Chapter 36: Like a Tidal Wave (1)
Swaaah!
In the midst of the Calpion front line, where the torrential rain poured down.
“Hrrrgh!”
Kkaang! Kkaang! Kkaang!
Viscount Cobalt, his eyes gleaming blue, swung his sword violently.
Such a fierce assault that the hand holding up the shield to block it began to go numb.
But even this wasn’t enough to break through.
As time passed, everyone’s steps grew heavier, and the speed of their sword swings slowed.
Their stamina was draining away.
Meanwhile, cold smiles appeared on the faces of the Calpion knights.
‘We’re almost there.’
They knew it, too.
More than ninety percent, the advantage was theirs.
“My Lord!”
With a short shout, a shadow suddenly leapt up in front.
‘That is….’
The Calpion knight holding up his shield blinked as he saw the old knight Mulgybson flying over his head.
In the next instant.
Kwa-jijijijik!
“Huh, huh?”
Thunk! Thud!
The knight’s head fell to the ground, and his body collapsed forward in vain.
“S-son of a—!”
Another knight beside him, startled, moved his shield aside and tried to thrust his sword.
But this time, Viscount Cobalt shot forward from the blind spot in an instant.
‘T-this!’
Kwajik!
Before he could react, a lightning-fast strike pierced through the knight’s chest.
“Kh… Khak!”
Thump!
The Calpion knight fell straight to the ground.
“……Well done, Commander Mulgybson.”
“Huff, huff… No, my Lord.”
There at the front, Viscount Cobalt and Mulgybson stood back to back.
Only then did the surrounding situation come into focus.
Kkaang! Kkaang!
“You bastards! If you call yourselves knights, then face us honorably!”
“Foolish talk.”
The Daphne knights, their faces twisted in rage, rained attacks onto the shields of the Calpion knights.
But of course, they didn’t break through so easily.
It looked like a miracle that Mulgybson and Cobalt had managed what they just did.
‘From the beginning… this was their plan.’
‘We’re blocked.’
From the start, there was no way to easily bring down an enemy who resolved to do nothing but defend in a clash between knights.
The torrential rain only made such a strategy even more effective.
“Uaaah!”
Kkaang! Kkaang!
Though Cobalt and Mulgybson fought fiercely, even so, the number of enemies they had felled still hadn’t passed seven.
“My lord! If this continues… we’ll be surrounded!”
“……I know!”
As they swung their swords, anxiety began to show on Cobalt’s and Mulgybson’s faces.
Though unseen, Calpion’s forces were surely closing the encirclement even now.
But…
‘There’s no turning back now.’
If they tried to retreat at this point, all that awaited was certain defeat.
Kwajik!
Viscount Cobalt shattered another shield and turned his gaze briefly toward Daphne Castle behind them.
‘Hardin, Malion….’
The face of someone waiting there surfaced in his mind.
In any case, escaping alive from here was impossible.
Rather than attempting a clumsy withdrawal…
‘We’ll inflict as much damage as we can.’
Paaah!
“Krrgh!”
Viscount Cobalt kicked away the tower shield in front of him and shouted again.
“Everyone, raise your spirits! Focus on a single point! Push through and strike into them!”
“Yes!”
They could move forward, but they could never turn back.
That was simply how a wedge was meant to be.
At that moment, at the very rear of the Calpion front line.
Mounted on his horse, Viscount Ruder watched the scene through a telescope and twisted his lips into a sneer.
“Fools. You look like mice trapped in a jar.”
That place… would soon become your grave.
Then, Great Young Master Donfel spoke up, his expression uneasy.
“Father, please allow me to step forward.”
“I already told you no.”
Donfel bit his lip hard as he looked down at his arm wrapped in bandages.
“But if I… if I step in…”
“You just want to vent your frustration, don’t you?”
When Viscount Ruder asked in a mocking tone, Donfel’s face stiffened.
“Father.”
“Spare me the foolish talk. Because of your mistake… that we’ve come this far already makes me sigh.”
