Chapter 72 - The Monster of the Northernmost Territory II_005_Macbe's Will
This story is a work of fiction.
Any resemblance to actual persons, groups, or names is purely coincidental.
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005_Macbe's Will
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The Blue Wolf Tribe had also finished off all the cavalry they had been pursuing, and Sora sent a messenger to the main army of Posandalk without waiting for dawn.
Sora moved his territorial army northwest from the main army's position, but by then the Jabaru Kingdom Army's all-out assault had already begun.
Overlooking the Posandalk battlefield from a high ground, it seemed that the allied main army was trying to split off troops to the rear.
He felt relieved that the messenger had apparently conveyed the information.
"How boring……"
The knight Elbert muttered beside Sora. He truly looked bored. Ignoring him, Sora stared at the battlefield.
About fifteen minutes had passed while he watched from above when a group rapidly approaching the flank of the main army appeared. It was the Jabaru Kingdom's raiding unit.
That raiding unit was joined by three other raiding units, forming a cavalry force of over a hundred.
"Let us hasten as well."
He continued to ignore the knight Elbert, who was appealing with eyes like a stray cat about to be abandoned, and watched the group raising dust as they approached the main army.
Then a detachment that had split off from the main army clashed with the enemy raiding unit.
In terms of numbers, the detachment was larger. Probably about five hundred strong. Yet against a raiding unit composed entirely of cavalry, the detachment consisting mainly of infantry was at a disadvantage.
The detachment was torn apart from the center like paper being ripped. At this rate, they would be broken through.
"Sora-samaaa~"
Whining in a cajoling voice, demanding to be allowed into battle early, was the intimidatingly large Elbert. The Zargan and others waiting behind him grimaced at the creepiness.
The five-hundred-strong detachment was locked in combat with the enemy raiding unit of a hundred, but another large cavalry group of about four hundred could be seen approaching.
The main army had not noticed yet. Moreover, the battle with the enemy main army was intensifying. If this continued, the main army would be hit from the flank, and in the worst case, it could collapse.
"Elbert!"
"Yes!"
"Once I attack, you charge that cavalry unit. Go wild as much as you like."
"I've been waiting for that!"
Conveniently enough, the second wave of the raiding unit seemed to pass grazing the foot of the hill where Sora and the others were positioned. The enemy had noticed Sora's group, but seeing they were few, seemed to intend to cut straight through without concern.
Stopping cavalry charging at full speed while raising dust was not easy.
The distance between Sora's group and the cavalry was about three hundred meters. Even if the territorial soldiers charged down the hill, it would take a minute. Against that, the cavalry would likely dash through in twenty seconds.
There was no need to annihilate them, but he wanted to suppress the cavalry's advance. As long as they didn't head toward the main army. With that in mind, Sora considered what kind of magic would be best.
Sora slowly raised both arms. His palms were spread open toward the sky.
Magic circles appeared at the tips of those palms. Within the large rings, each about three meters in radius, were densely arranged characters never seen before.
"Let's make it flashy."
Above the magic circles, a fireball like a small sun began to form.
The heat was immense, so much so that the knight Elbert and the territorial soldiers waiting around Sora flinched and stepped back.
"───Light Flare."
The soaring Light Flare descended the hill in seconds and struck the leading cavalryman.
At the moment of impact, the Light Flare released its vast heat energy. That heat spread in a dome shape.
The cavalry tried to stop their horses abruptly, but it was too late; they plunged into the dome of heat, their bodies instantly losing all moisture, carbonizing, burning up, and dying.
The Light Flare, having formed a massive dome, engulfed two-thirds of the cavalry and continued to expand.
"Elbert. Go."
"Oh… oh?"
Even the brawny Elbert did not think of charging into the Light Flare that carbonized everything.
"It's fine. That will disappear in about ten seconds. Go."
"Y-yes. …Men, charge!"
The knight Elbert, also hesitant while ordering the charge to the soldiers whose hips were drawn back, somehow managed to move his feet because Sora said it was safe.
When the knight Elbert began to descend the hill, the territorial soldiers followed suit, drawn by him. They had no momentum at all; even moving their feet, everyone's hips were still held back.
"Elbert! Pull yourself together! Do you want to die!"
"!?"
At Sora's words, the knight Elbert came to his senses. He stopped, and with his thick palm, slapped both his cheeks. It was a force that made his cheeks sting.
Turning around to face the soldiers, the knight Elbert grinned broadly.
"Men. The enemy has thinned out but there are still more of them than us. Plenty to feast on!"
"……Pfft. AHAHAHAHAHA!"
The reply of "Sir!" should have come back, but the territorial soldiers burst into laughter, making the knight Elbert tilt his head.
"What's so funny!"
"It's because your cheeks are swollen, Lord Elbert."
"What…?"
Elbert, who had slapped so hard that both cheeks were bright red and swollen, looked like a squirrel with a mouthful of nuts.
The loudly laughing soldiers made the knight Elbert shake his shoulders.
