Chapter 233: I Can’t Just Let This Happen. (2)
“What the hell? Who are those guys?”
The barbarians snickered as they saw the army rushing from behind them. It looked like there were about three to four hundred of them, which seemed quite a lot.
But what did that matter?
Here, six tribes had united with over two thousand warriors gathered.
They had left their horses a bit farther away due to the siege, but they were not scared at all.
After all, they could just bravely block with their bodies.
Having fought like this against other tribes multiple times, they had no fear whatsoever.
“Raise your axes! Let’s obliterate those bastards first!”
“A straight-up fight is even better! Hahaha!”
“Today is a festival of blood!”
“Woooaaarrr!”
The barbarians roared as they regained their fighting spirit. They preferred to clash on a large scale on the plains.
Seeing the raucous barbarians, Ghislaine grinned widely.
This was exactly the kind of battle he loved.
Ghislaine’s eyes gradually began to glow red. The spear he held became enveloped in crimson mana.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
The horse that Ghislaine rode galloped faster, increasing the distance from the knights following behind.
A red flash.
There wasn’t a better expression for him at that moment.
Ghislaine said nothing. He simply became a beam of light and charged into the midst of the barbarians.
Kwahhhhh!
“Ughhh!”
The barbarians trying to tackle him burst apart in an instant, scattering everywhere.
Even in his past life, the Mercenary King’s first charge couldn’t be easily stopped by the Seven Great Powers of that continent.
Die or flee.
Those were the only two options available to the Mercenary King’s enemies.
Kakakakakak!
Ghislaine charged straight through the barbarian army, splitting them completely in half.
The barbarians were so overwhelmed by his destructive power that they could hardly retaliate. While they were flustered, the Knights of Penris charged in behind Ghislaine.
Kwahhhh!
“Uuugh! What the hell are these guys!”
“There were such guys in the northern fortress?”
“Where the heck did they come from!”
The barbarians were stunned to the point of losing their minds. The newcomers all had their spears wrapped in blue mana.
The fact that there were hundreds of knights made no sense. There had never been this many knights emerging while fighting at the northern fortress.
“The numbers are on our side! Everyone, close in! I said close in!”
At the shout of the great warriors, the fighters fearlessly closed in once more. The barbarians’ intrinsic belligerence began to show everywhere.
“It begins.”
“Die!”
As the warriors charged forward, the knights’ speed diminished under the assault. But since all of them were mana-using knights, a little reduction in speed didn’t make it difficult to face the warriors.
And among them, there were some particularly outstanding individuals.
Puh-puh-puh!
Every time Ghislaine swung his spear, the barbarians didn’t even know how they were dying, their heads punctured.
Bang! Kwoooaaang!
Gillian and Kaor also slaughtered countless barbarians. As they rampaged, the battlefield fell into complete chaos.
Kaor laughed heartily while slaying the barbarians.
“Hahahaha! Old man! I’m going to kill more today!”
“……”
Gillian ignored Kaor’s taunt. It was a waste of time to even engage with that guy.
“Uaaaaagh!”
The knights’ active duty continued, and the screams of the barbarian warriors echoed endlessly, their formation thrown into disarray.
“Kraaah! Do not retreat!”
“Hold on somehow!”
“We can win this!”
With the great warriors’ shouts, the warriors gritted their teeth and gathered around the knights again. But this wasn’t just the knights of Penris present.
Seeing the barbarians’ line crumble, Zvalter shouted loudly.
“Open the castle gate!”
Kuuuwung!
“Waaaaaaah!”
The knights and soldiers of Perdium surged out of the fortress, cheering with morale higher than ever before.
The situation that had only allowed for a desperate defense was completely transformed by Ghislaine’s appearance.
“Ugh!”
With the Perdium army joining the fray, the barbarians began to fall one by one under the onslaught coming from front and back. There was no way they could respond properly to such a sudden attack.
