Ch.11Like a Knight, As a Warrior

-KAAAAANG!

In the training hall of Landenburg.

The ochre-colored earth, which had been submerged in silence as if dead since Lord Ludwig’s two sons lost their lives, finally stretched itself awake.

Walls startled by the sharp tearing sound spat sand through their crevices.

Two streams of silver arcs collided in succession, scattering brilliant sparks.

—-

“Get away-!”

I swung my longsword in a wide diagonal arc, barely managing to shake off Nigel.

Nigel flew backward with great force.

She lightly twisted her body, landed on the ground, and once again pointed her sword toward me.

Without revealing any emotion, her fierce eyes emitted only sharp killing intent, making my fingertips tremble.

Damn it.

Beads of sweat trickled down my neck.

Had we crossed swords about ten times? The longsword in my hand was already chipped in several places.

Even blocking her attacks was close to a miracle.

…She was too strong, far too strong.

I had suspected it would be like this from the moment she was introduced as the Sword of Landenburg.

It was a name I’d read about, if only in the original story’s setting.

The Sword of Landenburg.

The eastern region’s strongest fighting force, composed of ten knights who had reached the realm called the limit of humanity—the state of Master.

These were the finest knights boasted by the Margrave of Landenburg, guardian of the eastern border.

Yes, they were worth boasting about.

At this point in the Empire, there would be at most forty knights at Master level, and he had ten of them under his command.

In other words, the woman I’m facing right now…

Among the thousands of imperial knights, she ranks at least fortieth in strength!

…Still, I hadn’t expected the skill gap to be this severe.

Though I clearly had the advantage in both strength and speed, I couldn’t even cut her collar.

Every sword strike flowed away like a lie the moment it touched her blade.

It felt like walking through water.

No matter how much I moved my feet, I couldn’t advance, just floundering and endlessly sinking.

Was it because Hersella’s level hadn’t yet reached her prime?

Or was it because I wasn’t properly using this body’s strength?

A sense of powerlessness constricted me.

“This is quite different from what I’ve heard.”

Nigel lowered her sword tip slightly and spoke quietly.

“Or are you just playing games with me?”

Well, the Haschal you heard about would be Aishan-Gioro’s berserker, but standing here is just an ordinary soldier from the Republic of Korea!

A soldier without even a gun, at that. If I just had a gun, really…!

“-Well. I wonder which it is? Why don’t you try to guess?”

I forced a smile, putting on an ugly show of bravado.

Mock my pitiful struggle if you want.

However, having resolved to live as Haschal, I cannot show weakness.

Jewelry with peeling gold plating is simply discarded.

“……”

Nigel didn’t answer.

In the blink of an eye, dust billowed up and Nigel’s form rapidly expanded before me.

Damn…!

-KAGAGAGAGAK!

I barely blocked the thrust aimed at my throat.

The chipped blade emitted a terrible noise, and fragments of shaved metal flew into the air.

Sparks rose, touched my cheek, and faded, leaving heat behind.

“Your reaction speed is fast-“

There was no time for a counterattack.

Nigel, who had thrust her sword deeply, entangled my longsword with her blade and twisted her wrist.

My arms shot up involuntarily, and my body tilted forward.

Is this what swordsmanship is?

-KWAJIK.

I barely blocked the pommel striking toward my temple with my left arm.

I gritted my teeth at the pain that felt like my arm bones were being crushed.

“Kugh!”

Nigel’s left arm, having released her sword, knocked my arm down, and her rising hand struck my chin.

My head spun violently and my legs went weak.

“-Is that all?”

Her knee surged upward, crushing my staggering jaw.

“Kuk..!”

In an instant, my hearing cut off.

My vision flickered and flashed from the impact like being hit by a hammer.

My shaken brain spewed chaos.

My field of vision became a jumbled mess.

No, this is dangerous. My consciousness…!

Beyond my sinking consciousness, I vaguely glimpsed Nigel swinging her sword toward me.

-KANG!

Huh?

My body moved on its own.

My longsword flashed like lightning, deflecting Nigel’s attack, and my right foot twisted and drove into her lower abdomen.

“Ugh..!”

