Chapter 330

The fierce battle between the great warriors and masters began, and the knights, having regained their composure, also started to fiercely confront the beastmen.

“Tie up their movements! Don’t let them jump!”

“Where do you think you’re running to!”

The knights of Pailoon unleashed the iron chains they had been carrying and swung them around.

Silver blades sprouted from each link. Without distinguishing between fur and tree bark, anything caught in the chains was torn to shreds.

“Kyahak!”

“Kruek…! My leg, my leg…!”

The beasts that had been leaping between the trees were caught by the chains and fell.

The blades embedded deep into their bodies, leaving them in tatters, bleeding profusely.

“Now! Cut their throats and rip out their guts! In the name of Pailoon!”

“In the name of Pailoon!”

The knights, wielding saw-toothed swords instead of chains, rushed at the fallen beastmen and swung their weapons.

The forest was filled with agonizing screams.

“Kerruk…!”

A brown-furred dog beastman, with its neck completely gouged out, collapsed.

“Kyahaaak! You humans!”

A cat beastman, its belly torn open, screamed wildly, slashing with its claws instead of its lost weapon.

A knight, ducking low to avoid the claws, thrust his left arm into the beastman’s gaping abdomen and yanked out all its entrails.

“Kya, kyahaak…!”

Feeling the sensation of its organs being ripped out, the cat beastman raised its head.

Foamy saliva dripped from its mouth. Its entire body convulsed violently.

Urine leaked from between its legs, emitting a foul steam.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

The beastmen weren’t just being slaughtered helplessly.

A rabbit beastman, moving swiftly to avoid the chains, charged forward and kicked a knight.

– Thud!

The steel longsword, swung as if to block, shattered into pieces, and the rabbit beastman’s right foot slammed into the knight’s face.

A blow that no human skull could withstand. The knight’s head was crushed like a watermelon hit by a hammer.

Human and beast blood scattered and mixed on the pristine snow.

The trampled and melted snow turned into a red mire.

—-

While the knights and warriors were slaughtering each other, spilling guts, the strong ones on both sides were also engrossed in their own battles.

“Do you think a mere archer can beat us in the forest?”

“I think so! Just pierce through the trees, that’s all!”

Milia stood still, firing arrows like a machine gun.

The rate of fire was unbelievable for a steel bow. Her well-developed back muscles were visible even through her armor.

– Crack! Crack! Shatter!

The arrows shot through the tree trunks effortlessly.

As she had boasted, the silver arrows fired from the steel bow had the power to pierce through thick conifers like paper.

“That’s nothing if you don’t hit me!!”

The snow leopard beastman, clinging to and leaping between trees, dodged the arrows and charged at Milia whenever there was an opening.

“I’ll tear you apart!”

The beast’s nimble movements.

It was like a blizzard rushing through the trees.

“I won’t let you trample over us!”

Blocking her attacks was the role of a newly joined knight.

A master of the Pailoon army, he was also experienced in fighting beastmen. His silver longsword, full of saw-teeth, blocked the snow leopard’s twin swords.

“Fulmen (Lightning)!”

The counterattack followed. A low incantation imbued the blade with lightning.

Perhaps he had mastered magic as well as reaching the level of a master.

The power wasn’t that strong, but it was enough to cause Abigail pain.

“Kyaaaak-! This…! Don’t interfere!”

The snow leopard, gritting its teeth, kicked the saw-toothed sword away and leaped back.

—-

While the two were dealing with Abigail, Ludmila was engaged in a fierce battle with Damien.

“You brat! Move aside now!”

“I can’t grant that request!”

– Clang!

The greatsword and javelin collided, screaming.

The javelin, unable to withstand the impact, shattered into pieces. Steel fragments scattered across the snowy field.

The greatsword Damien had used before was a treasure even in Pailoon and had been reclaimed, but the greatsword he received in return was also quite strong, mixed with Jin.

So strong that a mere steel spear couldn’t even scratch it.

Though Damien had only recently become a master, his opponent was still not fully recovered from injuries.

Even in a one-on-one fight, he wasn’t being pushed back; in fact, he was gradually gaining ground.

—-

The other great warriors were also engaged in fierce battles with masters.

“Long time no see, Valdemar! Do you remember me?”

“Vasily Cheslav… You’re still alive! Finally come to die, have you?”

The polar bear beastman, Vasily, swung his fists relentlessly at Duke Pailoon and Richard.

Gauntlets and greatswords clashed with explosive sounds, and a longsword aimed at a gap was deflected off his hand. Despite facing two seasoned masters, he remained unscathed.

“You fox cub, you were running away just fine earlier?”

Leonor had already climbed a tree and was clinging to Nazar, who was commanding the throwers.

