Ch.330Delayed Battle

Starting with the clash between Champions and Masters, the knights who had regained their composure also began to fiercely engage against the Werebeasts.

“Bind their movements! Don’t let them leap!”

“Where do you think you’re escaping to!”

The knights of Faelrun unfurled the iron chains they had been carrying and swung them.

Silver blades protruded from each link. Whether fur or tree trunk, anything caught and entangled in the chains was torn to shreds.

“Kyahaak!”

“Kugh…! My leg, my leg…!”

Beasts that had been leaping between trees fell as they were caught by the chains.

With blades deeply embedded in their bodies, they all bled profusely, their forms mangled.

“Now! Cut off their heads and tear out their entrails! In the name of Faelrun!”

“In the name of Faelrun!”

Knights wielding saw-bladed swords rushed toward the fallen Werebeasts and swung their weapons.

Desperate screams filled the forest.

“Kerrrwik…!”

A brown-furred dog Werebeast clutched its completely severed neck and collapsed.

“Kihyaaak! You humans!”

A cat Werebeast, screaming fiercely from the pain of its torn stomach, raised its claws to strike in place of the weapon it had dropped.

A knight ducked low to avoid the claws, then thrust his left arm into the gaping abdomen and pulled out all of the creature’s entrails.

“Kya, kyahaeugak…!”

As its organs were completely extracted and severed, the cat Werebeast threw back its head.

Bloody foam dripped from its muzzle. Its entire body trembled with convulsions.

Urine leaked between its legs, giving off a foul steam.

“How dare you!”

The Werebeasts weren’t just being slaughtered helplessly.

A rabbit Werebeast that had nimbly avoided the chains charged forward and kicked one of the knights.

– Bbeoeok!

As the steel longsword swung in defense shattered into pieces, the rabbit Werebeast’s right foot smashed into the knight’s face.

A blow that no human skull could withstand. The knight’s head was crushed like a watermelon hit with a hammer.

Human blood and beast blood mixed as they splattered across the white snow.

The trampled and melting snow turned into a red mire.

—-

While knights and warriors disemboweled each other, the powerful fighters on both sides were also engaged in their own battles.

“Do you think a mere archer can defeat us in the forest!”

“I think I can! I just need to pierce through the trees!”

Millia stood still, firing arrows like a mounted machine gun.

An incredible firing rate that seemed impossible for a steel bow. Her well-developed back muscles seemed visible even through her armor.

– Kwaduk! Kwaduduk! Pakak!

The fired arrows easily penetrated through the trunks of the great trees.

As she had claimed, the silver arrows shot from her iron bow had enough power to penetrate thick conifers as if they were sheets of paper.

“That’s nothing if I don’t get hit!!”

The snow leopard Werebeast climbed and leaped between trees to avoid the arrows, and whenever she saw an opening, she charged toward Millia.

“I’ll tear you to shreds!”

Her movements were as nimble as a beast’s.

Truly, she charged like a snowstorm, wrapping around the tree trunks.

“I won’t let you be violated!”

Blocking her attack was the role of a newly joined knight.

As a Master of the Faelrun army, he too was experienced in fighting Werebeasts. His silver longsword covered in saw teeth caught and held the snow leopard’s twin blades.

“Fulmen!”

A counterattack followed. The quietly uttered incantation imbued his blade with lightning.

Was he a knight who had reached the level of Master while also learning magic?

The power wasn’t particularly strong, but it was enough to cause Abigeyl intense pain.

“Kyaaaak-! This…! Stop interfering!”

The snow leopard gritted her teeth, kicked away the saw-bladed sword, and leaped backward again.

—-

While the two of them faced Abigeyl, Lyudmila was engaged in combat with Demian.

“You brat! Get out of my way right now!”

“I’m afraid I can’t grant that request!”

– Kaaang!

The greatsword and spear collided with a scream.

The spear, unable to withstand the impact, shattered into pieces. Steel fragments scattered across the snow.

The Jin silver greatsword he had used before had been reclaimed as it was apparently a family treasure of Faelrun, but the replacement greatsword he had been issued also contained quite a bit of Jin silver, making it incredibly sturdy.

Enough that an ordinary steel spear couldn’t even scratch it.

Though Demian had only recently reached the level of Master, his opponent was still an injured fighter who hadn’t fully recovered.

Even in one-on-one combat, far from being pushed back, he was gradually gaining ground.

—-

Other Champions were also engaged in fierce battles against Masters.

“It’s been a while, Valdemar! Do you remember me!”

“Vasily Cheslav… so you were alive after all! Have you finally come to die!”

The polar bear Werebeast, Vasily, continuously swung his fists against the Duke of Faelrun and Rihart.

His knuckle guards and greatswords collided with explosive sounds, and a longsword aimed at an opening was deflected off his hand. Despite facing two skilled Masters, he still hadn’t suffered a single wound.

“You fox bastard, you ran away quite well earlier?”

Leonore had somehow already attached herself to Nazar, who had been commanding the throwers from a tree.