With her waist folded from the impact, Nigel’s body flew backward.

Like shattering glass fragments, the darkness covering my vision broke apart.

A fierce burning sensation rising from my toes ran through all my nerves like lightning, surging up to strike my brain.

My wavering mind suddenly became clear, as if forcibly grasped.

It was a strange sensation, like being thrown into ice water while on fire after being intoxicated with alcohol and dreams.

The flow of blood pulsing through my veins felt distinctly clear, like drawing a picture, and my heart pounded with more intensity than ever before.

The pain in my arm and jaw had already faded to a light throbbing.

“……Your consciousness should have been on the verge of breaking.”

Nigel, regaining her posture, muttered as if she couldn’t understand.

“Your pupils were completely dilated. That wasn’t a conscious reaction. Then, is it instinct carved into your body?”

Ah. I see.

I understood. My approach to fighting had been wrong from the start.

This body belongs to Aishan-Gioro Haschal, a Ka’har warrior.

Trying to control a monster’s body with an ordinary person’s consciousness—no wonder it wouldn’t move properly.

Surrendering to instinct was the answer.

I emptied my mind. Sharpened only my senses.

Thinking nothing, just repeating the desire to kill the enemy.

My curled lips formed a beast’s smile.

The impulse that had been starving finally bared its fangs.

The liberated body roared with joy.

—-

-KWADUDUDUK!

My chipped longsword bit into Nigel’s sword.

As the steel blade was roughly ground away, metal fragments flew up and tore at our clothes.

Nigel swung her left foot like a whip when her sword was caught and stopped.

I bent my body deeply, letting it flow past, then bounced into the opening on her left side.

I reached out with my left hand and grabbed her elbow as it came down aiming for my skull.

“Get off!”

Nigel flipped her sword in her right hand, gripping it in reverse, and struck down toward me.

I leaped backward to avoid it.

The floor, unable to withstand the impact, exploded and rippled like waves.

Nigel, covered in dirt, roughly brushed off her clothes.

“…You’re a completely different person from before. Your strength, speed, movements.”

I ignored her and charged.

I couldn’t understand anyway, having half-released my consciousness.

-KAAAANG-!

The two swords met each other with agonizing screams.

Not yet.

“KYAAAAAAAK!!”

The longsword gripped in both hands unleashed a storm of consecutive strikes.

Deafening explosive sounds erupted one after another, scattering dirt in all directions.

The blade of the longsword, swung violently like a beast’s claws, gradually twisted and distorted as if reaching its limit.

Nigel calmly parried the barrage of sword strikes and occasionally counterattacked, but unable to completely absorb the impacts, she was slowly but surely being pushed back.

Blood began to flow.

A thrust that grazed my cheek left a clear burning sensation, and Nigel’s thigh, torn by my sword, was stained red.

The endless colliding waltz of steel painted droplets of blood in the air.

Pleasure stained my brain.

Haschal’s body emitted an even more ferocious delight with each wound, and the flowing blood was burning hot.

– PAKANG!

Finally, the weapon gave up its life before the person did.

With a sharp death cry, the broken longsword bid farewell to the world.

As if she had been waiting for this moment, Nigel’s eyes flashed as she twisted her upper body and pulled her sword back to her shoulder.

The tip of her sword, thrust with all the elasticity of her body, pierced through space like an awl.

Haschal’s instinct rejoiced.

I extended the broken longsword as if to meet her blade.

Grazing Nigel’s sword between the blade and the hilt, I flipped my wrist.

The thrust, its trajectory greatly twisted, dug into the floor in vain.

“Imperial swordsmanship…?!”

Nigel froze for a moment in shock.

Full of openings.

“KYAAT-!”

My left hand, raised like a raptor’s talon, shot like a snake toward Nigel’s nape.

“Kut!”

Nigel reacted hastily, pulling her sword hilt to shield her neck with the base of the blade.

With a spray of metal fragments, Nigel was slammed into the training hall wall.

—-

“Grrrrrr…”

Panting, I stared at Nigel who had been knocked down.

As the dust settled, I could see Nigel staggering to her feet.

With dirt clumps stuck to her blood, she looked quite miserable.

