I Am the Monarch – Chapter 68: War and more war (6)

 

 ‘What? How did this happen?’

Prain, who was in charge of guarding of the camp, didn’t have any control .
Even until flames surged up in the camp of Rinse kingdom and noises were heard, he thought that the raid was a success .
And it was also because the fire wasn’t put out, but it spread even more .
After a while, when thousands of cavalrymen were coming back to his camp, he thought that Looter was returning .
The reason he had opened the gates with a really happy voice was also because of that .
But the cavalrymen that entered the camp wasn’t Looter’s army .

‘They, they are from Rinse kingdom!’

Prain came to realize this too late .
He yelled towards the guards .

“Ri, ring the bell! Ring the bell and hit the jing!”

He had to let the others know of the infiltration by the enemy .
He had to let the others know that the raid was a failure and they were the ones getting attacked .

“Ye, yes!”

The soldiers who were checking the situation with absent-minded expressions ran towards the bell and the jing .
Then .

Sweeeee!

A sharp sound was heard .

Pubububuk!

“Kugh!”
“Kek!”

Then, the soldiers fell by becoming like porcupines .
At the same time, the people of Rinse kingdom came pouring in from the open entrance .

“Kill them!”
“Set everything on fire and collapse the tents!”
“Break the stables and release the horses!”

The 10,000 soldiers entered the camp recklessly .

“Huh?! Uh…… . . ”

Prain stepped back with a perplexed look .

‘This large scaled surprise attack…… . . ’

He had never thought that they would attack them, they had lower numbers in the first place .

‘I, I have to let the commanders know of this!’

Prain turned back and tried to run towards the camp .
At that moment, he felt a chilly presence at his back .

Stab .

At the same time, the sharp spear pierced the back of his head .

“Attack! Everyone attack!”

The owner of the voice yelled out .
The one who stabbed the back of Prain was Roan .

Stab .

He pulled his spear and charged the ground .

“Uoooooooo! Wha, what’s happening!”
“It’s a surprise attack!”
“Damn! Ar . . armour! Bring me the armour!”

The soldiers of Istel kingdom were really confused by the sudden attack .
Because of the forced march that lasted nine days, they were really exhausted .
Thanks to that, they just believed in Looter’s night raid and rested without thinking of anything else .

As the army of Rinse kingdom appeared in this situation, the soldiers couldn’t even wear their armour and got out of their tents holding their weapons .
And that was the same for adjutants and generals .

“Kuhuk! How, how are the Rinse kingdom……”
“What happened with corps commander Beil!”
“Kugh . ”

They yelled with a really perplexed expression .

“Block them!”
“Stop the fire!”

The commanders got a hold of themselves and led the soldiers .
But at the unexpected attack, they were in chaos .

Stab . Slash .

And Rinse kingdom didn’t miss this opportunity .
A one sided massacre and annihilation occurred .

“Bastards of Istel kingdom, **** off to Istel!”
“Return to your land!”
“Die!”

The soldiers of Rinse kingdom attacked them with raging bellows .
Everyone swung their own weapons .
But even amongst them, the most outstanding one was Roan .
He was mixing Kalian’s tear, Brent’s ring, and the Flamdor mana technique suitably and showing the prowess of a monster .

Swing . Swing .

The spear turned roughly by riding the palm .
And everytime, several soldiers of Istel kingdom collapsed while shedding blood .

“Kugh . ”
“Kek!”

Roan didn’t show any mercy, even to the fallen ones .

‘I can’t leave any future trouble . ’

If it wasn’t a situation where he could completely subdue them, he had to certainly kill them .
That was his ethics in battle, battlefields, and war .
The battle flowed one sidedly, but even so it wasn’t a situation where he could loosen himself .

‘If I make a mistake, I can get by legs grabbed . ’

A raid was a raid .
If he became greedy because he was drunk in victory, he could suffer a big blow .
They were inside a camp with more than 8,000 soldiers anyways .

“Staff officer Mendel! Going deeper than this is dangerous!”

At Roan’s yell, Mendel who was fiercely pushing back the enemies pulled back the reins .

‘We moved deeper in than what I thought . ’

As he slew the **** of Istel kingdom that fell helplessly, he turned up entering to a deep place even without knowing .

“Fall back! Fall back!”

