Chapter 137
"Form defensive line for all troops! Hold the line!"
Roger Bifrost quickly regained his composure, shouting out orders despite his once-trump card move being thwarted by a ridiculous tactic.
"Mages, assemble!"
He then pulled a staff shimmering with a mysterious blue glow from his cloak and rapidly began to draw up mana.
The mana spreading out from the staff wrapped around the gathered wind mages beside Roger, instantly forming one enormous spell.
Whoom.
A massive gust of wind wrapped in faint light engulfed the Bifrost formation.
Tat-tat-tat-tat.
Quarrels fired by Mclane's crossbow cavalry bounced off the lightly lifted wooden shields of the footmen, and the sky-filling Liberatio spells were sucked into the whirlwind, exploding in the air.
Boom. Whoom. Boom-boom-boom!
The rattled crossbow cavalry hesitated to approach their enemy, while the number of Liberatio raining down visibly diminished.
"Is that even possible?"
A handful of wizards conjuring a protective shield that could wrap around a large division of troops was astonishing.
Clayton looked incredulously at the man who had just managed an even more implausible feat but soon cleared his throat to provide the answer he desired.
"…It might be possible for a wizard. But if it's that wide, it won't last long. It's an overtly crude and inefficient defensive spell for a wizard to cast."
"And what about what we’re seeing now?"
"That staff must be a formidable artifact. Yet no matter how it is, they're overextending themselves. It definitely won't last long. Even if they pour their lifespans into it, it'll last, at most, an hour or two."
Logan's expression lightened with Clayton's assertive words.
While others may not notice, Roger Bifrost’s face within Logan's view looked as if he was on the verge of collapse.
But there remained one question.
"They’re not moving their knights and are only relying on that barrier for defense... Are they not counterattacking? It's like they’re merely threatening with a few arrows to keep us at bay."
"They're trying to buy time. Sir Clayton, are you certain about the hour or two?"
Paderic, who had been preparing to charge, suddenly joined in the discussion.
"Yes, Your Lordship."
"Would it be an overconcern to suspect something that the enemy relies on is ready within those two hours?"
"No, it seems plausible. Otherwise, a fifth-circle wizard would not push himself so hard."
It would be foolish to think he would be that negligent.
Without the need for further contemplation, Paderic concluded Clayton's remarks.
"What will you do, Logan?"
"What else is there to do? There’s only one option available.”
With a confident smile, Logan turned back.
"All knights, prepare to charge! I shall lead the front. Crush them head-on!"
"Yes!"
Despite Mclane's proud weaponry all being blocked, the morale of Mclane's knights surging after witnessing Logan's miracle remained high.
If a weapon doesn't work, find a way to make it work.
"If the strange magic blocks outside attacks, then explode it from the inside."
Instead of golems, knights holding Liberatio shoved two or three into their breastplates.
"Advance!"
Whoom.
Mana of a sickly green hue bestowed by Clayton wrapped around the knights led by Logan, and the Mclane knights began to charge head-on.
Thud-thud-thud-thud.
Logan felt his blood boil as he saw the enemy knights from the opposing formation center reacting to their charge.
Even with defense as a priority, they can't simply stand and take the charge of knights.
"Charge!"
As expected, the enemy knights sprang forward with a familiar voice.
I appreciate them accommodating me.
"Throw!!"
With Logan's command, like the enemy before, Mclane’s knights hurled blood-stained bombs.
Strong-armed force users hurled the bombs toward the unprotected Bifrost knights who had ventured beyond their protective shield.
However.
"Not so fast!"
Two knights leading the enemies.
A force blade like a white whip whirled a brilliant light before them, and a nearly five-meter-tall force blade of red assisted it.
Bang!
Although a few knights lagged behind, the majority of the Bifrost knights continued charging undamaged.
Seeing this, Logan sported a cruel smile.
'So it won't be that easy, huh?'
Since his return, Logan had prioritized efficiency and effectiveness.
Whenever possible, surprise the enemy; if not, devastate with overwhelming weaponry before charging.
This formula had always proven successful in earning victories for Mclane. Deep down, Logan did harbor some dissatisfaction, though.
At this moment, facing a long-standing feud with a foe whose grudge had gone beyond redemption, Logan felt an irrational rage brew deep within, a fervor to crush his enemy fairly and squarely.
And on this occasion, he had no intention of refusing this rage.
He had the power to justify his actions, given the inescapable circumstances.
'Dominate with the first strike, make it impactful!'
Whoom.
The force core seated in his heart, as the force gushing from the nucleus encountered the second, third, and fourth cores, revolved around it, amplifying exponentially.
The mana that had begun in his boots stimulated every nerve in his body, accelerating him.
The mana that originated in the gauntlet gripped in his strength-enhanced forearm muscles.
Simultaneously, the amplified mana began to pour into his beloved sword, Lux.
Whoom.
With a single swing of his unsheathed sword, he could create a force blade extending over three meters.
A weapon unique to the top-tier knights that made lances obsolete in a charging attack.
But Logan didn't stop there.
Following the ultimate secret, the force twisted and amplified on a fixed trajectory forged an immensely powerful and dangerous weapon.
