Ch.606I Won’t Fight With You.

As I fell helplessly in a parabolic arc from about ten meters in the air, I turned my head toward the direction of the roar.

In the center of the cavalry group, Aishan-Gioro Orhan was glaring at me with fierce, tiger-like eyes. He emanated an aura as massive and violent as a burning mountain.

‘What was that just now?’

[A throwing spear. That monster of a man. I suspected as much, but he’s indeed several times stronger than before…!]

Aishan-Gioro Hersella muttered in a bitter tone.

…So that strike was just a simple throwing spear. He really is disgustingly strong. I thought I was the only one capable of such feats at this point. Clearly, Orhan’s power wasn’t just about hardening his body.

“Now’s our chance! He’s lost his footing! Shoot him down!”

“For Biyashen’s revenge!”

Seeing an opportunity, the surrounding warriors once again fired a volley of arrows and spears. They aimed at me, seemingly with no way left to move.

Some warriors were even waiting at my landing point with their spears raised upward, apparently intending to skewer me vertically like a criminal sentenced to impalement.

Do they lack the ability to learn? They seem to have completely forgotten that I just summoned Cascador moments ago.

Or perhaps they think I can no longer summon it since the Cascador I used as a shield evaporated from Orhan’s throwing spear.

It’s true that summoned creatures that take enough damage to be forcibly recalled typically vanish completely.

However, if that were the case, the Ring of Returning Seal wouldn’t be called a sacred artifact.

The Ring of Returning Seal doesn’t summon the actual creature sealed within the ring, but rather creates a kind of avatar of the sealed being through the power residing in the ring.

That’s why, despite the limitation of three times per day, as long as the ring itself isn’t destroyed, I can immediately resummon the creature even if it dies!

So—

“Cascador!”

I stretched both arms toward the ground and called out. Blue mana light erupted from the ring, condensing in midair to form the shape of a horned horse.

“Keeeeeeek!”

With a fierce roar that could no longer be called a horse’s neigh.

“That’s the… from before…!”

“The horned spirit horse! Wasn’t it dead?!”

Yes, it’s alive. Though it seems a bit angry.

I grabbed the unicorn’s neck and back with both arms, using its belly to block the incoming arrows and spears as I fell toward the warriors.

“Grrrrrk! Grrrrrrrk! Kerrrrrrek!!”

Cascador, once again being used as a shield, rolled its eyes in anger and pain, wildly swinging the horn on its head, but it couldn’t overcome my strength.

“Dodge! Dodge!”

The warriors who had been waiting with raised spears for me to fall let out cries of dismay at the large shadow looming over their heads.

“Too late to run!”

A horse’s weight varies by size, but even a light one weighs hundreds of kilograms. Cascador weighed a ton.

What happens when a one-ton blunt weapon falls from several meters high onto people below?

“Get crushed—!”

The faces of the warriors desperately trying to create distance contorted.

With less than a second until impact, I pushed both arms forward, ramming Cascador—now a mass weapon—down onto them.

The warriors made a final desperate attempt to stab with their spears, but their shafts couldn’t penetrate Cascador’s body, instead breaking against bone and muscle.

And the next moment, the massive one-ton body crushed them.

— BOOOOOM!

The ground shook with a tremendous roar. Sticky blood splattered like a tomato hit with a hammer.

Torn-off limbs, heads with eyeballs popped out, lower bodies that had expelled all their contents from the pressure—all flew in every direction. Human fragments and horse fragments scattered and mixed together. A stench hit my nostrils.

“Kerruk…”

Unable to withstand the impact, Cascador let out a dying groan and was recalled. That makes twice it’s died. I only had one more chance to use it as a shield.

I got up, shaking the blood from my reddened hands.

“This… madman…!”

The surrounding warriors looked at me with horrified faces, trembling.

Their eyes were like those looking at an existence so abnormal it defied description.

