“What’s going on?!”
Thick *ka-woosh* smoke covered the gates of the castle.
Gawain, panting heavily, shouted.
But surprisingly, the atmosphere at the gates was eerily calm.
“Oh, Vice Commander. The situation has already been resolved.”
Two subhumans were kneeling.
“Hey, you little punks! Where’s your buddy? Spill it out now!”
“······.”
It seemed those two were the ones carrying out the sabotage.
Gawain confirmed that the gates were still intact.
Seeing the dark spot not far from the gates, that must be the epicenter.
If they had allowed a little more approach, they could’ve made a hole in the gates.
And if there was enough explosion to do that, it meant they learned a fair bit of magic…
“Were those the only two?”
“Yes. Even now, we’re reinforcing the search at the back and side gates, but there’s absolutely nothing…”
“How about the fortress?”
“The Commander in Chief and the Holy Knights are holding the line.”
“Then—”
What if their attempt to blow up the gates was a diversion?
What if they were sacrificing the two mages without a care because they had a ton of forces moving elsewhere?
Gawain felt a sudden chill run down his spine.
*Boom*—!!
At that moment, flames shot up into the sky, exploding and spreading red light.
Red was the color of crisis.
And the direction was unmistakably towards the magician’s residence.
Gawain quickly raised his sword high.
The red light pouring from the sky reflected off his sword, scattering golden light in all directions.
“All support forces except the defense units, follow me!”
Instantly, Gawain leaped towards the magician’s residence.
It would take about a minute to get there.
Judging by the signal magic that had been cast, it was clear that the barrier had already been broken.
Could Gawayn’s daughter hold out alone for a minute?
No matter how elite a knight she was, facing dozens of enemies rushing in from all directions would be impossible.
“Waaaah!!!”
As ominous thoughts nagged at him, Gawain let out a powerful shout.
The knights followed suit, shouting as they charged alongside him.
He desperately hoped the enemies would hear this sound and be filled with fear.
…
“Minister! The barrier has been broken!”
“Does that mean they’ve successfully infiltrated?”
“Yes. All 40 assassins have fully infiltrated the hotel.”
“······.”
It was ecstasy.
The emotions that crept up inside Lorraine upon hearing that news.
But getting too caught up in that would be dangerous.
Any intensified emotion would usually cloud a person’s judgment.
Calming herself down, Lorraine maintained her composure.
‘Got them. The two mages.’
Thinking calmly and rationally, the expected outcome was positive.
Gathering the subhumans who still remained loyal to the Southern Republic, led by those who could reach the guards of the 4th castle.
Brave subhumans capable of carrying out a suicidal sabotage mission right in the heart of enemy territory.
The result was quite impressive: ten former assassins and thirty regular soldiers assembled.
There was no way to gather them all at once beforehand.
If they did, they’d be immediately detected by the suppression army.
Each received orders and moved separately to collect information on every building of the 4th castle, eventually finding the most suspicious location.
An abandoned hotel.
Having witnessed imperial students coming and going there, there was no reason to hesitate.
Neither the gates nor the fortress were appealing targets at all.
If they succeeded, the living tactical weapon of the suppression army would have to become the targets.
And if the assassins, known as mage hunters, infiltrated there, it was practically guaranteed success.
“I can launch the siege starting tomorrow.”
Once the mages were taken out, the only advantage the suppression army had would be the powerful knights.
Of course, even the fierce cavalry charges of knights would be useless against sturdy fortifications.
Slowly but steadily, they would advance the barricades and surround the enemy.
They wouldn’t have to worry about long-range magic attacks anymore.
There was a minor issue of retaking the 4th castle, but with this, they were back in the game.
“Minister! Emergency situation!”
At that moment, mage mercenaries barged in through the doors.
If they ignored the entire reporting system and rushed in, it must not be a trivial emergency.
Just when Lorraine felt she was getting nothing but good news…
She instinctively sensed it was about time for some ominous news to arrive.
“What’s happening?!”
“Schlus Hainkel… Schlus Hainkel has appeared!”
“What? From the Great Forest?”
“Yes. They succeeded in surrounding and attacking him, but…”
“Ugh… Hahaha!”
Lorraine couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Even though she needed to maintain her composure, the tension suddenly eased, and she couldn’t hold it in.
She expected a crisis, but this turned out to be good news once again.
How could they eliminate the annoying Schlus Hainkel alongside the mage forces?
Even if all reinforcements from the Great Forest fled, the suppression army would still be severely impacted.
It was starting to look like the end was in sight.
They would drive the suppression army off this land and achieve independence.
As she thought about preparing to face the imperial army, it was at that moment.
“B-but there’s a problem.”
“Hehe… What is it?”
“They’re requesting reinforcements from the Great Forest.”
“What?!”
Reinforcements?
She thought she must have misheard and doubted her ears.
Surely, they deployed twenty knights and over three hundred elite subhuman soldiers to the Great Forest.
Moreover, she had heard they successfully surrounded the area.
But now they were asking for reinforcements?
“Reinforcements? How many do they need?!”
“I’m not sure. They keep repeating that they need reinforcements…”
“That can’t be! Is the communication definitely correct?!”
“I-I’m sure. Even when I sent messages to report the situation, they just kept asking for reinforcements…”
“······.”
Lorraine’s expression frozen.
