Chapter 71

It was about thirty minutes later that everyone gathered at the northern village.
Lucas also left only the bare minimum of the Second and Third Battalion forces behind and sent the rest back to the fortress.
The soldiers couldn’t hide their confusion, but because their battalion commanders followed Lucas, they turned back relatively obediently.

Serpens exchanged a silent greeting with the Knight Commander of the Second Battalion.

Berisa Arknight.
This was the first time he had met her since a month ago.
The red cloak fluttering over her silver armor,
her sea-green hair tied firmly so it would not get in the way of battle,
and finally, the spear shining in the light.
Unchanged in appearance, she placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder as she passed beside him.

The boy’s gaze moved past her and toward a man standing a short distance away.
A white-haired man with strikingly fierce eyes.
His solid build and silence defined his entire air,
two swords were strapped across his back,
and a longsword longer than those was fastened at his waist.

Serpens looked at him not because of his appearance.

‘What……?’

The white-haired man was already looking down at the boy with hostility in his eyes.

Serpens read his gaze.
He was looking this way,
but it was not directed at him.

Serpens widened his eyes and looked up at him.
The man was looking at the sword fastened at the boy’s waist.

‘You’re not getting my sword.’

At a guess, that man was the commander of the Third Battalion. In other words, a Knight Commander.
No matter how impressive he was,
Serpens had absolutely no intention of handing this sword over.

“…….”

The man quietly withdrew his gaze.

Serpens felt uneasy.
He did not feel as if he had won the battle of wills.
Rather, was that not an indifferent reaction, as if there was no need to deal with him at all?

‘What’s with that look? Does he have some bad memory with this sword?’

While Serpens grumbled inwardly, Lucas’s voice drew everyone’s attention.

“I will explain the operation.”

Serpens. Lionel, Berisa.
The white-haired man, twelve Sword Experts, and six magicians.
Every gaze turned toward Lucas.

“The objective is the enemy’s annihilation. We will deal with the Vampire Lord before the Fourth Battalion arrives.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Berisa and I will handle the Vampire Lord. The rest of you will deal with the undead, including the Death Knight, and buy time. Lionel will take command on the undead side.”

Lionel gave a short nod.

Lucas stared at the alien feeling he sensed in the distance.
Its approach was faster than expected.

‘We need to move.’

The battle had to take place as far away as possible.
Far enough that its aftermath would not reach the fortress.

“Serpens.”

Lucas called the boy.
In the boy’s eyes as he looked up at him, tension and resolve were tangled together.

Everyone here had a similar question about Serpens.
Could the boy properly fulfill a role?

By his estimate, the number of enemies should have already exceeded ten thousand.
And it would continue to increase even during battle.
On the other hand, this side had only around twenty people.
If one looked only at the numbers, the fight would not even be viable.

However, everyone on this side was a knight of Expert level or higher, or a 4th- or 5th-class magician.
Assuming they fought with full strength, more than nine-tenths of the enemy would be cut down in a single strike.
After all, the issue with the undead was that their numbers increased and they revived. As a species, they were not a threat in themselves.

In other words, it was a battle they could handle.

There were only two problems to solve.
The Death Knight and the vampires.

Compared to the latter, the Death Knight was the easier problem.
There were about thirty minutes left until the Fourth Battalion arrived.
If ten Experts and four magicians took it on, they could buy that much time,
and once the Knight Commander of the Fourth Battalion arrived, dealing with it immediately would also be possible.

That left one problem.
The Vampire Lord and its subordinates.
Each of them was a being capable of reason,
and their average abilities surpassed an Expert’s.
If they spent time holding back the Death Knight, those vampires would be free to rampage.

Lucas and Berisa would restrain them,
but neither of them could guarantee they would be able to protect the boy during the battle with the Vampire Lord.

It was a situation where safety could not be guaranteed even for Expert-level fighters.
So what could a thirteen-year-old kid do in such a crisis?

It was true that he was far stronger than his peers.
However, even so, he had only barely set foot into the Expert level.
A few vampire attacks might send his head flying.

Would he not hold them back, far from pulling his own weight?
No one said it out loud, but everyone held that concern.

Of course, those were merely the thoughts of the others.

“Undead can only be dealt with in one go by cutting off their heads.”
“Yes, I’ll make sure to cut off their heads.”
“Also, if a vampire sprays blood, avoid it rather than blocking it if possible. If it hits you, wipe it off immediately.”
“They must use some kind of magic with blood, right?”
“They do.”

Lucas thought differently.
Even if the boy lacked pure skill, he wouldn’t hold them back.
Because Lucas had trained him that way.

Lucas handed the boy a small leather pouch.
The worn texture slipped from his fingertips.

“They are Golden Mandragora seeds. There are only three left. You understand what that means, right?”

Serpens nodded.

“Eat them while judging the situation, but when the moment comes to eat one, chew without hesitation. Use all three of them in this battle.”
“Yes!”

Lucas looked at the boy for a moment.

What else should he say?
Follow Lionel’s command as your first priority?
That was something he would follow on his own.
He was someone whose survival instinct was stronger than his fear or excitement.
He surely knew well that following command would raise his chances of survival.

Even so, there was clearly something he had to say.
But he could not think of what those words were.
No, he was not trying to think of them.

“Make full use of what you have learned.”

In the end, only blunt words came out.
Warmth like ‘Be careful’ stubbornly refused to be spoken.