Mendel turned the head of his horse and yelled with strength .
Likewise, the cavalrymen that were pushing back the enemies started to retreat one by one .

‘Even so, it’s fortunate that we didn’t fall into a trap or become surrounded . ’

When he thought until then .
A really displeasing sound was heard .

Sweeeeee!

A sharp sound rang out .
But it was heavier and more horrible than when a normal arrow pierced the air .
When Mendel thoughtlessly turned to look back .

Puuuuk!

A long spear pierced three cavalrymen alongside the terrible sound .
At the same time, the men of Istel kingdom scattered to the sides .

“Mm?”
“Huh?”

Mendel and the cavalrymen had surprised expressions at the sudden situation .
Their sight moved to the insides of the camp .
From between the split army, a group of people that were wearing flashy armour appeared .
Likewise, Roan also opened his eyes roundly .

‘They are knights!’

An existence he didn’t want to face at all .
Different than normal soldiers, knights knew how to use mana .
But fortunately, their number wasn’t that big .
At most, 30 men .
But even with just that, it was a number that you couldn’t just ignore them .

“Re, retreat! Retreat! We are falling back quickly!”

Mendel instantly grasped the situation .
He looked at the knights that were approaching them fiercely and yelled .

Hiiiiing!

The cavalrymen that hurriedly kick their horses .
But unfortunately the movements of the knights were a bit faster .

Stap! Slash! Spat!

A sharp long sword slashed the cavalrymen .

“Kuok!”
“Kek!”

The cavalrymen fell helplessly .

‘Damn . For the knights to appear this quickly…… . . ’

Roan ground his teeth .
In the raid group of Rinse kingdom’s army, there weren’t even ten people who knew how to use mana .

‘It’s one of the biggest weak points among weak points . ’

One of the biggest weakness that an army guarding a region had was the presence of knights and mages .
Only staff officers and the small minority of troop commanders knew how to use mana .
A really small minority at that .
Most belonged to the army of a region or a noble family .
Because of that Roan, Gale, Aaron, etc . wished for a more active participation from the region’s army .
But Benjamin ignored the report and they had set up a camp at their rear .

‘Are the only ones I can believe in are Count Lancephil’s knights and the region’s army?’

Roan bit his lower lip .
At Aaron’s report, Io reacted right away .
But he was the owner of Lancephil’s territory .
He couldn’t just ignorantly step out to defend the boundary .

‘They have to get rid of Istel kingdom’s army who are sweeping up the territory . ’

Because of that, they were late in joining .
Compared to that, as Istel kingdom was on the invading side, they had some knights in their ranks .
Only that as the knights were quite an important force, there was a large possibility they would be staying at the rear of the camp .

‘I thought that they wouldn’t show themselves until a full scaled battle happened .

Roan let out a sigh .

‘If the mage squad appears like this…… . . ’

This would become a trouble beyond troubles .
They had already achieved a great victory in the raid .

‘We have to hurriedly retreat . ’

If they suffer a big blow here, then succeeding in the raid became meaningless .
Roan gripped the spear tightly .
He saw the knights massacring the cavalrymen .

‘Hmm . ’

His eyes shone .

‘I thought that the knights appeared quite fast, but they are all greenhorns . ’

Although they certainly show great might, their movements were big and unnatural .

‘They are just guys that are in their apprenticeships . ’

They were guys that were deployed probably to accumulate real experience .

‘Then……… . ’

When they were still drunk in the heat of the battlefield .
They wouldn’t have any mind of themselves as they were busy slaying the soldiers in front of them .

‘Hph . ’

Roan took in a deep breath and pulled some mana .
A heat that spread out while flowing into his palm .
He threw his spear with strength .

Sweeeeek!

A sharp sound .
The spear showed a chilly intent and split the air .
One of the knights who was massacring the soldiers snorted when he looked at the flying spear .

“Hmph!”

He was confident in being able to block a spear that was thrown by a normal soldier lightly .
The young knight didn’t even dodge the spear and lightly swung his blade .
Then, the voice of a man that was leading the knights was heard .

“Don’t block it and dodge!”
“Huh?”

Only then had the young knight realized that something was wrong and twisted his body, but it was already late .

Puk!

Roan’s spear pierced the body .

“Grr . ”

His neck snapped along with the last words .
The young knight died with having a spear pierced in his body .

‘Impossible!’

