After the observer’s formal mediation, baron Selfjord and Viscount Jeremy glared at each other once before returning to their respective forces.
Then, the 4,500 troops of the Barony and the 6,000 troops of the Viscountcy slowly closed the distance, marching down the hill toward one another.
When they were roughly 300 meters apart, both sides finally halted their advance.
From this point onward, they were within the range of longbows, requiring careful maneuvering of troops.
As both sides took a moment to catch their breath and observe each other’s formations,
Clip, clop.
A knight emerged from the Viscountcy’s forces.
“My name is Kronik Melbard! A knight serving Viscount Jeremy. Is there anyone among you rabble who dares to accept my blade?”
Brown horse, brown armor. Melbard, clad entirely in brown including his cloak, swung a large battle axe menacingly as he rode past the front of the Barony’s formation.
Baron Selfjord frowned as he watched the scene.
“So this is how they play.”
This so-called “knight duel” was often referred to as the highlight of territory wars, but in a battle with such a disparity in power, it was nothing but one-sided violence.
The truth was, the original level of the baron’s knights was actually superior to that of the Jeremy Viscountcy.
‘If not for the involvement of the Marquis McNeil’s Household.’
Just looking at the knight who had challenged them was enough. They had known each other’s households well for decades due to their proximity.
He could swear that this knight was not from the Jeremy Viscountcy.
“My lord.”
The intermediate-level expert knight commander called out quietly, but Baron Selfjord shook his head.
“As I said earlier, we will not participate in knight duels. I regret the dishonor this may bring, but I ask that your skills be demonstrated in the main battle.”
Just as they knew his side’s strength, the enemy also knew theirs well. For them to propose a knight duel despite this, they must have been confident in their own strength.
He couldn’t risk losing knight forces they desperately needed before the actual battle began.
“Is there no one? Is there truly no real man in the Selfjord Barony willing to respond to a one-on-one duel? Haha, can stable boys who shovel horse dung even wield swords? Surrender now, and I’ll leave you a stable for your precious horses! Hahaha!”
As Melbard openly mocked the Barony, the knights and soldiers of the Selfjord side grit their teeth in anger.
At that moment, “If it’s not too much trouble, would you allow us to handle the knight duel?”
One of the disguised First Knight Order knights approached Baron Selfjord with a proposal.
“Ah, Sir Ken. It’s embarrassing to show such weakness.”
The knight was none other than Ken. She was Raul’s academy peer and the daughter of Marquis Greer, acting as the officer in charge of the reinforcements.
“It’s not shameful at all. I commend your decision to endure dishonor for victory. However, the provocations have gone too far and could affect the morale of our troops. I believe it would be wise to respond.”
“But isn’t that knight from the Marquis McNeil’s Household? Ah, understand, it’s not that I doubt the abilities of the First Knights, but you mentioned not revealing your identities. Do you have another plan?”
“Of course. We need not mobilize a knight from our order. There is someone who can shut him up.”
The baron hesitated for a moment.
‘If we lose, our morale drops regardless. But while losing or doing nothing both affect morale, sending someone from the reinforcements could result in a needless death.’
“…I’ll capture your daughters and breed them with my horses, thus strengthening your bloodline! Having such a strong lineage in the Selfjord family…”
Skrrt.
The baron’s patience was reaching its limit.
“…I leave it to you.”
“Yes, sir.”
With the baron’s approval, Ken opened guild communications.
「We have permission, Master.」
「Well done. Prepare for any unexpected developments.」
Finally, someone rode forward from the Barony’s formation.
***
*Buzzing noise*
The central formation, where the players were gathered, had an unusually relaxed atmosphere for an impending battle.
Even though they were maintaining formations, it was obvious that the battle would devolve into something resembling individual skirmishes once it started.
The commanding players were not expecting much, so they let the chatter continue.
“Phew, damn, this is nerve-racking!”
“Why does my heart race more even though this is my second time?”
“What if I die before reaching the enemy? I’m recording this, you know….”
“If you die, others will upload the footage. What are you worried about?”
“No way, my views!”
The trivial conversations were probably to ease their tension.
“Who’s that guy? Why is he suddenly coming out alone?”
“Oh, is this another duel to start things off?”
“What’s a duel?”
“Haven’t you played Three Kingdoms? It’s when generals fight one-on-one before the battle!”
“Ah, I see!”
Thinking something was happening, the players zoomed in to capture the moment on video.
“…where your mother works in the stables….”
The trash-talking knight caused a stir among the players. Of course, it wasn’t because their morale was dropping.
“Man, that guy sure knows how to swear.”
“He could make a living with that mouth even on Earth.”
“But it’s pissing me off. Can’t someone shut him up?”
“Ah, my video! Is it all going to get filtered out?”
“Damn, my upload restrictions are going to kick in! That bastard!”
The knight’s foul language had tainted the carefully recorded intro videos. Simultaneously, the voice chat channels of the commanders were in chaos.
“Can I go out and shut him up?”
“Trash-talking is my specialty. Can I take him on?”
“What is the command doing? Our guys are watching this!”
Of course, they couldn’t allow any impulsive actions by the players. As the commanders struggled with the flood of complaints,
Clip, clop.
“Hey, someone’s going out!”
“Where? Who?”
“It’s Bae Dohyun!”
“Wow, this is going to be epic. If I record this well, I’ll rake in views!”
The titles of some live-streaming players’ broadcasts were already changing.
