ALL NOVEL Chapter 397
“Damn it.”
James quickly kicked the goblin corpse that was impaled by his spear. As the body crumpled to the floor under the shock, he regained his stance.
‘Is this hell?’
James opened his eyes groggily amidst the battlefield drowning in the stench of blood. It was hard to fully awaken when the situation around him was anything but peaceful.
He had probably killed more monsters here than in his entire life of hunting them.
“I’m going to catch all the monsters I was supposed to face in my life here.”
“Don’t say that. Just… huff!”
Smith thrust his spear forward. With a whoosh, the spear pierced the goblin’s chest again, stabbing through its heart.
With a move that was now almost mechanical, Smith sighed.
“Do you think we can make it back alive?”
“Don’t think about that. Let’s just take down the ones in front of us. We’re only dealing with some goons here. At least we’re not fighting that dragon bastard.”
“Back when we faced the dragon, Sir Quartz took it down in a flash, so I thought it would be the same, but who’s going to handle that crazy dragon? They say the knights are going to fight it, but… that crazy dragon bastard has probably already taken down a thousand.”
“We’ll figure it out somehow.”
James forced out an optimistic remark as he and Smith focused ahead.
“Looks like it’s orcs this time.”
Both men thrust their spears simultaneously. Their swift and precise movements pierced through the orc’s head in an instant. It was a display of exceptional skill for the elite warriors from the empire.
“Look at that brain matter. Damn.”
“Still, wouldn’t this be enough for a knight’s title? They say there’s a big reward if we make it back alive. If we’re lucky, we might even get knighthood…”
“Dream on. You can’t even handle magic.”
“Well, that’s something you can learn to do.”
Even as they bantered, their arms didn’t stop moving.
Pull, stab.
Pull, stab.
With the simple motions, the monsters’ lives were snuffed out. Now feeling a bit bored with the monotonous movements, James shifted his gaze ahead, specifically to the knights galloping away on horseback.
‘I hope this ends soon.’
No matter how accustomed he got to it, simply wielding a spear in this hell made him feel as though he couldn’t tell if he was alive or dead.
———————-
“Everyone! Let the enemies witness the strength of the Empire’s knights!”
“Waaaaah!”
The sound of battle roared from the armored knights holding lances. It was a battle cry meant to inspire morale, but also a struggle to cast away the fear lurking in their hearts.
Their opponents weren’t the usual monsters, but rather beasts that could only be described as monstrous.
“Let the special forces pave the way to the dragon with their bodies!”
The sound of hooves thundered against the ground.
The sight of five hundred knights, some of the finest in the empire, forming a line and breaking through was a rare spectacle. Even for an empire, gathering this many knights was no easy feat.
Only the continent’s greatest and most powerful nation could field such a force. The five hundred knights packed into a wedge shape began to pierce through the wall of monsters.
Though the monsters charged to break their formation, it was nothing but lowly goblins and orcs that stood in their way, hardly capable of stopping the knights’ advance.
The knights mercilessly forced their lances through the monsters and continued their relentless push.
They had no intention of stopping, nor could they afford to.
To hold their advance would mean sacrificing the lives of their comrades.
“Captain! We’re nearing our limit!”
“Drop your lances!”
At the captain’s command, the knights collectively hurled their lances. The countless lances that had pierced through monsters broke and shattered with heavy clattering, digging into the soft earth.
“Everyone, draw your swords! Cut down anything that blocks our path!”
The knights were engulfed in a blue glow. The knights, as if they were one body, swung their swords at the charging monsters.
The weaker monsters were split in half by a single swing, and even the giants lost an arm as it was casually removed. The monsters seemed to realize this wouldn’t do, and began summoning mighty beasts to halt the knights’ advance.
“Is that a drake?”
Drake. The monster thought to be extinct according to rampant rumors. A creature long forgotten to the minds of men let out a roar.
“!*@&(!#!”
“Men! I will cut off that noisy brat’s breath!”
“Will we get a bounty if we cut it down?!”
“I’ll recommend it to the Emperor!”
“Waaaah!”
“Split into two and aim for its legs! Deputy! You take the right side!”
“Understood!”
The knights’ formation quickly split into two, pressing around the drake on both sides. The drake sprayed its breath in all directions to fend off the knights, but no knight had faced such a situation before.
Practicing how to block such breath was a necessary skill for knights. Knights wielding shields at the sides of their horses raised their shields in unison.
The shields, dyed blue, easily deflected the drake’s breath. Thanks to the shields’ design meant to absorb such attacks.
“Lower the shields!”
The knights uniformly lowered their shields against their horses and drew their swords. It took less than three seconds to move into action.
“The knights inside aim for its legs! Those on the outside, deal with the other monsters!”
“Yes!”
“What about the backline?”
“What’s our target!”
“It’s a charge!”
“That’s right! Rearguard will push through the formation we’ve disrupted, so don’t worry about it!”
