The Mad Spearman of the Northern Front - Chapter 356

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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 (356)
A pale mist lay low across the field.
The cold frost that had fallen through the night painted the ground white, and with each breath, the frigid air transformed into visible vapor.
A night that felt as though something catastrophic was about to unfold.
Yet nothing came to pass, and once again, dawn broke over the Battlefield.
“Move with haste!”
“Deploy the siege engines to the Forward Position! We must smash their heads before they arrive!”
“Shield Bearers! Form your ranks! Spearmen, support from behind!”
The Imperial Army’s Camp was bustling with activity from early morning.
Soldiers hauled heavy timber and boulders, while the siege engines creaked forward with grinding sounds.
Shield Bearers advanced in formation, and Spearmen and Archers took their positions in turn.
The expressions of the officers, including Belkain, watching this sight were grave.
There was no helping it.
Should this Operation fail, the Empire would suffer irreversible losses.
The Northern Region’s most critical Strategic Point.
If Belikezel fell, the subsequent course of the War would likely tilt beyond recovery.
Yet for the officers aside from Belkain, that was not the true concern.
In this Operation.
The dread that they might lose Belkain, the Supreme Commander himself, in the worst case scenario, weighed heavily upon their hearts.
Zeulrons, standing beside Belkain, carefully opened his mouth.
“…Commander, would it not be wise to reconsider this course once more?”
Belkain spoke without turning his gaze.
“General Zeulrons. That matter has already been settled, has it not?”
“And yet… it is far too dangerous. Those bastards surely have something in mind as well.”
“I am aware.”
Belkain’s voice was low and measured.
“But if we do not move, we will merely be dragged along by their intentions.”
The disparity in Military Strength between us and them is already clear.
In Tactics and soldier-to-soldier combat, we could overwhelm them, yet the two Advanced Warriors bearing seven Feather Tattoos were far too much to bear.
For this reason, we must eliminate one of them without fail.
Otherwise, as time passes, it will be we who find ourselves at a disadvantage.
“Would it not be better to request Reinforcements from Lord Svein or Marquis Arteon and hold our ground through a defensive Operation? That would be rather…”
“General.”
Belkain cut off Zeulrons’ words and turned his gaze toward him.
Those eyes bore the weight of much contemplation through the night.
Knowing better than anyone the dangers of this Operation, he would naturally continue to dissuade.
Yet Belkain shook his head.
“That would be tantamount to telling me I am incompetent and should withdraw. It means we cannot achieve victory in War without strong Warriors, does it not?”
“But…”
Do you not also understand, Commander, what influence a Warrior of high Realm wielding Aura on the Battlefield can exert?
Zeulrons swallowed back the words he desperately wanted to speak, his gaze fixed on Belkain.
Belkain understood what he wished to say simply by reading the light in his eyes.
‘Only one…’
Which was precisely why proof had become all the more necessary.
The defeat in the previous battle had burdened me with countless challenges.
That war where I lost a dear friend.
To move forward, I had to…
‘Absolutely…’
Overcome this crisis.
I spoke.
“General. I will ensure success, so remain faithful to your assigned duties.”
Brief words, yet they carried no wavering.
Zeulrons could say nothing more.
“…Understood, Commander.”
Concern seeped into Zeulrons’s gaze.
Not long ago, I had lost Sergeant Claw.
The one who had stood beside me for so long.
My adjutant who understood me better than anyone and was most worthy of trust.
That death had struck me hard.
Which was why Zeulrons worried.
Whether I was now pushing myself too far, consumed by rage and the weight of loss.
Yet there was nothing he could change with words now.
He could only fulfill his duties as I had instructed.
Zeulrons turned his body.
“Move to the operation point! Everyone hurry!”
“Yes!”
“Understood.”
The officers responded to Zeulrons’s call and moved with urgency.
Soon after, soldiers donned the armor and flags of the officers, scattering across the various camps for deployment.
From a distance, none could tell who the true officers were.
After confirming this, I spoke quietly.
“Execute the operation.”
Boooooooooooooooo!
A massive horn blast shook the battlefield.
At the same moment, the Imperial Army began to move.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Shield Bearers advanced in synchronized steps.
Spearmen and swordsmen followed behind, while makeshift catapults rolled forward on their wheels toward the front line.
