Chapter 9: (2)
“If they don’t follow the commander, they could be inadvertently punished,” Kaiyan thought to himself.
“Hmph, attack!”
At that moment, the attack order came through the magical loudspeaker from the commander-in-chief, who seemed a bit flustered.
Judging from the atmosphere, Kaiyan guessed that after today’s war, the Tarien guy would get a scolding from the commander.
‘I’d like to do everyone a favor and disqualify him from command.
The best thing that can happen now is for Tarien to be disqualified from command, or for the 7th Special Forces to cease to exist.
If that happens, Kaiyan can go back to the safety of the outer units.
“Gaaaaaah!”
“Waaaaaaaah!”
“Charge!!!”
But for now, like it or not, the commander of the 7th Special Forces is Tarien.
Following the commander’s order to attack, Kaiyan started to run after him with his soldiers as he ran off into the distance.
In his heart, he wanted to go separately, but now that he was part of the center, he couldn’t go as an individual as he did when he was on the outskirts.
Kuahhhhh!
A monster’s roar sounded from far away.
“….That’s huge.”
Kaiyan’s mouth watered at the sound, which was on a different level from the outskirts.
With each step forward, the distance between them grew closer and closer.
Seeing their hideous appearance up close made Kaiyan realize how cute the goblins he’d been dealing with were.
“Small monsters really are no big deal.”
Goblins, Trolls, and other small monsters had already been killed by the Allied ranged attacks.
The only monsters that had survived the indiscriminate attacks were ogres with terrifying strength, Minotaurs that stood over five meters tall, trolls with insane regenerative powers that allowed them to recover even when their bodies were blown up, and red orcs that were said to be as fast as any knight.
“Ugh… I need to move faster.”
Uncle Max, who was running hard with his square shield, shouted urgently.
“Faster than now? Why?”
“Because we don’t want that stupid commander to get killed!”
Tarien and the knights were on horseback, so they had already encountered the monster.
With their skills, they shouldn’t have any immediate problems, but they could see that more and more monsters were surrounding them.
“…Isn’t that better?”
A bad thought occurred to Kaiyan.
If Tarien were to be killed by the monsters, wouldn’t Uncle Jeff and he be able to return to their original unit?
But Uncle Max opened his mouth with his eyes wide as if to say something stupid.
“If he dies, we’re the ones who suffer! Do you think they’re going to leave us alone with a noble in command dead? They’ll probably put us in the front line the next day!”
“No way.
By front, he meant in front of the Central Knights.
“That’s a request to die, isn’t it?”
“Well…”
Uncle Jeff, who was running alongside Kaiyan, nodded.
“Kaiyan, don’t you know what kind of bastards the nobles are?”
“Ha… I know too well.”
In any country, nobles are feared by commoners.
That’s because they have the power to kill commoners for no particular reason. But if an aristocratic commander dies during a war, will the other aristocrats leave his soldiers alone?
“Phew… Let’s get going first” Kaiyan said to Uncle Jeff.
“Follow me!” Uncle Jeff replied.
If that was the case, Kaiyan had no choice but to save that stupid guy if he wanted to live. Maybe it was because he had raised his stamina, but running in leather armor didn’t feel so hard.
The fastest soldiers, led by Kaiyan and Jeff, began to run frantically toward their commander. The monsters were large and intimidating, a far cry from the small monsters Kaiyan had been fighting.
“Kaiyan, aim for their legs, we need to take them down first, I’ll go in first!” Uncle Jeff commanded.
As if to give Kaiyan a demonstration, Uncle Jeff sprinted toward the monster one beat faster. So fast, in fact, that Kaiyan couldn’t keep up with the Aura user. The monsters roared angrily and swiped their massive arms, but Uncle Jeff managed to dodge their attacks with flamboyant movements.
Before Kaiyan could even admire Jeff’s brilliant swordplay, he heard the minotaur’s angry roar and shivered. Fear rose up from the depths of his heart, threatening to overwhelm him at any moment.
