Chapter 244

=====[Ernst’s Army]=====

“What the hell is that…”

One of Ernst’s knights muttered in a voice drained of strength.

Even seeing it with their own eyes, they couldn’t believe such strength. It felt like a dream, with no sense of reality whatsoever.

In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, she had slaughtered ten masters without breaking a sweat, standing there as if showing off. The only injury she had was a light cut on her side, and even that was just a lucky graze from a blade.

The knight’s longsword trembled in his hand, gripped by a wave of emotion like a cold sweat.

He was certain that if he clashed with her, his head would be lopped off in less than ten seconds. Even though he was a knight who had reached the level of a master, he couldn’t see her as human. She was beyond human.

Her physical abilities surpassed even the greatest beastman warriors, and her sword strikes were incomprehensible. The crimson flames that melted steel upon contact, and the meteor-like strike wreathed in fire—it was less like a knight’s technique and more like high-level magic.

Is this what they mean by a warrior blessed by the gods? He couldn’t tell if he was terrified or in awe.

The descendant of the Twelve Knights. The Carnivorous Beast, Ai-shan Gi-or.

Just watching her made his heart pound violently. Every nerve in his body screamed at him to run.

Beyond her human-like form, an endless sense of dread and a mesmerizing holiness swirled together. She was a volcano with limbs, a living storm.

Are we really supposed to fight something like that? Cold sweat dripped down his face.

—-

At least the masters had the will to fight. The ordinary soldiers looked like victims caught in a landslide.

The soldiers couldn’t keep up with the high-speed exchanges between master-level knights. All they could see were the aftermath and shockwaves of the battle. That alone was enough to send their morale plummeting into the abyss.

“How is this possible…? How can one person take down ten like that… so easily?!”

“I thought the Ka’har didn’t use magic! What the hell is that?!”

For the soldiers, the reasons for the war didn’t matter. What mattered was winning or losing, living or dying. And judging by what they were seeing, not only was winning out of the question, but surviving seemed impossible too.

Panic spread like a plague. To their untrained eyes, the woman standing in the distance was a monster who swung her sword and made people explode.

A fiery monster wielding burning tentacles. It felt like something out of an ancient legend was growling right in front of them.

“They expect us to fight that…?”

The spears in their hands looked as useless as twigs. Even if they managed to stab her, would she even feel it? Could they even land a hit?

To them, it seemed like one swing of her sword could cut down a hundred men.

The soldiers’ faces turned pale. Many trembled and dropped their weapons. The real war hadn’t even started yet, but they were already like defeated troops.

All they could think about was running away. If they could, they’d scatter like rats.

“Maintain formation! Deserters will be executed on the spot! If you want to be a pincushion, go ahead and try running!”

A noble commanding the archers shouted, more as a threat than anything. But it wasn’t an empty threat. The archers’ bows were already aimed not at the enemy, but at their own infantry.

Even the noble wasn’t in his right mind, consumed by fear and frustration, but at least he still had some rationality left compared to the soldiers.

The fact that he was a noble in a command position gave him a sliver of relief. After all, he was positioned at the rear of the army.

Even if the entire army collapsed, the 35,000 soldiers in front of him would buy him enough time to escape.

“That damn bastard…”

The soldiers gritted their teeth and muttered.

In front of them was possibly the empire’s strongest warrior. Behind them, 3,000 arrowheads. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

=====[Leopold’s Army]=====

Leopold’s camp was equally shocked.

“…Was Baron Mediane always this strong?”

Leopold muttered, sounding utterly defeated.

When ten masters appeared as enemies, he had been debating whether to send his own masters to support. But his worries were pointless. She had effortlessly wiped out a fifth of the empire’s master-level forces and stood there as if nothing had happened.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before. She was stronger when fighting at Berengeiria, but not to this extent…”

Ludwig was also taken aback, but compared to the others, he remained relatively calm. After all, he had already seen her jump off the Great Wall bare-handed. What more was there to be surprised about?

For him, it was actually something to welcome.

