The Imperial Army’s Magic Commander.
The head of the current Royal Wizard Order, Geist, clicked his tongue as he observed the battlefield.
“I didn’t think he’d be this much of a hassle.”
It had already been 4 hours since they confirmed Eliya’s magic was neutralized and initiated their attack. The Imperial Army had not been able to close the distance.
The sun was now setting.
With darkness falling, advancing was becoming more difficult, and the enemy was now able to rampage freely.
‘Was it Judas…?’
Eliya’s escort knight.
He was single-handedly wreaking havoc among the ranks of the Imperial Army.
Blocking their advancement and constantly severing the supply lines from the rear.
Riding that damn Moon Deer made following him a perilous task.
Even if Geist tried to respond with teleportation, it wasn’t easy. Every time he appeared, Judas swiftly fled.
It was also inconvenient for Geist to be absent for long just to catch one Judas.
Geist was tasked with overseeing the entire mansion from the air, giving commands and relaying information. He needed to intercept the enemies defending the mansion with powerful long-range magic so the Imperial Army could infiltrate quickly.
But leaving Judas unchecked meant that, no matter how hard they tried, the Imperial Army couldn’t advance due to him.
Ultimately, it was all hindered because of that one person, and now four hours had passed.
Effectively, he was dominating this battlefield alone.
‘He wasn’t originally that strong… What happened?’
The Royal side had conducted quite a thorough investigation into Judas. Although he wasn’t someone who often displayed his fighting abilities externally.
Still, he had become immensely stronger, far exceeding the expectations of military advisors and operation officers, including Geist.
Geist had to make a decision.
He would approach the strongest knight of the Imperial Army and propose.
“Captain of the Royal Guards. Let’s set a bait.”
*
-Boom!
A colossal explosion.
It sounded like a star had fallen.
It gathered the attention of all the nearby Imperial Army troops.
Sand and grass erupted furiously from the spot where something landed.
That spot was one of the Imperial Army’s makeshift camps, and what had fallen was a person, not a star.
“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”
“Everyone, create visibility and fall back while keeping distance! Maintain the spacing! Surround them!”
“Notify the nearby troops! That bastard Judas is here!”
The sergeant quickly took command.
Just hours after the gathering, the Imperial Army had suffered several assaults in the same fashion.
The enemy’s strategy was shockingly fresh.
Using the leap of the Moon Deer for aerial assaults.
Jumping high, then crashing down on the target camp like a comet.
Cutting through the enemy amidst the unexpected attack and rising dust, then elegantly fleeing.
However, as the same strategy was repeated, the Imperial Army devised their own countermeasures.
“Everyone, grab shields and stay shoulder to shoulder! Slowly back away while keeping a watchful state until visibility is stable!”
It was a chaos-inducing operation, so as long as they didn’t get caught up in the confusion, they would be fine.
The soldiers braced themselves in tension.
At that moment, it seemed like something ivory-colored could burst through the dust at any second.
They wouldn’t submit to fear.
No matter what, the opponent was just one person.
It was impossible to defeat a multitude under systematic command.
They would break through.
That’s what they thought.
At that moment.
-Crack!
With the sound of armor tearing, someone fell.
“There! Over there!”
A soldier shouted urgently, and just afterwards, he spotted the golden-eyed figure approaching him.
From the darkness, the enemy surged with an afterimage.
By the time he reached for his sword to respond, it was already too late; his head had fallen.
The torch fell along with his head.
The tent caught fire, and soon the entire camp was ablaze.
Judas moved through the burning encampment, eliminating enemies without a second thought.
There were no distractions in his mind.
His subdued rage was calm yet sharp, obsessive and relentless.
‘Locate the enemy, approach, eliminate. Locate the enemy, approach, eliminate…’
*
Judas slashed at his opponents and then slashed again.
He moved purely by instinct.
If he saw an enemy, he charged.
If he thought he would win, he fought; if he thought he would lose, he fled.
And when he spotted another enemy, he fought again.
He had repeated that for 4 hours without rest.
Thoughts of anything else had no place in his mind.
The sheer overload of thoughts caused his brain to abandon complex reasoning.
He cast aside rationality for the sticky instinct driving him.
The instinct to kill the enemy.
A primal desire for destruction. Anger. Frustration.
His entire body was drenched in fatigue.
The unpleasant smell seeped into his brain.
He paid no heed.
He wasn’t particularly intoxicated with killing and fighting.
With indifferent eyes, he carried it out like a machine.
Like a nutcracker cracking nuts.
Just killing enemies, slicing them down.
The clever Moon Deer, Yuel, noticed the changes in his emotions.
After battles, when he would move and rub his head, appearing cute, that was the only time Judas reacted emotionally.
He merely smiled bitterly and petted her.
“I’m fine.”
He said so with an expression and voice that were anything but fine.
And when it was time to fight again, he would recklessly dive into the flames like a moth.
Yuel nervously watched him and had no choice but to follow.
“Shall we rest a bit?”
When Judas suggested it, Yuel declined.
He was overflowing with energy.
She was just worried he might die acting like that.
“Thank you for following me.”
He would only say that to Yuel.
Soon, Judas’s expression darkened.
While seeking the next enemy, he noticed a large force marching.
