The Archer's Madness Ignites
Dark clouds hung heavy over the sky, their presence casting a pall over a long line of tents twisted into jagged, black silhouettes.
At the heart of the formation, inside the tent adorned with a crimson flag, Kortzan let out a heavy breath.
His eyes, unlike his usual state, held a trace of unease.
He stared at the vast map spread before him.
The red line marking the enemy's advance path looked as if blood had seeped across the parchment.
“…….”
Kortzan placed the tip of his finger on the map.
He had been studying it in silence, then turned to the subordinate standing in front of him.
“Has any word come from Bowukartaon?”
“According to the report, we have already wiped out a detachment of enemy scouts and are drawing them further in.”
“……I see.”
After the short reply, silence fell over the tent.
He had already received word of the matter.
A single sheet of report would have been enough to convey just how brutal it had been.
The message had been short, but merely reading it had stirred a sense of madness.
The Bowukartaon of old would never have done such a thing.
Kortzan kept his gaze lowered, silent.
‘……Is it the side effect of the drug?’
Or perhaps nothing more than pure hatred for those who had brought him to this state.
Even the brutality that had emerged from him, far beyond what Kortzan could recall from their earlier days, left him at a loss for words.
Yet it was precisely that fact that brought him a measure of relief.
If he could act without hesitation in such matters, there was nothing he could not do.
‘Moreover……’
His mental fortitude had been strong enough to maintain his sanity even after consuming the madness-inducing drug.
His leg, whose tendons had been severed and rendered useless, had recovered through the drug's effects, and his body and mana capacity had soared far beyond normal levels.
In his current state, he possessed the strength to stand on par with Arteon himself.
If he were to set his mind on killing someone.
‘……Poor wretch. He will receive the full wrath of the Reaper.’
He was certain to die.
Kortzan rose from his seat and draped a cloak over his shoulders.
The tent fluttered, and his silhouette stretched long into the darkness beyond.
Only four days remained.
This was the final deadline set by Taman Krelmuk.
Should he fail to deliver meaningful results within it, he would not only lose his position but his life as well.
“Prepare the personal guard unit.”
His voice was low and cold.
“As soon as the moment arrives to strike the enemy, we will immediately swing around and launch the assault.”
“The main force is to move?”
The subordinate asked in surprise, lifting his head.
Kortzan slowly turned his gaze toward him.
His eyes gleamed like a blade.
“Since the Taman has not granted permission for the main force to advance, it cannot move. However, if it is my personal guard unit, that is a different matter.”
Even among the warriors in his personal guard unit, there were five thousand elite fighters.
If they alone could strike at the enemy's flank.
‘The enemy would have no way to withdraw easily.’
As long as Bowukartaon could thread the first needle, the rest would follow seamlessly.
Kortzan's subordinate bowed his head in obedience.
“I will follow your orders.”
The enemy was already at their doorstep.
Moreover, they had not suffered consecutive defeats in the battles that had led here.
Should they falter again, no one could predict the shifting morale.
Perhaps even the main force here would face the same threat.
The first foreign invader to set foot in Belikezel.
As Arteon watched the enemy's menacing advance, he breathed deeply, his voice steady.
* * *
The wind howled heavily.
The plain reeked of blood and iron.
Arteon's eyes, sharp and piercing as he charged toward Bowukartaon, blazed with a cold intensity.
‘That bastard……’
He looked utterly different from before.
A Karu warrior, yet with skin so white and features so smooth…….
‘Now……’
Perhaps the same as the madmen he had fought upon his first arrival here?
Thick veins bulged like writhing worms, muscles swelled ready to burst, and bloodshot eyes flashed with lethal menace.
‘Insane level.’
The killing intent radiating from his body was so overwhelming that merely meeting it sent chills racing down the spine.
But…….
“Do you think you can get away with such madness?”
“Thanks to you, your foolish lackeys have thrown themselves at us one after another.”
The man's gaze burned with hatred, and the arrow nocked on his bow trained straight on Arteon.
Bowukartaon spoke coldly.
“This place will become your tomb.”
Krrick!
With that declaration, Bowukartaon twisted the bowstring slightly.
Uuuuuuuung!
A concentrated surge of mana erupted from a single point, and the wind exploded outward from the archer's center in all directions.
And…….
Ssssheeeeeeek!
The arrow, sounding as if the bowstring had snapped, sliced through the air.
Only one.
Yet as it flew, it instantly split into a dozen, fanning out in a web of death—front, above, and from the sides—engulfing Arteon completely.
It was a display of astonishing skill, like a virtuoso's trick, but the red mana infused in each arrowhead was far from something to be taken lightly.
“……!”
Arteon's expression hardened.
He snatched up Iglis and poured mana into it as he sprinted forward.
“Hyup!”
Krrang! Krrang! Krrak! Krrak! Kwoong!
Was the final incoming arrow charged with explosive force?
A blinding burst of light and smoke erupted, completely obscuring the surroundings.
“Pl-Platoon Leader!”
“Lieutenant Arteon!”
The soldiers behind him shouted in alarm.
They knew he had blocked every attack not for self-preservation, but to shield them.
But…….
“You all move back right now and exterminate the enemy. I will handle this.”
Arteon glanced sideways at Grein.
“Grein, lead the troops.”
“Understood!”
One clash was all it took.
This place was no place for them.
“Silent Spear Unit! Change direction and attack the enemy soldiers!”
“Yes!”
“Follow Vice Platoon Leader!”
“Quickly! Do not stop!”
