was swinging wide to the right.
At a glance, it looked like he was going to reinforce elsewhere, but their movements were off.
‘Aiming…… for our rear?’
Damn it.
“Just as the squad leader feared!”
Brandt jumped down from the tree in a hurry.
Due to the pressure from the enemy commander Garell, they had no choice but to widen the distance and move.
But that was the enemy’s cunning trick to herd them in the direction they wanted.
If Theobalr and a dozen fierce tribe warriors hit their rear in this state……
‘We’d be done for.’
Brandt rushed toward Rian, who was approaching.
“Squad leader, the fierce tribe guy with the left-cheek scar is bypassing our rear with about a dozen warriors.”
“As expected.”
Rian furrowed his brow.
These were fierce tribe masters of melees and small-scale guerrilla warfare.
Sadly, their mobility outstripped their own.
On top of that, Garell’s pressure was gradually herding their formation to one side.
“Good work, Brandt.”
“What now?”
Swoosh.
Rian turned his gaze to the right.
He seemed to be looking at something.
Brandt watched Rian with a slightly anxious expression. But soon,
“We need to let them know—it’s not them herding us, but us luring them in.”