Don't Die Too Quickly
Darkness settled slowly over the hill.
Watching the soldiers bustle about their work, Velkain’s eyes narrowed to slits. On the surface, nothing looked amiss—they were raising temporary barracks without issue. And yet…
“…….”
There was a strange, creeping unease that only a man who had spent long years on the battlefield could feel.
What is it?
A chill he could not put into words. They had taken a good position—so why did this anxiety refuse to leave him?
Just then, someone stepped up beside him and spoke.
“The night has turned quite cold, Lord Velkain. You should go inside the tent.”
It was Claw. With nightfall, the temperature had plummeted. The wind had sharpened as well, cold knifing through flesh and bone.
“How far along is the fortification?”
“The officers’ tents are already complete. I’ve been told that more than half the soldiers’ barracks are finished as well… It should all be done within the hour.”
“That’s later than I expected. Tell the men to light torches first and clear the surrounding visibility.”
“Yes, sir.”
Roughly an hour behind schedule. If they had moved earlier, it might not have mattered—but packing up a half-built camp and relocating had been the real problem.
Still…
—Commander, we must move to that position. It will be of tremendous help in tomorrow’s battle!
Hadmel had pressed his case so hard that Velkain had been forced to weigh it carefully. Field intelligence mattered more than almost anything—and Hadmel’s house carried no small influence even at the capital. He could not simply dismiss a recommendation the man claimed was confirmed by scouting reports.
Even so…
…The hill’s terrain is rougher than I thought. If the enemy should attack… it could turn dangerous.
Which was why lighting the area and grasping the situation around them came first.
Velkain watched torches bloom one by one along the outer perimeter. Soldiers who had gone down the slope were planting them, and little by little the lower ground came into view.
But…
…This darkness is vicious.
The night was far thicker than he had expected; visibility barely reached. Looking down from above helped a little, but not enough to make the height a true advantage.
“We’ll have to hope this night passes without incident.”
He did not like having to trust luck when nothing was certain—but the situation was already set. He could not march the men back down the hill in this darkness.
As more torches appeared on the lower slopes, Velkain calmly watched the ground below.
Then…
“……?”
A crease formed between his brows. From his vantage, on the lower left of the hill, no new torches had appeared for several minutes.
Velkain called out.
“Staff Sergeant Claw!”
“Sir.”
“Which unit is lighting torches over there?”
“……I’ll confirm at once.”
Claw started to turn—
“No. Form a detachment and send them there immediately.”
“Yes, sir.”
The cold unease was still with him, and now something was jabbing at the back of his skull.
And then it happened.
A thin whistle rose—and snapped short, vanishing mid-note.
Every soldier still building the camp on the hilltop turned toward the sound.
“What was that?”
“Did you just hear an emergency whistle?”
Someone was still asking the question when the shouts erupted from below.
“Enemy! It’s an enemy raid!”
Officers’ voices tore through the night.
“Enemy assault! Form ranks!”
“We’re under attack!”
They said ill omens never missed. Velkain snapped out orders at once, racing to prepare for battle as the cries erupted on every side.
“Waaaaaaah!”
“Kill the Empire dogs!”
Kar warriors came howling up from below. The hill was low and its slope gentle—nothing to slow them. If anything, the knee-high brush and the gravel-strewn ground only hindered the Empire’s men, who were unused to such footing.
At the head of the charge, the Kar commander Marhuldan cut down Imperial soldiers with a razor-edged glare as he stormed uphill. Three feather tattoos marked his shoulder—but he was a warrior on the verge of receiving a fourth, the same caliber as Ulke.
Marhuldan glanced at the man running beside him.
Ulke.
“Ulke. With this fight, we repay our debt to Lord Bowukartaon. Give it everything you have.”
“…….”
He had struck at two Imperial scouts alongside Bowukartaon—and accomplished nothing. All that had come of it was a grave wound to one of their key assets, Bowukartaon himself. Marhuldan’s words drove into Ulke’s chest like a blade.
Ulke nodded.
“Don’t worry. I’ll pay it back several times over.”
“Climb the right side where the brush is thick and hit their flank. I’ll draw their eyes from the front.”
“Don’t give me orders. Just do your own job properly.”
Ulke glared at Marhuldan—then broke away toward the right slope, more than three hundred warriors pounding after him.
Once Ulke was gone, another three-feather warrior on Marhuldan’s other side spoke up.
“Can we trust that one with it?”
“He’s a prideful bastard. He’ll thrash himself raw to make up for the last failure.”
“Shall I take the left, then?”
“You stay with me and hit the center. Remember—our mission is to cut down the Empire dogs at the approach and pull out.”
Tens of thousands of Imperial troops were massed here. With barely a thousand men of their own, inflicting real damage was impossible.
If we disrupt their fortification and kill even a portion of them, that is success enough.
Then the enemy would have to weather the northern cold with their camp still unfinished.
We withdraw within the hour.
Marhuldan sketched the battlefield in his mind as he raced up the hill.
Before long, Imperial soldiers with spears and shields were forming ranks—but—
“Too slow.”
