Chapter 27
“Ghk!”
The three knights’ eyes changed at the death rattle that followed.
Now that things had come to this, they decided they had to make a choice.
If time continued to pass like this, they would eventually exhaust their mana for nothing.
And that would end in death.
“Hah!”
“It’s all or nothing!”
Having reached that conclusion, the three drew up every last bit of their remaining mana.
They had decided to settle things here.
Perhaps because of that, the force the three exuded was unusually fierce.
They charged as if they intended to die together.
Hummm!
Not only that, but the sword aura clinging to their swords was far sharper and more powerful than before.
Though they seemed frenzied, their technique was excellent as well.
‘The knight standing in the center is the real one.’
The sword pressure the three exuded was incredible, as befitted three high-level Sword Experts.
Jade had to acknowledge not only the density of their aura, but also the essence of the swordsmanship unfolding in dazzling fashion.
However, no matter how dazzling the swordsmanship, there was ultimately only one real body.
The countless sword shadows were merely shadows.
Kra-kakakak!
Amid the waves of sword shadows filling the air, the three had saved the real attacks until the very last moment.
They had hidden them once, twice, and again.
All to drive their swords into Jade’s body at the final moment.
But even with the other two serving as bait, their plan failed.
Sshk! Sshk!
Jade simply blocked the three swords boring in at exquisite angles by adding two more sword auras.
And he did not stop there; he extended the sword aura as it was and pierced the bodies of the three knights.
“M-Master……!”
“You were hiding your strength…… Ghk!”
“That’s just how the world works, isn’t it?”
The three knights, each pierced through the throat, heart, and abdomen, wore hollow expressions.
They realized too late that their desperate struggle had all been meaningless.
Thud! Plop!
After pouring out everything as if burning their final flames, the three knights died.
All three wore the same expression.
Rainy and the other knights stared blankly at the sight.
That could mean only one thing: Jade had dispatched three high-level Sword Experts with ease.
Kwaaaang!
As Jade shook the blood from his sword, a thunderous roar came from where Haines was fighting.
And he saw three figures go flying.
“You’re as formidable as ever.”
Haines had not killed them in an instant like Jade, but he too was pushing the knights back, displaying the fighting spirit of a veteran.
He had already inflicted grievous wounds on two of them.
But perhaps because of his internal injuries, Haines looked unwell.
“L-Lord Jade.”
“Don’t worry.”
Seeing Haines like that, Rainy, who had been standing close beside Whid, called out to Jade.
At that moment, Jade’s figure shot toward Haines.
Bang!
Jade reached Haines’s battlefield in an instant and immediately slashed the back of one knight’s head.
He had not hesitated for even an instant.
As a result, the knight, half his head severed, collapsed limply to the ground.
“You killed them all?”
“Let’s wrap this up.”
“……Let’s.”
The middle-aged man who had been holding off Haines at the center opened his eyes wide at Jade’s appearance.
He had never expected Jade to take out all five of them.
At the same time, he realized instinctively.
This operation had failed.
‘This is going to throw the whole plan into disarray…….’
The middle-aged man furrowed his brow.
But he did not deliberate for long.
He had decided that surviving came first.
Yet Haines noticed that intention with uncanny precision.
Fwoosh!
Having lived as a knight for decades, his experience was second to none.
He might have had no political ability whatsoever, but as a knight, he was a figure who could rank among the five greatest in Polstein’s history.
Klang!
Though his physical condition was far from normal, experience did not simply disappear.
Moreover, as Haines burned his final flame, he displayed swordsmanship even greater than in his prime.
“Tsk! We’re retreating!”
“Yes!”
“Who says I’m letting you go?”
“Gasp!”
At the middle-aged man’s order, the two remaining knights hurriedly pulled back their swords.
They intended to retreat, believing any further fighting would be meaningless.
Unfortunately, they did not get their wish.
Noes had approached at some point, seized the two men by the feet, and was dragging them underground.
“Let go!”
Crack! Crrrk!
As they sank to their shins in an instant, the two knights panicked and swung their swords.
They unleashed sword aura mercilessly toward the ground.
But Noes was already beside Jade.
He was merely drawing them in with spirit power.
“You’re so crude. Or is it because you’ve never fought a spirit mage before?”
To escape, they had to attack the spirit’s true body directly.
But rather than look for Noes, the flustered knights simply dug mindlessly at the earth dragging them down, acting on instinct.
Of course, it was not entirely useless.
If they overturned the earth wildly, an opening might appear for them to pull out both legs.
The problem was that Jade would never stand by and watch.
Boom-boom-boom!
While the two knights were distracted by the earth pulling them down, Jade casually swung his sword.
As a result, the two knights’ necks and arms were cleanly severed, killing them instantly.
“Damn it!”
Even as he blocked Haines’s tenacious assault, the middle-aged man kept a close eye on his surroundings.
He had to react immediately because Jade was an unpredictable variable.
Thus, he also saw his two remaining subordinates get helplessly overwhelmed.
“The situation’s completely reversed. How does it feel? What’s it like to go from hunter to hunted?”
“Shut up, old man!”
“Heh heh! You’ve really lost your composure.”
Ssshhk!
Because he did not know when Jade might join the fight, the middle-aged man kept moving nonstop and swung his left hand wide.
