The Indomitable Martial King

Spirius, who faced the Blade Aura, let out a groan. At the moment the auras clashed, a subtle force permeated through his opponent’s Blade Aura, striking his arms. Russ smirked.

“I learned this from Miss Stalla!”

More accurately, he had stolen it. Naturally, Spirius couldn’t understand what was being said. With a grimace, he swung his sword even more violently.

“I won’t lose to a brat like this!”

Spirius put all his strength into his sword. The red Blade Aura grew thicker, shining like a massive pillar of light. He intended to cut his opponent down with a single blow.

“Oh?”

Russ’s eyes gleamed as he swung his sword erratically in response. Numerous afterimages of his sword appeared, and dozens of blue auras surged towards Spirius.

The ultimate techniques of the heavy sword and the illusion sword, executed by two knights, flew at each other. At the moment their strikes collided, Spirius’s eyes widened. Most of the blue aura that met his sword vanished into nothingness.

‘An illusion!’

All the attacks that emitted powerful waves of aura were fake. The real Blade Aura, possessing true power, silently and stealthily dug into his sides. Spirius screamed internally.

‘I’ve been deceived!’

The young Aura User in front of him had separated the presence and substance of the aura the moment he performed the illusion sword, deceiving even the senses of Spirius, an Aura User. It was an unimaginable and terrifying technique.

As the weighty red aura pierced through empty air, blood spurted from Spirius’s shoulders.

“Keough!”

With blood gushing out, Spirius dropped his sword and fell from his horse. The Carsus camp stirred with surprised exclamations from all around.

“Sir Spirius!”

“My God! Sir Spirius!”

Falling from his horse, Spirius dangled his arms and looked at Russ in shock.

As an Aura User himself, he understood what Russ had done. However, understanding how it was possible was beyond him. Russ, an absurdly talented genius, could steal aura manipulation techniques just by observing, but for an ordinary Aura User like Spirius, such a feat was utterly impossible.

“How does someone his age possess such an incredible technique….”

In the despair of his lifelong training being rendered futile, Spirius stared blankly at Russ. Even after achieving victory, the young man did not rejoice; instead, he looked down at Spirius with a calm, collected gaze. Not only did he possess unparalleled skill, but he also had a composure far beyond his years.

Of course, this was a misunderstanding on Spirius’s part.

‘Damn, I failed again, Phantom Divide.’

Russ was not actually cold-hearted; he was feeling melancholic. Spirius was awed by Russ’s skill of separating presence from substance, but in truth, it was merely the result of failing the Phantom Divide, a technique meant to transcend space.

‘Damn it, I can manage everything else, so why is the success rate of this so low?’

Well, to others, it looked like he wore an arrogant and proud expression, as if defeating someone like Spirius was nothing to be happy about.

“Ugh!”

Letting out a humiliated groan, Spirius swiftly kicked off the ground and fled back to his formation. Russ simply watched with a stern face, as if Spirius was not even worth cutting down.

In reality, he was momentarily disappointed due to his failed technique, causing him to miss the timing for a follow-up attack. But how could onlookers know the inner details? The sight of Spirius fleeing miserably contrasted sharply with Russ’s proud stance. Prince Yubel’s army chanted his name in unison.

“Wow!”

“Cyrus! Cyrus! Cyrus!”

“Long live Sir Cyrus!”

It was a moment when the fame of Aura User Cyrus resonated across the continent.

* * *

Carsus sprang to his feet. The sight of Sir Spirius’s miserable defeat clearly showed his soldiers were unsettled. If their morale dropped any further, they would be defeated without even a proper fight.

He sent a hand signal and shouted.

“All troops! Charge!”

A knight drew his sword and cried out bravely.

“For the true king! Let us go, Brozen Knights!”

“Ooooooh!”

To boost their fallen morale, the entire knight order roared courageously and began to gallop. Prince Yubel also raised his hand and shouted.

“Everyone, charge!”

Russ thrust his blade aura into the sky and bellowed.

“Let’s go! Brave warriors!”

