Swordmaster of the Great Wall

A gigantic avalanche swept across Haratakan's waist.

― Kwarururung!

With a massive tremor that shook the very ground, it seemed as though everything was being swept away.

Of course, Erich and the other shamans were prepared for this and did not suffer any casualties.

Instead, the rituals set by the dead and the shamans who had been captured were all driven to the bottom of the ridge; that much was only natural.

― Kwajik!

All around, the heads of the dead, flailing as they were buried in the snow, were being smashed.

This was because the members of the Watch, who had been waiting below, were driving their swords into the skulls of those creatures.

Moreover, the protective magic cast jointly by Ceres, the mages, and the shamans was meant for the living.

It was not for the dead.

Thanks to this, those of the dead caught in the avalanche were now little more than half-broken wooden dolls.

The members sweeping up the remaining dead tilted their heads.

"... Goodness."

When they first heard Erich's orders, the members didn't understand why they were supposed to wait below. Only now did they realize the reason.

And Kurz, who had held the rank of sergeant when he first met Erich, was now serving as the senior member leading the task of sweeping the dead.

He skillfully swung his sword left and right, severing the heads of the flailing dead.

― Kwajik! Kwaduduk!

Soon, another member shouted.

"Senior Kurz! There's one of their rituals here!"

"Burn it all."

At Kurz's words, the members nodded. Before long, the rituals, made by the dead with half-dead shamans, blazed up in flames.

At first, the members who had hidden in preparation for the avalanche trembled in fear, but as they easily took down the dead, their grins grew wider.

Kurz looked toward the shamans being pulled out from among the nearly cleared remnants of the dead.

Unlike the dead, the shamans had protective magic cloaked around them, bathing them in a blue glow.

Thanks to that, many emerged unscathed even after such a devastating avalanche.

"Ugh..."

Of course, some had broken limbs.

Shortly after, the sergeants who had been taking orders gathered around Kurz one by one.

One of them spoke.

"What should we do with the rescued shamans?"

"Pair them up in fives and send them up to the shamans' camp. How long will it take to finish things here?"

The responding sergeant frowned and glanced around, seemingly estimating how long it would take.

"I think it'll take at least two days..."

With all the dead sprawled about and the shamans to rescue from beneath them, almost two days seemed necessary.

But Kurz quietly nodded. Two days is a bargain.

If they tried to rescue them one by one, it would have taken much longer anyway.

So the job was not yet done.

Soon, Erich would head for the peak with the shamans who regained their strength after the destruction of the rituals.

However, at that moment, a member came running frantically from the distance, shouting.

"S-Sergeant Kurz!"

"... Hm?"

"One ritual is missing."

Kurz's eyes narrowed. One ritual missing.

That meant a ritual that hadn't been swept away in the avalanche remained.

"You didn't overlook it?"

"Yes! I checked them all."

"... I see."

Kurz could do nothing more. All he could do was to send word to his superior that one ritual was left.

His gaze turned to the towering peak of Haratakan. How would his commander deal with the remaining ritual? Yet, he felt no worry.

Why worry about a man who could devise such a mind-boggling strategy as triggering an avalanche?

Instead, Kurz slowly let a smile curl his lips.

***

"Krrk! Krrk!"

Coughing sounded everywhere.

Members could be seen here and there, digging the snow that had filled even their throats.

Even amid this, Erich, Mikhail, and Hrung-ga simply revealed their composure as they used aura to melt all the snow around them and stood up calmly.

At that moment, a faint smile appeared on the wrinkled lips of Mikhail as he spoke.

"... I knew you were crazy long ago."

"It takes too long to rescue them each in person, you see?"

"It wasn't a bad plan."

Everyone's gaze turned to the avalanche, which only grew larger.

The avalanche sweeping downward like a hurricane was truly worthy of the term 'natural disaster'.

Yet, in a moment, Erich, Mikhail, and Hrung-ga's faces all hardened.

Immediately, Erich swiftly calculated in his mind.

Frederick, observing their reactions closely, spoke.

"... Did something go wrong? You look like it."

"One ritual is missing."

"... Hm?"

Erich exhaled quietly. No wonder it seemed to go too easily.

