Chapter 107
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: Captain Frontera (3)
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Buzzz!
“……!”
A sudden, ferocious flapping of wings charging from ahead.
At the sound, Lloyd hurriedly ducked his head.
Pfft!
One locust leg grazed past the nape of his neck.
It burned.
Had its claw torn his skin?
But he had no time to worry about such a minor sting.
Hundreds, no, thousands of locusts were swarming into view from the front.
“Damn it.”
He’d thought he was herding them perfectly.
He’d carefully plotted the escape route to leave most of the swarm behind.
‘But the area’s just too vast. They’ve spread across the entire barony and viscounty.’
No matter how well he planned the path, a few locusts always came charging from ahead.
And that “few” numbered in the hundreds or thousands. That was the problem.
“Lord Lloyd, prepare yourself.”
A mass of locusts blotting out the sky.
The thunderous roar of their wings.
Piercing through it came Haviel’s low voice.
One corner of Lloyd’s mouth curled up.
“Ha. I’m not ready for this.”
He meant it.
He wasn’t a hero.
Not some valiant warrior from old storybooks.
Naturally, he had zero interest in charging head-on into hundreds of thousands of massive, murderous locusts like this.
‘No, it’s driving me insane!’
He hated bugs.
He’d always disliked them, but his gositel days made it worse.
Not some sleek modern one-room, but a rundown old cheapie full of filth.
Cockroaches, silverfish, even finger-sized centipedes now and then.
He’d endured it all, to the point that anything with six legs or more made his skin crawl on reflex.
And now?
‘Charging into hundreds of thousands of jindo-dog-sized locusts? Are you kidding me?’
Screw the territory, screw everything.
Turn the horse around and bolt?
Run to the queen and beg for some cushy job?
The thought crossed his mind, briefly.
But no time for second thoughts now.
It was too late to flee.
The frontal swarm was already upon them.
And he was riding straight toward it!
“Whoa, damn it! I’m the crazy one!”
Whatever happens, happens.
He raised the pot lid to block the front.
Thud-thud-thud! Crack-thud-crack! Clang-thud-thud-clang!
Massive impacts hammered the lid in rapid succession.
Not just any impacts.
‘Gahhh!’
Nothing like when Haviel had struck it earlier. Dozens of hits piled on in an instant.
Of course.
He was astride a warhorse enhanced with sprint magic.
Easily hitting over 100 kph, by rough estimate.
And locusts weighing several kilos each were flying at dozens of kph straight into him.
‘The force on Cheolsu’s pot lid at this moment is… screw that! Save me!’
Clang-thud-thud-thud!
Sensation faded from his arms.
His shoulder felt like it’d rip off.
His back bent, legs crushed.
If not for triple circle mana at full throttle holding him steady, he’d have tumbled off for sure.
‘Fall off now? I’d take thousands of those bites head-on!’
Chilling.
Even amid the strain, that thought kept him clinging on.
Haviel helped immensely, of course.
“Head this way! Keep pace beside me—I’ll maintain the path even blind! Tilt the lid at an angle! Don’t take the full impact—deflect it!”
The roar like hundreds of fans on blast.
Yet Haviel’s shout rang clear.
No need to think. Lloyd followed.
He angled the lid slightly.
The impacts lessened a bit.
Enough to spare a quick glance.
‘What about Haviel?’
How was the guy piercing through without even a pot lid?
His voice suggested he was fine, but…
Lloyd glanced his way.
There.
Kiiing! Thwack! Thud-crack!
Haviel rode parallel on his warhorse.
His body, the horse—both wrapped in brilliant aura glow.
Or more precisely…
‘Can a human swing a sword like that?’
Slash! Thwack!
The aura-blazing sword danced.
Slicing space, carving, churning, playing.
Nothing withstood it.
Everything charging in got shredded with the wind.
‘Like swinging a bundle of ten electric flyswatters.’
Lloyd’s tongue lolled in awe.
Haviel was bulldozing through the swarm at superhuman speed, sword whipping like an aura storm. No—dicing them into chunks.
Even firing blasts ahead when he had a moment.
Thwack! Thud-thwack!
Three or four per shot.
Not just spamming them.
The bundled blasts’ angles and paths.
Spaced cunningly, crossing, overlapping.
Blasts had long but narrow strike zones.
Maximizing that efficiently, no doubt.
Thud!
A single blast matching his triple blast’s coverage.
Seemed even more efficient in power use.
‘Call it 2+1 blast? What a monster.’
Still, the frontal swarm pressed on relentlessly.
Lloyd hunched lower.
Urged his mount on.
“Just a bit more! Hang in there!”
“Pruuuh-hing!”
Grateful for the horse panting but pushing faithfully.
Without sprint magic, this plan would’ve been impossible.
“Let’s go!”
He moved as one with it.
Thud-thud-thud!
Not straight-line mindless.
Sudden decelerations, turns.
Veer left, then break right.
Pierce, shake off, leap.
Reading the oncoming wind, sound, killing intent—all flows.
Rhythm coming.
“Like this!”
Clunk!
He swung the lid hard.
Smashed a locust diving from above.
It ricocheted into others, crashing down.
Hooves trampled the fallen.
He fully broke through the frontal pack.
The rest still chased from behind.
Tens of thousands, easy.
Too many for Haviel’s aura or blasts, or his own triples.
Nape prickled.
“Keep running! Hah!”
Momentum carried them.
Out of Racona viscounty bounds.
Northbound.
Familiar paths, terrain.
Once swamp and marsh filled.
