Chapter 131
"Those guys...?"
With shining armor that looked of high quality at a glance and a force of over 200 men, their appearance was striking. However, the scale emblem etched on their chests elicited involuntary sneers from onlookers.
"Mercenary knights? They're at the vanguard? Has the first prince's faction lost its mind?"
No matter how much the great nobles wished to protect themselves, the vanguard was an important position. Even if the Border Barons did not step forward themselves, it was customary for someone from their direct lineage or an individual with a considerable force to take the lead.
In that sense, Kairos was absolutely unqualified.
A knight order formed not by training within the Kairos family but by recruiting free knights and S-rank mercenary force users from across the kingdom or even the empire.
It was an unavoidable choice for the self-made Simon Kairos, but it meant that the mercenary knights, the Golden Knights, had to bear the stigma of being knights "bought with money."
Despite their large numbers, the qualitative issue that even their commander was merely a mid-rank knight was an inherent weakness they couldn't escape.
And now, that commander, Allen, had his expression completely twisted.
- To prove our innocence, our knight order must take the lead.
A statement completely disconnected from the context.
Although absurd to Allen, his lord—or rather, his employer—was not the kind to kindly explain things to his subordinates.
'Standing at the vanguard of the Great Turnabout... I'm no superhero!'
If it weren't for his family remaining in the Kairos territory, he would have fled from this place in an instant.
- Don't worry about the family. I will take lifelong responsibility.
The only thing he could trust was that one statement.
Although magicians from the Ice Tower had cast various support spells on him and his men, they did not seem reliable at all.
Thinking about the object handed to him before advancing by their leader made it seem like they were merely meant to struggle a bit longer before dying.
'Scum.'
Allen, grateful that his helmet hid his expression, waited for the signal to begin battle—the moment of death.
And then.
- Charge!
Puuuuuuuum.
At the loud cry and the sound of the horn, he listlessly lifted his lance.
"Kairos Knights. Charge...!"
He didn't even consider how his voice would carry.
Under similar circumstances, he simply hoped the majority of his comrades would maintain their courage and keep charging. Allen forced himself to muster up his fighting spirit.
'There's no rule saying I MUST die! If only I can make it through and quickly fall back...'
Yet, fate seemed to mock even his modest hopes—the fiery red force at the end of the lances of the opposing vanguard was unmistakably that of high-rank knights.
Despair settled in Allen's eyes within his helmet.
* * * The arrival of the Kairos Knights took Maclain by surprise as well.
"Kairos?!"
"Why...?"
Father and son gaped at each other, but no answers came forth.
And the situation was not so leisurely that they could fathom the incomprehensible reality before them.
"Has Baron Simon Kairos gone mad?"
It was not the artisan, but Baron Simon Kairos himself.
Hearing those words, Logan dismissed any worry he might have held for his father.
And at that moment, the sound of the horn announcing the advance blared.
Puuuuuuuum.
- All forces, advance!
With the distant command to move forward, Maclain's forces headed towards the enemy near the command center of the second prince's faction.
Compared to two weeks earlier, the power arrangement had changed dramatically.
At the center of this, Logan watched as the Kairos Knight Order was completely annihilated, clicking his tongue.
An expected sight to anyone.
But then, what followed was a spectacle no one had anticipated.
Kwooooong!
A mighty blast enveloped the front of the friendly knight order—a frigid tide originating from the fallen vanguard of the Kairos Knights, spreading over a hundred meters radius, not sparing friend or foe.
"Blizzard!"
"A fifth-circle spell cast in succession like that?!"
"Scrolls...!"
Fifth-circle magic scrolls, capable of being produced by a sixth-circle wizard—rare enough to be worth a small fortune as a semi-artifact-grade weapon of war—popped off almost five in a row in plain sight.
"Huh...?!"
Even Logan couldn't help but tense at its power.
The only magician of Grandia, who dedicated his life to crafting strategic weapons.
One such weapon, which had driven the second prince's faction to defeat in the previous Great Battle, had surfaced.
'Blizzard scrolls. Judging by their surprised reactions, this must be their first use. It seems that those weren’t all the scrolls that Juan Douglas had hoarded.'
Fortunately, fifth-circle magic scrolls were not so accommodating.
Without a magician, their power and direction could not be controlled, it was common sense.
Since magicians couldn’t leap forward on the frontlines, the blizzard scrolls could only be used in a self-destructive manner.
'Well, it seems they didn’t know that either.'
Logan clicked his tongue as he watched knights roll within the frozen zone created at the center of the collision.
Within 300 meters radius of the layered region of cold, few knights survived.
Using the 'weak' Kairos Knights as bait, they managed to eradicate three of the knight orders from the Border Baron families at once.
The damage too significant to be ignored.
As the horns sounded, the commanders shouted, pushing the core forces of the second prince's faction to move a bit more swiftly.
"We must move as well."
"Yes."
- Advance!
- Advancing...!
Hearing the shouts around him, Maclain also began advancing.
Logan’s gaze shifted to a man of immense stature, rushing from the central part of their forces at an incredible speed, a figure hard to believe was human.
'Aura user. Half-Giant, Luther Kyle.'
Half-Giant.
A title for the great race who were said to have fought dragons during the mythical era.
The man with that title charged through the battlefield much faster than any horse, exuding an aura as powerful as his namesake.
And before him, a man of much smaller stature—seemingly diminutive in comparison—approached like the wind.