Three daggers, saturated with aura, shot toward Haines like lightning, targeting his head, heart, and abdomen.
Clang-clang!
While Haines was forced to block the surprise attack that targeted three places almost simultaneously, the middle-aged man leaped lightly from the castle wall.
He had judged there was no chance of victory and fled.
“Jade.”
“We can’t let someone of that caliber escape.”
“Aaargh!”
The middle-aged man, fleeing without even looking back, screamed.
His body had been drenched in blood in an instant.
It was the result of Jade dismissing Noes and summoning Silairon to attack.
Though the middle-aged man was a top-tier Sword Expert, he was already exhausted to the limit, and with his back completely exposed, he had been hit by what was essentially a surprise attack; he reached the Second Prince’s camp in a gruesome state.
“I’ll go finish things.”
“I’m counting on you.”
Though he had been pretending to be fine, Jade knew the truth.
Haines was in the worst possible condition.
Knowing Haines was concealing that fact through sheer willpower, Jade lightly kicked off the ground and descended below the castle wall.
Kuaaaang!
Jade headed straight for where Arrelia was.
Despite Marquess Madrain, a Sword Master, and the most skilled members of his order joining forces to attack her, Arrelia was the one pressing the advantage.
Together with the mid-grade spirits, she was driving back six enemies.
True to her elven nature, Arrelia summoned mid-grade wind and fire spirits and tormented Marquess Madrain without pause.
“Aren’t you a little late?”
“I had quite a fierce battle of my own.”
“I nearly got tired of waiting.”
“I think I could blow them all away easily enough.”
“Together, we might be able to.”
Arrelia smiled brightly as she looked at Silairon standing beside Jade.
Unlike Marquess Madrain and his companions, who were clearly exhausted, she had not broken a single bead of sweat.
Arrelia’s expression made it clear that not all Masters were created equal.
“Let’s finish this quickly. Things aren’t looking very good elsewhere.”
“The difference in numbers was just too great.”
The Crown Prince’s side was barely holding out using the castle wall.
But with the Second Prince’s forces so numerous, it would not have been strange for the castle gate to be breached at any moment.
“You…….”
“Sorry, but I don’t have time for you.”
The battle fell into a brief lull because of Jade’s sudden appearance.
But it lasted only a moment.
Jade charged toward the knights of House Madrain, with sword aura streaming from him.
“Kill him!”
“I wonder if your skills are up to it.”
Arrelia muttered at Marquess Madrain’s shout.
The person in question remained silent, so she answered in his place.
Of course, she did not merely answer.
Sssshk!
Aura blades erupted from her twin swords and split the air with a terrifying shriek.
Unlike before, she had launched flying aura blades.
“D-Dodge!”
The knights charging at Jade with murderous glints in their eyes scattered in panic at the sight.
None of them dared try to block it.
The same was true of Marquess Madrain, a Sword Master.
“Not so fast.”
But apart from Marquess Madrain, none of them managed to evade Arrelia’s attack.
Silairon had bound the knights tightly with a whip of wind.
Only Marquess Madrain barely dispelled Silairon’s attack and kept himself alive.
Swish!
But that too lasted only a moment.
With the nimble movements unique to elves, Arrelia leaped through space and was suddenly behind Marquess Madrain.
Marquess Madrain noticed too late and spun around to attack, but Arrelia’s twin swords were faster.
She stopped Marquess Madrain’s sword with the blade in her right hand and stabbed him in the heart with the sword in her left.
“Ghk!”
As a searing sensation spread through him, Marquess Madrain’s heart was pierced, and he vomited blood.
Even then, he looked at Arrelia with hollow eyes.
“Humans have a saying, don’t they? You have to choose your side carefully.”
“……Heh heh!”
Marquess Madrain let out a hollow laugh.
He had not become a Sword Master only to die such a pointless death.
Nor had he joined the Second Prince’s faction for that reason.
Yet this was how things had turned out.
‘Had it been a mistake…….’
For his personal honor and the sake of his family, he had chosen the Second Prince.
He had thought that a bold Second Prince becoming the next king would be better than the indecisive and weak Crown Prince.
Moreover, he had thought that playing a decisive role might earn him a promotion to duke.
But all those plans ended here.
“You’re merely bearing the responsibility for your choice. So don’t feel too aggrieved. Besides, the outcome was already decided.”
“Ghk! What are you talking about?”
“What good would knowing do you now, on the verge of death?”
“I suppose you’re right.”
The light faded from Marquess Madrain’s eyes.
For a swordsman who had briefly held sway over the Kingdom of Polstein, it was an utterly futile end.
“M-My lord!”
“Shall we clear the battlefield?”
“We should. Though the battle seems to have already turned in our favor.”
After briefly glancing at Marquess Madrain, who had not let go of his sword even at the moment of death, Jade began walking.
Then the soldiers parted left and right like a wave splitting apart.
No one could stand in his way.
Even the mercenaries hired by the Second Prince began to edge backward.
They had eyes, too, and could sense which way the tide of victory had turned.
Thud, thud.
Though everyone’s attention was focused on him, Jade’s footsteps were light.
He walked straight toward the Second Prince.
And Arrelia walked beside him, matching his pace.
“S-Stop them! Hurry and stop those bastards! Sir Tsen!”