Chapter 15
"Everyone assemble and form ranks!"
Commander Popper, on horseback, moved busily, calling together the knights who were resting.
At Popper's resounding cry, the knights hurriedly gathered their weapons and formed ranks.
Popper held his sword raised towards the sky.
This indicated that it wasn't simply about moving to the outskirts of the village to build a defensive line.
The knights sensed it by looking at him.
They were facing an imminent battle.
Joyce also strongly sensed this and burned with fighting spirit.
He looked around to see where Silveryn's disciple was.
He spotted Silveryn on horseback at the rear of the knights' formation but couldn't find her disciple.
Joyce thought this was rather fortunate.
If her disciple didn't interfere, he could surely stand out in this battle.
Berelman, Popper's adjutant and Joyce's senior, approached him and said quietly, "Joyce, take the lead in the formation."
"Understood."
This was like pushing him forward to perform freely at the front.
All the knights hurriedly mounted their horses. Then, they immediately began to move with haste, following Popper. They arrived at a two-story house with red walls.
Following Popper's orders, the unit split into two, with the second team moving to surround the building. Knights surrounded the mansion grounds on all sides, blocking all escape routes.
The first team was organized as the infiltration team.
"Search the building interior thoroughly and be prepared for a sudden ghoul attack!"
The knights lined up in two rows, kicked down the gate, and rushed into the mansion's garden.
"Wait! There's a sound coming from inside the mansion!"
All the knights stopped moving and listened carefully to the sound.
Kuung- tap tap tap tap
Noisy footsteps could be heard from inside the mansion. And the sound rapidly rushed towards the entrance.
Bang!
As if about to destroy the mansion's front door, a ghoul burst out.
"It's a ghoul!"
All the knights drew their swords and entered combat stance.
The ghoul, despite seeing the knights' encirclement, rushed towards the exit leading to the village with fierce momentum.
At this, Joyce stepped forward confidently.
"I'll handle this."
Hearing his shout, the other knights hesitated for a moment, then gradually stepped aside so as not to interfere.
In the blink of an eye, a one-on-one confrontation was formed.
The ghoul was covered in blood all over and in an extremely excited state. Ghouls have a nature to flee when outnumbered. But now it was rampaging to the point of ignoring that nature.
It looked as if it had committed some act again.
Did another victim appear in the meantime?
Joyce clenched his teeth.
As Joyce blocked the ghoul's path from the front, the ghoul attacked him without hesitation.
The ghoul leaped up, kicking off the ground, and tried to strike down with its claws from above Joyce's head.
Clang!
Joyce raised his sword above his forehead to block the ghoul's claws.
However, due to the powerful force striking down using weight from midair, Joyce's upper body balance was disrupted. He quickly adjusted his footing to regain his center.
Although he blocked the ghoul's attack, a tremendous impact was transmitted to his wrist and shoulder.
"Ugh."
The state of power struggle between the claws and the sword continued.
But he could never win against a ghoul in terms of brute strength.
Joyce was in a struggling situation.
Joyce slightly twisted his blade, pulling his body back a bit while slashing the ghoul's wrist.
Slash!
Blood burst out.
Unfortunately, he couldn't cut off the wrist, but he succeeded in causing bleeding.
Kueeek!
The ghoul stepped back one step, screaming horribly. Blood flowed from its wrist, wetting the ground.
He landed a hit.
But there was little time to feel satisfied.
The ghoul became even more excited and wildly swung its claws at Joyce.
Clang!
Joyce calmly blocked the wild attacks.
The claws aiming for Joyce's chest area pushed his sword with brutal force and inflicted damage.
The ghoul was rushing in with all its might, being cornered.
This time, Joyce stepped back greatly.
His solid steel breastplate was torn like paper. Fortunately, he didn't receive a direct hit to his body.
"Damn it."
Joyce took a deep breath and focused on the ghoul's movements.
He read the trajectory of the ghoul's attack as it rushed in again and boldly raised his blade to meet his opponent.
Slash!
Joyce's blade wedged between the ghoul's fingers and split its hand vertically in two.
As the attack landed, Joyce pressed on without giving time to retreat.
He slashed the ghoul's shoulder blade and then stabbed his sword into the ghoul's collarbone.
While the ghoul struggled with one arm, unable to move, he shouted, "Now!"
Instantly, the knights around Joyce rushed in and simultaneously thrust their swords between the ghoul's back spikes.
With an unpleasant sound of flesh being pierced, the ghoul's struggling arm lost strength and dropped.
When the knights pulled out all their swords, the ghoul collapsed to the ground.
