“The count!! Bring the count!!”
“Come on, lord!!”
The protector knights and Bernard rushed in and tried to drag Elburton back into the castle.
The long gash running from his left clavicle to the right waist looked quite serious.
Red blood gushed out more and more.
It was a mortal wound.
The Supreme Ruler of the North had been defeated.
By the king of the barbarians!!
“Hurry!! He has to live! At any cost!!”
Fortunately, he didn’t suffer completely in vain.
The orc overlord had also had an eye gouged out and an ear cut off, but that wasn’t enough.
“Stop him! Stop him!!”
The roars of the warlord, who as if had sensed his own victory, raised the momentum of the orc army to the uttermost.
The three protector knights blocked the orc general’s axe, and in the meantime, Bernard’s thunderstorm ravaged the surroundings.
Kwaaang!!
However, it wasn’t easy to change the course of the battle that had already tilted in favour of the orcs.
‘This is a big deal.’
The patriarch’s defeat was too great.
As he held Elburton, Bernard’s complexion sank as if covered by dark clouds.
Elburton’s defeat was also the North’s defeat.
It could be seen as the defeat of every single knight on the battlefield.
“Aaaaaah!!”
Puff!!
The patriarch’s guards, who had abilities close to paladins, were falling down one by one.
Elburton lost consciousness, but what about the orc general who had also lost his eye and ear? As if nothing had happened, he was still rushing in, seeking to finish off the battle.
Great warriors and orc troops rushed ahead of him and all around.
The Northern Army was helplessly collapsing facing the orcs swarming like locusts, and their corpses were being trampled on.
‘Is this the end?’
Their hearts were filled with mourning.
Orcs flocked towards them like angry bees, throwing and swinging their axes with abandon as if to make up for their earlier setbacks.
“Protect the lord!!”
“Protect the count! Damn it!!”
“Don’t stop… gahk!”
Chaeeng! Kwaaang!
Both knights and regular soldiers didn’t hesitate to sacrifice themselves to protect Elburton.
However, no one could stop the advance of the orc warlord coming to take Elburton’s head. Even Bernard himself didn’t have the confidence to stop that orc’s momentum.
It was the North’s complete defeat.
‘Callius, Emily…’
Bernard’s Lightning Sword cut through the air as he retreated holding Elburton.
Beheading one orc.
Cleaving through another’s shoulder.
Scattering blue sparks that froze enemies in their tracks, compressing and condensing the divine power inside Bernard’s body to erupt with a huge thunderbolt.
“…!!”
Kurreung kwaang!!
But that blue lightning was soon broken through by a double-edged axe soaring high into the sky. An axe clutched in the hands of the half-deaf, half-blind orc warlord.
He couldn’t stop it.
Bernard sensed his own death approaching.
Behind the image of the warlord who’d jumped high into the air, the red sunset sky spread out as the backdrop.
‘What is that? A bird?’
As the end brushed close, a black bird over the red sunset was reflected in his eyes.
A flying bird flapping its huge wings was approaching the centre of the battlefield, grabbing something in its claws.
‘Wait a minute…!’
It wasn’t a bird.
It was a person.
Holding a large sword in one hand –
He swooped down, gray eyes shining.
Huge wings folded, and a red cloak flapped as if melting into the red light of dusk.
The man fell to earth like a red comet, blocking the warlord’s path.
Kung!!
“Kah, kh…!”
Emotions were surging inside Bernard’s mind.
Inside the rising cloud of dust, someone’s faint trace could be seen, slowly raising their head.
“Callius…!”
Black hair. Gray eyes.
He, who Bernard had never thought would be able to come here, stood blocking the path of the enemy.
However, worries soon arose.
“Callius! Run away!!”
Words shouted out because of the unrestrainable surge of emotions.
However, without even pretending to listen, the man took advantage of a gap and blocked the warlord’s axe.
“No!”
A blow that even the count’s sword hadn’t been able to parry away. There was no way Callius could stop it.
In Bernard’s eyes, as if the form of Callius being bisected was being reflected.
Kaaaaaaang!
Dust billowed out.
The air rippled with shock, and shattered fragments of sword energies flew everywhere.
“He blocked it… no, how!”
Excitement and dismay warred in Bernard’s mind.
Callius completely blocked the axe of the overlord with his gray-white sword.
Impossible!
But such a miracle actually happened.
“Ah…”
Elburton, who’d lost consciousness for a while, exhaled softly.
Still in Bernard’s arms, he saw the scene of a dark-haired man with a fluttering red cloak and surrounded by silver petals.
His only son.
“Cal…lius.”
