118 – Battle of Soelden Plains (8)
Zeke shouted, swinging his flame-covered sword at me even now.
“Die, you brat!”
“Would I die if I were like you?”
Until just now, I had no idea how to deal with it.
That doesn’t mean I was planning on giving up and accepting death, but I was at a loss because I didn’t know how to overcome that damn flame-covered sword…
‘If I’m right, he dies.’
When I saw the rope that I could buy if I caught it, my feeling of despair was relieved, and I felt like my depleted stamina was being replenished.
Why do marathon runners, when they see the ‘finish line’ while running a marathon, develop strength they didn’t have before and gain enough strength to run the last track at full speed?
Do I have that kind of power?
Zeke began to push me more and more, hoping to win before his aura was depleted.
The speed of swinging the sword gradually increased, the weight of the sword swing gradually became heavier, and the will to kill myself became sharper.
Every time he swings his sword in an up, down, or diagonal direction, an afterimage of flames remains where the sword passed…
If I wasn’t in a situation where I was risking my life fighting that guy, I would have thought it was so cool that I would have mistaken it for a CG-level special effect.
‘The problem is that I have to kill this bastard to live.’
“Stop dying, kid!”
I responded sharply to those words.
“Would I die if I were like you?”
In the midst of this, rather than being swayed by emotions, I began to thoroughly observe the movements of the enemy in front of me, Zeke Vespa.
His arm movements, facial expressions, steps, shoulders, minor muscle movements and breathing sounds.
If I understand all of this, I can predict his next move about 0.1 Second faster than if I were to follow his sword with my eyes.
Some people may say that only 0.1 Seconds is a big deal, but even in the world where I lived, when doing sports such as the 100-meter run, the difference in time between first and second place was that split second.
In this world, that difference is what separates life and death.
‘Are you cutting to the right this time?’
I lowered my body to avoid Zeke’s sword.
“You little brat, take my sword.”
“It’s nonsense because you only avoided it once.”
Just like that, I hit the guy’s breastplate hard with my fist.
This was the first meaningful blow I had dealt to him since he started swinging his flaming sword.
“You little brat, it’s no use.”
However, it didn’t seem to have much effect because the armor was very strong.
“Pay with death for making me angry!”
Zeek’s attacks became more fierce.
His sword covered in flames approached quickly and fiercely, like a strong wind, and the intensity of the flames increased even more than before.
If just now it was like a strong burning bonfire, now, with a bit of exaggeration, it can be seen as a pillar of fire.
‘Does this mean that if I reach intermediate level, I can use a stronger special move than this?’
How much stronger does the power become as the level increases to advanced, top expert, and master? I can’t imagine it right now.
It made my heart pound that there was still no end to the level I could climb to.
‘Of course, if you think like that, you have to beat this bastard first, right?’
Is it because I blocked the sword, which was engulfed in tremendous flames that could easily be described as a pillar of fire, multiple times?
I started to feel pain all over my body, as if I had been burned.
“Ugh, sh*t…”
Zeek did not miss the small groan I made and laughed at him.
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“Die, you brat!”
Then he moved just as I had hoped.
He hit my neck head-on with a big movement.
It is the most basic, simplest, and most powerful cut.
That movement is so easy to see, and if you look for it, you can find many hidden loopholes.
‘I can’t miss this opportunity.’
I clenched my teeth and dug into his arms.
Then, I placed my aura in the ring and activated the magic contained within.
‘Although a tool containing magic is extremely expensive, it is very useful in times like this.’
“Protection!”
When I shouted the starter word, a blue shield made of magical power appeared in front of me.
Zeke, who was swinging his sword, was shocked to see something strange suddenly appear under his raised arm.
“What the f*ck is this?”
The magic shield contained in a ring sold at a slightly more upscale jewelry store is not strong enough to block a sword wrapped in an aura, but…
It was hard enough to block the hand swinging the sword…
“Movement is blocked…”
I filled my sword with aura and pierced the guy’s neck in a straight line.
“Die now, you bastard.”
The man whose neck was pierced died with blood spurting out of his mouth without even being able to cry out.
When Zeke died, the Black Brothers around him were shocked.
“f*ck you, the captain has fallen!”
“What should I do? “How do you do it?”
“I don’t know, damn it! “Just deal with the ones running in front of you!”
Although they were shocked, they did their best to somehow survive.
