Ch.139The Road to Belfort City (4)

“Damn it…”

Fighting between Aura users and ordinary people was practically suicidal.

It was like an elementary school student who learned a bit of boxing picking a fight with a well-trained soldier.

Not impossible, but merely possible in the most literal sense.

“Let’s just do this peacefully. Hand over the cargo in that wagon, and we’ll be on our way.”

“Ha. Do you think we’d believe that?”

“Well, we’re not exactly running a charity here. We could… kill all of you right now, but rumors have a way of spreading no matter how much you try to stop them. Don’t worry. We’ll leave some food behind for you.”

The bandit leader, smooth-talking and almost comical, swung his aura-infused axe to clear away the brittle branches from the barren ground.

The bandits’ Aura users still maintained their combat stances as they targeted us, and that alone told me they had survived countless battlefields.

I gritted my teeth and looked at the supervisor, who met my eyes while sweating profusely.

“Supervisor?”

“…”

He clenched his teeth and shook his head.

It meant that under no circumstances could we surrender the cargo.

In that case, we had no choice but to fight.

“I’m afraid we must decline your offer.”

“Oh my…”

The bandit leader clicked his tongue with seemingly genuine regret, making a tsk-tsk sound.

Then his hand rose up and quickly came down.

“Kill them all.”

With those cold words, arrows began to rain down.

*

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

“Urgh!”

Clang! Ting!

The impact was powerful enough to transmit dull pain even through plate armor.

Surely these were no ordinary bows.

After the first volley of arrows, our side responded with arrows, flames, and lightning.

“Shoot! If they get close, we’re finished!”

“Don’t fight Aura users one-on-one! At least three-to-one!”

From a distance, the mages began issuing commands, and I exchanged glances with Simon.

I could manage without magic, but the others couldn’t.

“Raisha. Help the others here.”

“Yes, Master.”

With those words, I charged forward.

For me, who primarily used dual swords and a spear, fighting shoulder to shoulder with others would only restrict my combat ability, and I needed to intercept the rushing Aura users.

“Come and face my blade, you dishonorable curs!”

“The young knight has too much pride!”

“I’ll cut off your limbs and kill you!”

When I taunted them, two Aura users took the bait and began to surround me, one with a sword and one with a spear.

I changed my spear back to a sword and faced them, and the Aura swordsman moved first.

“Hup!”

I could tell just by looking.

His Aura control ability was far superior to mine.

The intensity of his Aura, its projection power… these were skills that could only be acquired through real combat where life and death hung in the balance, not mere training.

But…

Whoosh!

Slap!

“What?!”

Squelch!

“Kuhak!”

They didn’t know I could use Signs.

Some might call it a cheap trick, but on the battlefield, even small tricks can save precious lives.

And of course, the opposite is also true.

“Daril! You bastard! Using cheap tricks!”

“Hmph!”

I began to fiercely press the remaining spearman.

His defensive posture momentarily faltered due to his comrade’s sudden death, and I moved my dual swords in dazzling patterns, striking the spear shaft with Aura-infused sword strikes.

Crack!

“Ugh!”

“Die!”

Crunch!

“Gurgle…”

As the spear shaft broke, the spearman desperately tried to draw his dagger, but my orichalcum sword pierced his throat faster, ending his life.

No matter how strong Aura users might be, it only meant their basic specs were greatly enhanced, not that they could move in humanly impossible ways.

And I had long been accustomed to fighting against multiple opponents, so with my ability to use unpredictable Signs, I wasn’t particularly afraid.

The only truly frightening opponent was the bandit leader with his massive axe…

He was probably the strongest person I had ever encountered, and even now, I could feel his gaze on my back.

“Haah!”

Swish…

BOOM!

“ARRRGH!!!”

When I infused my Aura and released two sword energy waves, the bandits in their path were split in half and tumbled to the ground. Only three Aura users protected by their Aura managed to block my attack and emanated murderous intent toward me.

They quickly slaughtered their opponents who had been exchanging blows with them, allowing injuries, and instantly healed their wounds using Maintain.

“Kill that knight!”

