Chapter 31
The well and all the leftover food in the village that the Orcs enjoyed had already been poisoned.
And quite some time had passed since then.
No matter how savage they might have been, they would not be able to fully digest the venom Callius had left for them as a present. And now there was a chance to slaughter them.
“If you don’t want to follow, I won’t force you. I guess that’s all you amount to.”
Callius ignored them thereafter and drew the Predator Sword – Loas from his waist.
It had swallowed a lot of blood the last few days, so a lot of the breakage had regenerated, and there were no visible gaps on its blade anymore.
‘Not long left.’
After completing this quest, Loas will smoothly become a Spirit Sword.
There won’t be much difference in terms of unique abilities, but it’ll still be better than nothing.
“I’ll go first.”
Callius left the hesitating Knights behind, and headed for the village.
Bruns, moving to follow him, exclaimed.
“Heh! Shameful bastards. Is there anyone here who doesn’t owe his life? To think that Knights who keep babbling about honour and pride would be so low-class.”
Tsk, tsk.
“Even a dog knows to guard the house where it gets its food, but you guys behave like this? It’s a shame to call you Knights, it’s a pity! If this is what you’re like, just put down your sword!”
Hearing something like that from a servant, several Knights rose up.
Startled, Bruns moved closer to Callius.
“Shut up, Bruns.”
“Yes, yep!”
After a while.
“Hey, are you just going to sit still? I’m not shameless enough to keep my sword sheathed after hearing that from a servant who is not even a Knight. It’s embarrassing.”
“I’m going too. If there’s something you believe in, you have to go.”
“Me too. Anyway, there’ll be nowhere to go if the North is destroyed. My home is here. Besides, he’s the one who saved my life, and there must be some plan.”
By ones and twos.
Watching the Knights rising, Emily gave Callius a curious glance.
Sreung.
Emily drew her sword –
And strode after Callius. Even a child only a little over twelve years old pulled out her sword and headed towards the Orcs. The Knights’ faces became hot at the sight.
“Eh, damn it!”
“I’m going too, fuckl!”
Emily’s actions served as the catalyst, and all the hesitant Knights stood up. Some of them were just swept away by the current and followed along, but most were fascinated by the swordsmanship of the one in the lead, Callius.
As Bruns said, all of them owed him their lives.
So they had no other choice.
The one in the lead, Callius, looked upon the Orcs in the village with burning eyes.
‘There are quite a few decent guys.’
There were even some Orcs standing on guard.
However, the village didn’t look as peaceful as he expected.
Pretty annoying.
Callius quietly closed his eyes.
Soon, the sounds of the distant village blew in the wind and arrived at his eardrums.
By concentrating spirit energy on his ears, a little bit could be interpreted according to the Bard’s Blessings.
– Ueeeeek!
– Keuuulululul!
He slowly opened his eyelids and raised the corners of his mouth in a curve.
“I’ll clear the way.”
Callius gave a quick glance to the Knights following behind, then immediately circulated the power from his Elixir Field to his whole body.
The bud of the Six Peak Flowers technique slowly bloomed, caressing his tired body and filling it with divine power.
Tas!
His form jumped up in the air and towards the town.
“Душман!!” 「Enemy!! 」
The Orc standing on the alert screamed so loud that his eardrums were about to burst.
However, because of that –
Chwaaak.
He couldn’t stop the single swing of Callius’ sword.
“Chaaaaaarge!!”
Bruns screamed out loud.
“Cha, charge!”
“Uaaaaaaaaa!!”
The Orcs were bewildered for a moment at the sight of the Knights uncaringly rushing.
But then they picked up their axes.
‘It was supposed to be a surprise attack.’
I’ll get Bruns for this, later.
“If you’re still alive by then!”
Kaaaang –!
“Die!”
Kwajik –!
Aaron, wielding a greatsword, killed an Orc with a grin.
The body was tired all over, and all his muscles kept throbbing, but the feeling wasn’t bad.
Oddly enough, dealing with the Orcs wasn’t as difficult as before.
“These guys have no strength, like sick dogs! Hey! Isn’t that right, kid!”
Seuk – kung!
“I’m not a kid, I’m Allen.”
Aaron, with the sword on his shoulder, smiled at Allen’s response, who only came to his waist in height.
Allen took a small breath as he wiped the blood from his sword.
“But I agree with you. Their movements have slowed down. It’s like they’ve been poisoned by something.”
I don’t know what happened, but this raid was successful enough.
With Knights less than half their number, how could you win over this number of Orcs?
This is a merit that is not lacking by any measure.
