CH 207

“...”

Madrica and the other knights looked around. Their eyes still held traces of excitement from the recent battle. The battlefield was filled with the remnants of numerous broken flags and spears. The sight obscured by the rain and the fog was devastating. The bodies of hundreds rested atop pools of blood and water, and the occasional screams and groans of the critically injured could be heard in the rain and wind. All three hundred enemies had been killed or disabled, and not a single person managed to escape.

Meanwhile, not a single allied soldier was killed. Rather, none of them suffered any injuries. Madrica shuddered.

‘I can’t believe that we really managed to wipe them out…’

It was hard to express the elation he felt with words. His body heated up from the lingering emotions of the battle.

A great victory? No, a victory as overwhelming as this could not be defined by such simple words.

It was truly glorious and honorable to have participated in such a battle—to have played a part as one of the protagonists. It was the honor of a lifetime to have been a participant of a battle that would surely become known to the entire world.

Madrica could no longer contain his passion and the flames in his heart.

“We wonnnn!!!” He shouted and thrust his longsword into the air. His face glimmered with the rain and blood.

Uwaaahhhhh!!!

His fellow knights roared with victory. Their feat would be passed down as a historical battle in the Kingdom of Caylor, and they would be remembered as heroes of Maren in the future. Then, the eyes of the victorious heroes naturally turned to the one responsible for their glory, Eugene.

“This is just the beginning, sirs,” Eugene declared.

Oooohhh…!

The eyes of the knights burned even fiercer than before.

“Gather and bring the survivors,” Eugene ordered. The remnants of the enemies were found and dragged over. They were barely breathing. After prolonging their miserable lives with low-grade refined mana stones, Eugene spoke with a cold gaze.

“I am Duke Jan Eugene Batla. I will spare those who answer my questions sincerely. I promise this in my honor.”

“Ugh…” The prisoners quickly nodded. They were ignorant, but they knew how significant the honor of a duke was. No, rather, in the first place, it was the prestige of the devilish knight who had decimated their captain’s head with a single blow and killed many of their colleagues. They were strong toward the weak, but weak toward the strong. As such, they did not hesitate.

“Affiliation,” Eugen asked.

“A-ashen Knights, sir,” one of them responded.

“Knights? You lot?” Eugene asked. He questioned if they deserved to call themselves knights, but the prisoners could not afford to feel offended. How could they object when the person responsible for destroying 300 of them with only 50 had said so?

“We were originally Ashen Mercenaries. However, we became the king’s knights after the captain signed a contract with him,” the man answered.

“Hmm. Is that so?” Eugene said.

Madrica quickly stepped forward, “Sir, the Ashen Mercenaries had been notorious in the Drentra region. I haven’t heard of them in a while, but it appeared that they entered the king’s command.”

Eugene responded, “I see. Who has the highest rank here?”

The gazes of the prisoners turned, and the person concerned raised his hand.

“I-I was one of the squad captains,” the man said.

“That’s good. You must know a lot,” Eugene stated.

“Yes, yes! I will tell you everything I know,” the prisoner spoke of everything he knew, from matters regarding the king and the cardinal to the situation near the capital and the movements of the noble royalists. He even explained the most trivial of things.

His stories lasted for almost ten minutes. Eugene nodded after listening until the end, “Good. You were sincere, so I will let you live.”

“T-thank you, sir!”

Eugene fed the seven captives another low-grade refined mana stone.

“Now, what will you do, sir?”

“Why don’t we head back to Maren and declare our victory before reorganizing the troops?”

“No, we will continue and attack their main army,” Eugene responded.

“…!”

“It will be a waste of time to return. And the king’s infantry captain is already dead. Doesn’t that mean they no longer have commanders to lead their army?” Eugene added.

“Oh! Definitely!” The knights exclaimed as their determination was ignited once again. They had already achieved a perfect victory. If they continued and defeated the enemy’s main army, their feat would definitely go down as a historical event. It wasn’t even worth contemplating for knights who lived for fame and achievements.

“You are right! Now that the enemy’s cavalry has been wiped out, the remainder of those nobodies and bums cannot possibly be our opponents!”

