Chapter 192
Chapter 192
“Everyone stay back from me!”
Silence cloaked the surroundings.
With just a few movements, Ghislaine swiftly eliminated the five strongest knights in this place.
No one had imagined the 5-to-1 battle would end this quickly.
The soldiers of Cabaldy retreated, their faces drained of color.
Even the term “monster” felt inadequate.
Who on earth was this powerful individual invading their territory?
After dispatching the Cabaldy knights, Ghislaine gestured forward without uttering a word.
It was as if she deemed speaking a waste of time.
Then, one of the knights from Penris shouted loudly.
“Alright, let’s sweep the rest away!”
In stark contrast to the enemy, the knights of Penris wore expressions brimming with pride.
As soon as Ghislaine’s hand signal dropped, they unleashed their mana and began their assault once more.
“Hahaha! Truly our Lord!”
“Every time I see it, it’s amazing!”
“The best! The absolute best! I’ll follow suit too!”
Empowered by Ghislaine’s performance, the knights of Penris stormed the battlefield like fish back in water.
While the Cabaldy soldiers fought desperately, it was clearly not enough. Despite having deployed the most troops, their defenses crumbled helplessly.
Watching the situation unfold, Jaimon closed his eyes.
‘Is this the end?’
From the beginning, he hadn’t been able to cope with such an enemy.
No matter how sudden the ambush was, it had barely been minutes since the combat started, and they were almost wiped out.
With his abilities, he managed to buy just a few moments, enough to swing his sword a handful of times.
And even he didn’t realize just how impressive that was.
Fortunately, the absence of archers in the Penris army allowed him to stall a little longer outside the castle.
But that was about to come to an end. The infantry wasn’t just standing idly by.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Once the castle walls were completely overtaken, the sound of drums boomed from the Penris army, and the infantry began to move.
It looked like they had ladders prepared as well.
Soon, soldiers outside the castle would climb over the ladders. Given the state of affairs, it was evident the castle gates would open before long.
At that moment, a thunderous roar echoed from afar.
“Waaaaah!”
Realizing the meaning behind the distant cheering, Jaimon opened his eyes wide.
Allies. Allies were on the way. A loud sound like that indicated they were urging him to hold on a little longer.
‘If all goes well, we might push them back again.’
It would inevitably take time for the main forces to scale the castle walls. If the allies arrived before the Penris army, they could eliminate them methodically.
To do that, he had to somehow defend the castle gate from opening.
If the gate opened, and the main forces rushed in all at once, even the allies that came to his aid wouldn’t be able to escape death.
‘If I can hold on just a little longer…’
A brilliant idea flickered through Jaimon’s mind.
In the urgency of the situation, he finally thought of the mechanisms at the gate.
“Castle gate! Destroy all the cranks of the barred door! Don’t let the enemy open it easily!”
The castle gates of Cabaldy were incredibly thick. Inside, the drawbridge and barred gates were constructed with impressive thickness to withstand battering rams.
Being the premier iron ore source in the north, they hadn’t skimped on steel.
To raise this heavy barred gate, four cranks had to be operated simultaneously.
If they broke those, it would no longer be possible to open it through normal means. They would have to destroy it from the inside to open the gate.
Repairing it later would require significant resources, but that was better than surrendering the castle right now.
Bam!
The knight commanding the allies near the gate, upon hearing Jaimon’s command, didn’t hesitate to smash all the crank mechanisms.
And that became his last act.
Snap!
“Tch.”
Ghislaine clicked her tongue, narrowly missing stopping the knight.
Her body was stained red with the blood of enemies.
“Seems their commander is decent. Looks like there was a clever one among them.”
Though she had exchanged blows with the knights a few times, it had all been rather short-lived. She had driven the enemies back at a breakneck pace.
Yet the enemy commander managed to reduce the wall’s defenses and devise a strategy to hold the gate within that brief window.
Typically, those dealt a sudden ambush would flounder about or be too busy fleeing. While an enemy, that quick judgment and decisive action deserved acknowledgment.
“It would take time to simply demolish it.”
