Swordmaster of the Great Wall

Erich's sword was now imbued with a color completely different from before. Katan could not have failed to notice the anomaly.

A menacing and beautiful radiance swirled around them.

Still, Katan did not lose his smile. It looked like Erich was trying to pull off some impressive trick, but if it didn't hit, that was all there was to it. Katan trusted his instincts.

Yet, as if he didn't care what Katan thought, Erich slowly raised his sword to the sky. Unlike before, the firm surface of the sword shimmered with light, with no flames scattering off it.

And then—

—Sweeaaaak!

He drew a line downward toward Katan.

[Hm?!]

Katan dodged the trajectory of Erich's sword by instinct.

But at that moment, a red line was drawn across the outer part of Katan's shoulder. Even though he thought he'd avoided it, he found he was already cut.

—Shiiiiiik!

At the same time, blood shot up skyward. Feeling a fierce pain, Katan...

Rather, he laughed.

[Krah! This is how it should be!]

Even while dodging, Katan had sensed the danger and gathered maximum aura over his shoulder.

And yet, his skin was sliced enough for blood to gush out, a wound deeper than a mere graze.

It was the first time Katan had truly allowed a proper wound.

But he did not panic. On the contrary, he charged headlong at Erich.

A barrage of sword aura from Erich rained down upon him.

Katan leapt onto the wall, bounced from the ground, and twisted with bizarre movements to dodge the oncoming slashes.

Each time his afterimage appeared, a faint sword scar was left scored onto the ground.

—Kagagagak! Kagak!

Clearly, Erich's sword aura was much faster than Katan's movements.

Drawing a line and moving one's body are fundamentally different speeds.

Even so, Katan was dodging well. Wounds were accumulating at the edges, but...

For a warrior of Katan's caliber, they were just scratches.

With only a few steps remaining between them...

Erich sensed it.

'I have to finish this in one strike.'

Katan, too, felt it instinctively.

'If I dodge one more time, he'll enter my attack range.'

All who were watching the duel between them held their breath.

But just before they clashed—

Katan's eyes widened.

Somehow, Erich's sword looked different than before.

The blazing aura that once flared now clung tightly to the blade, and minute fragments of aura filled its surface densely.

Katan's original plan was to take the blow from Erich's sword aura with his entire body. Having been grazed a few times, he felt at least one such attack was bearable.

Of course, Erich was preparing a finishing blow, so Katan would have to expend a great deal of aura to withstand it. But he deemed it worth it.

He thought the longer the fight dragged out, the worse things would get.

He'd even realized there was another swordsman behind Erich, even stronger. To face that one, he needed this fight with Erich to end quickly.

But for some reason...

Katan felt a strange sense of danger from the sword Erich now raised.

His instincts told him:

If he was hit by that blade, it would be dangerous.

So Katan made a swift decision. He explosively circulated an even stronger aura to fortify himself.

The amber aura that was usually only around his fist now poured out from his whole front, hardening into a shield of strength.

This should be enough to block it... or so Katan thought.

But—

—Pit!

A completely different sound rang out than when Erich had swung before.

In an instant, a tremendous force struck Katan's front, and the fist that had aimed for Erich's head lost momentum and brushed past Erich's shoulder.

—Kwa-dududuk!

The fist, shrouded in force, barely grazed and tore Erich's shoulder. If it had been a direct hit, it might have killed Erich instantly.

But...

From Katan's shoulder down to his side, a red line had been drawn.

Even worse, the screams did not come from Katan—

[Kyaaaagh!]

[Uah, uwaaagh!]

Instead, chaos erupted among the barbarians standing behind him. With a single stroke of Erich's sword art, the entire group behind Katan was split in half.

And what that meant—

—Thudududuk. Duduk.

Erich had finally succeeded in cutting through Katan with a single strike.

From the severed area, a massive amount of blood poured out at once, and the flesh briefly bulged as if exploding from the inside.

—Pshiiii.

[... Kuhak.]

Katan gasped for breath. Though it wasn't fatal, his barely-attached left arm slid from his shoulder down to the ground.

—Thud.

Erich examined his shoulder, grazed by Katan's attack. The leather armor and all, his bare flesh was torn to shreds.

Though some flesh had been blown away, it was not enough to hinder movement.

Katan turned with difficulty to face Erich.

[... If you had this kind of power, you should've used it from the start.]

[Would you have let yourself get hit if I had?]

At those words, Katan gave a hollow laugh. So the sword art that looked like he'd meant to kill from the start had actually been a trap reserved for this moment.

But for Erich, this was almost a gamble.

It was the same technique Mikhail had been teaching Erich all this time, but he had not yet perfected it.

Honestly, just like in his previous life, he was brute-forcing it with raw power.

The principle of this technique was to compress powerful aura at a point and shoot it at the opponent.

Normally, when you slice with aura thinly, it is called simple sword aura, but this technique compressed strong aura at a single point before launching it.

Simple sword aura would just cut, but that compressed aura became explosive.

If successful, it would not just cut but utterly destroy the point of impact.

Thanks to this, not only did Erich cut through Katan's solid body, he even managed to tear off his arm.

However...

Erich felt a chill from Katan.

Despite the situation, Katan was still smiling.

