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Translator: M.S
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: A Dirty Trick
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A dirty trick.
The Gale King's flag, fluttering over Kashu City.
That's the dirty trick.
‘There's no way the Gale King's army could have reached here already.’
Such a rapid advance is physically impossible.
Even if they had managed it, the berserkers would have given me some kind of heads-up.
So, this is the vampire Kseres's dirty trick.
There's no army from the Gale King. He must have just brought the flag.
Hoping I'd get scared.
Kalserik watched my expression.
“Captain. I understand how you feel, but we must withdraw for now. I don't know the circumstances, but the Gale King's flag is flying. Attacking that place means immediate war.”
He whispered so only I could hear.
“The soldiers' morale is at rock bottom right now. No warrior wants to fight one of the Five Kings' armies.”
War?
Morale?
All because of a single flag?
It was laughable.
No matter what anyone said.
‘Kashu City is mine.’
Ever since I killed Blood Count del Kashu and subjugated Kashu under Kushan.
This place has been mine.
Is that all?
To even begin the Three-Pronged Strategy, the plan Sea worked through the night to devise, Kashu was absolutely essential.
And he thinks he can just swallow a city like this... with a single scrap of cloth, without shedding a drop of blood?
“Kalserik.”
“Yes.”
“Take command of the troops. Wait, and when the gate opens, move in and secure the city.”
“What?”
“I will open the gate. With that bastard Kseres's head in my hand.”
“C-Captain!”
This wasn't my original plan.
Since the special training was off the table, I'd been thinking of properly testing out some siege tactics this time.
But that fluttering flag fanned the flames of my anger.
What was it Katrina said?
That a king is one who weaves together the dreams of his subjects and leads them, right?
That day, though no one said it directly, they all essentially revealed their dreams.
The Three-Pronged Strategy.
To topple the empire and rebuild the eternal kingdom of Vanroah.
That is our dream.
And I fully intend to lead that dream.
“This won't take long.”
*Thud. Thud.*
I advanced alone toward the outer wall of Kashu City.
Kalserik tried to say something to stop me, but then he just clutched his forehead and froze.
As they watched my back grow smaller in the distance, the soldiers' unrest only grew.
“Everyone, quiet! Wait until you receive orders!”
I could hear Kalserik getting the soldiers in line.
And then,
“Halt! This land, Kashu, is now the territory of the Gale King! Can you not see the flag! Any further approach will be considered an act of hostility toward the Gale King!”
The outer wall.
A commander shouted from atop the rampart, which was made of woven logs.
He sounded triumphant.
Riding on the coattails of the Gale King's fame, he must see me as insignificant.
How arrogant.
*Kuuuung!*
I pressed down on the ground and leaped forward.
Thanks to the principles of the Body Sword, the wind blocking my path parted on its own, my body grew lighter, and the ankle I used to kick off the ground became as resilient as steel.
*Kuuung!*
A five-meter-high palisade like this, I can scale in a single step.
There was one excellent soldier who hastily fired an arrow, but it only fell behind me.
Through the cloud of dust I'd kicked up, I could see the wide-eyed enemy soldiers.
*Shink!*
With my eyes fixed on the soldiers, I swung my sword sideways and sliced through the Gale King's flagpole.
Then I asked.
“Flag?”
“Th-That is…”
The commander who had been shouting so triumphantly just moments ago couldn't withstand my gaze and collapsed.
Looking down at him as he wet himself, I growled.
“Wait here. I'll be back with Kseres's head.”
*Kwaang!*
I stomped on the palisade once more and leaped.
“Stop!”
Crossing the wide outer ward by running only on rooftops, I soon reached the inner wall.
The response from the inner wall was certainly better than the outer one.
It seemed all the truly competent warriors were stationed here.
“Archers!”
*Creeeak!*
Dozens of bows took aim at me.
I glanced down.
It was evening, the sunset casting its glow.
The streets were filled with citizens heading home after finishing their day's work.
And they're going to fire arrows into this?
Honestly. These Roverland bastards.
“Fire!”
*Swiiiiiish!*
A volley of arrows rained down, cutting through the air.
Perhaps because they'd been watching my charge from a distance, or maybe because the archers were more elite, their accuracy was quite high, unlike before.
This was actually for the better.
