The Borderline (4)
Captain Kyle charged toward the Death Knight.
Without any orders from Prince Frederick, he had hurled himself straight into the enemy lines.
“Your Highness, should I cover him?”
An uneasy current swirled through the castle.
Because the one breaking orders was no ordinary soldier, but Captain Kyle of the combat knight order.
“Why is the captain doing that?”
“The Death Knight’s eyes look like they’ve got gold in them?”
“Ah… because of his brother?”
“Again?”
The soldiers on the watchtower muttered among themselves.
Kyle had once charged out in exactly the same reckless way after his brother died to a Death Knight.
Losing a family member on the battlefield where you face the enemy every single day was sad, but not unusual.
But that didn’t mean the grief disappeared. You just learned to endure it again and again.
Yet the idea of him charging out blinded by revenge was hard to accept.
Although he acted foolish and loose, he was the elite captain of Frederick’s most rigorously trained knight order.
He wouldn’t be swayed by easy emotions.
Prince Frederick watched the scene for a moment, then issued a quiet order.
“That bastard won’t be able to charge anymore. Bombard the surroundings. Tsk.”
He gave the order for covering fire to stop his impulsive action, without hiding his discomfort.
Kyle’s charge was blocked by the incoming cannon fire.
Yet somehow, he kept trying desperately to push forward.
“The leader won’t stop!”
“Ah… here he goes again.”
“Can’t let him. Send out the combat knight order.”
In the end, the combat knight order stepped in.
It was only after dozens of men were tied to him that they finally pulled him out.
“Tsk. If he had just a bit less power left…”
Prince Frederick’s sigh faded away in the observer’s report.
“Death Knight approaching, 1.5 km ahead.”
“Identification impossible. Undead legion appears. Estimated 200 individuals.”
While Kyle was causing the commotion, the Death Knight had summoned a new undead legion.
However, the observer’s voice trembled.
“I-it’s… all knight units.”
The undead knights that appeared were dressed in the same armor as knights escorting a Death Knight.
On the corroded, dented full-plate breastplates, the faint emblem of the knight order was engraved.
“Rosen… Death Knight…”
For the first time, a tremor entered Prince Frederick’s voice.
And his aide’s face showed a clear wave of fear.
The emblem on the approaching Death Knight’s armor was visible.
Although faded to white, it was unmistakably the Golden Dragon of the Gilorian Empire’s imperial crest.
“That armor…”
“…Rosen Gilorian?”
The name from the book echoed.
Rosen Gilorian.
The fifth hero of the Gilorian Empire and the first lord of this very castle Frederick over three hundred years ago.
The immortal knight who protected the Hermitia Plain from monster and demon invasions.
But now the legendary being had returned as a Death Knight.
Prince Frederick’s expression hardened. He stared at the approaching Death Knight.
In the war against the monster-demon alliance, Rosen had won, but then he was cursed.
He destroyed the very castle he protected and vanished.
Rosen Gilorian, the greatest knight of Frederick Castle and the most tragic hero whose final end was recorded.
He was charging straight at Frederick Castle, leading his old knight order.
Red light seeped from the eye slits of his helmet.
Prince Frederick barely managed to part his lips.
“…Prepare the entire army!”
He spoke while summoning blue flames like a soul.
Dark clouds gathered once more.
Thunder roared.
Kua-kua-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Within the blink of an eye, the Death Knight appeared over the ridge.
“Death Knight knight order approaching.”
“Distance 1 km, no, 800 meters… it’s closing too fast.”
The report grew urgent.
“All cannons, fire at will!”
Along with Prince Frederick’s shout, the magic cannons belched fire.
Red flames painted the sky.
At the same time, hundreds of blue magic circles created by mages wove across the ground, trying to bind the feet of the Death Knight knight order.
But.
Sshing!
The Death Knight’s great sword cut through empty air.
He had merely raised his great sword.
Yet his sword qi split the incoming cannonballs in half.
