The tide of the battle completely changed again. With Imor’s entry into the battlefield, Hans’ feet were completely tied, and it wasn’t just him.
“Senior, be careful!”
Koo!
Snoc shot out stones that could explode people’s bodies. But after an invisible force passed through Imor a couple of times, the stones lost strength and fell to the ground.
“What is that!”
Koo…
Snoc was stunned to see his opponent show no movement—not even a twist of an arm—but manage to destroy all of his attacks.
Slide.
Imor stretched out his hand towards Snoc, and in surprise, Snoc raised a dirt wall in front of him.
Crash!
Something pierced through the dirt barrier. Although Snoc had hardened the barrier by mixing in rock minerals, it was helpless against the invisible force.
“Tch!”
In the end, Snoc fled from the spot he was standing at.
Pop!
The dirt barrier exploded into pieces, and Snoc felt something chase after him. He felt a force that could slice his bone even if it lightly grazed his leg.
“Damn it!” Snoc quickly raised the earth and wrapped his feet with it. Because he had made it in a hurry, it wasn’t powerful; but it was made from Snoc’s authority over the earth and contained considerable defense abilities.
Slice!
But the mysterious force penetrated the earth armor. Snoc felt as if the invisible force would blow his feet away when he heard the sound of his earth armor cracking.
Crash!
Light flew past his side. The invisible force was pulled back a bit, and Snoc quickly took off the armor and escaped.
Crash!
His remaining armor cracked into pieces.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes. My feet are still attached to my legs.”
Koo.
Snoc touched the smooth skin of his feet in relief. But Imor didn’t give Snoc much time to enjoy this moment.
Slide!
The invisible force pounced on him again, and Snoc stood up in surprise. Hans ran in front of Snoc and blocked the attack.
Craaash!
Estellade flashed its light and collided against the invisible force with a huge impact. Snoc was pushed back several steps.
“Senior! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine! I think I know what his weapon is now.”
Estellade’s shining, bright light reflected something on its surface; a few, thin threads were wrapped around its blade.
“…Threads?” Snoc blurted out from the unexpected weapon on Estellade’s blade.
With a smug tone, Imor explained, “It’s not a normal thread. It’s called a string sword, which is made from pulling out metal alloys of mithril, orichalcum, and many others. Not only is it soft and stringy, but it’s sharp enough to grip Estellade without breaking.”
Screeeech!
An irritating sound rang out as Estellade and the string sword rubbed against each other and caused friction.
“Urgh!”
The string sword possessed incredible strength. Hans endured the string sword’s pulling for a bit, but he soon twisted and pulled Estellade out. Fortunately, he managed to pull out Estellade, but Imor continued to attack them. Hans and Snoc fought together because they couldn’t fight Imor one-on-one. Hans naturally took the front position while Snoc took the rear. Estellade let out bright lights, and the earth shook. However, the string sword blocked, penetrated, and sliced all of Hans and Snoc’s attacks.
The tide of the battle, which had been in Violuwin’s favor from Hans and Snoc’s efforts, turned back to the monsters’ side again. The monsters wreaked havoc, and the robed figures hunted down Violuwin’s knights down again. Imor also joined his underlings. While cornering Hans and Snoc, he killed the knights and soldiers in his surroundings. He simply had to stretch out his hand, and the string sword slaughtered his targets.
Crash!
Eventually, the formation of Violuwin’s knights crumbled, and monsters swarmed between them. Now, the Violuwin army had to worry about not only their front, but their sides and rear as well. This led to a greater loss in combat power.
“Retreat!” With no choice left, the captain of the knights ordered his troops to retreat. Since most of the civilians had escaped around them, they planned to think of a new defense formation in the deeper areas of the city. However, the chaos didn’t quell down easily, and their enemies didn’t give the knights time to prepare a new formation. Monsters pushed through with their numbers, and the robed figures obstructed the troops. Violuwin continued to get pushed back until they were in the worst possible situation.
“Senior! Behind you…!”
“I know!” Hans couldn’t afford to look at his surroundings due to the string sword’s continuous attacks, but he roughly understood the current situation from the screams around him.
‘They are heading towards the area where people didn’t finish evacuating.’
The Violuwin troops couldn’t even retreat there since civilians were still escaping right behind them. Thus, soldiers and knights stood in place and fought their enemies and died one after another. But Hans and Snoc didn’t have the luxury to help them.
Crash!
“Urgh!”
Even if it was made from a rare metal alloy, the string sword seemed to have too much power for a thin thread. Hans’ body flew away from the impact of the thread.
Crash!
He fell on top of a pile of boxes in an alleyway. The boxes were shredded into pieces, and Hans’ back touched the floor.
“Urghh!” Hans scrunched up his face in pain and raised his body. However, from Zich’s harsh training, he was still able to tightly hold onto Estellade.
“…Huh?” He felt several human presences from his side. There were people nearby.
“What are you doing? You have to quickly escape—!” Then, Hans stopped.
He saw a group of men hiding behind the boxes he fell on. As if they were scared, they were floundering their arms with their butts on the ground. They looked familiar.
‘They’re the men who picked a fight with us!’
They were the thugs who laughed at Hans and Snoc’s dream of becoming heroes and got beat up by Zich. There wasn’t an ounce of the confidence they used to have while picking a fight, and their eyes quivered in fear as they stared at Hans. Of course, Hans didn’t have any good feelings towards them, but he couldn’t just leave them like this.