I must look the same way.

As the heat burning my nerves subsided a bit, painful stinging sensations surged from various parts of my body.

“-I see. So this is a Ka’har warrior.”

Nigel, catching her breath, brushed the dust from her hair and released the sword hilt without regret.

“No finesse, but that strength and speed. The ferocity like that of a wild beast.”

Nigel walked toward the weapons scattered on the floor from the impact that shook the wall and bent down.

She picked up a longsword and a spear, and tucked a dagger at her waist—a chilling sight.

“Yes. The Ka’har are originally a nomadic people; when wielding a sword on horseback, raw power matters more than technique.”

I caught the longsword she tossed toward me.

Nigel pointed her spear at me and slightly bent her knees.

“That’s not your limit, is it? Let’s get serious.”

Intense killing intent swirled once again.

—-

Nigel wielding the spear was a completely different being from before.

Gone was the dignified and elegant swordsmanship; instead, a disordered, chaotic onslaught poured forth.

Dynamic movements that mixed charges, retreats, and leaps, dancing in all directions.

An aggressive fighting style using arms and legs to thrust and throw the spear and dagger, continuously attacking from unpredictable angles.

I pushed my senses to their limit to barely match her.

-KANG!

I struck away Nigel’s thrust as she charged forward like throwing herself at me.

Nigel immediately released the spear and lightning-fast drew the dagger from her waist, bringing it down toward my shoulder.

I twisted my upper body sideways to avoid the dagger aimed at my shoulder.

Nigel sharply bent her wrist and released the dagger.

The dagger, shot with just a snap of her wrist at point-blank range, buried itself in my shoulder before I could respond.

“GRAAAAAAAH-!”

With a fierce roar, I swung my longsword at Nigel’s waist.

Nigel reached for the dagger stuck in my shoulder, grabbed it, and leaped over my back.

The longsword cut through empty air.

Flesh tore from my mangled shoulder, and blood spurted out.

With no time to groan, I hastily bent my upper body sideways, sensing intense danger from behind my neck.

With an eerie sound cutting through air, Nigel’s right foot grazed my ear.

Half of my earlobe was sliced off and stuck to the training hall wall.

I swung my elbow toward her back.

With a sensation like splitting wood, a dull crushing sound echoed.

“Ugh..!”

Nigel, suspended upside down in the air, raised her left arm to block my elbow and gritted her teeth at the surging pain.

I thrust my longsword toward the immobilized Nigel.

Nigel extended her right hand to brace against my shoulder and rotated like an acrobat to avoid the sword.

Nigel’s spear, which had bounced into the air, met the tip of her foot.

Firmly gripping my shoulder, she wrapped the spear with her foot and struck downward as if kicking it.

The spear tip pierced my thigh.

“KYAHAAAAK-!”

My longsword, swung in desperation, deeply grazed Nigel’s arm.

Nigel grabbed the end of the spear shaft and leaped backward.

The spear blade being pulled out deeply tore my thigh.

Blood gushed out violently.

I struggled to stand on my knees that were about to give way.

Swollen muscles strongly compressed the blood vessels to suppress bleeding.

My body, pushed to its limit, screamed.

It hurts.

My mangled shoulder spasmed intermittently, and my tattered clothes were so soaked in dark red that their original color was unrecognizable.

Perhaps from losing too much blood, even my body that had been boiling with fighting spirit was gradually growing cold.

This is hard.

Nigel across from me had also sustained significant injuries.

Her left arm hung limply, possibly with a cracked bone, and her deeply cut right arm continuously welled up with bright red blood.

Her once elegant face was now dirty with smudges of dust and sweat, and crimson blood seeped through her rough breathing.

Haschal’s instinct gnashed its teeth and whispered.

Not yet.

We can still fight more.

Raise your fangs.

Extend your claws.

Unconsciously, I looked at my right side.

Between the torn leather cloth, silver armor emitted a cool chill, as if tempting me.

Yes, with this.

My trembling left arm moved toward my side.

My fingertips touched it.

“-That’s enough.”

A resolute voice cut through the impulse.

My consciousness, intoxicated by heat, returned.

I let the longsword in my right hand hang limply.