The Mad Spearman of the Northern Front - Chapter 328

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

Mad Spearman of the Northern Front (328)
The entrance to the mountain terrain already reeked of battlefield.
Mingled with the thick scent of earth, the faint aroma of blood seeped through the air from somewhere unseen.
Each time the wind blew, tree branches clattered against one another in low whispers, while the boulders enveloping the mountain felt like colossal beasts holding their silence with clenched jaws.
Arteon slowly lifted his gaze from atop his horse.
The mountain terrain sprawling before him was far too severe to be called merely rough terrain.
The slopes were steep, the paths narrow, and even the ground beneath one’s feet offered no consistency.
It was terrain far too treacherous for mounted travel.
Arteon, observing the landscape, brought his horse to a halt and dismounted swiftly, speaking as he did.
“From here on, we proceed on foot at full speed.”
“Yes!”
With Arteon’s command, the Silent Spear Battalion members responded in unison and moved into action.
The moment they leaped from their horses, they swiftly adjusted their equipment and prepared to charge forward.
Though the training ground remained disorganized, Isaac quickly brought order to the situation.
“The recruits remain here to guard the horses. And Kelrethon.”
Isaac’s gaze fixed upon one individual.
Kelrethon, the support sub-commander of the Silent Spear Battalion.
At Isaac’s call, he nodded.
“Yes, Sub-Commander.”
“You will wait here with the recruits. Should anything unusual arise, immediately fire a signal flare to alert us.”
“Understood.”
As Kelrethon acknowledged, Isaac looked toward Arteon.
Arteon nodded in response and spoke at once.
“We advance.”
The interior of this mountain terrain was already a battlefield.
With enemies liable to emerge at any moment and any location, I had to sharpen my senses to their peak.
With the command given, Arteon moved forward first.
Whoosh!
The instant his feet pushed against the ground, his body shot forward like an arrow.
And the Silent Spear Battalion swiftly pursued in his wake.
Watching the squad members vanish in an instant, the remaining recruits swallowed hard.
Truthfully, merely reaching this point had already pushed their physical strength to its absolute limit.
Eyes gleaming with both envy and an unwavering determination to catch up burned in the direction the squad members had disappeared.
And then….
Thud-thud-thud!
Arteon and the Silent Spear Battalion members raced across the mountain path.
Their movements resembled less ordinary humans and more akin to mountain beasts.
They utilized the irregular terrain itself as footholds, accelerating their pace.
Clatter-clatter!
They surged forward without hesitation, even through the darkness.
At the center of it all.
Arteon drew forth his Mana.
From the massive core fused beneath my heart, energy rippled outward through my entire body.
Along with it came Ki Sense, honed sharp as a blade’s edge.
An invisible realm unfolded within my perception.
‘If only it were possible….’
I wished to extend my senses across the entire mountain, but even having ascended to the 8th Star, reading the whole mountain was impossible.
I could only do my best with what I had.
Whoosh!
As I enhanced my physical abilities with Mana and pushed my senses to their limit, a faint throb of pain emerged in my head.
But Arteon did not slow his pace, climbing the mountain swiftly.
Yet that was the moment.
“…?”
At a straight-line distance of roughly two hundred meters.
I sensed a group rapidly approaching this location from not far away.
Arteon’s footsteps slowed ever so slightly.
If our allied forces had been defeated in battle, they could certainly have retreated down the mountain.
But in that case, their movements would have scattered in different directions.
The fact that they were moving with precision toward this exact location made no sense.
And this movement pattern.
‘…Are they targeting us?’
That could only mean one thing.
“They’re coming for us.”
Arteon’s gaze turned cold and sharp.
Then Arteon spoke to his squad members.
“All units, prepare for battle.”
The moment the words left his lips.
Clang! Clang!
The Silent Spear Unit members gripped their weapons and took their positions simultaneously.
Soon their breathing quieted, and they moved slowly, waiting for the enemy.
By then, Iglis in Arteon’s hand resonated, emanating a sharp Blade Aura.
And in that very instant.
Whoosh!
Black shadows poured down from the side of the mountain path.
“Enemies!”
“We’re under attack!”
The squad members cried out loudly upon seeing the Kar Tribe Warriors emerge.
Arteon’s gaze swept coldly across them.
‘These bastards….’
Had they been waiting for us?
Killing Intent flickered in Arteon’s eyes at the Kar Tribe Warriors’ remarkably swift response.
“You and I….”
Iglis trembled softly in his grasp.
A metallic ring pierced the air.
It was no mere sound of a weapon.
It was resonance infused with Killing Intent.
“There is no time to dawdle here.”
In that instant.
Arteon’s foot struck the ground once more.
Boom!
The earth erupted, and an enormous column of soil surged skyward.
The moment my vision was obscured.
“…!”
“What, what is this?!”
The charging Kar Tribe Warriors could not hide their bewilderment.
How could a single stomp of the foot conjure such a towering pillar of earth?
Yet this was merely the beginning.
Uuuuuuuung!
A faint vibration so subtle that only the keenly attentive could perceive it.
Iglis, now gripped in Arteon’s hand, blazed with golden light and cast a gaze of death.
And….
“I shall end you in an instant.”
The moment Arteon swung Iglis toward the erupting column of earth.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-crash!
A golden Aura exploded outward, and calamity rained down upon the heads of the Kar Tribe Warriors.