The orc warriors of the Blue Bear Tribe, positioned at the forefront, let out a collective roar and drove their direwolves forward.

“Graaaah!”

With the sound of thundering hooves shaking the earth, the knights of both armies simultaneously charged onto the battlefield. Waves of steel clashed from both directions, creating a blood-soaked tide in the middle of the plain. The leading orc cavalry sang the song of valor as they hurled their swords.

“Fight until your heart bursts!”

“Fight until your heart bursts!”

“The spirit of the warriors will bless us!”

Five hundred Brozen knights and a hundred orc warriors of the Blue Bear Tribe clashed. The battle, even grander than majestic, ended with the orc warriors’ overwhelming victory. Wielding their Spirits Weapons, the orc warriors mercilessly cut down the knights and ravaged the battlefield.

“Arrrgh!”

“These monsters!”

The screams of the Brozen knights echoed across the battlefield.

The Brozen Knights, known to be on par with the Fernando Knights within the Crovence Kingdom, shared the same fate. This meant that the Brozen Knights were no different from the Fernando Knights in terms of skills and information about the orcs. Therefore, their destiny could only follow that of the Fernando Knights who defended Sinai Fortress.

Following them, the human knights of Prince Yubel’s army, emboldened by courage, charged into the enemy lines. Observing the battlefield, Carsus ground his teeth and shouted.

“Do not retreat! Their numbers are still few! Form ranks and unhorse them!”

To counter the knights’ charge, the infantry of Carsus’s army had been thoroughly trained in tactics aimed at targeting the horses of the knights. Although the success rate was only about ten percent, it was still far better than letting the soldiers face the knights’ charge unprepared. True to their training, Carsus’s army quickly formed ranks, executing the practiced formations swiftly.

At that moment, Carsus’s expression hardened.

‘Unhorse them?’

His soldiers were indeed well-trained in tactics against mounted knights. But were those mounts horses?

“Arrrooo!”

Kalken’s direwolf howled thunderously, savagely tearing through the soldiers. Stalla’s direwolf followed, swatting away obstructing soldiers with its front paws. Despite forming solid ranks, the soldiers were defenseless. They had learned to unhorse opponents, not to dismount those riding wolves!

“Aaagh!”

“Help me!”

Moreover, the visual impact between horses and wolves was vastly different in terms of fear. Which would be scarier, an agitated horse or a snarling wolf? And unlike horses, the soldiers were not accustomed to wolves.

The formation collapsed in an instant. Arrows rained down on Carsus’s troops like a deathly shower, followed by an overwhelming charge of infantry.

“Kill them!”

“Slaughter them all!”

Ten thousand troops of Carsus were pathetically outmatched by the three thousand of Prince Yubel’s army. Leading the charge were six streams of dazzling aura. Even a single one would be despairing, but with six, it was impossible for their morale not to plummet. Carsus gnashed his teeth.

“Damn it! So the rumors were true!”

With six aura users at the forefront, Prince Yubel’s army overwhelmingly dominated the battlefield. Carsus yelled at his lieutenant.

“What on earth is Sir Saide doing?”

Simultaneously with the full advance of his army, Carsus had detached two thousand troops to form a separate unit targeting the enemy’s left flank. No matter how strong their charge was, the numerical inferiority remained unchanged. With overwhelmingly superior numbers, this separate unit would aim to strike the main force and cut off Prince Yubel’s head, securing their victory.

It was a textbook tactic for the large army of Carsus. Any strategist would praise Carsus for expertly deploying his soldiers.

However, it wasn’t working. The lieutenant responded in a trembling voice.

“Well… Sir Saide is unable to break through the enemy’s main force.”

“That’s impossible! Their main force consists of only about two hundred soldiers!”

Carsus muttered as if in a nightmare. Incredibly, the two thousand-strong detachment led by Sir Saide was being blocked by a mere two hundred soldiers guarding Prince Yubel’s main force. The reason half of those two hundred were none other than the dwarf warriors of the Grand Forge.

“Haha! You see, we might have short legs, but we can’t be poked around easily!”