"D-don't laugh! More importantly, let's go! Charge!"
"Sir!"
The knight Elbert and the soldiers charged into the cavalry with smiles on their faces.
As Sora had said, the Light Flare had subsided by the time the knight Elbert and the others charged. However, the scorched earth had turned into magma, and the air temperature had risen several degrees.
Amidst the heat, the cavalry were panicking, but then a smiling group charged in, turning the situation into a raging storm.
The group laughed as they slaughtered the cavalry. From the cavalry's perspective, they were likely even more vicious than the Grim Reaper.
The captured cavalry would later come to refer to the Amania territorial soldiers as the "Laughing Reapers," but that is a story for later.
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"Don't panic! They are few! Form ranks!"
The highest-ranking surviving cavalryman---Macbe---tried to rally his men. But his voice did not reach them.
Seeing more than three hundred comrades burned to death before his eyes beyond recognition, Macbe should be praised for pulling himself together so well. That said, not everyone could remain as calm as he did.
"Be calm! You're falling into their trap! Calm down!"
He raised his voice trying to calm his comrades, but reality was cruel.
In front of them, their comrades had been massacred, and furthermore, monsters smiling as they killed their comrades had appeared. It was probably unreasonable to ask them to stay calm at this point.
Macbe somehow managed to calm the direct subordinates nearby, but he could not control the whole force. That was because the smiling soldiers were still slaughtering the cavalry.
"Damn it!"
Macbe's cursing eyes caught sight of a single soldier on the hill, observing this worst possible situation. It was a young soldier in blue armor.
It was that guy. He was the one who caused this catastrophe. From the depths of Macbe's heart, where that thought instantly arose, an indescribable rage welled up.
"You bastard!"
Macbe spurred his horse on in his fury. Only ten riders followed him. Even so, on the hill there was only one youth---Sora.
He ordered his men to spread out to avoid receiving a large-scale attack like before. Even with his heart full of rage, being able to calmly make such decisions was commendable.
"Yooooouuuuuuuuuu!"
Macbe leveled a cavalry lance, modified for easy handling on horseback, and charged at Sora.
"Uooooooooooh!"
Sora calmly observed Macbe and the others' movements.
They were cavalry, so their speed was remarkable.
But their movements were linear. Enemies with linear movements were easy for Sora to deal with.
"───Dry moat."
The ground in front of Macbe and the other cavalry disappeared. One after another, the cavalry fell into the dry moat. They fell from their horses and violently struck the ground. It was so instantaneous they couldn't even scream.
Among the cavalry, one man jumped over the dry moat. It was Macbe.
Macbe's skill as a cavalryman was exceptional even within the Jabaru Kingdom Army. His ability to leap the dry moat was also the fruit of that talent and daily training.
"Taaaaaaaaaake thiiiiiiiiiiiis!"
Sora and Macbe's eyes met. Macbe's eyes were bloodshot, but Sora's held the calm of a clear, cloudless blue sky.
Macbe's lance aimed at Sora's chest. In that instant, Sora twisted his body and dodged the lance by a hair's breadth.
"Insolent brat!"
"Sorry, but I have no intention of dying."
"Even so, dying is what battlefields are for!"
Macbe's words were something Sora keenly understood. Facing an unfair death was what a battlefield was.
Those who wanted to live more than anything died the fastest. Sora understood well that was what a battlefield was.
Sora had studied under the Second Sage since the age of five, experiencing labyrinths and battlefields more than enough. He had run through places where death was always at his side, where a moment's carelessness meant receiving the Grim Reaper's kiss.
The monsters infesting the labyrinth called Selbanui were far more terrifying than the soldier swinging a lance before him.
Selbanui monsters had no reason. Those misshapen creatures, driven by the murderous desire welling from their entire bodies, tried mercilessly to take Sora's life.
Such monsters also existed among humans. In a way, they were even more terrifying than the Selbanui monsters. How many times had he been terrified by beings who killed not for survival but purely for pleasure?
Shedding tears, vomiting repeatedly, lapping up muddy water, Sora had lived.
"Indeed. On a battlefield, death is always by your side."
"Spouting fine words!"
While dodging the lance by a hair's breadth, Sora's expression did not change. He had experienced such situations countless times. It was not something to panic over now.
With his right hand on the hilt of his sword, Sora waited for the right moment.
"Stop dodging!"
At the moment Macbe spat out those words, Sora's sword was drawn.
The lance was knocked far upward.
Wha---he parried my lance with such a slender sword!? Impossible!? It can't be possible!
Macbe's upper body lifted from the impact, which felt as if his right hand gripping the lance tightly might be ripped off.
Sora did not miss that opening he had created. He stepped forward and swung his sword through.
That sword was a slender single-edged blade about one hundred centimeters in length, curved on the back side. The blade was a rare pink gold, glinting ominously in the sunlight.
He wielded that sword, inherited from his grandfather, with one hand without using source power or magic, and cut Macbe down in a single stroke, armor and all.
[Author's Note]
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