novelraw Chapter 73 : Chapter 73
Chapter 73 : Chapter 73
Chapter 73
Ian couldn't understand anything about this situation.
Why the stupid green lump was obsessed with Hoodwock.
Where the Ogre had gone after just letting out a roar.
Why the Knightly Order, which should have been protecting the scouting party at the front, had appeared in the middle of the enemy formation.
What on earth they had done to allow the entire Knightly Order to gain traits in such a short time.
‘Right.
This world is just like that.’
It was a world where dragons flew and trolls studied in the Empire's library.
A world where a demonkin lived in a cathedral and the king of a clan moved for a mere surprise attack.
Thinking that, he decided to just give up on understanding, but there was one thing that was difficult to do so.
So, why on earth.
“Are you holding up a shield?”
At that question, my first sword grinned and answered.
“There were things blocking the way, so I pushed them over and came.”
……?
…Not cut them down?
…Why, with a perfectly good sword?
Asking had only increased my curiosity.
Looking at Vergil's triumphant face, I couldn't even bring myself to ask anything more.
In the end, I gave up on understanding and nodded.
“Right, you did well.”
No matter what anyone said, the fact was that he had saved my life, and as long as he could block that crude axe, it didn't matter if it was a sword or a shield.
***
Having taken a step back from the brink of life and death, I had a moment to catch my breath.
In that moment, I scanned the battlefield.
As I took in the fuming, retreated Hlyundeyrr and the Orcs scattered everywhere, I calculated the odds of victory in my head.
‘Still 0%.’
Nothing had changed.
Neither the battlefield nor the opponent had changed.
An Orc Legion Commander was not a being that could be dealt with by a mere Knightly Order.
‘Then what about escaping?’
If I half-abandoned the Knightly Order, could I escape?
If the remaining knights put their lives on the line to stop him, couldn't I buy enough time for a few to get away?
Considering the possibility, I focused on the sound.
-Thump, thump, thump.
Beyond the rhythmic footsteps, I could faintly feel the presence of the Ogre.
He was steadily getting closer.
At an absurdly slow pace.
‘Can I hold out until he arrives?’
With just one Knightly Order?
And how many would die then?
I couldn't see a way.
The Ogre that should have already arrived was not here.
And the Legion Commander who shouldn't have been here, was.
The frustration that had risen to my throat.
An impatient question burst from my lips.
“How do we get out of this.”
Then, a reply came from beside me.
“As my lord wishes.”
Surprised by the nonchalant voice, devoid of any doubt or regret, I looked to my side, and Vergil nodded at me with a confident expression.
‘Confidence, you say……’
At the question that momentarily arose, my mind raced.
Why did the plan fail?
What was the opponent's plan?
Where did things go wrong?
Then, suddenly, Ian's gaze turned to Hlyundeyrr.
After staring at the beast for a moment with questioning eyes, a slow, acrid smile spread across Ian's lips.
“Hey.”
Hlyundeyrr's eyes, which had been glaring at Vergil and the Knightly Order, rolled back to Ian, and his aura poured out.
The aura, the killing intent, the fighting spirit of the Legion Commander who stood above thousands of Orcs, sharpened its blade and threatened me not to open my mouth carelessly.
From the lips of Ian, who was facing that chilling threat, a mocking voice flowed out.
“I’ll let you go if you run now.”
I will never lose.
***
“Krrk?”
The bewildered beast blinked its eyes as if it didn't understand.
“I won’t lose, no matter what.”
That was the confidence, and that was the plan.
No matter how many times I thought about it, the plan didn't change.
I had just been prematurely frightened by the threat that had arisen from a few miscalculations, but neither the enemy nor the battlefield had changed.
“Krrk, you want to test me?”
The beast, gripping its axe, growled.
There was no need to test it.
Seeing an Orc wagging its tongue instead of its well-honed weapon, I was starting to feel a confidence I didn't have before.
‘I’m sure.’
An Orc wagging its tongue instead of its axe.
Preparing traps instead of charging, devising strategies instead of fighting, and consuming the legion.
He has no intention of fighting.
No, he cannot fight.
“Try me.”
As Ian took a step forward, the Knightly Order followed behind him.
Hlyundeyrr's eyes scanned Ian and the Knightly Order in turn.
“Krrk, a bastard who was screaming in fear just a moment ago is overconfident.
Do you think the fourth axe of the legion cannot pierce through a few paltry swords?”
The speaking beast's aura intensified even more.
As he radiated a threatening killing intent and fighting spirit, as if he would charge at any moment, a few knights gripped their shields nervously.
But even at that moment, Ian, who was looking straight at Hlyundeyrr, did not react to his aura.
“You knew the Knightly Order was coming earlier, didn't you?
That's why you charged in, even using your fighting spirit, right?”
If I had sensed the Knightly Order's approach, he must have sensed it too.
From that moment on, he pretended to have lost his reason and tried to kill me.
‘Why on earth?’
Would a Legion Commander put on such an act?
And before that, if he had genuinely tried to kill me, how was I still alive?
Only after my thoughts reached that point did I see it.
The wound hidden behind the blazing red fighting spirit.
Then, the outcome of the battle I had been wondering about became clear.
And why he had come to me, not to Hoodwock.
“At first, I thought the legion had evacuated while you were fighting the Ogre.
But it was the other way around.”
I glanced at the Orcs who were still trembling, covering their heads with both hands.
The warriors who were still paralyzed with fear, unable to move even after the 3 minutes had passed and the effects of the fear roar had disappeared.
“The legion bought you time while you ran away.”
