Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Blossoming
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To succeed, Operation Lightning required a total of three regiments.
As the 1st Regiment, led by Lansen, advanced deep into the heart of the borderlands,
the 2nd Regiment, led by Katrina, would secure the path behind them.
Katrina’s voice thundered across the borderlands.
“Listen up! If our 2nd Regiment falls, the 1st Regiment will be stranded and starved! Think of it as having two lives hanging on your shoulders! We will hold this ground! Secure the supply route to the 1st Regiment!”
“Sir!”
“First, Second, and Third battalions! Oblique formation to the front!”
“Sir!”
The approaching enemy was Skein-Orcs.
They were monsters averaging nearly two meters tall, with muscles like gorillas.
Dense blood vessels protruded from their hands, hardening and intertwining to form weapons like axes and hammers. They were called “Skein-Orcs” because of the way these thin vessels emerged like skeins of thread.
There were theories that in the distant past, the orc race itself had been a civilized species, but now they were nothing more than beasts mad for slaughter.
Therefore, the tactics Lansen had devised worked perfectly.
“We can hold them!”
“They’re lighter than Lady Katrina!”
“Right! During training, I’d go flying whenever the commander shoved me!”
The common soldiers, who were taking the attacks of the powerful Skein-Orcs head-on, couldn’t hide their surprise at their own achievement.
“What! Are you calling me heavy right now!”
“N-No, ma’am!”
“I’ll remember all of you!”
“Eek!”
Though Katrina bristled, latching onto a completely different point, she read the flow of battle with absolute clarity.
“The enemy is scattering! Let’s go! Charge! Follow me!”
The horde of Skein-Orcs had been shattered against the oblique formation. Katrina mounted her horse, brandishing a cavalry lance and leading the charge of the heavy cavalry.
*Thudududududu-!*
Normally, Skein-Orcs possessed the monstrous strength to stop a charging horse with their bare hands, but in their current state of panicked disarray, they stood no chance.
Especially with Katrina herself carving a path at the very front.
In the wake of the cavalry’s charge, the Skein-Orcs fell like autumn leaves.
Meanwhile, the 3rd Regiment, led by Rivera, was tasked with defending the city and its trade routes.
“Wow… look at this mess.”
With the 1st and 2nd Regiments stirring up the borderlands, the smaller monsters they startled were now pouring out of the territory.
“Fire! Keep firing! This is what you’ve trained for! Shoot with confidence!”
The main force of the 3rd Regiment was its archers.
The soldiers had to draw their bowstrings without a moment’s rest.
“At that rate, when are you going to use up all those spare arrows? Don’t rest! Hey! I told you not to shoot so far! Point-blank range! Only shoot the ones that get within forty paces! Quick! The moment we slow down, we’re all dead!”
*Whoosh!*
The sound of arrows piercing the air hammered their eardrums.
Monsters the size of wild dogs, monsters that resembled chimpanzees.
As they shot down the endless flood of smaller beasts, the archers’ volleys grew progressively faster and more precise.
Of course,
while both Katrina’s 2nd Regiment and Rivera’s 3rd were engaged in fierce combat, neither could compare to the battle being waged by Lansen’s 1st Regiment.
They were fighting in the very center of the borderlands, surrounded by monsters swarming from all directions.
“L-Left flank! Devourer Mammoth approaching!”
“Kalserik!”
“Yes! I will eliminate it!”
“Right flank! A pack of Cobra-Lions approaching!”
“Lookranser!”
“Sir! Swiftkill Squad, advance!”
“Hiek! Rainsnipes to the rear! This is…!”
“It’s fine! I’ll take care of them!”
An endless wave of enemies.
Worse, different types of monsters were attacking from all four sides simultaneously.
Even Lansen and Kalserik had to delegate their command to the front lines and leap into the fray, and the Swiftkill Squad—a unit composed of six high-ranking Experts—had also been dispatched.
Yes, the Swiftkill Squad had been dispatched.
Catch Soroa, who had been fighting with moderate effort in the heart of the battlefield, saw them.
Catch Soroa.
A twenty-one-year-old youth who had lost all motivation.
He was spending his days endlessly belittling himself, crawling deeper into a cave of profound despair.
Honestly, he hadn’t wanted to come on this expedition at all.
But Lansen, his brother, had told him to, so he had reluctantly followed.