Dust and earth slowly rose across the field.
A movement unlike yesterday.
Yesterday, I had been in a position of defending against their attacks, but today was different.
Today, the Imperial Army was making the first move.
Watching the scene from a distance, Draktun’s face twisted into a menacing scowl.
“…Madmen.”
Erka, standing beside him, also furrowed his brow.
“Even cowering and hiding would be insufficient, yet they dare to strike first?”
Yesterday’s assault on the command structure had failed.
Because of this, it was clear those bastards were anticipating we would attempt the same tactic again.
And they were deliberately moving first to provoke a chaotic melee.
Draktun let out a derisive snort.
“They’re trying to bind us in place.”
Erka glanced at him.
“It’s an obvious ploy, nothing more. They’ll tie us down in a chaotic battle and prevent us from launching another surprise attack like yesterday.”
“Hmph.”
Draktun gripped his Giant Axe tightly.
“The very notion that such an attack could shackle our feet is a foolish delusion.”
His eyes gleamed with savage ferocity.
This was actually fortunate.
Attack answered with attack.
Offense over defense.
Was that not what we excelled at most?
Draktun roared loudly.
“Prepare the warriors!”
His thunderous voice shook the entire battlefield.
“We strike them first!”
“Yes!”
The Advanced Warriors began moving swiftly.
Immediately, the warriors under his command came forward, weapons in hand.
Grasping spears, hoisting axes, striking shields—they completed their battle preparations.
Erka, observing this spectacle, quietly gazed down at his own hands.
Hands wrapped in bandages.
Wounds from yesterday’s fight with Kailun.
Erka’s eyes grew cold and sharp.
‘I will kill him without fail.’
Yesterday, I had not anticipated it.
How could someone of such a low realm endure so well?
Yet with the injuries sustained yesterday, my body is far from whole now.
Erka slowly ran his fingers along the sword at his waist.
He traced the edge of the scabbard with his fingertips.
A cold sensation transmitted through his fingertips.
And as the Imperial Army drew sufficiently close.
Boooooooooooooo!
A massive horn blast erupted from the Kar Tribe’s Camp.
In that instant.
“Kill the Empire’s dogs!”
“Slaughter them all, all of them!”
“Kyaaaaaaaa!”
The Kar Tribe Warriors roared and surged forward in a charge.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
The thundering footsteps of thousands shook the earth.
Towering warriors led the assault, with countless Kar Tribe Warriors streaming behind them.
And simultaneously.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
The Imperial Army’s makeshift catapults roared to life, hurling boulders in a deadly barrage.
Massive rocks arced through the sky in parabolic trajectories, raining down upon the Kar Tribe Formation.
Boom!
Crack!
Several warriors were crushed beneath the stones, their screams piercing the air as the Formation wavered.
But the Kar Tribe did not falter.
Instead, they charged even more ferociously.
And in that very moment.
Whoosh.
Erka Drokacil’s body form slid sideways with fluid grace.
Amid the chaotic frontal engagement.
In the confusion of catapults, war cries, and clashing weapons.
She rushed forward with stealth and speed toward the flank of the Imperial Army’s Formation.
* * *
Crash-crash-crash-crash-boom! Crash-boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boulders cascaded from the sky like a torrential downpour.
Screams of Kar Tribe Warriors erupted from all directions.
Skulls shattered, arms were pulped, and warriors crushed beneath massive rocks groaned in agony.
Yet even amid this carnage, the Kar Tribe’s momentum remained unbroken.
“Charge!”
“Annihilate the Empire’s bastards!”
The Kar Tribe Warriors surged forward with savage fury.
Arrows rained down upon them, boulders fell, spears flew through the air, yet they gritted their teeth and closed the distance.
Their eyes burned with a ferocity that seemed to fear not even death itself.
Watching this from the center of the Imperial Formation, Kailun heightened every sense to its peak.
The flow of air brushing against his skin.
The vibrations trembling through the ground.
As if unwilling to miss a single thing, he exhaled shallow breaths while fixing his gaze upon the forward position.
‘Surely… they will come.’
There was no reason they would not.
Rather, amid this onslaught, they would cling even more stubbornly to their existing tactics to demonstrate their strength unequivocally.
And then.
‘…Without fail.’
