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Translator: M.S
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: The Commanders' Duel
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“I suppose this is what they call a difference in caliber.”
Harun spouted some kind of nonsense.
“You fight well, I’ll give you that. But you can’t beat me.”
He raised a hand and gestured toward his army.
“Look. I am a king. But what are you?”
I suddenly wondered.
A king?
I wondered what that word, a word that had been far too heavy for me to bear, meant to this man.
He continued to ramble.
“A king does not walk alone. You can’t go far by yourself. Even a Grand Master has to go around a mountain if he meets one. But a king is different. If he puts his mind to it, he can drill right through that mountain and ride on with glee.”
What did he mean by that?
I tried to decipher his long-winded nonsense.
“So what you’re saying is, you don’t want a one-on-one fight. You’ll have your men wear me down first, then you’ll swoop in for a cool-looking final blow. Is that right?”
Why did he have to say it in such a roundabout way?
Harun smiled.
“Looking at the current situation, yes.”
Was that the signal?
*Clop, clop.*
The ten royal guards behind him spurred their horses and came forward.
They were all high-level Experts, a formidable group, but…
‘He’s throwing his own royal guards at me as bait?’
I just couldn’t understand it.
That man… does he see his vassals as nothing more than convenient tools?
At Harun’s command, the ten royal guards charged.
To be honest, they weren’t much of a burden.
‘What a sinister bastard…’
The real problem was Harun, subtly hiding behind his guards as he approached.
The moment my hands faltered, Harun’s cavalry spear would be aimed at me.
But, well…
‘It’s not like I didn’t expect this.’
I loosened my shoulders and waist and tightened my grip on my own spear.
From the moment I decided to charge an entire unit by myself, I hadn’t expected a one-on-one duel anyway.
I spurred my horse.
*Clop!*
The horse accelerated, piercing through the wind in an instant.
*Fwoosh!*
I impaled the chest of the lead guard with my spear and threw him aside.
My forearm muscles bulged.
It would have been a simple move if I’d unleashed a copious amount of aura, but I deliberately conserved it.
Right behind them was Harun, radiating an aura even more immense than that of the vampire Ksias.
Dodge, thrust left, swing right.
My muscles heated up in an instant.
Just as I had taken down three of the guards,
*CRASH!*
With a loud roar, Harun, who had been in the rear, charged at me as if the ground were folding beneath him.
The timing was completely unexpected.
He had been blocked by his guards, yet he burst through a fleeting gap that opened for a split second with an ultra-high-speed charge.
The Ailun white horse, accepting Harun’s aura, scattered a faint golden light in all directions.
I couldn’t help but be amazed.
‘A mythical beast, truly.’
For a mere animal to achieve a speed surpassing my own charge skill, [Tempest].
A hollow laugh escaped me at the absurdity, but there was no time for that.
Harun’s spear was already right in front of my nose…!
*CLAAAAANG—!*
“You blocked it?”
Harun was surprised.
“…How are you so fast?”
I was surprised, too.
…I used Entrusting Sword, and I still barely blocked it?
That was a first.
*Clang! Clang! Clang!*
*CRAAACK!*
In a fraction of a second, countless spear strikes were exchanged between Harun and me.
My dark blue aura and Harun’s pale golden aura shattered and sparkled like fireworks.
*Shudder!*
A chill ran down my spine.
‘Am I… being pushed back?’
Even with Entrusting Sword, I couldn’t break through Harun’s defense. No, in fact, my own defense was shaking precariously.
But Harun seemed surprised as well.
“…It’s even more amazing seeing it up close. How do you move like that? It doesn’t look like you’ve even undergone Metamorphosis.”
Metamorphosis!
So he had done it.
The so-called *Hwan-gol-tal-tae*—to be reborn by shedding one’s bones and skin.
It was a phenomenon where the overflowing aura of a Sword Master at their peak reshaped their body.
Sword Masters who had experienced it were said to have ‘transcended.’
It was a state that served as a gateway to becoming a Grand Master.
‘But does Metamorphosis make you this strong?’
It’s not like his sword could move on its own like mine…
His reaction speed was near zero.
His movements seemed to defy inertia.
‘To think this was possible with just aura…’
On top of that,
*KABOOM!*
*CRACK!*
This ridiculously powerful Aura Blade.
