Ch.318Emergency Escape

“For victory, sometimes you must throw your allies as pawns. Isn’t it the same for you? How many were you willing to sacrifice just to blind one of my eyes?”

Haschal couldn’t refute Rurik’s words.

Even if it wasn’t what she wanted, they too had sacrificed troops for victory all the same.

“Shouldn’t you actually be grateful? If I hadn’t been willing to sacrifice my subordinates, your Masters would be corpses rolling on the ground by now. Did you think I couldn’t do what you did?”

Rurik’s threat was true.

The moment he discovered Haschal targeting Lyudmila, he immediately figured out what plan the humans had devised.

A strategy to tie him down while accepting enormous troop losses, quickly reducing the number of Champions to achieve superiority in high-tier forces. It was certainly an efficient strategy, but once he realized it, breaking it was simple.

In fact, there was a much simpler method than charging at Haschal to stop her. A method that guaranteed victory.

If Haschal was targeting Champions like Valentin, he could simply ambush the Masters fighting Oleg or Nazar while running along the wall.

Lyudmila would lose her life, but in exchange, the enemy Masters would be helplessly cut to pieces.

Though it was a method his warrior’s pride would never allow.

“Oh really? How kind of you! Boris might be sad though!”

Of course, Haschal had no concern for warrior’s pride. She gripped Durandal firmly and charged toward Rurik.

Blood-red Karma of Murder swirled around her, and Durandal, having devoured the power of Karma, emitted a chilling aura.

The charge of a Hero at full power. With each step she took, crushed fragments flew up.

“Don’t worry about that. You’ll be continuing the Ivanov bloodline!”

“That won’t happen!”

Rurik raised his claws and smiled.

The Winter Wolf and the ghost of Karma collided with a roar.

Shattered rocks cascaded down like an avalanche.

—-

‘Strong…!’

The moment blade and claw clashed, both warriors thought the same thing.

The opponent they faced was more formidable than expected. As powerful as themselves.

The shockwave tore through the surroundings like a storm. The collision was so powerful that the wall crumbled just from the two warriors’ impact.

Lyudmila fell back helplessly.

“Lady Lyudmila!”

Several warriors hurriedly retrieved her and retreated.

They had to go back down the wall they’d worked so hard to climb, but staying would clearly mean certain death.

– Rumble!

The wall cracked and collapsed. The two monsters glared at each other, having stepped back slightly to avoid being caught in the collapse.

Haschal gritted her teeth and growled while Rurik smiled, revealing sharp teeth.

It was a difference in mindset toward opponents. For Haschal, a strong enemy was merely an unpleasantly troublesome obstacle, but Rurik was a warrior who felt ecstasy the stronger his opponent was.

“Yes! This power! A strength I can hardly believe belongs to a human! Indeed, you deserve to call yourself the Were Eater!”

Rurik launched himself at Haschal with a fierce laugh.

The white giant charged toward its prey. As ferocious as a beast and as fierce as a blizzard. It was literally a winter storm.

“Ready to be eaten, whitey?”

Haschal also rushed toward him. The fur she wore fluttered roughly.

A blue light carved distinct afterimages in the air above the wall.

Her slash signaled the beginning of the fierce battle to come.

—-

– Crash!

Faelrun’s wall, which had stood firm for ages, collapsed with a scream.

Every time the two superhumans collided, violent shockwaves shook everything around them.

The clash was like a disaster. On the trembling wall that shook as if in an earthquake, warriors around them, both human and werebeast, had to crouch low and maintain balance before they could even think about fighting!

“Kyaaaah!”

“Woooooah!”

Haschal and Rurik moved beyond the watchtower, constantly clashing as they traversed the collapsing walls.

The entire Faelrun Castle had become their dueling ground.

Haschal swung her sword, kicking off falling rock fragments as she leaped. The cloak she had been wearing was already torn to shreds.

Rurik avoided her by spinning in mid-air, then thrust his clawed leg toward her.

“Tch!”

Haschal clicked her tongue, holding her sword horizontally and supporting it with her left arm.

The power of Karma of Murder controlled by Hersella covered it like a dense curtain.

– Crack!

As the Karma curtain burst instantly, Haschal’s body fell like a cannonball.

The ground that couldn’t withstand the impact split with a thunderous sound.

[Are you alright!]

“This much is nothing!”

Haschal shook her tingling left arm vigorously and straightened herself.

In the past, even if she had defended, her body wouldn’t have withstood such impact, but this was truly the realm of a Hero.

The Karma energy she emitted externally and the power of Karma that had seeped into her body were protecting her from the shock to some extent.

“Yes, it would be disappointing if it ended with just that!”

A beast’s howl full of ecstasy. Rurik, who landed using the falling debris as stepping stones, charged at her again.

The distance closed in an instant.

“You must think so too, Aishan-Gioro!”

“No.”

Haschal lowered her stance, gripping Durandal with both hands.

In wars of mutual opposition rather than one-sided executions, she always preferred eliminating enemies as quickly as possible. The fewer casualties, the better.

