The Mad Spearman of the Northern Front - Chapter 349
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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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Mad Spearman of the Northern Front (349)
Kwaaaaaaang!
A thunderous crash echoed across the Battlefield as a Spear fell before Arteon.
Though the destructive force lasted only an instant, it was tremendous enough to make me flinch.
The ground split open as if torn asunder.
The frozen earth and stone of the Northern Region erupted into fragments, and the shockwave rippled outward like a wave, driving the surrounding Soldiers backward without mercy.
Thud!
As the impact finally subsided, the dust swirling through the air began to settle slowly.
And from within it, a figure gradually emerged.
He was not particularly large in stature, yet his frame possessed an extraordinary balance.
There was no wasted muscle—instead, all his strength seemed condensed, concentrated into pure power.
Long hair cascading to his shoulders swayed in the wind, and his angular jaw paired with a neatly trimmed beard, along with his firmly pressed lips, emanated a peculiar gravity.
As if the very space where he stood possessed a different density than its surroundings, a suffocating silence pressed down upon the air.
But above all else.
‘…His eyes.’
I had fought countless Kar Tribe Warriors across the Northern Front.
Yet the depth and keenness in this man’s gaze was incomparable to any Kar Tribe Warrior I had faced before.
It was the kind of eyes only one who had stood before death without retreating even once could possess.
Where had I seen such an expression before?
In a fleeting moment, several faces flashed through my mind.
But before that memory could fully connect.
“Kaldrikran!”
Gormak cried out loudly upon seeing him.
His expression was one of considerable shock.
He sensed that a presence capable of completely reversing the current situation had arrived.
Yet the man called Kaldrikran showed no reaction whatsoever.
He simply extended his hand toward the Spear lodged in the distance.
Shuuuuck!
The Spear, embedded straight into the ground, moved as if drawn into his grasp.
Pushing aside earth and stone, it tore through the air.
Snap!
In an instant, he seized the Spear and fixed his gaze upon me, speaking.
“I will hold this one back. Retreat swiftly with the Warriors.”
His voice was low and composed.
Yet the certainty contained within it was an Order itself.
“What? Now that you’ve arrived, here….”
Before Gormak could finish his words.
“This is a Military Strategist’s Command. I will not permit disobedience.”
….
At Kaldrikran’s words, Gormak clenched his lips tightly.
The Military Strategist’s command was as absolute as Taman’s own word.
To defy that command was equivalent to raising arms against Taman himself.
But above all, the very fact that Kaldrikran had stepped forward personally in this moment carried a singular meaning.
This Battlefield could already be handled by him alone—such was the judgment that had been rendered.
Of course, even if that weren’t the case, I could not take Kaldrikran’s words lightly.
Though we were bound together as fellow Great Warriors, Kaldrikran was a special existence even among those who bore seven Feather Tattoos.
Gormak turned his body and hoisted Rakjen onto his shoulder in one fluid motion.
“We’ll discuss this once we’re clear.”
His words carried the certainty of one who took escape from this place as a foregone conclusion.
Kaldrikran watched Arteon in silence.
Thud!
Gormak launched himself forward with explosive speed.
There was no hesitation in his movement.
His instincts had already reached their verdict.
Remaining here any longer was no different than courting death.
At that sight.
“You think I’ll simply let you leave?”
Arteon’s eyes blazed as he hurled himself toward Gormak’s position.
The ground beneath his feet erupted and fractured.
A golden Aura exploded outward in an instant, enveloping his body and generating tremendous propulsive force.
The distance closed in a heartbeat.
But in that same instant.
Shrieeeeeeek!
A Thrusting attack that curved like an arc came hurtling toward him, and Arteon swiftly raised his Spear to intercept it.
Clang!
The shriek of metal colliding with metal.
Their Auras collided, warping the very space itself with the force of impact.
The destructive power was enough to make my wrists throb.
My arm muscles contracted instantaneously to absorb the shock.
I had fought against several Warriors bearing seven Feather Tattoos before.
