Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Genius Divine Archer Who Became a One-Man Legion
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Even five knights, not mere ordinary soldiers, dying in a single clash was a shock in itself.
The overwhelming cutting power that ignored armor and swords alike made Lian bite his lip hard.
‘Sorry. I’m sorry.’
Tadak!
Lian immediately turned and started running away.
He wanted to avenge them, but facing Altomers head-on in his current state would be nothing short of suicide.
As Lian turned to flee, Altomers’ gaze fixed on him.
Altomers eyed Lian with a gleaming stare, like a snake eyeing its prey.
Kung!
Soon, he broke into a sprint toward Lian.
‘He’s following?’
Whether it was misfortune or fortune, he couldn’t tell, but Altomers was obsessively fixated on Lian.
No, it felt like he was fixated solely on Lian.
Pababat!
Lian ran even faster.
Each step sent pain ripping through his body as if it might shatter, but the urge to put distance between him and that monster burned stronger.
‘Anyway, the others will be dealt with soon enough. I just need to handle this one.’
They held a clear numerical advantage in Bieltuna.
He didn’t know if the other barbarians possessed such power, but without this one, they could manage.
One couldn’t think of a warrior who had reached the Master realm the same way as an ordinary Aura user.
They were legions unto themselves.
Beings capable of waging war alone.
Master-class users could fight a thousand knights single-handedly, after all.
Soon, Lian leaped out beyond the castle gates.
Altomers wore a puzzled expression at Lian abandoning the castle entirely, but then he grinned.
“I wonder what kind of place you’ve chosen for your grave.”
What battlefield had this rat picked?
Knowing full well, Altomers pursued Lian anyway.
And shortly after Lian had moved from the shattered outer wall,
Tadadak!
“Company commander, over here!”
“Ugh!”
“What the hell is this…….”
The platoon leaders who arrived with Raymond furrowed their brows at the unbelievable sight.
It was a scene straight out of hell.
Dozens of corpses, sliced into multiple pieces, lay scattered across the ground.
Raymond scanned the surroundings, brow furrowed. No survivors?
That was when someone entered his field of vision.
A man hiding behind the wall of a collapsed building.
Jeobuk jeobuk.
Raymond strode quickly toward him.
“What happened? What went down here!”
Raymond usually stayed calm, but he couldn’t contain his agitation in this situation.
At Raymond’s question, the man spoke in a trembling voice.
“A-An enemy general…… He swung his sword once and collapsed the outer wall…… Then massacred everyone here.”
The soldier’s face, shaking like an aspen leaf, was smeared with tears and snot.
Unable to control even his own trembling, he clutched his head with both hands and bowed low.
“S-Sorry…… Sorry! It was just, t-too scary…… Too scary…….”
He stuttered badly.
Disappointment in himself for lacking the courage to fight. Guilt for surviving while his comrades all died.
He was alive, but it was as if he were already dead.
Raymond turned his gaze from the man, overwhelmed by negative emotions typical of the battlefield.
‘Collapsed the outer wall……?’
With a single sword swing?
Looking at the destroyed gates and walls, Raymond asked him again.
“You said he swung his sword and broke the outer wall?”
“Y-Yes. I’d never seen anything like it. Something like…… black flames pouring from his sword…… That’s what it looked like.”
And those flames had shot out, shattering the wall, before the soldiers and knights all met their ends in one strike.
Derek’s expression turned grave as he listened to the man’s explanation.
“Company commander, could it be……?”
“……At least an advanced Aura user. No, if he truly unleashed sword energy like flames to demolish the wall…….”
If this man was telling the truth, the situation changed entirely.
The conclusion was clear, but he couldn’t bring himself to voice it. Finally, Raymond spoke carefully and calmly.
“It might be a Master-class…… warrior.”
“Master-class…….”
“No way. There are only a handful of Masters across the entire continent. One wouldn’t just show up out of nowhere like this.”
Brian denied it.
It was an absurd situation.
Raymond looked at the man slumped on the ground and asked.
“Where did that enemy general go?”
“W-Well…….”
“Slowly. Calmly. Tell it straight.”
Raymond’s eyes were calm but burned with intensity.
Under that gaze, the man felt his trembling ease slightly.
He swallowed hard and said.
“H-He went that way.”
“That direction?”
“Yes. Vice Captain Lian was here. He fought that guy, then fled that way, and the enemy followed Vice Captain Lian.”
“Lian? He chased after Lian?”
“Yes, yes.”
Raymond’s pupils dilated sharply.
Why was Lian, who had been sidelined from combat due to severe injuries, here?
“He went that way?”
“Yes? Oh, yes.”
At his answer, Raymond shot to his feet. Derek beside him called out.
“Company commander.”
“I’m going to rescue Lian.”
If he really went after Lian, then Lian was in the gravest danger right now.
Master-class or not, it didn’t matter.
The Eagle Company didn’t abandon comrades.
