Ch.605I’m Telling You, You’ll Die if You Jump.

“The traitor is coming! Disperse! Disperse!”

“Keep shooting! We must waste that wench’s sorcery!”

The cavalry formation that had been approaching as one mass began to fracture at the front. Like a giant with hundreds of fingers suddenly spreading its fist, the spaces between riders widened, revealing gaps like a loose net.

A dispersed formation to minimize damage from ranged attacks. Though what flew toward them was flame rather than arrows, the effect was undeniable.

By increasing the distance between riders, they could more easily avoid the flames I spewed, and even if caught in the blaze, they could minimize casualties.

“Ride faster! Sorcery is nothing once we close in!”

A man at the front of their formation, presumably a Champion, shouted while firing a composite bow at me.

Well, he’s not wrong. That would be true for an ordinary mage.

Unlike me, who can cast magic just by uttering trigger words, ordinary mages need to calculate all sorts of formulas in their heads, making them fail at mana control if their concentration wavers even slightly.

Dispersing to reduce damage, continuously attacking from range to deplete mana, and closing in to disrupt spellcasting itself—a textbook response.

At this rate, spewing flames won’t mean much. I need to close the distance further.

I galloped forward on horseback, swinging Durandal only to deflect arrows aimed at vital points. My armor was handling the rest of the arrows just fine.

Whether they were using the same type of composite bow as mine, each arrow that struck my armor made a thunderous noise and shook my body violently… but not enough to unseat me.

[Orhan is… in the center of the formation. Unexpected. I was certain he would lead from the front.]

‘That’s fortunate.’

If he had rushed to the front, I might have been tied down fighting just him and accomplished nothing. Thanks to his positioning, I had some time to maneuver.

Ten seconds until collision.

The Champions at the front twitched their eyebrows upon seeing me, their expressions clear from this distance.

[Baishein, Yara, and Rufu. These must be the Blue Banner troops.]

Hersella calmly recited the names of our opponents. All names I’d never heard before. They seemed quite skilled despite being unfamiliar, which likely meant they had all died by Hersella’s hand in the original story.

“Dressed like a whore, you filthy half-breed!”

“Woman without shame!”

Perhaps recognizing my appearance now that the distance had closed, their voices were filled with contempt and disgust.

If I’d fought wearing even less, they might have had a seizure.

“Ha, the filthy and shameless ones are you lot. Bastards who know nothing but killing, raping, and plundering.”

Three seconds left.

I gripped Durandal with both hands and unleashed all the power I had been deliberately suppressing.

Like a peacock spreading its tail feathers, the hero’s aura burst forth. Their faces instantly paled with shock and tension.

“T-this is…!”

Did you think three Champions would be enough to stop me? Good thing I suppressed my aura and approached stealthily.

“Go to the afterlife together!”

My blade, imbued with the power of great deeds, traced an azure arc through the air.

“RAAAAH!”

A Champion wielding a massive axe let out a fierce roar as he swung his weapon diagonally to parry Durandal.

Another one tumbled off his horse as if falling, while the last one yanked his reins and leaped into the air with his mount.

Two of them managed to dodge? Quick reactions.

The next moment, my blade collided with the Champion’s axe.

– KWAAANG!

A thunderous explosion that seemed impossible for a mere collision between a longsword and a battle axe. Beyond the lightning-like flash, a fountain of red blood erupted.

“GAAACK…!”

The axe-wielding Champion—Rufu was his name?—trembled and convulsed with bulging eyes, clutching what remained of his axe handle.

In midair.

His lower body, still seated in the saddle, passed by me spilling entrails.

Durandal, imbued with transcendent power, had shattered his axe, broken through his armor, and separated his upper and lower body as cleanly as cutting a cake.

Judging by his frontal charge, he must have been confident in his strength, but he was still no match for Rurik.

Thanks to the added momentum of the horse, it had the power of a hero’s strike despite being at the level of a Champion, but his opponent was simply too outmatched.

“Rufu…!”

“Good heavens, a Champion with a single strike…!”

The two Champions who had dodged stared in horror as Rufu’s body spun through the air, spraying blood.

“It’s too early to be surprised!”

I pulled the reins upward and lightly scratched Cascador’s flank. Understanding my intent, the unicorn bent its knees and leaped high.

“Huh…!”

Yara, the Champion who had jumped into the air with his horse to avoid my slash, let out an urgent groan.

The horseback riding technique of man-horse unity, infusing one’s Karma into the mount to handle an ordinary warhorse like a divine steed.

I used to struggle with countering this technique, but now it was nothing. What I was riding wasn’t a horse but a unicorn—a mythical beast surpassing even divine steeds.

If I couldn’t match their horsemanship, I’d simply prepare a better mount.

“KHIHIHIHING!”

With a fierce—though still horse-like—whinny, Cascador charged upward toward the enemy, its horn piercing the belly of the opposing horse like a knight’s lance.

A squelching sound of tearing flesh. As Cascador jerked its head, the enemy horse’s belly was ripped open, its contents spilling out.

“That wasn’t just decoration?!”

Yara, suddenly horseless, raised his glaive in panic.

He must have mistaken Cascador’s horn for some kind of ornament on the barding. Well, that’s understandable.

A horse with a horn? Who would have imagined such a creature actually existed?

“Could it be a mythical beast?!”

“That’s right.”

I leaped from Cascador’s saddle toward him. He reflexively thrust his glaive at me. I dodged by tilting my head and extended Frosting to grab the shaft. Yara gritted his teeth as he sensed his impending death.

“Not so fast!”