“But that was because I let my guard down—”
It was then.
“Great Young Master.”
Chak!
A shadow fell across Great Young Master Donfel.
When he raised his head, he saw three figures.
Men draped in crimson cloaks, clad in heavy armor shaped like fierce serpents.
Standing at their center, an old man with a thick white beard spoke with a chilling smile.
“Please don’t worry too much. That whelp’s head… I will make sure to bring it back. Heh heh!”
“Commander, but…”
Donfel began to protest again, his face still twisted with resentment.
Tuk!
Viscount Ruder stretched out his arm to stop Donfel and said.
“Finish them for good. Commander Andrea.”
“Yes. As you command.”
Step, step.
The old man called Andrea turned briskly and started walking forward.
A vicious blue gleam flared in their eyes.
---
Swaaah!
Amid the battlefield drenched in rain.
“Dieeee!”
“Aaaagh! My arm! My arrrm!”
Arrows flew in every direction as Daphne and Calpion’s conscripts clashed, swinging swords, clubs, and anything else they could wield.
And at the very front of that line—
“Hold them! No matter what, push them back!”
“Uaaaargh! Break through! Break their shields somehow and cut them down!”
Calpion’s knights stood firm with large shields, while Daphne’s forces clung to them desperately, trying to break through.
At a glance, it still seemed that Calpion held the overwhelming advantage.
“My Lord!”
“Yes!”
Viscount Cobalt. Commander Mulgybson.
The two of them raised their swords, blue energy gathering at their blades, and swung at once with all their might.
Kwa-jijijik!
“Aaaagh!”
The shield of the Calpion knight at the front shattered, and the shockwave sent him flying backward.
“Huff, huff… Now! Break through!”
“Uaaaaah!”
A slight gap had opened thanks to that blow.
Daphne’s knights surged into the breach.
For a moment, surprise crossed the faces of the Calpion knights facing them.
‘These madmen!’
‘Why are they going this far?’
The Daphne knights’ bodies were already drenched in blood.
So many arrows stuck in them that they looked like human pincushions.
Yet they showed no sign of surrender, clenching their teeth and charging.
Blood trickled from between their gritted teeth, and veins bulged across their foreheads.
Like moths throwing themselves into flames, as if they longed for death.
“Fall back! Pull the line back and reform the ranks!”
The Calpion knights hurriedly retreated, trying to reorganize once more.
Taaah!
But just then, Mulgybson suddenly sprang forward…
Kkaaaang!
He slammed his sword against the back of a retreating Calpion knight’s shield, knocking him flat.
“Y-you bastard!”
The man lost his balance and rolled in the mud.
Tuuung!
Mulgybson kicked the shield aside and shouted in a hoarse voice.
“Huff, huff… Don’t let them regain formation! Don’t give them a chance to set their line again!”
“Yes!”
The Daphne knights didn’t stop, chasing relentlessly.
“Uaaaaah!”
“Dammit!”
Kkaang! Kkaang!
They clung on tenaciously, scattering the enemy’s ranks and little by little breaking through the thick wall at the center.
‘We can do more!’
‘It’s not… it’s not time to die yet!’
A savage glint darkened the Daphne knights’ faces.
They had long since given up any hope of victory.
The only thing moving their exhausted bodies now was the reckless resolve to advance a little further and cut down a few more enemies before falling.
At that moment—
Hiiiiiing!
The neigh of horses echoed from the rear.
Immediately, the expressions of the Calpion knights brightened noticeably.
‘They’re here.’
‘It’s over.’
Then, the Calpion knights who had been desperately holding their line abruptly fell back.
Viscount Cobalt and Mulgybson looked puzzled.
‘What is this…?’
At that instant, with an eerie sensation, the atmosphere of the battlefield shifted.
And then—
“Uraaaah!”
Paaah!
Two enormous shadows leapt over the Calpion knights with shields.
The Daphne knights’ eyes widened in shock when they saw them.
‘……?!’
They were massive warhorses, far larger than any normal steed, with bulging muscles.