The knights who were looking at the scene, looked at the spear with a surprised look .

‘A knight couldn’t block a spear thrown by a normal soldier?’
‘Is it possible to throw the spear from that distance, pierce the body, and stab it into the ground?’

Everyone’s eyes shone with doubt .
Then, Mendel and the cavalrymen hurriedly ran towards the rear .

“Huh?! Catch them!”
“Kill!”

The knights got a hold of themselves late and tried to kick off the ground .
There was a soldier that rushed into the insides of the camp, different than the cavalrymen that were retreating .
He had empty hands that didn’t have a spear or a sword .
The youth with the childish face was Roan .
He charged the ground and jumped to the air .

‘I have to buy a little time!’

He just needed to buy time for his comrades to retreat .
He was confident in being able to buy that much time while facing the greenhorn knights .
Mana flowed into both of his fists .

‘Reid’s battle technique . ’

It wasn’t only at the level of imitating the movements while holding a spear .
What Roan tried to execute was the basic technique of Reid’s battle technique .
The two fists split the air while moving in a strange fashion .

“Crazy bastard!”

The young knights swung their swords with all their strength .
They were stiffened by the sudden death of their comrade .
They had realized that death was quite a close to them .
They had smelled the smell of the battlefield,  the smell of death .

Swush .

Roan dodged the sword by moving his upper body and then turned .
At that short moment, his two fists split the air .

Pububuk!

The body of the young knight was hit by Roan’s fists .
The flashy armour became bent and squashed .

“Kuk!”

The knight staggered at the shock that shook his insides and fell .
Roan hurriedly took away the sword of the knight and stabbed it downwards .

Stab .

The long sword was stabbed into the neck of the young knight like that .

“Huh?!”
“This son of a bitch!”

The other knights realized the situation too late and attacked Roan .
Roan calmly breathed in, and then threw the blade along with the corpse of the knight .

“Damn!”
“Kuk!”

The knights that were charging in were surprised and dodged .
And Roan didn’t miss that moment .
He hurriedly threw his body to the ground and grabbed the spear stuck in the ground .

Puuk!

He kicked the knight that had the spear pierced in his body and put strength in his hand .

Spat!

The spear rose to the sky .
Roan turned his body following the spear and pulled some mana .
The allied soldiers were retreating to the entrance of the camp .
There was no need to hide his use of mana right now .

Paat!

The spear that had mana split the air as if it was dancing .
Roan executed the strong techniques consecutively .

“Kugh! This bastard! You weren’t a normal soldier!”
“Be careful! The strength behind the spear isn’t normal!”

The knights realized Roan’s true strength too late .
In this instance, the one who was in a situation difficult was Roan .
Although he was practicing Flamdor mana technique and Reid’s battle technique, the actual training time wasn’t that long .
If 30 knights assaulted him at once, he wouldn’t be able to do a thing .

‘I have to fall back before it becomes even too late for me . ’

Roan clearly realized when he had to step in and fall back .
That was the precious experience and intuition he obtained while roaming the battlefield for 20 years .
The spear that had mana behind it, split the air and stabbed towards the body of a knight .

“Where!”

But the knights, who got ahold of themselves late, didn’t face Roan’s spear sloppily .
The moment they swung their swords to knock away the spear, they twisted their body to the side .
It was a movement to completely dodge the strength behind the spear .
But the next movement Roan did, completely missed the knight’s common sense by a lot .

Spat!

Roan threw away the spear he was holding .

Sweeee!

It was a sudden javelin throw .
The knights looked at the spear thrown in front of them and hurriedly dodged .
As they saw that their ally had just died because the body was pierced by the spear, they couldn’t even think of blocking it .

‘Okay! Now!’

Roan didn’t miss that opportunity
He hurriedly charged and threw his body .
He was attacking them fiercely but started to fall back .

“Ca, catch him!”
“Don’t lose him! We have to at least catch him!”

An enemy that used mana was an existence you had to capture or kill .
The knights chased Roan’s back a step  behind him .

“Block!”

The normal soldiers of Istel kingdom blocked Roan’s fleeing path .
This was the moment of life or death .
However, Roan’s eyes calmly sank .

‘Left, right, right again, after that I make him fall by putting my feet………’

Because of Kalian’s tear, he could grasp all the information in an instant .

Spat!

