Ch.340Winter’s End

Rurik rolled on the ground, spraying blood everywhere.

Though he was completely defenseless, instead of delivering the finishing blow, I had no choice but to roll across the ground myself.

Even though I had dispersed the force through rotation, it didn’t mean I took no damage at all.

Spinning faster than a carriage wheel had left me dizzy to the point of nausea.

By the time I steadied my wobbling body while clutching my head, Rurik too had managed to stand back up despite his staggering.

Truly, he’s disgustingly tenacious. Does he still intend to fight?

Looking at his legs, mangled to the point where bones were exposed, it was obvious he couldn’t properly fight anymore.

“Haa… haa… Why don’t you just give up and die already? You can’t even run away anymore.”

“…That’s impossible. My subordinates are still fighting with their lives, believing in me alone. How could I, their king, abandon the fight…!”

His determination to continue fighting while spewing blood was nothing short of magnificent.

If only we ignored the fact that his current state was entirely self-inflicted.

“Oh, is that so? How very noble of you.”

If your subordinates were so precious, why didn’t you all just live peacefully in your homeland?

Instead of coming down to attack the Empire and getting yourselves killed!

I forcibly gripped my sword with my trembling left arm, weaving threads of Karma of Murder.

Hersella’s technique, Nakgoe.

Unlike him, whose movements became more restricted with each wound, I had means to move forcibly even if my bones shattered.

Though I’d be no better than a puppet on strings… but that was enough for now.

“With your limbs smashed to pieces, how much longer do you think you can last!”

I charged toward him, gripping Durandal. The blade’s brilliant glow transformed the accumulated Karma into a deadly edge.

With those legs, he’d barely be able to move properly now. All I needed to do was press the attack and end this.

“As long as I live, I will never stop fighting. That is a warrior’s duty!”

A beast’s roar shook the heavens.

—-

Twenty minutes later.

Rurik had endured with incredible tenacity, employing every possible tactic.

Kicking up snow to blind me, splattering his own blood to hit my eyes.

Even rolling on the ground and throwing whatever rocks he could grab.

If I lost focus for even a moment, he would lunge at me, swinging his claws.

It was a desperate fight bordering on pathetic.

Well, he wasn’t always strong to begin with. In his weaker days, he must have fought like this, using any means necessary.

Thanks to that endurance, I suppose…

Unfortunately for me, the help he had been waiting for finally arrived.

“His Majesty is in danger! Charge—!”

“The enemy is just one Were Eater! Now… no, only now! We must kill him here!”

The roars of a polar bear with wounds all over and an elephant werebeast with its nose cut off echoed.

Behind them, the werebeast warriors, now reduced to less than a hundred, were charging forward with battle cries.

[Those guys…]

The werebeasts who had separated from Rurik and headed south. Had they shaken off Valdemar’s pursuit and returned north?

Their numbers had greatly diminished, but their fighting spirit remained as fierce as ever.

Of all times, they had to arrive now…!

My expression twisted with dismay.

Normally, such enemies would be nothing to worry about.

However, I too had expended much of my energy fighting Rurik, and in this situation, the arrival of two Champions was concerning.

“Khuheuh… Well, doesn’t the situation seem a bit different now?”

Despite blood streaming from his mouth, Rurik displayed a triumphant smile, baring his fangs.

“…I wonder. What can those weaklings do? They’re just remnants who fled because they couldn’t defeat Valdemar. Let them come. I’ll tear them all to pieces.”

I raised my sword, disguising my concern with bravado.

Now it was my turn to stall for time.

I didn’t know how long it would take for Valdemar’s northern forces to arrive.

…Surely they would come.

—-

Fortunately, I was much more skilled at stalling than Rurik was.

All I had to do was avoid direct confrontation.

Practically giving up on attacking.

Having no allies meant that if I didn’t engage them directly, they would have no one to attack.

I only needed to be careful of Rurik and the Champions.

It was enough to dodge them thoroughly, leaping from place to place, and slashing any pureblooded warriors who came within range.

If Rurik’s legs had been intact, he might have caught me, but with his mangled limbs, he couldn’t catch up to me when I focused solely on evasion.

“I can’t believe he’s doing this…!”

“Running away without fighting! The name of warrior would weep—!”

What nonsense. They had been doing exactly that in the forest all along.

I mocked the Champions who charged at me in frustration, dodging them once more with a sideways leap.

– Whoosh!

The dog werebeast’s axe swept over my head.

Slightly ducking to avoid the axe blade, I grazed his side with the tip of Durandal as I passed.

“Kyahaak…!”

The dog collapsed, clutching his half-severed torso as his intestines spilled out.

Once cut by the true silver blade, there was no chance of survival.

