Chapter 531
It’s Been a Long Time. (2)
No one present could even discern how he had been cut down.
Julien didn’t bother to look back. He showed no interest in the fallen transcendent.
He simply continued to charge forward, urging his horse onward.
“I-Insane… M-Monster…”
Marquis Aldred’s face turned deathly pale with terror.
To slay a transcendent in a single strike! He had never in his life witnessed such a feat.
The same went for the rebel soldiers. The one transcendent they had placed all their faith in had been killed instantly, plunging them into panic.
“S-Stop him! Stop that bastard!”
Marquis Aldred, whose judgment and decisiveness were second to none, shouted at the top of his lungs while retreating.
The soldiers, still in shock, instinctively moved forward. They had no grasp of the situation.
Then, amidst their confusion, Julien charged into their midst.
—Sssk!
All he did was step into their ranks. Yet, in an instant, the heads of those around him went flying.
There was no massive explosion, no shockwave.
He had simply swung his sword cleanly once, and that alone had caused such devastation.
“Aaaah! What the hell?!”
“G-Get away!”
“It’s magic! It has to be magic!”
The rebel soldiers shrieked and scrambled back in terror. Julien, expressionless, swung his sword once more.
—Paaaat!
—Sssk!
The soldiers surrounding him collapsed, their bodies split apart. Even those beyond the reach of his blade fell, as if struck by an invisible force.
“A m-m-monster!”
The soldiers screamed. How could they all be slain without even being touched by the blade?
Like a lion among a herd of sheep, Julien single-handedly began a massacre.
And yet, he hadn’t even used any grand techniques.
—Sssk! Sssk! Sssk!
Every time he swung his sword from atop his horse, the heads of nearby enemies went flying.
It was an impossible sight. The soldiers nearby scrambled backward in fear.
“What the hell are you doing?! Surround him! He’s just one man! Overwhelm him with your bodies if you must!”
Marquis Aldred shouted desperately, but no one had the courage to advance.
They had been fleeing for two days straight and were utterly exhausted. And now, their only hope, the transcendent, had been killed. Their will to fight had shattered.
Some soldiers tried to shake off their fear and launch an attack. But how could they strike if they couldn’t even get close?
—Sssk!
Before they could even approach Julien, they were already dead.
The remaining knights charged at him, only to be split apart, their bodies cleaved in two the moment they got near.
Marquis Gideon, just as dumbfounded as the enemy soldiers, finally shouted,
“A-Attack! Support Lord Julien!”
There had to be a reason why Julien was acting this way. Helping him was unquestionably the right choice.
Their faith in Julien ran that deep. If Ghislain were to witness this scene, he would undoubtedly find it quite bitter.
“Waaaaaaah!”
The soldiers that accompanied Julien let out a battle cry and surged forward. The enemy frontlines had already been shattered, thanks to Julien’s rampage.
—Kwaaaaang!
Marquis Aldred’s rebel forces were instantly overwhelmed. Their morale was incomparable to that of the Turian army.
Julien’s presence, in particular, was overwhelming.
—Sssk! Sssk! Sssk!
Any rebel soldier who approached him had their head severed without fail. Not a single drop of blood stained Julien’s body.
And yet, the Turian soldiers fighting nearby remained completely unharmed. Not a single one bore any injuries. Julien was targeting only the rebels with deadly precision.
No one could understand how such a feat was possible.
‘A monster.’
To the rebel soldiers, Julien was nothing short of a monster.
Marquis Aldred, who had quickly retreated to the rear, couldn’t conceal his disbelief.
“W-What in the world is happening?!”
He had barely managed to escape the demon-like forces of Ritania. He thought that if he kept running and crossed the border, he would be safe.
But now, he had encountered an even greater monster, one that was about to wipe them out completely.
“Stop him! I said, stop him!”
No matter how much he screamed, the tide of battle had already turned irrevocably against him.
Realizing that it was over, Marquis Aldred turned away. While his men were still fighting, he intended to flee alone.
“Hyah!”
Just as he was about to pull on the reins of his horse, a chilling sensation ran down his spine.
—Thunk!
“Guh… urgh…”
Marquis Aldred turned his head.
Julien had somehow closed the distance and was now right behind him, his sword impaled through Aldred’s heart.
Terror gripped him.
The expressionless face of the man who had wordlessly massacred so many it terrified him more than anything.
How could a person have such a face?
How could someone remain completely devoid of emotion in the midst of battle?
‘No… was it even possible for a human to fight like that? Just… what kind of monster was this man?’
Even as he lay dying, Marquis Aldred’s mind was consumed by confusion.
“Wh… What… are you…?”
Thud.
He never heard the answer. His lifeless body slumped off his horse.
Julien stared at the corpse for a moment before withdrawing his sword and turning his horse around.
Clop. Clop.
He did not kill anyone else. He simply rode forward at a slow pace, returning to his original position.
Yet, no one dared to approach him. His sheer dominance had left them utterly paralyzed.
Then, Marquis Gideon shouted,
“Drop your weapons and surrender! If you do, your lives will be spared!”
The remaining rebel soldiers hastily threw down their weapons and prostrated themselves. They no longer had the will to fight.
Even the soldiers in the rear, who had been preparing for battle, instinctively followed suit without even knowing what had happened.
And just like that, the battle ended in the most anticlimactic way.
The Turian army erupted into cheers.
“Yaaaaaah!”
“We won again!”