The image of Callius’ back, as he blocked the advance of the warboss, was reflected in Elburton’s blurry and unfocused eyes.
When did your back get so broad? With such a thought, Elburton again closed his eyes, as if for the last time.
“Callius?! It’s Callius! Callius!”
“Master!! I believed in you!!”
“Callius! You’re alive!”
“Callius…”
“I believed in you, Callius!”
Overwhelming emotions lifted up the bodies that had been in the process of collapse.
How, was a question in everyone’s mind, but in the end that didn’t matter.
In the end, Callius had appeared.
And those who’d been spending their lives just to block the warlord’s advance, raised their heads once again.
“Ahhhhhhhhhh!!”
“Kkah!”
Kwaaang!
The warlord’s axe soared high into the sky.
Truly it was some tremendous power.
No matter how strong the warlord was, he fell short facing the brute force of a troll.
Callius, who’d slipped through the gap of an instant, blew away the enemy’s axe with pure force.
‘I don’t have time.’
Even if he squeezed out all his divine power, Spirit Descent could at most be activated for one more minute.
Although it had that kind of power, the sword had such a great demerit.
However, on this battlefield of today, a single sword wielding with the power of a troll –
Was enough, for now.
Seok.
The sword energy fragments transformed into the petals of Silver Flower Wave Sword.
The petals scattered all over the place, blowing with an invisible wind emitted from Callius.
Swirling like a whirlpool.
Silver Flower Wave Sword art, that strikes its enemies like raging waves.
Raging Flower Wave.
The Strong Sword struck at the warlord and the orcs.
Chwaaaak! Chwaaaak!
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
The might of a troll, expressed through Raging Flower Wave, was nothing less than a storm.
The orc warlord, who had been defeated in pure strength, couldn’t handle the attacks that raged like fire and backed away.
As the warlord retreated with deep wounds all over his body, the rising momentum of the orcs began to falter, and neither Callius nor the Northern Army missed it.
Ppuuuuuuuuu–!!
Emily’s horn signalled an attack.
The Northern Army was not unaware of the change in the flow of battle caused by the warlord’s retreat.
A small wind that had been created by Callius –
Would soon intensify into a storm.
“Turn around!!”
“Charge! Kill! Kill those bastards!!”
“Master Callius is back!! The warlord has lost his axe!!”
“Right now! You bastards! Hit and kill even just one more!!”
As if the patriarch’s defeat had already been completely forgotten, the battlefield churned with the screams of rushing soldiers.
Everything was moving forward again.
In the meantime, Callius found Bruns and passed the holy water to Bernard.
“Callius, how are you…”
“For now, let’s start with the first thing we need to do.”
“Yeah, yes.”
Bernard sprinkled half the holy water on Elburton’s body and poured the rest into his mouth.
This alone should be enough to save his life.
Although it was a pity about the holy water, Elburton’s death here could not be permitted.
If he died, the quest would be a failure.
Therefore –
‘Things are pretty bad over there.’
Him pushing the overlord back in battle had boosted the troops’ morale, but Elburton couldn’t fight anymore.
If the warlord put things back in order and rushed in again, Bernard and Callius alone would not be able to stop him. If that happened, the defenders would eventually be annihilated and the quest would fail.
There was no escape.
“Callius…”
Elburton’s voice called out to him.
Various emotions rose to the surface of his psyche at that voice.
Resentment, anger, sadness, pity, and others.
Not his feelings.
But feelings that came from the original Callius.
“Everybody has to lie down one day.”
Ukgh.
Elburton spewed some blood as he tightly clasped Callius’s arm.
“He… will help you like he’s helped me. Even if he isn’t bound to you… so please. Callius –”
Watch your back.
Saying so, Elburton handed over his sword.
“…”
Elburton’s beloved sword.
Callius’s eyes widened a little as he held it.
The character of Elburton that he had set, wouldn’t have handed this sword to anyone until the moment of his death.
“Do you know?”
“What… do you mean?”
“You were named after our family heirloom. I named you after the Storm Sword, Callis.”
He’d never written a setting like this.
However, there was an unquestionable sincerity in the eyes of the man who gave him the sword.
“…”
Seeing Elburton passing the Storm Sword – Callis to his hands, tears suddenly sprang up in his eyes.
He clenched his trembling fists and put Elburton’s bloody hands down.
He raised his head, leaving behind the affectionate eyes he had never received before in his life.
It was a feeling that was not his.
But now it was his.
A voice with no strength but full of certainty could be heard behind his back as he rose.
“Go. Callius. Create a storm.”
[Storm Sword – Callis]
Grade – Vision Sword.
Infused Soul – Callis von Jervain.