The three swordsmen launched energy waves at me, but I used Barkal to literally walk on air, landing in their center. I blocked their attacks with my swords while using Ignatus to spray fire, distracting them.

“A knight using sorcery?!”

“It’s not sorcery, it’s Signs!”

“ARGH!”

Slash!

And so, another Aura user fell.

Before the lower half of the bisected Aura user’s knees could bend, the Aura user with the greatsword gripped his weapon short and began to press me fiercely. Beside him was an Aura user with a dagger, making it difficult for me to break through their defense.

If I withdrew my sword to use Signs, I would die.

In front of Aura-infused blades, armor was only minimal insurance, so I rolled my eyes around looking for an opening.

BANG!

“Ugh?!”

I activated Tuta to temporarily push them back, and…

Click!

I switched my sword to a spear and quickly began to pressure them as they took defensive stances.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

With the sudden reversal of attack and defense, the bandit with the dagger tried to exploit the spear’s weakness of long attack delays by diving into my space. I ignored him and thrust my spear into the heart of the greatsword wielder who was raising his sword against me.

Squelch!

The greatswordsman with the spear in his chest collapsed to the ground, and I activated Aksen to barely avoid the dagger user’s strike.

“You dodged?!”

And those were his last words.

I pressed him with two daggers bound to both hands, and being greatly flustered with no comrades to watch his back, he was literally torn apart after just a few exchanges, his bones and flesh separated by my incredibly fast slashes.

“Urgh…”

When I turned my head, I saw the greatswordsman who had somehow removed the spear and was repairing his torn heart with Aura.

I threw a dagger that embedded in his head, causing him to die twice—once from cardiac arrest and once from brain death.

Click!

After retrieving my spear, I breathed heavily, drank a potion, and surveyed the battlefield.

After I had wiped out half of the Aura users, the bandits’ momentum was greatly diminished, and the remaining Aura users were slowly being hunted down under the overwhelming ranged firepower of the rangers and spell casters.

And then…

“!”

CRASH!

I barely dodged the flying axe, which then pulled itself out of the ground and returned to its owner’s hand.

“This is quite surprising. Slaughtering half of my men single-handedly… you’re different from the knights I’ve killed before.”

“Finally showing yourself!”

“Anyone watching would think I was hiding? I just wasn’t fighting. I wasn’t exactly concealing myself.”

I charged at him wordlessly.

As if he had anticipated this, his massive axe moved with shocking lightness, blocking my spear strike, and I switched my spear back to swords.

“Interesting weapon! When I kill you, it’ll make a nice toy for a while!”

“A toy?! How dare you!”

To call the divine weapon bestowed by the Sun a toy—I was convinced he was someone I absolutely could not let live. I gritted my teeth and drew up my Aura.

Noticing my change in stance, he also squeezed out his Aura and clashed his axe against me.

My attack targeting his lower body was blocked by a kick.

My attack targeting his midsection was blocked by the axe.

My attack targeting his upper body was blocked by the handle.

“Your attacks are too predictable! Speed isn’t everything!”

“UAAAAAH!!!”

Feeling humiliation and rising anger, I infused Aura into my two swords.

The pure orichalcum blades seemed to absorb Aura endlessly, and finally, after leaving only the minimum Aura needed to maintain Maintain, the concentrated blades lost their original color and shone with the radiance of the sun.

“Uh.”

The bandit leader’s eyes widened as he saw my two swords undergoing nuclear fusion, and I launched a sword energy wave at him, prepared to sacrifice my body.

BOOOOOM!!!

With a tremendous sound that would make a volcanic eruption seem quiet by comparison, the energy struck him, and he poured all his Aura into his axe handle, barely blocking the cross-shaped sword energy.

“ARRRGH…!!!!”

Crack… BOOM!

But an ordinary weapon could not possibly defeat a divine weapon, and so the bandit leader screamed and was annihilated by the solar heat.

“Huff… huff…”

Before collapsing, I barely managed to lean on my sword and, with trembling hands, poured a potion into my mouth.

But even that couldn’t prevent me from losing consciousness, and I collapsed to the ground, the last thing I heard being that the enemies were retreating.