With a resolute expression, Raymond said quietly.
“Let’s go.”
* * *
Squeeeek-!
Puk!
Two arrows shot straight ahead snapped powerlessly in midair and fell to the ground.
Lian furrowed his brow at Altomers, who had swatted his arrows aside.
He’d kept up the harassment to prevent the monster from closing in, but maintaining distance was growing harder.
On top of that, his previously cracked ribs from Altomers’ attack were acting up—now even breathing hurt.
Still, the silver lining in this mess was that the guy seemed to have locked onto a clear target.
‘He’s prioritizing killing me first.’
Altomers charged like a fighting dog, eyes fixed solely on Lian.
Kwarung!
“Urk!”
Lian hurled himself aside from Altomers’ leaping sword swing.
He dodged by a hair, but the blade whistling past made life flash before his eyes.
Lian sprang up the instant he hit the ground.
Lying down comfortably for even a second would mean death.
‘I can’t adapt at all…….’
Even the wind pressure from the guy’s swings made his body reel, feeling like flesh tearing.
Proof was in the cuts and blood trickling from his cheeks and body all over—despite not taking a single direct hit.
Watching Lian flee again, Altomers smirked viciously.
“How long do you think you can keep scurrying like a rat?”
“…….”
Lian had no retort.
It was exactly as the monster said.
Dodging his attacks was getting seriously tough now.
‘He’s fully adapted in that short time……?’
Aura aside, the bastard’s raw combat experience was undeniable.
Skills honed on battlefields strangled Lian’s throat all the tighter.
And that wasn’t the only problem.
Jijin!
Lian had evaded thus far thanks to Rikal’s bracelet.
But using mana was reaching its limit.
The Child Mana Heart Method drew in external mana, so depletion was rare.
Yet he felt his mental strength chipping away with each use.
His head throbbed, vision blurring momentarily.
‘Still…… Almost there.’
The place Lian had lured Altomers was a short distance from the castle.
Nothing special about it, but one reason alone.
A towering cliff right behind.
‘Here…….’
Of course, fighting here offered no guarantee of victory. It just bumped his odds from 0% to 0.1%?
Either way, Lian focused on the possibility. If he failed……
‘I die.’
This was his only shot against a Master-class Aura user.
As Lian took position with his back to the cliff, Altomers glanced around.
“Is this the grave you chose?”
With the cliff at his back, the wind gusting up from below was fierce.
Altomers burst into mocking laughter.
“With winds this strong, can an archer even fight properly? What a pathetic grave you’ve picked.”
“You’re awfully chatty compared to last time.”
“Heh heh heh. Guess I’m just in high spirits thinking about killing you.”
“Where’d you get that power?”
“Power? What power? Oh, this?”
Puaak-!
Flame-like Aura erupted from the sword he gripped.
The sheer pressure crushed Lian’s shoulders, making his skin crawl just facing it.
‘It’s unreal.’
Casually unleashing that much power like breathing?
He could see it with his own eyes but couldn’t believe it.
The worst scenario he’d never even encountered in his past life.
Altomers’ lips curled at Lian’s hardened expression.
“The gods chose me.”
“……Gods?”
“The power the gods bestowed upon me. To kill you lot.”
With that, Altomers advanced slowly toward Lian.
Now his back was to the cliff.
No more places to run.
Even so, Lian had no intention of going down easy.
As Lian nocked an arrow, Altomers said.
“You won’t hit easily.”
Winds strong enough to topple a child buffeted them. But Lian silently aimed at him.
No backing down anyway.
They’d settle it here.
Wuuuuung.
Lian fully opened the mana pathways in his body.
Eujil-!
A dizzying wave nearly blacked him out, but he focused, activating Rikal’s ring to heighten his senses.
At the same time, he channeled mana into Rikal’s gloves.
Puaaaak-!
His view of the world shifted.
Lines danced wildly before his eyes, clearly revealing the paths of the wind.
Parr.
His eyes twitched sharply.
From here on, it was a battle of concentration.
Lose sight of him for an instant, and his body would be cleaved in two.
“Huuuuu…….”
Exhaling deeply, Lian twisted the drawn bowstring.
Now……
‘I’ll do everything I can.’
Kkirik.
Pat-!
The moment Lian released, the arrow veered left.
Altomers sneered at the sight, but
Suuaaaak-!
It suddenly changed course, hurtling fiercely at his right thigh.
Puk!
Altomers barely blocked with a sword swing, but his expression stiffened briefly.
The arrow had come from an unexpected angle.
Lian said to him.
“You think the strong wind makes aiming tough?”
Swik.
Lian nocked three arrows.
“Not at all. If you use it right, this wind is…….”
Swik.
Drawing the bow wide again, Lian twisted the string sharply. For the first time, Altomers’ face turned serious.
Lian continued.
“As threatening a weapon as your Aura.”
The wind paths, crystal clear through Rikal’s gloves.
Lian released into the center of the swirling winds.