Breaking News! Rank 1 Bae Dohyun. Duel Commence!
Bae Dohyun’s Duel Live Coverage.
Justice Served! Bae Dohyun Engages!
Naturally, the places that drew the most viewers were the official First Knight Order channel and Bae Dohyun’s personal channel.
– Urgent. Purple Guild Master Bae Dohyun Joins Duel!
– Duel Live Footage! Exclusive POV of Bae Dohyun!
As the viewer count skyrocketed, the channel manager, Rabel, smiled happily.
*
Swish, swish!
Bae Dohyun mounted his horse and slowly left the formation, spinning his spear to warm up. Melbard, who had been trash-talking moments ago, didn’t seem to believe anyone would step forward.
He stood there, awkwardly holding his weapon, looking puzzled.
And from behind Bae Dohyun,
“Waaa!”
“Bae Dohyun, fighting!”
“Show them the true power of players!”
The chant of the 2,000 players erupted in cheers supporting him. Even the soldiers of the Barony, caught up in the excitement, shouted and cheered fervently.
But Bae Dohyun’s focus was elsewhere.
‘Hmm. This should look natural enough, right?’
He was adjusting the grip and balance of his spear for precise control. He had already assessed the opposing knight’s capabilities.
Though the knight was at the peak of an Expert intermediate-level, he was no match for Raul (Bae Dohyun), who was nearly at the threshold of mastery.
The challenge was how to defeat him without making it too obvious. Perhaps that’s why Bae Dohyun missed whatever the enemy knight was saying.
“…? What did you say?”
“Haha, you must be so nervous you can’t even hear me, foreigner. If you kneel and beg now, I might let you live. How about it?”
Bae Dohyun smirked and replied.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that. In our world, we don’t communicate with dogs.”
“What! How dare you insult me, you impudent bastard?”
“Too bad, I wanted to convey your last words, but I’ll have to settle for writing ‘woof woof’ instead.”
“You crazy bastard!”
Melbard, now fuming, charged at Bae Dohyun, swinging his massive battle-axe.
Whoosh!
The huge axe swept past Bae Dohyun’s head with incredible force.
Whoosh, swoosh!
But Bae Dohyun effortlessly deflected the axe with upper body movements alone, not even needing to swing his weapon.
“You rat!”
Despite Melbard’s relentless axe strikes, to Bae Dohyun it seemed as slow as a snail.
“If your aim is to cool me down, no thanks. I haven’t even broken a sweat.”
As Bae Dohyun mocked the frenzied Melbard, a brown mana blade suddenly enveloped the axe.
“Die!”
Thwack!
Of course, Melbard’s mana blade never reached Bae Dohyun. Bae Dohyun’s spear had already thrust forward, stabbing Melbard’s shoulder and pushing him back.
“Oops, forgot to infuse mana into my spear.”
A blue mana spear belatedly extended from Bae Dohyun’s spear tip. Though he claimed it was a mistake, it was clearly a taunt.
“You bastard, do you take me for a fool?”
Enraged, Melbard charged again like an enraged boar at Bae Dohyun.
‘How ironic. He taunts others so gleefully but can’t take it himself. What a narcissistic man.’
The real issue was his attack patterns were too predictable, whether out of anger or simplicity. Finding it boring, Bae Dohyun lazily thrust his spear a few times.
Shing, thud, thud!
The first thrust pierced the chest of Melbard’s horse, and the followed strikes inflicted wounds on Melbard’s cheek and side as he leapt from his mount.
Crash.
“Argh!”
He let out a beast-like roar of rage as he fell, but Bae Dohyun simply watched him coldly.
“Say your prayers, you’re as good as dead! Armor summon!”
Perhaps an armor user, Melbard’s belt transformed, enveloping him in full power armor.
Swoosh, bam!
His movements quickened, and the power of his mana blade increased. The battle-axe struck the ground near Bae Dohyun, creating a furrow about 2 meters long.
‘But that’s all there is to it.’
A powerful weapon is meaningless if it doesn’t hit the target. Moreover, a spear and a battle-axe were naturally mismatched.
Bae Dohyun continued to attack from horseback, thrusting his spear at Melbard. The spear’s length was about 3 meters.
Adding a 1-meter mana spear and attacking from horseback gave him a significant height advantage.
With a mana blade only extending 2 meters, Melbard’s battle-axe could never reach Bae Dohyun.
As a result, Bae Dohyun could easily overpower Melbard even while using mana at just the initial level of an Expert.
‘I don’t even need to use Fury Wave.’
The opponent was too low-level to test out his new spear techniques.
Thwack, Pshk, thud!
Of course, the duel didn’t end immediately. The power armor’s defensive barrier was effectively reducing the impact of Bae Dohyun’s mana spear.
‘But power armor isn’t invincible.’
If subjected consistently to mana blade attacks, unlike physical attacks, the energy consumption would escalate. Once depleted, the power armor’s defensive barrier would dissipate, forcing the wearer to remove it.
‘Just like that.’
Hiss.
The power armor, losing its light, shrank back into its original belt form. And what remained was a miserable-looking knight.
“W-wait! I….”
Swoosh!
Thud.
As Melbard attempted to shout, Bae Dohyun’s spear cleanly sliced through his mouth.
“Grawgh!”
With a final thrust, the spear pierced his heart, and Melbard collapsed to the ground lifeless.
“It’s finally quiet.”
Bae Dohyun quietly murmured, picking his ear with his pinky finger.
(To be continued)