Chapter 130 : The Last Battle
The Last Battle
Following Legion to the place where Schutmann was killed,
I ran to the very spot where the battalion commander would be waiting.
My speed was incomparable to when I had gone to kill the rabbit beastkin.
This time, I didn't even need to take out any sentries, so it was even faster.
"Ian. I'll tell you in advance. There's good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
While running, Legion spoke.
"I don't mind either."
"That's like a real man. Actually, it's just one piece of news. It's both good and bad."
After Legion called me a real man, my interest in the news plummeted,
but I quickly pulled myself together.
"This battle might be the last fight."
Legion's voice was more than just serious.
I held back from asking about the full scale of the enemy's all-out attack and what Legion had seen inside their garrison.
Anyway, once I met the battalion commander, I'd learn everything through Legion's report.
After passing through the gorge's thicket and emerging onto the battlefield,
I saw, far off where I had fought Schutmann, four people gathered.
'Four?'
There should have only been three: the old man, Lantz, and Hank.
I used my Mana Scope to confirm who they were.
Unconsciously, the corners of my mouth curled into a smile.
'That guy's woken up!'
Ricky had joined the group.
I'd thought it was a good idea to knock him out before fighting Schutmann,
and now, Ricky was wrapping Hank's body with bandages he must have gotten from somewhere.
'But is that going to be okay?'
Improper first aid without proper disinfection could actually be dangerous.
... But remembering that the patient was Hank, I put aside my worries and kept running, reaching the battalion commander.
Legion and I saluted the battalion commander, who was being supported by Lantz, in a dignified tone.
"Loyalty shines upon you!"
"Loyalty shines upon you!"
Having barely escaped death, the old man was wearing a grandfatherly, kindly smile,
but seeing Legion's stern expression, he reverted to his usual demeanor.
"I swear upon my steel. Let's have your report."
"According to Platoon Leader Ian's plan, we succeeded in assassinating the one who triggered the curse artifact."
At Legion's words, Lantz parted his lips slightly and looked at me.
He seemed truly surprised; I could even sense respect in his gaze.
Well, while he was unconscious, I'd dealt with Schutmann, killed the rabbit beastkin, and saved the battalion commander.
To Lantz, I must look like a war hero.
"Heh heh. The fact that the battalion commander is able to rest now proves it happened that way. Don't you have any other reports?"
The old man's sly tone was back.
How lively he got in such a short time.
"Reporting in. The chieftain of the Red Rooster, Jonar, and all resources received from the beastkin king Arundel—"
Legion couldn't finish the sentence.
Suddenly, there was—
Bwooooooo—
—the sound of the enemy's war horn cutting in.
'Damn.'
Everyone's gaze turned to the beastkin garrison.
As the enemy garrison opened, a massive force poured out, far more than we had ever seen.
Immediately, I pulled up my Mana Scope to gauge the number of beastkin.
'Even just by rough estimate, there's well over 2,000.'
Of course, most were rat and snake beastkin who couldn't use mana,
but in terms of sheer numbers, the enemy outnumbered us by more than double.
We needed to form a defensive formation as quickly as possible to compensate for the numerical disadvantage, but—
"We'll have to postpone the rest of the report until later."
I felt relieved by the battalion commander's quick judgment.
The top priority was for the commanders to join up with the garrison's soldiers.
"Get on my back."
"Heh heh. Sorry to trouble you."
The battalion commander climbed onto Lantz's back,
and Ricky quickly hefted Hank up onto his own.
In that brief moment, Ricky glanced at Legion with tearful eyes, but—
"Damn it."
A sigh escaped my mouth.
I had just confirmed the enemy's numbers with my own eyes, not from Legion's report.
Tudatudadat!
Red Rooster beastkin were bursting out at blistering speed, riding gigantic red ostriches—Scarlok.
As if confirming that the officers had been separated,
they kicked up dust as they charged toward us.
'Twenty of them?'
After all, the enemy had used the curse artifact "Cursed Eye Ten Thousand Times" and borrowed troops from Arundel.
They had gone all-in, leveraging every bit of their resources.