The gate itself was also not easily opened.
Once Cabaldy’s forces arrived, even if they opened the gate late, the Penris army would have to engage in a sequential assault.
That way, they wouldn’t be able to capitalize on the advantages of their main forces.
Ghislaine surveyed her surroundings.
The ambush had been successful. There was no damage to her forces, and the enemies were nearly annihilated.
Thanks to deploying only elite troops, their momentary destructive power was unparalleled.
“Hmm, is this the limit?”
But the issue was sustainability.
In that brief moment, the knights had expended nearly all their mana.
They appeared tired, with the light emanating from their swords dimming.
If they pushed things any further in this state, they would surely collapse, bleeding.
They couldn’t fight against the oncoming enemies like this.
Ghislaine looked back at the castle walls.
Though their allies climbed vigorously, the Cabaldy main forces would surely arrive first before everyone got over the walls.
‘It’s too late. We are still insufficient.’
The troops recalled in haste were unavoidably lacking in training.
Of course, even fighting with reinforcements via the walls, they wouldn’t lose. But doing so would surely lead to casualties.
For Ghislaine, conserving maximum power was not a welcome prospect.
The best method was to open the gate quickly, form a lineup, and push forward with overwhelming power.
“Sigh, I’m tired, but there’s no helping it.”
Ghislaine chuckled softly.
Even without opening the gate, victory was already leaning in her favor.
Even if Cabaldy’s forces brought the main troops, they wouldn’t be able to defeat Penris. However, if she had a way to protect the allied troops, she wouldn’t need to take unnecessary risks.
She felt a twinge of regret for the enemy commander, but Ghislaine had already anticipated such scenarios.
Perhaps there could be a more refined and effective approach. But in her view, this was the best method available now.
“Everyone stay back from me.”
Ghislaine cleared the area of knights around her and extended her sword forward.
—
Jaimon, anxiously peering down at the gate, cheered when the Penris army halted its movements.
“Yes! Yes! This is sufficient to hold out until the allies arrive!”
The allies moved faster than Jaimon expected. Truly, the soldiers of Cabaldy were worthy of being called a northern powerhouse.
“Opening the gate won’t be easy.”
Even if the enemies can use mana, they would need to swing their weapons hundreds or thousands of times to break through those thick barred gates.
That was ample time to endure until the allies arrived.
Of course, even if he blocked the gate, they would have to battle again against the enemies scaling the walls, and considering the power disparity, he couldn’t guarantee victory for his allies.
‘The odds of losing are likely higher.’
However, if the chance of victory were to increase even slightly from now, choosing that path is the right decision.
And his role ended there.
“I’m about to die.”
Jaimon muttered with a self-deprecating laugh.
The opportunity to flee was already gone. The Penris army was scaling up both sides of the walls, and their defensive forces had been annihilated.
Even the guard knights had all gone down to secure the gate, leaving Jaimon alone.
If he were to flee, he should have run at the very start when the battle began.
But had he done that, his allies would likely have perished even faster, and the gate could have been demolished.
“This was the best I could do.”
He had done his utmost as a commander. It’s just that the enemy had been far too powerful, exceeding any expectations.
He had to be satisfied with having held them back, even for a moment.
Letting out a sigh, Jaimon drew his sword and turned around.
“Is it my turn now?”
Before him stood an assassin with a black mask concealing their face, draped in robes.
Jaimon asked, his voice resigned.
“May I know your name?”
“…….”
“I would like to know who is killing me.”
“Belinda.”
“It’s an honor to be slain by one of your prowess.”
After a brief moment of contemplation, Belinda spoke.
“You seem like the commander here. How about surrendering and cooperating? You seem capable, maybe I will spare you. Thanks to you, we are a bit behind schedule.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Otherwise, you’ll die here.”
“To fear death is not the way of a knight. I fear only that I cannot serve my lord further.”
With an expression devoid of hesitation, Jaimon thrust his sword forward.
Swish.
Belinda ceased her replies and moved with the shadows.
He thought perhaps she could be useful in stabilizing the castle after conquest, but since she rejected that, it ended there.
