Ch.210Too easy.

The soldiers fell silent for a moment.

That was to be expected.

The sight of a single arrow dismembering more than ten men was something they had never even imagined in their lives.

Even I was surprised.

“Ma-magic…! A mage! Viscount Renea has summoned a mage!”

“A mage who shoots arrows? Could it be a fairy?!”

Unfortunately, they were all wrong.

I’m not a mage, I wasn’t summoned by Viscount Renea, and I’m certainly not a fairy.

I nocked another arrow to the bowstring.

“Scatter! Scatter! Magic arrows are coming!”

The horrified soldiers scrambled in panic. Too late, though.

*Crack-crunch!*

Once again, a streak of red light scattered the soldiers into fragments.

Severed limbs painted the air alongside their screams.

‘…This power is certainly impressive. With a few dozen shots like this, couldn’t I end the entire battle?’

[It’s not quite that simple. While effective against clustered troops, it has limitations against those properly equipped with armor and shields.]

So it’s not completely all-powerful.

Makes sense—the Karma power I can infuse into an arrowhead is much less than what can envelop an entire blade.

Still, this should be enough to create an opening.

“The Sword of Landenburg, Nigel, has come to punish you!”

With that bold declaration, Nigel, gripping her spear, pierced through the shattered formation.

A soldier impaled on her spear tip let out a scream.

The confused soldiers couldn’t even muster the courage to aim their spears, collapsing like dominoes as they were knocked back and trampled.

“A knight! A knight is attacking!”

“Wasn’t Landenburg on our side?! Why…!”

“Is this the time to question that?! Stop her! We need to knock her off her horse!”

“You try it then!”

Like a rubber band with a blade pressed against it, their formation split wide open.

Nigel spurred her horse, shaking off the corpse stuck to her spear tip and thrusting in all directions.

With each flash of her spear, soldiers screamed.

I put away my bow and drew Durandal.

Though we were advancing with unstoppable momentum, if the enemies regained their composure and responded calmly, even Nigel would be bogged down.

“Let’s go!”

Gripping Durandal firmly, I urged my horse forward.

The bloodlust rising from me spread in all directions.

“Blood-red mist and black hair…! Could it be…?”

“I’ve heard of him! It’s Aishan-Gioro! The Were Eater, the man-eating demon Aishan-Gioro!”

“Why is the Were Eater here…!”

“How would I know! Maybe he’s hungry!”

Quite the sense of humor there.

In return, I gifted them a dagger—infused with plenty of Karma power, just as Hersella had taught me.

Their upper bodies were sliced into pieces.

Soldiers covered in blood and fragments screamed as if having seizures.

“Aaaaaahhh!”

I drove relentlessly through the panic-stricken soldiers, deflecting their clumsily aimed spears with my blade.

“P-please spare me…”

“I’d rather not.”

Looking into a face turned pale with terror, I swung Durandal at full galloping speed.

The diagonally severed upper body tumbled to the ground.

—-

I remembered breaking through over a thousand undead monsters before.

Even charging with Asha, we lost our horses within minutes.

This was so much easier by comparison.

People collapse and die from just a slight cut, and they cower in fear from mere intimidation.

As long as I watched out for incoming arrows, this was practically a stroll.

“Aaaagh!”

A screaming skull split in half.

Shattered brain matter oozed out along the cut surface.

“Uwaaaaah!”

To face my onslaught with a spear—either remarkably brave or completely insane. Probably the latter.

I grabbed the spear tip aimed at my leg and lifted it vertically.

The soldier’s body was yanked upward, soaring into the air.

“Uh, uhk…?”

A soldier shocked by the sudden change in altitude.

Seems he was trained not to let go of his spear… he should have just released it.

I threw him into the air.

If wings sprouted, perhaps he’d survive.

“U-uwaaaah!”

Leaving the ridiculous scream behind, I charged toward the enemies.

None in the formation could withstand my blade.

“Infantry, fall back from him! Archers! Target his horse! Aim!”

A command from a distance.

In that direction, about fifty archers were all aiming their bows at me.

A knight who appeared to be their commander glared at me from beside them.

“Fire!”

With the knight’s shout, dozens of arrows rained down at once.

Concentrated fire targeting my horse—textbook response, but not particularly effective in this situation.

With just my toes in the stirrups, I leaned over, grabbed an unfortunate soldier, and threw him.

“Aaaagh! S-save me—guk, gak…!”

The man, flailing his limbs as he flew, blocked the arrows with his entire body before crashing to the ground.

Only three arrows made it past him toward me, and even those were deflected by Durandal.

“Is that… even human? No matter how skilled, to throw an armed soldier like a pebble…!”

He seems to know who I am, but not what I’m capable of. Typical of provincial knights.

I turned my horse and charged toward him.

“Damn it…! Keep firing! We must stop his charge! Infantry, protect the archers! Form a defensive line!”

Try to stop me if you can.

The archers reluctantly drew their bowstrings, but the infantry, with their morale completely shattered, ignored the knight’s orders and fled in all directions.

