Chapter 16 - Requiem – Acies
Requiem – Acies
Translator : Elizabeth
Chapter 16. Requiem – Acies
"W-What the!! That bastard!! Why is he so fast!!"
"Block him!! Block him!!! Block him, you dogs!!"
At my figure closing the distance in an instant, the bandits started shouting.
The manifesting Aura was a chilly white, but the blood flowing in my veins was hot like lava.
The shouts of the bandits screaming as I rushed pounded my eardrums.
Curses, astonishment, fear, panic.
But only one exact emotion focused on me.
'Killing intent.'
However, my mind was rather strangely submerged in silence.
They are flocking.
A hundred, no, more malice concentrated toward the single point that is me.
Nevertheless, I was relaxed.
'Which technique should I use first?'
The techniques of the Acies Mercenary Corps engraved in my brain and muscles.
In my body, every movement of the Acies Mercenary members who cherished and protected me like family was alive and breathing.
I raised the corners of my mouth.
'Right, the start should be him!'
The first thing that came to mind was the broad back of Vanguard Jack.
He was a man who always shed blood first at the forefront of the battlefield.
A conversation with him came to mind.
"Why does Jack always rush in so recklessly first? That's why you get hurt like this."
Jack smirked and said.
"Did it look reckless?"
"Yeah. Looks idiotic."
"…This brat… Have you ever seen a hunting dog get scared when hunting?"
"What?"
Jack ruffled my hair and said.
"If the hunting dog running at the very front gets scared, the hunter gets scared too. I'm a hunting dog. I step out front so the hunter can hunt."
"Hunter is the Captain? And Jack is a dog?"
"Kuhahaha!! Yeah! Grrr!! Woof woof! Kuhahaha! I am the hunting dog who rushes in most loyally and first to bite the prey's ankle!!"
"Ankle? Not the nape? What, that's not cool."
Jack smirked looking at young me.
"I find that cool, kiddo. Hunting is easy if you hold onto the ankles."
His hearty laughter seemed to brush past my ears.
'Yeah, you're right. Jack is a cool person.'
I lowered my stance.
Extremely shifting my center of gravity forward, I explosively focused Aura on my leg muscles.
'There's no one suited as well as Jack for the first attack!'
Acies Style, First Form.
I really agonized over that a lot.
But in the end, it was this person.
'I am a dog. A hunting dog that bites the enemy's ankle first on behalf of the hunter.'
His words created the first form of my Acies Style.
— Acies Style 1st Form – White Dog (Baek-Gyeon).
A stance extremely lowered like the 'Slip Slash' that was Jack's specialty.
Agile movement that prepares for enemy long-range attacks yet never misses the enemy.
'Danel, if you want to move fast, pay attention to your big toe.'
'Big toe?'
'Yeah, just training that makes changing direction easy.'
Zip—
Zip—
Zip—
My movements containing Aura in the big toes rendered the daggers and arrows thrown by them useless.
"W-What the!! What is that bastard!!! Shoot! Throw! Shoot, I said!!"
Thud—
Thud—
Thud—
Arrows and daggers stuck fiercely in the spots I passed.
And the first enemies encountered.
Six people.
I slashed extremely low, low.
Like a hunting dog biting only their ankles.
Slash—!
"Kuaaaaaak!!!"
Low places are hard to defend.
Jack knew that point very well.
A trajectory optimized solely for efficiency, excluding elegance.
The ankles of the six bandits standing at the vanguard were cut off at once.
This 'White Dog' had one more effect.
That is making enemies into 'wounded'.
Creating wounded in this one-against-many situation is much more advantageous to me.
"T-This crazy bastard!! Everyone attack!!"
Flustered bandits swung their swords belatedly, but I had already dug into their blind spots and was biting the next ankle.
The battlefield turned into pandemonium in an instant.
Blood spurting from all directions evaporated upon touching the white Aura, creating a red mist.
Cruel, but a sight beautiful enough to dazzle the eyes.
Bandits surrounded me and narrowed the encirclement.
Dozens of weapons poured down over my head simultaneously.
Now it was time to bring out the second form.
'This time it's your turn, Spio.'
Spio, who was in charge of the mercenary corps' flexibility.
He was a person who always threw daggers at enemies from unseen places and infiltrated secretly to slit throats.
But his true specialty was separate.
He, who always supported Jack from behind when Jack recklessly stood as vanguard.
'You retarded bastard! Are you crazy to die!?'
'Kuhahaha!! You're going to take care of everything anyway!'
Spio's area-of-effect technique born like that.
— Acies Style 2nd Form – White Rain (Baek-Woo).
I inserted three small needles I prepared between my fingers and threw them filled with Aura.
18 at a time.
Once upwards.
Once in all directions.
Total 36 needles.
Swish-swish-swish—
Though it's a technique throwing needles now, a day will come when I can realize this technique with only Aura.
"Kuaaaaaak!!!"
Hidden weapons containing Aura.
Not something bandits could block.
36 needles thrown accurately pierced them, and bandits fell, obstructing each other's paths.
In the moment they lost balance in panic, I squeezed into that gap flexibly like a hunting dog.
Stab—!
Crunch—!
Even with sword strikes without technique, bandits' hearts are pierced and bones are crushed.
"Aaaagh!! Save me!!"
Screams did not cease.
The ground had already turned into red mud.
I did not stop.
My body had now become a giant instrument where not just me, but the entire Acies Mercenary Corps danced together.
Right, this is my requiem dedicated to them.
