Ch.171171. The Final War (9)

The situation was the worst.

For some reason, the Necromancer who died saving the Priest’s life wasn’t resurrecting, and the Brute Fighter, Light Armored Warrior, and Female Thief alone were struggling to face Bjorn.

Thud, THWACK!!

“Guh!! Keurgh!!”

It was hard enough to block or deflect Bjorn’s greatsword, but Bjorn wasn’t particularly attached to using just his blade.

He would kick with his legs when he saw an opening, swing his fists, and sometimes simply choose to ram his body forward brutally.

Of course, Bjorn was more of a weapons expert than a hand-to-hand combat specialist, so these attacks stemmed purely from his accumulated skill and physical abilities.

But the fact that the apostles couldn’t withstand this physical combat meant that Bjorn’s physique was overwhelming enough to overcome all these disadvantages.

He would strike the Light Armored Warrior’s jaw with his fist, leaving him dazed, or mix in surprise slashes while seemingly engaging in hand-to-hand combat, cutting off the Brute Fighter’s left arm as he was bracing for impact.

In just a few dozen seconds, they had exchanged blows hundreds of times, and the results were clearly evident right here.

The Light Armored Warrior with his ornate armor now soiled with dust lay collapsed from a concussion, while the Brute Fighter—who had lost not only his left arm, or more precisely his left shoulder, but also his right hand—stared at Bjorn with eyes filled with pain, rage, and fear.

The Female Thief—an Arcane Rogue who had been focusing on support from the rear—could still fight, but rogues were already weak against warriors, and with the skill gap on top of that… the outcome was painfully obvious.

So, with all five apostles having lost their will to fight, Bjorn opened his mouth to mock these imperial dogs.

[That Necromancer cannot resurrect.]

“…What are you saying?”

The Priest asked with a serious expression at what might have seemed like an abrupt statement, and predictably, Bjorn’s response was equally mocking.

[This sword bestowed by the great Bleeding God of Vengeance contains the power to destroy the souls of those it kills and use them as nourishment. …Well, how does that make you feel?]

“…What?”

“…?!!”

Upon hearing those words, the apostles didn’t find this mockery insulting—rather, they took it as a threat and were overcome with terror.

Destroying a soul meant completely annihilating one’s existence.

So they interpreted his words as a threat to erase their very existence, and they tried to summon their fighting spirit again to do something, anything—but—

—Slash!

Naturally, Bjorn moved dozens of times faster than they could.

‘First, one.’

Starting by cleanly decapitating the Light Armored Warrior sprawled on the ground, Bjorn advanced relentlessly, attacking every apostle in sight.

CRUNCH—slash.

He kicked the Brute Fighter in the stomach as he tried to rise, launching him into the air, then swung his sword vertically, splitting him in half.

“D-Die!!”

Whoosh—BOOOM!!!

He threw his sword straight at the Priest who was trying to cast a spell with his staff, leaving a massive hole in the Priest’s torso.

“…Hee, heeek!!”

And so, after four apostles were executed in different ways, the Female Thief, unable to suppress the fear welling up inside her, wailed—

《Listen, I am the God of Vengeance. I have come to give you one last chance.》

At that moment, the voice of a “god” emanated from Bjorn’s mouth.

Thud!

Without even a moment’s hesitation, the Female Thief fell to her knees.

It was the result of both the charisma in the “god’s” voice coming through Bjorn and the quick situational judgment of a woman who had grown up in the slums.

Half of it was a submissive attitude from a survival perspective, and half was pure fear that made her kneel before him.

《Can you dedicate yourself to me?》

“O-Of course! I w-w-will dedicate myself!”

Secretly overwhelmed by the aura Bjorn was emitting, she blurted out her answer without even understanding what Bjorn-Duk was asking—

《Good. You are now my disciple.》

With those words from Bjorn-Duk, his outstretched hand grabbed the Female Thief’s neck.

CRACK!!

