The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 173

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Academy Weapon Replicator Chapter 173
Episode 56: Iron Wall
Angen confirmed that Silvain was charging forward with the knights, then took his position before the Barrier.
The moment Angen came into view, the monsters’ eyes changed. Their approach visibly accelerated.
“Hmm, so you wish to kill me?”
Angen hadn’t stepped forward merely to display his strength. He wanted to confirm whether the invisible commander truly existed.
If something was genuinely directing these monsters now, it could never afford to ignore Angen—the very heart of this Barrier—standing alone before them.
And his suspicion proved correct.
Screech!
Shrieeeek!
Every footfall of the monsters, which had shaken the earth like an earthquake, turned toward Angen. It wasn’t simple attraction. All the monsters charged at him deliberately, with clear intent.
“So there is someone issuing commands.”
Angen lowered the blade of Gram to the ground.
He traced a diagonal line through the empty air—a test, nothing more.
Shiiing.
The head of a monster far ahead was severed cleanly. His blade continued through several more before that brief killing stroke ended.
Whatever black fluid clung to the steel mattered little. Angen’s sword cut through everything it touched with uniform precision.
His head tilted slightly.
“So that’s how I’ll learn how hard this black part truly is.”
This time, Angen raised his blade horizontally and crouched lightly. From that stance came a horizontal sweep.
And the monsters still distant this time had their upper and lower bodies separated.
The carnage differed little from before, yet Angen nodded to himself.
“Certainly, the black portion does cut slightly more slowly.”
That was all he needed to know.
As if announcing exactly that, Angen’s blade swung in rapid succession.
The monsters converged on Angen with grim purpose, their speed increasing, flowing toward him like a tide.
Yet still, the distance between them seemed far from closing.
“……That,”
From the Barrier’s rampart, a single soldier watching the scene opened his mouth.
“That, what is that? What is the Commander doing?”
“What do you think? He’s cutting down the monsters.”
A superior beside him replied with utter calm.
“Cut, cutting……?”
The soldier looked back at Angen, his gaze fixed on the blade he swung, and the monsters being severed from that distance. His eyes weren’t deceiving him. His senses hadn’t dulled.
“That’s not Aura, is it?”
If it had been Aura—if he were projecting Sword Aura to cut down monsters—the soldier wouldn’t be so astonished. Certainly, the sheer magnitude of such Aura and Sword Aura that maintained their force across such distance and continued through the ranks behind would have amazed him.
But Angen wasn’t using Aura at all. He simply swung his sword, yet monsters at distances that should bear no relation to him had their necks severed and bodies split in every direction.
‘Besides, if it were Aura, there should be travel time before impact—but there isn’t any of that.’
As if cutting down a monster directly before his eyes.
Angen’s blade killed with absolute immediacy.
“What, are you new?”
“No, sir. But this is my first time seeing the Commander in combat.”
“Well, these days he hardly participates in actual battle—he’s been focused on training the Roach Knights and our soldiers.”
At those words, the soldier glanced around at the others. Some shared his shock, yet most watched Angen’s combat with serene composure.
“We don’t know much ourselves, but we’ve all been guessing it might be Divine Power.”
“Divine Power……? Certainly, I’ve never seen such a technique anywhere else.”
If it were Divine Power, at least that much could be accepted.
Though he couldn’t fathom what god, or what blessing, could result in such a thing.
“Do you think the knights might know? About the Commander’s technique?”
“Who knows. The Commander is so taciturn. Still, he does converse somewhat with Captain Silvain—perhaps the captain would know?”
The soldier listened to this numbly while keeping his eyes on Angen.
The phrase “one man against a thousand”—he’d naturally assumed it was exaggeration. In this age, the position best suited to kill the most enemies was obviously the mage.
Yet even mages rarely killed a thousand at once, and that required sufficient forces to keep the mage protected.
But Angen now, standing entirely alone and unmarked, had already slain several hundred enemies.
True, they were monsters, but if humans had been among them, would the difference have been so great?
“The Commander’s epithet is ‘Iron Wall,’ isn’t it? The Roach Knights and the rest of us disliked it at first—thought it too plain.”
“……Yes. Never allowing a single breach, so we called it the Iron Wall.”
“Yet lately it seems to suit him all the more.”
The superior examined Angen’s form and the space around him.
Angen standing before the Barrier. Monsters pouring forth in an endless deluge, yet unable to close the distance.
And in the space between them, countless corpses piled high.
“How does one avoid wounding the Barrier?”
“……!”
By ensuring the enemy never reaches the Barrier at all.
Hence, the Iron Wall.

* * *
“As expected of the Lord Commander.”
Silvain led his knights to the right on horseback, confirming the sight before him.
He’d felt a moment of concern when the Monsters surged toward Angen all at once, but that was only because he hadn’t watched Angen fight in so long. Mere worry born of absence.
“At this rate, it should end without incident.”
“No. The enemy Commander won’t simply abandon him.”
Angen is not an opponent one defeats through overwhelming numbers. At minimum, they’d need either the constitution to withstand that blade several times over, or movements swift enough to evade it, or some form of ranged suppression. Otherwise, they wouldn’t manage more than a single slash at Angen even after hundreds of them fell.
Even so, hundreds would perish in the attempt.
“The Monsters lack such means now. The Commander will surely adopt a different strategy.”
“What sort of strategy?”
“To abandon the Lord Commander entirely.”
Silvain nodded.
Soon enough, the Commander would give up on killing Angen. Instead, they’d push their Monsters toward the Barrier as originally planned—something Angen alone couldn’t stop entirely. The creatures crawled on the ground and flew through the air. From that point, the true battle would begin.
