Viscount Harrison raised his hand to rub his eyes.
What madness was this?
Rumble.
A thunderous sound struck his ears, and the ground shook as if an earthquake had struck.
It was as if a thousand cavalrymen were charging; the source of the tremor was right before his eyes.
Beyond the land he had cultivated, an unprecedented horde of boar-like monsters raised a cloud of dust.
To gather so many monstrous beasts, it was as if they had formed a colony.
Though it wasn’t magic, the dust cloud seemed like a spell to obscure their forms, making it impossible to discern their numbers.
The only consolation was the open field, providing some time to prepare.
Yet the so-called reinforcements were marching on foot to meet the horde of boars head-on.
They told everyone else to stay out of it, determined to handle it themselves.
Facing a dust cloud filled with boar-like monsters, the reinforcements marched to meet it as if inviting disaster.
If this wasn’t madness, then what was it?
Even after rubbing his eyes, the scene didn’t change. Harrison could only see the backs of the so-called reinforcements as they leapt over or bypassed the defensive spike barricades to move forward.
At first glance, it seemed disorderly, but their spacing was deliberate, and they held steady positions.
For now, none of that mattered. Harrison didn’t notice such details.
"Unbelievable!"
All he could do was exclaim.
The ground trembled as the boars charged, the noise shaking the earth.
His hands, which had been rubbing his eyes, clenched into fists so tightly that veins bulged. The scene made his body tense involuntarily.
"These lunatics!"
Harrison finally voiced his thoughts. What made the boar-like monsters so terrifying?
Their brutal charge was something no one but Knights could face head-on.
And yet, without even relying on the barricades, the reinforcements advanced?
"What on earth are they doing?"
The former mercenary, now the captain of the militia, was so shocked that his jaw dropped.
He knew Harrison had sent pleas for help everywhere, even to the Royal Court.
But he hadn’t expected reinforcements to arrive. And now that they were here, what were they doing?
Why were they only armed with axes strapped to their belts?
Their leather armor and cloaks gave an impression of uniformity.
Among mercenaries, there was a saying that one’s equipment was one’s skill.
To elaborate, meeting a well-equipped force was reason enough to retreat.
If a unit was so well-prepared, it was safe to assume they had undergone rigorous training.
This was a piece of wisdom gained from years of selling his sword across countless battlefields. So this unit was likely not weak.
Yet, facing a charging horde of boar-like monsters felt like reckless insanity.
If Harrison and the militia captain had more time to think, they might have understood the reinforcements’ reasons for advancing.
But neither was particularly quick-witted, and they had no time to think.
As soon as the reinforcements arrived, the boar-like monsters charged.
There wasn’t even time for a meal or formal introductions before the battle began.
A militia soldier guarding the barricade asked the reinforcements who they were, but they marched forward without a word.
Once past the barricade, they formed a formation to face the charging horde. The overwhelming odds left everyone stunned.
The monsters outnumbered them more than two to one.
Harrison’s eyes twitched. The intense pressure and days of sleeplessness had brought him to his limit.
If he saw the reinforcements’ guts spill out onto the battlefield, he felt he might faint on the spot.
"Do well!"
Someone shouted among the reinforcements.
Did they have a Commander? When the soldier delivering the message had ambled forward, Harrison had wondered what the Commander was doing.
He caught a glimpse of gray hair. The man was not even wearing a helmet, standing with arms crossed, observing.
He looked vaguely familiar, but Harrison couldn’t place him.
Time flowed like the rising and setting of the sun, the coming of rain, as the boar-like monsters and reinforcements finally clashed.
Harrison thought, belatedly, that he should have stopped them.
As everyone braced for the inevitable slaughter—
Crunch!
The wide field echoed with the sound of flesh tearing, mingling with the thunderous charge of the boars.
Blood sprayed. Black blood.
The air was stained with dark splashes, and the ground was soaked with it.
"If you die, you’ll die by my hand!"
Amid the chaos, the Commander’s shout rang out.
The charging boars, with their razor-sharp tusks, lunged at the reinforcements. If they bit down, it wouldn’t end with just bite marks.
But the reinforcements of the Border Guard Reserve Forces all drew their axes and swung them.
Thud!
The axe strikes severed and crushed the boars’ heads.
From the moment of impact to now, everything had happened in an instant.
What is this?
Harrison’s twitching eyelids stilled.
"What… is this?"
He muttered, his question directed at the militia captain, though it was also to himself. The captain had no answer.
The only thought in his head was how astonishingly skilled these people were.
There were fewer than fifty of them, yet they fought like madmen.
* * *
When Rem casually named his unit the ‘Assault Unit’, everyone began calling it ‘Rem’s Assault Unit’.
It was fortunate they weren’t called the ‘Mad Axe Unit’, but the truth was, they didn’t care what they were called.
They had all undergone Rem’s rigorous training and recently learned the basics of sorcery spells from the twins.
"If there were a resurrection spell, we could all just die and kill everyone else."
Rem often muttered such things.
The intensity of their training was self-evident.
Still, Rem didn’t recruit just anyone. He only selected those he deemed worthy.
Some quit along the way, leaving about fifty core members who became the backbone of the Assault Unit.
Among them, three showed glimpses of talent. One had no aptitude for anything beyond brawling and was left alone, while two were promoted as lieutenants.
These two lieutenants led the Assault Unit as they swung their axes.
The lieutenants formed the core of the front line.
While Rem enjoyed brute force combat, leaving the unit undirected would lead to unnecessary casualties.
Though not a tactical genius, Rem had learned from observing and consulting with Krais and applied this knowledge, thinking the unit had finally become competent.
"This is better than those monkey beasts in the trees!"
One lieutenant shouted. His closely cropped hair glistened with sweat, and everyone agreed.
