Chapter 898 - Forty to One (1)
Cypress surpasses his limits through resolve.
Raising his power by swearing an oath and making a vow.
What happens if the vow is broken due to failure despite stepping forward with such determination?
His Will suffers damage.
It wasn't just at the level of having a little problem.
Cypress always placed everything he had on the other side of the Scale.
If the vow breaks, he loses his Will.
Everything accumulated until now vanishes like morning fog meeting sunlight.
Because of such determination and resolve, strength was carried in his oath and vow.
"He's a crazy person no less than our Captain."
Rem, who was watching from a distance, said.
Handling sorcery, he was more sensitive in this area than anyone else.
He was the first to grasp the meaning of what the crimson-cloaked knight stepping forward alone did.
Resolve is a double-edged sword.
Surpassing limits with oaths and vows, but losing everything the moment of failure.
Like betting all the stakes on a gambling table every time.
He has accumulated Will like that.
Although Rem doesn't know his past, he inferred the path he walked seeing the action taken now.
Furthermore, not a single person stopped him or stepped forward.
'Already accustomed to it.'
Rem turned his conjecture into certainty.
"Did a barbarian who lied all his life open his mouth?"
Ragna received the words Rem threw.
A quarrelsome tone.
He was busy criticizing Rem even while looking at the resolve Cypress showed.
At those words, Dunbakel giggled.
"Sour smell, why does it seem like your wits quicken only at times like this? And direction-blind bastard. Did I say it or not? If the Captain was here, he would have said the same thing the guy did, so it's the same thing."
"That's your thought. Barbarian bastard spitting only lies whenever opening his mouth."
"...Praising myself sincerely for holding back just now by not trying to cut this bastard's neck."
At Rem's words, Ragna's eyes settle calmly.
Seemed like a knife fight would break out if left alone, but neither of the two was a fool.
Consuming power here as mood dictates is something only a real moron would do.
So the two acted like puppies barking towards a wolf pack over a wall.
Meaning they only growled.
Luagarne sensed defeat as soon as she saw the forty knights.
Meaning she judged they couldn't win if fighting quietly with standard tactics.
'No matter how much Rem and Ragna rampage.'
Audin, Theresa, and Ropord were excluded from combat power.
Their physical condition is a mess.
Of course, if things go wrong, they would step up and fight though.
'Cannot call it the best condition.'
She arranged allied knight power in her head.
The remaining power from the Madmen are Rem, Ragna, Shinar, Dunbakel, and Fel, totaling five.
Of course, not just any five.
Those people will be able to block those forty.
In Luagarne's judgment, it is so.
But not for free.
They also have to pay a price.
'If it's Rem, he would cut down about twenty alone, but.'
Difficult just swinging an axe quietly.
He would also have to pour out the capabilities he possesses to some extent.
'Rem's sorcery has severe recoil.'
If fighting with determination, he will be bedridden for a few days.
He deliberately pulled out in yesterday's fight for this reason too.
He must have reached the conclusion of retreat using that head of his that works pretty well despite his appearance and by using his instinctive senses surpassing a beast.
Luagarne admired him inwardly watching him yesterday.
'Rem you bastard, you really are something.'
He knew perfectly when to hit and run.
If she was the enemy, she would have been extremely annoyed.
Since they had revealed part of their forces because he attacked, but then he ran away quickly.
Amidst this, the skill Dunbakel showed was impressive, but as expected, it was right to applaud Rem's judgment at that moment.
Rampaging moderately, he broke the momentum the enemy gained by sending the vanguard.
Of course, she was the most moved watching Ropord yesterday.
He is indeed the hidden contributor of yesterday's battlefield.
At that time, Ropord kept his position even though a knight persistently harassed him.
If not for him, they wouldn't have even reached this standoff situation like now.
An act of stopping an army attacking on drugs, grabbing them by the hair, and throwing them down.
Did the enemy gain anything through that?
Seemed so.
Yesterday's enemy focused on grasping power.
Such intention was ample.
The aftermath of that intention is revealed vividly now.
'Why?'
Although Luagarne didn't know up to the reason why the enemy bothered to gauge power closely, it was natural behavior for the Great Emperor.