Fueled by excitement, the Perdium army fought by squeezing out powers they didn’t even know they had. The most thrilled among them was the Guard Commander, Skoban, from the Forest of Monsters.
“Die! Die! You bastard!”
Having gone back to Perdium, he had come to deliver some reports and supplies to the fortress, only to find himself unlucky and caught in the barbarian invasion.
He thought he had the worst luck, but now his perspective had completely changed.
‘This feels great!’
The people living in the North had accumulated tremendous feelings against the barbarians. Among them, the hatred of the people of Perdium was particularly profound.
Having lost many companions and territory residents to the barbarians and living in pain, it was only natural.
When a siege war broke out, they were always just busy defending; they had never had the opportunity to slaughter such a large number of barbarians. Even when they took down a few raiders, it was only for a moment of calm.
But now, to have such a refreshing occurrence!
Even though it wasn’t a proper field battle and they had come out during a siege war with Ghislaine’s help, they were thoroughly beating the barbarians.
‘It would have been better if we could have just openly killed them all from the start.’
Most of the Perdium soldiers had similar thoughts, but they all knew that such a thing would never happen. With the need to conserve their strength, Perdium could never afford that.
So they had no choice but to be satisfied with this much.
“Let’s retreat for now!”
“Scatter! Scatter!”
Even the aggressive barbarians had no choice but to deal with the situation. As those who valued their lives began to flee one by one, the already chaotic formation completely collapsed.
The knights and soldiers of Penris and Perdium gritted their teeth and chased after the barbarians, determined to take down as many as possible.
Finally, as the sun set and the bodies piled up around the fortress, Zvalter shouted.
“That’s enough! It’s over! No need to chase any more!”
“No need to chase them anymore!”
Except for a few barbarians who managed to flee, there were no survivors left.
The Perdium Army had no intention of accepting surrenders, and the barbarians also had no intention of surrendering.
Their emotions had deepened through years of fighting.
“Waaaah!”
“We won!”
“The Grand Duke has arrived!”
The Perdium Army finally let out a cheer of victory. It was completely different from the time they helplessly watched the barbarians retreat.
They had inflicted near-total damage on the allied forces of six nearby tribes, so celebrating was well warranted.
Zvalter approached Ghislaine with a big smile.
“Ghislaine! What on earth happened? How did you arrive so suddenly?”
Ghislaine returned the smile as he faced Zvalter.
“Aren’t the barbarians active now? I thought they’d definitely be more ferocious due to starvation.”
“Right, well done. You arrived at just the right time. Thanks to you, we achieved a great victory. I was actually considering asking you for help recently.”
The Perdium Army had a significant weakness: their operational range was severely reduced when the barbarians united.
Though this had rarely happened until now, with the famine worsening and the barbarians going berserk to survive, Perdium’s weakness had clearly come to light.
Zvalter then seemed to remember something and hurriedly continued.
“This isn’t the time to celebrate. That barbarian raiding party has already entered the kingdom. Other villages are at risk. We need to move quickly and enjoy the victory later.”
The role of the barbarians who had come here was to hold back the Perdium forces until the raiding party finished their job.
Given that the raiding party was small but had excellent mobility, it was highly likely that they had already infiltrated several villages by now.
Ghislaine nodded in understanding and replied.
“Let’s move right away. I’ll split my squad and act as well.”
“Let’s do that. I’ll bring you the updated map.”
Despite the immense fatigue accumulated from the recent battles, everyone moved without complaint.
They all knew that the longer they delayed, the more powerless people would suffer.
As soon as Ghislaine received the map, he unfolded it and pointed to various locations.
“Gillian and Kaor, take a hundred knights each and head here. The looting has probably already begun, so we need to hurry.”
“Understood.”
“Leave it to me. I’ll wipe them out completely and return.”
Gillian and Kaor immediately left the fortress, and Zvalter also split his squad with Randolf and moved right away.
Time was of the essence. They had to arrive before the barbarians devastated the villages.
Zvalter urged his horse forward, gritting his teeth.