Perhaps they were shocked by the situation where three cavalrymen were instantly crushed to death, or perhaps by the sight of someone not only using a priceless spirit beast as a shield and stepping stone, but now even as a blunt weapon.

They wore expressions similar to what scientists might have had upon first discovering the platypus.

They’re full of openings.

I twirled Durandal once and slightly bent my knees. I’d charge in and—

— WHOOOOSH!

[Here it comes!]

No, change of plans.

An overwhelming force flew toward me with a sound like a cannon. An instinctive sense of danger shot to the top of my head. My body reflexively turned toward it and took a defensive stance.

“Haschal—!”

Orhan, mounted on a massive black horse, charged toward me with a raised crescent blade gleaming with a red luster.

The aura was so intense it distorted the surrounding air. His forearm, briefly visible between armor pieces, was as thick as my thigh, and his packed muscles reminded me more of the king of werebeasts than a human.

…If I took a hit from that, blessing or not, I’d be shattered.

A hero’s karma and transcendent strength. Add to that the impact force of an amazingly fast and massive black horse. If I tried to withstand it, I’d end up like infantry hit by an armored train.

“KRAAAAH!”

Orhan swung his crescent blade with a fierce battle cry. A red line followed the blade. It was a slash so fast it left afterimages.

“Kuk…!”

I desperately awakened the power of karma residing in my soul and threw myself into a colorless world.

Defying Fate.

A black and white space without sound, color, or smell. Every being around me moved as slowly as crawling snails. Even the blade of Orhan’s crescent sword had slowed to the level of an ordinary soldier’s slash.

In this compressed time world where even raindrops fell like thick honey, the fact that he could move at that speed was astonishing enough.

I threw my body sideways, rolling on the ground to avoid Orhan’s blade tip.

I tried to counterattack by swinging Durandal while rolling, but this method only confirmed that I couldn’t penetrate the Unyielding Flesh. Orhan’s forearm, which the blade grazed, merely sparked slightly without a single wound.

The next moment, the gray world shattered and the displaced time axis returned to normal.

— KWAAAAAANG!

The belated sonic boom reminded me of a fighter jet taking off.

The distance between us had suddenly widened by about ten meters. As I pushed off the ground and bounced up, Orhan was already turning his reins, sliding across the ground to face me.

The drift cavalry technique I’d seen many times before. Dust rose like waves.

“Hmm. Is that your hero’s tale? Remarkably fast indeed… but lacking in power.”

Orhan, having grasped the characteristics of my hero’s tale after just one exchange, smiled like a man-eating tiger.

As he said, Defying Fate wasn’t a hero’s tale that enhanced attack power, so it was just a waste of strength against Unyielding Flesh. It wasn’t a matter of skill difference but a fundamental compatibility issue.

‘…This isn’t going to work.’

I gave up on crossing swords with Orhan.

After experiencing him up close, I could be certain. This man, in pure physical ability alone, wasn’t much different from me. The depth of his karma of murder, accumulated from killing who knows how many people, rivaled my own achievements.

‘Fighting him in this situation would be certain defeat.’

Even if I managed to defeat Orhan through some miraculous struggle, I would be too exhausted and injured to move properly afterward.

In front of thousands of warriors with rage-filled eyes.

…The outcome was obvious.

[I can’t… deny that…!]

Aishan-Gioro Hersella ground her teeth in frustration but agreed. Even to her, facing Orhan head-on now would be the worst choice, throwing away even the slightest chance of victory.

“You’ve grown impressively strong, but your manners have become truly vulgar. Not even a greeting for the father you meet after a year?”

Instead of charging at me again, Orhan rested his crescent blade on his shoulder and spoke.

“Ha, what father are you talking about now? I’ve already switched to another father.”

I showed my teeth while shaking off the dirt clumps stuck in my hair.

His attitude was incredibly calm, as if having an everyday conversation between father and daughter, despite facing a traitor who had slaughtered several champions and killed countless warriors.

It was unpleasant, as if he were mocking me, suggesting that whatever desperate measures I took wouldn’t work against him.

