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Various groans and grudges leaked from the soldiers who lay on the floor in a disorderly manner.
“AAHH, aaAHH, it’s the 《Demon Fire》.”
“UHhhh, my feet, my feet are…”
“Uh, uuuaaAAHHH”
In the middle of such commotion, Walm couldn’t hide his surprise. After all, in a short amount of time, Makoto, the browns girl unfolded an ice wall, Johanna, the female knight protected a healing magician who squeezed her body in fear, and, albeit incomplete, Yuuto, the black-haired boy unleashed a 《Holy Slash》 to minimize the damage of 《Demon Fire》.
There were fewer deaths than Walm expected. Most people were only got burns injuries.
“Why you can’t just die quietly”
While glaring at Walm, the female knight Johanna tried to stand up.
《Holy Slash》 and 《Demon Fire》 collided and broke in the direction where not many people were present. Yuuto was breathing roughly while spitting blood. Makoto had a lump of ice stuck in her abdomen and was breathing faintly.
“Aya, ne, Ma, koto.”
A boy in his late teens breathlessly called his companion’s name. Ayane, was on the ground and didn’t move at all.
“Throw away your weapons. I’ll give you an easy death.”
“Don’t, joke with MEee!!”
“I’m not”
Hearing the expected answer, Walm slashed his longsword from the top. Although he was out of mana, his wounds had healed and his physical strength had returned to some extent. The female knight, on the other hand, had lost her magical barrier due to 《Demon Fire》 in addition to the exhaustion of the previous battle, and had been injured by the fire and debris from the explosion.
The blow was caught by the flat of the sword, but the female knight couldn’t stop the momentum that came from the shoulder. The posture that would have been able to endure such an attack normally, was greatly collapsed.
The knight fell behind.
The attack targeting the neck was a feint, and Walm changed his sword direction to slash the feet.
Feeling the tearing meat, the knight responded by hitting her longsword horizontally and pulling her body back.
“Guu, uuuuhhh!!”
The female knight lost to the sword pressure and was floating back. Walm prioritized speed and pushed the longsword with one hand as it was to the left shoulder. His sword’s tip entered through the seam of the armor.
Walm intended to hollow out the entire left shoulder, but was only able to inflict a deep wound because of the toughness of the armor.
“Uhhh, uh, Aaaa”
The female knight tried to make a distance, but Walm launched another attack. She couldn’t handle Walm’s sword pressure with one hand. A large scar was carved on her cheek, and in the middle of the battle between swords, her abdomen was kicked through her armor, forcing her to exhale the oxygen.
The female knight rolled on the ground. Once again Walm kicked the female knight who was about to get up, stepped on her back with his knees, and pushed it back to the ground.
“Bas, tard!”
“Goodbye”
Walm tried to decapitate her, but turned around to the footsteps approaching from behind.
“Newcomer”
Instantly crossed the sword. The armor of a large man was soaked in fresh blood that it was hard to tell whether it was someone’s else blood or his own blood.
“One after another, what a bunch of annoying knights!!”
“Commander, Gran”
The armor had the same design as the female knight’s, but the coat of arms of the Order of Reharzen was engraved big on the armor. Walm could tell by the response of crossing the sword. That the man had a first-class sword pressure and speed, and was definitely the Commander of the Order of Reharzen, Gran.
This is bad…
“Johanna, take them and run away!! We’ll surrender this place.”
Walm was prepared himself, but then he smiled. The enemy was in a predicament, bad enough to leak the battle situation in front of the enemy.
While crossing the sword, Walm caught the female knight in his sight. She was holding up the nearby Yuuto and Makoto. Sure, she had tremendous strength, but her movement was sluggish.
“You think I’ll let you!!?”
Walm tried to jump out, but the route to Johanna was blocked, and on the contrary, the blade grazed his neck. The Knight Commander wasn’t an easy enemy that he could deal with one hand.
“How Persistent!”
The swords rubbed with each other and the metal made a high-pitched sound. The bodies collided with each other, and Walm and the Knight Commander became close to each other.
