Chapter 372: We’ll Meet Again Soon. (2)
The Roderick forces had entirely forgotten about the Fenris troops stationed outside the gates, overwhelmed by Ghislain’s sheer presence.
The Knights of Fenris, having already discarded their cloaks, spurred their horses and raised their lances.
Thudududududu!
Howard, who had been solely focused on Ghislain, finally noticed them and shouted in panic.
“Enemy cavalry charge! Soldiers, block them!”
A cavalry charge of 400 troops could wreak devastating havoc. Knowing this, Howard’s voice carried an urgent edge.
The soldiers, who had been merely surrounding Ghislain and his knights without daring to intervene, turned their attention elsewhere.
However, their formation had long since been broken by Ghislain’s earlier attacks. The lingering debris from shattered lances still swirled in the air, making it difficult to concentrate on a single task.
Zing—!
The armor of the Fenris knights began to glow as blue mana imbued their lances.
Before the Roderick forces could properly regroup, the knights charged.
Kwaaaaang!
“Arghhh!”
The soldiers were torn apart instantly, creating a clear path.
The Knights of Fenris didn’t hold back their mana.
If their enemies had been fewer in number, they might have conserved energy for a prolonged battle, but this wasn’t such a situation.
Against overwhelming numbers, the only option was to kill as many as possible at the outset.
Thududududu!
The charge halted only after they had plowed through half the enemy lines. Without hesitation, the Fenris knights formed a circle and began fighting off the surrounding soldiers.
The Roderick soldiers gritted their teeth and attempted to counterattack.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
It wasn’t the same as fighting Ghislain. While the knights were undeniably strong, their armor wasn’t entirely impervious. Occasionally, weapons managed to strike them.
“Our attacks are working!”
“Close in quickly! Stab them!”
“Encircle them! Tighten the formation!”
As the commanders barked orders, more soldiers swarmed in.
The Fenris knights killed countless enemies in moments, but as soon as gaps opened, new soldiers filled them.
“Wow, they really do have a lot of troops.”
“All that fun fighting over the past few days was just a warm-up, huh?”
“Stop babbling and focus already!”
Despite their frustration at the endless stream of enemies, the Fenris knights maintained their composure. It was obvious they’d eventually collapse from sheer exhaustion at this rate.
As the pressure mounted, Gillian unslung the massive battle axe strapped to his back and leapt off his horse.
Kwaaaaaang!
“Graaaaaah!”
With a single swing, several soldiers were split in two. Gillian made no effort to conserve mana, sweeping through the largest possible area with his strikes.
“Tch, can’t let him show off in front of me.”
Kaor also drew his dual swords and dismounted.
Swish! Swish!
With pinpoint precision, his strikes targeted vital points, quickly cutting down soldiers. However, he still couldn’t match Gillian’s speed.
‘I should’ve brought a bigger weapon.’
Kaor clicked his tongue inwardly, regretting leaving his greatsword behind.
Still, thanks to the efforts of Gillian and Kaor, the attacks on the Fenris knights were significantly reduced.
Both men had been extensively trained by Ghislain himself. They had survived countless life-or-death battles.
By now, their skills rivaled those of high-ranking knights.
Seeing the Fenris knights holding their ground at the center of the enemy lines, Ghislain tightly gripped the reins of the Black King.
“Good. They’ll hold out well enough. Let’s go!”
Kwaaaaang!
The crimson mana surrounding Ghislain’s spear flared even brighter.
In an instant, the head of a knight who had been fighting him flew through the air. Another swung their weapon in an attempt to help, but Ghislain easily dodged and deflected the blow.
Howard pointed at Ghislain, screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Surround him properly, damn it!”
The knights gritted their teeth and tried, but forming a proper encirclement was impossible. Ghislain’s overwhelming skill was one thing, but the Black King’s incredible agility made it even harder.
While ordinary riders needed to steer their mounts with reins, causing slight delays, that accursed horse seemed to understand its master’s intentions with nothing more than a nudge to its flank.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Ghislain, alongside the Black King, moved freely across the battlefield. He dodged and parried attacks from the knights while sweeping away any obstructing soldiers.
Whizz! Whizz! Whizz!
The Roderick knights, chasing after Ghislain, were also forced to fend off flying debris from shattered lances.
Step by step, Ghislain continued to cut down his opponents.
Trailing behind him, Howard’s boiling rage finally erupted in a furious roar.
“You bastard! Fight me fairly! Get over here! How dare you call yourself the greatest swordsman of the North!”