*Sh-sh-sh-shk!*
My sword shot forward.
From its tip blossomed countless fine threads.
Each one traced a precise trajectory, slicing off only the arrowheads.
*Fwoosh!*
In the ensuing wind pressure, the severed arrowheads and shafts spun and scattered in all directions.
“W-What!”
To them, it must have looked like magic.
Aura Threads are certainly a powerful weapon, but they've likely never seen anyone who could control dozens of individual aura strands with such precision.
Even for me, who was called a genius, it wasn't this easy before.
But after learning the ancient sword arts, I could handle aura as freely as a sword.
The synergy between the ancient sword ki arts and modern aura sword arts is frankly overpowered.
“Block—!”
*Thud!*
I landed right in front of the commander.
Atop the inner wall, built from over ten meters of solid rock.
The moment five or six elite warriors drew their weapons and charged to stop me,
*Fushaaaa!*
a spray of blood erupted.
It was nothing special.
I just used the same technique on people that I'd used on the arrows.
The half-dozen corpses, their heads severed from their bodies, were caught in the belated sword wind and thrown backward.
Not a single drop of the splattering blood touched me as it sprinkled moistly over the inner wall.
“Monster…!”
I've been hearing that since I was twenty.
*CRASH!!*
This time, I kicked off the inner wall and leaped.
My destination: the lord's castle.
My advance would be faster than a messenger on horseback.
Kseres would face me without even hearing the news of my arrival.
“Stop him!”
“Fool! You think you can break through here alone?!”
“We've been waiting for you!”
“This will be your grave!”
What's this now?
The bustling street within the inner walls.
As I ran across the rooftops, Experts leaped out from all directions.
*Swiiish!*
Colorful auras shimmered on each of the incoming arrows.
Sniping shots fired by warriors who had reached the rank of Expert.
On top of that,
“It's a Linked Assault! The enemy is a Sword Master! If we each land just one of our best strikes, we'll win!”
A Linked Assault.
It's a tactic Experts often use when charging a Sword Master-level powerhouse.
Because it's predicated on both sides charging at each other, the Experts only get a single chance to attack.
Pouring all their strength into that one attack, and ensuring those attacks follow one another like a ceaseless river—these were the two core tenets of the Linked Assault.
It was common knowledge in this world that no matter how great the Sword Master, if they were caught in a proper Linked Assault by over a hundred Experts, there wouldn't be enough of them left to scrape off the ground.
However,
I'm not your typical Sword Master.
“Thanks for the boost.”
*Tang!*
I kicked off an incoming arrow with the tip of my foot and jumped.
Higher, accelerating even further.
The Body Sword made my body light and allowed me to shift my center of gravity at will, making such a feat possible.
Thanks to that, the charging Experts passed futilely beneath my feet. I fired an Aura Shot down at their procession.
“Aaargh!”
They didn't just take it, either. They hastily turned to face me, swinging their Aura Swords to defend themselves.
The colliding auras created a powerful storm in mid-air,
“I'll use this, too.”
*Paaaaang!*
I rode that storm on my back and accelerated once more.
Below me, the Experts who failed to block the aura fell like insects with their wings torn off.
“I-Insane…”
The remaining Experts couldn't keep up with my twice-accelerated speed and could only stare blankly as I pulled away.
*Thump!*
And just like that, I arrived before the lord's castle in an instant.
I sliced through the firmly shut steel gate with an Aura Blade infused with Sword Ki, cut down the warriors blocking my path with every step, and ascended the stairs.
‘A very nostalgic place.’
I know it well.
Where the lord's office is in this castle.
I climbed these same stairs when I killed Blood Count del Kashu.
“You guys again?”
I let out a dry laugh at the warriors blocking the top of the stairs.
“Grrrrrr—!”
With eyes dyed red and white foam frothing at their mouths,
the beastlike figures of berserkers.
The berserkers of Berserk Cape generally live independent lives, but not all of them.
The clans known as traitors or cowards would submit to the power of the cities or, intoxicated by the pleasures the cities offered, settle under the wing of a powerful figure.
Back with Blood Count del Kashu, they were the most troublesome obstacle.
Even the regular berserker warriors, not just the elites, displayed superhuman physical abilities. On top of that, they were so tenacious that even with their limbs cut off, they would crawl forward and bite you with their teeth.