The stronger Ha-shal-leur became, the higher the chances of his revenge succeeding.

The other three showed different reactions.

Duke Pailoon didn’t say a word, but the subtle curve at the corner of his eyes showed he was satisfied with Ha-shal-leur’s performance.

Only those close to him, who had been by his side in the north for over a decade, knew that expression was his version of a smile.

‘Sending Freide to the capital was a good move.’

After meeting at the academy and fighting side by side, they had become close friends.

Lately, his daughter’s letters were always filled with complaints about that woman, yet there was a deep affection hidden between the lines.

Perhaps due to her strange hobbies, his daughter, who had never had a single friend to worry her father, had finally found a companion.

And not just any companion—a knight whose skill and character perfectly matched the spirit of the north.

He even liked the armor she was wearing.

If she were a man, he might have immediately pushed for an engagement to make her his son-in-law.

—

On the other hand, Duke Bien’s mouth twisted slightly.

He had heard rumors of her strength, but he never imagined it would be to this extent.

‘Damn it, with this, I can’t even touch her…!’

Her symbolic value, backed by Elmain, and her strength, which could be called the return of the 12 knights.

Not to mention her dazzling achievements. If this civil war ended, she could rise to the core of power in an instant.

The problem was that such a woman was on friendly terms with all his competitors.

He was well aware that Duke Pailoon’s daughter was close to her.

He had even seen her escorting her at banquets.

From the way she had supported Leopold when his position was uncertain, it seemed she was also close to the prince.

So much so that rumors of her being his mistress had spread.

To make matters worse, the Landenburg Margrave, as if already senile, had even talked about passing the succession to her.

If he was going to hand it over to a Ka’har half-blood, he might as well remarry and have a son.

Moreover, there was the issue of the Elpinel Church’s saint candidate.

A woman who had created a unheard-of title like “Grand Archbishop” and built her own power base in the capital.

While the two electors would likely stay in their territories unless something special happened, she was highly likely to deeply involve herself in imperial politics.

That’s why he had planned to keep her in check as much as possible after this war ended…

But now, the risk had grown too great. She was also likely closely tied to Count Medean.

Enough to join him in the insane act of attacking and burning down Archbishop Trier.

For Duke Bien, who dreamed of becoming the most powerful figure in the empire through this war, the fact that Count Medean, who could become an obstacle, was this strong was deeply unsettling.

Meanwhile, Lacey was simply offering prayers of joy, convinced that Elpinel’s will was undoubtedly on their side.

—

‘This is troublesome…’

Valenstein sighed as he surveyed the camp.

It was clear at a glance that the army’s morale was on the verge of collapse.

The soldiers looked like they would fall over at the slightest shout from that woman, and even the knights had visibly lost their fighting spirit.

Even the masters were trembling. They would follow orders if commanded to fight, but in this state, they wouldn’t even be able to show their true strength and would just lose their lives.

He couldn’t blame them for being cowards. Out of the sixteen masters deployed to this battlefield, including Valenstein himself, 60% had already been slaughtered.

All of them were Paladins, but it was still a devastating loss—enough to confirm defeat.

At this point, even if they launched a full-scale battle, they would be overwhelmingly outmatched in knightly strength and swept away like sand.

‘I expected to lose a few, but I never thought we’d lose all ten.’

The remaining masters were two supported by nobles, two from the Royal Guard, Ernst, and Valenstein himself.

And even Ernst couldn’t be recklessly deployed.

While Isabella had guaranteed his performance, and he was strong, the moment he was cut, his body, already corroded by monsters, would be exposed.

Revealing the identity of the Paladins could be covered up, but exposing the fact that Ernst was already as good as a corpse was an entirely different matter.

It would completely undermine the meaning and justification of this civil war.

‘Do I have to step in…?’

Even if he deployed the remaining four, they would just follow in the footsteps of the Paladins.

Valenstein himself would have to step forward and defeat that woman, or give up on the duel and push forward the troops, who were on the verge of becoming a disorganized mob.

Neither option was appealing.