Every time we clashed, my Aura Blade shattered.
The fragments cut me all over.
‘I’m definitely being pushed back.’
The cavalry spear I was holding wasn’t just any spear; it was an ancient weapon from the ‘Tomb of Glory,’ and yet…
It was whining unsteadily, *Ziiing— Ziiing—*, struggling as if it would break at any moment.
“Wow, I couldn’t finish you with that. Your Aura Blade is quite unique. It’s not very dense… how is it so sharp?”
Although I was clearly losing ground,
Harun clicked his tongue and retreated.
“This isn’t fun. Let’s do it again.”
Harun pulled back, and the royal guards who had momentarily withdrawn pressed me again.
“…Ha?”
He’s retreating now?
Sending his guards in again?
A dry laugh escaped me.
“What are you?”
“What about me?”
Harun was smiling smugly.
“So you’re saying you don’t want a drawn-out fight, testing each other’s limits? You just want to overwhelm me and kill me in one go, only doing the fun parts?”
“You catch on quick.”
I was speechless.
“Are you even a warrior?”
“Nope. I’m a king.”
“What kind of king is this?”
My insides boiled.
Suppressing my surging irritation, I glanced behind me.
The fierce battlefield where my siblings and vassals were fighting. I wanted to crush this ridiculous man Harun right now and rejoin them, but with him fighting like this, it seemed it would take quite some time.
“A king is not one who sacrifices his followers, but one who leads and protects them.”
“Wrong. That’s why you’re losing.”
Harun had to have the last word.
Fine. What was the point of talking? I just needed to crush him with my strength and prove it.
I grit my teeth and raised my spear. I took one last look at the raging battlefield.
Until I take this bastard’s head,
I hope you all hold on…!
***
“Keoheok!”
Katrina’s orange hair scattered in the air.
It was stained with patches of blood here and there.
The blood she had just coughed up freshly soaked her horse’s mane and the front of her clothes.
“Woman. Are you not afraid to die?”
Barkan felt a sense of curiosity toward the warrior before him.
This feeling was unfamiliar.
At first, he had just been pleased to find a toy that didn't break easily, but now, he was intrigued.
“That blade deflection just now. If your timing had been even a little off, your head would have flown.”
Katrina was constantly gambling with her own life on the line.
It was as if she had five lives.
That was how she, a top-tier Expert, was still holding on.
“Am I not afraid?”
Katrina spat out a glob of blood and grinned.
“I would have been, in the past.”
Because she couldn’t die before her younger siblings.
In the past, Katrina had truly feared that. She had to protect them. In Lansen’s place.
“But now, I’m not scared at all.”
“Why?”
“Why do you think, you bastard? It’s because my brother Lansen is back!”
Lansen was here. So there was no need to worry about her siblings.
Now, Katrina just wanted to fight to her heart’s content.
Lansen had already engraved into her very being what kind of mistakes led to a futile death, so she had nothing holding her back.
“Hiyah!”
Katrina suddenly spurred her horse and charged.
“Hah, really.”
A genuine laugh hung on Barkan’s lips as he let out a chuckle.
It was the first time.
The first time a warrior had charged at him, rather than just desperately defending.
***
“What an idiot. How thoughtful of him.”
Rivera drew his bowstring and hid among the soldiers again.
“Don’t interfere! I’ll take him alone!”
He could see Jedak rampaging in the distance.
They called him Jedak the Gambler, but he was a complete madman.
‘So, he thinks of this situation as a match?’
In the middle of a war, that man Jedak was playing a game all by himself.
To capture Rivera alone.
Breaking through all obstructions by himself to take his head—that was the ‘match’ the man had decided on.
Rivera couldn’t stop the hollow laughs.
‘If he had mobilized the warriors around him and pushed forward in a wedge formation…’
That would have been truly difficult.
But since he was so insistent on doing it alone, rampaging like that,
‘Thank you. Truly, thank you.’
*Kiiirik.*
Rivera nocked an arrow and drew the string.
‘Thanks to you, I’ll be able to prove my worth to my lord.’
*Twang!*
He twisted the bowstring, putting a spin on the arrow.