A march that included numerous Royal Knights and Royal Guards.
It seemed like the enemy was gathering their elite troops for a one-point breakthrough.
Judas didn’t think deeply.
They were the enemy, gathering the most dangerous individuals.
So he would fight.
He mounted Yuel.
Words were unnecessary.
It was a routine they had repeated many times.
Yuel instinctively obeyed his command.
Just as he had received magic from Yuel through her horns, now he could also give her magic in return.
The perfected lunar magic allowed Yuel to wield incredible power.
With his pumped muscles, he soared with all his might.
As the sun set and the moon rose in the dim sky, the deer galloped through.
At the moment he reached his peak, Judas leaped.
His target was the forefront of the largest enemy force.
He pulled his sword back.
The moment he hit the ground, he intended to cleave at least one more person.
The moon’s pupil glowed ivory.
His descending figure looked like a falling moon.
Falling faster and faster.
The wind roared fiercely in his ears.
The ground came rushing up in an instant.
When the enemy noticed him, it was already too late.
-Thud!
He crashed down, crushing a commander underfoot.
Dust billowed up.
He quickly scanned the surroundings.
The field of visibility was obscured.
He mentally mapped the positions and numbers of the enemies he had seen from above.
At the forefront were the Royal Guards.
In the center, the Royal Knights.
Composed solely of combat troops without resupply units.
The response was likely conventional.
They would encircle from a distance….
“…!”
At that moment, the survival expert sent out a warning.
Attacks rained down from all directions.
Judas reacted on instinct.
He jumped high from his spot.
Around ten swords stabbed into the ground where he had just been standing.
The crossing blades resembled flowers.
But, as if anticipating his dodge, they froze, not piercing him.
Still floating in the air.
Omnipresent attacks rained down once more.
From amidst the thick dust, a platinum knight swooped in.
The Royal Guards.
Judas had a gut feeling he had walked into a trap, but he didn’t care.
Even if he knew it was a trap, he would have charged in anyway.
If he couldn’t stop it or dodge it.
He would break through head-on.
He transferred the sword to one hand and swung it over his opposite shoulder.
Positioning for a wide cut.
The spears of the Royal Guards approached.
A total of six.
This technique covered an area of about 300 degrees in front.
The one from behind was unavoidable.
He would leave it to fate.
As the spear’s blade approached close enough to see, he swung wide with his sword.
An ivory light formed a thin arc.
For a moment, it seemed like the new moon rose at that spot before disappearing.
Clang!
The five spears that simultaneously met his sword all let out sounds at once.
Judas safely landed on the ground.
For some reason, the rear was unscathed.
Looking back, he saw Yuel had rammed into the Royal Guards.
Yuel and the Royal Guards tumbled on the ground.
When the Royal Guards attempted to stab Yuel with their spears, Judas was quicker.
He threw a throwing knife, hitting the exposed armpit, and swiftly rushed in to slice the throat.
He patted Yuel’s backside to send her away again.
“…!”
There was no time to catch his breath.
The Royal Guards and Knights surged in unison.
Barely avoiding and parrying.
It was a performance close to acrobatics.
A tightrope walk where a slight misstep could lead to destruction.
With each choice he made, his life was at stake, yet he didn’t hesitate to counterattack.
It was as if he didn’t care if he died.
“Cough….”
One knight whose neck he severed collapsed.
“Gaaah—!”
A knight with a pierced eye screamed.
“Grrk….”
A knight knocked out by a hit to the chin from a shield fainted.
The Captain of the Royal Guards watched that scene and sincerely admired it.
“Impressive.”
Geist sneered from the side.
“Is it the time to praise the enemy?”
“Since I have a personality that recognizes truly remarkable skill. I’m perplexed as to why such a person has yet to make a name for himself.”
“That’s because the mage he serves is a greater monster than I am.”
It was a correct statement.
If Eliya were in her right mind, there wouldn’t be any reason to fight so fiercely.
In an instant, everyone would have turned to ashes.
“Though the likelihood is low, we must kill that monster before it regains its senses and seize the Sun Symbol.”
“I know.”
The Captain of the Royal Guards drew his massive zweihander.
“You’re starting to tire.”
Judas had been fighting non-stop since the war began.
Of course, he was human too, and his stamina had limits.
His movements visibly slowed.
Red lines appeared on his face.
Shallow cuts.
Arms, shoulders, thighs.
He was getting nicked and pierced little by little.
The Captain of the Royal Guards slowly approached that spot.
Geist also directed the members of the Royal Wizard Order.
“All units prepare magic. He’s a quick one, so pace yourselves and strike when the time is right. Do not use magic that obstructs our allies’ visibility.”
Geist looked down at the black amulet.
He had signaled a small number of those hidden near the mansion to report if they spot the Sun Symbol, but it remained quiet.
Initially, Geist had intended to infiltrate the mansion himself, but he had been blocked by Judas.
If he didn’t get in the way, the losses on his side would be severe, yet if he interfered, he was wasting his time.
So much time had been wasted just because of one person.
“If we kill that single bastard, we can push straight through. Hurry up and deal with him. His Majesty is waiting.”
The many wizards prepared their magic in unison, and the Captain of the Royal Guards led the elite Royal Guards toward Judas.
It was time to end it soon.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