Helms covered their heads, and from their crimson eyes they seemed like lions of hell.
Atop the warhorses sat two hulking men clad in heavy armor.
Their gaze from high above met the eyes of the Daphne soldiers below.
“Greetings, Viscount Cobalt.”
Their expression was arrogant, insolent, overflowing with contempt.
They raised the iron maces in their hands high overhead.
Viscount Cobalt’s brow twisted.
‘Those bastards….’
As the warhorses landed with a rough thud, the two iron maces began to glow with a blue light.
‘……Weapon Enchant!’
In that moment, Viscount Cobalt clenched his teeth and reflexively grabbed a tower shield that had been rolling in the mud.
He tried hastily to pour mana into the shield.
Kkaaaang!
The tower shield shattered helplessly under the impact of the maces.
His stance broke for an instant, his upper body thrown backward.
“You’re full of openings.”
A voice came from his blind spot.
His eyes darted to the side—another knight on horseback was thrusting his mace toward him.
‘I—I’ve been—’
“My Lord!”
Kkaaaang!
Mulgybson flew in from the side, slashing quickly to deflect the strike.
Then he wrapped his arm around Cobalt and pulled him back, widening the distance.
“My Lord! Are you all right?”
“Y-yes…”
Cobalt rose to his feet, gripping his sword with both hands.
“Hoooh… You managed to block that?”
“As expected, you’re not an easy man to kill.”
The two giants tapped their shoulders with their maces.
They looked so alike and moved so perfectly in sync it was eerie, almost as if they were twins.
‘Those men…’
While Mulgybson and Cobalt watched them warily, tense,
“What are you doing, failing to finish them in one strike?”
“…Commander.”
A man stepped out from among the knights.
An old giant with a long white beard, a massive iron mace resting on his shoulder.
The moment Cobalt saw him, a deep crease formed between his brows.
“Commander Andrea…”
Commander Andrea.
He was the Commander of the Calpion Knight Order and Donfel’s mentor.
A warrior of 2-Star Master level prowess, known throughout the region as someone no knight could oppose.
In his youth, he was rumored to have wiped out hundreds of bandits alone and to have once torn an orc apart with his bare hands.
Then the two hulking men beside him must be those infamous twin knights he had personally trained.
Their arrival could only mean one thing…
‘They’re here to finish us off.’
The Daphne knights’ stamina had already reached its limit.
The fruit was ripe and red—now they intended to devour it.
Cobalt swallowed dryly as Commander Andrea raised his mace forward and spoke.
“If you have any last words, say them now, Viscount Cobalt. Because… you will die here.”
“How arrogant. You’re already so sure of victory?”
Cobalt forced a thin smile as he asked, and Andrea gave a snort of amusement.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
He stroked his beard, then narrowed his eyes as a fierce light erupted from them.
Chiiiiik!
Wherever the rain touched his body, white steam hissed up, evaporating into the air.
The sight gave the impression that a single giant was standing there, radiating overwhelming force.
The Daphne knights’ faces turned deathly pale.
‘I—I can’t breathe…’
‘What is this…’
The sensation went beyond mere stinging skin—it felt as if their flesh was being seared by fire.
Their exhausted bodies trembled violently, sending an unspoken warning.
Run. You no longer have any chance of winning.
‘It’s over.’
‘Damn it… Is this the end?’
Their strength drained away, and their vision blurred.
Truthfully, even if the battlefield had stayed as it was, they would have had no hope of victory.
But now that Commander Andrea had appeared… everyone instinctively understood there wasn’t even room left to struggle.
Then—
“Do not waver! They are just mana users like us!”
Mulgybson let out a mana howl and raised his sword again.
Of course, he knew this wouldn’t be easy.
Even from exchanging a single blow earlier, it was clear those men’s skill was far from ordinary.
But still…
‘We must do it.’
No matter what, they had to land at least one strike on those bastards.
Only then could Daphne endure, even if just to the very last…
In Viscount Cobalt’s eyes, sorrow and determination rose together.