The Canyon Collapses
"Enemy! Imperial dogs have entered the canyon!"
"That way! They're running!"
Isaac had never expected the Kar warriors to move this fast.
…It isn't that Arteon was spotted.
Racing down the canyon slope, Isaac swept his gaze across the surroundings. They had managed to silently eliminate the two Kar warriors climbing up toward them moments earlier. The problem had come afterward.
"I—I'm sorry."
"Forget what's done. We need to pull their attention onto us somehow."
Ponlaron bowed his head as if he had committed an unforgivable crime. While moving to deal with the Kar warriors waiting below, the tiniest scrap of stone had scraped free under his boot and tumbled down.
Bad luck. That was the only way to put it — the fragment had been that minute. Or else it simply proved how finely trained their enemies were.
"Where do you think you're running!"
There was no time to dwell on it. A Kar warrior burst out from the side, and Isaac's blade carved a crimson arc through the air.
Slash!
"Ghk…!"
The warrior's head left his shoulders in a single stroke, and he crumpled where he stood. He had been an ordinary fighter, yet Isaac's sword had been so fast the man never even reacted.
"Keep a measured distance from them and head the opposite direction from Arteon."
"Yes, sir!"
The men behind him answered at full volume. Once they had been discovered, there was no longer any reason for silence.
But then—
"…So this is as far as we go."
Kar warriors closed in from front and rear, boxing in the fleeing special unit. Judging by the numbers, they were only the ones who had been standing nearby watch — not that many.
…Around thirty.
Isaac's eyes went cold and still. Their numbers were roughly even. In that case—
"We break through. Each of you kills one."
"Yes, sir!"
Whoosh!
The instant Isaac's order fell, the special unit scattered in every direction and slammed into the Kar warriors. Every last one of them had reached the 1-star realm. Several had already stepped into 2-star. However fierce the Kar tribe's combat strength might be compared to Imperial soldiers, that advantage held only against ordinary troops.
The fight was over in moments. Isaac let out a short breath and turned his gaze toward the direction Arteon had gone.
…Hurry, Arteon.
Watching more than a hundred Kar warriors pounding after them from behind, Isaac bit down hard on his lip.
Whoosh!
If there was any good fortune to be found, it was that Isaac was drawing far more attention than expected. Thanks to that, Arteon reached his destination without a single interruption. He leaned out and studied the face of the curved cliff wall.
"Here."
He remembered this crack in the wall with perfect clarity. In his previous life, when Arteon had held Helikel Canyon, this section had collapsed and caused them no end of grief. Thinking of the soldiers who had died then, it was a fissure he could never forget even if he wanted to.
Humm…!
Arteon drew up his mana and gripped the iron stake in both hands. Without a hammer, he wouldn't be able to drive it all the way in — but still.
"Hyaaaaah!"
Holding the stake in his left hand, he set his right palm against the top and drove it straight into the ground.
BOOM!
A tremendous crash rolled out, and the ground trembled enough to shake everything nearby. Ordinarily he would have gripped it with both hands and twisted it down, but he couldn't afford to waste time. With a single blow the stake sank more than a handspan deep. Arteon concentrated mana into his palm and struck it again.
BOOM!
In an instant the stake was buried more than two handspans into the earth. Arteon yanked hard on the rope loop fixed to it.
Twang! Twang!
Preparations were complete. He immediately wound the rope around his waist, knotted it tight, and flung himself off the curved cliff.
Shhhhhhk! Whirrrrr!
Arteon raced down the steep incline as if sliding. Without the rope bound at his waist, he would have simply plummeted to the bottom.
Clench!
Reaching the level of the crack, he seized the rope and tied it off in a rapid knot.
"Here! I heard something from over here!"
"Where! Where is he!"
Voices drifted down from the top of the cliff. Arteon looked at the fissure in the canyon wall before him. Inside the frozen ice face, a considerable web of cracks was visible.
…Even the footing isn't stable.
Forcing a spear into it under these conditions would produce no real impact at all.
One chance…
Just one. Judging by how close those Kar shouts had sounded, they would be here in under a minute.
Arteon exhaled a long, slow breath.
"Hoooo…"
Drawing the expelled air back in, he gathered his mana. And with it—
Crack!
Iglis revealed its true form, blazing with blue light. The moment he poured every scrap of his mana into the spear, Iglis began to thrash as if it had slipped free of all control.
Humm… Grrrnnnk!
It looked ready to explode at any second, yet Arteon's eyes remained perfectly calm.
In his previous life, he had possessed no spearmanship capable of crushing others flat. Nor had he learned some superior mana cultivation method that granted him vast reserves of power. Just ordinary Imperial spear forms. Just an ordinary mana method. There had been nothing special about Arteon — except for one outstanding gift.
Mana control.
Talent certainly played a part, but in Arteon's case he had reached that level of mastery through pure, relentless effort. It was the very reason a man who had barely crossed 2-star could display the skill he showed now.
And in this moment—
I can do this.
Arteon's eyes flashed. Even with cracks running through the ice wall, bringing down a section of this enormous canyon by ordinary means was impossible. Unless one could manifest aura — a power only those who had reached the 4-star realm could wield.