It was truly difficult to refuse Lansen. It was because of him that he had endured his fearful and painful childhood, because of him that he had survived, and simply because he liked him.
It wasn’t just Catch; everyone in the Lansen Family felt that way.
And that made Catch feel all the more despair.
‘Saltsran…’
Among the Swiftkill Squad charging forward, he saw his younger brother, Saltsran, who was a year his junior.
Then he saw himself. A mere centurion.
His younger brother, Saltsran, was fighting in the Swiftkill Squad, composed solely of high-ranking Experts, while he was merely commanding a hundred heavily armed soldiers, not even part of the elite Demon-Slaying Corps.
‘In the end… does even Brother Lansen not trust my strength?’
He had wanted to be helpful.
Once, he had truly wanted to become someone who could firmly support that great, broad back.
At the very least, he had wanted to be the kind of reliable older brother who could protect his younger brother, Gepetto, just as Lansen protected everyone…
He thought he had given up on it all, but a fresh wave of bitterness stung his heart.
I want to fight well, too…!
Why am I so untalented…!
I want to cut them down.
Me, too.
Like Saltsran, like Brother Lansen.
I want to fight. I want to protect.
*Voom—*
*Voom—!*
For some reason, his sword kept vibrating.
Even that was irritating.
“Kuh! The center is collapsing! Centurions! Hold the formation!”
Just then, the battalion commander’s order struck his ears, and Catch stepped forward.
“Switch to sword and shield! Push back the Skein-Orcs!”
The dense formation had already been broken by the Skein-Orcs’ monstrous strength, so he judged that swords and shields would be more effective than spears and shields.
But the soldiers alone couldn’t push back the Skein-Orcs.
Here, Catch Soroa’s role was crucial.
He had to stand at the vanguard and turn the tide.
Yes, right now.
This was a moment where ‘I’ was needed, not anyone else.
Let’s fight.
“Hoo…!”
Though it was a small task, the thought that he could still contribute made Catch grip his sword tightly.
Catch Soroa, who had always been half-hearted even in training.
The moment he truly, for the first time in a long while, resolved himself to ‘cut,’
*Voooom—!*
His sword hummed, loud and clear.
Why now? Why did a conversation he’d had with Brother Lansen, who had relentlessly beaten him during every training session, come to mind at this moment?
‘Why are you just taking the hits?’
‘…Because you’re hitting me.’
‘No. Your sword is telling you. A way to not get hit.’
‘…?’
‘Just fight. Stop running away. Your sword wants to fight, but you just keep running, so you can’t hear it.’
He hadn’t understood what that meant back then…
*Crack!*
*Slice!*
*Sshhhk!*
Suddenly, he felt like he understood.
His vision cleared.
He could see everything.
It was as if his sword was telling him where to thrust and how to cut.
Catch Soroa became completely engrossed.
It had been a long time.
A long time since he had completely forgotten himself while swinging his sword.
He judged instantly and moved his hand according to the sword’s tremor.
*Craaack!*
*Crack!*
The relentless tide of Skein-Orcs began to be torn to pieces.
*Kuaaaaaar!*
A 2.5-meter-tall specimen, exceptionally large even for a Skein-Orc, appeared with a roar. An elite monster. A formidable foe that even a mid-ranking Expert would struggle against.
*Clang! Slice!*
Catch cut it down in just three strikes.
Two precisely aimed blows forced the Skein-Orc into a specific posture, and in that instant, a flash of his swift sword plunged into its opening.
“Don’t push in! It’s dangerous! Fall back! Push… huh? Maybe it’s okay to push in?”
The prowess Catch was displaying was enough to stun even the commander who had been shouting at him to retreat.
Catch, hearing nothing, remained completely immersed, advancing ever forward. The formidable horde of Skein-Orcs was ground to dust before him.
The crimson axes and hammers formed from the Skein-Orcs’ intertwined vessels were sliced apart as lightly as fruit whenever they met Catch’s sword. These were tough weapons that would normally take even a mid-ranking Expert three or four strikes to shatter.
“A Sword Fiend…”
“It’s a Sword Fiend…”
The soldiers following him had, at some point, stopped fighting and were just watching.
It was a different flavor from the terror inspired by a mighty aura.
A lightning-fast sword that exploited every opening. Footwork like a thunderbolt that weaved between enemies.
Every single moment was a spectacle of movement.
And a ridiculously sharp blade.
It was a testament to how far a single human’s swordsmanship could reach.
