Episode 99
“The strange arrows no longer fly towards us.”
“What are the odds that this is a trick?”
“None. Even if it were a trick, it’s unlikely they have much left in their arsenal.”
“Right. They’re trapped on all sides, and now they must be running out of supplies. They’ll destroy themselves if we leave them. Won’t they?”
“That’s correct. Within a week, no, a few days, I expect them to come out on their own.”
“Hmm. We just wait and strike them down when they’re exhausted.”
An overwhelmingly advantageous situation.
But Roger Viproz had no intention of waiting those few days longer, as his anger had already been held in check long enough.
“There’s no need to wait to catch a toothless, clawless mouse. Flantz!”
“Yes! I’ve been waiting for the order.”
A determined voice.
Not just the McLine camp had been stressed by the recent retreat tactics—it had affected everyone.
“Those rats dared to invade my land. I will personally tear them apart.”
With a declaration filled with murderous intent.
“Full assault. Bring me the heads of the McLine father and son to my feet!”
“Yes!”
Tomodo Castle was once again plunged into turmoil.
“They’re all coming! We’re surrounded on all sides!”
Even without the soldier’s near-scream, everyone could see the enemy forces pressing in from all directions.
As Logan watched the enemy’s all-out assault, his eyes twitched.
‘We must hold out. We have to hold on somehow!’
Despite the unexpected turn of events, he had no other choice but to rely on his memories from a previous life and hope the enemy would delay a bit longer.
Of course, he couldn’t just lie down and die.
“Wait for my command. We’ll pour everything we’ve got into them when they get close.”
“Yes!”
With hushed responses, instructions quickly spread in all directions.
They had deliberately refrained from using rapid-fire crossbows since the day before, saving whatever power they had for their last counterattack.
‘I didn’t expect we’d have to use it this quickly.’
Logan’s eyes darted about, assessing the momentum of the enemy knights scattered on all sides.
He was trying to pinpoint Aslan, Flantz, and the positions of their elite knights.
But of course, in such a vast army, it was a daunting task to find those who were determined to hide.
Even the most conspicuous knight among them was the same case.
‘Has Aslan discarded that armor? Or is he really gone?’
But Logan’s thoughts concerning the missing elite knight didn’t last long, as Roger Viproz’s voice, amplified by magic, signalled the enemy’s full-blown attack.
“Fire!”
Pabababak!
“Argh!”
The last remaining cartridges of the rapid-fire crossbows proved their value at the very least.
The enemy mages were persistent, but since their disruptions were focused around their knights, the last volley aimed at the enemy cavalry and infantry behind them had greater impact than expected.
Of course, that didn’t change the tide of battle.
“Die….”
Chjeooeeuk!
Logan split a knight’s head that had just surfaced over the ramparts with a swift blow, then quickly looked for the next sacrifice.
Chwaaaak!
“Argh!”
“Once you run out of arrows, grab a spear! Even the enemy’s sword will do—thrust it in!”
Logan shouted with a furious voice, prioritizing the enemy knights that were climbing up.
With all his senses heightened, he scanned his surroundings.
“It’s Mun Knight! Stop him!”
On the southern rampart, a detestable knight had appeared among the intermediate knights.
However, Logan was unable to move.
“McLine! I’ll take your head!”
“It is the will of Viproz!”
“Die!”
Five elite knights, most of Viproz’s remaining high-ranked knights, were rushing towards him.
In a way, the power they represented was more daunting than even the might of a single top-ranking knight.
There was no time to worry about any other fronts.
Especially since someone had already been assigned to handle Flantz.
“Hold as long as you can!”
Logan clenched his teeth and braced himself, swinging his golden sword.
“This time, it ends!”
Flantz swung his beloved sword Glacies fiercely, the chill it unleashed adding potency to the silver-whip-like force blades.
The over 3-meter-long silver whip writhed irregularly, and the soldiers caught in its wake were torn apart and froze without understanding their doom.
As Flantz devastated the southern rampart, a red blade flew towards him.
“Not so fast!”
Kwaang!
“Hmph. An amateur…”
After a few clashes confirming his superiority over his enemy, Flantz sneered at the appearance of his opponent, Padric McLine.
However, that sneer was short-lived when he caught sight of the familiar blade in Padric’s hand.
“That sword…!”
“A fine sword, isn’t it? It’s called Velocitas. Let’s finish this.”
Padric grasped the artifact his son had passed on, withdrawing as much force from it as he could.
– It doesn’t quite suit me.
There was no way he didn’t understand that his son’s words were out of concern for him.
Despite a gap in their true capabilities, unlike his son who had defeated an elite knight of the highest order, he felt his own inadequacy compared to someone of Flantz’s rank.
But with such an artifact, he could smash at least one wretch in front of him.
It was essential. It would make all the difference in their unfavorable situation.
Padric, drawing upon the artifact’s power, charged at his foe with all his might.
Logan was fighting splendidly, even if he did say so himself.
He was not only repelling the combined assault of five knights of equal rank but had killed one of them.
However, he couldn’t use Metal Cleaving, which had been effective initially, and was in no condition to wield the energy-intensive Divine Sword Vision.
He could only stretch himself to his limits, relying on the power of Ghost Shadow and Wind God’s Boots to withstand the remaining knights’ attacks.
Logan’s complexion grew increasingly strained, but the same was true for the elite knights assaulting him.
“What a monster…”
“How can he be so strong at his age!”
“We must kill him here!”