To her, Rurik’s psychology was nothing but a madman’s nonsense.

All she wanted now was to cut off Rurik’s head as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, it wasn’t such an easy task.

“That’s a shame then!”

Rurik swung both arms violently.

The air caught on his claws tore apart, creating sharp whistling sounds.

Haschal’s eyes moved busily, reading the trajectory of his claws.

A series of attacks like a storm. It was like facing ten swords at once.

Claws that didn’t break even when colliding with the true silver sword, with power that couldn’t be blocked even by Karma tentacles for a moment.

Haschal faced the Winter Wolf’s storm head-on, her blue eyes burning.

Her great sword collided with his claws, emitting a dazzling flash.

The sound of collision continued endlessly, threatening to burst eardrums. The surrounding ground shattered, sending fragments flying in all directions.

“Haha! Hahaha! Such unbelievable strength indeed! Are you really human?”

“Can’t you tell by looking?”

Haschal knocked away Rurik’s arm with a wide swing of her sword and dove inside his guard. The tip of Durandal aimed for the wolf’s heart.

“Yes, I see clearly. Indeed, you don’t look like a human at all!”

Rurik threw himself backward as if doing a backflip. Even for him, having his heart pierced would be a dangerous injury.

Even his regenerative abilities couldn’t repair wounds inflicted by a true silver sword.

In fact, the blood flowing from his various cuts showed no signs of stopping.

Though they were merely shallow wounds, not deep sword injuries.

“That must be about you!”

Instead of pursuing him, Haschal reached behind her back with her left hand and drew out a black iron spear.

Red energy swirled around the spear tip. She stepped forward and thrust her left arm. A red beam shot through the air.

Falling Flower Spear.

Haschal couldn’t tell the difference from Red Arrow, but Hersella insisted that different weapons should have different names.

There was no reason not to go along with it, so Haschal called it as Hersella wished.

The flash extended at the speed of light. Rurik couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

Because the spear tip wasn’t aimed at him.

“Oh no…!”

Rurik turned his gaze toward the spear’s trajectory.

The spear shot by the Were Eater was flying toward his subordinates who were battering the gate below the wall!

“Vasili! Viktor! Get away from the gate!”

Rurik shouted urgently.

Haschal grinned.

Her left hand was already back inside her garment.

—-

The two Champions who looked up at their king’s shout saw the flying spear coming toward them and retreated in panic.

It was exactly the same technique as the arrows they had seen earlier. Even before the spear hit directly, they could guess its power and effect.

Their only miscalculation might have been that the weapon Haschal threw was completely different from the silver arrows.

The spearhead, designed to shatter on impact, broke into pieces exactly two seconds after impact, just as Asha had guaranteed.

A crimson meteor shower swept across the front of the gate.

“Arrrgh!”

“Kuhuck!”

The beasts’ screams pounded against the gate.

Viktor and Vasili managed to retreat somehow, but unable to completely avoid it, they had to roll on the ground clutching their severed legs.

Unfortunately, the other warriors couldn’t move as nimbly as their Champions.

—-

Although Haschal had half-destroyed the gate assault team with a single spear throw, she never once looked down at the gate.

The opponent she truly aimed for was never there to begin with.

In the moment Rurik’s gaze turned toward the gate, Haschal immediately pulled out four daggers from inside her garment.

The blood-red energy entwined on the blades flickered like flames.

Karma Fire.

An unquenchable fire burning with Karma of Murder.

‘Let’s see you regenerate until you die!’

Haschal shot the daggers as if throwing balls.

Four streams of flame rushed toward the Winter Wolf.

When Rurik looked back at Haschal, the Karma Fire blades had already reached him.

‘Fire? No, different!’

His wild instincts rang alarm bells. Rurik instantly realized upon seeing the Karma Fire.

That blood-red flame was as dangerous as a true silver sword… no, perhaps even more so!

However, having turned his gaze away for a moment, there was no time to deflect the daggers.

The four daggers pierced the left side of his body.

“Kugh!”

At that moment, Haschal was certain of victory.

Though Asha’s shattering mechanism didn’t work because it had melted in the Karma Fire, that didn’t matter at all.

Once the fire had caught, he would have no way to extinguish the Karma Fire.

All he could do was burn endlessly until his regenerative power was exhausted. Or so she thought.

It was a miscalculation.

“Amateur!”

Rurik raised his claws and slashed across his own body.

From his left collarbone to his right waist, the Winter Wolf’s upper body split diagonally.

“No way…!”

Before the shocked Haschal could respond, Rurik’s right arm struck his own body.

With a thud, the flesh flew far away, rolling on the ground while burning vigorously.

Leaving only part of his upper body untouched by Karma Fire, his right arm, and his head in place.

A body with less than thirty percent remaining. The wolf head attached to the end grinned.

Before the severed flesh even hit the ground, regeneration had already begun.

By the time Haschal rushed toward Rurik, the Winter Wolf was already greeting her with a perfectly regenerated body.