Walm slid the blade and aimed at the finger, but it was caught by the brim of the sword. The sword’s technique of the Knight Commander was higher than Walm.
Brand new wounds increasing on the completely recovered body, still, unlike before, time was on Walm’s side.
“Attack!! The enemy is only a small force now. Don’t give time to recover!!”
Outside the treatment center, a voice that seemed to be a Highserk soldier’s voice echoed.
“It’s our defeat. Next, I will drop your head.”
“What a loser. The losing dog, can only bark and hang his tail.”
Gran turned around from Walm as if the previous confrontations were a lie.
“Oi, is that okay? You seem to have forgotten 'someone”.”
Walm moved a girl called Ayane who was lying on the ground with his feet. Changed her position from prone to supine, the girl making a painful voice.
“Please Waaait! Johanna-saan, Ayane, Ayane is, still thereeeEEEeeee!!…”
Despite being seriously injured, Yuuto on the female knight’s back rampaged like a fish on land. He expected a delay or a reversal, but Johanna forced him to shut up.
“Hahaha, really? Hitting a human who is vomiting blood? But, well, too bad, it seems you all have been abandoned.”
In addition to Walm, the injured and Ayane were left behind.
Walm gazed at Ayane who had fallen under his eyes. Her chest was moving, she was still breathing.
Soon after, soldiers with familiar equipment flooded the treatment area. They carefully pointed their spear at Walm, who was dressed as a Ferrius soldier, but they didn’t step further.
“Wait!! I’m from Liguria’s battalion, Duwei’s squad, my name is Walm. I robbed the Ferrius soldier’s equipment to disturb the enemy. I don’t tell you to drop the spear until the suspicion clears, but I don’t want to be killed by my allies.”
Walm was prepared to be dismissed as a bad soldier and an idiot at the time, but the soldiers looked at each other and called out to the outside of the treatment area.
“Platoon Commander!! 《Demon Fire》 user, Walm is alive!!”
In a hurry, a Platoon Commander who was far higher in rank than Walm came.
He nodded and lowered his men’s spears that were pointing at Walm.
“His Excellency Gerard has said, ‘Fighting alone capturing the layer, the work of the 《Fire of Hell Gate》 manipulator, will be rewarded.’. For my Platoon to meet you first, is such an honor.”
The Platoon Commander smiled and reached out to Walm.
“Thank you”
“The 6th layer has fallen and the enemies have been struck with a pincer attack. The situation is still unpredictable, but if it keeps going on like this, there’s no doubt that it’ll be our win. You can relax, it’s our turn to work.”
“Oh, that’s good… and I’ve got some prisoner of wars, but this one here is a precious healing magician, moreover she’s one of the famous “Three Heroes”.”
The Platoon Commander, who sensed Walm’s intention, had a big smile on his face. The Highserk army loved securing human resources. There was no doubt that someone who could heal even site defects, would be abused as labor.
“Well, His Excellency Gerard will be really happy to hear this!! Yaqui’s squad remains here to guard Walm and the prisoners. The rest will go with me to eliminate the rebellious soldier in the layer. Don’t miss any soldiers!!”
The Platoon Commander left the treatment center, leaving Walm and one squad.
The thread of tension came off, and Walm sat down.
“Are you okay, do you need water?”
One of the soldiers presented a water bottle to Walm.
Opened the cap and poured water into the mouth. Feeling the water flowing in his stomach, Walm breathed out.
“Do you smoke?”
The soldier then took out a cigarette from his pocket.
“Yeah, I want to smoke”
Walm received a cigarette and held it in his mouth, but his mana was exhausted and no fire broke out from his hand even if he wanted to.
“I wanted to see the famous 《Demon Fire》, but please bear with my fire.”
The man then shed mana and embodied the fire.
“Thanks. I’ll show you as much as I can when my mana returns.”
Smoke flowed out of the lit cigarette. Smoke slowly filled the lungs. When the purple smoke was exhaled, it diffused into the void.
The feeling of fatigue rushed in at once, and Walm’s consciousness disappeared without warning