There was no time to feel the pressure of the actual encounter. When I recollected myself, I was already galloping forward with my horse. The moment I had actually realized this, cold sweat ran down my back. It was as if my whole body was without blood, as strength left my hands.
"Wake up!"
Belatedly coming back to reality, Sunhyuk bit his lips until it bled.
The blood then flew back within his helmet.
Through the narrow gap in the visor, he saw the enemy quickly approaching, as the Sastane Cavalry swerved left with all the dust flung into the air. All he could see were their bodies surrounded in iron armor in their tightly knit formation. It was as if killing intent and combative spirit were being emanated from them.
The moment he made eye contact with them, he couldn"t breathe.
"…left!! To the left!"
With a pat on the helmet again, he recollected himself, as he turned the horse to the left. However, despite having his whole body head into a different direction, his attention was on the enemies.
In this moment, his fear had peaked as he suddenly felt, that if he let them out from his sight, he would be killed as this kind of horror suffocated his body. His heart was about to burst any minute.
Fortunately, the repeated movements that he practiced during training helped, as he soon was naturally galloping forward.
Gallop. Gallop.
Soon, his rough breathing filled his helmet, causing the insides of the visor to feel as if it was on fire. His consciousness was fading, and the vision through the small gap between the visor was becoming dimmer.
Ah…
The sound of the horseshoes gradually was eclipsed by the screams of the second unit. And then, a bit later, he could hear nothing.
All he could feel was the violent up-and-down shaking of the horse"s reaction.
Did I drink on the go?
He doubted if he did, however he couldn"t remember.
No. But why am I here?
He was trying to think of the reason, but there was only an empty white sheet in his mind as he couldn"t think of anything.
"…!"
At that time, a strange object appeared beside him. Turning to his side, He saw a man with a helmet screaming something, but no sound was heard. It was as if he was looking at a cheap mime.
"…!"
It was ridiculous, seeing the man scream in this matter, as he alternated gazes between the man and the view in front of him. Thus, he ended up chuckling in the end.
What"s he saying. He couldn"t hear at all.
"…! ..!"
The man with a contorted face pushed his body against him, and continued to knock on his helmet. It was as if his knocking was urgent as gooseb.u.mps filled his whole body.
"… to be!"
And in that instant, the silence was ripped apart as he escaped the silent, empty world back into reality.
"Wake up!"
"Cl-Clarke?!"
Suddenly returning back into reality, he couldn"t recollect himself. That loud voice of Clarke calling Sunhyuk"s name caused the heat inside his helmet to burn on like a fire.
He couldn"t bear the heat in the end, and so Sunhyuk subconsciously raised his visor.
Shooooooooo.
Suddenly, a gale of the cool wind gushed onto his face. And then he realized that he was currently in the middle of a battle.
"You idiot! Lower your visor! We"re soon entering the range of their 1st ranged attack!"
With an urgent scream, he belatedly remembered the existence of the Sastane Cavalry, as he reflexively turned his head.
"Ahh…"
When did he get so close. That small bow, and the arrow that was on the bowstrings were so clearly seen as the enemies were aiming for them.
"Put down your visor, raise up your s.h.i.+eld! Lower your posture!"
From Clarke"s instructions, he lifted his s.h.i.+eld in a fl.u.s.tered state.
"Once! If you"re unlucky twice! You just have to endure that much!"
The scream felt m.u.f.fled since he had lowered his visor, but he was sure that the gist what he was saying.
"Endure! Endure anyway you can! Once they"re within distance, they won"t have time to grab a spear or whatever!"
After banging Sunhyuk"s helmet with his iron gloves, Sunhyuk lowered his posture and glared at the enemy. In that moment, a ping was heard as the enemies all released their bowstrings.
"Raise your s.h.i.+eld!"
With Clarke"s concluding remark, the sky rained down with arrows.
Please. Please. Please.
Hiding behind his s.h.i.+eld, he prayed that this rain of death would not strike him.
Ting. Ting.
Whenever the arrows sc.r.a.ped by his s.h.i.+eld, it was as if they were grazing his skin, as his shoulders automatically shuddered. Thus, the more he held the s.h.i.+eld, the stronger he tightened his grasp on the s.h.i.+eld.
Why won"t it end?!
It was only about a 100 or so Riders, yet that ghastly, terrifying rain of arrows caused him to wait pleadingly for that horrid time to pa.s.s.
And soon, that h.e.l.l-like time pa.s.sed as Clarke screamed at him.
"Sunhyuk!" "Yes!"
In this discord of a battlefield, Clarke"s voice, that penetrated through his eardrums, accosted him into raising his voice with all his might in reply.
"If this charge fails, there is no second opportunity!" "Ah, I understand!"
As time pa.s.sed, the bodies of the heavy cavalry became heavier and wearier, and it was only a matter of time before their fatigued bodies would be preyed upon by the devilish Sastanes. No armor on either them, or their horses, would protect them against their oncoming arrows forever.
"So, what are you doing when you know?! What the h.e.l.l do we do when the spearhead is idling about?!"
That b.l.o.o.d.y scream caused Sunhyuk to frown as he increased his speed. And soon, his whole body was filled with the wind as it began to spiral on the tip of his spear.
Shoooooooooooooooo.
The barrier of that fierce wind had broke down at a certain point, as some of his aura began to gather on the tip of his spear. Alongside, the speed of his horse rose even faster.
Not just yet.
After that not-so-successful first attack, the enemies were already trying to maintain the distance and fire once more. In that situation, using his skill would be a waste, and he would end up losing the effect of his attribute that was encircling the entire cavalry.