Though I bore the same number of Feather Tattoos, there existed subtle variations in ability even among them.
But this one….
‘He’s strong.’
From just a single strike, I could discern it in the moment of contact.
This Kar Tribe Warrior bearing seven Feather Tattoos was completely different from the others.
It wasn’t merely raw strength.
The timing of the Spear thrust, its trajectory, and the transmission of force itself.
Everything was calculated with perfect precision.
And perhaps because of his unwavering confidence in his own ability.
Kaldrikran regarded Arteon with cold eyes and spoke.
“The Empire’s God of War, they call you?”
A dark crimson Aura began to condense along his Spear.
The color was peculiar.
Not a simple red.
As if blood had coagulated and darkened into black.
The very sight of such an ominous Aura radiating from him drew Arteon’s gaze entirely upon him.
The air grew heavy.
To simply push him aside and pass would be foolish—the momentum he displayed was far from ordinary.
Grip.
Arteon seized Iglis with crushing force.
Golden Aura ignited in brilliant sparks, concentrating with fierce intensity.
Crack! Crackle!
Golden lightning flowed along the length of his Spear.
At the sight, Kaldrikran’s eyes grew cold and sharp.
He had anticipated this to some degree.
‘Stronger than what the Military Strategist described…’
Had he grown even more powerful in that brief span of time?
Yet Kaldrikran showed no concern, gripping his Spear firmly with both hands as he spoke.
“If you wish to pass through here, you will have to strike me down.”
With those words.
Boom!
Kaldrikran drove his foot hard against the ground and thrust his Spear toward Arteon.
In that instant.
Crash!
The earth cracked beneath him as his body rocketed forward.
Kaldrikran’s most confident Thrusting technique.
Unlike ordinary thrusts, the Aura-condensed Spear rotated with tremendous force as it extended.
The Spear’s tip twisted the very air.
The trajectory was not a straight line.
Rotation and compression occurred simultaneously, becoming a vortex that bore down upon him.
A single strike possessed enough destructive force to reduce a thick Castle Wall to dust.
And against such a Thrusting attack from Kaldrikran.
“…!”
Arteon instinctively twisted his body to the side, evading the assault.
To defend while engaging in a contest of strength would carry far too great a risk.
Where the Spear’s tip had grazed past.
The rock behind him shattered into fragments.
Boom crash!
One…
“This is merely the beginning…!”
Kaldrikran’s eye flash gleamed.
Shweeek! Zzzzzzzzzzzt!
His Spear moved so rapidly it appeared as though there were a dozen of them.
It was no illusion.
It was merely Thrusting, yet the speed and destructive power far exceeded any ordinary trajectory.
The sound of air being torn asunder erupted in succession.
The ground, the rocks, everything around that touched his trajectory shattered into fragments.
Arteon’s pupils trembled for the first time.
‘All of it….’
Dodging was impossible.
The increased speed did not diminish the destructive power.
Each strike, every single one.
All of them approached the level of a killing blow.
Immediately, tremendous Aura condensed from Iglis.
Arteon had realized it as well.
If I faced him with half-hearted resolve.
‘I could instead be the one who falls.’
The situation could reverse entirely.
Those two who had departed earlier….
‘I will forget them.’
Instead.
“You will have to bear the responsibility in their stead.”
Arteon’s Spear extended toward him.
* * *
“…?”
What is happening?
In an instant, the flow of the Battlefield twisted subtly.
Those who had been fighting with reckless abandon just moments before were now retreating and withdrawing once more.
Their eyes had changed.
The terror that had convinced them they could not survive had vanished, replaced by eyes that gleamed with something like hope.
There was only one reason the Battlefield ever shifted like this.
‘Has someone intervened?’
That thunderous sound from across the way.
It seemed connected to this.
But….
“…Whatever it is, it will be of no consequence.”
Isaac’s gaze flashed with lethal intensity.
I cannot know precisely what this change signifies.
But one thing was certain.