At first, she suspected communication issues.
Then, interruptions by the suppression army’s communications.
But knowing both of those were highly unlikely, Lorraine recalled a third possibility.
If all three hundred deployed to the Great Forest had become engulfed in fear.
If they were unable to communicate properly due to panic.
“No way…!”
They had specifically sent in elite soldiers, so there was no way.
Though she wanted to deny it multiple times, no other possibility came to mind.
If it turned out the elite soldiers had indeed fallen into panic, there would be no time to send reinforcements.
“I’ll send reinforcements to the communication dispatch point.”
“How many will we send?”
“Every available soldier except for the cavalry.”
“······!”
Even the most absurd possibility was confirmed.
Schlus Hainkel had to be killed, no matter what.
*
She had never faced so many enemies before.
The most she dealt with was a handful of punks during midterms.
At that time, they were just clowns who could barely handle a pocket knife, effectively incapable of fighting.
And now, she was facing elite soldiers who had risked their lives, rising up for freedom, and combatting the suppression army for months.
The odds seemed grim.
No matter how much she simulated in her mind, she could only picture herself slicing down ten of them and then getting overwhelmed and butchered in an instant.
But why was that?
“Who am I?”
Why was she so overflowing with confidence?
Why was she not afraid at all?
Why did those guys look so weak to her?
“It’s over. You little mutts.”
She pulled out her second sword with her left hand.
Holding the massive longsword with both hands.
She had chosen the twin sword technique.
An unfinished swordsmanship that hadn’t found proper application while clashing with Trie and Pelaine.
The only reason for selecting this garbage was the element of surprise.
They must have fought countless knights who fought conventionally.
But had they ever seen a knight wielding twin swords?
They would most likely be flustered, not knowing how to counter it.
And if the light they abhorred, Bafe, was added to that surprise, what would happen?
Would that be enough to counter this ridiculously unfavorable situation?
Who knows? She would find out soon enough.
“W-where did you come from?!”
*Crack!!*
First one down.
Rushing towards a stunned one, she swung Bafe, and blood erupted from its neck like a fountain.
There was hardly any resistance.
It felt like slicing through a piece of paper.
“Uh…! Uhh…!”
“Surround her! Damn it!”
The effect of the surprise attack wore off in an instant.
As if realizing she was a threat, the enemies began to move in unison to surround her.
She realized that the intimidation from Bafe wouldn’t make them soil their pants and cave in.
Still, fear was visibly present on their faces.
There was more fear than will or hatred evident.
That meant it was definitely possible.
“I’m coming in!!”
Before they could complete their encirclement, she launched her attack.
She dodged the strike from the trembling one and severed its arm.
“Kaaah!!!”
Next, she beheaded another with her steel sword.
Only then did it finally fall silent.
“They’re trying to escape! Block them!”
“······.”
Interpreting her attempt to break through the encirclement, the enemies swiftly charged to block her path.
Sorry, but they were half right and half wrong.
It was true she aimed to break through the encirclement, but she didn’t intend to escape.
Her goal was to render all of them combat ineffective and dismantle the encirclement.
“Gahhh!”
“Ugh!”
“Block her! Reinforce immediately! More!”
The battle exploded into chaos.
Each step forward drew two more rushing at her, and for each one she cut down, three more replaced them.
*Slower!*
The movement of these guys was painfully sluggish.
Even accounting for how fast Trie and Pelaine were, it was slow.
Was it because of this emerald light?
In any case, thanks to that, taking them down wasn’t difficult.
They truly had no idea how to counter twin swords.
There was no immunity at all against successive attacks coming from the same direction after a single strike.
Such patterns were never seen in regular swordsmanship, so it made sense.
*Slice! Slash!*
No one lasted more than twice against her blades.
With her combat power tipping the scales in her favor, the numerical advantage no longer mattered.
As more and more came at her, there was no blind spot within the area covered by her twin swords.
With each slash, soon the angry cries of the subhumans disappeared into the forest.
“Argh! Haaa! My arm! My arrmmm!”
“H-Help! Run away! Run awayyy!”
Only those frantically fleeing or crawling along the ground with one or two missing limbs remained.
Surrounded by the splattered blood and the bodies lying askew, she felt her mind go blank.
Had she really killed so many in just a few minutes?
Raising her arms revealed they were trembling wildly.
It wasn’t from fear or tension.
Her muscles had reached their limit.
‘Is this too easy…?’
Ridiculously, that was the thought that crossed her mind immediately after the fight.
It had been way too easy.
She had not expected to face a struggle to come out unscathed, but all her views had proven to be wrong.
The enemy was far weaker than she had anticipated.
No, it was more like she had grown stronger.
While she was pondering this absurd thought, a voice echoed from a distance through the mana.
“What are you guys?! Why are you running away?!”
“Monster! We can’t fight that! We have to run!”
“What are you talking about? The reinforcements have arrived, so you can relax!”
When she relaxed her right fist, Bafe swiftly absorbed the dark surrounding her, bringing back a pitch-black gloom.
Reinforcements had arrived?
Right! This couldn’t end here.
Just as she was about to finally grasp how to use the twin sword technique…
She got down into the shadow again, observing the distant scene.
She watched the enemies light their torches and head this way.
It was utterly ridiculous how unaware they were of the future that awaited them.