But the main leader of the mercenary team, the ‘captain’, has died…
Everyone fell into confusion.
Some people threw down their weapons and surrendered, saying that since the captain was dead, he would give up everything.
“Surrender, damn it! “Please don’t just sell other mercenaries into slavery!”
Another friend took advantage of this opportunity to turn his back and attempt to escape.
“f*ck, save me, baby. “The thirty-six precepts of Julhaengrang.”
Usually, those who run away like this are often caught as soon as they turn their backs, but due to the circumstances, they succeeded in deserting safely.
We are not idle enough to even catch deserters…
‘Go far, eat well and live well.’
I sent a heartfelt thank you to those who had raised the morale of our troops by deserting before the enemy.
“Martin’s White Army, no, White Beard Mercenaries! “All troops, destroy all the pots of those rotten mercenaries!”
All the guys who heard my command shouted hurray and charged in to break the back of the enemy’s head.
Someone cruelly chased and stabbed a person who was running away with his back turned.
“If you’re going to run away, fight until the end!”
The guys who were confident in their skills went into the midst of the struggling guys with knives and calmly killed them with kindness so that they wouldn’t panic any longer.
“I will definitely get promoted this time!”
The Black Brothers mercenaries tried their best to escape at all costs.
Some people threw away their weapons and ran away, showing that they had no intention of resisting, while others were holding weapons, but they were running away.
“f*ck, how can we fight that and win! “Run away!”
And at this time, a loud shout was heard from our mercenary unit.
“Dalton von Prime, leader of the Whitebeard Mercenaries, decapitates Fabio Daz, leader of the Black Brothers Mercenaries!”
The Black Brothers mercenary force, which had already begun to collapse, collapsed even faster as word spread.
Up until now, there were some guys who were pretending to fight, but even those guys turned their backs and started running away.
“Save people! f*ck it, we’re done now!”
Not only low-level new recruits, but even guys who seemed to have some level of status began to lose all face and stand out.
“The one who wins is not the strong one, it’s the one who survives!”
When I heard that, I burst into laughter.
“The one that wins and survives is the strong one, but is there any guarantee that he will be strong just because he survives?”
The Otto guy who was fighting next to me also came over, shrugging his shoulders covered in blood.
“Century commander, what should we do? Do you chase?”
Our mercenaries have already done enough in this battle, and those idiots have already been torn to pieces.
But there is no need to chase down those idiots and label other mercenary units based in the Rhine-Palatinate Empire as cruel.
‘If I were a noble belonging to some country, the story would be different.’
“Can’t you see our kids are tired? “Even if His Excellency, Commander-in-Chief of the Medici Republic, tells you to chase him, you won’t be able to go.”
“Well, there’s no need to overdo it and exhaust the kids to death. “It’s okay to die from being squeezed by a woman, but dying from exhaustion while chasing is a bit…”
At that moment, Dalton also sent a signal with his flag to ‘stop here and reorganize the troops.’
“You never know when the enemy will push in, so just stand by in a combat readiness state.”
According to that order, our mercenary unit went into standby mode, and then the Red Rose guys came towards me, out of breath.
Then, a guy who looked like the leader of the Red Rose came towards me, and he looked at my helmet and at the head of ‘Zeek’ in his hand.
Soon he came to me and asked.
“Are you by any chance Martin Mayer, the centurion of the Whitebeard Mercenaries?”
It was a bit awkward for a mercenary leader to use an honorific to me, a mere centurion, but he saved the life of a man who was dying…
‘That’s unlikely.’
“Yes, that’s right.”
“My name is Garbaldi Piedmont. “He is the older brother of the guy who insulted Martin last time and the mercenary leader of this mercenary group.”
“Is that so?”
“Just to clarify, I was really sorry about last time. And thank you very much for saving our mercenary unit from the brink of annihilation this time. “I will never forget this grace for the rest of my life.”
…… If you meet an enemy, you have no choice but to fight, but in this war, does this mean you have an ally you can trust?
“No, it was Captain Dalton who suggested sending out reinforcements. “Let’s say thank you to him.”
“I will thank you separately later, because right now I need to hunt down the remnants and earn some credit.”
After saying that, Garbaldi turned around and started chasing the guys, and I gave orders to our mercenary guys.
“Wait here until further command. “Let’s get some rest, f*ck…”
And on this day, we achieved a considerable victory in this battle.