Chapter 59
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 59
Chapter Title: The Coming Storm
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“Hyaaaaaah!”
*CRASH!*
“One more time!”
*BOOM!*
*CRACK!*
With a tremendous roar, the battering ram finally shattered the gate of the Baroque Kingdom’s border guard outpost.
A smile at last spread across the faces of the Spanian Kingdom’s assault team.
But in that moment.
“We’ve taken the enemy commander’s head!”
“……?”
A sudden shout came from behind them.
The assault team soldiers, and everyone else nearby, turned to look back.
And there, impaled on a spear and held high, was Falcon’s head.
A soldier of the Baroque Kingdom shouted again.
“We’ve taken the enemy commander’s head! All of you, lay down your weapons and surrender!”
“Sir… Sir Falcon!”
“This can’t be…”
For a moment, the Spanian soldiers couldn’t hide their expressions of utter dismay.
Falcon was a commander who could wield mana.
Though he was only a deputy commander, he possessed combat strength far greater than most knights…
To think Falcon would die at a border like this.
The other soldiers looked to a man standing before them.
“Sir Krael. What do we do now?”
Krael was the unit’s vice-commander, second only to Falcon.
He held command authority in Falcon’s absence.
At his subordinate’s question, Krael’s expression hardened.
“……”
It was a situation where he couldn't make a decision easily.
They had breached the enemy base’s gate, but without Falcon, their combat strength would be drastically reduced.
They could surrender and beg for their lives… or they could fight to the death.
The soldiers’ gazes were fixed on Krael.
At that, Krael spoke with a grim expression, as if he had made his decision.
“…We will.”
At Krael’s continuing words, the soldiers all nodded with the same expression.
* * *
“We’ve taken the enemy commander’s heaaaaad!”
Kyle shouted, hoisting the spear impaling Falcon’s head high.
The thunderous cry seemed to echo throughout the entire mountain.
At that, Dianal spoke to Demian.
“We’ve won!”
With the enemy commander dead, their morale must have completely collapsed.
All that was left was to accept their surrender and take them all as prisoners.
However…
“It won’t end like this.”
“…Why not?”
Dianal asked at Demian’s words.
No matter that their enemies had the numerical advantage, it was now a negligible one.
The special forces alone had killed well over fifty Spanian soldiers.
Even more had died trying to scale the base walls, and now, their commander was dead.
Of their three hundred soldiers, only a little over half remained.
When you thought about it, their numbers were now almost the same as the 3rd Branch border guards.
But even that number was only effective when their commander was present.
There was no reason to fight to the point of annihilation, was there?
But Demian shook his head.
“They’re men with nowhere left to go. They can’t surrender even if they wanted to.”
“Then… you’re saying they’ll keep fighting?”
Dianal asked.
And before Demian could answer.
“Uwoooooooh!”
“Charge!”
An immense roar came from the direction of the base, and Dianal’s head snapped around.
The base gate had been destroyed, and Spanian soldiers were pouring inside.
Just as Demian had said, they seemed to have no intention of giving up the fight, their roars growing ever fiercer.
Demian looked at the special forces and spoke.
“We break through these guys and head to the base as fast as possible.”
They had already resolved to die.
Before they died, they intended to take as many enemies with them as possible.
“I can’t let that happen.”
It wasn’t that he didn’t understand their circumstances. But that didn’t mean he would meekly offer his own neck.
At Demian’s words, the eyes of every special forces member turned cold.
Demian said.
“We break through here. Now.”
“Yes, sir!”
Following Demian, they began to race up the mountain path.
* * *
*Slash!*
“You crazy bastards! Surrender, and we’ll spare your lives!”
“Heheheheheh! The moment we surrender, we’re dead men. How are you going to save us?”
“The moment our mission failed, we had nowhere to return to. This place will be a grave for you and for us!”
The Spanian soldiers charged at the enemies before them like frenzied berserkers.
If they could die here, taking these men with them, their families back in the kingdom would be well cared for.
“Kill them!”
“Kill one more before you die!”
The Spanian soldiers resisted fiercely. And under that resistance, the border guards began to fall, one by one.
Pereron shouted loudly.
“Fire arrows at the enemies coming through the entrance! Stop them from spreading out!”
“Push them back with your shields! Kill the ones coming through the entrance first, one by one!”
A tense struggle for dominance began.
But was it perhaps due to a difference in desperation?
Gradually, the Spanian soldiers began to push forward, starting to swallow the border guard forces.
“You crazy…!”
As his own forces started to be pushed back, Pereron couldn’t hide his flustered expression.
But Vincent, fighting beside him, maintained his composure as much as possible and assessed the situation.
‘The momentum is gradually shifting…’
That madness that possessed the Spanian soldiers.
The morale of his own men, who were facing enemies that swung their swords like berserkers even after being stabbed, was being crushed by that frenzy.