The severed cannonballs exploded in the air and dissipated into rain.
Kua-kwa-kwa!
Again a lightning bolt struck, brightening the view.
In that instant, everyone saw it.
The purple aura rising from the Death Knight’s armor corroding the magic circles.
“Effect nullified!”
“Remaining magic circles 30%…”
And in that opening, a single aerial combat unit that had flown in was pierced by the Death Knight’s silver trajectory and turned to ash.
“Second aerial unit annihilated…”
“That… is the power of the legendary hero?”
Someone muttered in despair.
As if fuel for human despair, the Death Knight charged even more furiously toward the castle.
The castle walls shook.
“Your Highness, we have no choice but to send out the combat knight order now. Captain Kyle is waiting below.”
As arrows rained down, the aide blurted out urgently.
Kukung!
Thunder roared.
In that moment the Death Knight reached the castle wall.
And he raised his great sword.
Kung!
The castle walls shook.
A single blow made the entire wall vibrate. Fear of death settled on the soldiers’ faces.
Prince Frederick’s eyes shook.
And his gaze fixed on the right outer wall.
“Combat knight order. Collapse the right wall!”
“But, Your Highness. That’s…”
The place Prince Frederick ordered to collapse was where the commoners lived.
Their homes, shops, and livelihood. Especially the market with the highest population density.
“Collapse the right outer wall and lure the Death Knight knight order there. Then deploy binding magic to repel them.”
His plan was to use the monster’s trait of targeting humans to draw the Death Knight knight order into the collapsed area and then defeat them.
The plan of throwing civilians as bait into the collapsed castle to lure the Death Knight and then surround and annihilate them.
The aide’s face turned deathly pale.
“Your Highness! If we send out the combat knight order now and attack from the rear…”
But Prince Frederick’s expression showed no change.
“Execute immediately!”
He gave only a resolute command.
His message was clear.
Sacrifice the lives of those who cannot help the fighting force to repel the monsters. Even if they were commoners.
The soldiers’ anxious glances bound them together. In their minds, the instinct of conscience and survival clung painfully, fighting to crush each other.
This cannot go on.
Dark clouds gathered low.
A heavy, dark cloud mass covered the sky like a giant anvil.
‘Lightning cloud.’
The air around felt sharp and tingling. Thunder and lightning would strike soon.
I took a deep breath and began gathering mana from the surroundings.
Mana infused in each raindrop gathered at my fingertips with a faint blue glow.
The stronger the storm, the more the mana flow would surge.
The sky grew unnaturally dark, and a crack appeared.
‘Now!’
I seized the churning mana in the blink of an eye and spun it on my palm.
Then I clenched and unclenched my fist rapidly.
Kua-kua-kwa-kwa!
A single lightning bolt pierced the raging storm and fell to the ground.
One branch of lightning struck the undead knight closest by.
The current that pierced the rotted armor created a blue flame.
But that was not enough.
The undead knight continued charging forward even as its armor melted.
I reached out and pulled the current.
The aura of the current trapped in the dark gray clouds wrapped around my fingertips like thread.
And I clenched and unclenched my fist rapidly once more.
Kua-kwa-kwa!
The lightning bursting from my fingertips spread across the ground, creating a river of blue current.
Sshiiik!
The current wound around each other and formed a whirlwind.
Thunder roared like a beast and soared into the sky.
The lightning turned into a blue pillar and accidentally met the natural storm.
Kwaa-aaaang!
The lightning pillar exploded and split into thousands of branches.
And like carrying the fury against monsters, it pierced the Death Knight knight order’s armor.
“What is this?”
“Crap, we’re all dying today?”
“The gods are angry…”
The soldiers muttered.
But their voices soon vanished in the lightning that would split the sky.
Kua-kua-kua-kwa!
The current melted the undead knight order’s rotten flesh and shattered their bones.
Bodies fell.
A massive shadow appeared between the collapsing undead knights.