Serpens grinned.
His usual bright smile was made strange by the faint stiffness at the corners of his mouth.

“Don’t worry. I’ll show you more than what I learned.”
“No. Do only what you learned.”
“Tch.”

Lucas took up his greatsword.
Following him, everyone took up their own weapons.

Swords. Longswords. Spears. Staves. Dual swords.
Different weapons glittered beneath the sun shining over the plain.

“I will take the lead. Berisa, follow me at the front. The rest will follow behind in a dispersed formation centered around Lionel.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Then we advance.”

Booom―!

With a loud sound, Lucas kicked off the ground and leaped.
Berisa followed behind him with her sea-green hair flying, and the rest also began to run.

Serpens also ran beside them.
He wrapped Aura around his entire body and enhanced his physical abilities.

This, too, was one of the new techniques he had learned recently.
Because of his lack of mastery and his short legs, there was a difference in speed between him and the people beside him, but…….

Pabababat-

It was not to the point that he noticeably fell behind.

After running for a while.
Some distance opened between Lucas and the rear group.
At the same time, the army of monsters entered his sight.

“Commander. Shall I do it?”

Berisa, who was following Lucas right beside him, asked.
Blue Aura swirled around the tip of her spear.

“I will do it. Deal with those that hold out.”
“Yes.”

The dust cloud rising at the edge of his vision gradually thickened.
As they ran, the surging black wave grew clearer.
Rotten flesh and rusted red armor.
Thousands of undead were charging in, covering the field.

‘Are the vampires toward the rear?’

The relatively unsettling presences were in the back.
Aside from the Death Knight in the center, there were no strong beings at the front.
In that case.

‘The beginning will be easy.’

Lucas put strength into the tips of his feet and lengthened the distance of his leap.
From the ground he stepped on, dust surged up with an impact as if an explosion had gone off.

The moment the distance from the monsters had clearly narrowed.
Lucas rotated his body and swung his greatsword.

Kugagagagagak―!

The sword strike flew out, sweeping across the plain.
Wind pressure like it was tearing the air apart crashed over the monsters.

Kireeeek!

Countless monsters were torn apart and shrieked.
Into that chaos.

Tadat-

Berisa leaped in.

Pkak!

With a sharp sound, the silver spear pierced the head of a massive monster.
When Berisa stepped onto the spear lodged in the monster and put her weight on it,
the massive flesh split vertically, and a fountain of blood surged up.

Blood splashed onto her sea-green hair and red cloak,
but with unwavering eyes, she thrust her spear toward the next monster.

A spectacle created by two humans in an instant.
Monsters shrieked, and before long, their corpses piled on the ground.
With Lucas’s single strike, the undead decreased by nearly thirty percent,
and with Berisa’s chained attacks, the rest quickly dwindled.

Pabababat.

Lucas adjusted his grip on the greatsword and ran over the corpses for his next attack.

They were monsters that would soon rise again.
By the time the rear group arrived, some part of their bodies, whether an arm or a leg, would likely begin twitching.
Of course, with the rear group’s attacks, they would become corpses again.

‘Two on the left, three on the right. Three in the center.’

Lucas’s eyes surveyed the battlefield.
There were eight vampire presences in total.
Among them, the enemies that could become a problem were……

‘About two.’

The presence that seemed to be the Vampire Lord was in the center.
Next was the left.
In that case, he would handle the right side first, since it was easier to deal with.

Pkakak!

Countless undead rushed in.
Lucas swung his greatsword with eyes that did not waver in the slightest.
With a single movement, he cut off the heads of three or more monsters.
Even while doing such things, his running speed did not change.

‘That absurd strength of his is still the same!’

Berisa felt admiration and awe at the same time.
No matter how many times she saw it, it was amazing that a fellow human could reach such a level.
And he wasn’t even using Aura.

‘I respect him so much it is almost frightening.’

Berisa smiled and increased her speed.

“Berisa! Join me and strike the vampires on the right!”
“Yes! Understood!”

When Lucas’s order fell,
the blue light enveloping Berisa grew even brighter.

For a very brief moment.
The rippling of Aura overlapped in Berisa’s eyes,
and she steadied her breathing.

She charged, spinning the spear filled with Aura fiercely.
In that way, she became a blue storm and created a path.

Ruuuumble-

Feeling the pressure, Berisa raised her head.
Three vampires were floating in the sky.
Their red eyes, filled with arrogance, were made even more striking by their pure white skin,
and their clothes, which looked more suited to attending a ceremony than battle, made Berisa narrow her eyes.

The one standing in the center began speaking to the two of them.

“I enjoyed your little tricks, uncivilized humans. My name is Blamisio. I am the servant of my exalted master, Lord Vladimir-”

Pkak!

And at the same time.
His head was sent flying by Lucas’s sword.

A chilling silence flowed.
The vampire’s body dropped limply.
However, not a single drop of blood flowed from the severed surface of his neck.

Fsssh-

Soon, the body scattered into red smoke.
The scattered smoke gathered in the air again and formed a body.

“To interrupt a greeting. Must you make it so obvious that you are an uncivilized species?”

The arrogance in his eyes shone red.
The vampires beside him quietly watched the situation.
Some frowned, while others smiled as if amused.

Lucas held his greatsword in one hand and stared at them.

“Berisa, stop the undead rushing in from behind. I will handle those three.”
“Understood.”

Then he put strength into his arm.