Ch.610Indeed, What Will Happen?

# “Blue Banner Army! Follow my orders!”

Poishira shouted loudly toward the warriors who were still staring blankly at the sky, deliberately ignoring the superhuman battle of Fersen that was close to a natural disaster.

The warriors who had been gazing aimlessly at the sky turned their heads toward him.

“Regroup the remaining forces! Move the wounded aside and have each thousand-man unit report their casualties!”

The warriors, who had fallen into a temporary state of panic due to the mental shock compounded by fatigue from forced marches and fierce battles, heard the firm command pierce their ears.

Their scattered thoughts fixed in one direction.

Follow your superior’s orders.

The instinct cultivated through decades of training transformed them from humans trembling with helplessness back into warriors of the Blue Banner Army.

“Yes, sir!”

The warriors turned their eyes away from the unreachable sky and pulled the wounded survivors from the hills of corpses piled on the swamp of blood and flesh, laying them on the ground where traces of the steppe still remained.

Though it was only a brief time, the battle had been so brutal that there weren’t many wounded. Most of those hit by Haschal’s attacks weren’t injured—they were shattered beyond recognition.

Even among the rescued wounded, none had escaped with minor injuries. Most were critically injured, likely to die at any moment.

Those whose bones were crushed under hooves. Those lucky enough to lose only an arm or leg against that monster. Those whose skin was half-burned by grazing flame sorcery.

All were barely clinging to life, their survival questionable even with treatment.

Poishira didn’t expect to save them all. He simply couldn’t leave them to die moaning on a filthy pile of entrails and blood.

Had they died outright, it would be different, but abandoning still-living wounded like garbage without proper respect could cause fractures in the warriors’ loyalty.

“First thousand-man unit, four hundred remaining!”

“Second thousand-man unit, seven hundred fifty, sir!”

“Third thousand-man unit—”

“Fourth—”

The regrouped warriors reported their casualties in sequence according to their original organization.

‘…The damage is worse than I thought.’

Poishira grimaced, grinding his teeth as he heard the warriors’ reports.

The Blue Banner Army’s strength had plummeted from six thousand to four thousand two hundred. Five hundred wounded and a staggering thirteen hundred dead. It was an unimaginable loss suffered at the hands of just one person in a matter of minutes.

Moreover, even the remaining four thousand two hundred warriors could hardly be called intact.

In the terribly chaotic formation, it had been impossible to prioritize protecting the horses, and over three thousand mounts had either fled the battlefield or died spilling their entrails and excrement.

Among the surviving warriors, twelve hundred had effectively been reduced to mere infantry, having lost their mobility.

‘No, that’s not right. Since the wounded can’t ride, if we redistribute their horses to others, we effectively have about seven hundred mounted.’

Regardless, the damage was truly massive.

‘Traitor Haschal…! It’s fortunate that the Kagan stopped that cursed woman. Without him, eight-tenths of our forces would have been annihilated.’

How, by what means had she acquired such power in just one year? The might Haschal displayed far exceeded Poishira’s understanding and common sense.

‘The Sky Wolf and our ancestors are truly indifferent. How could they grant such power to an ugly, filthy, vulgar, and shameless woman?’

Poishira exhaled a sigh mixed with lamentation.

Power that far surpassed the young Orhan. If only such talent had been bestowed upon Targiyan or Sahakal rather than a traitor, Aishan’s future would have been secure.

That the one who inherited the Aishan-Gioro blood most strongly was, of all people, a heinous, unfilial woman who betrayed her country and people and slaughtered them mercilessly.

If the ancestors were watching over them, this couldn’t have happened.

‘I must kill her here and now. If that monster grows any stronger and begins to ravage the steppes, there will be no countermeasure.’

In Poishira’s view, this was the only chance to kill Haschal.

Now they could fight because the Kagan was present, but if that monster appeared on a battlefield where the Kagan was absent, how could they possibly stop her?

If the battle turned unfavorable, she could simply fly away and escape.

So she had to be killed here. Before that monster, glowing with ominous light while frolicking through the air, became an unstoppable calamity that would stain the steppes with blood.

‘…Still, she can’t break the Unyielding Flesh. Then our victory is assured. How long can she hold out in her depleted state after facing the Blue Banner Army?’

Well, all Poishira could do was trust in the Kagan’s power.

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

Aerial combat—repeatedly clashing and evading while flying through the air with the power of Karma—was a difficult and unfamiliar fighting style even for me to adapt to.

– Whoooosh!

A fist strike like a shell whistled over my head, creating a vortex. I momentarily extinguished the flames beneath my feet to let Orhan’s strike pass overhead, then reignited them while spinning my body to get behind him.

Before me was his bronze-colored back. My silver-blue blade swung like an axe splitting wood toward that broad back that looked as sturdy as a bronze statue.

– Clang!

With a crisp metallic sound like a major leaguer’s metal bat hitting a home run, Orhan’s body flew far away.

To hear such a sound when striking someone’s back with a sword—surely something was wrong with this world.

“Damn it, this is ridiculously hard.”

I spat out an irritated curse while stabilizing my spinning body.

Meanwhile, Orhan, who had been flying helplessly, struck the air to stop himself, then twisted his body and shot back toward me.

“Haaaaaah!”

A blade imbued with tremendous force thrust toward my neck.

I retreated to reduce the impact and deflected the blade aiming for my neck with Durandal, when Orhan’s left fist flew toward my abdomen.

“Your abdomen is exposed!”

After his crescent blade failed to cut through bone and left only a wound, Orhan had broken off the handle of his blade to make it like a short sword, and was now wielding both blade and fist simultaneously.

