Chapter 26
Chapter 10. Civil War Breaks Out –03
Even a single top-tier Expert would have been a handful, but there were no fewer than ten high-level Experts.
With Haines as he was now, it was a force he absolutely could not handle.
No, the same would have been true even if Viscount Aus and the other knights had come.
But when Jade stepped forward, Haines stared at him with his eyes wide.
“I’ll assist you.”
“You can’t redirect the spirits here. We’re already at a disadvantage in terms of forces……”
“Noes will fight on his own. That’s the advantage of spirits.”
Kukukung!
Noes, who had taken the form of a rhinoceros, rampaged like mad.
He was wreaking havoc across the battlefield, causing earthquakes in every direction.
The Second Prince’s spirit mages clung desperately to the fight, but unless they were of the same rank, stopping Noes was impossible.
“Then how are you planning to deal with them?”
“With this.”
Jade drew the sword made from a Black Drake’s teeth and grinned.
But Haines’s face was filled with disbelief.
He had seen Jade deflect the deputy commander’s lance, but he had thought that was the spirit’s power.
Since Jade had never shown himself using a sword, Haines had assumed he was no different from any other spirit mage.
“They’re all high-level Experts or above……!”
“You don’t need to worry about me. I have no intention of dying here.”
Hummm!
Sword aura surged from the pitch-black blade.
And it was not some crude sword aura, but properly refined sword aura, making Haines open his eyes wide.
He knew Jade had trained his body considerably, but he had not known Jade could produce such stable sword aura, and he was genuinely shocked.
-You shouldn’t be surprised by something like this! Ahem!
-He hasn’t even shown his true ability yet.
-Exactly!
Silestin and Elestra answered smugly when they saw not only Haines but also Lloyd and Rainy looking utterly astonished.
Of course, the three of them could not hear a word the two spirits were saying.
Kkyu?
Instead, Jade, who could hear both spirits perfectly, chuckled inwardly and set Whid down from his arms.
He could not take young Whid onto a battlefield where sword aura would be flying everywhere.
-Take care of Whid for me.
-Don’t worry! We’ll protect Whid properly!
“Whid, you stay put too.”
Kkuuung!
Whid nodded vigorously at Jade’s words.
He seemed to be saying that no one was better at waiting quietly than he was.
“That’s right, that’s right.”
Jade smiled and stroked Whid’s head at the sight of him obeying without throwing a tantrum.
Then Rainy stealthily approached the two of them.
“I’ll stay by his side.”
“Would you do that?”
“Yes. He’s still a baby.”
Rainy answered boldly.
But despite her confident tone, she was clearly tense.
The unfamiliar atmosphere of the battlefield had put her completely on edge.
Even so, Rainy not only held her position but also kept an eye on Whid.
“I’d appreciate it.”
“Don’t worry.”
Considering Whid’s combat ability, Rainy guarding him made no sense, but from a psychological standpoint, there was no harm in having her stay by his side.
So Jade humored her and turned around.
Pabababat!
While they were talking, the eleven had already reached the castle wall and climbed it with light movements.
They used mana to scale the wall as easily as if they were running across flat ground.
Of course, the soldiers had tried to hinder them, but ordinary soldiers’ arrows could not stop the eleven.
“Haaap!”
Haines charged at the eleven who had climbed onto the wall in an instant.
He attacked first, as if he would not allow them to approach any farther.
Yet despite Haines’s fierce momentum, the eleven did not panic.
As though they had arranged it beforehand, six surrounded Haines while the others spread out widely.
“Let’s spend a little time with the old man.”
“You bastards!”
The knights’ intentions as they scattered were obvious.
They meant to hold Haines in place while capturing Lloyd and Rainy.
“Though we probably won’t be able to play for very long.”
“It’s fine if we kill the old man.”
The knights surrounding Haines sneered.
Haines had once ruled over the Kingdom of Polstein and been called the kingdom’s greatest swordsman, but now he was nothing more than an injured old tiger.
That was why the knights spoke as though they had already won.
They failed to notice Haines’s expression, of course.
‘His reaction is strange.’
The middle-aged man, a top-tier Expert and effectively the leader of the special unit, narrowed his brow.
While the others joked around, he alone had been calmly observing Haines.
Kwaaang!
At that moment, a thunderous roar reached his ears.
A huge explosion had occurred not far away.
At the same time, his face hardened.
If there was someone strong enough to cause an explosion of this magnitude, their plan would inevitably suffer a major setback.
‘The spirit mage shouldn’t have the leeway to pay attention to this place right now. Besides, with such weak physical abilities, a spirit mage could never fight Expert knights……’
His eyes widened.
One of his comrades had been flung out through the cloud of dust, covered in blood.
More than half of his neck had been severed, and he was plainly already dead.
But he was not the only one who had died.
“Gurk!”
A knight whose arms had been grotesquely twisted fell below the castle wall.
The wounds had been inflicted by overwhelming, inescapable force.
The middle-aged man stared in disbelief.
The fallen knight was no ordinary knight, but one who had reached the high-level Expert rank.
When the knight collapsed in such a miserable state, the middle-aged man focused his keen gaze and glared into the cloud of dust.
“You won’t have the leisure to worry about other places.”
“Tsk!”
But the middle-aged man could no longer keep his eyes on the dust cloud.
Haines had charged at him, radiating terrifying momentum.
Haines’s aura and aura blade were so formidable that it was hard to believe he was injured, and the middle-aged man gritted his teeth.