A wondrous sight.
*Slice. Slice. Slish-slice!*
How much time had passed?
As he cut down Skein-Orcs in a trance, Catch suddenly realized there was no one around him.
“Ah…?”
All he could see were the corpses of Skein-Orcs.
And,
“It’s over, you punk.”
“Brother Lansen?”
When had he gotten here? Lansen, drenched in monster blood, clapped Catch on the shoulder and nodded his head.
“You did it. Congratulations.”
“Huh?”
Following his gaze, Catch saw his own sword.
An unidentifiable haze was shimmering over his silver sword aura.
“It’s called Sword Ki. A secret technique I learned from 10,000 years in the past. As I thought, you were the fastest.”
“Ah…”
Catch stared at his sword in a daze.
Lansen grabbed his shoulder and met his eyes.
“Catch. Listen carefully. You have talent. An incredible amount of it.”
At those words, Catch felt a lump form in his throat.
“Brother…”
Lansen ruffled Catch’s silver hair messily.
“You, untalented? That’s ridiculous. I knew it the moment I saw you.”
At that moment, Catch had a thought.
Ah,
I… can be useful, too.
I can protect someone.
His lips trembled, caught between a sob and a smile.
And so, everyone,
each in their own way,
began to make their own talents blossom amidst the fierce battles.
* * *
One day, two days, three days…
Time flowed steadily on, even in hell.
The heart of the borderlands was horrific, day and night.
Only after fighting all day could they take turns sleeping, starting from the early dawn.
Whenever I got a spare moment, I exchanged messages with Sea, who remained in Kushan City.
*Vwooom—!*
Sea’s message appeared in blue letters on the bracelet-shaped artifact.
This, too, was a treasure of the Vanroah royal family that I had brought in my subspace necklace.
- I sent a letter to Jafar, the Sea King, as we discussed, and received a positive response. He doesn’t want the Gale King’s power to grow either.
In short, Jafar’s forces will be conducting daily military drills near Ailun. This should be enough to tie up the Gale King’s movements for a while. If we hurry as planned, taking Kushan and Kinalo first shouldn’t be a problem.
- The castle is fine today, too. Uncle Rivera is doing a good job defending against the smaller monsters, and Brother Baren is taking care of any free warriors who act up in the castle.
By the way, did Brother Catch really awaken his ancient Sword Ki? When I told Sister Katrina and Brother Baren, they went crazy. Sister Katrina is gritting her teeth, saying just you wait, her turn is next, and while Brother Baren didn’t say anything, his eyes turned murderous. Well, in the end, I think it’s a good thing. They’ll both probably work harder now.
- All clear today as well. The number of smaller monsters spilling out has decreased significantly. It really feels like the subjugation is coming to an end. You’ll be back soon.
Everyone says their sword swings have felt more fluid lately. I guess your training is having an effect.
- I think Brother Baren has really taken a liking to swinging his sword without aura. He patrols every corner of the city all day with his sword drawn. He’s so good at beating up troublemakers that he’s earned the nickname ‘Baren of the Black Eyes.’
“Pfft.”
Baren of the Black Eyes.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
He might seem like he couldn’t be bothered with anything, but he did have that side to him.
A kind of territorial obsession, you could say.
Any place he considered his territory, he would fuss over like a foul-tempered cat. It seemed he now considered all of Kushan City his territory.
And it looked like he was enjoying the ancient style of swordsmanship, too.
“Hah… I miss it.”
Reading the messages made me want to go back soon.
The past week had felt like a year. I missed home.
That’s right.
It had already been nearly a week.
A short time, yet it had felt so very long.
My last break was coming to an end.
I packed up my things, stood, and shouted to the soldiers who had been worn ragged over the past six days.
I gave the order everyone had been desperately waiting for.
“Alright! On your feet! It’s time to go home!”
“Oh?”
“Ooooh!”
“Waaaaah!”
The soldiers cheered, overjoyed that this hell was finally over.
“There might be ambushes on the way back. Stay sharp! I won’t forgive any of you who get killed or injured now.”
“Sir!”
Operation Lightning.
We had successfully completed that insane plan to finish the monster subjugation in just one week and return.
Now, we were going home.
Once we returned, I’d have to plan the conquest of Kashu City, and things would get incredibly busy again.
But for now, I was just happy about this one fact.
We are going back.
Back home, where my family, my brothers and sisters, are waiting.