Night in the North: The Spear Slips Through the Dark
The northern night was always thick with silence.
The wind slicing across the mountain ridges was thin and razor-sharp, piercing the skin like needles. From the soil, damp and frozen, rose a metallic scent—reminiscent of blood and iron.
In the distance, a faint howling wind echoed, but what reached the ears were only the soldiers’ tiny breaths.
Sssssssshhh.
If a black thread slid across the dark, it would make no sound at all. And so the Silent Spear unit sliced straight through the night, moving as one silent blade.
Isaac stared at Arteon’s back as he ran ahead, and took a breath.
“…Huuu.”
In this darkness, finding a path without the slightest mistake was no small thing. His form was like something entirely different from three years ago.
The man he had been back then had been strong, but now he was something else entirely.
“What exactly did he do…?”
Yet Isaac clenched his fist tighter.
The more Arteon had changed, the more their own efforts to keep up had paid off. They had no way of knowing he had transformed so completely, but their bones had been ground down through relentless training.
Isaac’s gaze settled more seriously than ever as he watched Arteon.
And then…
“……”
Arteon glanced back at his followers and could not hide the flicker of surprise in his eyes.
It was a night march through the mountains, and they had no choice but to move in complete silence—no torches allowed.
Visibility was almost nonexistent; the next man’s back was all he could see. The ground underfoot was uneven, changing with every step and threatening to send them tumbling.
Yet the Silent Spear soldiers ran as if on flat plains, staying glued to their leader’s rear.
For ordinary soldiers, such things were unthinkable. But here they were, breathing steadily as if it were nothing.
“…How did they spend those three years?”
It was as clear as the day’s light. Their efforts had been visible in every stride.
Arteon felt something hot rise within his chest, but he quickly pushed the feeling down.
This was not the time for sentiment.
Through his keen senses, something alien—odd—flowed into his awareness along the wind’s current.
“……They’re here.”
Arteon raised his fist and came to a halt.
Almost at once, the officers’ commands rang out. The entire unit froze in perfect unison, bodies dropping low.
“……”
Arteon closed his eyes and focused.
The Karu were moving far too quickly. Their scouts had spread out in a wide net while they retreated, but their pursuers closed the distance with terrifying speed.
Collision was inevitable. Time was the only thing left.
Arteon turned to Isaac right behind him.
“Isaac, take half the force and head for the right ridge. Use the terrain to flank and shield the retreating scouts.”
“What about you, sir?”
“I’ll loop wide around the left ridge and move behind them. If my guess is right… they won’t have sent only the vanguard. I need to check the rear.”
His tone was calm, but the situation was anything but.
Even in war, one minute, one second mattered.
Isaac nodded.
“Orders will be carried out.”
“And Kairon.”
A few steps away, Kairon had already crouched low. His face was faintly visible in the gloom.
Arteon spoke to him.
“You’ll ride with the second-in-command. During the operation, his orders are absolute. Remember that.”
“……Understood.”
Kairon answered shortly.
Receiving orders from another was never pleasant, but Kairon had long since learned what war and the army truly meant.
With Kairon’s prompt reply, Arteon turned to face the rear.
“Barter, you’re with me. Prepare the troops—now.”
“Yes, sir.”
Barter immediately passed the order to the remaining soldiers.
When everything was ready, Arteon let out a soft breath and scanned the front.
In this darkness…
“The enemy I can see… is not the real threat.”
The hidden ones were far more terrifying.
Whether they were here or not, he could not be sure. But years of combat experience told him otherwise.
There were more Karu waiting in the shadows behind them.
“Huuu….”
Arteon exhaled slowly and lifted his head.
“Move.”
With that single word, five hundred Silent Spear soldiers surged forward behind him.
Sssssssshhh.
Their forms streaked through the darkness like a predator swallowing the night itself.
Underfoot, stone and ice cracked with every stride. As time passed, the soldiers’ breathing grew rougher and heavier.
“Hah… hah… hah…!”
“Hah! Hah!”
The pace quickened.
The higher they climbed, the sharper the wind slapped their faces. But the greater the height, the clearer their view of the enemy’s movements.
“Halt.”
Arteon stopped again, fist raised.
Only moments before, the soldiers’ breaths had been loud. Now, the instant they lowered themselves, silence swallowed everything.
