Chapter 342
[The outer castle’s north gate has been breached.]
[Outer castle capture event triggered.]
[All troops of the Aoun Kingdom retreat to the inner castle.]
“Run! The Karl Kingdom bastards are coming!”
“Chiiiik! Chik!”
The soldiers of the Aoun Kingdom, being pursued, were fleeing in panic, screaming. Their ranks were full of wounded, men bleeding profusely from their bodies, or struck by arrows.
Simon and Dick were running around in the midst of that chaos.
“To the inner castle! Fall back to the inner castle!”
“The south gate is still open!”
The situation was dire.
Elisa, the Karl Kingdom’s supreme commander, finding the siege dragging on, led her main force to smash through the outer castle’s north gate by sheer force.
But Elisa was not satisfied with breaking through the outer castle. She pressed the attack, deploying numerous cavalry to push straight down to the front of the inner castle’s north gate.
The inner castle had only two gates, the north gate and the south gate. With the north gate threatened by Elisa, every soldier of the Aoun Kingdom needing to retreat into the inner castle was flooding toward the south gate, causing severe congestion.
“Seriously! The more I think about it, the less I get it!”
Dick scratched his head furiously as he spoke.
“The north gate only had four men stationed! It’s tougher than the south gate we’re holding! How did they break through before a messenger could even arrive?”
Simon quietly mulled over the question Dick had raised, then opened his mouth.
“I think there’s someone else on Elisa’s level.”
Elisa, as the daughter of a political family, was the kind to act strategically in every respect. If it were her, it was entirely possible she’d gathered strong individuals in advance and formed a team.
“Mm, it’s a headache, but that makes sense. If two or three people on the level of special admission students had gone to the north gate…”
Just then, Simon and Dick saw Karl Kingdom soldiers ahead of them. They were chasing the retreating allies.
“Shiiit! Leave no one alive!”
“Shhh! Shhh! Don’t let them reach the inner castle!”
When outnumbered so overwhelmingly, every single soldier was precious.
Simon and Dick exchanged nods and dashed off to rescue their comrades.
“But Simon! You’re supposed to save your Darkness. Want a sword?”
Dick offered him his own sword, already enchanted.
“Magical Combat will do just fine.”
“Hey, Magical Combat eats up a lot of Darkness too.”
In the end, Simon took the sword. He swung it through the air a few times, good grip, but something felt lacking.
“Don’t you have a greatsword?”
“I do, but do you even know how to handle one? They’re really hard.”
“To some extent.”
Looking doubtful, Dick pulled a greatsword from subspace. It was one of the smallest among greatswords, but the heavy weight felt just right to Simon.
“Alright, let’s go!”
“Okay!”
Simon and Dick simultaneously stepped on Darkness and charged toward the Karl Kingdom troops slaughtering their allies.
“Shhh! Weird guys are coming!”
“They’re the Guardians of Aoun!”
The eyes of Simon, charging in front, gleamed. Like a speeding chariot, he broke into enemy lines and swung the greatsword with all his strength.
Bang!
With that sound, several Karl Kingdom soldiers flew like bowling pins.
“Whoop!”
Dick followed right behind, leaping through the air, driving his sword between a soldier’s helmet plates. He stepped on the man’s torso to pull the sword free, then showed off an elegant, thrust-focused sword style.
Bwoooong!
Simon’s greatsword skills, on the other hand, were downright dazzling.
He swung that massive blade as if it were an extension of his own limbs, moving skillfully through the enemy ranks with a style both domineering and fluid. The Karl Kingdom soldiers faltered, unable to muster the courage to face him head-on.
“Shhh! Don’t back down!”
The Karl Kingdom’s vice-commander led the charge at Simon. Simon lifted the greatsword to catch the man’s sword, then stepped in close.
Clang, clank!
The enemy’s sword slid up the greatsword’s edge, and Simon stepped in even closer, bringing the greatsword down with sheer force.
Slash!
The black blade drew a straight line down the man’s body.
“Wow, Simon! What was that just now?”
Dick spoke while barely fending off an enemy soldier.
“You’re way past ‘knowing the basics’ with a greatsword! Did your dad teach you swordsmanship back home too?”
“No. As for the greatsword—”
Simon deftly knocked aside an incoming spear and cut down another soldier before finishing his sentence.
“I’m self-taught.”
“Oh, come on! Quit lying! I’ve never seen you use a greatsword before, what are you talking about!”
“It’s true.”
Bwoong! Bwoong!
Under Simon’s sweeping greatsword, soldiers fell like leaves in the wind. Dick, who usually fought with a sword, was keeping pace as well.
“Hup!”
“Hyaaa!”
They spotted enemies rushing at each other’s backs and charged. Crossing paths, they each swung their blades—two soldiers fell, spraying blood.
“S-strong! Shhh!”
“Fall back! We need our own Guardians here!”
The Karl Kingdom’s pursuit force finally began to retreat. Simon and Dick chased them down, securing the escape route for their allies.
“To the inner castle! Retreat to the inner castle! The south gate is open!”
“Please hurry!”
Simon was directing the allies and chasing the retreating pursuers when—
“Simon! Down!”
At Dick’s shout, Simon immediately ducked. A black flash zipped overhead and struck the wall.
‘A curse!’
Simon’s eyes widened. Looking up, he saw a Keyzen male student on the wall, a skull necklace around his neck, curses flying one after another from his fingertips.
“It’s a curse caster! Take cover!”
Simon and Dick kept low and dashed behind cover. From the student’s fingertips, curses of different hues fired in succession, striking the obstacles.
“Annoying!”
Dick extended his own fingers.
<Exhaust>
A flicker of black smoke shot from his fingertips, but the curse caster quickly ducked behind the wall. Dick’s curse hit the wall and vanished, and the caster popped his head back up to launch another curse.
