The Spear That Struck Too Close
Every combat technique has a minimum distance it requires.
It varies by weapon, of course, but bare-handed fighting can hurt an enemy with barely enough space for a single fist. You can twist your hips and drive a shoulder into them, bite, or even headbutt.
The moment a weapon enters the equation, that distance has to grow. Knuckles. Daggers. Those still need at least enough room to swing an arm. The longer the weapon, the farther you can strike—but the more space you need to do it.
Of every weapon humanity has ever forged, the spear reaches farthest. A blade fixed to a shaft, its range limited only by how long that shaft is. A typical spear runs about three meters. Factor in arm length, and you can kill a man from more than four meters away. Most of its attacks are thrusts, simple enough that it became the soldier’s mainstay.
But Heritican had refined that simple spear work into something far beyond the ordinary. She held the title of Belikezel’s greatest spear master. Simple, yet every single strike had been honed to its absolute limit. Knowing the attack was coming and still being unable to stop it—that was Heritican’s spear art.
And yet…
How…?
Heritican stared at the scene unfolding before her eyes, unable to believe it. The sight of her own severed arm floating up into the air felt utterly unreal.
But then—
“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!”
Pain shot up what remained of the arm, and a scream tore out of her before she could stop it. The distance between them just now had been half a step. Barely enough room to throw a punch. How had he managed to swing a spear?
And cut through an arm reinforced with mana, no less…
“Kh—!”
There was no time to dwell on it. Heritican’s face twisted as she threw herself backward. In that same instant her pupils shook.
Damn—!
She had just given him the perfect range for a spear. And he was faster than she expected.
Suaaaaaah!
Arteon’s spear lanced straight for Heritican’s throat.
“Tch—!”
She flung herself sideways in an ugly roll across the ground. Blood from her severed arm sprayed across the white snow like spilled paint. Seizing her spear with her right hand, Heritican leveled it at Arteon and glared at him with vicious eyes.
“Hah… hah… hah…!”
Her breathing was ragged; her shoulders heaved. Too much had happened in the span of a few short seconds.
How can someone who looks that young…
…have eyes that cold?
Arteon stood calmly opposite the tip of her spear, watching her. Thanks to her carelessness, he had taken her left arm. She seemed to be stemming the bleeding with mana, but—
“Sorry, but I need to go help over there. We’re short on time, so let’s finish this quickly.”
“Like hell you will!”
Heritican bellowed. Arteon didn’t care. He launched himself straight at her.
Pabat!
Snow kicked up in a violent swirl from the spot where he had stood. Arteon moved as if he had simply vanished, reappearing behind her in an instant. His gaze trailed after him like an afterimage, flashing blue.
A chill raced down her spine.
Heritican spun and swept her spear around. Losing her left arm so suddenly had wrecked her balance, yet even so the strike was ferocious.
Swaek!
Her spear tore through the air, hunting him. Arteon simply dropped low and let it pass. The attack was genuinely threatening—but the gap between them had already opened wide.
This ends now.
If no variables had appeared, the fight would have dragged on for a long time. In pure skill she outclassed Bowukartaon, the man he had faced before. Precisely because of that skill, he had been able to create the variable. Her pride in her own ability, combined with Arteon’s youthful face, had done the rest. She never imagined an Imperial soldier who barely looked old enough to be grown could possess this kind of power.
And for that carelessness, Heritican was about to pay a terrible price. Perhaps the final one.
“Huaaaap!”
Jjjeong!
“Uwaaaaagh!”
Chaeng!
A spear swung with one hand could only ever travel the simplest of paths. It was never meant to be wielded one-handed in the first place; the rotational force of the whole body was what gave it destructive power. Right now Heritican could not leverage a single one of her strengths. She was simply thrashing with her weapon.
Arteon did not force his way in. The aura pouring off her was far too violent—exactly like a dying candle flaring one last time. A final blaze of light.
He tightened his grip on Iglis and watched her carefully, dodging while hunting for the opening. And the moment her spear cut empty air once more—
A flicker.
The aura wreathing Heritican’s spear tip suddenly wavered hard. The mana she had been pouring out without restraint had finally reached its end. Arteon did not miss it.
Ssuak!
Jjeoeoeong!
“……!”
He smashed the spear that had been thrusting straight at him aside with crushing force. Until now he had only slipped away like an eel; this sudden counterblow made Heritican’s eyes fly wide. Her spear was driven skyward, and with it her right arm rose, leaving her entire body open.
“N-no…!”
“Yes.”
