Not a Single One
Gulp.
The instant battle erupted at the center, Kortzan swallowed hard. Yesterday’s catastrophe flashed through his mind—blood-soaked earth and screams cutting past him with merciless clarity.
But then—
“Don’t worry. Today, we cannot lose.”
Krelmuk stood beside him, watching the field with calm, steady eyes.
When two forces were evenly matched, the side with the stronger reason and motive to fight would always prove stronger.
And—
“There is no one on this battlefield who can stop that man right now.”
“…Yes.”
Kortzan turned his gaze toward where Krelmuk was looking.
And there, where both their eyes settled—
“Slaughter every last Imperial dog!”
Beneath the banners of the Kar Tribe, a roar of pure fury tore free.
“Kill them all!”
“We’ll avenge Lord Heritican! Die!”
“Imperial vermin!”
Murderous intent thick as oil rode every voice, and their eyes became blades that cut straight into the Imperial army’s momentum.
At the heart of it, Herkan charged the Imperial soldiers barring his path with savage ferocity.
Boom!
Thanks to the chaos the Kraugren had sown, they closed the distance without catastrophic losses. Warriors poured through the gaps splitting the enemy formation.
But then—
“Hold them! Stop those bastards!”
“Bounce them off with your shields! There’s no way their attacks can break us!”
“Raise those shields high!”
Solid iron plate and thick shields. The brave warriors of the Kar Tribe howled and hammered them with a ferocious assault, yet the wall of fully armored heavy shield-bearers was not something easily cracked.
For a moment, the atmosphere seemed to tip subtly toward the Imperial side.
And then it happened.
“Uaaaaaaaaaah!”
With a howl that sounded forged from pure grudge, Herkan burst forward from the center of his warriors. Vivid red aura blazed along the edge of his axe. It was not as pure as it had been in his prime, but it was incomparably denser and harder than any incomplete four-star aura.
The moment that red-wreathed axe came crashing down—
Crunch!
The Imperial heavy shield-bearer in front of him was split clean in half, shield and armor and all, spraying blood across the ground.
Slash!
“A-aura!”
“An aura user! Everyone scatter!”
Even a shield two finger-joints thick was nothing more than paper before aura. Faced with the slaughter unfolding right before their eyes, the Imperial formation began to unravel once more.
And then—
“I will not… let a single one of you leave here alive!”
Herkan butchered the fleeing Imperial soldiers. With that cry, the axe he swept through the air turned five heavy shield-bearers into corpses in the blink of an eye.
“Advance! Don’t leave a single one standing—kill them all!”
“Follow Lord Herkan! Slaughter every last one of them!”
In an instant, the momentum reversed. Herkan’s rampage handed the advantage completely to the Kar Tribe, and their warriors, spirits soaring, drove into every gap and pressed forward.
“H-hold the line!”
“Aaaaaaagh!”
Bit by bit, the front began to give. Before long the earth was stained with blood beneath the snow, and the wind laced with flurries only thickened the reek of iron.
“…”
From a distance, Velkain watched the battlefield in silence, his expression unreadable. Beside him, Claw’s brows drew tight as he spoke.
“The enemy’s momentum is nothing like yesterday’s. At this rate, the center will break.”
At Claw’s worried tone, Velkain answered,
“For now, we hold.”
The cards he had prepared had not yet reached their positions. For the moment, they had to endure—no matter the cost.
Still watching the field, Velkain said,
“Move the forces on the right flank to the center. Thicken the center wall and shove them sideways.”
“Sir?”
Claw’s eyes wavered at the order. The right flank was locked in a tense stalemate of its own. Pull troops now and it might buckle.
But Velkain would hardly be unaware of that.
When Claw looked at him with open concern—
“Carry out the order.”
“…Understood.”
Claw swallowed a sigh and swiftly relayed the command to the officers.
Bwoooooooo! Bwooo! Bwooo!
Horns blared and banners snapped as Imperial soldiers moved at once. Troops from the right flooded into the center and plugged the gaps tight.
At the same time, watching the foundation of the weakened right flank, Velkain drew a quiet breath inward.
There was only one way to fill that hole on the right now.
…All I can do is trust.
He could only hope the arrow he had loosed would fly faster than the enemy.
A precarious fragility settled over the Imperial lines, thin as ice that might shatter at any moment. Amid the discordant crash of shield and axe, spear and steel, the sound of armor tearing cut through again and again, and with every scream the balance of the front trembled by a hair.
And through that shifting tide, the Kar commanders watching the field brightened. Today’s victory, they thought, might become a true stepping stone toward driving the Imperial army back for good.
“As expected of Lord Herkan. The way he’s driving the enemy is no ordinary thing.”