The heavy fist of Roy, who was Captain Barkas's aide, the irregular thrust of Hans, who was a drunkard but had a sharp sword tip.
Every time the forms changed one by one, their corpses formed a mountain.
Was it when half the bandit bastards had fallen?
"Y-You monster-like bastard!!!"
With a giant roar from inside the fortress, Kelek appeared.
"Everyone fall back!! He is not an opponent for you guys!!"
The bandit leader who left an indelible scar on my shoulder a year ago.
He glared at me wearing deep blue Aura along with the sub-leader.
'Right, it should be at least this much.'
The past days when I suffered not knowing they could use Aura.
Now the day to clear that debt had come.
"Mercenary Danel! You are truly crazy to die!"
"You were alive and well? Seeing you gained some weight, life must be good?"
Kelek smiled fishily.
"Damn bastard, I let you live back then…! Today this place is your grave!"
"Kuk kuk, as if."
"Die!!!"
With those words, the combined attack of Kelek and the sub-leader began.
"2 vs 1 again? I came alone though?"
"Shut up!!"
Two greatswords came aiming for my neck like scissors.
The Aura of the guys reaching skilled Novice level was quite threatening.
It was skill grown a level further than back then.
However.
'Insignificant.'
Compared to Arisa's Aura I saw right in front of my eyes, these guys' Aura was practically non-existent.
To my eyes, the way they pull up Aura, the minute trembling of muscles, all looked like 'predictable lines.'
"Really? Do I look the same as back then?"
"Try taking this and blabber!!!"
At those words, I set Hayang horizontally.
Captain Barkas used to say.
'Mercenaries, you see, become hardest when they have something to protect.'
My Aura wrapped the blade and became solid like a giant barrier.
— Acies Style Defensive Form – Severing Barrier (Dan-Jang).
Clang—!
Kelek's greatsword sparked as it collided with my sword.
"H-How!!??"
Their eyes were dyed with astonishment.
They wouldn't have known their killing blow containing Aura would be blocked by just a single sword of a mere mercenary.
I raised the corners of my mouth.
"Nothing special, you bastards."
It was true that I missed blocking that technique and recuperated for a month in the past.
"Now, time to pay back the debt."
I deflected their power as is, then instantly reached out for the sub-leader's neck.
Crunch—!
I just crushed his neck bone directly with my left hand loaded with Aura.
The sub-leader whose name I don't even know collapsed to the floor in vain.
"T-This…!!"
Left alone, Kelek swung his sword drenched in madness.
But the attack of a guy who already lost fighting spirit was crude beyond measure.
I dodged his attack by a paper-thin margin, and finally prepared the last form.
"Hey, try blocking this."
All Aura remaining in my dantian swirled.
The last thing that came to mind was the image of Captain Barkas who always protected us like a giant mountain.
He used to swing a giant axe with a body without Aura and really split rocks as big as mountains.
'How… does that split?'
'Kuhahahaha!! Danel, remember. True power isn't swinging. It's pouring your whole life towards the target. Whether it's a mountain or destiny doesn't matter. Because it's natural for it to break if you collide!'
'What kind of bullshit is that… What does life have to do with splitting rocks….'
Now I felt I knew.
'Cut.'
That single thought.
Powerful will.
That began to be contained in my Aura.
I raised the sword high above my head.
The air around me began to tremble and turned into a white storm.
Kelek's eyes grew bigger than ever.
"Y-You bastard!! How do you have Aura!!"
"Did what I used until now look like magic?"
I struck down the sword accurately.
— Acies Style 3rd Form – Mountain Splitter (San-Hal).
I didn't load all strength into the sword like before.
I just tried to contain will like Captain Barkas.
And.
Slash—
A white line split vertically in front of my eyes.
Thud—
Clang—
Kelek's sword fell to the floor.
"T-This… makes… no sense…."
His body split in half and fell backward.
Flop—
Everything constituting Kelek, including the thick leather armor he wore as well as his greatsword, was swept by white light and divided into two soundlessly.
"C-Captain is down!!"
"R-Run away!!!"
Right, bandit groups are like this.
Losing their focal point, they began to flee to save their own skins.
'Phew, glad they moved as expected.'
The physiology of bandits like this is obvious.
Why are bandits bandits.
Loyalty? Honor? There's no such crap.
Just guys gathered for survival.
The reason I attempted a frontal breakthrough against over 100 guys.
Because there was a calculation that if I smashed only the head, they would run away.
Surely they know too.
That if the remaining dozens rush at me with the resolve to die, I might fall.
But?
In that process, dozens surely die.
The fear that it would be themselves made them run away.
A while later.
Whooooosh—
Only the chilly north wind blew as if the bloody battle just now was a dream.
"Phew…."
Flop—
I sat down on the spot.
And swept up my blood-soaked hair.
"…How was it, Brothers. Quite watchable, right?"
'Still a long way to go, you brat.'
'Captain, this bastard, thinks he's the strongest just because he knows a little?'
Smirk—
Laughter came out.
It felt like such a conversation was heard.
I looked up at the sky.
Stars in the night sky were twinkling like the eyes of dead comrades.
'This should be enough for proof.'
Not just a struggle for survival, but movement capable of sweeping through even a bandit group of over a hundred.
The fact that that is the path I have lived.
That they were living together in my sword.
Just that alone, an unachievable satisfaction boiled up.
I raised my body which felt like wet cotton.
"Have to go back. Still a long way to go."
Right, prologue if it's a novel, tutorial if it's a game.
That just ended now.