* * *
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-crash!
A thunderous sound as if the entire mountain were being overturned.
The reverberations did not merely descend from above.
They rippled across the earth, through the stone, tearing through the air itself.
The Imperial Army ascending the Mountain Path staggered in unison at the impact.
And Belkain’s footsteps ceased.
Just one step.
The instant the sound erupted, Belkain could not take another step forward.
His gaze turned toward the source of that sound above.
Beyond the sheer Cliff, somewhere unseen.
Yet one thing was certain—the location from which that sound had come….
“Claw…!”
It was where Claw stood, having taken the Flag in his stead and moved in a different direction.
It was toward where Claw was, having picked up the Flag in his stead and moved in a different direction.
Belkain’s expression hardened, his eyes trembling violently.
At that sight.
“You cannot stop, Commander!”
Zeulrons cried out urgently from beside him.
His hand gripped Belkain’s arm forcefully, pulling him forward.
“We must go now! We don’t know when they’ll catch up!”
A pursuit force led by a 7-Star Kar Tribe Warrior, no less.
In a single moment of carelessness, being overtaken would be inevitable.
And Belkain knew this as well.
He understood that this delay could endanger the many soldiers gathered here.
But….
‘Damn it, Claw…!’
He understood—truly understood—yet his feet would not move.
Already, Belkain’s gaze was fixed upon one point, his feet rooted to the ground as if cemented there.
And once more.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Crash!
A violent explosion erupted, and crimson light flashed across the sky.
At that sight, Belkain finally released the cry he had been holding back.
“Claaaaaaaw!”
In that moment, the memories he shared with him.
Twenty years of countless moments flashed rapidly before his eyes.
Those instances when death had nearly claimed him.
The days when he had fought with his back exposed to another.
Memories of survival amid blood and mud crashed over him all at once.
Claw was no mere subordinate.
He was a comrade, and a brother.
And so, in this moment.
I understood more clearly than anyone what that thunderous sound from above signified.
“Kugh…!”
My chest tightened.
I wanted to rally the troops immediately and rush to his aid.
But unable to do so, powerless in this very instant, rage surged through me with unbearable intensity.
At that sight, Zeulrons regarded Belkain with a bitter expression.
He knew all too well what Claw meant to him.
But….
“…Commander, we cannot delay any longer.”
At those words, Belkain clenched his teeth hard.
His gums bled as they were pressed by his tightly clenched teeth.
Though he was called the Iron-Blooded Ogre, his eyes burned crimson, as if tears might spill forth at any moment.
“…I’m sorry.”
Belkain straightened his posture.
As Zeulrons had said, any further delay would put the soldiers here in grave danger.
We had to move quickly.
It was precisely as Belkain turned and prepared to take his first step that it happened.
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash! Boom!
“…?!”
“What, what is that?!”
Another thunderous sound suddenly erupted from below.
Belkain’s eyes snapped open, and Zeulrons cried out with a rigid expression.
“Sir, it’s the enemy!”
His voice carried a note of bewilderment.
This level of destructive power.
This was no mere collision of troops.
An attack infused with Aura.
And one that could only be unleashed by someone of at least 6-Star rank or higher.
The sheer absurdity of the thunderous sound hardened Zeulrons’s expression.
There was no one within the Imperial Army capable of such power.
If that were the case, there was only one answer.
Another pursuit unit of the Kar Tribe.
“Damn it…!”
Zeulrons’s gaze wavered.
Whether we went up or down, we had nowhere to go.
Trapped between two impossible choices, he clenched his fists tightly.
But….
“…Surely not.”
Belkain muttered softly.
His gaze remained fixed downward.
For just a fleeting moment, a golden light had flashed past with the thunderous sound.
Throughout countless battlefields and encounters with many warriors, I had witnessed much.
Yet among them all, not a single one wielded a golden Aura.
To my knowledge, only one person commanded such an Aura.
My pupils trembled ever so slightly.
And that trembling soon transformed into certainty.
“It’s him….”
My voice cracked.
“He has come….”
Zeulrons’s eyes widened.
“Commander…?”
Belkain lifted his head.
His eyes no longer wavered.
The burning emotion that had flared so intensely
cooled in an instant, sinking into icy stillness.
And in the next moment.
“All troops! Descend the mountain at once!”
Belkain’s voice rang out like a thunderous bell.
The flow of soldiers that had momentarily halted resumed their movement.
Then Belkain shouted again.
“Marquis Arteon has arrived below!”
In that instant, confusion flickered across the soldiers’ faces.
What did that mean?
Why was Marquis Arteon here?
But Belkain spoke without a shred of hesitation.
“Light the torches! Our position being exposed no longer matters!”
The distance to where the voice had come from was merely a few hundred meters.
Though the mountain presented an obstacle, if they ran at full speed, they could reach it in mere minutes.
“Descend the mountain at full speed!”
“Yes!”
“Understood!”
At Belkain’s command, the soldiers ignited their torches and illuminated their surroundings.
The ground became visible, and they no longer needed to grope through the darkness for obstacles beneath their feet.
“Hurry!”
At Belkain’s cry,
the soldiers rushed downward toward the source of the voice with every ounce of strength, as though grasping for the last rope of salvation.

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