[Impressive. I've never faced a warrior like you, barring Ungrim.]

[... Maybe that's because you haven't met many opponents.]

[Do you mean that man standing back there?]

Katan gestured toward Mikhail with his eyes.

But as if that didn't matter, without waiting for Erich's reply, Katan mustered up a clear amber glow in his remaining hand.

—Kwaduk!

He pressed hard on his severed area, crushing the flesh and stopping the bleeding. It was a testament to his strong will.

In a strained voice, Katan said,

[Though futile, it was a fight with value.]

At that, Erich frowned. There was no 'valuable' fight to be had with the barbarians. The only way the strength of these barbarians could have meaning was—

'If they had helped face the dead, they could have been a valuable force....'

But it was a pointless thought.

'Their hatred for the Great Wall is something that can never be erased.'

After experiencing the great war with Ungrim and his followers, Erich knew.

The hatred these men held for the Watch was so immense, nothing in the world could quell it.

That's why Erich had wanted to eliminate Ungrim earlier. That way they could better prepare for the war against the dead.

Just then, as Erich was lost in such thoughts—

Hrung-ga, who had been downed, wiped the blood from his lips and slowly stood up.

[... It seems I lost consciousness for a bit.]

[Are you alright?]

[I've only broken about eight ribs.]

Wasn't that nearly all of them? Erich gave a brief grin. Hrung-ga wasn't exactly in good shape, but Katan was far worse, gravely wounded by Erich.

The bleeding had stopped, but that didn't mean his strength was intact.

However...

'I can't use that one strike again.'

Erich's aura was almost depleted. Mikhail's technique consumed immense aura due to its high compression.

Even the fake sword auras, used to deceive Katan, had cost a fair bit.

Yet Erich still gripped his sword and faced Katan. Either way, this fight needed to end.

Erich ignited a golden flame in his hand and cauterized his own shoulder. Even if it wasn't a serious wound, he couldn't leave this much bleeding unchecked.

—Chiiiii.

The smell of burning flesh and rising smoke. Seeing that, Katan summoned strength to his fist again. Like a candle flame on the verge of going out, the amber radiance flickered fiercely.

Katan quietly muttered,

[For the cause...!]

[That damn cause... It's meaningless once you're dead.]

[You don't understand. Ungrim's cause burns brighter even in death.]

Erich's gaze turned to the ranks of Ungrim's men in the distance. If Katan died, they would all surge forward at once. They moved by rules different from those of ordinary barbarians.

Already, countless men were gripping weapons with expressions like fiends.

However—

That was not his concern right now. Erich's task was to finish off Katan. Follow current novels on novęlfire.net

Soon, Katan limped toward Erich.

He was no longer moving in that peculiar way, but Erich couldn't let his guard down.

A crimson radiance flowed ever stronger from Erich's two eyes.

The first to charge Katan was Hrung-ga, who'd only just been down. He narrowly exchanged blows with Katan.

Katan's fist brushed past Hrung-ga's hair.

Though he was hit, Hrung-ga slid by and struck Katan's side.

[Kuhak!]

Katan let out a pained groan. Then Erich's sword followed.

—Kwaduduk!

He couldn't slice through completely, but blood spurted from Katan's nape. Yet, Katan counterattacked the slipping Hrung-ga.

—Kwaaaaang!

Smoke rose from the club Hrung-ga was forced to drop. Next, Katan turned his fist on Erich.

Katan's movement seemed to slow in Erich's vision, its outline blurring like an impressionist painting.

"......!"

Then, Katan's fist, wreathed in a monstrous force, came at Erich's side.

—Kagagagak!

Erich tilted his sword down to guard, and then drove it upwards into Katan's face.

—Kwajijik!

Katan's fist came to a complete halt.

The tip of Erich's sword had pierced through Katan's mouth and jutted out the back of his head.

Golden aura flowing through the blade made the blood boiling from the wound.

Normally, a strike like this would have been instantly fatal.

Yet—

Only Katan's eyes rolled to glare at Erich.

For a moment, Erich, chilled to his core, twisted his sword where it was.

—Kwaduk!

At last, Katan's body went slack and collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

From behind Erich, a fierce uproar erupted.

—Avenge Katan!

—Glorious death for the cause!

Ungrim's forces had begun to surge forward.

Erich realized that they had refrained from acting until Katan's death not only because they trusted him, but also as their way of expressing respect for Katan.

'To me, he was an underling of Ungrim and a formidable enemy that had to be brought down, but to them, he must have been the chieftain and a warrior worthy of respect.'

Barbarian warriors rushed, and Erich's allies formed ranks in front of him.

At that moment, one man stepped to the very front of the line.

Mikhail flashed a wry grin at Erich.

"Move the wounded deputy-commander and that idiot barbarian out of the way. I'll handle things here."

"Yes! Senior Mikhail."

Soon, hordes of barbarians surged endlessly at Mikhail through the narrow canyon.

But then—

The leading barbarians faltered.

It was because screams echoed from behind. What on earth was happening?

Erich, who had withdrawn to heal his wounds, narrowed his eyes.

It wasn't at the front—where Mikhail stood—but at the enemies' 'rear' that something was happening.