“Standing our ground and holding out is our specialty!”

Dwarf warriors lacked mobility, but when they formed ranks in one spot, their defense was akin to that of a moving fortress. Despite the waves of cavalry and infantry, they did not budge and held the main force firmly.

It was a continuous destruction of common sense. The orc warriors’ superior mobility, the dwarven warriors’ overwhelming defense, and the elves’ wide-ranging offensive capabilities were all in play.

“Burn, my fiery friend!”

Each time the elves shouted, Ignatius, the giant of fire, revealed his magnificent form and incinerated the soldiers. Deserters emerged amidst the screams. Although the Carsus army’s mages tried to cast spells against the spirits…

“Ugh!”

“Another failure!”

Watching his fellow mage collapse, coughing up blood, Gort, the head of the mage unit, screamed. Since earlier, something had been interfering with the mana flow, blocking their magic attempts. Despite feeling the disruptions in their mana circuits, Gort, like a true mage, wondered.

‘How powerful must the mage disrupting us be to cause this?’

Already, twenty mages had been unable to cast spells, continuously interrupted. For this to be possible, there must be a tremendously powerful mage on the enemy side, at least of the 8th or 9th circle.

And for a mage of that caliber…

“No, if they have such skill, why not just cast high-level spells instead of this troublesome interference?”

‘Well, I have the skill, but not enough mana yet.’

Repenhardt, who had just blocked another spell, smirked bitterly. He could easily guess what the enemy mages were thinking.

He had been observing the flow of mana from the mages for a while now, interrupting the flow to break their spells whenever they tried something. Once a spell was cast, it couldn’t be stopped, but if it was before activation, he could cut it off in advance.

In short, it was a delicate act that required predicting what spell the opponent would use. It wasn’t a matter of needing a high circle but rather exceptional insight, mana control, and magical sensing abilities, making it the perfect method for the current Repenhardt, who had low mana but high mastery.

While Repenhardt was keeping the enemy mages in check, the mages of Prince Yubel’s army were freely launching fireballs and lightning strikes on the battlefield. They cast their spells with excitement, all the while sending looks of awe at Repenhardt for his seemingly impossible actions.

“Is Siris doing well?”

Blocking yet another spell, Repenhardt glanced stealthily to the other side of the battlefield. Though too busy with spell-breaking to cast a farsight spell, his basic vision was already extraordinary as an Aura User. Focusing his mind, he could see her wildly fighting among the elves in the distance.

“My friend Sarana, I call upon you in the name of our friendship….”

Once again, Siris had summoned the wind spirit, Sarana, and was freely ‘stepping on’ it to move up and down through the air over the battlefield. As expected, the spirits seemed to have the memory of a goldfish; they grimaced every time they were stepped on but still faithfully appeared when summoned.

Blood splattered and screams erupted every time she soared into the air. Whenever her scimitar swung, cries of agony filled the air as the terrified enemies fled.

“Witch!”

“The elf witch is killing people!”

Her presence, possessing exceptional martial skills compared to other elves, stood out even amidst the chaos of the battlefield. It seemed that once this war ended, Siris’s name would also be widely known among the people.

Swords clashed, screams and groans echoed. Witnessing the gruesome battlefield and the horrifying sight of his own troops, Carsus eventually raised the flag.

“Order the retreat….”

Even amidst despair, Carsus calmly commanded his troops to begin retreating. It was such a flawless command that Prince Yubel’s army dared not pursue. No matter how great their victory, their numerical disadvantage meant that a pursuit could lead to their forces being divided and defeated in detail.

The supreme commander, Yubel, raised his sword and shouted.

“Cheer! This is our victory!”

Knights and soldiers drenched in blood simultaneously raised their weapons and shouted with all their might. The triumphant cries echoed across the plain.

“Wooaahhh!”

“Yaaahhh!”

Later, historians of the Crovence Kingdom would name this battle the Battle of Redant, marking it as a significant victory for Prince Yubel’s army, leaving behind numerous bodies of Carsus’s troops.