“It might already be too late…”
The barbarians who had come here had done their part. Because of them, the Perdium Army had been tied down here for too long.
Still, they were lucky to be able to move now. If Ghislaine hadn’t come, they wouldn’t even have had this opportunity.
Zvalter urged the knights and soldiers with him, shouting.
“Let’s hurry to save the people!”
*
“Hahaha!”
“It’s been a while since we’ve looted!”
“What? These guys actually have some food?”
The barbarians laughed heartily as they burned down a village in the north. It wasn’t a large place, so they hadn’t expected much, but there was more stored food than they had anticipated.
That food had been distributed by Zvalter.
He hadn’t simply kept the provisions he received from Ghislaine.
He distributed them thoroughly among the territory residents of Perdium, and even secretly shared some with nearby villages of other territories. It was a way to strengthen them to resist the threats posed by the barbarians.
Even secretly distributing it to the villages of nearby territories, the intention was clear: to strengthen their power to face the threat of barbarians.
He believed it was his responsibility to stop the barbarians, so even if it was a village from another territory, support was needed to confront the barbarians.
That was the reason he was respected by the people, despite being called the “fool of the north.”
However, this time the barbarians had made a determined incursion, willing to take damage in the process. Normally, such raiding parties would be halted by the fortress’s pursuit squads, but now Perdium was also in a compromised state.
So they were enjoying a long-awaited raid, freely killing people.
“AAAAHHH!”
“Please, save me!”
“Just spare the child!”
Amidst the burning buildings, the screams of the people echoed endlessly.
The vigilante group protecting the village had already been wiped out, and there was no one left to stop the barbarians.
The barbarians roared in victory, displaying their madness without restraint.
“Ha ha ha! Everything is ours now!”
“The fools from the north can’t move right now!”
“Aren’t those idiots always looked down upon by the other territories? Why do they work so hard when no one helps them? Stupid fools! Bwahahaha!”
“Alright! Kill all the women and rape all the men!”
All eyes turned to one barbarian who shouted, intoxicated by the thrill.
“Hey, you…”
“Oh, no, no! I just made a mistake without realizing it…”
A brief awkward silence passed, but everyone quickly forgot it and continued to enjoy their long-lost festival.
They searched every corner of the village to kill even one more person.
Clang!
As they searched through the houses, one barbarian discovered a boy trembling, hugging his younger sibling inside a house.
“Uhhuhuhu, look what cute little ones are here?”
The barbarian warrior grinned, revealing his yellow teeth.
Seeing the horrifying skull helmet and the axe dripping with blood, the boy spoke in a trembling voice.
“P-please, spare me.”
“Hehehehe!”
The barbarian only made a grotesque laugh. The boy spoke again with tears in his eyes.
“P-please, just spare my sibling.”
“Khihihih!”
Again, the barbarian only let out a creepy laugh as he approached the boy.
Thud. Thud.
The boy trembled and could only cry. The sound of the barbarian’s footsteps felt like death itself was approaching.
‘Goddess, please… please help me.’
Overwhelmed by fear, the boy closed his eyes. Thinking that he would soon die with his sibling was unbearable.
Thud. Thud.
‘Please, someone… Please…’
Thud. Thud.
“Khihihih?”
Thud!
Boom!
A noise of something collapsing was heard, and the footsteps no longer sounded.
In the silence, the boy cautiously opened his eyes.
The barbarian that had been approaching him lay dead, his skull pierced from behind.
At the door stood a man holding a blood-stained spear.
His attire was different from the barbarians. The boy instinctively knew that he was someone opposing the barbarians.
The inside of the house was dark, making it hard to see the man’s face. However, the flickering flames engulfing the village illuminated his form.
But the man’s red eyes were distinctly visible even in the darkness.
The boy asked in a quaking voice.
“W-who are you?”
The man, after a moment of silence, spoke in a firm voice.
“Ghislaine Perdium. I am the one who will protect you from now on.”