Kortzan snorted, breath steaming.
Just as Krelmuk had said, the picture of their own overwhelming dominance was taking shape before their eyes, was it not?
Yet Krelmuk, contrary to the start, watched the battlefield with a hardening expression.
By now, the variable from yesterday should have shown himself…
…Where is he?
If a little more time passed, just as Kortzan claimed, the Imperial formation would collapse. And once it did, the only way they would survive that broken line was retreat.
Do they mean to fall back like this?
No. Absolutely not. Remembering the Imperial commander he had faced yesterday, that was not a man who would yield so easily.
And then it came.
Fweeeeeeeeeee!
Beside their own lines. Not far at all. A single signal flare suddenly shot skyward from that direction, and both Krelmuk’s and Kortzan’s faces went rigid.
They did not use flares of that kind.
Which meant—
“Kortzan!”
Bwoooooooooooo!
The moment Krelmuk snapped upright and shouted, a deep horn blast rolled out from the Imperial lines. At the same time a Kar soldier came sprinting toward Krelmuk in a panic, yelling,
“T-Taman! Enemies!”
“…When did they—?”
That approach should have been defended as well. How had they slipped in so silently?
But that hardly mattered now.
“Kortzan.”
“Yes!”
Kortzan’s eyes flashed as he hurriedly led warriors toward where the Imperial flare had risen.
Without a doubt, that place held—
Him.
A grim resolve settled in Kortzan’s gaze as he ran with his warriors.
If it had been night, they could have moved a little more quietly. He found himself missing the northern dark so black it swallowed sight completely.
Still, Arteon spread his mana as wide as he could and hunted for enemies nearby. He could only sense within a few hundred meters, but even that already far surpassed ordinary human perception.
…Here.
Enemy presence ahead. From their formation and movements, they clearly had not expected anyone to appear from this direction. Otherwise they would never have been this at ease.
“Keep low and move along the far side of the reed field. The moment I give the signal, strike the enemy at once.”
“Understood.”
“Yes, sir.”
Grein and the other squad leaders answered and swiftly passed the order to their men. Arteon angled slightly, slipping into cover beyond their line of sight.
It would have been impossible without knowing the lay of the plain—but he already remembered this place clearly enough to draw a map of it. This was the very reed field where he had fought Bowukartaon.
If we go this way…
Before long a cluster of fairly tall rocks rose into Arteon’s view. Used well, they would let him close another step on the enemy.
Thud!
Arteon dropped into a crouch and scuttled duck-walk style toward the outcrop. At the sight of him, every member of the unit lowered themselves as well, and soon each had taken cover behind the rocks, steadying their breath.
“…”
The distance to the enemy was now barely two hundred meters. If Arteon truly meant to run, he could cover it in a handful of breaths.
“Grein.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“I’ll go first and pin them down so they can’t use pipes or signal flares. The moment I arrive, join me at once with the rest of the unit.”
“…Understood.”
Wasn’t it dangerous alone? The question rose, then died as he realized how foolish it was. Anyone who could threaten Arteon, who had fully entered the five-star realm…
Isn’t here.
Grein fixed a sharp gaze on the front.
And in that instant—
Whoosh!
Snow exploded from beneath Arteon’s feet. His form stretched into a long afterimage, a single straight line cutting forward. Watching the distance vanish in a blink, Grein and every soldier of Silent Spear held their breath.
“Whew. It’s getting pretty fierce up front.”
“Being posted here is the sweet life, I’m telling you.”
They were on a battlefield, yet almost no real fighting reached this stretch. Missing the action stung a little, sure—but sitting pretty like this didn’t seem half bad either.
“We’d better win today. Yesterday’s mood was rotten.”
“Never thought Lord Heritican would die, though.”
“Damned Imperial bastards.”
“Tch. Someone hurry up and relieve us already. What’s the point of standing watch where there’s nobody?”
One of them grumbled, yawning wide as if the whole thing were a chore. He wiped at the tears that welled from the yawn and looked ahead.
Far off, something black.
His pupils shook.
“Wh-what the—!”
He never finished the rest.
Swaaaaaaaaaah!
Thud!
Something shot forward at tremendous speed and punched straight through the face of the Kar warrior on watch. A dull impact, his body staggered, and he crumpled to the ground.
“Ka—Kakum!”
The Kar warrior beside him shouted—only for Arteon to close the gap in a heartbeat and snap his neck with a single blow, ending him where he stood.
With that, Arteon’s eyes cast red threads of killing intent across the remaining Kar warriors.
Not a single one…
Could be left alive.
In the next breath, Arteon’s body uncoiled like a beast of prey and lunged straight at them.