“Count Evergrove is leading the army, right? Let us rid ourselves of Maren’s traitor today!”

“What do you mean, count? He’s just a filthy rat who betrayed his honor and faith!”

The anger of the knights was great. Everyone had been worried about Evergrove County before they left Maren. Because they had received no contact until the army of royalists were basically at their gates, they had automatically assumed that the Evergrove County had lost and surrendered. However, it turned out that the count had surrendered and had even cooperated with the royalists instead of fighting them.

“By the way, the rain will make it difficult for the horses to move.” One of the knights pointed out.

“Hmm. Well, that’s true.” A few knights nodded anxiously. It was possible for infantry to fight in the rain, and the advantages of cavalry didn’t exist in such an environment. The Ashen Knights had been wiped out just a while ago due to the mud.

“If it’s rain, it won’t matter,” Eugene remarked.

“What?”

He continued, “Have you all forgotten? I have a spirit with me.”

“…!”

“Kihehehehe…” The knights flinched as a peal of sinister laughter resounded. A blue light appeared in front of their eyes.

Ooooh…!

The spirit had gifted the enemies hell while shouting the incomprehensible names of her skills. The knights exclaimed when she finally showed herself.

“Knights! I am no other than King God Neo Revolution… Kieeek!”

Eugene stopped the nonsensical introduction by snatching the spirit out of the air. He plucked her wings between his fingers and raised her into the air.

“This is the spirit of water that I have contracted. We can borrow her powers, so there is nothing to worry about, sirs,” Eugene said.

“Understood!” the knights answered vigorously. She seemed a little unusual, but they had witnessed the wonders of the water spirit earlier. As such, they trusted in Eugene’s words.

***

‘Dammit. It’s all because of that bastard who got lucky and hit the jackpot…’

Jevin complained inwardly. He was now leading the main army on behalf of Jenas.

‘What should I do? There’s quite a few of them but at this rate…’

An army of five hundred troops, excluding the porters and the depot merchants, wasn’t small at all. He even had his own knights. In terms of numbers, it was definitely an army capable of fighting against Maren. However, the problem was that more than half of the troops were serfs. The rest of them were mercenaries who had been scraped together from all over the place as well. Aside from their skills, or rather, the lack thereof, it was questionable if they could even fight properly if a battle broke out. In addition, the army’s command structure was essentially nonexistent.

‘Like it or not, I have to admit that I need that vulgar lowlife. This is driving me crazy.’

The infantrymen accompanying the Ashen Knights were troops hired and maintained by silver coins and Jenas’ notoriety. However, their employer, who was also the one responsible for their obedience through fear, wasn’t here. Of course, he would join them soon, but Jevin didn’t know what would happen if they encountered an unexpected situation.

“I just hope they become tired and come back…” Jevin muttered with hope.

The leaders of the mercenaries waddled over. One of them spoke, “Count, the boys are exhausted. I think we’d better take a break. That’s fine, right?”

“What did you say?” Jevin raised his eyebrows and responded.

One of his knights shouted with anger, “Hey! Watch how you address His Excellency! How disrespectful!”

“Oh, I’m sorry about that. It’s because we’re stupid,” One of the mercenary captains apologized. However, the mercenary captains were still grinning. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t have even dared to speak to Jevin’s knights, let alone Jevin himself. However, the current situation couldn’t be called normal.

Their captain, Jenas, was missing, and the army would collapse without the presence of mercenaries. In addition, the mercenaries were originally active near the capital. As such, they would never need to see Jevin and his knights again after this. Thus, they didn’t need to be afraid of Jevin and his knights.

“Ehehe! Well, we can’t help it. If we continue the march, we’ll be exhausted before we can even get to Maren,” one of the mercenary captains explained.

“You bastards…” Jevin’s knights gnashed their teeth. However, the captains of the mercenaries had a point. Their troops were quite exhausted from the long march.

As such, they had no choice but to turn to Jevin and voice their agreement, “Your Excellency, I think it would be best to set up some tents and take a break.”

“Since the weather is like this, the infantry captain should be returning soon. It’s impossible to chase after the elves in this environment after all.”

“No matter how ignorant he is, he should know that much at the least. I’m certain that he will be back soon.”