It was far easier to deal with charging boars than stealthy, brain-eating monkey beasts.
That was true.
Their training ground and playground had been the Pen-Hanil Mountains, and the monsters here were far more manageable.
Just cut, slash, and strike down the enemies charging at you, they did exactly that.
Clearing the spike barricades, they swung their axes.
Though the monstrous boars charged at terrifying speeds, their movements were linear.
This made them easy to predict and dodge.
Every soldier seemed to have the heart of a beast.
All of this was Rem’s doing.
He had refined his skills significantly, making the ‘Heart of the Beast’ technique more accessible.
While they might not remain unfazed as blades flew past them, they had gained enough composure to stay focused.
Rem’s Assault Unit proudly showcased the results of their training.
"Whoo-hoo!"
One soldier calculated the trajectory of a charging boar, twisted his body, and brought his axe down diagonally.
The boar effectively impaled itself on the axe.
Thud!
The soldier adjusted the angle of the axe to target the boar’s neck.
No matter how strong he was, he couldn’t withstand the full charge of a beast many times his weight.
Thus, he aimed for the back of the neck, driving the axe deep into its hide and muscle, then yanked it upward, splitting the boar open.
Black blood sprayed everywhere, leaving the surroundings soaked.
The monstrous boars’ numbers quickly dwindled.
Some were killed outright with strikes to their necks or skulls, while others were hamstrung and collapsed.
The battlefield was awash with black blood.
Viscount Harrison, the militia captain, and the militia soldiers stood in stunned silence, their mouths agape.
It was a sight to behold.
Even so, Rem wasn’t entirely satisfied.
"If you do well, I’ll leave. But if I hear about any mistakes, I’ll come back."
Rem’s encouragement was unique.
The Assault Unit soldiers raised their heads. Their eyes and postures reflected desperation.
Even as they cleaved boar heads, they listened to Rem’s every word.
The two lieutenants, fighting as Commanders, were especially desperate.
"Yes, sir! We’ll do our best!"
Rem nodded. He planned to tidy up the surroundings before heading back.
Lately, bandits had been causing trouble in the area, hadn’t they?
Without saying goodbye, Rem left the battlefield where others were busy killing the boar monsters.
While everyone was engrossed in the carnage, he quietly slipped away to track down signs of a newly formed bandit group.
Tracking human activity and pursuing it was one of Rem’s specialties.
The bandits had established their base about two days from the Viscount’s city.
Their base was surrounded by wooden palisades, with huts serving as their homes, it all looked rather amateurish.
Without someone backing them, it seemed they’d struggle to survive properly.
Rem came to this conclusion but didn’t care.
These bandits would be finished today, no matter who supported them or what talents they had among their ranks.
There wasn’t even a lookout tower, so the bandit with a bow on the other side of the palisade couldn’t believe his eyes.
What was that just now?
He had aimed at a figure charging toward him and nocked his arrow, but by the time he released the string, the target had already reached the palisade.
He hadn’t even blinked, but the figure had vanished without a trace, as though teleporting forward.
Rem was using a sorcery technique called ‘Leopard’s Steps’. Naturally, a human eye couldn’t track his movements.
Bang!
Rem kicked down the palisade and shouted.
"Hey, today’s your last day. If you want to live, run. Got it?"
As the palisade shattered and splinters flew, he struck down the necks of two archers who had fired at him. The rest of the bandits poured out.
"What are you saying, you lunatic? We are the Blood Brotherhood!"
Their leader, one of five who had sworn an oath of brotherhood, shouted back, emphasizing their loyalty to each other.
"If we die, we die together!"
"If we live, we live together!"
Hearing their defiant cries, Rem decided to grant their wish.
"Alright, today you all die together."
The strange thing was that they controlled monsters using some kind of flute. The melody allowed them to manipulate the boar-like creatures.
As Rem approached, one of them blew the flute, and a massive monster, twice the size of a normal one, leapt out of a pit in the center of the camp. With red eyes and two horns beside its snout, it was ferocious, likely starved for days.
Trilllll!
The flute’s sharp melody rang out, and the beast exploded out of the pit, soaring into the air before charging at Rem with all its might.
Rem, casually fiddling with the handle of his axe while speaking to himself, swiftly drew the weapon and swung it vertically.
In that instant, the arc of Rem’s axe seemed to split the world in two.
That’s how it appeared to the bandit leaders.
Boom!
The monster’s body split vertically, falling to either side of Rem as its entrails and blood poured onto the ground.
Even after the swing, Rem continued fiddling with the handle of his axe, muttering to himself.
"Oh, today you’re not in the mood? Yeah, I get it."
To the bandit leaders, this confirmed that Rem was utterly insane. Who was he talking to? Himself?
An alternate personality?
The reputation of the Mad Knights Order and its members had spread far and wide.
Many knew of Rem’s name, but few could recognize him on sight.
However, after witnessing his axe strike, everyone could tell that something was seriously wrong.
"I said, if you don’t want to die, run."
Rem slung his axe over his shoulder with an air of relaxed confidence.
Of the five leaders, four fled immediately, leaving only one who seemed too slow-witted to grasp the situation.
Seeing his four sworn brothers flee, the lone bandit swung his iron-reinforced club clumsily, more out of shock than intent.
Rem casually swung his axe, splitting the club and severing one of the man’s arms.
"Argh!"
Rem chased down the other four, splitting heads and beating them into submission one by one.
"Brothers, huh?"
The bandit group numbered over a hundred, many of whom were skilled archers.
But Rem even caught arrows mid-flight and threw them back to kill their owners, leaving everyone speechless.
Thus, a bandit group that had been a major threat in the south, controlling monstrous creatures, was completely eradicated.
Who would have imagined that a Knight force would come and dismantle the bandit group like this?
It was something no one could have foreseen.
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