But there was a way to imitate it, if only for an instant.
Release. Condensing mana and detonating it all at once in a single explosive discharge. For Arteon as he was now, it was pushing his limits — but he had no other choice.
If he failed—
Everyone dies.
Arteon's gaze sharpened. Still hanging from the rope, he kicked off the canyon wall and leapt backward.
Whoosh!
His body traced a half-circle, springing out and soaring upward into the air.
"There he is!"
"Cut the rope!"
"Throw your axes!"
The Kar warriors who had spotted him bellowed and poured on speed. But Arteon, pouring every shred of his concentration into Iglis, heard none of the noise around him. Only the canyon and the ice wall wedged into the crack filled his vision.
Whooooosh!
The rope snapped taut and flung him back toward the wall. Arteon tightened his grip on Iglis. And in the exact instant he slammed into the cliff—
"HYAAAAAAAAAAH!"
With a battle cry that emptied everything he had, Iglis punched straight through the ice wall.
CRRRRAAACK!
More than half the spear's length drove deep into the frozen face. Then the mana concentrated along the shaft erupted outward in every direction, detonating in a single catastrophic blast.
Crack! CRRRRRACK-CRACK-CRACK!
"Wha—?! Aaaaaagh!"
"Th-the canyon's collapsing!"
"Aaaaaaagh!"
Centered on where the ice wall had stood, enormous fissures raced upward and downward. The ground shuddered as if an earthquake had struck.
Whoosh!
Arteon wrenched the spear free, sliced through the rope in one motion, and plastered himself against the nearby wall, looking up.
It worked!
But if he stayed here, he would be buried under a mountain of falling stone. He looked down. Dangerous — yes.
"Fuck it. Worst that happens is I die!"
He launched himself down the steep incline, scraping along the face as he dropped. And in the very moment a section of the canyon wall gave way—
"Ponlaron! Fire the signal flare!"
"Yes, Lord Isaac!"
Ponlaron loosed the flare he had been carrying, sending it streaking into the sky.
Fweeeeeeeeee!
The instant the red signal bloomed overhead—
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
A thunderous vibration rolled in from beyond the canyon. More than two thousand soldiers were advancing straight toward it.
Isaac shouted.
"We go down and link up with Arteon! Hit the rear of the ones blocking the canyon mouth!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Understood!"
RRRRRUMBLE!
With the canyon collapsing around them, the Kar formation dissolved into pure chaos. Even if it was only a fraction of the wall, having boulders larger than a man rain down from overhead was terror itself.
Isaac looked at the crumbling eastern cliff face.
The scale is far greater than I expected.
Could this fight truly be decided in a single stroke? His heart was hammering wildly. Blood surged through his entire body, and his vision felt razor-sharp.
And then—
"Lord Isaac!"
At the shout from beside him, Isaac turned his head. It was Arteon.
"Link up! We hit the rear of the enemy holding the canyon mouth immediately!"
"Understood!"
Blue mana swirled around Arteon's body like a current of air. With tremendous acceleration, he closed the distance and joined them. In that moment, Isaac's pupils wavered.
This kid…?
Had he always possessed this level of ability, or—
Did he grow in that short a time?
He couldn't quite call it "mere," but Arteon's skill had originally registered around mid 2-star. What he had just witnessed, though—
Has he stepped into 3-star?
At minimum, he was hammering on the wall of the 3-star realm. Questions crowded Isaac's mind, but he wiped them away at once. There was something more urgent to handle first.
Isaac raised his voice.
"Arteon! Tertian! Take the lead and strike left and right! Group One with me! Group Two follows Tertian, Group Three follows Arteon!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Understood!"
Their roaring answers sent the special unit's momentum surging higher still. Watching the Imperial force charge like enraged bulls, the Kar warriors could not hide their dismay.
"Wh-why from behind!"
"Imperial troops have gotten in! Hold the rear!"
"An Imperial army is pouring in from the front of the canyon! Finish these ones before they arrive!"
Panic set their feet on fire. Two thousand Imperial soldiers were bearing down from the front, while a handful of enemies smashed their formation from directly behind. If they failed to eliminate this threat, concentrating on the force ahead would be impossible.
Kar officers urgently rallied their warriors and launched an assault on the special unit. But there was one thing they had failed to account for.
Whoosh!
Arteon locked eyes on a charging Kar officer. Two feather tattoos were etched into the man's left shoulder. The warrior poured killing intent toward the boy racing straight at him. Having enemies breach the canyon was already enough to boil his blood — and now this child was charging him head-on. It felt as if his blood were running backward.
"I'll cut you down in a single— ghk!"
"L-Lord Marukku!"
The spear Arteon thrust knocked Marukku's axe aside and punched straight through the middle warrior's chest. Impaled in a single blow, Marukku became a cold corpse before he hit the ground.
Kar warriors and the unit members following Arteon alike wore expressions of pure shock. But through that chaos—
"Group Three. We punch straight through."
Arteon's eyes fixed on the enemy's heart like the tip of a dagger.