He had expected it would not be easy, but he had not expected it to be this difficult.
“You may have come here as you pleased, but leaving will be different. I have no intention of letting a single one of you leave.”
“Subdue us first before you spout that nonsense!”
“Hmph!”
Faced with Haines’s terrifying momentum, the other five also came to their senses.
They had belatedly realized that one mistake could cost them their heads.
That was why they failed to see it.
They failed to see what was happening to those who had headed toward the Crown Prince and Princess.
“C-Crazy!”
One of the knights who had approached Lloyd confidently spat out a curse.
His expression was filled with terror, as if he had never been arrogant at all.
The sudden appearance of the monster had turned his face deathly pale.
“You were hiding the fact that you’re a spirit swordsman……!”
“I never hid it. You simply failed to recognize it.”
Sshaaat!
Jade smiled faintly and swung his sword.
The hot blood coating the blade dripped onto the ground.
“Where could someone as strong as you have come from……”
“It simply isn’t time for His Highness the Crown Prince to die yet. But how long are you going to stand around chatting? Didn’t you come here on a mission?”
Gulp!
The three knights swallowed dryly at the same time.
As they did, they rapidly exchanged glances.
They had attacked as five, but two had died in an instant, leaving only three.
Of course, the two had let their guard down, but the three knew.
Even if they charged in, their outcome would be little different from that of the first two who had died.
That left them with only one option.
‘Wait until the comrades who dealt with Haines join us.’
Their side was at a disadvantage, but the comrades fighting Haines should have had plenty of leeway.
Haines was a Sword Master, but he had suffered severe internal injuries, so there was no doubt he could not display his original skill properly.
If so, six of them should be able to finish him off.
“Are you waiting for your comrades? But do you think you can hold out that long?”
“Tsk!”
Jade’s noiseless thrust shot toward him, and the knight in the center hurriedly raised his sword.
He had barely managed to block Jade’s attack with the flat of his blade.
At the same time, the comrades on either side rushed in.
But their purpose was more to keep Jade at bay than to bring him down.
Crack.
Apparently, their intervention had worked, because Jade did not follow up with another attack and instead retreated.
Just as they were relieved by that, an ominous sound came from the sword.
It sounded as though something had cracked.
“What in the world……!”
The knight wore an incredulous expression.
He could not believe a crack had appeared in his prized sword even though he had blocked the attack with aura active.
But he had no time to stand there in shock.
“What are you doing?! Hurry up and join us!”
“Get in here already! Tsk!”
Jade, who had retreated slightly, charged in again at once.
He unleashed a storm of sword strikes, driving the two men relentlessly without pause.
The two knights gritted their teeth as they blocked Jade’s swift and powerful attacks.
Yet as the sword strikes grew stronger and stronger, their faces gradually reddened.
Swish! Swish!
Their wounds increased as well.
Even though they were wearing light armor, it did them no good.
Jade’s sword aura was simply that powerful.
‘This is my first proper fight against people, and it’s not bad.’
This was his first time fighting someone at the level of a Sword Expert.
Ever since he had learned to use a sword, his opponents had always been monsters.
Orcs might have builds somewhat similar to humans, but their way of fighting was completely different.
Orcs were a race that relied on instinct more than reason, so Jade was feeling and learning a great deal while fighting the three knights.
“Damn it!”
“Stay calm!”
“Let’s stick to the plan!”
Perhaps their pride had been wounded by the fact that they were the ones being pushed back despite attacking as three, because the knight on the right twisted his face into a grimace and swung his sword.
He unleashed a powerful slash with all his strength, as though he wanted to land at least one solid hit.
But that was a grave mistake.
Crrrack!
Jade overwhelmingly surpassed them not only in sword aura density, but also in physical strength and the amount of mana he possessed.
He seemed to have judged that he had some chance of winning, but that was a miscalculation.
“Guh!”
“Damn it!”
“You stupid bastard!”
The sword snapped in half the instant the blades collided, and the knight’s comrades ground their teeth and swung their swords in wide arcs.
They were trying to draw as much attention as possible while defending a broad area.
As a result, the mana they had been saving was rapidly consumed, but they had no choice.
The three of them were already struggling this badly, and if only two had to face Jade, there would be no hope, so they made their decision quickly.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and pick up a sword!”
“Pick up anything lying around!”
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwaang!
Though they swung their swords desperately, the two men were the ones being driven back.
Furthermore, as time passed, their swords were becoming increasingly chipped.
It meant they were losing not only in sword aura, but also in the quality of the weapons they wielded.
‘Just a little longer!’
Their eyes shook violently as their mana was consumed at a frightening speed.
But they could not stop just because they were afraid.
The moment they stopped, that gloomy black blade would slice through their necks.
“Grrk!”
Sword aura surged from the pitch-black blade and cut through his armor like paper.
The wound was not shallow, and stabbing pain assailed him whenever he moved, but what irritated him was not the pain. It was something else.
By now, the comrades who had dealt with Haines should have come to help them, but there was no sign of them doing so.
‘This isn’t good. We could be the first to tire out.’
The knight gritted his teeth.
A comrade joined them while gripping a broken sword, but the situation did not change much.
If anything, the wounds of the two men attacking together only continued to increase as time passed.
“Gaaaah!”
Then a familiar scream rang out.
One of their comrades had let out a scream filled with pain.
“You seem to be waiting for reinforcements, but it would be best not to get your hopes up. Sir Haines is very frightening right now.”