Back then, my brothers, the old-timers, and I expended a great deal of energy breaking through these bastards.
And now, those same berserkers block my path once more.
Crowded like a cloud at the top of the stairs.
“Alright. Let's fight.”
“Kraaaaaaah!”
As if my words were a signal, the berserkers poured down the stairs.
Poured is the right word.
Countless bastards trampled over each other as they charged like beasts.
This is what's terrifying about berserkers.
They have no fear.
They feel no pain.
When they swarm down like that, it's difficult to cut them with precision.
Even if I cut them down with wide swings, a berserker surviving among the tumbling corpses could swing an axe, bite with its teeth, or grapple me with open arms, turning it into a grueling melee.
Before, I struggled to break through this hell.
‘This time will be different.’
I didn't see the pouring berserkers as a single mass, but focused on each and every one of them.
I found the shortest path connecting their vital points.
*Woooong— Woooong—*
The information the sword gave me. The path the sword wanted to take. As I listened intently, an exquisite opening I'd never seen before revealed itself brightly.
I squeezed my body through it.
Becoming a single gust of wind,
as if pulling a thread,
as if kneading clay.
I let my sword dance freely.
*Stab! Stab!*
*Slice! Shk!*
Like a fish swimming up a waterfall, my blade raged without stopping for a single moment.
Short, long, pulling, pushing—with every possible sword movement, I cut, stabbed, and shoved the berserkers aside.
*Thump! Thwack!*
*Thump! Sliiide...*
*Clatter-clatter!*
The berserkers collapsed like dolls, their heads hitting the walls and stairs as they tumbled down.
I stood amidst them.
Perfectly controlling the flow of the waterfall of berserkers, I ascended the stairs step by step, without pause.
*Splash. Splash.*
My footsteps echoed in the pools of blood.
But not a single drop splattered onto my body.
I had that much energy to spare.
Enough to dodge the gushing blood,
and to occasionally release a burst of aura to blow away any stray droplets.
How many had I killed?
*Blink—*
*Blink, blink—*
At some point,
the berserkers stopped charging.
Their once-red eyes had turned docile as they stared at me.
‘Well, this is new.’
I knew that berserkers who reached a certain level could turn their madness on and off at will, but even I didn't expect this development.
*Step.*
*Rumble.*
When I took a step, the horde of berserkers scrambled back.
Breaking out in a cold sweat.
In other words,
they too had realized.
That they were no match for me.
They were terrified by the sight of me, untouched by a single drop of blood after slaughtering so many of their kind.
The berserkers, mad for battle.
*Step. Step. Step.*
I let my sword hang low and simply walked up.
*Ruuuumble!*
The retreating berserkers bumped into each other until they ran out of room, pressing themselves tightly against both sides of the staircase.
A path opened with my steps.
I simply walked past the trembling berserkers.
After that, it was nothing special.
The high- and top-tier Expert warriors who blocked my path to the very end.
I fed their hearts, throats, and mouths my blade.
*Bang!*
Finally, I reached the office.
I threw the door wide open.
‘There he is.’
Kseres was sitting on a sofa in the center of the office, drinking tea.
‘Drinking tea?’
I must have been too fast for him to escape.
So he must be trying to act composed.
“Ah, you've come?”
He greeted me amicably.
“I must admit, I'm quite surprised. Were you always this reckless? I seem to recall you being a bit more cautious.”
I still am, actually.
It's just that I'm much stronger now than I was then,
and I now have a dream I must achieve, even if it costs me my life.
So I won't fall for your dirty tricks anymore.
“Well, anyway, have a seat. Let's have some tea.”
Kseres gestured to a seat, maintaining his leisurely air.
“You can leave when you must, but surely there's time for a cup of tea?”
To that vampire, who offered a charming smile,
*Shnk—*
I gave him the gift of Vanroah's white blade.
*Thud— Roll, roll...*
A rolling head. A body bursting into flames.
“Sorry. I have a habit of killing schemers first and asking questions later.”
I kicked over the tea set on the table in front of the sofa.
Instead, I found a water pitcher in the corner of the room and gulped it down.
*Tingle—*
The cool energy of the water spread through my entire body.
A taste so good it makes you shiver.
Now I feel refreshed.
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