Now, all hands made it so.
Marez Reclaimed Land stretched ahead.
“Over the hill to the drainage canal bank!”
Prepped extermination zone there.
Just endure till then.
But then.
Thud-thud-thud…
“Huh?”
The warhorse that’d run strong slowed.
Startled, Lloyd checked it.
“Hey?”
“Pruurrk! Hoo-hing! Hek-hek!”
Froth at its mouth.
Yet still striving, refusing to quit.
Lloyd realized.
‘Tired.’
Even fine steeds have limits.
Sprint magic too.
‘Of course. Up since dawn. No breaks to the territory.’
Then upon arrival?
Full throttle herding the swarm.
Circled wide Frontera barony outskirts.
Into viscounty.
Circled that too.
Never slacked a moment.
Like sprinting 100m pace for a marathon distance.
‘Pushed too hard, even for sprint magic. What now?’
Glanced aside.
Haviel’s mount same state.
Visibly slowing.
Legs losing spring.
Force it more? It’d collapse.
‘Better dismount first.’
Tens of thousands hot on heels.
Push for a bit more comfort, horse drops—unprepared fall, possible major injury.
‘All loss, no gain. Bad.’
Did Haviel sense it?
Or read his own mount?
Similar look from him.
Lloyd and Haviel exchanged glances instantly.
‘Ditch the horses here.’
‘Understood.’
Thud!
No hesitation.
Lloyd gripped saddle horn one-handed.
Kicked stirrups with both feet.
Leapt into air.
“You run careful! Don’t slack just ‘cause it’s safer—go far!”
Smack!
“Puh-hing!”
Smart whack on rump for the faithful steed.
Lighter without rider, it neighed big and bolted ahead. Gone in seconds. By landing, over twenty meters gone.
“…….”
That horse punk—suddenly full of life once I’m off.
Lloyd shook off the suspicion.
Focus now: flee.
Good—Marez zone close…
“But what’re you doing?”
Lloyd asked, turning.
Haviel raised sword, eyes fierce.
“Go first, Lord Lloyd. I’ll guard the rear here.”
Shing!
Aura bloomed with resolve.
Wreathed his blade.
The radiant will only a swordmaster who grasped sword’s essence could muster.
Knight’s blade shining for liege, honor, oath.
Haviel stood resolute behind.
Facing the beastly horde of tens of thousands head-on.
Lloyd’s heart pounded.
He swung his hand like his racing pulse.
Smacked Haviel’s nape.
“Crazy? Fight them here?”
“Lord Lloyd? What…”
“Screw guarding the rear! Leave you to die and run alone? Piggyback me, quick!”
“You, Lord Lloyd?”
“Now! No time, man!”
Locusts now thirty meters off.
Yelling, he scolded.
Leapt onto back without waiting.
“Run!”
“…….”
Haviel’s face twisted briefly.
But soon grasped his young lord’s intent.
‘Purely pragmatic call.’
Thud!
Turned.
Kicked ground.
Sprinted with Lloyd on back.
Lloyd smacked pot lid with free fist.
Dooong-!
Huge ring—locust pursuit intensified.
Now twenty-five meters.
Haviel spoke while maintaining speed.
“Did you calculate even this when signaling to dismount, Lord Lloyd?”
“Calculate what?”
“Me carrying you.”
“Obviously.”
Lloyd’s chuckle from behind.
“I’m no sprinter. Faster than average, but not outrunning locusts. You? Fast.”
“But carrying you like this, I can’t guarantee escape. Better if I held them— you’d make it alone easy.”
“That’s why I won’t.”
“…….”
“You got a hero fetish or what? Always so dramatic about dying nobly? Same at Creemo.”
“…….”
“Say you stay heroically and die, I live. My heart at ease? Huh?”
“Lord Lloyd…”
“Hate that crap. So run faster. Hya!”
Smack!
“……Don’t treat me like a horse.”
“Payback?”
“Payback?”
“Ant nest. After blast. Escaping. Remember?”
“…….”
“I carried you out. What’d you do?”
“Don’t… recall.”
“Aha. Sure? Trouble is, I remember everything.”
“…….”
“Anyway, we both live. One stays to die, one flees—messy. Petty.”
“…….”
Joke or truth?
Lloyd Frontera.
Sometimes—often—hard to read, the boss.
But one thing certain.
Both live.
“That, I like.”
Thud!
Kicked ground fiercer.
Now twenty meters.
No looking back.
That energy into harder strides.
All focus: no trip, no imbalance.
Endless Mana Heart cycle.
Amplified by triple circle.
Thud-crack!
Last strength to tiring legs.
Stubborn will to ragged breaths.
Sliced wind, crested hill.
Now ten meters.
Frantic wingbeats chilled from right behind.
Extermination zone: thirty meters off.
“Five more steps!”
Shout from back.
Counted five final strides.
Five—with liege’s son aboard.
Four—to keep the “both live” vow.
Three—never give up.
Two—hold focus to end.
One…
“Sideways!”
Thud!
Instant reaction.
Kicked ground.
Leapt sideways.
Into drainage ditch, belly-flopped.
What now?
Then, Lloyd’s hand reached.
Grabbed nape.
“Duck!”
Pressing grip.
Yielded, body low.
Now five meters.
That instant, Haviel saw.
“Bangul!”
Jingle-jingle-jingle!
Chubby tail surging from grass with racket.
Then, erupting destructive storm.
KABOOOM-!
Biggest volcanic blast ever—swept and devoured the locust swarm.