Arteon’s eyes flashed. Without the slightest hesitation he drove the spear into her torso.
Puk!
Blue aura punched cruelly through her body. She twisted just enough to spare a vital organ—
“Guaaaaaaaah!”
—but Iglis punched clean through the space between her right breast and shoulder, and Heritican screamed.
“He-Heritican!”
“Protect Heritican! Hurry!”
The surrounding Kar warriors cried out in shock and charged Arteon—
Kwang!
“Not one step past this line.”
—only to freeze in despair at the sight of the Silent Spear unit already standing in their way.
“Out of the way!”
“Break through! Protect Heritican!”
Her personal guard and every other Kar warrior present felt the fire under their feet. But the Silent Spear soldiers raised their shields and held firm, buying the time that was needed.
In that brief window—
“Kh… khuuuuugh…!”
—Heritican poured every last scrap of strength into clamping down on the spear buried in her body, thrashing for her life.
“Don’t feel wronged. This place is going to be all of your graves anyway.”
Starting from Belikezel, they would keep pushing north. To reclaim more than everything they had lost. And…
Once we take this land… they’ll have no choice but to surface.
For the next emperor’s seat, they could not afford to delay any longer. So—
“Die.”
Chwaak!
Arteon twisted the spear still gripped in his hands and ripped it sideways. A fountain of red blood erupted; her body, nearly torn in half, flopped to the ground in tatters.
Thud.
The instant Heritican’s life ended—
“Heriticaaaaaaan!”
“Uwaaaaaaaagh!”
“I’ll kill every last one of you!”
—the surrounding Kar warriors howled like madmen and charged. For a moment it almost felt as though Arteon and the Silent Spear soldiers were the villains.
Arteon turned coldly and looked at them. Always they had been the ones attacked and invaded.
This time…
They were the invaders. Whether this was the enemy’s homeland or not did not matter. If they failed to swallow this place—
In the end… they’ll just be swallowed again.
He had lived through it once already, for more than ten years.
Arteon clenched his fist and roared.
“Wipe out every last one of these barbarians!”
“Kill them aaaaall!”
The Imperial forces locked in fierce combat at the center finally punched through and poured inward. Watching them, Arteon turned to the Silent Spear soldiers.
“Silent Spear unit. Link up with the main force in the center and drive all the way into the enemy’s heart.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Understood!”
With the main force joining them, Grein could handle command well enough. Arteon turned his head toward the one remaining Kar officer. If that man fell as well—
We can claim half this war right here.
Even on Kar land, warriors of that caliber were not exactly common.
“Hoo.”
Killing Heritican so relatively cleanly had bought him some margin. Arteon exhaled lightly and drew his mana up again.
Uuuuuung!
Mana flooded every part of his body, reinforcing his flesh once more. And then—
Kung!
—his form shot like a bolt toward the place where Isaac and the soldiers were fighting.
Crazy…!
Kortzan, still trading blows with the pests buzzing in front of him, could not believe the situation. The Imperial troops were holding out against him better than expected, but that was no longer the issue.
Heritican went down that easily?
Even seeing it with his own two eyes, he could not accept it. Especially the way her arm had been severed at the very start—he still could not fully process what had even happened.
Dangerous.
He understood at a glance. That was the one who had killed Bowukartaon. How the hell was an armed force like that even here?
Stronger than I expected… far stronger.
Cold sweat rolled down his spine. Even if he fought, he no longer felt a hundred-percent certainty of victory. But—
Grit.
Kortzan bit down hard on his lip. There was no way to avoid this situation.
He bellowed.
“Call for support! I’ll hold that one!”
This was not a fight where he could afford to hold anything back. Kortzan poured every scrap of power into the axe and mace in his hands, flooding them with aura.
Uuuuuuung!
A fierce vibration rose as aura bloomed over the weapons. At the same moment—
“Dodge!”
—Isaac shouted at his men and swung his sword desperately.
Kwaang!
“Gah!”
Destructive force on an entirely different level. He managed to block the aura-wrapped strike, but—
“……Shit.”
—a crack spiderwebbed across the blade from that single blow. Stopping this man any longer was impossible.
Still…
Everything he had needed to do was finished. Isaac scrambled to his feet and put distance between himself and Kortzan.
“I’ll leave the rest to you.”
“You’ve done well.”
Arteon brushed past Isaac with the brief reply and fixed his eyes on Kortzan.
“Now it’s your turn.”
This war. Today they would seize complete control of the tide.
On the northern plain where the sun was slowly sinking, two auras thick with murderous intent bared their fangs and charged at each other.