Joyce caught his breath.
He nearly suffered a serious injury, but he still managed to subdue the ghoul alone.
He turned slightly to look back for the next order. His eyes met with Popper, who was watching the situation solemnly on horseback. He looked at Joyce and nodded silently.
Silveryn was also on horseback next to Popper. She, too, was watching this situation with a calm expression.
Silveryn's disciple was nowhere to be seen.
Joyce inwardly scoffed.
Did he not even think of facing a ghoul from afar? What could be more important than a ghoul in this situation that he wasn’t present? He was more of a coward than expected.
Popper then issued an order, "Enter the mansion and find the ghouls!"
The knights immediately rushed into the mansion. Joyce was at the forefront again this time. They dispersed in an orderly manner and thoroughly searched the rooms on the first and second floors.
One knight shouted, "There's a passage leading underground at the end of the corridor!"
Soon after, reports followed that there was nothing on the first and second floors.
Volk, the infiltration team leader, issued instructions to gather at the entrance to the basement stairs.
Joyce stepped forward, leaving behind the knights crowded in the narrow first-floor corridor, and said:
"I'll enter first."
As Joyce tried to enter the basement hastily from the front, the team leader held him back.
"You're too eager."
Volk stared intently at the three claw marks on Joyce's breastplate.
No matter how excellent Joyce's skills were, he was still the youngest and lacked experience compared to the other knights. Being overly eager could easily lead to misfortune.
He had already nearly suffered a fatal wound, even under favorable conditions.
Joyce recognized Volk's intention and bowed his head.
"It's difficult to swing a sword in narrow places. Refrain from forcibly engaging in unfavorable environments."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Good."
Two knights carrying torches rushed urgently into the mansion's interior. As visibility became possible, Volk issued instructions.
"Now you can go down. Safety is the top priority, so retreat if you feel outnumbered. Lady Silveryn is watching our backs, so there's no need to overexert ourselves."
"Understood."
Joyce took a torch and went down the stairs at the front. Volk also stuck close to Joyce's side to cover him.
At the bottom of the stairs, there was a pool of black liquid.
Seeing this, Volk shouted, "It's blood. Be careful not to slip on the pooled blood."
Joyce carefully examined the pooled blood. There was no trace of it drying up. Joyce furrowed his brow.
The viscosity was low, as if it had just flowed out. This means something happened just now. He could now be certain that it was the blood of a new victim.
Joyce traced the flow back to see where the blood came from.
Blood was trickling out from under a slightly open iron door at the end of the basement corridor.
"This way."
Joyce gripped his sword tightly.
Joyce, who had carefully approached the iron door, slowly pushed it open.
Something that was leaning against the iron door collapsed and touched his feet.
The first thing to greet Joyce was the corpse of a ghoul with its upper body cut in half.
"...!"
As he thrust the torch forward, the entire scene of the basement came into view.
Joyce was momentarily speechless from shock.
The knights followed in. And they, too, upon facing the basement scene, wore the same dumbfounded expression as Joyce.
They were unable to speak for a while.
Dozens of ghoul corpses strewn about with no room to step.
All of them were twitching with rigor mortis as if they had just been cut down.
And in the center, one person turned his head towards the knights. He was standing with a tired face, covered in blood from head to toe.
His face was completely covered in blood, making it impossible to recognize who he was.
"You came early."
Only upon hearing the voice did Joyce as if electrocuted, suddenly recall who it was. It was Damian, Silveryn's disciple.
With countless ghouls at his feet, his sword was already sheathed.
This meant that the situation was already over.
Did he face all these ghouls alone, single-handedly?
And without a single wound?
It was unbelievable.
The knights facing this must all be thinking the same thing.
Joyce, his hand losing strength, almost dropped the sword he was holding without realizing it.
Damian tilted his head, looking at the knights who had frozen as if time had stopped. As if he couldn't understand their dumbfounded expressions.
This monster-like guy had no particular awareness of what he had done.
Joyce finally realized.
Silveryn had no need to stop by the Knight Order's grounds to search for talent.
She had the most certain talent in her hands.
Most of the knights had taken the reputation and discernment of the Archmage and Eternia professor too lightly.
Joyce closed his eyes.
It must be because they were trapped in the well of Wiesel and couldn't see the wider world.
Damian, with a face that knew nothing, imprinted the “gap in talent” into the minds of the arrogant knights.
One knight holding a torch stood blankly with his mouth open, suddenly seemed to recall something, came to his senses, and said, "...I'll go... report the situation!"