Ghislain exploited every moment when their movements slowed as they tried to reposition, launching relentless attacks. Each time Howard seized the opportunity to close the distance, Ghislain would slip away as if he hadn’t just been attacking moments before.
Whenever Howard thought he had finally cornered him, something would suddenly fly in from somewhere and disrupt his timing.
The underhanded attacks drove him to the brink of madness.
“There’s no such thing as fairness in war.”
Ghislain sneered, slicing through the neck of a knight who had failed to adjust his direction in time.
The soldiers who had been trying to close in instinctively backed away whenever Ghislain so much as moved.
One man was wreaking havoc on an entire battalion. Howard’s frustration grew with every passing moment.
“Push harder! Close in!” he roared.
Howard and his knights were all preoccupied with Ghislain. While this focus had mitigated the soldiers’ casualties to some extent, the real problem lay elsewhere—namely, the soldiers battling the rest of the Fenris troops.
“Arghhh!”
“Why are these bastards so damn strong?!”
“Don’t retreat! Stay on them!”
The screams of soldiers and the shouts of commanders echoed across the battlefield.
The Fenris knights, who had killed hundreds in their initial charge, continued to cut down soldiers with their extraordinary skills.
Howard’s gaze shifted repeatedly between the Fenris knights and Ghislain.
“Damn it… I need to bring him down quickly…”
The casualties among his soldiers were mounting. While the enemy would inevitably tire as well, it wouldn’t matter if his side suffered too many losses by then.
He considered ignoring Ghislain and targeting the others first, but he dismissed the thought. Leaving a master-level swordsman unchecked would lead to even greater devastation; there would be no point in fighting.
Grinding his teeth, Howard made up his mind. Ultimately, the most critical objective was Ghislain’s head. No matter the cost, taking him down would end this nightmare.
“Kill that bastard, now!” Howard bellowed, his eyes bloodshot with fury.
Nearly 100 knights of the Roderick forces were present on the battlefield. They had been dispatched by the marquisate, with reinforcements conscripted from nearby estates. Such was the weight of the title “master.”
“No matter how strong a master is, they can’t kill this many people alone! Keep pressing him!” Howard shouted.
His reasoning was sound, but Ghislain didn’t fight the way he expected.
Thunk! Thunk! Boom!
Ghislain never faced their attacks head-on. He fought cunningly, evading their strikes and picking off knights one by one before retreating again. If soldiers blocked his retreat, he would cut them down immediately to create space.
Sssshhh!
By now, Ghislain’s body was drenched in blood, and a crimson mist rose from his form.
“Monster.”
That was the only thought running through Howard’s mind.
Despite the carnage, Ghislain grinned, baring his teeth as if reveling in the fight.
“So this is the power of a master…”
Ghislain alone dictated the flow of the battlefield, turning the situation in his favor. The Roderick forces, though far superior in number, were being dragged along by his tempo.
Even when they tried to decisively confront him, he refused to engage fully, killing them off one by one.
As soldiers and knights fell with each passing moment, a creeping sense of fear began to settle in, like a slow, soaking rain.
“Now I understand why only another master can counter a master.”
To pin down someone of Ghislain’s caliber, they needed someone of equal skill to neutralize him. Only then could the rest of the army act strategically.
But even this was a flawed assumption. If this were Count Desmond’s army, they wouldn’t have been so powerless against him.
Moreover, Ghislain hadn’t even unleashed his full strength as a master yet.
Boom!
“Arghhh!”
The battlefield was filled with the anguished cries of the Roderick soldiers. The Fenris knights continued to mow down their foes in silence.
Though they showed no outward signs, even the Fenris knights were beginning to feel the strain. The enemy’s numbers were simply overwhelming.
“Ugh…”
Some knights swallowed back bile and blood rising in their throats.
Fighting with their mana fully unleashed from the start allowed them to exert tremendous power, but it also shortened the time they could maintain such intensity.
“Still no word?”
The Fenris knights anxiously suppressed their growing impatience as they continued to swing their swords, awaiting the signal they had been hoping for.
Unaware of their internal struggle, Howard made a decisive call out of sheer desperation.
“Spread out! Make space! Knights, regroup around me and form ranks!”
Swish!
The soldiers, who had already been reluctant to face Ghislain, quickly seized the opportunity to create more distance.
The Roderick knights also fell back to Howard’s side, re-forming their lines.
“Go! Surround him and take him down!”
Though Ghislain had already killed more than twenty knights, plenty still remained alive. By now, they had all realized that conventional methods would never work against him.