“Uwaagh!”
Dick was struck and went tumbling to the ground.
“Dick!”
“Gahhh! Damn it! What is this?!”
He began scratching himself frantically, red welts appearing all over his skin.
“One down.”
The curse caster, having incapacitated Dick, smirked darkly and turned his gaze to Simon. By now, Simon was already tracing a curse into his palm with the hand not holding the greatsword.
Their curses were completed almost simultaneously.
<Tickling> <Sickness>
Both boys thrust out their arms at the same moment, their curses crossing midair.
Simon avoided with nothing more than a tilt of his head…
‘Why so fast!!’
The Sickness shot forward at a speed incomparable to Dick’s Exhaust, grazing the curse caster’s shoulder as it passed.
“Khk!”
As the curse caster staggered and dropped to one knee, Simon quickly hoisted Dick over his shoulder and ran.
“I won’t let you get away!”
The curse caster chased after Simon, preparing and hurling another curse.
“!”
But before he had run far, his vision began spinning round and round, and he suddenly collapsed on the spot. Seeing this, Karl Kingdom soldiers rushed over.
“Shiiit! Guardian!”
“Are you alright! Shhh!”
Tremble, tremble, tremble.
The curse caster signaled that he was fine and stood up again. However—
“Uweeegh!”
In the end, he vomited up his insides. The soldiers quickly stepped back a few paces.
“Dick, hang in there.”
Simon laid Dick down inside an empty house and drew a magic circle.
“Uaaaah…!”
Dick was clawing at himself like mad, leaving bright red scratch marks all over his body. Simon calmly finished the circle, placed it against Dick’s body, and activated it.
<Cancellation>
A dark blue light shimmered over Dick’s body, and his movements gradually began to still. The hives-like swelling subsided rapidly, and Dick’s arms dropped limply.
“…Wow, I really thought I was going to die. That was a two-stack curse.”
Simon held out his hand.
“Can you keep fighting?”
“Of course.”
Dick took Simon’s hand and stood up.
When they stepped back outside, the battle lines had stabilized somewhat. Other Keyzen students on the defending side were busy helping the soldiers retreat.
Simon used the supreme commander’s badge to issue orders.
“Keep the south gate of the inner castle open as wide as possible and receive retreating soldiers! Maelyn, don’t stay too long at the outer castle’s south gate—if you’re not careful, you could get surrounded. The rest, focus on defending against enemy soldiers coming in through the breached gate!”
Simon and Dick also decided to head for the inner castle.
Leaving the residential area and going a bit further, another wall came into view. Compared to the outer castle, it was much taller, and built of thick bricks.
“We have to hold the inner castle even if every ally dies.”
Dick said,
“The moment the Karl Kingdom breaks through to the inner castle, they’ll go straight up the stairs and reach the royal castle. If the aerial barrier, the Guardian Stone, is destroyed along the way, Elisa will attack from the sky aboard the ghost ship. There’s nothing worse for us than that scenario.”
The two of them kept talking as they walked toward the wall.
Since congestion at the south gate was still ongoing, the inner castle was lowering ladders from the safe lines of the wall to let allied soldiers climb up. It was a decent method.
Simon and Dick also waited in line.
“Dick, you go up first.”
“Yeah, I’ll go ahead.”
Dick climbed the ladder, while Simon stayed on the ground, watching behind them. If the pursuit force showed up, he intended to buy time for the soldiers to climb.
“Chiiik! Block the pursuit force!”
The soldiers of the Aoun Kingdom were organizing a suicide squad in front of the wall, building wooden barricades and establishing a defensive position.
The Karl Kingdom had many cavalry. To stop them, trenches and obstacles were set up in front of the barricades.
“Chik! Who goes there!”
Someone was walking toward the defensive position of the suicide squad.
“Stop! Chik! Move and we shoot!”
The squad aimed their bows in warning, but the man didn’t stop. Then they saw him place his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist.
‘What’s going on?’
Simon stepped forward to take a look.
Chuuuuuuuung!
At what happened next, Simon could hardly believe his eyes.
The countless barricades, obstacles, and even the suicide squad soldiers were all split clean in two, lifting into the air.
‘He broke the defense line in a single strike?’
Simon stared intently ahead, tense.
Step, step.
The man drew closer and closer. It was a boy with an eyepatch over one eye.
“Whoa! Was he part of the siege team?”
Dick, seeing him too, shouted to Simon.
“Simon! Elisa wasn’t the only problem! That guy is…!”
Slaaaaaash!
A long line was carved into the wall of the inner castle. The ladder placed against the wall split in half, and all the soldiers climbing it fell to the ground.
“Ugh!”
Dick likewise fell. Simon fixed his gaze on the boy’s movements.
Tap!
The boy’s figure vanished.
On guard, Simon narrowed his eyes and raised his greatsword in front of him.
Kaaaang!
Almost simultaneously, a longsword appeared in midair and clashed against Simon’s greatsword. The explosive crash shook the battlefield.
‘Khuh!’
Feeling an impact like his wrists would snap off, Simon suddenly found himself face-to-face with the boy who had appeared right before him.
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
“That’s right.”
The boy answered.
He was Special Admission No. 5, Jule Vincere.
“Today’s condition—”
Strangely, he had swung with the sword still sheathed.
Jule took a step back, hung the longsword from his belt, and tilted the hilt forward.
“Not bad.”
“!”
Simon instantly bent backward. A massive sword strike, slanted from that tilted position, came down as if to cut through the entire inner castle, leaving a long scar across the wall.
‘…Wow.’
Cold sweat streamed down Simon’s forehead.
He realized this guy was on a completely different level from the enemies he’d faced so far.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters