Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Spine of Sighs
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“Wipe out the remnants.”
The briefing ended there.
Elena Sobkov issued the curt order.
The knights moved out in formation.
Perfectly synchronized, without hesitation.
'Elena Sobkov... Could she be Commander Mikhail's family?'
Damian mulled over her name.
He watched the scene unfold before him.
Finishing off the trolls that still drew breath.
It was less a battle and more a slaughter.
Kung!
The last troll collapsed, ending the engagement.
'Is there a single knight here weaker than me?'
Damian sized them up at full strength.
Sobkov's knights.
And the verdict?
'......None. Not right now.'
He wanted to deny it.
He'd grown a lot stronger himself.
But no matter how he looked, there were none.
No knights weaker than him.
Not at present.
“Move all secured survivors to the shelter.”
“Yes, Vice Commander!”
Meanwhile.
Elena Sobkov gave the order to her adjutant.
She turned back to Damian.
“Glad you made it without delay.”
She approached him.
Up close, her presence was even more striking.
Her sharp eyes resembled those of a wolf.
“Thanks to you, we saved lives.”
Damian's brief reply.
Elena's gaze scanned his gear.
Black Viper Leather Armor, dwarven sword, buckler.
And the Elven Sword gripped in his hand.
'No ordinary adventurer.'
He'd faced a troll alone.
Even handled the pack of Dire Wolves it summoned.
“As you can see, it's a dangerous territory. What brings you here?”
“To see Sir Mikhail Sobkov.”
Mikhail Sobkov.
Her father, and the lord of this land.
“My father...?”
“I suspected as much from your name.”
So she was his daughter after all.
Damian nodded.
He continued.
“I'm Damian Winter. I briefly served under Commander Mikhail Sobkov on the Eastern Front.”
“......Ah!”
As he spoke those words.
Elena clapped her hands with a sharp tak.
A mix of surprise and delight.
“Father once spoke fondly of a certain soldier. That was you?”
“Probably.”
Elena nodded.
She knew her father's temperament well.
“Understood. As a guest of our house, I'll escort you myself.”
Without hesitation, she wheeled her horse around.
“Our destination isn't the lord's castle.”
The reason was simple.
“Father's at the front lines right now.”
“The front lines...?”
“The canyon directly bordering the Eastern Dense Forest. They call it the Spine of Sighs.”
The canyon known as the Spine of Sighs.
Her expression grew grave.
“Our territory is currently locked in an unprecedented monster wave and all-out war.”
The wave of beasts surging from the Eastern Dense Forest.
It had been an annual occurrence until now.
But this time, the scale was beyond imagination.
“Father's main force is holding the Spine of Sighs, while detachments like mine handle infiltrators coming through other routes.”
Infiltrators?
The troll squad they'd just bloodied.
To them, that was mere chaff.
'What kind of territory is this?'
They said he could farm experience freely.
But this went beyond experience—this was something else.
“May I ask one thing?”
Something didn't add up, no matter how he thought about it.
Damian broached carefully.
“Of course.”
“Are all the knights of Sobkov Territory... around your level?”
Every one he'd seen was stronger than him.
Were they all like that in Sobkov Territory?
“Hard to say they're all the same. Individuals vary. But yes, we have many exceptional knights.”
Many exceptional knights.
Damian's question continued.
“As I mentioned, I was a soldier.”
“Yes.”
“But I rarely saw powerhouses like you on the battlefield.”
Of course, Damian hadn't fought in every battle.
But in the wars he'd seen, mana users among knights were few.
So why were powerhouses unseen even in wartime swarming Sobkov Territory?
“The real battlefields are elsewhere.”
Elena answered solemnly.
“Real battlefields?”
“Monster waves occur sporadically across the continent. Countless territories and houses handle them. Driven solely by duty.”
A simple explanation.
Yet Damian grasped it instantly.
“You can't spare main forces, then.”
“Human wars come second to us.”
The 'real war' Elena spoke of.
Was the monster wave disaster itself.
Slack off for a moment, and it'd breach into the heartlands.
“And the Ironpole Empire's the same, I imagine.”
Kingdoms and empires alike.
Both managed countless monster wave points.
Thus, human-vs-human wars inevitably drew less strength.
“We do answer the call of the nation, of course. In this war alone, Father brought back five knights and a hundred elite guards. If they'd returned any later... we might've suffered greatly, tangled with this wave.”
Damian nodded.
A battlefield bigger than human wars.
Those bearing it on duty alone.
It felt like glimpsing a broader world.
“We're almost there.”
How much longer did they ride?
Elena's gaze fixed on the distant horizon.
'There.'
Sobkov Territory's fiercest hotspot at last.
The massive canyon abutting the Eastern Dense Forest.
The Spine of Sighs.
“......!”
The moment it came into view.
Damian gripped his reins without thinking.
The sheer shock of it.
'This is insane.'
Filling his vision: an endless canyon.
And the monster horde packing it black.
The troll warriors they'd fought seemed like mere fodder here.
Kuwaaaaa!
Earth-shaking roars.
Monsters surged like waves.
Trolls, ogres, bugbears, nameless horrors.
“Hold the line! Defend the barricade!”
Sobkov forces countered.
Mages atop the walls rained fireballs and ice spears.
Knight orders formed phalanxes, absorbing the charges bodily.
The entire canyon boiled like a slaughterhouse.
'There he is.'
Damian's eyes locked on the center.
One figure rampaging above all.
'Mikhail Sobkov.'
The old warrior was there.
Berserk as ever.
“Haha! Come on, you monster bastards!”
Mikhail roared, swinging his greatsword.
Kuwaaaang!
His strike shredded a 5-meter green-skinned giant.
The ogre's lower half tore away like meat chunks.
“Same as always.”
Damian muttered with a smirk.
“Always like that.”
Elena shrugged.
Familiar with it.
“Shall we go say hello first?”
Go there?
Damian hesitated, but recalled their first meeting.
Come to think of it, at the Red River too.
Mikhail was always at the heart.
“......Let's.”
Damian nodded.
Adjusted his gear.
'No buckler.'
Inefficient against raw monster power.
No shield could handle that brute force.
Sring!
Instead, he drew the Elven Sword from his back.
“All units, join the main force!”
At Elena's command, the detachment charged.
Fearless of the monsters, into the fray.
'Guess I'll join.'
No point spectating alone.
He threw himself into the massive hunting ground.
“Haaaaap!”
With a kiai.
Slash!
Unleashed Proficient Ancient Elf Swordsmanship.
Pook!
Sslash!
As he fully immersed in the battle.
Damian finally realized.
How delicious this battlefield was as a hunting ground.
Kaang!
The Elven Sword deflected a troll's club.
A heavy impact raced up his wrist.
'Definitely different.'
He'd taken down a troll and some orcs since.
Grown enough to hold his own.
'Try it like she did.'
Elena Sobkov.
How she'd felled the troll in one go.
Ssslash!
Dive between the legs, slash the inner groin.
The troll's lower body crumples, exposing an opening.
'An opening to take its head.'
Sslash!
The troll's head soared into the air.
Perfectly replicated Elena's technique.
'Yes.'
Damian felt ecstasy.
'Killing stronger foes grants stronger abilities.'
Pure physical prowess he'd struggled to gain lately.
Strength, agility, stamina.
He started acquiring them again.
Only after arriving here.
'Been a while. This feeling.'
Not technique.
His very flesh elevating in realm.
'More.'
No stopping here.
This addiction ran deeper.
“Grrooooar!”
Next, a pitch-black beast.
Fat bulk, horned head.
Steel club in hand.
Kaang! Kang! Pook!
'Not enough.'
Damian tore through the bugbear's tough hide.
His eyes scanned the battlefield for bigger prey.
And found the perfect quarry.
“Kuaaaaa!”
A massive silhouette hurling shieldbearers aside.
The green monster Mikhail had bisected earlier.
An ogre.
'Can I take it?'
No time for doubt.
Damian kicked off the ground, charging.
“Gruk...?”
The ogre spotted the human rushing it.
Simultaneously smashed down its log club with full force.
Kuwaaaang!
Immense pressure slammed Damian.
But he didn't dodge the club.
Used it as a ramp instead.
'It's clearing the path. Why refuse?'
Running up the log club.
Damian leaped high, thrusting his sword.
Target: solely the ogre's nape.
Pook!
Success.
The Elven Sword sank into the ogre's neck.
“Gruuu... Grroooo...”
The ogre staggered.
Incredible vitality.
Surviving a blade to the throat.
“Hup!”
Then finish it proper.
Damian hooked onto the ogre's shoulder using the embedded sword.
Drew Dawn from his belt, stabbing deep diagonally.
Into the soft spot between shoulder and collarbone.
Kwadududuk!
The gruesome sound of piercing muscle.
That instant.
A torrent of power swept his body.
Raw power exploding upward.
“Haa...”
A breath near bliss.
Of course, not 100% of the ogre's strength.
His body had limits for now.
But this was massive growth.
Enough to keep hunting nonstop.
'A bit more.'
For a while after.
Damian's hunt continued.
Utterly consumed by predatory bliss.
'Who’s that guy?'
'Not tiring at all...'
'......Getting stronger?'
Whether eyes rolled back while butchering monsters.
Or visibly powering up mid-fight.
Either way, it stunned soldiers and knights alike.
'Took down an ogre...?'
Even Elena Sobkov stared blankly.
'He could barely handle one troll before...'
Hiding his strength?
Or loosening up?
'......Not the point now.'
A powerful ally had joined.
As commander, she refocused.
“Now!”
With Damian's aid, momentum had shifted.
Elena seized the moment.
“Push! The end's in sight!”
Her order sparked it.
The tide turned sharply.
“Die, you monster shits!”
“This wave ends here!”
“Get out of our territory!”
How much longer did they fight?
How many did they kill, how many died?
At the end of that desperate melee.
“Waaaaah—!”
The seventh wave concluded.
Sobkov forces' total victory.
Though the eighth would come soon enough.
“Hahk, heuk, huuu...”
Damian was exhausted to the bone.
Gulping ragged breaths.
His body soaked in sweat and blood.
'Got too hyped?'
Inevitable.
He'd feasted his fill after so long.
Worth coming here.
“Hey, you!”
Right then.
Someone approached Damian.
Gruff voice, overwhelming presence.
'Mikhail Sobkov.'
The hulking man covered in green blood.
He grinned at Damian.
“Long time, Commander.”
Damian bowed.
Second battlefield reunion.
“Hahaha!”
Mikhail's booming laugh shook the field.
“You rolled right into hell after all!”
Calling his own territory hell.
Yet never yielding this land.
That was the Eastern Front Commander.
No—Grand Lord Mikhail Sobkov.