I expected as much. Conscripts wouldn’t be assigned as archers or cavalry, so most were infantry.

Such men are only brave when they have the advantage; at the slightest fear, they scatter like fleas from a fire.

“Huh, huuuk! No! Spare me!”

“That would be difficult.”

I caught a fleeing soldier and crushed his limbs, turning him into a tactical temporary shield.

A human body shield is best for stopping arrows, after all.

The soldier, screaming and writhing, finally fell silent after absorbing a full volley of arrows.

Thanks to my meat shield absorbing the arrows, I reached them before they could finish two volleys.

“Out of arrows?”

I threw the now-useless shield at them and raised my sword.

“Aishan-Gioro! Why are you committing such madness?! Viscount Dubien is a vassal of Lord Leopold!”

“I know! I heard earlier!”

Ignoring the charging knight, I answered while slicing off the necks of fleeing archers.

With each swing of my sword, their heads were cut off like harvest-time grain.

“Are you betraying us?!”

“Us? What us? The Leopold I know would actually approve of this! If you’re curious about the reason, why not go ask Elpinel!”

After cutting down all the archers, I immediately charged at the knight.

A blue arc split his armor in half.

—-

“Your lord, Viscount Dubien, has been captured!”

While I was chasing and cutting down fleeing enemies, Nigel, who had captured Dubien, shouted loudly.

Blood was splattered all over her armor, and she was riding a different horse than before, having apparently lost her previous mount.

Yet she herself appeared unharmed. As expected of Nigel. Reliable as always.

Originally, I had planned to break through alongside Nigel, but the enemy was so weak that it wasn’t necessary.

Instead, dealing with enemies scattering in all directions was more urgent.

Not one should escape. If allowed to flee, they would inevitably turn to banditry.

“If you don’t want your head to fly off, lay down your weapons and surrender! Anyone who runs will be cut down!”

I shouted at the top of my lungs while splitting knights’ heads, ensuring all the confused soldiers could hear.

“I-I surrender! Please, just spare my life…!”

Perhaps understanding it as a promise to spare them, they began dropping their weapons one by one and kneeling in surrender.

Of the more than four hundred enemies, less than half remained. And all the knights had been slaughtered.

With no means of escape, surrender was their only option.

The battle was over.

Compared to the fights I’d experienced before, this was utterly trivial.

Without the element of surprise, it might have been a bit more troublesome.

—-

“Baron Median! Sir Nigel! What is the meaning of this?!”

Inside the command tent the enemies had been using, a tightly bound middle-aged man shouted at me.

Viscount Dubien. With his irritable, harsh face and protruding eye sockets, he looked like a rabid wild dog.

“What do you mean? I’m punishing deranged butchers. What are you glaring at me for? Want me to pluck those eyes out?”

“Butchers? That was merely a tactical operation to destroy Renea’s territory! As a Ka’har native, Baron Median should understand!”

His excuse didn’t deviate from my expectations at all.

Tactical operation…

‘Well, that’s what he says. What do you think?’

[Why ask me? I have no intention of defending the defeated.]

Cutting ties now, are we?

Just days ago you were praising me for understanding war.

“Release me this instant! Attacking allies to help the enemy—when Lord Leopold hears of this…!”

“You’re noisy.”

I plucked out his left eye.

“Gaaaaaah! My eye! My eye…!!”

“So what if Leopold finds out? What do you think will change? Do you think he’ll applaud what you’ve done? This is truly absurd. Who do you think you are?”

“Gaaack! Aaah! Stooop!! Gyaaaah!”

Next came his right eye. Then both ears, and his nose.

Viscount Dubien, collapsed on the floor, screamed and convulsed.

Blood oozed from every hole in his now-smooth head. Like a red-painted Easter egg.

“Did you think we were equals just because we’re both barons? Did you think I wouldn’t touch you because we’re both Leopold’s faction? That’s quite the delusion. Even if I ground you up for fertilizer, Leopold would dismiss it with just a mild rebuke.”

Of course, I had no intention of grinding him up.

After completely crushing his limbs, the screaming Dubien lost consciousness and went limp.

“Nigel, apply some healing potion to keep him alive. Make sure none of those outside escape. I need to meet this Viscount Renea.”

I had some matters to discuss with him.

I should at least handle the aftermath before leaving.

“Will you be alright? Entering an enemy castle alone…”

“If I lose to someone like him, I’m not much to begin with. I’ll be back soon.”

At most, there might be a hundred men. Nothing to worry about.

“Understood. However, if you don’t return within an hour, I’ll lead these troops to attack the castle.”

“Do as you please.”

Nigel nodded and poured a potion onto Dubien’s face.

—-

Perhaps having witnessed the battle outside the castle, Viscount Renea welcomed my visit and readily accepted my demands.

To defect from Ernst’s faction and join Leopold’s, or at least remain neutral.

And to prepare two hundred stakes.

I said I wouldn’t behead them, but I never promised to let them live.