"Now, let's settle this today, big boy!"
"I'll smash you to bits! Horse bones!"
Luther Kyle's giant war hammer, as large as his own body, gleamed with an ominous red light as it lunged at the smaller figure.
'Aura!'
For the first time in his current life, Logan witnessed the power of destruction.
A miraculous power that, if faced with inadequate mastery, would shatter the mind, a power even his teacher never revealed.
The impact of the giant’s intimidating force was palpable even from far behind.
In front of such an overwhelming presence, Wicken Calia quietly drew his slender rapier.
While the vividly flowing white mana indicated it was an out-of-the-ordinary artifact, the threat it faced made it seem dangerously fragile.
However, the moment the Storm Blade, Wicken Calia, swung his beloved sword, one’s thoughts had to change entirely.
Kwakwakwakwakwa.
A white whirlwind, spanning 4-5 meters, emerged, engulfing the charging giant.
And then.
Kwooooong-!!
A tremendous explosion erupted at the center of the battlefield, capturing the attention of everyone present.
Kwakwakwakwa.
Kwoooong!
"That stubborn life of yours, I'll end it here!"
"Speak for yourself!"
Whether due to the distance or a still insufficient level, Logan struggled to keep up with the clash of the two transcendent beings even with his extraordinary senses.
However, observing the combat of two transcendents, each exceptionally specialized in 'physique' and 'attribute,' was enlightening even for passive onlookers.
'If they fight like that, there...'
Reflecting on his past life where he would run without a second glance at the sight of transcendents fighting, this was an incomparable development.
The memories from his past life fueled his focus on their battle.
Unfortunately, indulging in watching the conflict was not a luxury he could afford.
"Logan!"
"Yes, I am aware!"
Logan turned his attention away from the intense central battle at the sound of his father's voice.
The ranks of large forces stretched around the central battlefield, now close enough to read their expressions.
Though filled with regret, he wasn’t just an onlooker.
He and Maclain had to make a significant impression on the second prince and Duke Yordan Valtermine in this battle.
"Victor!"
"Yes!"
At Logan's command, Victor and 1,500 crossbow cavalry were poised and soon dashed ahead of them.
Dududududu.
As was tradition, the knights sprang forward first in both camps.
Victor’s crossbow cavalry aimed their bolts at the charging enemy knights weaving through allied forces.
"As long as we fend off their crossbows, they're nothing special."
The knights at the enemy forefront, Zahid's knight order, all raised their shields in anticipation. The first prince's forces were well-informed about Maclain’s weaponry, and every knight was prepared to counter the mounted troops' attacks.
At that very moment when Zahid's knights unknowingly smiled triumphantly.
"Circle around!"
The crossbow cavalry abruptly changed direction, veering right at a 90-degree angle.
"What, what's that?"
Zahid's commander, Rommel, wanted to pursue them, but another knight order was already targeting them, lances raised.
"Damn!"
They had hoped to crush the Wolves that had decimated their ranks.
A missed opportunity for him, but the encroaching knight order was a more immediate threat than the retreating foes.
Kwooooong!
Rommel aggressively shook the impaled torso off the end of his lance.
A mere knight order from an unknown Baron's household was of no consequence to him in comparison to his actual target.
'We can handle it!'
His only goal now was to quickly dispatch these knights before dealing with their intended targets.
"Charge! Break through the enemy lines!"
With only minor losses, Rommel spurred his proud subordinates, who had crushed an entire knight order, forward to strike a more significant target.
Then, suddenly, a rain of quarrels obstructed his view.
"Fire! Fire! Exploit the break in their formation!"
At Kaisolon's command, Maclain's soldiers fired their crossbows precisely, following the change in the flag's direction.
Many of the soldiers were hardened veterans of bitter battles, including the siege of Tormo City, who knew they could bring down knights, facing the enemy fearlessly.
Around these vets, well-trained soldiers mechanically followed their drillmaster's commands, firing their crossbows.
With their momentum halted, the knight order could only fend off the bolts, lacking any sign of a renewed advance, boosting the soldiers' confidence.
Before long.
Kwoooong!
Explosions within the enemy's knight ranks showed their vulnerabilities as they fell in succession.
The grim-faced sorcerer hurling those explosive weapons from afar was now an immeasurably strong ally.
"Right flank second row! There's a gap! Concentrate your fire!"
Following Kai's orders, a barrage from repeating crossbows targeted the wounded knights, and more of Zahid's knights began to fall.
Then, Maclain's knight order started to move.
Maclain’s forces displayed an unconventional assault formation: they did not follow the traditional method of knights charging with soldiers in support and magicians providing backup.
Victor’s crossbow cavalry, effortlessly bypassing knight formations, precisely targeted enemy 'soldiers' with their bolts.
Meanwhile, the charging enemy knights were halted by 'soldiers,' not knights.
And the sorcerers directly attacked the enemy knights rather than supporting the soldiers.
The actual strongest force, the knight order, hadn't moved at all.
"Don't consider it cowardly; think of it as minimizing our losses."
"Who would think something so stupid?! There's nobody like that here!"
Heinkel's witty response evoked laughter, but the tension remained unbroken.
"We will sever the heads of enemy knights who've been worn down! Who here can't do this simple task?"
"None here!"
"Good! All forces! Charge!"
With Heinkel's cry, Maclain's knights headed for the gaps within the crumbling enemy, charging towards them.