I Tried To Be Her Loyal Sword

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224화

“Urk!”

I struck the sorcerer who was summoning monsters first with teleportation magic. He fainted immediately from the direct hit of the aura, which I purposefully limited to avoid killing him.

“……Mir! Fire!”

A woman who seemed to be the leader shouted.

The archers below the cliff aimed their arrows at me all at once.

‘Looks like they don’t intend to face me head-on.’

I quickly scanned the situation.

There were about thirty of them. As they were here for a long-range ambush instead of a close-quarter brawl, there wasn’t a single swordsman among them; they were composed solely of mages and archers.

If they truly wanted to settle this with me, the mages would have made a move to drop me from the air. But the woman only used the archers to keep me in check.

Swish!

The bowstring released, and dozens of sharp arrows flew toward me. I kicked off a mana-based platform and spun my body.

Whack!

The sword created along my trajectory spun like a whirlwind and ground the arrows to bits. As the archers reloaded, I unleashed my mana like a raging flood. With no soldiers around, there was no need to hold back.

Ping!

The sword’s aura wound around me like smoke, and the arrows bounced off.

‘Gotta finish this quickly.’

Whoosh.

I sent the gathered aura from the tip of my heart towards the right mountain.

Boom!

With a deafening sound that seemed to split the sky, a wave of darkness greedily consumed the white snow-capped mountain. The ground trembled, and all those standing on the rocky slope lost their balance and fell.

Thud!

I landed on the chaotic mountainside and looked around.

Swish…….

The gigantic mountain had caved in as smoothly as butter being sliced with a butter knife under my aura. Smoke billowed from the surface.

‘……Did I overdo it?’

I felt a bit flustered. I only intended to shake things lightly to throw them off balance, but that was a bit too much force.

Fortunately, I hadn’t caused any damage down in the valley, but if I had miscalibrated just a little more, the soldiers might have been injured too.

‘At this rate, the sorcerer I hit at the beginning might be dead already.’

I glanced anxiously across to the opposite mountain where the sorcerer lay. He was still alive, but in a state where it wouldn’t be surprising if he died at any moment. I had planned to keep him for interrogation.

‘I need to practice my aura control.’

Since entering the Duke’s Mansion and stopping mercenary work, I had much more time for formal training. Thanks to that, my skills had improved rapidly, but my opportunities to test my increased power in a real situation had been almost nonexistent.

I was still struggling to gauge the true power of my aura compared to before.

“Activate the magic circle! Quickly!”

The woman, presumed to be the leader, hastily got up from where she had fallen. Blood dripped down her forehead, likely from hitting it hard when she fell.

‘So she’s trying to escape.’

I quickly realized why she had only been buying time and not engaging me from the very beginning. She had figured out early on that she wouldn’t be able to handle me and was just stalling to make her escape.

“How ridiculous. You launched the ambush first, and now you won’t face me head-on?”

I deliberately muttered loudly, but everyone carried on as if they hadn’t heard a thing.

It seemed that this level of provocation wasn’t enough to draw them out.

‘Time to take out the head.

If they don’t intend to fight, then I’ll force them to.’

I charged like the wind towards the leader, swinging my sword.

Bang!

“Ugh!”

The woman quickly raised her sword to block my attack. She was pushed back, gritting her teeth and aiming her sword at me.

Clang! Clang!

We exchanged strikes several times. As I effortlessly blocked her attacks while probing her skills, it didn’t take long for me to realize.

‘This woman isn’t a master of swordsmanship.’

Her vague technique and the aura emanating from her indicated it.

This woman was a mage.

“Fireball!”

Boom!

A fireball rained down on me from above, confirming my assessment. I quickly stepped back. The fierce wind whipped my hair and the edge of my cloak, singeing them slightly.

‘A sword mage… This is troublesome.’

I couldn’t let her attack go unanswered while I squinted at her.

Having been a comrade of sword mages for a long time, I knew just how tricky it was to face someone who could wield both magic and a sword simultaneously. The faces of my misfortunes began to swirl around annoyingly in my head.

‘But I know how to handle this.’

Bang!

I unleashed my aura and pressed forward.

I had faced the strongest sword mages before. A sword mage of this level couldn’t threaten me.

Bang! Clang!

With no chance for her to cast magic, the woman began to retreat helplessly under my onslaught. Her blue eyes, faintly revealed under her robe, ignited with malice and fury. The crazed glint inherent to northerners was unmistakably present in her.

Clang!

Finally, when she had completely lost her momentum, I struck her sword aside with all my might. The silver blade spun through the air.

From there, the woman, now weaponless, gritted her teeth. Her face, filled with anger, was looking like that of a thug.

‘The leader should know a lot.’

Killing her would be more beneficial than keeping her alive. It’s not that I couldn’t bring myself to kill, but I received her hostility calmly and aimed to bind her and capture her when an alarming realization struck me.

She had slightly parted her lips and was rolling her tongue.

Thwack!

The woman went down after getting kicked in the stomach. I swiftly pinned her down and, without hesitation, shoved my hand into her mouth.

“Cough, aah!”

“Such a foul mouth.”

With her mouth taped shut, she glared at me fiercely, gnawing at my hand. Her biting resistance stained my hand with blood, but I continued to dig through her mouth.

Before long, my fingertips caught something round.

“This is it.”

I exhaled deeply, pulling my bloodied hand out, revealing a small round pill that held lethal power.

I had witnessed terrifying scenes of this nature in my dreams. Glen, who chewed the pill hidden under his tongue, and the little body that had collapsed as I simply watched.

‘My name is Glen. Don’t forget it. It’s the name of the person you killed.’