I rolled across the ground and sprang back up, leaping away.

Viktor’s curved blade arrived a moment too late, tearing into the empty ground.

—-

And so, I continued this frantic evasion for dozens of minutes.

By now, the number of pureblooded warriors had dwindled to less than twenty.

“Haak… Haaak!”

My breath reached the limit.

Pale steam rose from my overheated body.

Blood that had burst out from intense movement was soaking my armor.

How long had I been holding out…?

My head was spinning. Even my vision was gradually blurring.

While Durandal supplied me with vitality, it couldn’t heal my damaged body.

However, I wasn’t at the point of collapse yet.

And…

Finally, my expectations were rewarded.

“The werebeasts are over there! Advance! We must end this here!”

Valdemar’s northern army main force was charging toward us.

======[ Rurik ]======

Forty minutes earlier.

When the strike team had just arrived, upon hearing from Vasili that the northern army was in pursuit, Rurik immediately dispatched one pureblooded warrior toward the northern wall.

Firmly believing that Oleg’s reinforcements would have arrived there.

Given the timing, they should have already arrived by now.

‘If reinforcements arrive in time, we have a chance against the northern army. I’ll end it here!’

Originally, he would have fought the final battle near the northern wall, but now he had no choice but to fight here.

With his damaged legs, it was impossible to sprint all the way to the northern wall.

Rurik made his final gamble.

Best case scenario: defeat the Were Eater before the northern army arrives.

Even if that failed, as long as his reinforcements arrived, they could still turn the tide and claim victory.

‘The northern wall isn’t far. If Oleg hears about our situation, he could arrive within an hour.’

A decisive hour.

If the northern army arrived before the reinforcements… then he and the strike team would have to hold out somehow until the reinforcements arrived.

For some reason, the mobile unit that should have arrived before the strike team was nowhere to be seen.

‘Did Nazar fall? No, that can’t be…!’

While pursuing Haschal, who was evading the warriors’ wave attacks by leaping around, Rurik desperately denied the anxiety that suddenly arose.

Nazar, Lyudmila, Abigeyl.

Among his subordinates, they were the fastest warriors aside from Oleg.

It was hard to believe that such warriors could have been caught and killed by humans.

‘…They must be delayed because they took a longer route.’

Suppressing the growing anxiety, Rurik lunged toward the Were Eater who was fighting alone.

With the intention of somehow eliminating the most threatening enemy first.

He couldn’t win one-on-one, but he believed that with two Champions, they could take down an already injured opponent.

However, Haschal, who had half-abandoned combat to focus solely on evasion, was an enemy impossible to catch with mangled legs.

Forty futile minutes passed.

And what marked their end was not hope, but a death sentence.

“Kill all the werebeasts! Make sure they never set foot on northern lands again!”

Valdemar had arrived.

======[ Haschal ]======

Valdemar and five Masters.

One was missing, perhaps fallen in battle, but at this point the outcome was all but decided.

The knights of the north charged in unison behind them.

Their numbers weren’t great—perhaps thirty at most. They must have left all stragglers behind.

Like me, they were determined to end it here.

“Hold them off! Not much longer! Just hold on a little more! Oleg will arrive soon!”

Rurik desperately encouraged his warriors.

So he did call for reinforcements…!

Now—no, as it had always been, it was a race against time.

I had to defeat Rurik before Oleg’s reinforcements arrived.

Without Rurik, we could somehow repel the reinforcements even if they came.

Vasili and Viktor let out fierce roars toward the approaching northern army.

Five Masters, excluding Valdemar, charged toward them.

“I’ll assist you, Baron of Median! We must cut down Rurik here!”

“I know!”

Valdemar, who had rushed toward me, swung his greatsword at Rurik.

Given the skill difference between him and Rurik, it was nearly suicidal, but Rurik couldn’t risk a counterattack.

Because Durandal was flying from the opposite direction, aiming for his head.

And so, the final battle began.

======[ Werebeast Strike Team ]======

Against nearly double their strength, the werebeasts held out tenaciously and desperately.

For a full fifteen minutes.

And nothing happened.

“Why…!”

A warrior who had been fighting desperately despite spilling his intestines collapsed with a lament.

The reinforcements didn’t come. They wouldn’t be coming.

They all sensed it.

If they were really coming, by now… no, at least a few minutes ago, they should have been visible on the horizon.

They had bought that much time, yet Oleg’s reinforcements didn’t even cast a shadow.

Despair filled the beasts’ eyes.

—-

“UOOOOOOO—!”

Vasili, who had been holding out against three Masters, unleashed his final strike with an anguished roar.

His blade, infused with true silver, tore through one’s abdomen, ripping it open. He kicked the opponent away, but it was already a fatal wound.