“Before the Barrier suffers too much damage, we must locate their gathering point.”
Even accounting for the sudden appearance of these black Monsters, their numbers were staggering. There must have been a place where they’d congregated long before this.
“Commander! Ahead!”
A knight called out, pointing forward. He’d spotted the rear of a column that hadn’t yet reached the Monsters’ front lines.
“Blades forward!”
At Silvain’s command, the knights’ swords oriented toward the enemy.
Screech!
The Monsters belatedly noticed the knights. As they fumbled to reform their ranks, the Aura of the Roach Knights enveloped both themselves and their mounts.
Drawing together, their Auras overlapped, transforming into a single vast Aura.
To the Monsters, it became a massive projectile hurtling toward them at high speed.
Crunch-crack-splatter!
The smaller ones burst into pulp against the Aura, while the larger creatures—tall as a mounted knight—fell to the sword.
Immediately after impact, the knights shifted direction slightly, cutting the throats of the remaining Monsters. The creatures endured the onslaught helplessly, unable to strike back even once, forced to watch as the cavalry withdrew.
“Once we’re clear of their sight, we pursue this column! Circle around!”
“Yes, sir!”
The knights accelerated, riding back along the path from which the Monsters had come. Not all of them approached from this direction, but an alarming number clearly continued to arrive from the same quarter.
‘At this rate, their lair must hold an unfathomable number of them.’
Silvain sensed it. If they could identify where this tide originated, they should locate the source and return.
More importantly, this was beyond the Barrier—enemy territory. The deeper they ventured, the more formidable the creatures that might emerge.
Silvain advanced while marking his retreat route, observing the Monster columns from higher ground, maintaining a safe distance as he cut through ahead.
‘Good, their numbers keep growing. Direction confirmed.’
Then it happened.
Caw—caw—!
A crow flew overhead, crying out.
True, the forest was alive with the mingled calls of various creatures, but this crow’s behavior was strange. Most animals fell silent when many humans rode past, yet this one flew directly over the cavalry.
‘What is this crow?’
And closer inspection revealed it held something in its beak.
“Huh?”
Puzzled by the crow’s purpose, Silvain’s attention was fixed on it—until the creature suddenly landed on his shoulder.
“……A Note?”
Up close, the crow held a small piece of paper. Only then did Silvain realize the crow must be someone’s familiar.
Silvain took the paper from the crow’s beak. Unfolding the crumpled, creased sheet consumed considerable effort.
Yet for all that careful unfolding, the message inside was remarkably brief.
Just a few words,
[Beware of Ambush]
“……!”
Reading those words, Silvain felt his mind go white for a moment. Then, suddenly chilled, he shouted urgently.
“All units halt!”
The Roach Knights stopped at his command. While all were puzzled by their Commander’s sudden order, their response was instantaneous.
Silvain steadied his horse’s restless head and surveyed the surroundings.
‘A single path cuts cleanly toward their lair, with dense forest on both sides.’
At first, he hadn’t noticed. This path wasn’t some maintained thoroughfare—it was merely a trail worn by passage, where feet and hooves had worn the earth over time into something resembling a road.
Silvain had initially thought they were pushing through the forest with some difficulty, but somewhere along the way, they’d found themselves treading this natural path, drawing closer to the enemy.
……When did this trail become like this?
‘……It’s exactly the sort of place for an ambush. No—it feels like it was made for one.’
The horses fell silent, their hooves stilled, and the forest settled into a profound quiet.
A whistle—wind brushing between the trees tickled their ears. The other knights, understanding Silvain’s intent, scanned the forest intently.
……No sign of monsters.
“Commander, I understand your caution, but isn’t this perhaps excessive……?”
A knight beside Silvain ventured the words carefully.
They were fighting monsters now, not men. If they were battling humans, one would lure the enemy, set an ambush, conceal one’s presence and strike without warning—but monsters couldn’t do such things.
Concealing their presence was one matter, but many monsters coordinating to set a trap was another thing entirely.
And yet.
“……What they showed us today alone already surpasses everything we knew about monsters before.”
“…….”
The Roach Knights were certainly seasoned in combat against external monsters—specifically, in battles before the Barrier.
Though they possessed considerable intellect, they were still monsters in the end. Their tactics for dealing with them had become second nature, and he could gauge their behavior with confidence.
But today was different. Not this time. The battle had begun in ways he hadn’t foreseen.
‘I don’t know if there’s truly an ambush waiting. This note itself could be an enemy stratagem.’
Yet one thing was certain: those few words on the note had awakened Silvain from his complacency.
“……We’re withdrawing.”
“Commander.”
“We still don’t understand them. The lord has always said there are monsters whose intellect surpasses mankind. It wouldn’t be strange to meet such a creature today.”
“However, if we can confirm their gathering place now, we can minimize casualties at the Barrier and among our soldiers. This battle won’t drag on either.”
Despite the knight’s fervent persuasion, Silvain shook his head firmly.
“Look at this path.”
“……!”
“In war—if we were fighting men—we would never pass through a trail like this.”
At Silvain’s words, the knights looked down at the long path laid before them. Slightly lower than the surrounding trees, narrow but passable, leading toward the enemy stronghold.
It seemed perfectly natural, a road worn by use—but raise your eyes even slightly, and the dense trees on all sides closed in completely.
In war, there is no such thing as a “fortunately convenient circumstance.”
“We withdraw. First, we rejoin the main force and conclude today’s battle.”
“……Yes, sir.”
And so the knights turned their mounts around.
Leaving behind the path that cut straight ahead, where danger might or might not lie in wait.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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