Jevin responded, “Tsk. We can’t help it. Then…”

At that time, a group of mounted horses appeared in the distance beyond the gradually fading curtain of rain.

“Oh! The Ashen Knights must be back!” one of the knights shouted with delight.

“Hmm. At least, they aren’t completely… Huh?” Jevin suddenly frowned and narrowed his eyes. He had been pleased to see the return of his allies, but he had noticed that the number of horsemen on the small hill was fewer than their original numbers.

“Were they defeated in a battle?” Jevin muttered. However, they looked completely fine from a distance. In addition, they looked a little different from the Ashen Knights for some reason.

“Huh?!” Jevin exclaimed in disbelief.

There was a knight leading the mounted party. It was a man riding on a black horse wearing black armor, and the image of the man was something Jevin couldn’t forget, even in his dreams.

“J-Jan Eugene…” Jevin stuttered while trembling.

Suddenly, the moist air started to quiver ever-so-slightly.

Paaaaaaa…!

Then, a wave of crimson began to creep toward them from the small group of horsemen.

“Hieek?!”

“W-what is that?!”

“It’s magic! It’s a curse!”

The mercenaries and serfs lost their composure when they saw the huge torrent of dark red coming toward them. The wave of crimson wriggled as if it were alive.

And as the current swept over the five hundred soldiers…

“Huaagh!”

“Kuagh!”

A terrible fear struck their hearts, and all of the troops froze on the spot. It was truly a breathtaking, horrifying situation. However, that wasn’t the end of the surprise.

The frozen soldiers felt as if they were hearing the faintest of laughter as a lump of bluish light shot toward them from the wave of crimson. The bluish color of the light sharply contrasted against the backdrop of dark red.

Fwaaaaaaa…

Then, numerous transparent grains started to emerge from the muddy soil filled with rainwater.

“Heave-ho! Heave-ho! I’ll be Sir Eugene’s subordinate number one for today! But tomorrow, call me Spirit King! Heave-ho! Heave—…screw this! This is too hard! Kieeehhh!”

“…?!” Jevin’s eyes filled with shock. As the screaming blue light passed him by, small grains rose from the ground around him as well. And it didn’t take long for him to realize that they were droplets of water.

The thousands, or rather, tens of thousands of water droplets, soared high into the sky and gathered to form a large chunk of water. Then, the water began pouring down right outside the ranks of Jevin’s troops like a waterfall. Simultaneously, the group of horsemen began to charge toward them from the top of the hill.

Tutututututu…..!

“Keugh! W-what… are you all doing? G-get up… A-and… fight…” Jevin desperately shouted. However, his voice could barely be heard. He was similarly affected by the Origin’s Fear, and he couldn’t move a muscle.

Some brave knights drew the holy symbol in the air and pulled out their swords with all their might, but that was all they could do.

Eugene’s cavalry rushed forward on the dry land, which had been artificially dried with an inexplicable power, and they dug into the ranks of the stunned soldiers.

Kwa! Kwa! Kwa! Kwa! Kwa! Kwa!

When heavily armed horsemen charged into the large army of foot soldiers, dozens of bodies were sent flying with screams. The mysterious power holding them in place finally dissipated, but it was already too late. The knights were rampaging like angry predators, and the serf soldiers began to flee in all directions in fear.

It wasn’t much different for the mercenaries...

They had been completely unprepared for the battle, and the horsemen’s charge had completely wrecked their formation. There was nothing they could do to resist. Of course, quite a few mercenaries mustered up the courage to swing their swords, unlike the fleeing serfs. However…

Shuaaaackkk!

The black knight was clearly special even among the dozens of knights, and in front of the black knight, the soldiers were nothing more than moving bundles of straw.

The black knight cut down the mercenaries while riding his horse with a crimson spear in one hand and a silver sword in the other. His weapons howled for blood as they struck the backs of the scared soldiers. Furthermore, five or six knights using swords coated in a strange blue light followed behind the black knight and cut down the mercenaries with quick, brilliant swordsmanship.

It was literally a bloodbath.

“Ja…Jan Eugene!” Jevin screamed desperately. Simultaneously, Eugene’s red eyes found the exact location where Jevin was standing.