“Hou, let’s calm down… I still can kill them,” Kaiyan tried to reason with himself, but his fear was too strong.
“If I’m running away from monsters out of fear, I’m not the same person I used to be,” he thought to himself.
“Kaiyan, wake up!” Uncle Jeff’s shout woke him up, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Uncle Jeff holding the minotaur’s gaze with a flamboyant movement. It was a move that could not be mimicked by a normal Aura user.
“Kill him, like you’d kill a goblin,” Kaiyan thought with determination, gripping the sword with a strong, slightly trembling hand.
Taking a deep, calming breath to overcome his fear, he leaped forward, crouching low. “Go for the legs! Now that he’s facing away, it’s a good time to attack,” he affirmed to himself, transferring the searing heat from his heart to his fingertips and swinging his sword.
Kaiyan swung his sword correctly and succeeded in hitting the creature, but the only wound it sustained was a small scratch on its skin. The skin of his first large monster was too tough and hard.
The minotaur mocked Kaiyan to see as if his attack tickled, then continued to target Uncle Jeff. As if he didn’t care about Kaiyan.
“You need to stab a little faster and harder,” Uncle Jeff shouted, sensing Kaiyan’s frustration.
Anger welled up inside Kaiyan at the thought of being ignored by a monster. “How dare the monsters ignore me. They’ll all die by my hand one day,” he thought.
“Kaiyan, aim for the place I cut!” Uncle Jeff knew what Kaiyan was struggling with, so he shouted and told him how to do it.
“The cut! Got it!”
It was not easy for Kaiyan to land a hit against a moving opponent with his skill, but with the monster’s attention on Uncle Jeff, it was his chance.
‘Stay calm. Concentrate….’ he told himself.
Calmly, he did as his swordsmanship skill instructed him, putting all his weight on his left foot and pulling his sword-holding right arm to the limit.
“…I can do it, Haaa!”
he let out the breath he had been holding and thrust his arm forward as hard as he could.
The sword seemed slow as it shot forward as if Kaiyan was deliberately holding it back.
But he didn’t give up and the sword slashed into the wound, and the feel of his sword cutting into the flesh unprotected by the hard leather was vividly transmitted through his fingertips.
“I see, even a minotaur can’t be hard on the inside!” he thought.
As the creature that had ignored him screamed in pain, Kaiyan’s anger subsided a bit and he relaxed momentarily.
But his relaxation was short-lived as he heard someone yell, “Watch out!!!” The minotaur, enraged by the horrible pain in its leg, swung its fist at Kaiyan.
His shield was raised against the incoming fist, bracing himself for an arm injury. But a deafeningly loud sound was heard and he didn’t feel any pain in his arm, so he gently lowered his shield.
“Huk! It’s strong,”
Kaiyan saw Uncle Max struggling to block the minotaur’s fist with his square shield.
He rushed over and blocked the minotaur’s attack with his square shield instead of Kaiyan. Uncle Max wobbled and coughed, obviously in shock.
“Uncle! Are you okay?” Kaiyan asked in concern.
“Ugh…! If you have time to ask me that, you should do something about that guy, because I can’t really block him twice!” Uncle Max replied.
Kaiyan bowed slightly to Uncle Max before charging at the minotaur again.
The soldiers from the Special Forces, who had arrived late, joined in one by one. Soon, dozens of soldiers swarmed the minotaur, focusing on its wounded leg.
The soldiers armed with swords and spears took advantage of the gap to attack.
The situation was different now than when they were fighting Uncle Jeff.
Several soldiers with shields blocked the Minotaur as they attacked, and most of the soldiers were seasoned soldiers and knew what they had to do.
Only the sight of it convinced Kaiyan that they could kill that ferocious, screaming creature.
“I can kill it,” he thought as a smile that didn’t belong in this situation tugged at the corners of his mouth.