Arteon’s gaze pierced straight through the darkness ahead.
Between the wind, an unnatural flow.
No sound, yet movement was unmistakable.
It carried the primitive scent of blood mixed with the raw presence of something wild.
Arteon’s eyes cooled.
“……As expected.”
His voice was dry.
“Hundreds of Karu are waiting out there.”
“…Enemy?”
“Those who have been trailing us from the rear. They’re waiting for a fight, probably ready to strike while our main force advances.”
Barter’s face hardened.
Even without sight, he could read the enemy’s intent. He had sensed that kind of anticipation in the Karu before—something beyond mortal skill.
Barter nodded and waited for Arteon’s command.
Far ahead, Arteon watched the Karu unit slip through the night like a hunter holding his breath, waiting for the perfect moment.
***
GRANTUAK—five-feather tattoo warrior, commander of a minor tribe—had joined the war with joy. Beneath Vargas, who bore seven feathers, the Empire’s soldiers could be wiped out. But the sight of Krelmuk’s force was enough to sour his mood.
Six feathers. The weight of that number was immense. Yet he had been stripped of Belikezel, never once allowing an imperial foot to tread its soil. He had been humiliated and barely survived.
It was unbearable to see a man who should have known shame parade around in the shadow of his past glory.
“And that Korzan. A five-feather dog thinks he can stand atop my head?”
GRANTUAK had gone to call him on his arrogance, but the arrogant expression on his face when he had refused—
“If you have something to say to the Taman, say it to me.”
—was still burned into his memory.
GRANTUAK’s axe at his hip felt heavy.
“This battle will prove I have truly served Barug-nim. We will show the world that we are far superior to those worms.”
“Yes, Taman.”
GRANTUAK held his breath and followed the scent left by the vanguard. In the dark, he released a unique tracking aroma known only to his own men, sharing their position.
The imperial dogs would never realize they were walking into a trap.
He spread his mana wide, scanning every movement around him for any variables.
Not even wild beasts moved much in this darkness, so nothing registered in his senses.
GRANTUAK curled his lips slightly and continued to follow the vanguard with his warriors.
How long had passed?
The tension had grown sharp enough to feel like a blade at the throat.
“UAAAAAHHHH!”
“Attack!”
The instant the vanguard struck the imperial forces they had been chasing, GRANTUAK’s eyes flashed.
The moment the enemy column entered the pass, he would strike from the side.
But…
Thud.
“……?”
GRANTUAK turned toward the sudden sound from his side.
A round object rolling across the ground.
“What?”
His pupils shook violently.
It was the head of one of his own subordinates.
“……!”
His heart threatened to burst from his mouth.
In his vision, something flickered in the darkness.
Thuck.
GRANTUAK roared.
“Enemy! The Empire’s ambush!”
With that cry, the warriors lit their torches and swept the surroundings.
And the moment the light pierced the dark…
“Hah… hah!”
The imperial soldiers charged forward in a wide fan, encircling them.
***
“They’re moving.”
Arteon crouched low and circled, watching the Karu react with subtle tremors beyond the darkness.
He could not see their motions, but the caution in their steps carried an almost mad precision.
The soldiers following Arteon focused their minds on the battle that could erupt at any second.
His heart pounded like a war drum. Sweat dripped from hands gripping sword and shield.
Swish. Swish-swish.
Arteon held up three fingers toward Barter.
Pointing index and middle finger to both sides, he signaled the split.
Three units would attack from front and both flanks at once.
The front would be Arteon himself.
Barter and Ragnel quickly led their units to the wings.
Arteon turned to the front.
“They don’t know we’re coming.”
That meant either their senses were weak or their cultivation low.
If he struck properly…
“A single blow that ends it all.”
Then the moment would come.
“……”
The instant the Karu overran the main imperial force.
Chaos would erupt in screams and shouts.
Exactly when their guard was down in this silent tension.
And after how long holding his breath?
Just as his body began to grow numb from the cold air,
“UAAAAAHHHH!”
“Attack!”
The Karu warriors’ roar burst through the darkness, and the rear of the crouched enemy surged forward.
And the moment of their motion:
Ching!
Iglis, carrying mana, transformed and pierced the dark, extending toward the Karu.