Ignoring the enemy’s taunts, Logan focused on the onslaught of attacks and waited for a chance to turn the tide.
‘Just a little longer, just a little more!’
Most of McLine’s overwhelmingly disadvantaged forces had gathered around him, and now enemies were ascending the wall, not just knights but soldiers too.
A desperate situation. Yet Logan’s eyes did not relinquish a glimmer of hope.
“Krak!”
_One fell brother-in-arms screamed while fighting back to back.
Ronian, in turn, thrust his sword into the face of the smug enemy.
“Cough!”
Immediately sensing a new attack aimed at his side, he rolled onto the ground.
“You rat-like!”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
Sgak.
Grateful for the enemy’s foolishness, Ronian sharply countered by slashing his thigh, sending the enemy into a rage.
Using the enemy’s outburst to his advantage, Ronian cooled his mind and jabbed his sword precisely at every vulnerability presented by his adversaries.
He barely moved from his spot but struck relentlessly in every direction as if his eyes were everywhere, stirring up the battlefield.
Ronian’s actions were the epitome of what could be witnessed in the chaos of battle.
‘If we hold on, we can win. My brother said if we hold on, we can win. I must endure with a resolve to die if necessary!’
Unbeknownst to him, his talent as an Aura User, once known as the Iron Fortress, was blossoming involuntarily.
However, not only on the eastern wall where he stood but everywhere, the tide turned increasingly against McLine.
‘More! More! More!’
Victor, as if forgetting his physical exhaustion, moved faster and faster with each blow he received.
His lord, whom he had sworn fealty to, was right in front of him, dealing with formidable enemies in a desperate struggle.
Victor yearned to help but could only follow the movements with his eyes.
Yet, lay within him a sense that his lord’s situation was dire.
‘No!’
The thought of again becoming a lost sibling without a protector should his lord fall flashed through his mind.
His younger sibling still needed protection, not from a poor brother like himself but from the family and lord.
‘You must not fall, my lord.’
So Victor earnestly desired the strength to join that fight, to aid his lord.
‘More, faster!’
Fortunately, Victor possessed the talent to fulfill his seemingly impossible wish.
As the melee continued, his body began to accelerate incrementally without his awareness.
Finally.
Poof!
As something within him seemed to burst, Victor realized something had changed.
The flaws of those surrounding him and the movements of those assaulting his lord became clearer.
Immediately, Victor jumped into the fray to assist his lord without even understanding what the change meant.
‘I can handle one more!’
By taking down even one enemy, his lord would have a chance.
He would be able to suppress at least those troubling his lord.
A grayish force began to dimly accompany Victor’s blade.
“Taa!”
He let out a clear shout as he lunged for one of the elite knights, a foolhardy move for a surprise attack, but it drew the necessary attention.
The focus of Parion, one of Viproz’s elite knights already engaged with Logan, suddenly shifted.
And then he recognized his predicament.
‘This darn dog.’
An underling he would ordinarily not even glance at had targeted his back precisely when he was under attack.
For the underling, it was the luck of a lifetime; for him, it was the worst scenario.
As a result.
Chwaaaak.
He felt a sharp pain grazing his neck, followed by a golden blade, and his body rapidly lost strength.
‘This unlucky…’
The last thing he saw before his vision blurred was the interloping brat being overwhelmed.
‘Good job, Victor!’
Unexpected assistance allowed the defeat of another elite knight.
The battle seemed to become easier, but enemies targeting Victor now ensnared Logan.
“Victor! Fall back!”
“But!”
Stubborn though he was, the reality was they couldn’t continue the fight.
Looking around, he saw the McLine forces tightly clustered at the center, forming a makeshift barricade to fend off the enemy.
It was time to play their final card.
Logan bellowed, slashing fiercely at the enemies and shouting with force-imbued command.
“Retreat, all troops!”
His voice echoed throughout the castle.
The remaining McLine forces, who still had their wits, heeded Logan’s words and began to cry out in various places.
“Retreat! Soldiers first!”
“Knights, hold back the enemies!”
Late to ascend the walls, Viproz’s forces were baffled by the shouting.
‘Knights sacrificing themselves for soldiers?’
‘What madness is this?’
While Viproz’s knights, already confident of their victory, snickered openly, the McLine knights formed a minimal barricade, securing the stairs below and evacuating their soldiers off the wall.
‘What are they doing?’
A similar thought crossed the minds of Viproz’s knights.
However, their enemies’ folly only favored them more, and they roared even louder, almost as if to let their awaiting leader below know.
“The enemies are retreating!”
“Uproot them!”
A robust defense simply meant perfect capitulation.
Viproz’s knights banded together, aggressively pressuring the densely-packed McLine knights.
And then.
‘Now!’
As the majority of McLine’s soldiers had retreated into the interior, Logan gave the final signal.
“Let’s finish this!”
With that, he raised his sword high, and a powerful golden light surged like a giant’s blade.
Then, Logan brought the sword down with all his might.
“Impossible!”
“Stop!”
If it were a deadly strike, the preparation was far too grand.
The elite knights facing Logan all evaded its trajectory.
As a result, for a brief moment, the focus of fire on Logan waned.
Seizing that chance, Logan reeled in his giant’s blade, grabbed Victor, and leaped off the wall.
“What’s going on?”
It was just an intimidating display using Earth Cleaving as a signal.
Immediately following the flow of dense mana along the wall.
Urrurururuung.
Tomodo Castle’s walls began to crumble all at once, as if it were a lie.