Scarlet mana wreathed Marhuldan’s blade, throwing off a keen killing edge.
Slash! Sever! Thud!
None of the ordinary soldiers trying to hold the line could stop it.
“R-raise your shields!”
“He’s wrapping his sword in aura! Fall back!”
Officers lower on the slope shouted themselves hoarse. But Marhuldan’s assault at the front could neither be dodged nor blocked.
Boom! Crash!
“Aaaaagh!”
“Aaah!”
To stop a blade sheathed in aura, they needed heavier tower shields and a solid defensive wall. Only then could they pin him down and still hold the charge.
T-time…!
These bastards… I never thought they’d come up this fast.
They needed time to lock shields and form a proper defense.
But—
“Don’t give them time! Climb and cut them down!”
Marhuldan had read the Empire’s plight perfectly and refused to offer them any opening. Moving under cover of darkness, striking before the defensive formation could solidify—the timing was flawless.
At this rate they would push halfway up the hill, and a hundred… no, at least two hundred Imperial soldiers would die.
It was the worst possible situation—until—
“That’s far enough.”
“……!”
A clear voice cut in from the side. Marhuldan’s head snapped around.
An Imperial unit had appeared beside him—fewer than fifty men, by the look of them—yet they had severed the pulse of Marhuldan’s advance with surgical precision.
CRAAAAASH!
A thunderous roar. An attack so loud it seemed meant to raise hell on purpose. A line of aura tore across the ground, flipping earth and carving through every Kar warrior in its path.
Blood and soil erupted skyward in a single instant.
“Aura……?!”
Marhuldan and the warriors charging at his heels skidded to a halt.
Rumble—rumble—rumble—
That single strike sent a tremor through the ground. The vibration climbed through the soles of their feet, and cold sweat ran down their spines unbidden.
And the Imperial soldier who had stepped out in front of them—
The darkness made him hard to see clearly, but—
…A boy?
Marhuldan’s brow furrowed deep. He was thrown for a moment by how young the face looked—then—
“Waaaaaaaah!”
“First battle of the completed Fourth Platoon! Wipe them all out!”
Their first fight since Arteon had rejoined them. Grein charged at the very front, roaring as he swung his sword.
Slash!
A clean cut from left shoulder to right flank. The Kar warrior’s life ended in a single stroke; he toppled backward, spraying blood.
Humm—humm—
Their mana reserves were still thin, but most of the Fourth Platoon worked their power with smooth control. Mana flooded their bodies, reinforcing muscle, strength, and speed.
Using mana in true combat for the first time left the platoon startled for a breath—then—
We can win……!
Were these bastards always this weak?
The gap in skill was so stark that surprise lasted only a moment.
“Focus!”
Arteon’s shout cracked over them like a whip. They sank into the fight and cut the enemy down.
Even so, a single platoon could not overwhelm hundreds of foes. They hit hard on entry, then formed a semicircle and gave ground step by step, holding distance from the enemy’s line.
The warning they had been given before the battle: never let yourselves be surrounded. Their task was to rake the enemy’s flank and pin their feet in place.
The man who had given that warning, however—
“Hah……!”
CRAAAAASH!
—had already hurled himself into the heart of hundreds of Kar warriors and was putting on a display of martial prowess that defied belief.
Aura blazed in a vivid blue. Before that force of death, the Kar attacks were nothing but empty thrashing.
Whoosh!
He swept his spear in a wide circle; the nearest Kar warriors flinched and scrambled back. In that last strike alone, the boy had taken eight of their lives.
And those eyes—
What kind of… human eyes…
Even a starving beast wouldn’t look like that.
A killing intent so dense that meeting his gaze alone threatened to lock their legs solid. The Kar warriors swallowed hard and stared at Arteon.
Arteon, for his part, let out a quiet breath and checked the mana moving through his body.
…This is—
The memory of collapsing on the way back from the reconnaissance mission was still vivid. The terror that he might die—and with it, the stirring of Ether’s Heart inside him.
Was that the reason?
“……No way.”
The mana that had surged to the late stages of 4-Star when he first absorbed Ether’s Heart stirred again, hammering against the wall.
Arteon understood. He stood on the knife’s edge between 4-Star and 5-Star—at the crack in that final threshold.
Hadn’t he felt it in the fight just now? Every time he used his aura, a sensation unlike anything before kept writhing to the surface.
It’s no illusion…….
A little more. The slightest spark, and he could climb. A realm he had never reached even in his previous life.
5-Star.
Arteon’s gaze locked onto the commander among the Kar—Marhuldan. As if feeling the weight of it, the man turned his head.
“You little brat……!”
Marhuldan bared his teeth and snarled at Arteon.
But—
“……don’t.”
“What?”
Marhuldan frowned at the muttered words.
In the next instant—
“Hnk!”
The killing intent pouring from Arteon’s eyes wrenched a sharp breath from Marhuldan’s lungs. A murderous will so fierce it felt as if his whole body might freeze solid. Arteon spoke through it.
“Do me a favor and don’t die too quickly. Not until this wall is completely broken.”
And with that, a savage beast on the verge of claiming the high ground charged straight at him.