Any delay in joining up would result in isolation.
But even knowing this, the knights weren’t worried.
No knight would be without experience in this kind of crisis…
…because heroes from the past stood behind them.
“Nothing but hardship in these later years.”
“Hey, Merlin. It’s about time.”
“Ah, indeed, it’s time for us to take action. Move out.”
Merlin advanced forward with his old friend Graham, following closely were the renowned mages of the empire.
Tension was visible on their faces. Some mages looked terrified.
Unlike the knights who have spent half their lives on the battlefield, they were usually absorbed in their research.
“We need to land a blow on those monsters.”
“The preparations for the special magic are complete; now we just need to execute it.”
“I’ve lost track of how many years it’s been since I used special magic.”
“It’s been over thirty years.”
Graham and Merlin raised their staffs in unison. Surrounding them, the mages formed a circle. What they were about to perform was the special magic, so they had to chant as one.
“I’m not sure we can do it.”
“But we have to do it.”
The two men spoke calmly as they began channeling their magical energy into their staffs.
“Star, oh.”
Their voices intermingled as one.
“Star that gazes down upon the world from the darkness.”
“Let it be known.”
“Shine a ray of light upon this land.”
Their incantation continued endlessly.
Amidst the explosions and screams, the monstrous cries echoing in the battlefield, they merely continued with their incantations.
“…bestow destruction upon the enemy.”
The explosion reverberated.
Not from the ground, but from the sky. Everyone’s gaze rose upwards.
“Ha. This is fantastic!”
Geren wiped blood from his fists and grinned.
Meteorites were falling from the sky. Geren grabbed the giant’s wrist that was swinging its swinging club and twisted it painfully, like a child’s wrist.
Landing a punch on the anguished giant’s face, he then leaped toward the ogre nearby, who was busy smashing elite soldiers.
Reacting instinctively to the sight of the giant elder swinging a fist at him, the ogre swung its club towards Geren.
With a whoosh, Geren snorted as he caught the giant club.
“Ugh?”
“You certainly look easy to hit!”
The ogre, stripped of its club, gaped stupidly, alternating its gaze between Geren and its missing weapon, completely unaware of how it had been taken.
Geren brandishing the club grinned and shouted.
“Since this old man is busy, I’ll just give you one hit before I go!”
With an earth-shattering thump, Geren’s swing found its mark on the ogre’s side, breaking the club and bending the ogre’s waist in half.
The ogre, propelled away as if swept up by the surrounding goblins and orcs, struggled in pain before eventually settling down.
“Ah, what a waste.”
Geren dropped the broken club on the ground and called out to Kalintz, who was sweeping the area of monsters.
“Let’s head for that dragon’s neck soon!”
“Got it!”
Kalintz, who had been recovering their lines, nodded and then started running toward the staggering dragon hit by meteorites.
Geren followed along.
As the two rushed to face the dragon, legendary figures from the past began to follow behind. They couldn’t leave the dragons to the two alone.
They weaved through the monsters, advancing towards the dragon in the distance. However, the monsters, not wanting to make it easy for them, began blocking their path with powerful beasts.
“Wow, I’ve never seen two cyclopes together before!”
“And four hydras! How many heads do they even have!”
The appearance of rare and powerful monsters, difficult to find throughout one’s life, made the past heroes click their tongues. They had to push through these monsters to reach the dragon, a situation that promised to be quite a slog.
At least they felt somewhat comforted that their numbers were reduced thanks to the meteor strikes.
“Alright! Let’s hurry up and regroup!”
“Wait! Those ones are on us; you old men go after the dragon!”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
In response to Geren’s inquiry, Peymin tilted her head strangely.
“We’re the reinforcements, you know?”
“That’s new to me!”
“I’ll take care of this stupid sister, so you uncles should hurry and go after that dragon!”
“That doesn’t make any sense! I don’t know how you got here, but…”
Without waiting for Geren to finish, Peymin sprang forward. As if she had springs attached to her, she leaped into the air and charged at the nearest cyclops.
“Hmm~”
She curled her fingers into claw shapes and swung them toward the cyclops’s head. A movement that didn’t seem threatening at all, almost like a child’s tantrum.
But the cyclops, sensing the fear of death, instinctively swung its arm to knock her away.
That motion became the cyclops’s final blunder.
“…I can leave them to you all, huh.”
Geren clicked his tongue, looking at the cyclops that lost its head along with its arm.
“Go. Old man.”
“Leaving this to kids feels a little strange…”
“Enough rambling. Go quick.”
At Hazel’s cold voice, the heroes had no choice but to dash towards the dragon.
As Peymin returned to Hazel, shaking the blood off her hands, she spoke to her beloved, yet hated sister.
“Let’s hurry and stack up to take down that dragon… damn sister.”
“Yeah. Let’s go, little sister.”
The Quartz family’s monsters began moving in earnest.