Right now, what was required was 10 spears over one strong spear, as he tried to suppress his urgent mind as he just focused on increasing his speed.
Kereeeeeeung.
It was as if his wrists were going to be cut off at any moment. He had reached the limitations of his attribute, and he wanted to release this aura at this very instant, while it loudly howled. With all of his veins about to burst, Sunhyuk endlessly gathered the attribute"s aura, while enduring the pain.
More! More! More!
Screaming silently, Sunhyuk charged after the Sastanes" backs.
The Sastane Cavalry was surprised, especially with how the superior mobility they gained in sacrificing the weight of their armor, seemed to be losing out on how they couldn"t keep the distance.
It was probably so. It appeared that they were relying on shooting arrows, and retreating before firing a second shot of arrows in order to weaken their enemies, thus manipulating them into their own pace.
However, that was clearly a bad move and a fatal failure.
Looking down on the Sastane and their bent backs, Sunhyuk loudly roared.
"Charge!"
He exercised the glorious privilege that was unique only to the spearhead. With that one shout, the heavy cavalry all shouted as one as they galloped at peak speed. It was then that the Heavy Cavalry"s, "true," charge had begun. Surprisingly, it seemed that they still had a surplus of energy left.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Wind Fang was howling loudly like a live animal, those wildly spiralling winds were precisely the source of the Wind Fang"s rage, as it roared out into the surroundings.
"Wind Piercing."
In the torment of his wrist, Sunhyuk thrusted out his spear. In that instant, the greatest momentum of the cavalries charging speed, which one thought was already at the peak, increased to another unbelievable level.
Bang!
A thunderous and explosive bang roared out from the Vanguard, as if they would swallow their enemies whole.
Blood and flesh splattered up and flew all around. With the heads of horses crushed, the bodies of the men a.s.saulted under such an impact were hurled off into all directions.
"Huh?"
The fear and excitement of that rus.h.i.+ng adrenaline stopped in that instant. It felt as if the battlefield was a place which served only to fill the belly of a beast. And soon, the rampant Sunhyuk belatedly realized what he had done.
The vicinity was full of blood and corpses. He had expected that there wouldn"t be any that were alive in the sea of blood. Yet, with b.l.o.o.d.y-red eyes like a dead lion, the survivors began to scream out loud.
"Ahhhhhhhhk!" "AHHH. Sa-save me!"
However, those sounds were soon deafened by the galloping of horses.
"Ahhh…"
Due to the smell of blood, Stella galloped excitedly as Sunhyuk forgot himself.
"Chase them! We need to finish them right now!"
Someone shouted, as he saw a shower of blood burst from the Sastane Cavalry in the area of the explosion. The reddened, wounded, bloodied backs of bodies caused him to pale as he screamed out loud.
Me, I…
He despaired under the shock of murder, and suddenly a smack shook him from behind.
"Leave the rest to us!"
There was more concern, just the great joy from securing victory, in Clarke"s expression, that could be seen with his uplifted visor.
"Stay behind! A recruit gave all he could do with that much!" "b.a.s.t.a.r.d! If it weren"t for you, we"d all be dead. You saved our regiment!"
Bang, bang!
Consecutively, the cavalrymen smacked his helmet.
"Thanks! And I"m proud of you!"
Although it was a speculative face, beyond that, it was full of fear and death. However, these guys were definitely comforting him.
They were glad that it wasn"t them lying on the battleground. It wasn"t like they were free from fear and death as well. And so they spoke.
"If we do not kill, then we in turn are killed!"
It was an unfamiliar and disturbing remark, but the moment Sunhyuk heard of it, he surprisingly felt as if everything was simplified.
Survival of the Fittest.
That was the law of this world, and one that must be followed onwards.
As soon as he realized that fact, with a face that couldn"t cry or smile, he stared at the battlefield soullessly.
*****
"We won!" "We beat the Sastanes!"
The battle was won. The Sastanes were caught by their tails, which would not have been so devastating if it was a frontal encounter, as such, they ended up being completely wiped out. In other words, it was an overwhelming victory for the Kingdom of Ardenburg, and a historic event that would be engraved against the Kingdom of Noctane.
The reigning protagonist of this complete victory was Kim Sunhyuk. However, he was looking disconsolate. Rather than happily thinking that all of his debt under the Kingdom would be cleared, unknowingly, he placed his hands onto his head, thinking of the dozens of lives he had just crushed into oblivion.
Sunhyuk, who was blankly staring at the Heavy Cavalry who were chanting victory, weakly dismounted, as if he was going to collapse. Then, he soon bent his back and began vomiting.
"Blargh!"
No matter how much he ate previously, the endless vomiting began to empty out his stomach.
[Companion. You are still too weak.]
In a jumbled state, the voice of the Dragon was heard in his mind.
TL Afterword:
Calvis: OOH, has to be by far one of the most enjoyable chapters I translated. And wow, so OP. Group buff haste?! And the dragon?! Lot"s going on.
TL Notice: I"ve been sick the last 4 days now due to the flu, but will definitely do my best to not delay any releases! Thanks for all the support! If I do miss tomorrow, I hope you all will understand.
PR Afterword:
Sai101: MC has a conscious… MC is not conniving & cold hearted… Actions have consequences… alas, cruel world - let loose the hounds of war!
BM: Survival of the Fittest! Get used to this world MC, I have a feeling you will murder many more in the future, most likely including innocents when you get your dragon to use Fire Breath.
Translator: Calvis Proofreader: Sai101,Borderline m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t