Thududududu!
The Roderick knights spurred their horses, mana blazing as they charged. They were determined to close in and capture Ghislain properly this time.
Ghislain grinned as he twirled his spear, moving to meet them head-on. It was time to exert even more strength.
Kwaaaang!
In the first clash, two knights were instantly torn apart, their armor and bodies shredded.
At the same moment, the lances of the other knights thrust toward Ghislain.
Ka-ka-ka-kang!
Ghislain parried every attack. However, the knights who had attacked swiftly rode past him, and the next wave of knights immediately followed up with another assault.
Ka-ka-ka-kang!
Once again, Ghislain blocked the attacks, seizing the brief opening to sever the neck of the last knight in the line. Meanwhile, more knights surged forward, their lances aimed directly at him.
Ka-ka-ka-kang!
The knights continued their attacks in this manner, passing by as they struck.
Lacking the superior horsemanship that Ghislain possessed, they chose to employ the most basic but effective method of mounted combat.
“Not bad,” Ghislain remarked with a grin. Knights were still knights, even from an idle and undisciplined army.
The knights moved in circles around Ghislain, simultaneously surrounding and attacking him. It was a classic tactic used by knights to deal with a powerful opponent.
Kang! Kang! Kang!
Despite being encircled, Ghislain’s lance swung without pause, deflecting attacks and killing his foes one by one.
Howard clenched his fist tightly as he shouted.
“Yes! Keep at it! He’ll tire out eventually! Even a master is only human!”
The knights, hastily assembled for this battle, were proving their worth. Their coordination seemed unusually effective today.
Against such a superhuman opponent, ordinary soldiers were practically useless except to wear down the enemy’s stamina. They should have been pulled back earlier.
As the Roderick knights continued their attacks, circling and striking at Ghislain, a deafening roar erupted from all sides.
“Waaaahhhhhh!”
Howard flinched, his eyes darting around the battlefield. He had been so engrossed in the fight against Ghislain that he’d failed to grasp the full situation.
“What… what’s that army?!”
A force bearing Fenris banners had encircled them.
“F-Fenris only sent a small raiding party… didn’t they?”
At a glance, the army numbered in the thousands. It was impossible for such a large force to have approached unnoticed.
Howard’s eyes narrowed as he examined the reinforcements. Although they were mounted, their outfits and weapons were mismatched. They were no regular army.
“Don’t tell me…”
Information about hundreds of mercenaries accompanying Count Fenris to transport resources had been known for some time. But Howard had dismissed it, focusing on capturing Ghislain instead of worrying about mercenaries.
Now, in hindsight, it was clear there were no forces left to block the paths the mercenaries would have taken.
“Did all the mercenaries gather? Were there this many? How did they even get here…?”
The abandoned lands, looted by Ghislain, had failed to yield any useful intelligence. This disaster stemmed from the arrogance of the Roderick Marquisate and the western lords, though Howard could not have known.
While he stood dumbfounded, Dominic, leading the mercenaries, bellowed.
“Charge! Rescue the commander!”
“Waaaahhhhhh!”
The mercenaries let out a thunderous cheer and spurred their horses. To them, Ghislain was not a lord but their commander.
Hearing the cries of the mercenaries, the Fenris knights smiled.
“They’ve finally arrived.”
Relief washed over them like a tidal wave. They had been growing increasingly exhausted from facing such overwhelming numbers.
Ghislain, still engaged with the Roderick knights atop the Black King, also smiled.
“Now… let’s get serious.”
Crack!
Blocking an incoming knight’s attack, Ghislain’s eyes gleamed fiercely.
Gwoooooooh!
Threads of crimson-black mana began to radiate from his body, coiling outward and becoming tangible.
The mana wrapped around him like a cloak, extending to envelop even the Black King.
“What… what is that…?”
Howard swallowed dryly, an instinctive fear gripping him. The oppressive aura filling the air made it difficult to even breathe.
Ghislain and the Black King were shrouded in a surging, shadowy crimson energy, making them appear like silhouettes against the battlefield. Only their eyes glowed an eerie red.
The sight was so overwhelming that even the Roderick knights froze momentarily, their attacks halting.
Howard realized he had been wrong in his earlier assessment. This wasn’t merely a monster.
“A demon…”
The Count of Fenris stood there, the very embodiment of a demon unleashed on the battlefield.
The demon, as if delivering a grim pronouncement, spoke to all.
“Let’s begin.”
Kwaaaaaaang!