Once she made a decision, she never hesitated.
Slash!
With a single motion of Belinda’s hand, blood surged from Jaimon’s arm.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
After that, the relentless attacks forced Jaimon to retreat again and again.
As a knight of a territory and as a military officer, Jaimon’s skills were considerable, but against the now more refined Belinda, he was inadequate.
Clang!
When Jaimon barely blocked Belinda’s dagger again,
Flick.
Her robes fluttered, and from within, several daggers shot out.
Thump!
“Ugh!”
That ended the battle.
With daggers thrust throughout his body, Jaimon knelt, bleeding profusely.
As his dimming eyes blinked several times, he muttered with a fading voice.
“Because of Baron Penris… the north will be engulfed in chaos…”
Those were his last words.
—
In modern times, ‘Master’ is more of a title than a term denoting a particular realm.
There are no clear criteria regarding the realm of being a Master.
Thus, even among those regarded as having reached the same master level, there remains a gap in their skills.
It is merely based on an individual’s accomplishments, renown, and the abilities shown so far that people recognize someone as ‘worthy of being called a Master.’
However, long ago, there were indeed criteria for what constituted a Master’s realm.
Now, nearly no one remembers that.
Vroom.
Ghislaine infused her sword with mana.
As the mana gathered, the sword began to tremble and took on a red hue.
This is what is commonly referred to as the ‘Mana Blade,’ a mark of a knight.
Vroom!
But Ghislaine didn’t stop there; she poured even more mana into it.
The tremors of the sword intensified, and the light became increasingly brilliant.
Nearby knights watched with awe as the light emanating from the sword spread out more and more.
Vroom!
As the light continued to spread, it then reduced in size, but the intensity grew stronger than before.
The compressed mana could no longer withstand the incoming force and sought to burst out in all directions once more.
Yet Ghislaine focused her mind, drawing it back and compressing it again.
The boundless compression of mana’s power.
Now the red light encasing Ghislaine’s sword wasn’t just light.
It was so bright, it made everyone squint and retreat.
Yet, Ghislaine continued to replicate the same action without hesitation. Her expression was as unwavering as a marble statue.
This was not merely a technique that could be used by pouring a lot of mana into it.
Control over strength, enlightenment of reason, and a powerful, resolute will to express one’s realization to the world.
All of these had to align perfectly.
Vrum vrum vrum!
And Ghislaine was someone who had already mastered all of this.
What she lacked was simply the quantity of mana.
Fortunately, at this moment, due to the poison of the Blood Python, her mana had surged drastically, and her body had been trained adequately to withstand this strength.
In that moment of compression, the mana began to transform into another form.
Boom!
The form of light changed. It was no longer that faint glow merely shimmering on the blade.
The knights watching were engulfed in terrifying awe.
“W-What is that!”
“W-What’s with the mana being so long…”
“The light… it seems like it’s blazing.”
The flickering light, which had danced like smoke, suddenly surged forward, extending far beyond the length of the blade.
That light was brighter and hotter than the sun, evoking respect just by looking at it. It was something one couldn’t dare think of touching.
This was the true blade that could cut through anything.
It surpassed the limits of mana, a pinnacle of refined power.
A technique that could only be exhibited through enclosing the laws of the world within one’s will and redefining them.
The Blade of Light, Aura Blade.
The names it was called varied across eras, but the most renowned was this name used in the Ancient Empire.
In the Ancient Empire, only those who could wield the Aura Blade were recognized as Masters.
“Haah…”
Ghislaine, gripping the aura-infused sword with both hands, slowly pulled it back.
As the sword moved, shimmering particles of light began to spread out in earnest.
The beautiful scene, reminiscent of a cluster of stars moving, captivated all the onlookers, leaving them mesmerized as they fixated solely on Ghislaine.
Leaving the entranced crowd behind, Ghislaine took a deep breath and swiftly swung her sword toward the firmly closed castle gate.
Boom!
In an instant, a brilliant light blinded everyone’s eyes.
And as that light disappeared…
Bang!
The completely split castle gate began to crumble slowly.
