The Mad Spearman of the Northern Front - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Mad Spearman of the Northern Front (12)

“Sparring, you say?”

“Yes, they seem to be doing something interesting.”

Claw gave a brief response to Belkain’s words.

After the first day when he completely turned one squad member into a bloody mess, there hadn’t been any particular reports…

“I never even thought that squad members would learn Combined Tactics together.”

“…Does it seem like he learned Military Strategy?”

“I’m not sure. There doesn’t seem to be anything worth learning from… Honestly, I doubt it’s even proper Combined Tactics.”

He’s a commoner with nothing to his name.

How could such a guy learn Military Strategy like Combined Tactics from anywhere?

However, one thing.

‘That movement back then…’

The movement when he dealt with Moldrek was honestly so clean and precise it gave him chills.

Thinking about that, it did seem like the guy had learned Military Strategy or other Weapon Arts.

‘I should… look into it a bit.’

He’s a guy with many questions.

But then.

“Setting aside that thought for now, hasn’t the reply to the letter sent to Central arrived yet?”

“Yes, it seems it will take a bit more time.”

“It wasn’t delivered incorrectly, was it?”

Belkain’s eyes flashed sharply.

Since it’s such an important matter, it requires considerable attention.

Claw nodded.

“I entrusted it to someone I can definitely trust. You don’t need to worry.”

“Hmm… Then let’s wait a bit longer.”

It must be complexly entangled with the spy buried here.

‘A situation where I can’t trust anyone.’

How did the Empire become so rotten?

It was truly a frustrating situation, but for now, there was nothing to do but wait.

Belkain’s expression as he looked at the documents was filled with nothing but frustration.

* * *

Three days from now.

In a situation where they had to go to the 1st Defense Line called the battlefield of death, all members of the 4th Platoon gathered.

The completely unexpected challenge from the 4th Squad.

The soldiers from other squads felt both absurd and angry about this situation.

“Crazy bastards… They seem to have lost their minds?”

“Are they so eager to die that they’ve made up their minds?”

“Well, whatever. Let’s eat meat to our heart’s content before going to the 1st Defense Line. No matter how much those bastards prepare, it’ll be the same old thing.”

The 4th Squad was the one being neglected even within the 4th Platoon.

Especially after this battle, the personnel was reduced to 5, and only one squad leader was replenished, wasn’t it?

In the atmosphere where everyone was attacking the 4th Squad.

Arteon rather seemed to like this atmosphere as he looked at his squad members and said.

“This is how they look at you. How is it, familiar?”

Raymen was the first to answer the question.

“It’s familiar, but not pleasant.”

“I think we need to split their heads with an axe for them to come to their senses?”

Bert revealed his hostility with fierce eyes.

The other guys didn’t say anything either, but they didn’t hide their discomfort.

“Are you all ready?”

“Yes, we’re all prepared.”

“We can fight anytime.”

“Phew…”

“S-Squad Leader. Should I just shoot arrows…?”

Graphil, holding his bow, said while trembling.

Until now, he had only shot at targets.

But now thinking about fighting people, his hands started trembling.

Arteon said.

“Your arrows will have cotton-wrapped bundles instead of arrowheads. No one will get hurt, so don’t hold back and shoot properly.”

“…Yes.”

Graphil gulped.

The atmosphere was set.

Arteon gripped his training spear and stood in the center of his squad members.

“Open your ears and focus only on my voice. We absolutely won’t be pushed back.”

“Understood.”

“Yes.”

“Yes!”

“I’ll work hard.”

“I will definitely carry out my assigned mission.”

All five squad members answered with determination.

Arteon then said to Hendris who was standing beside him.

“We’re ready. You can start.”

“Good, then starting with the 1st Squad.”

At Hendris’s words, the 1st Squad members who had been preparing came forward.

With new personnel reinforcement this time, 8 members including the squad leader.

“The platoon’s image has been really bad because of those bastards causing trouble…”

“Let’s give them a proper education today.”

Whatever incident had occurred among the platoon members, the 1st Squad guys were looking at them with quite fierce eyes.

Arteon looked at his squad members and said.

“What kind of trouble did you cause for those guys to look like that?”

“Just… nothing much except beating them up a few times when they didn’t listen.”

“…That beating was a bit severe though.”

“I didn’t have any particular trouble, Squad Leader.”

“Was it just me? That bastard Jalbarog also went around beating people up like crazy.”

“He was looking at me with bad eyes. So I just beat him up a few times, that’s all.”

They were definitely guys worth paying attention to.

But that was something to deal with later.

“Everyone focus. This is our 4th Squad’s first battle.”

Even if it’s called sparring, it doesn’t matter.

This is the official first battle.

At Arteon’s words, the squad members’ eyes changed all at once.

They too knew well what this sparring meant.

‘Here…’

‘If we can’t easily break through even this much…’

They die on the battlefield of the 1st Defense Line.

That’s why they had to approach this sparring with their lives on the line.

The atmosphere heated up.

Then Hendris said.

“We’ll be using training weapons, but we deploy in 3 days. Everyone try to avoid getting seriously injured as much as possible.”

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

The soldiers of the 1st Squad and 4th Squad facing each other responded loudly.

At that, Hendris nodded and signaled the start.

“Begin.”

“Hyaaaaaaah!”

“Just smash them all!”