‘Rosen Death Knight’
The red glow flashing from within the helmet clearly glared at me.
Kua-kua-kwa-kwa!
Lightning struck.
But the Death Knight’s great sword cut it apart and flew at me.
I twisted my body and evaded the sword qi.
A part of Frederick Castle collapsed.
“Uwaaaah!”
“The wall is collapsing!”
“Mage order, block the wall collapse.”
Following Prince Frederick’s command, the mages’ barrier magic slipped between the collapsing walls.
If they took another attack, countless casualties would occur here.
I jumped down below the wall.
“Someone is moving toward Rosen Death Knight.”
“Identity identification impossible!”
“Eh? Isn’t that the guy from the capital defense unit?”
I had reached the middle of the Hermitia Plain.
The very battlefield from three hundred years ago when Rosen Gilorian had blocked the monster and demon invasion.
The red glow of Rosen Death Knight chased me. The Death Knight had turned its body toward the wall and charged toward the plain. The heavy armor thundered on the ground.
And in the middle of the plain.
Just the two of us.
The storm grew fiercer.
Thunder roared and lightning split the earth.
“Creak…”
A grotesque laugh came from the Death Knight.
Its great sword cut through empty air and released purple phantoms.
The phantoms ran toward me while corroding the raindrops falling like rain.
I raised my hand toward the sky once more. This time I gathered all the lightning in one place.
A sharp lightning rotated on my palm and created a massive spear.
We moved at the same time.
Kwaa-aaaang!
The lightning spear pierced his armor.
At the same time his sword grazed my shoulder. The pain of burning flesh.
“Ghk.”
Enduring the pain seeping between my teeth, I looked at Rosen Gilorian.
The match was decided.
“Eh?”
“The Death Knight knight order is annihilated!”
Blue flames melted the silver armor of Rosen Death Knight.
The faded Golden Dragon emblem melted in the blue flames.
“Impossible…”
“How could a human…”
They did not know my identity.
Amid the muttering of the panicked soldiers, Prince Frederick’s gaze was felt.
Now, following Prince Frederick’s gaze, everyone was looking at me.
I stared at the Death Knight and clenched and unclenched my fist again.
Kua-waaang!
The final thunder roared.
And everything was wrapped in blue light.
Silence.
The storm ended and moonlight illuminated the battlefield.
Only a sunken ground remained.
The Death Knight knight order had vanished without a trace.
The soldiers held their breath.
And from somewhere, a whisper came.
“The power of Rosen Death Knight has returned to reality.”
* * *
The sun rose.
Kyle returned.
A vicious middle-aged barbarian approached and embraced Kyle.
His mother.
On Kyle’s face were the traces of a night filled with a large scar across his cheek.
His lips burned white.
“Mom, Philip was there…”
He spoke as if spitting, lowering his head. He had found his dead brother among the undead legion summoned by the Death Knight.
The barbarian woman’s pupils dilated and quickly returned.
Without a word she stroked the back of her much larger son. A rookie beside him sniffled.
Kyle cried in his mother’s arms for a long time, then looked at me and said shortly,
“Thank you.”
I nodded slightly.
“Even though you lied that it was for academic research… why did you do that?”
Nora asked while looking at me with tired eyes. A faint smile lingered at the corner of her mouth.
“Even you…”
Nora continued pouring purification magic. While encouraging the soldiers with a warm and resonant aura, she also wiped out the monsters.
Was it not inevitable?
A monster in front of you.
And a mad prince persisting while sacrificing commoners to kill monsters…
We smiled at each other.
“Did you meet your husband?”
She had gone to the man who lit up black smoke at the edge of the wall on the night the battle ended.
There she found the husband she had searched so desperately for.
But it was not a happy ending.
“I did meet him. But he didn’t remember me.”
He hadn’t recognized his own wife. Probably because he still hadn’t fully recovered his soul hidden by Jacob.
At that moment the aide found me.
“The prince wants you to eat together.”
Finally his summons had come.