This bastard is already acting like he’s won everything.

[Another father? What nonsense are you suddenly…?]

‘Ludwig, of course.’

Since Ludwig said he would take me as his adopted daughter, technically he’s my father now. Not this muscle monster in front of me.

“Another father… Ludwig? What a petty way to avenge his lost child.”

“Still better than you, though?”

I shot back with a sharp voice, kicking off the ground to distance myself from him. The ground beneath my feet exploded and shattered as the scene before me suddenly receded.

I rotated my body halfway and turned my gaze toward my target.

I said I gave up on crossing swords with Orhan, not that I gave up on fighting.

My fight was just beginning.

“Wh-what?!”

“He’s coming this way!”

After Orhan charged at me, the Blue Banner warriors had maintained their encirclement without interfering, as if not wanting to get in his way.

They pointed their spears and swords at me in confusion as I suddenly flew toward them. Their faces were filled with shock, as if they couldn’t imagine I would charge at them.

What, did they think I would duel Orhan?

Am I crazy? Why would I accept a duel that’s not only hard to win, but even if I won, would end with me being killed by all of you?

To win and survive, I had to choose the option with even slightly better odds.

“KYAAAAH!”

The distance between me and them closed instantly. I grabbed the spear shaft that appeared right in front of me with a fierce roar and leaped up.

— SLASH!

The swung Durandal lightly severed a warrior’s neck. Blood fountained upward. I kicked away the headless corpse and mounted his horse, charging toward the other cavalrymen.

“Where do you think you’re running, Haschal!”

[Behind you! He’s catching up!]

‘I know!’

A wrathful storm-like aura followed me in pursuit. It felt like all the hair on the back of my head was standing up. My spine trembled with cold.

Yes. Of course you’d respond like that!

I forced my lips into a smile and drove my horse among the enemies, swinging Durandal in all directions as if avoiding Orhan charging toward me.

The Blue Banner Army had maintained a tight encirclement to prevent me from escaping. I forced my way through that gap.

“ARRRGH!”

“You mongrel bitch!”

A blood storm swept like waves. Even warriors who barely managed to block a strike couldn’t withstand the force in the blade and were thrown off their horses.

“What are you all doing?!”

A champion, unable to stand it anymore, let out a fierce shout in frustration.

“Tighten the encirclement and attack from all sides! Don’t let the traitor escape!”

I appreciate that.

From the beginning, my goal wasn’t to break through the encirclement, but to bury myself within it.

I drove my horse relentlessly into the center of the encirclement. Front and back, left and right. Everywhere I looked was filled with enemy warriors without a gap.

According to plan.

The next moment, I pulled up the killing intent sleeping in my chest and spread it in all directions. An ominous murderous intent spread thickly. Though it didn’t have the power of karma of murder behind it, it was enough to threaten the surrounding enemies.

“Kuk…!”

“This mere pressure…!”

Of course, it was impossible to intimidate the elite Blue Banner warriors of Clan Aishan with just pressure. They endured my aura head-on, though their expressions hardened and cold sweat ran down their faces.

Yes, that’s expected. No disappointment there. I wasn’t targeting them anyway. Of course warriors would be able to withstand this level of killing intent.

Warriors would.

“Hihihihihing!”

But no matter how brave a warhorse is, a horse is still just an animal, and animals are sensitive to killing intent.

“Wha—!”

The Blue Banner warhorses began to panic and rampage, running wild with fear. Their formation immediately collapsed into uncontrollable chaos. Like the middle of a highway after a forty-car pileup.

“This…!!”

Beyond the terribly chaotic formation, Orhan’s voice, tinged with dismay, could be heard.

Yes, you understand my intention now, don’t you?

“Come on then! After you cut down all your subordinates!”

The decisive difference between Orhan and me:

I could move while ruthlessly cutting down surrounding enemies, but he couldn’t. Because each one was his own soldier.

The rampage of hundreds or thousands of horses became a barrier between him and me.