As her body with a broken neck flopped to the ground, Bjorn—who had returned from being Bjorn-Duk back to just Bjorn—was released onto the battlefield once more.

※ ※ ※

Rewinding time briefly to when Bjorn was being sucked into the cube—around that time.

“””””””””WAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”””””””””

“For the Bleeding One!!!”

“Fire!”

“D-Don’t retreat—”

CRUNCH!!!

Finally, as the entire Vengeance army collided with the enemy lines in earnest, a truly full-scale battle between the two armies began to unfold on the battlefield.

“Second row aim, third row standby!! First row—fire!!”

The most noticeable military presence was the phalanx of the Vengeance Legion infantry.

All equipped with blood-red armor and equipment that particularly stood out, they formed a phalanx armed with large rectangular shields and spears, benchmarked from the Imperial Legion.

In other words, they were heavily armored frontline infantry with magical means replacing firearms, or perhaps more like a phalanx with shields capable of ranged attacks.

They gathered in units of 100, further divided into three groups under one commander, taking turns firing and aiming to continuously pour out firepower.

“Fire, I said fire!! We have crossbows too!! Throw the pilums!!”

“I-Impossible!! We cannot penetrate their shields!!!”

The barrage pouring down from a distance where direct-fire weapons could reach overwhelmed the Empire’s firepower, making it impossible to break through the phalanx with mere crossbow fire or pilum throws.

Actually, only a small portion of troops could even return fire like this. Most simply died helplessly under the volley of magical muskets that seemed to have broken through time itself.

Meanwhile, not all soldiers of the Vengeance Legion—the infantry—formed phalanxes.

The most representative were the Veteran Squads, special units composed entirely of experienced veteran soldiers, as their name suggests.

Twelve men formed one Veteran Squad, operating as a unit and showing their effectiveness in chaotic battle situations.

Originally, in the Vengeance Legion, a Veteran was a kind of non-commissioned officer rank, leading less experienced soldiers and being stronger than other soldiers.

And a unit composed only of such Veterans was the best shock infantry, to the extent that the Imperial Legion judged them impossible to handle with regular infantry.

Laughing heartily without even forming a phalanx, they swung various weapons haphazardly, but with each swing, at least one enemy soldier would fall to the ground bleeding.

This seemingly relaxed appearance was merely for tension control; when necessary, they could show a strictness exceeding that of other soldiers.

Anyway, Azkalan, the highest commander (Veteran Commander) of these overwhelmingly effective Veteran Squads.

The Veteran Squads he led roamed the battlefield as if taking a stroll, providing support where enemy forces seemed numerous, then moving on.

And here, the infantry of the Black Sun Legion, with their overwhelming number of 30,000, were also making great contributions.

Their equipment didn’t appear to have changed much from their Imperial Legion days.

The standard armor, Lorica Segmentata, remained the same, and their weapon configuration still consisted of the three components: Gladius, Pilum, and Scutum.

However, most of their equipment had been dyed black with sun decorations, and adorned with spikes or skull trophies, giving them a rather aggressive appearance.

But even considering these changes, this was merely a difference due to change in affiliation; while the actual combat power seemed similar to before—the reality was completely different.

First, their main weapon had changed from before to the Pilum.

About 160-170cm in length.

Originally used as a throwing spear and as a makeshift spear against cavalry, in the Black Sun Legion, the Pilum was an entirely different weapon from its traditional form.

Like the 2-meter magical muskets used as standard issue in the Vengeance Legion, this Pilum was also a kind of magical musket.

Of course, unlike the Vengeance Legion, they couldn’t fire their magical muskets rapidly, obviously because they lacked the relevant skills for operating magical muskets.

Therefore, their strategy was to fire a few volleys and then engage in close combat according to the traditional use of spears.

Considering that this tactic was the standard for frontline infantry, they had essentially brought an army from at least the 1700s by Earth’s historical standards.

So their military achievements were truly overwhelming, with an exchange ratio of almost 1:20-30, which speaks for itself.