I had to pin her down here.
Already, dozens of makeshift catapults were positioned hundreds of meters away, aimed at this location.
Beneath the ground lay a Magic Circle etched into the stone, and surrounding it were countless black powder grains that would explode the moment they ignited.
The preparations were complete.
If all of this detonated properly, even an Advanced Warrior bearing seven Feather Tattoos would find it nearly impossible to survive.
But then it happened.
“Sometimes, being honed too sharply becomes a poison of its own. So relax your grip a little and wait.”
A voice that came suddenly from nowhere.
Turning to the side, Belkain stood with a composed expression, gazing toward the forward position.
So calm was his demeanor that one could scarcely believe he was using himself as bait to lure the enemy’s Advanced Warrior.
Kailun kept his gaze fixed forward as he spoke.
“…That is not easy.”
“I suppose it might not be.”
Belkain offered a faint smile.
“I have heard much about you from Marquis Arteon. It was he who recommended you.”
“Indeed.”
“Particularly, Instructor Leonhardt holds great expectations for you.”
At the mention of that name, the faintest smile crossed Kailun’s lips.
“…I doubt he would have said anything kind, yet it is unexpected.”
Leonhardt.
The training sessions we shared flashed through my mind.
Days spent wielding the sword until I collapsed in blood.
Hours of being driven to the brink of death, honing my senses through relentless pressure.
Even now, in this very moment, those memories moved my body.
But then.
A sharp, piercing gust.
A cool wind cut across the battlefield and swept past.
Cold, biting energy.
In that instant, Kailun’s eyes grew cold and sharp.
“They have arrived.”
I could already sense it from afar.
A Killing Intent that pricked the skin.
Cold and piercing energy.
How could I ever forget it.
The moment yesterday when she and I crossed swords.
The speed that felt like my body was being torn apart, and the killing intent behind it.
Every cell in my body remembered that sensation.
To Kailun’s words, Belkain deliberately kept his gaze fixed on the forward position, speaking with forced composure.
“Then we begin as well.”
“…Yes.”
Kailun answered briefly, as though he had already made his resolve.
At that, Belkain glanced sideways at Kailun.
To add further words to a warrior who had already steeled himself would be… rather disrespectful to him.
For now, there was only one thing to do… execute the operation as planned.
“Prepare the Archer Unit! Intercept all of them before they close the distance!”
A voice deliberately magnified to an exaggerated degree.
It felt as though he were shouting louder on purpose, as if unaware that she was coming.
With Belkain’s command, the soldiers disguised as officers cried out loudly, relaying the orders.
The archers moved in coordination with them.
Whoooosh!
Hundreds of arrows filled the sky as they flew forth.
Kar Tribe Warriors collapsed in the distance.
Soon came the second volley of arrows.
And the third.
It was the moment the archers finished reloading twice and were about to draw their bowstrings again.
Whoooooooosh!
An enormous air-splitting sound.
Something tore through the air, hurtling toward Belkain.
An ordinary soldier would not have even seen it coming at such speed.
But the instant that sound reached his ears.
Ring!
Kailun’s sword was drawn.
A single motion.
As he swung his blade, the incoming dagger was deflected into the empty air.
Whirrrrr!
The deflected dagger spun through the void.
And beyond it.
A woman with cold, piercing eyes came into view.
With her hair dancing in the wind, her rough breathing seemed almost tangible.
The killing intent gleaming in both her eyes was chilling enough to be felt from a distance.
Erka Drokacil, the great warrior of the Kar Tribe.
The moment her gaze and Belkain’s met in the empty air.
Boooooooooom!
A long horn blast signaling the command rang out. At the same time, the soldiers nearby rapidly increased their distance and fell back.
Warrior against warrior alone.
Erka’s gaze turned glacial as she observed the Imperial Soldiers’ unexpected movements.
As if.
“…You dare challenge me to a direct confrontation?”
With the soldiers pushed back, only a single red-haired warrior remained standing before her.
Fury surged through me at their audacity—believing that one alone could stop me.
A metallic whisper.
Erka drew both swords from her waist in one fluid motion.
Then so be it.
“I’ll slaughter every last one of you.”
In truth, this suited me far better.
As Erka’s form surged forward to meet them.
A sharp crack.
She vanished before their eyes.

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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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