Roan moved his body to the sides and ran while dodging the soldiers .

Swong .

When a sword or a spear was about to reach him, he grabbed the neck and arm of a soldier and pulled him .

“Huh?! Uh!”
“No, no!”

Perplexed yells came out of their mouths .

Slash . Stab .

A horrible sound .
The soldiers of Istel kingdom stabbed their weapons into their allies, and not Roan .

“Damn!”
“Don’t swing your weapons mindlessly!”

At their spears and swords, an ally died .
That truth made the soldiers completely stiff .
Because of that, Roan’s movements became even more natural .

Pabat!

He soon reached the entrance of the camp .
Then, a displeasing sound was heard from his back .

“Kuhk!”
“We, we are allie……… . ”

The yells of Istel kingdom’s soldiers .
As Roan glanced back, he saw one knight charging at him fiercely .
A huge body with a thick lined face .
He was the commander of the greenhorn knights .
He, who seemed to be in his thirties, was running in a straight line while pushing away the allies in his front .

“Bastard! Don’t dodge and receive my sword!”

He had a voice that was like thunder .
He was Vernon Pollet, who had an outstanding skill in the blade, even amongst the young knights .
Although his skills were outstanding, he was quite hot tempered he was called the crazy bear of Istel .
Roan fell the soldiers at his side and charged forward .
This wasn’t a situation to battle him leisurely .
Then, he saw a warhorse roaming in the insides of the camp .

‘Good!’

Roan changed directions and ran towards the warhorse .

“Hmph!”

Vernon snorted and followed Roan’s back .
As the level of mana operation was in a higher level, the distance between the two of them was closing in bit by bit .

Hiiiiing .

The cry of the horse was heard close by .
It was at a distance that seemed to be right in front of his nose .
But rather than the distance between the horse, his distance with Vernon was much closer .

“Stop!”

Vernon yelled and raised his sword .
He was in a really risky situation .
Then, Roan’s eyes shined .

‘That!’

His sight moved to the sides .

‘Okay!’

He was looking at something others couldn’t see .
A smile appeared in his face .
A faint sound was heard .

Sweeeeee!

A sharp sound .
However, Roan kept running to the horse and didn’t show much of a movement .
Meanwhile, the distance between them closed even more .

“Die!”

Vernon tried to hack down the sword he had raised up .
Then .

Spat!

One arrow passed next to Roan’s left ear as if it grazed him .
At the same time .

Puk!

The arrow was stabbed into Vernon’s left eye along with a horrible sound .

“Uaaaaaaaak!”

Vernon, who was about to slash Roan in any moment, collapsed with a cry .
It was a situation that would make you surprised, but Roan didn’t even look back and just charged forward and then jumped .

Hiiiing!

The rough cry of the horse that was spread out .
He pulled the reins and kicked the horse .

Dudududu .

The horse ran outside the camp .

“Uaaaaaaaa! My eye! My eye!”

Vernon’s yell was heard from his back .

Pubububuk .

The arrows the soldiers of Istel fired off late fell behind his back .
Roan stuck his chest close to the horse .
The place he was heading to wasn’t the camp of Rinse kingdom .
It was to a place outside the line .
One youth was guarding that place alone .
Roan didn’t lower the speed of the horse and extended his left arm .

“Grab it!”

At the loud yell, the youth also extended his hand .

Pat!

He grabbed Roan’s arm and then lightly jumped and got on the horse .
Roan turned the head of the horse towards Rinse kingdom’s camp .
He yelled towards the youth at his back .

“Harrison! I was able to keep my life because of you!”

The youth that was guarding the place was none other than Harrison .
Harrison let out a long sigh .

“Honestly speaking, I wasn’t confident . ”

At those words Roan shook his head .

“There wasn’t even an inch of mistake . It barely grazed my ear and it stabbed the left eye of that **** . ”

That one arrow that saved Roan’s life .
The person that fired that was none other than Harrison .
He had a really excellent ability .
Harrison looked at the camp that was already close and yelled .

“The raid was a success!”

At those words Roan brightly smiled and shook his head .

“No, no . ”

And then yelled with all his strength .

“It’s not a normal victory, but a great one!”

Different to his bright expression, his eyes sunk calmly .
Roan mumbled in a low voice .

“Although the war has just started…… . ”

< War and more war (6) > End