“From today on, in the North, Bards will sing of Callius and of us Knights!”
“Hahahaha! That’s good!”
Kung! Kwajik!
“Hey, hey! Die! Die! Die so they can sing my name!”
Chwaaaak!
Aaron panted as another Orc fell, and then he saw the man at the forefront of wiping out the Orcs.
“Should I say, as expected of a Jervain?”
“Well. You probably don’t know the rumours about Prince Callius.”
“But those rumours don’t seem very believable. Right now, in my eyes, there is no other Knight braver or more honourable!”
Only the enemy’s corpses and blood surrounded him as he slaughtered the rushing Orcs, his red cloak fluttering in the wind.
“Maybe he didn’t even need our help…”
“Don’t say stupid things. Look closely, kid. No matter how strong a Knight is, his stamina is not infinite. Look at what he’s doing.”
Callius had the upper hand even when facing two or three enemies at once.
Of course, the Orcs’ condition was abnormal, but there was no other Knight on the field who could deal with their movements and attacks like that.
Even so, he sometimes lost his sword from an unexpected attack, had to roll on the ground, and fight desperately.
If he lost his sword, he hastily grabbed another from the corpses around him, and kept fighting with the spare sword without pausing.
“Prince Callius is overdoing it. He must be in a hurry. Even if he doesn’t express it, he’s the one leading us.”
“Are you saying he’s overdoing it for our sake?”
“Why else would you take the lead and swing your sword like crazy?”
That was then –
“These guys! If you have time to chat like that, go kill at least one more enemy! Don’t you know how hard my master had to work to save even a single one more of you! He even prepared the scene for you by poisoning the bastards, but you keep chattering without even saying thank you! “
“Po, poison? Really, poison?”
“While you guys were playing, he poisoned the well! You idiots!”
Tadadak!
Bruns, after spitting out such foul language, hid behind Emily.
“As Bruns said. Our time is not infinite! If you can afford to talk like that, kill one more.”
“Yes!”
“Well… I see. Lady Emily.”
Allen and Aaron, tightly clutching the hilts of their swords, glanced at the leading Callius. They now drew their swords faster than before.
‘I called him reckless without knowing anything…’
‘He had a plan after all.’
An indescribable emotion bloomed in their hearts.
Kaang –!
Steel flashed again.
Seuk –! Saak –!
It felt good to slash with the sword.
Loas was like that, the more you cut with it, the sharper it got.
Loas, drinking more and more blood, was slowly becoming sharper and lighter than before.
Kaang –! The trick to block the Orcs’ axes was becoming more and more familiar.
‘It’s definitely more comfortable than the first time.’
The Orcs’ unique strength.
Their techniques of wielding the axe.
Straightforward movements.
Those things are pretty familiar by now.
So, if you swing your sword like this, it will be difficult for them to stop, and if you do that, you can rush further without worrying about a counterattack.
If you roughly know how they fight, it’s easier to cut through them.
Kuung.
Leaving another Orc fallen behind him covered in blood, Callius looked back.
“Huu –”
The Orcs who couldn’t fight properly due to the poison had been left to the Knights.
He was only cutting down the opponents who still had strength.
“They’re doing great.”
He saw Bruns and Emily joining forces to defeat an Orc.
Bruns made quick slashes with a heavy dagger to injure the Orc’s limbs, while Emily blew his axe away with her excellent swordsmanship.
‘They’re breathing pretty well.’
Bruns’ swordsmanship skills weren’t anything to talk about, but he was quick-witted, and Emily was making room for him to intervene in the fight.
Emily caught the Orc’s attention, and Bruns took advantage of the gap and stabbed him deeply.
The dagger Bruns was holding only had a black blade, but it was still a Carcass made by Callius from an Orc Warrior’s corpse. So, regardless of his swordsmanship skills, if he stabbed with enough force, it was enough to rip through the Orc’s flesh and bury it up to the hilt.
Callius shook his head and calmly observed the situation around him.
The tide had already turned.
The remaining Knights had banded together to defeat the weakened Orcs.
It seemed that even a villager would be enough to kill an Orc dying from poison.
“At this point, I might have run away.”
But Orcs did not.
In such a situation, they were trying their best to take at least one more person with them to the underworld.
Rather, as they were going to die anyway, they wanted to die fighting.
‘If you die, die on the battlefield.’
That was one of their creeds.
In the fervent belief that you must die on the battlefield to reach the embrace of their God –
Orcs wander the battlefields, wielding those huge axes, hoping to die in battle.
In search of the highest of honours.
That had its own taste, but…
“It’s rather good.”