The young girl had told me not to forget her name. True to her words, I hadn’t forgotten those two syllables. I couldn’t forget her face tainted with poison, or her blue eyes that were shedding tears.

“Did you think you’d get away with it twice?”

Crunch.

I twisted my lips into a smirk, gripping the pill tightly. It disintegrated into black aura, leaving nothing behind.

Karasho and Glen filled my mind. I had no intentions of increasing the frequency of my nightmares.

“Ahhh!”

“The pain is all yours, I’d say.”

I bound the woman, who was flailing about beneath me, with strands of aura. I hadn’t tied her too tightly, but her constant thrashing pierced her skin with my black aura.

‘Looks like we’re seeing some blood after all.’

I grimaced at the bloody scene and, shaking my head slightly, stood up to deal with the rest of the enemies.

“Now’s the time! Run!”

At that moment, the woman shouted.

‘Ah.’

I realized I had spent too much time with her in our tussle.

It would be nice if I could excuse myself by saying I was simply lacking in skill and needed the time, but I already knew.

I had unconsciously spent too much time trying to subdue her without hurting her too badly. It was a foolish move.

Hastily turning my head, I spotted the remaining northerners standing above the magic circle on the opposite mountain.

“Damn!”

Swish!

I quickly threw a dagger at one of the mages.

“Teleport!”

Boom!

With a panicked voice, bright light erupted and enveloped them.

Thud.

“Ugh!”

And just before their presence vanished, the dagger struck cleanly into the mage’s shoulder.

I breathed heavily. In the place they had occupied, only a few snowflakes danced in the chilly breeze.

“Hahaha!”

As I clutched my spinning head filled with guilt, anger, and emptiness, a raspy laugh echoed behind me.

The woman, with my blood-stained hand in her mouth, was laughing maniacally. Her ashen eyes shone brightly.

“A blizzard is coming.”

“Ha…”

I let out a hollow chuckle.

The only gain I had from this intense battle was this one woman.

After the instigators of the fight disappeared, the situation quickly got under control. Gritting my teeth, I dragged the woman down and cleared out all the remaining monsters from the valley. The soldiers looked like they all needed a break, but it was dangerous to remain in a valley that had already been attacked once.

“We have 13 injuries. No serious injuries or deaths. The soldiers are tired, but since there were no casualties, I think we can consider it a success.”

As soon as we exited the valley and set up camp, Jonathan began treating the injured. I nodded while washing my wounded hands in the stream from my water jug. My body was unscathed, but my mind felt fatigued, heavy with sleep.

“Lead the way.”

“Yes.”

I followed Jonathan toward a secluded tent.

Swish.

Upon entering the tent, there was the leader of the northern raiders, the only one captured.

Still bound by my aura, the woman was sitting in a chair with her head tilted back. A mana suppressor was fixed around her neck, blocking her mana circuits. With a gag in her mouth to prevent her from biting her tongue, soldiers stood guard on either side of her. I brushed my bangs aside and approached her.

“Can you talk?”

Her ashen eyes glared at me. It was a look suggesting she couldn’t possibly speak in her current state. I unbuckled the gag from her mouth.

Sigh.

“Ha, you won’t get any information from me. Just kill me honorably and send my regards to Yorah.”

It seemed we were starting off on the wrong foot. I inwardly groaned, but maintained a cold expression.

“Your name.”

“I told you to just kill me……!”

Bang!

As I slammed the scabbard into the ground, it trembled. I unleashed the aura of my Sword Master without restraint as I fixed my gaze upon her.

“I’d rather resolve this with words if possible. After all, I’ll have to call you by name. What’s your name?”

Ideally, I would like to torture her by slicing off her fingers one by one, but that truly wasn’t my style. I wanted to end this as peacefully as possible.

Trembling in physiological fear while glaring at me with wide eyes, the woman gritted her teeth, clearly unwilling to speak.

“……Hilda. Hilda Vesto.”

“Alright, Vesto.”

I sat down heavily on a chair brought by a soldier.

‘This is a headache.’

I rubbed my throbbing temples. I knew a type of person with eyes like Hilda’s very well.

‘Individuals who obsessively chase only one goal, filled with malice and vengeance—

this kind are never upset if you beat them to death. I knew that without needing to try it out.

‘Should I just kill her? But…… I’d prefer not to kill if possible. I’ve brought back a prisoner; it seems wrong to kill her without gaining anything. Still, I can’t continue carrying her around. Letting her go would look odd.’

I had thought the end of the battle would settle everything, but this issue still loomed. While I was momentarily lost in thought—

Zzzing.

A device started to vibrate in Hilda’s pocket.

“What…… didn’t we search her belongings?”

“……I’m sorry. We were too busy setting up camp, and before we could, Commander, you came in……”

As I slightly frowned, the soldier standing guard lowered his head. I sighed deeply and reached into Hilda’s pocket to pull out the vibrating object.

She flinched, but unlike before, she didn’t struggle. She seemed to have resigned herself somewhat.

‘A communication device?’

I turned the round crystal around. Since I didn’t sense any dangerous energy, it didn’t seem like a crystal bomb. I glanced irritably at the surface of the crystal, which was receiving a call but showed no caller ID, and after a moment of hesitation, I accepted the call.

“Who••••••

—Hello, Shushu.

My expression tightened in an instant.

Crack.

As I gripped it harder, the crystal cracked. I didn’t need any further explanation or introduction; without a doubt, I recognized who was on the other end. Just a single greeting confirmed my suspicions.

“Zigmund Hyde……”

I muttered, a low growl rumbling from my throat. A familiar yet sweet voice danced in my ears.

—Have you been well?

It was my long-standing rival, Zigmund Hyde.