“Quick, run away! Monsters are going to come so—!”
Crash!
Before Hans could finish his sentence, Hans blocked a string sword that came flying towards him. All the men screamed. Imor came inside the alleyway. As if he was folding his wings, all the string swords he controlled cracked the surrounding buildings and cut through them.
‘Shit!’
Hans had to evade Imor’s attacks. But if he evaded Imor’s attacks, the people behind him would be ripped apart to shreds.
‘Should I just leave them?’
They were gangsters anyways. Moreover, he had a bad history with them.
“…Damn it!” Hans raised Estellade high up in the air. Light began to gather around, and the mana further increased Estellade’s strength. With this, Hans struck the string swords that came flying towards him in all directions.
Crassssh!
There was an explosion and a blast. The force of their intense battle spread across their surroundings. The buildings that had already been mutilated by the string swords were now even more damaged.
Drip! Drip!
The fluid that dripped down his arm was unpleasant. Hans looked at his left forearm and frowned while looking at his injuries that looked like spider webs. In the end, he couldn’t block all of Imor’s attacks and received a serious injury. On the other hand, all the gangsters survived without a single injury.
“Run!” Hans shouted at the men. Paralyzed in fear, the men finally got up and ran away.
“Was there any need to protect them? Judging by their appearance, they don’t seem like upright citizens. You even took injuries for them,” Imor said.
“It’s because I’ve seen a person who had to receive a very bloody and violent lesson for judging people based on appearances.” To be more precise, Hans was talking about the Karuwiman Saint, Lubella.
“I guess. They could be humans who act differently from how they look.”
“No, they actually act the same as how they look.”
“…But didn’t you just tell me that you shouldn’t judge people based on their appearances?”
“It’s because I interacted with them. They really are gangsters that pick a fight with anyone that annoys them.”
Imor burst out in laughter. “And you saved them? Even while sustaining injuries?”
“It’s not like they committed a sin that deserved death. And I’m also dumb, so I’m not good at differentiating between people I have to save or leave to die.”
“…As expected of a person chosen by Estellade.” Imor showed his admiration for Hans. “However, I still can’t let you carry around that sword. There’s already an owner for that.”
“I told you, for things like this, the person who finds it first gets to keep it.”
“I agree with that. And I also think that the next person who picks it up after the owner is dead becomes the new owner.”
Crasssh!
Imor’s attacks began again. Hans kicked a building that looked as if it was going to collapse at any moment and jumped up.
“Senior!”
Hans reunited with Snoc again. Snoc looked at Hans’ injuries. “Senior, you’re injured!”
“They are light injuries. They don’t hamper my movements at all.” Hans began swinging Estellade again.
Crumble!
At last, the building was unable to endure the numerous bashings and collapsed. While the wooden debris of collapsed houses flew wildly in the air, the sharp string swords attacked Hans and Snoc again like a snake. Hans and Snoc combined forces to block Imor’s attacks. However, they were clearly at a disadvantage.
All around them, the screams of Violuwin soldiers and knights could be heard. Hans and Snoc could clearly feel their helplessness, but they were barely managing to fight back Imor.
Crash!
Another one of Snoc’s earth walls burst. Sword strings rained down, and Hans swung Estellade. However, the sword strings this time showed a completely different movement.
Swing!
Like a venomous snake opening its mouth, the string sword curved to the side. It climbed up on Estellade like a whirlwind and grabbed Hans’ arm.
Rippp!
“Aghhh!” Hans’ clothes were torn apart, his skin ripped, and blood flew out profusely. Snoc tried to save Hans, but a different string sword blocked his way.
“You don’t need an arm to tell me your name.” Imor’s calm voice prophesied Hans’ cruel future.
Imor instilled strength into his fingers. He pulled the string sword. Very soon, he was going to pull the sword string to completely rip off Hans’ arm. Hans gritted his teeth in pain.
It was at that moment.
Slice!
There was a quiet cutting sound. It was as if one of the world’s legendary swords was cutting a leaf. Despite the quietness of the sound, the result was amazing. The string sword, which looked like it was going to rip apart Hans’ arms at any moment, now hung loosely. Hans’ blood dripped down the string sword and was thrown on top of the ground like a piece of trash. The light from Estellade reflected the sword string attached to Imor’s hands; it was now clearly much shorter than before.
The string sword had been cut.
Hans, Snoc, and even Imor were flabbergasted. However, that was only the beginning.
Whoosh!
The wind blew. It was a subtle wind that slightly shook people’s hair, the type of wind that made people want to go on a picnic. However, the wind devastated everything it touched.
Robed figures and the soldiers and knights, who were desperately fighting the monsters, stopped swinging their swords. They dumbly looked at the enemies that had suddenly turned completely bloody in front of them. The battle came to a standstill. The Violuwin soldiers, the surviving monsters, and the robed figures all didn’t dare to move.
Tap!
At that moment, someone landed on the ground. Everyone’s attention moved towards that individual. Joy filled up Hans and Snoc’s faces. He was the person they wanted to meet the most right now.
Hans loudly cried out, “Sir Zich!”
Zich put the sword that looked like a tree branch on his shoulder. His eyes moved towards Estellade in Hans’ hands. Zich tilted his head a few times, and spoke for the first time in this desperate situation.
“Why the hell are you holding that?”