No matter what intervenes, as long as the Unit Commander stands, the situation will not change.
Right now, their duty was to execute Arteon’s orders.
That was what they had to do.
Isaac shouted.
“Chase those bastards! Don’t let a single one escape!”
His voice tore across the Battlefield, spreading far and wide.
With that single cry, the Squad Members bonded even more fiercely.
Annihilating the fleeing Kar Tribe Warriors.
This was not merely a defensive battle where they simply had to hold the line.
They had to crush the Kar Tribe’s soaring momentum in a single blow and create a foothold from which they could advance northward once more.
Only by completely severing their flow here could they forge a new flow to push back into the Northern Region.
And so….
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
Isaac issued the Advance Order and pursued the Kar Tribe with his Squad Members.
Hoofbeats struck the ground harshly.
Muddy earth, slick with moisture, sprayed upward, and blood-soaked mud scattered in all directions.
Though mounted on horseback, the physical toll was considerable.
His breathing had grown ragged, and his arms and legs felt heavy and leaden.
But….
Whoooooosh!
A blue Aura flashed across the Sword Isaac wielded.
The Aura flowing along the Blade vibrated, resonating through the air.
That light was cold and crystalline.
‘We are….’
The Empire’s god of war.
Arteon Wolfheim’s sharpest Spear.
If we cannot succeed, how could we ever follow him?
That single thought reignited his body.
His exhausted muscles found strength anew, and his vision sharpened.
With such resolve.
“Hyaaaaaaagh!”
Isaac swung his Sword toward the Kar Tribe Warriors.
Shuuuuuck!
A blue Trajectory tore through the void.
That Strike, extending in a straight line, poured down upon the Kar Tribe Warriors in the Rear.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-crash!
With a tremendous thunderous sound.
“Kraaaagh!”
“Oh, a Warrior capable of radiating Aura!”
“Everyone, scatter!”
Screams erupted from the Kar Tribe Warriors.
In an instant, dozens of soldiers tumbled across the ground.
Bodies torn asunder, armor shattered, blood spraying in crimson arcs.
Their Formation had already collapsed.
They scattered like fleeing animals, prioritizing survival above all else.
And behind them.
“Kill them all! All of them!”
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
The Silent Spear Unit Members wielded their weapons with ferocious intensity, striking down the Kar Tribe Warriors.
Their movements were unified as one.
When one advanced forward, the two beside him filled the gap.
Pushing from behind, thrusting from the front.
Slash! Thud!
Blood sprayed, flesh split open.
Short, precise movements.
There was no wasted motion.
The combat techniques carved into their bodies through training were being executed flawlessly.
The newer Squad Members bit their lips hard at the carnage unfolding before their eyes, yet they kept their gaze sharp and focused.
One moment of lost concentration, and they could be ejected from the Formation the unit had created.
“Hold the reins tight! Keep your eyes forward and charge!”
At Terik’s shout, Bran gripped the horse’s reins tightly with his left hand.
Strength flooded into his grip.
He squeezed so hard his fingers turned white.
He had already cut down two Kar Tribe Warriors, and the sensation still lingered in his hands.
The feeling of the Sword cleaving through flesh.
The dull impact when it caught bone.
All of it remained vivid and raw.
Trembling, trembling, trembling, trembling, trembling!
The pressure of real combat was different from Training.
His body shook involuntarily, and his vision seemed to blur.
But that was the moment.
“…Huh?”
As Bran lifted his head to look forward as his brother had instructed, he suddenly saw something rushing toward them from far away.
At first, it was hard to make out.
Beyond the Battlefield shrouded in dust, blood Fog, and Darkness.
But gradually, its form began to reveal itself.
And…
“B-Brother. What is that…?”
“…”
Terik, gazing at the same thing, swallowed hard with a rigid expression.
He was at a loss for words.
I could only watch what was approaching and sense it instinctively.
“What… what is that…?”
Beyond the horizon, black shadows grew larger and larger.
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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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