Two units aiming for the enemy's heart failed due to misjudgment.
The Great Emperor didn't repeat the same mistake.
Didn't just look at the enemy's surface and pass, but checked and gauged thoroughly.
In that process, he didn't rush his mind.
Luagarne repeated thinking.
'Can we win if fighting them after stamina is all gnawed away?'
Lihin-Stetten cuts knight power even by consuming troops.
Tries to do so even by filling this land with corpses of hundreds, thousands of their own soldiers.
The start is that knight order of forty knights.
"Faceless Knights!"
"Faceless Ones!"
Shouts and such burst from the Southern army.
Those who saw the knight order's prestige in the Demonic Realm.
More than twenty knights sweeping a monster colony was a spectacle in itself.
Those were the power symbolizing the Great Emperor.
Dare ask what can be done against forty knights?
The opponent asks.
A question difficult for allies to answer.
"Themares, if they all die, Enkrid will dislike you."
Luagarne tried persuading the Dragonkin, but it didn't work this time.
"No, by my calculation this is enough. Although I'm interested in him, I did enough. If he wants something more from me, he must be here in this spot right now."
Would arguing that the Dragonkin's calculation method is a mess change anything?
Luagarne judged it wouldn't.
"Shinar, if you have hidden talents, show them now."
"This is not a forest. Lua."
If they were near the city of Kiraheis, it might be different.
Her city is like a forest, and within that city, she can perform miracles like a wizard, but not here.
Ground lined with hard rocks, let alone trees, places to hide bodies are also scarce.
Furthermore, vitality was dim near the Demonic Realm.
Sunshine above the sky is only warm, but no one had the leisure to enjoy it.
In this situation, one knight advanced as if going out to meet forty knights.
The knight order wearing black heavy armor silently formed a round formation as if surrounding that one person.
Bastards with peculiar helmets.
Helmets without holes, jet-black, and angular.
"Shall I join?"
Dunbakel asks.
Even without racking her brain, she knows when to fight and when not to.
Now is the time to fight.
Words spoken by the beastkin's instinct.
Before Luagarne could say anything, Lien and Ingis moved to the right rear of Cypress and spoke so everyone could hear.
"No one is to intervene."
Since their Master showed determination and swore, intervening itself would be a hindrance.
His vow is like that.
Since he decided to block alone, he doesn't even wish for allies' assistance.
No, there shouldn't be assistance.
His vow has meaning only then.
"Oh."
Rem spat out an exclamation, and Ragna also closed his mouth and turned his gaze.
"Really?"
Dunbakel muttered and tilted her head.
Fel looked like he was searching for something, capturing those forty knights in his eyes one by one.
Shinar just watched the situation quietly and added only one word.
"Fiancé, come quickly. Even if misfortune visits, I will not be sad if you are here."
Somehow these words sounded like sincerity, not a joke.
Amidst everyone watching like that, four among the forty knights thrust spears.
Tadadang.
Cypress swung his sword, striking away spear blades and dodging.
Was that a great stunt?
Didn't look so.
Instead, he endlessly repeated the same thing.
'Oh, look at this?'
Rem watched the fight as if watching acrobatics, but practically it was difficult to call what he was doing acrobatics.
'Blocking and dodging.'
Repetition of simple movements.
Only, the result of all those movements wasn't simple.
As fights of many against few usually go, generally only four to six weapons can fly at you at the same time, there is just not enough space for more people to attack.
The beginning was four.
The opponent didn't insist on an honorable duel based on chivalry even though Cypress stepped forward alone.
Cypress didn't demand such a thing either.
Like that, the first start was a form where four black lumps blocked Cypress from all directions.
'Front, back, left, right.'
Places to dodge are scarce.
Furthermore, those four acted as if they practiced something like this usually.
'All timing is.'
Front is fastest, next is rear, then thrust spear blades from left and right simultaneously.
'If blocking front and dodging rear, what about left and right?'
Cypress strikes away the front spear blade with his sword, strikes the rear spear blade using recoil, and pulls his foot to the right diagonal rear dodging remaining spear blades.
In a way, it looked like surviving narrowly.
It also looked like dodging thanks to luck.
'What luck.'
Rem recognized it wasn't that.
'Calculation.'