“Damn it…!”

I hurriedly lowered my left arm to block his strike with Frosting.

– Crash!

“Kuhak…!”

Excruciating pain shot through my left arm and abdomen. I flew helplessly like a high school student hit by a truck, gritting my teeth to suppress the reflux of gastric acid.

Power comparable to my own full-strength strike. Even though I blocked it properly, it felt like my arm bones were being crushed.

“You damn piece of metal!”

“Such language to your father!”

Reflexive curses flew out. I roughly expelled Karma flames behind my back to reduce my momentum, then charged toward him again.

– Clang!

The longsword and short sword crossed, creating a new flash of light in the sky.

“Yes, you’ve grown impressively strong! Both your physical capacity and skill are on a completely different level than before!”

Beyond the shattering streams of light, the middle-aged man’s roar, mixed with admiration and excitement, thundered.

“However, it’s still far from enough to break the Unyielding Flesh!”

A truth that was infuriating to admit but impossible to deny. My attacks couldn’t break through the Unyielding Flesh.

The power of collapse, vacuum blade, Durandal’s slash, even Frosting’s water control.

Despite employing every technique except the art of Murder Karma, all the damage I’d inflicted was merely stripping his upper body bare. Not a single small wound appeared on his muscular physique exposed to the world.

Meanwhile, every time I was cut or hit by him, I suffered impacts that felt like my bones were cracking.

Though my movements were faster than Orhan’s, and he was taking three or four hits for every one I received, it was still a one-sided loss for me since he wasn’t taking any damage.

Wretched bastard.

—-

[ …Did you not choose the wrong tactics? At this rate, you’ll only be exhausted, fall, and be subdued. ]

As Hersella pointed out, being able to fly through the air was encouraging, but that alone wasn’t enough to defeat Orhan.

With no way to penetrate that damned Unyielding Flesh, and having consumed considerable strength slaughtering the Blue Banner Army, it was obvious I would tire first if this became a prolonged battle.

‘I do have a plan… though I’m not sure if it will work as intended.’

Therefore, my goal was never to defeat Orhan in the first place. It would be nice to win, but the possibility seemed nonexistent.

[ A plan? ]

To Hersella’s questioning, I explained the best future I could envision.

The reason I was fighting on, holding out for dozens of minutes despite being certain of my inability to win.

[ …That’s an overly optimistic expectation. However, it’s not entirely impossible. ]

Hersella was right.

If my plan succeeded, not only could I save my life, but I might even be able to capture Orhan…

But the success or failure depended not on my efforts, but on Ludwig’s judgment.

======[ Blue Banner Army ]======

After reorganizing his troops and providing emergency treatment to the wounded, Poishira issued new orders to the Blue Banner Army standing in formation.

“Sixth thousand-man unit, march west, northwest, and southwest. Avoid engagement, advance in dispersed formation, and scout the enemy’s movements. The rest maintain formation, guard the western direction, and wait. Use this time to recover your strength as much as possible!”

“Scouting, sir…?”

This was somewhat unexpected for the warriors, who had anticipated orders to pursue and annihilate the detachment or somehow attack Haschal.

—-

In truth, Poishira had initially intended to order them to pursue and annihilate the fleeing Imperial cavalry with all their might.

However, as he looked up at the two superhumans still fighting after nearly thirty minutes, a new question crossed his mind, stopping him from giving the pursuit order.

‘…Why isn’t she running away?’

Both sides seemed quite exhausted, as the thunderous sounds were significantly weaker than during the initial engagement, and their flight speed had dropped considerably, enough for the warriors to follow with their eyes.

Additionally, seeing Haschal being knocked back with increasing frequency with each collision, it was no exaggeration to say that, as Poishira had predicted, the advantage had already shifted to Orhan.

At this rate, she would collapse from exhaustion after a few more dozens of minutes.

Yet, despite surely knowing better than anyone that defeat was imminent, Haschal showed no signs of retreat, continuing the engagement with fierce roars.

Even though she knew that if she didn’t escape soon, death or an even more miserable fate awaited her.

Of course, escaping this situation wouldn’t be easy even with the ability to fly. Orhan could also fly and pursue her.

But still, it was strange that she wasn’t even attempting to escape.

‘As if… she has a reason to keep us here… Wait, keep us here?’

Realizing something, Poishira turned his head sharply to look west. Thinking of the Imperial wall that could be reached after half a day’s ride.

‘Come to think of it, the Kagan hasn’t ordered us to pursue the Imperial cavalry either. One thousand-man unit would be sufficient for that task. Such a dispersion of forces would clearly have no impact on the situation here.’

His mind raced.

‘Does he judge it dangerous to pursue them? Fearing we might be counterattacked and defeated?’

Perhaps because he had ridden the battlefield with Orhan for twenty years, Poishira successfully pinpointed the judgment Orhan had made.

‘Even if those cavalry flee with all their might, they would be caught before reaching the wall. So, assuming there’s an ambush, the position where those forces are hiding would be… inside the steppe, not at the wall.’

Normally, if they had hidden their main force beyond the wall, they would have been detected by Ka’har scouts, but the situation was different now.

For days, Haschal and hundreds of cavalry had been rampaging and destroying every visible stronghold, making it impossible for Aishan to properly grasp the situation near the wall.

‘Then, the reason that woman is holding out and buying time is…!’

Is she waiting for reinforcements to join?

To exhaust each other’s strength to the limit in one-on-one combat, then deploy the Imperial main force to take down the depleted Orhan.

A stream of cold sweat ran down Poishira’s cheek.