Her longsword and Nazar’s greatsword were entangled again.

“What happened to your friend? Without him, your head might come off this time.”

“He is not my friend!”

Nazar shouted irritably as he swung his greatsword.

The scene was no different from the battle at the wall.

The only difference now was that Leonore’s side had the numerical advantage.

“You sound like a princess. Having no friends at your age, how pitiful.”

“Why are you bringing me into this!”

As soon as Nazar deflected Leonore’s longsword, a pale flashing saw-bladed sword came for his arm.

“Kuuuk…!”

Nazar hastily pulled his arm away, but he couldn’t completely avoid it, as evidenced by the clear wound on his brown fur.

“Why? The princess doesn’t have many friends either. Isn’t that what you said, miss?”

“…I have many now, you know?”

Frider, shaking flesh from his saw, snorted.

After frantically searching for Oleg and finding no sign of the snow tiger anywhere, he had apparently given up and joined Leonore.

—-

“Krrrr…”

Rurik, who had briefly surveyed the surroundings, growled with a rumbling throat.

Even fighting on favorable terrain, it’s difficult to overcome a difference in strength.

The Werebeasts in the trees were falling one by one to the knights’ counterattacks, and the Champions were accumulating wounds.

More than ten pureblooded warriors engaged in frontal combat had already died.

“…Is this as far as we go.”

“What, your life?”

I charged toward him, kicking off the tree I was perched on. Like a comet falling in a diagonal line.

The tree trunk that had served as my foothold burst into pieces, spilling snow.

– Swaeeaek!

The tip of my sword shot straight toward the wolf Werebeast’s collarbone.

Instead of parrying with his claws, Rurik took a big step and leaped backward.

A wave of white snow erupted like an explosion, blocking me.

– Puk!

The cold sensation felt across my entire face. It was like hitting a pile of snow with my head.

There was no pain, but it was cold and unpleasant. The snow, which melted instantly due to my heated body temperature, streamed down my cheeks. My collar became soaked.

“Dodging? Let’s see how much longer you can dodge-“

“Retreeeeat!!”

Rurik, who had moved far away, shouted at the top of his lungs.

At his roar that shook the air, piles of snow on the branches fell in showers.

The scattered snow powder rose like fog.

—-

The fight wasn’t very long.

More precisely, it ended before we could properly engage in battle.

As soon as Rurik gave the order, the Werebeasts created gaps by breaking the surrounding trees and retreated like an ebbing tide.

They weren’t fleeing because they were overwhelmed.

They retreated so quickly and in such an orderly fashion, as if they had planned to withdraw from the beginning.

Pursuit was impossible.

I could have done it alone, but the others couldn’t move by leaping from tree to tree like me or the Werebeasts.

“Ah, really. That fox bastard, I thought I was about to catch him, but he got away again…!”

Leonore roughly ran her fingers through her hair in frustration.

—-

After that, the attacks were repeated several times.

Whether they were coming back as soon as their wounds healed, it happened about once every two hours.

Because of this, our forces hadn’t advanced much since the initial engagement.

After all, we too needed to rest and tend to our wounds after battle.

Moreover, since we couldn’t manage the horses during intense combat, most of the mounts that had been led by their reins were long dead.

The corpses of horses with their heads smashed by rocks or their bellies torn open by wooden spears were everywhere.

Even the horses that barely survived scattered and fled while the knights were engaged in battle.

Though fleeing through a forest full of Werebeasts would only lead to them being hunted and becoming snacks for the enemy before long.

Perhaps only three or four war horses at most might have escaped the forest alive?

“…This is troublesome.”

“Yes. It seems that exterminating them won’t be as simple as we thought.”

Valdemar and Karl’s expressions darkened.

Certainly, I could detect the signs of an ambush, but that alone wasn’t enough.

If they had charged in a do-or-die manner, we could have finished this, but they were attacking in a truly cowardly way.

I almost wondered if they had been trained by old man Valenstein.

Our forces barely had a chance to properly counterattack.

They would climb trees, rain down thrown weapons, and as soon as casualties started to occur, they would flee immediately.

Even when I and the Master-level knights tried to respond, Rurik and the Champions targeted only us persistently, leaving no opportunity to go after the ordinary Werebeasts.

[ …This is dangerous. ]

Hersella spoke to me in a slightly more serious voice.

‘Yes, being hit one-sidedly like this without proper rest…’

[ You fool, that’s not what I mean. ]

‘What?’

Hersella clicked her tongue as if I were pathetic and continued in a tone like she was advising a subordinate.

[ Don’t you understand? They are obviously stalling for time. And they’re doing it by mobilizing their entire force except for one. If so, there can only be one purpose. ]

Stalling for time? For what purpose…?

Even if our soldiers arrive…

Ah.

[ They have also called for reinforcements. And reinforcements that they are confident will defeat us if they arrive! ]

…There are more Werebeasts?

No way. At this point?

A sense of crisis ran down my spine.