With the 1st Squad leader’s command, the 1st Squad soldiers began charging.

There seemed to be some who had received decent training, as their form while charging with spears looked quite proper.

However…

“Bert, just sweep away anyone coming from the front unconditionally. And Raphelson, Jalbarog. You two focus on defending against attacks from the sides with your shields above all else.”

“Hmph! Don’t worry!”

“Understood.”

“Yes.”

As the three answered.

“Graphil will prioritize intercepting those attacking from the sides to help the shield bearers.”

“Yes!”

Graphil immediately drew his bowstring and prepared to aim.

And finally.

“Raymen.”

“Yes.”

“You’ll face the front and sides with me. I’ll take the left, you take the right.”

“Understood.”

The orders were finished.

And the enemies had already approached close.

“Sh-should I shoot?!”

“Hurry up and shoot, you fool!”

Bert shouted loudly at the hesitating Graphil.

At that moment.

Swooooosh!

Thunk!

“Ugh!”

The guy charging from the front was hit by an arrow and fell backward with a thud.

Though it was an arrow cushioned with a cotton bundle, the damage from that speed was still not negligible.

Graphil looked at his opponent who fell from the first arrow with a bewildered expression.

“I, I did that…?”

But that was only for a moment.

“Focus! Keep shooting arrows!”

“Y-yes!”

At Arteon’s words, Graphil loaded another arrow and drew the bowstring again.

The enemies who had approached right in front of them.

“You worthless bastards!”

“I’ll half-kill you, you sons of bitches!”

Leaped up and thrust their spears toward Bert.

However…

Clang! Crack!

Bert swung his two axes and sent their spears flying upward.

“What? Why are they so slow?”

Compared to the attacks Arteon wielded, these were slow enough to make him yawn.

And the moment their spears shot up into the sky, revealing an opening.

Thunk! Thunk!

The training spears thrust by Arteon and Raymen struck the enemies’ chests.

Thud!

“Gah!”

As two soldiers fell backward, Bert leaped over them.

No, he tried to leap.

Grab!

“Maintain formation, only defend against incoming enemies.”

“Ah, understood.”

Had he gotten carried away by the atmosphere for a moment?

Bert, who had been about to charge out, cooled his head again and looked at the enemies in front.

3 out of 8 had fallen in an instant.

The remaining 5 soldiers showed signs of slight panic, but.

“Attack from the sides! Don’t give them time!”

If they hesitated, arrows would come flying.

The 1st Squad leader shouted loudly and stepped forward.

First priority was to stop that big guy.

“Hyup!”

The 1st Squad leader thrust his training spear toward Bert.

Anyway, the only ones in the 4th Squad who knew how to fight were Bert and Raymen.

Just those two.

Jalbarog was just a thug, and the other two didn’t know how to fight.

“Focus your attack on the left! I’ll hold down Bert!”

The left side was Raphelson.

He was relatively weaker and shorter compared to Jalbarog.

But because of that, Arteon was positioned there.

“Uh, uaaaah!”

As three people charged simultaneously, Raphelson screamed and raised his shield.

But then.

Whooooom.

“Don’t be scared, I’m here with you.”

Arteon, who was right behind him, muttered quietly and thrust his spear toward the charging enemies.

Swoooooosh!

The spear extending in a straight line.

They thought it would be no different from other attacks, but.

Thwack!

With a dull sound, the guy hit by Arteon’s attack was sent flying backward about 10 meters.

“…?!”

“Wh-what?!”

“…!”

The charging enemies flinched momentarily.

No, the 4th Squad members were the same.

He had only been hit by a training spear.

“A-a person can be sent flying like that?”

“That’s even Luke from the 1st Squad.”

Luke, who was famous as the ace within the 1st Squad, had been sent flying without being able to do anything.

The 1st Squad leader, who was facing off against Bert, couldn’t hide his bewildered expression.

“L-Luke…?”

“Hey, where are you looking?!”

Bert deflected the guy’s spear to the side and immediately slammed his forehead into the guy’s face.

Thwack!

With a dull sound, the guy’s nose was crushed and blood splattered.

“Argh!”

The 1st Squad leader screamed and staggered backward.

But this time Bert didn’t charge forward. However, there was one difference.

Swoooosh!

The moment the 1st Squad leader created distance by backing away, Raymen, who had been waiting, extended his spear long and struck the guy’s chest.

Thud!

“…!”

There wasn’t even time to scream or anything.

Under the combined attack of Bert and Raymen, the 1st Squad leader collapsed to the ground and fainted.

Thwack thwack thwack!

The remaining 1st Squad members were also completely dealt with by Arteon.

And….

Snap!

The formation that had been disrupted by the battle returned to its original state once again.

Just one week.

But if you counted the time they had invested in training, it would easily exceed 100 hours.

Let them prove what could change during that time.

“…Huh.”

Hendris, who had been watching that scene, couldn’t hide his bewildered expression.

Hendris raised his hand and said.

“4th Squad wins!”

“Wooooooo!”

“Easy!”

“We won!”

Their first victory.

Perhaps for those who had been desperately focused on just surviving until now, this could truly be called their first victory.

‘Well… even if it was just regular sparring.’

The thrill that comes from victory in an official setting cannot be simply explained with a few words.

That day, the 4th Squad achieved complete overwhelming victories against all squads.

And….

Three days passed.

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