The auras of the rituals swept away by the avalanche had numbered four.

Since one of six rituals was already destroyed, the avalanche should have swept away five.

But one ritual had remained.

Erich placed his hand on his sword and rapidly scanned his surroundings.

His eyes shone with a crimson gleam.

'... I couldn't distinguish it before.'

Until now, the territory of the rituals had been so vast that it was almost impossible to feel their energies.

But now, with only a single ritual remaining, its alien aura was clear to Erich's eyes.

And that ritual was right above where Erich had triggered the avalanche.

That was why Erich's strategy hadn't worked on it.

"There really is no such thing as a free lunch."

Of course, Kurz and the members below would handle the remaining rituals.

They could also be left to rescue the shamans.

But destroying the ritual situated above was another matter. And not only the ritual's aura was felt there.

Hrung-ga, perhaps sensing something similar to what Erich felt, spoke to him.

[It seems there is something dangerous up there.]

[It looks that way.]

Erich realized that the rituals spread throughout Haratakan were not simply to block the shamans' power.

Now that the rituals were weakening, he could feel an immense energy stirring.

Within the last remaining ritual, a powerful entity was waiting with jaws agape.

A lich who could be called the trusted hand of the Lord of the Dead. And the remaining two.

The lich was already killed, so it was one of those two that remained.

'Which one of the two is it?'

Erich felt strength gather in the hand holding his sword.

He remembered, even before he regressed, driving the lich to the brink of death with his own hands.

But not the other two.

They survived until the end, tormenting Erich.

Even Erich himself was not confident he could easily deal with them.

The only hope, perhaps, was that he'd at least managed to catch one of them before—with an enormous sacrifice of military power.

'But back then, the cost was too great.'

The faces of those sacrificed back then flashed through Erich's mind.

They were top-class Swordmasters even at the time.

Catching those two liches required such sacrifices—it was, in truth, catching monsters.

If the lich was specialized in plotting schemes, the remaining ones tormented the Watch purely through brute force.

Soon, Mikhail spoke.

"... An overwhelming strength I've never felt before."

"Indeed. Even the lich feels weak in comparison to that one."

"But doesn't that make it worth fighting?"

Erich blinked.

He felt as if he saw a side of his master he hadn't before. Mikhail was rarely competitive.

But Erich smiled faintly.

'Back then, Mikhail wasn't around.'

It was true that the Watch had suffered significant losses then, but at the time, Mikhail had already died.

Erich had often wondered what would have happened if Mikhail had been there.

Since then, the Watch had never produced a swordsman to match Mikhail.

Swordmasters are born on the battlefield.

Many flowered into Swordmasters during the great war against the dead, and their talents were at their peak.

That, even through such a brutal war and while risking their lives every day, no swordsman like Mikhail appeared meant only one thing.

'... Mikhail is my greatest card right now.'

It's hard to compare by strength alone, but with Mikhail's extensive experience and high-level swordsmanship, even Erich always felt lacking in comparison.

If the enemy is the one waiting up there, the unexpected match-up for it will be Mikhail.

Even for Erich, who had watched Mikhail for a long time, it was only at Mikhail's final moment that he realized just how overwhelming his strength was.

Only Erich, who witnessed those scenes, had spent his life trying to catch up to Mikhail.

But even now, looking back, Erich didn't think he had ever matched Mikhail's strength to the very end.

In other words, the Watch at present was underestimating Mikhail's military power.

And so were the dead, including Albrecht.

"... In any case, we have to head up, don't we?"

"Do you have another clever trick?"

Erich slowly raised the corners of his mouth at Mikhail's words.

"No, I don't."

"Then let's go for the straightforward approach, commander."

Mikhail's presence was more reassuring than ever. Perhaps even stronger than the lich.

Erich believed there was no sword better than Mikhail's to face such a formidable foe.

Moreover, Erich needed time to hone his new power, and to use it.

If he could properly forge this power, he might even be able to take on the Lord of the Dead.

After all, tempering oneself like this always requires a life-or-death battle.

Erich raised his chin toward the peak.

He felt as though the intense, gnawing aura was piercing his skin even from this far distance.