It made sense that they would commit their entire force.
'One last desperate struggle to avoid annihilation.'
Just as Legion had said, I thought this truly might be the last fight,
and as I caught sight of the Scarlok, Legion shouted at me.
"What are you standing there for, Ian!"
Looking back, Ricky was already running toward our garrison.
The battalion commander on Lantz's back, and Legion beside him, gave me urgent looks to hurry up and start running.
But—
'We'll be caught by the Scarlok anyway.'
That's how overwhelmingly fast Scarlok were for anyone below 4th-rank.
And as only the battalion commander, who must have recognized this, gave me a curious glance, he spoke.
"Ian."
"Yes, sir."
"That scarf suits you very well. Heh heh."
While Legion stared at the battalion commander as if wondering what nonsense this was,
I instinctively reached up to touch the scarf around my neck, then restrained myself.
"As of now, I appoint you as the new third company commander, replacing Ralph."
Lantz's eyes widened, but quickly returned to normal.
He seemed to notice both my achievements and the strengthening of our force,
and the battalion commander continued.
"For generations, the third company commander has always fought at the vanguard to protect his subordinates and people."
I instantly understood the meaning.
I wanted to do just that myself.
'So he wants me to stay here and hold off the Scarlok.'
Lantz, Hank, and the battalion commander were all out of combat.
In this situation, facing twenty Red Rooster beastkin on Scarlok while protecting those three would have been near impossible.
No, to be precise, fighting while protecting them would be much harder.
In other words,
'It's better for me to break away and confront them alone first.'
Of course, some Scarlok might ignore me and chase the battalion commander,
but I could quickly deal with the ones that came at me and catch up afterward.
Resolved, I bowed my head slowly and answered.
"I accept your orders."
"...... I'm counting on you."
Hearing the battalion commander's voice, I turned to face the enemy.
There wasn't a moment's hesitation in my movement.
"Lantz, Legion. Let's go!"
Behind me, I heard the sound of two people pounding the ground as they ran.
They left without saying things like, 'We can't leave Ian behind!'—which stung a little,
but I closed my eyes, gripping Black Vein in my right hand and Nash in my left.
Tudatudutut!
As I took in the sound of Scarlok feet charging toward me,
I thought to myself.
'The last battle, huh.'
I had thought I'd only be able to return to the shop once it was autumn, maybe even winter,
but it turned out that time came far sooner than expected.
This made it all the more clear to me why I had to kill these enemies.
'Once again, life never goes as planned.'
I learned that anew this time.
No matter how plausible the plan, it can always collapse before the irresistible flow of fate.
That's why I had lost Zaiya and Ralph,
and because I lost them, I was also given this chance for an early end to the war.
― Where there's parting, there must also be reunion."
When I was young, on nights when I missed my dad and cried.
I remembered what my father told me as he held me in his arms.
Recalling those words, I summoned my mana.
Even if I had lost some people,
'I will still do everything I can to protect those who remain connected to me.'
That was the driving force that made me who I am now.
It was thanks to this driving force that I could stand alone on the battlefield, ready to fight.
The modern spirit of Han Chul Lee and the medieval heart of Ian united as one,
and I felt as if a kind of enlightenment was dawning on me.
Vvvvvmm.
An unfamiliar yet familiar sound caused me to slowly open my eyes.
"!!"
A blue light shimmered from both my swords.
This was...
"Oh, aura?!"
Goosebumps rose all over my body.
It looked like the aura I'd wanted to use against Schutmann but couldn't...
'Ah, forget it. Spoke too soon.'
Looking closer, it wasn't really aura.
It was just mana emitting a unique color, like Hank and Lantz had shown before.
The gentle blue glow wasn't aura.
But it wasn't bad.
'It means I've reached the very end of 4th-rank already.'
Of course, it could just be within reach because the strength buff was still active on my body.
In addition, unlike being able to use the technique of sword energy emission from 4th-rank when I was 3rd-rank,
even in 4th-rank, I can't use aura even with the strength buff, which is a little disappointing.
Hm.