Her longsword and Nazar’s greatsword tangled once again.

“How’s your friend? Without that friend, your head will roll this time.”

“He’s not a friend!”

Nazar shouted irritably and swung his greatsword.

The scene was no different from the battle at the fortress walls.

The only difference was that now Leonor had the numerical advantage.

“Talking like a princess. Even after eating that Nile, you don’t have a single friend, how pitiful.”

“Why are you bringing me into this!”

Nazar deflected Leonor’s longsword.

As soon as I stepped in, a pale, gleaming saw-toothed sword aimed for his arm.

“Ugh…!”

Nazar hurriedly pulled his arm away, but it wasn’t enough to completely avoid the attack, leaving a clear scar on the brown fur.

“Why? The princess doesn’t have many friends either, right? You said so yourself.”

“…I have plenty now.”

Freide, shaking off the flesh-stained saw, snorted.

After frantically searching for Oleg and failing to find the snowfield tiger, she eventually gave up and joined Leonor.

—-

“Grrr…”

Ryurik, glancing around, growled with a low rumble in his throat.

Even fighting in favorable terrain, the difference in strength was hard to overcome.

The Suin on the trees were falling one by one under the knights’ counterattacks, and the great warriors were also accumulating injuries.

Even the pure-blooded warriors had already lost over ten in the frontlines.

“…Is this as far as we go?”

“What, your life?”

I kicked off the tree I was perched on and charged at him, like a comet streaking down in a diagonal line.

The tree trunk that served as my foothold shattered, sending a cascade of snow tumbling down.

– Screeeech!

The tip of the sword aimed straight for the wolf Suin’s collarbone.

Instead of blocking with his claws, Ryurik stomped his foot and leaped backward.

A burst of white snow surged up, blocking my path.

– Thud!

A cold sensation spread across my face. I had headbutted a pile of snow.

It didn’t hurt, but it was cold and unpleasant. The snowball melted instantly from my heated body temperature, streaming down my cheeks and soaking my collar.

“Dodge? Let’s see how much more you can dodge—”

“Retreeeaat—!!”

Ryurik, now far away, let out a roar.

The ground-shaking howl caused the snow piled on the branches to cascade down.

The scattered snowflakes rose like a mist.

—-

The fight didn’t last long.

To be precise, it ended before it even properly began.

As soon as Ryurik gave the order, the Suin destroyed the surrounding trees to create an opening and retreated like the ebbing tide.

They weren’t running because they were overwhelmed.

It seemed they had planned to retreat all along, executing it with seamless precision and speed.

Chasing them was impossible.

I could have done it alone, but the others couldn’t leap through the trees like me or the Suin.

“Ah, seriously. That fox bastard, I thought we finally had him, but he got away again…!”

Leonor irritably ran her fingers through her hair.

—-

After that, the attacks repeated several times.

As soon as they recovered from their injuries, they charged again, almost every two hours.

Because of this, our forces hadn’t made much progress since the initial skirmish.

We, too, had to rest and tend to our wounds after each battle.

We couldn’t even manage the horses during the heat of battle, so most of the cavalry horses had long since died.

Their corpses littered the area, heads smashed against rocks or bellies torn open by wooden spears.

The few horses that survived had scattered and fled during the chaos of battle.

Even if they escaped into the Suin-filled forest, they’d likely be hunted down and turned into snacks.

At best, only a handful of horses might have made it out of the forest alive.

“…This is a headache.”

“Yes. It seems wiping them out won’t be as simple as we thought.”

Valdemar and Karl’s expressions darkened.

Sure, I could sense the precursors to their ambushes, but that wasn’t enough.

If they had just charged in a “you die, I die” manner, we could have finished them off. But no, they were using the most cowardly tactics imaginable.

It almost felt like they had been trained by Valenstein himself.

We barely had a chance to counterattack.

They’d swoop in from the trees, unleash a barrage of thrown weapons, and flee as soon as casualties started mounting.

Even if I or the elite knights tried to respond, Ryurik and the great warriors persistently targeted us, leaving no room to focus on the ordinary Suin.

[…This is dangerous.]

Hersela’s voice came through, sounding more serious than usual.

‘Yeah, we’re getting pummeled one-sidedly without a chance to rest…’

[You fool, that’s not what I mean.]

‘What?’

Hersela clicked her tongue in exasperation and continued in a tone like she was lecturing a subordinate.

[Don’t you see? They’re blatantly stalling for time. And they’re doing it by mobilizing their entire force except for one. That means their goal is clear.]

Stalling for time? For what…?

Even if our reinforcements arrive…

Ah.

[They’ve called for reinforcements too. And they’re confident that once those reinforcements arrive, they can defeat us!]

…There are more Suin?

No way. At this point?

A chill ran down my spine.