“Behold the lightning of Faelrun!”

Aingen, who had jumped into the air to avoid the fist, wrapped his blade in mana.

– Crackle!

Lightning entwined around the blade, emitting a golden radiance.

The blade swung wide horizontally. Lightning extended from the tip, drawing a long arc.

Thunder engulfed Vasili.

“KREUUUUUGH!”

The polar bear werebeast screamed as electricity tore through his entire body.

While he could regenerate wounds, the momentary paralysis was unavoidable.

“It’s over!”

Rihart, a Master of Faelrun, seized the opportunity and drove his serrated greatsword through Vasili’s heart.

“Kuhek…!”

Vasili’s mouth gaped open. Blood gushed from his throat.

“To end… like this…!”

The blade tore through his blood vessels and split his heart in half.

It was more than enough to sever the thread of life he had been desperately clinging to.

“How unjust…!”

His knees buckled as strength left him. Bloody tears streamed down his cheeks.

Vasili Cheslav, once called Valdemar’s arch-rival.

The end of his life as a warrior was marked not by the honorable death he desired, but by a miserable end.

Like a cracking iceberg sinking into the sea, exhaling his final breath filled with resentment,

Vasili collapsed.

—-

With Vasili dead, Viktor’s fate was no different.

Now he had to face four Masters instead of two.

“To humans… of all things…!”

The elephant werebeast, with both arms severed, charged at Aingen in a final desperate attack.

– Thud!

A pair of tusks that seemed to pierce through the armored body emerged from Aingen’s back.

However, not a drop of blood stained the tips of the tusks.

“Kugh…!”

Aingen, who had let the tusks pass between his armpits, coughed blood and raised his right arm.

His ribs were half-shattered from the collision with Viktor’s head, but it was far better than being impaled by the tusks.

“The north belongs to Faelrun…! Remember that even in death—!”

Lightning entwined around the longsword in his reverse grip.

Aingen thrust the sword downward.

His blade pierced the elephant werebeast’s skull.

Frying the brain and spine with lightning.

Viktor’s consciousness faded.

======[ Haschal ]======

“Why haven’t you come, Oleeeeeeg!!”

Rurik, battered and torn, roared with bitter rage.

The gauntlet on his left arm had long since shattered, and deep sword wounds marked his chest.

Despite such injuries, Rurik had resisted until the end, but now that his last hope had betrayed him, his fighting spirit seemed to have diminished, his expression filled with despair.

“Isn’t it your fault for trusting a cat?”

I mocked him, pointing Durandal at him.

The power of Karma of Murder was barely enough to move my limbs now, but I still had enough strength left to activate the Defying Fate blade.

Unlike me, he had no way to win, nor any way to survive.

For whatever reason, it seems the reinforcements won’t be coming.

Judging from Rurik’s behavior so far, they should have arrived by now. Did something happen?

Or perhaps Oleg betrayed him.

Come to think of it, Rurik must have existed in the original work too, but he wasn’t even mentioned by name.

Given that Oleg was the king in the original work, perhaps the original Rurik was killed by Oleg?

“Beasts know nothing but tearing each other apart. How fortunate for us.”

Valdemar, also judging that Oleg had betrayed Rurik, raised his greatsword with a taunt.

One of his arms had been torn off by Rurik, but he remained composed as if such a wound was nothing.

“…In that case, I’ll at least take you with me…!”

Rurik, growling through gritted teeth, raised his remaining arm and charged toward me.

A fierce charge with everything thrown into it.

A desperate momentum that was essentially a suicide attack.

But it was nothing more than a final struggle.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be together from now on!”

It was time to part ways with Boris.

I charged toward him, pouring all my strength into the blade.

Crossing killing intent.

Seven arcs intertwined, spewing light.

In that fleeting moment, Rurik’s claws collided with Valdemar’s greatsword that had intervened.

Valdemar’s right arm broke and twisted.

The impact was too much for a Master-level strength to withstand. Valdemar flew backward with a groan.

Valdemar couldn’t hold out properly even for a moment, but that was enough.

Thanks to him, I remained unscathed.

“KYAAAAAAAH!”

The opening Valdemar created.

I stepped forward and raised my longsword.

“Kuk…!”

“Try to dodge this if you can—!”

Rurik’s eyes twisted as he sensed his end.

Bound by the chains of Karma of Murder that had ensnared him, he couldn’t even move his right arm.

Durandal accelerated.

The Defying Fate blade, unleashed with my last ounce of strength.

The blade, emitting a golden radiance, soared toward the wolf werebeast’s neck.

Carrying killing intent that could neither be blocked nor evaded.

.

.

.

Winter had ended.