And then.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.
As all knights came close enough to read each other's faces.
"Wipe them out!"
A colossal golden sword spanning two meters wide and over twenty meters long bisected the forefront of the Bifrost knights from the side.
Snap.
The golden giant's sword cut across the battlefield, its sight staggering even for those nearby, eradicating the battlefield's frenzy for a moment.
The two top-tier enemy knights at the very front managed to leap into the sky and avoid the blade, but they were the only ones capable of such a feat.
"Aaargh!"
The following twenty-odd knights were sliced into halves or pieces, screaming within the death circle carved by the enormous golden light.
Hee-hee-heeing!
The subsequent Bifrost knights stumbled in a cascade of spilled blood, tumbling to the ground.
In an instant, the formation crumbled.
On the flip side, the buoyant Mclane knights penetrated the gaps.
Bang!
“Aaargh!”
With a thunderous collision, the clash of knights of roughly equal numbers resulted in the unilateral sacrifice of one side.
"No, no way?!"
Roger Bifrost's face turned pale as he watched from the command post.
The sixth-circle wind magic, a Wide Multiple Barrier constructed by the artifact and assistant wizards, began to falter. The endlessly fired bolts of the crossbow cavalry breached the opening and poured into Bifrost's camp.
"Aaargh!"
“Your Excellency!”
"Ugh!"
By the time Bifrost regained control at the center of the barrier, over a hundred of his soldiers lay dead.
Roger Bifrost chewed his lips to shreds as if making a decision.
"Kill that bastard!"
The commanders of the Bifrost knights, Aslan and Plantz, were also aware of the crumbling formation.
But the Bifrost twinswords had no time to look elsewhere.
"Let's die together!"
"Preposterous, you fools!"
They ignored the attack on their lord by five upper-class knights, each missing limbs or bearing fatal wounds.
They just swarmed one man, considerably younger than themselves, concentrating all their nerve to slash relentlessly with their swords.
"Die!"
Plantz's silver force blade, like a white whip, curled around Logan, while Aslan, gritting his teeth in silence, stabbed his bizarrely gleaming red blade towards Logan's heart.
'Hmph!'
As Logan leaped into the air to dodge the assault, the two shared a cold smile, planning to dice up Logan's floating body.
Scratch. Snap.
But no matter how frantically the white and red force blades slashed through the air, there was no trace of the expected blood spray.
Before they could register the unexpected event, a blood spurt erupted from somewhere entirely different.
Fwoosh.
Suddenly behind Plantz, a golden force blade emerged, piercing through his chest.
A deceivingly fast combination of wind god boots and ghost shadow footwork brought about the incredulous outcome.
"It's about time we ended this show. Farewell."
Slash!
Amid the riotous battlefield, the neck of a man soared high in a brief halt amid the most formidable.
Aslan had been aware of his foe's tactics from their previous encounter at Tomodo Castle.
A monster with abilities unfitting for his level.
Still, Aslan had assumed that even in the worst-case scenario, he could easily counter with Plantz by his side.
But the moment they faced the swirling golden pillar, instinct forced them skyward, sensing he was entirely different than before.
His chilled heart ominously intuited disaster, but there were no alternatives in this scenario.
And unfortunately, that ominous intuition manifested far faster and worse than anticipated.
Slash!
"Plantz!"
In the instant Aslan witnessed his old friend's demise, rage blinded him.
Injecting power into an artifact sword, Mobilitas, a tier below the stolen Velocitatas, he accelerated to the maximum his body allowed.
Simultaneously, a red force blade strained to bursting from his sword's tip, thundering out like lightning.
His secret technique, Red Lightning, born from his fallen comrade's inspiration, hoped to honor his soul.
Fzzzt!
But the wish vanished, splitting the vain emptiness.
And then.
Snap.
"Your movements are too broad."
The scorn-laced voice reached his ears as a scorching shock with burning pain erupted from his side.
Golden light flashed before his eyes again.
"Ah…!"
His excitement soared to terror at death's grasp; behind him, an unleashed storm saved his life.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
“Tsk!”
Caught off-guard and exhilarated, Logan had missed finishing them both off.
The oncoming storm of wind blades was too vicious to ignore and continue his strike.
Though puzzled, Logan swung his sword within a maelstrom of formless blades.
"Aaargh!"
Painful screams came from the enemy's midst.
'Huh?'
Against his better judgment, his head turned involuntarily to look.
Collapsed enemies overwhelmed by bolts of heavy fire and a formerly vast barrier reduced to barely envelop Roger Bifrost and his mages.
'Crazy! To dismiss your soldiers and focus on me alone?'
Golden blades lunged toward him in a chilling moment.
'Ugh!'
Scratch.
The force blade grazed sharply across his side.
Aslan's hideously distorted face disappeared into the tempest maelstrom in a blink of an eye.
Ah. Kab. Da.
Logan cringed at the silent message of Aslan’s mouthing.
'Sure. I’ll accommodate.'
It was favorable to welcome the opposition's desperate moves.
Logan’s blade grew more radiant with intensifying golden light.