In infiltration and surprise attacks, speed was everything.
Grein immediately obeyed Arteon's command, turning the unit around.
Soon the soldiers locked eyes with Bowukartaon's archer detachment behind them.
“Will you really let them go so easily?”
Bowukartaon bared his eyes wide and reached toward his quiver.
In the blink of an eye.
No, faster than the eye could register, he drew two arrows and spun toward the Silent Spear Unit commanded by Grein.
It was the first time they had seen this unit, yet they had pierced the surrounding encirclement and reached here in such a short time.
It could only mean the commander was exceptionally strong.
‘Without that commander, it would have been impossible.’
That is, even the soldiers without their leader posed a significant threat.
So minimal casualties must be inflicted.
Yet…….
“Have you already forgotten that your legs were cut off?”
“……!”
The voice came from right beside him, sending a chill down Bowukartaon's spine.
At the same moment, the pain from the severed tendons in his legs resurfaced, and his instincts drove him to leap aside.
Far!
With incredible speed, the arrows from the fleeing Bowukartaon slashed toward Arteon.
Krrick!
Avoiding arrows shot from such close range was, in theory, impossible.
While short distance favored the archer, it also meant the enemy could not escape the attack once the arrow left the bow.
But that was only a general rule.
The instant the arrow launched.
Far!
Arteon instead leaped straight toward Bowukartaon, lowering his body to the maximum.
Phit! Phit!
One arrow grazed his ear; the other whistled past his left shoulder.
He twisted his body into an almost impossible posture and dodged the barrage, his eyes glowing like a hunter who had spotted his prey.
At this range, the man had no time to release another arrow.
Uuuuuuuung!
Iglis vibrated faintly, and golden aura surged forth.
Far!
In the narrowing gap, Arteon's eyes transformed into those of a wild beast.
Escape was impossible here.
But then.
“Hah!”
Bowukartaon retreated backward, channeling mana into his legs.
Then he stomped the ground hard with his right foot.
Kwoaaaang!
A massive crack split the earth, and a shower of shattered rocks rocketed upward in a deafening explosion.
“……!”
Unbelievable.
With just one stomp, he could unleash such overwhelming force.
The barrage of flying stones completely blocked Arteon's vision.
He swung Iglis wildly, slicing through the debris.
Krrk! Krrk!
At the same time, he prepared to counter any further attack, yet Bowukartaon only stepped back several paces and drew the bowstring again.
“…….”
“…….”
A suffocating silence hung between them. Could it really be that he could focus all his aura into his legs to survive?
“Your leg looks unusable now.”
“It doesn't matter. That arrow is going straight into your forehead.”
Only about ten meters separated them.
A distance that could be closed in a single breath.
Unable to relax his tension, Arteon looked at Bowukartaon and said.
“From here…… one of us will surely die.”
Last time, he had had to spare the man for the sake of escape.
He never imagined he would return.
‘Should I have finished him then……’
Arteon shook his head.
No amount of regret could change the past.
Yet the sight of the strengthened foe before him still stirred something in his chest.
“Haah…….”
A small exhale escaped Arteon's lips as Iglis trembled faintly in his grip.
They both knew.
This single battle would decide the outcome.
It was a moment of hesitation over who would move first, but the wait was brief.
“Uaaaaaaaah!”
“Hyaaaah!”
The roar came from the direction of the Karu warriors.
Far!
First to move was Bowukartaon.
Of the three arrows nocked, he loosed only one, then nocked another and drew the string once more.
The entire process of drawing from the quiver took less than a blink.
Ssssheeeak!
Seeing the incoming arrow, Arteon rushed forward without hesitation.
Phit!
He tilted his head just enough to dodge the shot, pouring every ounce of focus onto Bowukartaon.
It felt as if the world had slowed to a crawl.
Excluding everything else, the movements of mana flowing from the man's hand became vividly clear.
Such heightened senses had never been experienced in his previous life.
Had reaching the fifth star realm made this possible?
‘……No.’
Even Lucael at the peak of fifth star had never spoken of such an experience.
Perhaps the mysterious power coiled inside the Ether's Heart was manifesting again.
But even that thought vanished in an instant.
Krrak!
Arteon struck the second incoming arrow with Iglis.
Ssssheeeak!
He spun his body rapidly to evade the third.
Chrrk!
Lowering his body until his right foot acted as the axis, Arteon's movement resembled a spinning top.
For a split second, Bowukartaon's eyes wavered as he lost sight of Arteon.
Krrick!
“……!”
The trembling in his pupils stopped amid a spray of red blood that flew upward.
“……A.”
A small gasp escaped Bowukartaon's lips.
He had come to this battlefield even after choosing the path to madness.
‘From the beginning…… this was not a gap I could fill.’
The stronger he became, the stronger the man before him had grown.
In such a short time.
Perhaps the unease he had felt from the man had been nothing but this very difference.
Thud.
Blood gushed from the long wound that ran from his right side to his left shoulder.
Bowukartaon knelt on both knees, trembling as he looked up at Arteon.
‘Still……’
A boy who had not yet reached adulthood had already reached this realm.
‘In the future…… he will become……’
But Bowukartaon's thoughts were cut short.
Swish!
The instant Arteon's spear, fueled by desperation, sliced toward his neck.
“The enemy's leader has been slain! The enemy leader is dead!”
Arteon's roar echoed across the battlefield, lifting the morale of their own troops.
And that day's battle.
The Karu warriors who returned alive numbered fewer than twenty.
A perfect imperial victory.
Attack the enemy flank!