Since the Orcs are rushing in like moths to a flame, the more you can kill, the higher the level of rewards you will receive.
“Huu –!”
Taking a deep breath, Callius ran towards the onrushing Orcs again.
At the same time.
“Wow, he fights really well. This time, he even drew another sword, dual wielding!” “… Is that so.”
Orphin was repeatedly clasping the hilt of her sword with her hands.
She couldn’t overcome Rinney’s urging, so she moved a little away from where they were originally hiding.
The two of them moved alone, closer to the battle. Rinney’s eyes were special, so she could see places even further away even if they moved only a little.
Even in the darkness before the dawn, it was the same, so Rinney and Orphin held their breaths and watched the battle of the Knights led by the Pilgrim with the fluttering red cloak.
“It’s all over now. It’s a victory for Callius. Really, just with those idiots, somehow he annihilated a lot of Orcs!”
Rinney looked at the sweat on her palms and exclaimed as if exhaling.
“Awesome… that’s really great.”
Orphin couldn’t believe it.
However, there was no reason for Rinney to lie.
If the Knights had been defeated, it was them who would be in danger next.
“But the Orcs didn’t look very good. They were grunting and vomiting as they fought. Really dirty.”
“… Is that so.”
“Yeah, it’s not likely that the whole group of Orcs would have a sudden stomach upset, maybe Callius had already done something underhanded?”
“No way. They didn’t have any time to do that.”
“But even in that kind of a disadvantaged situation, Callius waged a fight on them and won.”
Unless you are certain of something, you cannot move like that.
Especially for wandering Knights who have not even been properly appointed as Knights.
Besides, they had already suffered major and minor injuries, so in a fight with the Orcs, defeat was almost certain.
‘Even so, he forced a battle.’
It’s not something you can do unless you’re sure of something.
Combining the situation and the condition of the Orcs, one naturally had to think of ways Callius could have tilted the odds in advance.
“I don’t know if he’s really a Jervain.”
No matter how much you think of a way to make them unable to fight properly, there is no other way than poison.
“In addition to his swordsmanship, he has that kind of resourcefulness? He has a handsome face and is even smart, so how did he become Jervain’s idiot?”
‘That’s what I want to ask.’
Orphin laughed loudly at Rinney talking to herself. Seeing that valiant figure, who would think that he was the unprecedented scapegrace of the Jervain family?
“What is he doing now?”
“Sitting on a pile of Orc corpses, raising his sword with the Knights. If you keep quiet, you might hear them?”
She closed her eyes for a moment, and she indeed heard them.
The screams of the Knights were almost inaudible, flowing on the wind in the cold forest.
A cry of victory resounding on the battlefield.
‘Aaaaah.’
Orphin hugged herself with her arms.
Desire bloomed in her eyes.
The soul of a Knight was boiling.
She also wanted to taste that victory on the bloody battlefield.
She wanted to shout out the cry of victory boiling out from her Elixir Field.
“Ah….”
However, unlike the pleasant shouts she heard, she herself was in a miserable condition, standing in the freezing northern wind.
As a Knight of Jervain, she couldn’t even wield her sword to her heart’s content.
Orphin’s fists clenched tightly.
Why can’t I be there, drawing my sword?
Why can’t I confront the true enemies of the North, the Orcs and their demonic beasts!
Orphin suppressed the momentary urge to draw her sword and rush forth.
Kuduk.
Orphin’s grip on her sword’s hilt tightened with the emotion burning in her heart.
“We must go now. Master Callavan may arrive here soon at dawn.”
“Uh-huh!?”
That was then –
Rinney’s pupils dilated.
“What’s going on?”
“Red hair!”
Orphin’s gaze burned at those words.
“Is that really true?!”
“That’s right! Red, red hair. Red hair… Orphin!”
“Why, a Great Warrior…”
Great Orc Warrior.
An elite among the Orcs’ elites, said to have powers many times greater than a normal Orc Warrior.
“Uh, what should we do? If that’s a Great Warrior, he’s very strong! I read it in the books. Callius is going to die… Orphin!!”
Despite Rinney’s call for help, Orphin only looked desperate.
“A Great Warrior…”
Even if you go to help, nothing will change. It is too far-fetched to think that those who just finished a battle can run away from a Great Warrior.
Orphin said with a dark face –
“They’re all…”
They’re all dead.
Editor’s Notes:
No, they’re not all dead. Geez, Orphin, we’re like at thirty chapters.
Great Warriors are basically higher up on the ladder than normal Orc Warriors. It can sometimes be translated as Warchief, but here the context is pretty clear.