If Ralph, who's now with the gods, heard that, he'd probably tell me to stop talking nonsense.
'To be fair, this growth rate is absurd even by this world's standards.'
Thinking that, I combined my swords and raised them high toward the sky.
I poured every last bit of my mana into sword energy.
I must have been smiling brightly.
Thanks to the Fragment of the Firmament, it felt like my mana would never run dry.
"Hup!!"
With a shout, I swung Strong Sword down with all my strength.
Clang!
A fierce wind blew as the blue sword energy smashed across the ground.
The blade, easily three meters long even by conservative measures, didn't lose any of its intensity as it sped away from me.
No, if anything, it was growing stronger.
Crashhh!
All this happened in the blink of an eye.
In an instant, with one swift motion, a Scarlok and a Red Rooster beastkin riding it were cleaved in two, rolling across the ground.
Because of the speed, the momentum was so intense that blood and entrails splattered everywhere.
"!!"
At that moment, even those who had tried to ignore me and charge straight ahead shifted their direction toward me.
Maybe it was their fighting spirit, or maybe they thought eliminating me required more of them.
'Whatever the reason, that's fine with me.'
The enemy still hadn't figured out the extent of my newfound strength.
I needed to swing my blade a few more times in real combat and gain more experience.
Even just now, I was clearly much stronger than when I fought Schutmann.
So—
'Let's concentrate without the slightest bit of complacency and wipe out these brutes.'
Once again, I swept the field with my blade, radiating a subtle blue sword energy.
Kwagagagagagak!
* * *
Tatataat.
Legion, being in relatively better shape, received the battalion commander from Lantz and dashed away.
Her gaze was fixed ahead.
Only Ricky, who was running in the lead, and the Granfen garrison appeared in her pupils.
But what she truly wanted to see was something else.
'I should've just forced Ian to come with me.'
The truth was that Legion had wanted to return to the garrison with Ian.
Even if he had advanced to 4th-rank while she was unconscious,
Red Rooster beastkin riding Scarlok wielded formidable combat strength.
Even an ordinary 4th-rank would struggle in a one-on-one fight.
At minimum, the correct strategy was to face them with at least one 4th-rank and one 3rd-rank—a minimum of two people.
However—
'But it was the battalion commander's order; I couldn't object.'
No one knew exactly what had occurred between those two,
but there was already a tremendous bond of trust between them.
They could communicate with just a glance.
In that brief instant, Legion felt a pang of jealousy.
Perhaps, it was because of this needless jealousy that she had left Ian behind.
The only thing left now was regret.
'I've still got a lot to learn. Even at this age, letting childish feelings get the better of me and making mistakes like this.'
Just then—
Crashhh!
A thunderous roar came from behind.
Legion was intensely curious but couldn't stop; she kept looking straight ahead as she ran.
Kwagagagagagak!
It came again.
Hearing it a second time, she could tell for sure.
This sound—
'It's similar to when Schutmann wrenched out the sword he'd driven into the ground using sword energy.'
In other words, the ground was splitting under the force of energy.
The problem was that she couldn't tell if Ian or the beastkin had caused it.
"Heh heh. Legion."
Without stopping, Legion answered the battalion commander's voice.
"Yes, battalion commander."
"It's time to stop."
Legion turned to check the battalion commander,
but even before she looked at him, her eyes caught sight of Ian's battlefield.
And—
"!!"
A chill ran across her whole body.
An incredibly beautiful blue sword energy swept like mist, slaughtering the red birds.
In a single stroke, a wave of attacks was repelled ten times;
in a single stroke, two foes were slain at once.
Legion thought to herself, without even realizing it.
'Beautiful.'
Ian was not just any 4th-rank.
He looked capable of matching even the battalion commander—perhaps the strongest 4th-rank she knew.
As a result,
the Scarlok that had been heading towards them also changed direction and started targeting Ian.
"Heh heh. Looks like we can return to the garrison at our leisure. I'm counting on you, Legion."
Regaining her composure at the battalion commander's words, Legion replied with a smile.
"I accept your orders."