“As expected of Lord Julien!”
They had no idea who the enemy was. They simply fought because Julien charged into battle. And they won.
That was enough for them. What mattered was that they were fighting alongside Julien.
Marquis Gideon quickly approached Julien and asked,
“W-What happened? Why did you suddenly attack—?”
“They were rebels.”
“……”
Julien uttered just one sentence and said nothing more.
Marquis Gideon was taken aback, but quickly composed himself.
Indeed, no other army had fled in this direction. If there were rebels being pursued by the Ritania forces, it could only be these men.
Just to be sure, he summoned a few of the surrendered soldiers and questioned them.
They really were rebels.
‘To make such a swift decision and act so decisively in that brief moment…’
As expected of Lord Julien.
Everything he did was always right.
It was impossible not to trust him.
If Ghislain were to find out, he would undoubtedly find this unwavering faith quite amusing.
With their captives in tow, the Turian army marched on with light steps.
With Julien leading them to victory every time, there was nothing to fear.
—Flap.
Just then, a crow came soaring toward them from somewhere.
“Hey! Julien! You took care of the rebels, huh? Good work! My master is on his way right now!”
“……”
Julien recognized Dark.
He had communicated with Ghislain a few times through Dark in the past.
Marquis Gideon twitched his lips as he watched the impudent crow.
‘That arrogant little bird… If he weren’t the Duke of Fenris’ spirit, I would’ve smacked him long ago.’
As Ghislain’s reputation grew, Dark’s arrogance only worsened.
Now that the most troublesome figures, Amelia and that cat were gone, the crow had nothing to fear.
Following Dark’s lead, the Turian army soon encountered the Ritania forces led by Ghislain.
The moment they saw them, the Turian soldiers instinctively tightened their grips on their weapons.
Their pride, which had been so firm until now, was shattered in an instant.
—Boom!
An army drenched in blood approached.
The aura they exuded was something the Turian soldiers had never encountered before.
In that moment, they realized these warriors were fundamentally different from them.
The presence of the Ritania army was so overwhelming it was suffocating.
Some of the Turian soldiers took deep, shuddering breaths.
‘T-This is the demon army…’
‘Was the Ritania army always like this?’
‘Just how powerful are the men they’ve gathered…?’
The Turian soldiers, who had believed they had nothing to fear after fighting alongside Julien, now found themselves paralyzed.
As long as they had Julien, they weren’t afraid of any army.
They were confident they would win no matter the enemy.
But now, they weren’t even capable of considering a fight.
They were completely overwhelmed.
A single thought filled their minds.
If we fight, we’ll die.
Even Marquis Gideon, who led the Turian forces, was no exception.
He was so overwhelmed by their presence that he couldn’t even open his mouth.
Only one man—
Julien.
He casually stepped forward, as if on a leisurely stroll, and faced Ghislain.
“I am Julien of the Turian Kingdom.”
“I am the Duke of Fenris, from Ritania.”
Ghislain looked at Julien’s face and smiled faintly.
‘Still the same… that cold expression. It’s been a long time.’
Even in his past life, Ghislain had found it fascinating.
Julien appeared devoid of any emotion, like a man who had been stripped of joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure altogether.
And in truth, Julien found no enjoyment in anything.
‘Right, that guy never took pleasure in anything.’
He ate very little, never drank alcohol, never gambled, and never sought out women.
Yet, it wasn’t as though he had some passion that drove him. He had no interest in politics.
All he did was fight to save people and occasionally read quietly.
He was a man who lived without attachment, without indulgence utterly colorless.
And yet, that was precisely why he was so trustworthy. Even the Seven Strongest on the Continent, who lived for their own pride, would step back and listen when Julien spoke.
Seeing Ghislain’s oddly cheerful expression, Julien hesitated for a moment.
‘He acts like he knows me.’
Julien knew of the Duke of Fenris. He had come across plenty of information and rumors about him.
But the look on Ghislain’s face wasn’t one of mere recognition.
It was as if he was greeting a long-lost friend.
What was even stranger, Julien felt something similar. From the first time he had heard of the Duke of Fenris, he had been struck by an inexplicable sense of longing.
It was a feeling that unsettled him.
Julien had never been interested in people before.
‘This is my first time meeting him. So why do I feel this way?’
He had spent his life locked away in the tower. There was no way he had ever met the Duke of Fenris before.
And yet, he had missed him. And now that they had met, he felt… relieved.
It was the first time in his life that he had ever experienced such an emotion, and it irritated him.
His eyes narrowed slightly in frustration.
Seeing this, Ghislain raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
‘Huh? What’s this?’
It was the first time he had ever seen Julien make a face like that.
No matter how much he had teased him in the past, Julien had never so much as blinked.
‘Is it because of the blood? Maybe he’s bothered by the smell?’
Now that he thought about it, the guy was unexpectedly fastidious.
Just look at him now standing there, immaculate, without a single drop of blood on him.
Looking all high and mighty by himself. Ugh, so annoying.
Ghislain, having drawn his own conclusion, casually glanced down at himself.
Just then, Julien spoke.
“We should move to a—”
“Hm? What’s this?”
Before Julien could finish his sentence, Ghislain looked down at his chest.
Julien stopped mid-sentence and also turned his gaze toward it.
The necklace Ghislain had taken from Berhem, the relic once revered by the Salvation Church—
—Paaaah!
Suddenly, a bright light erupted from it.