Just as I was about to strike Yara’s neck with Durandal, Baishein—the Champion who had rolled on the ground to avoid my first attack—hurled two spears at me.

The flying spears, aimed at my head and waist, vibrated with swirling energy.

‘Block it!’

[You should say “please block it,” shouldn’t you?]

Despite grumbling, Hersella released the power of Murder Karma to intercept the flying spears. Dark red tentacles bloomed behind me, extending like chains to grip the spears. Their trajectory curved sharply as they flew toward the sky.

I didn’t even bother looking at them, instead drawing my curved sword with my left hand as I brought down Durandal in a reverse grip toward the attacking Yara.

– KADEUDEUDEUK!

Huh?

Instead of the sound of tearing flesh, there was the screech of metal against metal.

The moment Durandal’s blade met the curved sword, his blade twisted in a strange trajectory, deflecting the force of my sword.

My deflected blade plunged into the spine of the horse he had been riding. It was as clean a parry as something Valenstein might have done.

“How’s that! This much at least…!”

Yara laughed triumphantly as he discarded his now-bladeless curved sword and drew a dagger, swinging it at me.

My left arm was holding his glaive, and my right hand was gripping Durandal’s hilt, which was stuck in the horse’s back—for a moment, both my arms were immobilized.

“So what?”

I leaned my upper body backward sharply to avoid his dagger.

– HWUNG!

The missed dagger cut through the air with a whooshing sound. He seemed to be trying to exploit the moment my arms were immobilized, but I was still much faster.

“Kuk…!”

Gritting his teeth, Yara reversed his grip on the missed dagger and brought it down toward my face. I slightly tilted my head, presenting my shoulder to the dagger as I sprang my upper body upward like a coiled spring.

– KWAGAGAK!

The steel dagger left a scratch on my shoulder armor before shattering into pieces. His expression twisted with despair.

“Too bad, isn’t it?”

I smiled broadly as I headbutted him in the face with the momentum of rising.

With my forehead.

– BBEOEOEOK!

His skull burst like a watermelon. Warm, sticky liquid soaked my hair as it poured down. Brain matter, eyeballs, bone fragments, and teeth scattered in all directions.

[Why would you headbutt him of all things…?]

Hersella muttered in disbelief, as if she hadn’t expected me to shatter his head with a headbutt.

‘You told me to show something cruel and shocking when fighting multiple opponents.’

It was advice Hersella herself had given. That’s why I deliberately used my head instead of my fist.

This would be visually much more impactful.

“HASCHAAAAAAL!”

See? It worked perfectly.

Baishein, the last remaining Champion from the vanguard, leaped toward me in uncontrollable rage.

With a blood-covered face, I grinned and threw the glaive at him—along with Yara’s body, which was still clutching it even in death.

“Futile!”

Baishein swung his halberd to deflect Yara’s corpse, then used the body as a stepping stone to leap once more, thrusting his halberd at me. It was truly a foolish move.

“How stupid.”

I kicked away the falling horse carcass and jumped sideways. The warhorse, which had died instantly from its gutted belly and pierced spine, burst into chunks of flesh, spraying a rain of blood.

“Damn it…!”

Baishein, suddenly covered in horse remains, gritted his teeth and turned his head toward me, but…

I was already far away from him, and he no longer had any means to pursue me. I had already unsummoned Cascador, and Yara’s warhorse that I had used as a foothold was now just pieces of meat.

All Baishein could do was fall toward the ground in frustration.

I extended my right hand toward Baishein. Understanding my intention, his face turned pale.

Let’s see how he avoids this without wings or a foothold.

“Kena-“

Just as fierce flames were about to burst from my outstretched palm—

“Fire at will!”

“Bring down the traitor bitch!”

Hundreds of arrows and spears were fired at me. It was like a waterfall flowing upward.

…Their response was quicker than I expected. Only about twenty seconds had passed.

“Cascador!”

I summoned the unicorn I had unsummoned earlier.

“HIHIHIHING!”

With a brave whinny, Cascador materialized in the empty space beneath my feet. Instead of mounting him, I grabbed his neck with my left arm and used him as a shield against the incoming arrows and spears.

– PUBUBUBUK!

Hundreds of arrows and spear tips embedded themselves in Cascador’s body. Even the spears thrown with all the warriors’ might couldn’t penetrate through to reach me.

As expected of a mythical beast, quite sturdy.

“KHIHIHIHEK!”

Cascador let out a scream, eyes bulging from the sudden pain. Grateful for the unicorn’s tearful sacrifice, I spewed flames mixed with Murder Karma toward Baishein, who was still falling.

“Kenaz!”

Dark red flames extended like a dragon’s breath.

“Damn it all…!”

Baishein tried to dispel the flames by swinging his halberd, but how could that possibly work? The Karma-infused flames engulfed his entire body.

“AAAAARGH!”

With a desperate scream, the Champion-turned-fireball began to melt like ice thrown into a furnace.

That makes three. Not a bad result, thanks to the surprise attack. I smiled with satisfaction as I mentally considered my next move.

And then—

“HASCHAAAAAAL!”

A chill like a dragon’s maw approaching. A fierce sense of danger shot up my spine.

[Dodge!]

The moment Hersella shouted her urgent warning, I was already kicking off Cascador’s flank with all my might.

– KWAAANG!

An explosion hammered my eardrums. I pressed down on my ringing ears and looked at where I had been just moments before.

Cascador, now like a hedgehog with its side burst open, was pitifully flailing its four legs in midair. That space had instantly been reduced to nothingness!

Undoubtedly a hero’s strike.

It had power equal to a full-force slash from Durandal.