Just a moment ago, Cypress walked into enemy territory.
Maintained a constant direction with steps neither fast nor slow.
Although it seemed there was no intention in those steps, he headed exactly where he wanted.
Before the opponent even stepped, he prepared in advance and countered.
Spear blades bent like snakes and chased him.
Tang! Teong!
'Looking at one by one, they are half-baked, but.'
Those half-baked are forty.
Not a number to look down on.
Rem didn't take his eyes off, substituting himself in Cypress's place.
It was a spectacle.
A situation worth watching.
After that it became six.
Two more spear blades mixed in.
Even until then, Cypress was skillfully dodging and countering.
Nothing changes even if the blades became six from four.
He spoke through action.
Six thrust spears ceaselessly and switched places with colleagues waiting behind.
'Even using wheel battle.'
All forty knights seemed accustomed to this kind of fight.
Meaning they looked skilled at the act of forty gathering to deal with one even if it wasn't necessarily Cypress.
Seemed they repeated practice matching coordination for a long time.
Six becomes eight.
Surrounding at regular intervals, creating more gaps for two knights to enter inside the formation.
Like children sitting around one ball.
Only when those eight extended spears simultaneously did Cypress show a slightly different talent.
"Oh."
The eyes of the direction-blind guy next to him also widened.
Cypress's sword work was twice as fast as a moment ago.
Accelerated for just one moment and returned to original speed.
Sword work to strike away threatening ones among eight spear blades and return.
Things called Faceless Knights didn't even communicate verbally.
Instead, occasionally one bastard thrust a spear or swung a sword with speed and power different from other bastards.
When sounds of air bursting were heard, Cypress's movement also changed little by little.
Breaking through the encirclement of eight in one breath and springing out sideways, or striking away spear blades stabbing at angles seemingly impossible to block with vambraces to flow them.
Watching that, Rem had a strange thought.
'What should I say.'
Should he say somehow a smell similar to the Captain comes from him?
Thinking intently about what point was so, an answer came out.
'Experience?'
A strange thing.
One side is understandable, but the other side is not understandable.
'The person named Cypress lived on the battlefield all his life.'
It is natural for him to fight using experience as a weapon.
He polished his techniques based on countless battle experiences and the aggregate of days spent rolling on the battlefield.
The interesting thing is Enkrid doing similar things.
If adding one more thing here.
"Doesn't get tired."
Words Dunbakel says.
Correct.
Cypress didn't get tired easily.
Just as Enkrid does.
Possessing Uske or techniques similar to it.
"Ha!"
In the middle, he even shouts leisurely.
Strange heat was glimpsed in that shout.
Heat sufficient to be called joy.
The opponents were forty.
Only some of them fought, some rotated, and again some were spectators.
Whether they disliked remaining as spectators, a few bastards pulled their feet out.
Purpose was blatantly visible.
No matter how outstanding Cypress's skill is, he was alone.
A few bastards were seen trying to detour him and enter allied territory.
Seeing that, Rem took a step.
The knight fighting over there right now deserves respect.
Especially what he is doing now is so.
Standing behind Cypress like that, he spoke towards the bastard subtly trying to escape the group.
"Hey, don't do trivial things."
On the opposite side centered on Cypress, a guy named Lien also spat similar words.
"Now, everyone wake up and focus. Our Master's will is to deal with the forty alone. Any bastard who disrespects that isn't going to have a good time."
As he spoke, the third-rate mercenary looking knight thrust his fist forward as if boasting.
If they knew that fist could crush a rock in a single blow, it wouldn't have looked like an empty threat at all.
As soon as his words ended, Cypress's sword, which had seemed only defensive until now, snaked in between the enemy knights and snapped back out.
The movement of the blade was as agile as a squirrel.
His Resolve was sharp, fierce, and intense.
And for someone, that intensity became the Grim Reaper.
Thwack!
Along with noise.
A head with a black helmet soared to the sky.
One of the forty knights died.
Next to Rem stood Ragna, Dunbakel, and Fel.
Meaning is clear even without speaking.
Ingis also stood by Lien.
If any enemy thought of crossing over here clumsily without respecting their Master's will, all will be killed.
Intention was clear.
***
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