Instead of flying straight, the arrow turned sideways in the air, curving in a wide arc to weave between the soldiers.
*Thump! Thump! Thud!*
From left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top, the curving arrows each flew like assassins, silently and suddenly aiming for Jedak’s vitals.
*Flick! Pffft!*
*Crack!*
They didn’t connect.
He may have been a madman, but his skills were real. Jedak dodged or deflected them all.
The ones he couldn’t avoid, he took with minimal damage, giving up only skin.
“That’s it! This is it! Come on! I’m stronger!”
He grinned from ear to ear as he slaughtered soldiers and continued to advance.
“Here we go! Here we go! Almost there!”
Although Rivera was diligently dodging and firing arrows, Jedak had closed the distance in no time.
Covered in dripping blood, Jedak laughed ferociously and made his final leap.
“Agh! Move!”
The battle line was already in considerable disarray because of him.
Rivera frowned.
He wanted to protect all his soldiers, but that was beyond his capabilities.
‘My lord. At the very least, I will surely take this man down here!’
*Thump, twang, thump!*
Hiding among the soldiers, Rivera fired more than five arrows in a brief moment.
And the last one, he carefully shot up into the sky.
*Fweee!*
*Thud!*
The closer an arrow gets, the more powerful it becomes.
At this distance, even Jedak had to make a sacrifice.
“Kugh…!”
Jedak took one of Rivera’s arrows with his left forearm. Then he bisected the soldier in front of him.
*Fushaaaa!*
As blood erupted, Rivera, who had been hiding behind the soldier, was revealed.
“Got you!”
What is left for an archer who has lost his distance?
Jedak was certain it was only death as he took a large step forward.
“You’re gravely mistaken about something…”
*WHOOSH!*
In response, Rivera leaped forward. He jumped diagonally over Jedak, aiming his bow in mid-air.
“Close-range rapid fire is actually what I’m most confident in.”
*Papapang!*
Unlike the silent arrows he had been firing until now, the arrows he shot this time each made a sound like a bursting leather drum.
Rapid fire focused solely on power.
*Clang! Thwack! Crack!*
Jedak deflected, dodged, and even caught and snapped all the arrows with his hands and teeth.
It was a truly beast-like sense.
As he reached for Rivera, who had just flown over his head, Jedak’s eyes filled with elation.
No matter what tricks that archer tried now, his hand would reach him first.
“I win!”
“Nope, you don’t.”
*Whoosh!*
One arrow.
The single arrow he had shot high into the sky earlier completed its long journey and returned, falling right in front of Rivera at that very moment.
That is to say, right onto the crown of Jedak’s head.
*CRUNCH!*
The arrowhead pierced through the bottom of Jedak’s chin and poked out.
Because of the loud close-range shots, Jedak hadn’t noticed the arrow’s approach and had become a wide-eyed corpse.
*Thump.*
He collapsed forward.
Rivera looked down at him and pulled out a new arrow.
“Actually, my close-range rapid fire is just so-so. My nickname used to be ‘The Swindler.’”
*Fwip—*
Spinning the arrow once over the back of his hand, Rivera fired a rapid volley toward his own broken ranks.
Arrows embedded themselves in the temples of the enemies who had infiltrated the formation.
“Everyone, snap out of it and reform the line!”
“Yes, sir!”
Thanks to Rivera’s efforts, the broken formation quickly recovered.
‘My lord! I did it!’
Belatedly, a hot surge of emotion welled up in Rivera’s chest.
Though they were both top-tier Experts, Rivera was only known in the backwater town of Kushan, while Jedak was a warrior renowned throughout all of Norverge.
To think he had taken down such a man!
In his excitement, he craned his neck, and his gaze fell upon Lansen.
Lansen was still weaving through the mounted archers, with Harun and his royal guards in hot pursuit.
However,
They were fighting, but…
To any observer, it looked like Lansen was on the run, barely managing to hold on.
‘…Is the situation not good?’
An ominous thought flashed through his mind, but Rivera quickly shook his head.
Lansen had been emphatic. There was no need to worry about his fight. Don’t interfere, just help the others.
‘I have to trust him.’
Shaking off his worries, Rivera’s gaze shifted elsewhere.
Toward another warrior engaged in a precarious battle.
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