To break this madness, they needed a single, decisive blow.
But just then.
*THUD!*
“Kuaaaargh!”
A man was sent flying from the entrance into the base.
Since a person had come flying clean through, everyone’s eyes were drawn to the spot.
And in that instant.
*Fwoosh!*
*Slice!*
A black shadow, like a hawk, sliced off the head of a Spanian soldier in front of it.
*Fushaaaaa!*
Blood, propelled by intense pressure, erupted like a fountain.
And standing before it.
“All who resist will be killed. Drop your weapons.”
Demian, his killing intent sharper than the frenzy that gripped the Spanian soldiers, glared at them and spoke.
* * *
A long, long time ago, Vincent had seen eyes like that before.
They belonged to generals, weathered and worn by the battlefield.
The kind of eyes you saw on men who had survived by climbing over mountains of corpses.
‘Wh-why…’
How could he be facing such eyes here?
The feeling of his body freezing, even though he knew this man was an ally.
That unbelievable presence flowed from Demian’s body.
“All who resist will be killed. Drop your weapons.”
The man who had been sent flying into the base had his sternum completely caved in.
He had been killed instantly with a single blow.
At the overwhelming presence that accompanied the incredible performance, the surrounding Spanian soldiers flinched for a moment.
However…
“You son of a biiiiitch!”
Three Spanian soldiers in front of Demian charged him simultaneously.
No thought of defense, only the single-minded will to kill Demian.
*Sssk.*
Demian’s spear seemed to lightly extend behind him, and then.
*Swoooosh!*
Demian moved the mana from his mana hall, spreading it throughout his entire body.
His 4-star mana rapidly strengthened his physique.
*Vwooooom!*
His spear began to vibrate faintly.
Then, in an instant, something flashed.
Before the men charging Demian could even swing their swords.
*Thuk-thuk-thuk-thuk!*
Demian’s extended spear pierced their bodies, guiding them to the afterlife.
*Thud! Thud! Thud!*
It was over in a flash.
The Spanian soldiers watching, and even Pereron, were left speechless.
How could a spear deliver such a swift attack?
‘Is that his true skill?’
Pereron was in awe.
Demian’s spear just now had been so incredibly fast that even his own eyes couldn’t follow it.
Moreover.
‘…It’s not just speed.’
Vincent saw it.
The moment he thrust the spear, which he had pulled back slightly, at his opponent.
‘Unbelievable efficiency of movement.’
It was the very definition of spearmanship that killed an opponent with minimal motion.
He stabbed with just enough depth to ensure an instant kill, then pulled the spear back just enough to gather the power needed to kill the next enemy.
Thrust, pull, and thrust again.
He performed this simple act with an astonishing level of efficiency.
How many among them had even noticed it?
“……”
Vincent felt goosebumps rise all over his body.
And he wasn’t the only one.
The Spanian soldiers, who until moments ago had been swinging their swords like madmen in a frenzy, flinched and froze.
It was then that Vincent shouted!
“Stop! If you stop, we will find a way. We know what kind of situation you’re in… so we will try to find a solution!”
And only then did his words seem to reach them.
Having completely lost their momentum, they wore expressions of uncertainty.
*Clank.*
“I… I surrender.”
“I can’t die here either.”
*Clank. Ting! Clang!*
One by one, they began to drop their swords to the ground and kneel.
The air of defeat spread in an instant, and all the remaining soldiers acknowledged their loss and surrendered.
At that, Pereron shouted.
“Bind them all!”
Though they were bound, he intended to treat them as humanely as possible.
After they had all been tied up, the border guards looked at the corpses strewn about the base.
The bodies of comrades and those who had been their enemies.
The number of dead inside and outside the base easily exceeded two hundred.
Just a few hours.
To think so many had died in just a few hours of battle.
“……”
But still, he felt he should be grateful that no more had died.
If they had continued to fight without surrendering.
‘Most of the people here would have died.’
Vincent looked at Demian, who was resting amidst the busily moving border guards.
That man…
‘Did he save everyone here?’
His thoughts grew complicated.
“Is the battle over?”
Vincent murmured softly, gazing at the sun rising in the distant sky.
And…
*Ssk.*
Demian watched the border guards moving about busily.
A report on this incident would now surely be sent up to the corps command.
‘If that happens, the kingdom will have no choice but to act.’
It had been revealed that the Empire had used the Spanian Kingdom to attack them.
This was a clear act of provocation, and at the same time, an inhuman and shameless act.
Naturally, this would be reviewed within the kingdom, and they would not let it slide.
‘If that happens…’
Demian quietly closed his eyes.
This might be the butterfly effect that hastened the war, but one thing was certain.
“…The war begins now.”
He could feel it—that unavoidable time was approaching ever more rapidly.