In the fight with the Ogre, he had suffered a crushing defeat , and he had fled, using the legion as a shield.
The wounded beast could not go into battle, and he couldn't go to kill Hoodwock for fear of encountering the Ogre.
So, to put it simply.
“You were pretty scared of the Ogre, huh?”
At those words, the beast opened its mouth.
“So you were the real head.”
While flashing its red eyes as if to devour me at any moment.
***
-Kuaaaak!
Boom!
With a roar, the beast's giant body, which had kicked off the ground, seemed to fly through the air, then it struck down at Ian like a lightning bolt.
“Don’t block, fall back!”
The Knightly Order, which had raised their shields to block the attack, retreated in unison.
Boom!
Through the sandstorm, the eyes of the beast, which was standing in the middle of the Knightly Order, were fixed on Ian.
The appearance of a rash strategist from just a moment ago was gone, and the face of a warrior filled with a crimson killing intent, just like his fighting spirit, was visible.
The beast's sharp aura, like a lithe spear, disappeared in an instant, and a blunt axe blade that had swallowed thousands of Orcs took its place.
-Dangerous human.
What flowed from the beast's mouth was a roar, but its meaning was clear.
Judging by the eyes that were fixed on me as if nailed, and the blazing desire within them.
What he wanted was my neck.
“You die.”
That was a twofold declaration.
The wounded Legion Commander had decided to die here, and in return, he had decided to take the head of a single human.
But he didn't know.
That the weak and insignificant human hiding behind the shield was a hunter who had killed him dozens of times before.
The hunter, confident of success, tore the corners of his mouth and said.
“Yes.
You die.”
***
I couldn't even see him move.
It was just that the moment his feet moved, I instinctively twisted my waist.
Whoosh!
The sharp axe blade grazed past my eyes.
If I hadn't moved, it would have split my head, not the empty air.
As I quickly distanced myself, I saw Vergil with his hand on his scabbard and shouted.
“Solidify the shield wall!
Troll hunting formation!”
When facing a troll that regenerates its wounds endlessly until the brink of death, you don't use a sword.
Instead, you solidify the shield wall and push the troll until it's exhausted.
-Kuaaaah!
As if annoyed by the knights surrounding him, the beast's axe flew at the knight who was blocking the left flank.
Boom!
This is where it gets important.
If they try to withstand his monstrous strength, they will just be crushed.
The core of the shield wall is to exhaust him, not to engage in a power struggle.
“Don't withstand it!
If you can’t deflect it, fall back!”
The knight who heard the shout slid back.
Another knight stuck to the beast who was trying to break through the gap.
-Kwoooor!
Thump!
The enraged beast swung its axe wide again to push back the knights and kicked off the ground.
“Hah!”
When the beast leaped as if to fly through the air, I was running towards Vergil with all my might.
Because it was obvious who he was aiming for even without looking.
Kwa-kwa-kwang!
As expected, the beast's gaze, which had landed, crushing the ground where I had been standing, was fixed on me.
The obsession of a Knight Hunter who has set his target is close to an obsession.
“Vergil!”
Before the beast's axe could even move, my reliable shield, which had run over, covered my front.
Kwa-kwang!
Leaving behind the deafening roar, which was hard to believe was the sound of a shield and an axe clashing, I started running again.
If he's only aiming for me, then all I have to do is run.
Because this is a battle we win by just buying time anyway.
-Kwoooooooor!
I heard the Legion Commander's enraged roar as he discovered me running away.
“Come on, try and catch me.”
I said without looking back, but he must have heard it.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The sound of the beast, who didn't know how to give up, and the Knightly Order's struggle to slow him down by even a single step, continuously echoed across the battlefield.
***
Ian ran without rest towards the place where he could feel the Ogre's presence.
Even so, he kept checking behind him.
Knowing that a Knight Hunter who had set his prey would not give up the hunt until either the prey or the hunter was dead, he looked back and checked on the beast.
When he had run without rest and found the Ogre.
“Ah……”
He was crying.
The giant body, covered in green blood so that its original form could not even be guessed, was crying silently with eyes full of heart-wrenching grief.
-Kwa-jik, kwa-deuk, kwa-deuk.
Even as he trampled, crushed, and chewed on the prostrated Orcs one by one, the palpable anger and sadness did not diminish in the slightest.
Thump, thump, thump!
So his steps were endlessly slow.
Because he could not leave a single one of the clan that had dared to defile his young alive.
With those sad eyes, he busily surveyed his surroundings and diligently moved his hands to crush, break, tear, and chew the prostrated Orcs to death.
Thump, thump, thump!
After watching him for a moment, I turned around.
‘How unsettling.’
Having seen it, I knew.
That this massacre was a requiem for his dead young.
That a deep resentment that would not be resolved even if he killed all the Orcs in this forest was moving him.
To such a beast, wouldn't the Legion Commander of the dark green clan be a pretty decent gift?
Thinking that, I turned my head to look for Hlyundeyrr, and I saw the somewhat anxious Hlyundeyrr and the back of the knight who was blocking him.
‘Damn it.’
He was glaring at the knight in front of him.
As the hunter swung his axe as if annoyed, the knight thrust his shield in between.
Ka-ka-ka-kak!
The axe, which was sliding along the shield, creating sparks, suddenly stopped.
Even as the hunter's eyes curved into a crescent, the prey did not know that it had been caught in a trap.
I instinctively kicked off the ground and shouted.
“You stupid bastard!
Are you blind?!”
At the same time, I felt a piercing gaze on my back.
The thumping sound of the Ogre's hands and feet, which had been continuous, was no longer heard.