Chapter 281: How to Protect What Is Precious (5)

One hundred people were riding through the Tuka Plains, Sefira’s territory. This was Sefira’s assault unit, composed of seventy Holy Knights and thirty Galaxy Knights. Their movements were swift. This was unusual, given that archers were typically poor at running fast due to the bows and arrows they must always carry.

Yet these knights were wearing nothing but wolf-hide garments, making them look almost like a pack of wolves.

Leading the ninety-nine knights at the very front, Pekda of the Seven Stars of the North suddenly sensed something. He raised his hand, and the assault unit instantly cut their running speed in half.

“I hear hoofbeats. Judging from the vibration in the ground, around three hundred. They intend to use a cavalry unit to block our advance.”

No one replied. Just before departure, Pekda had given a single order.

“Whatever I say, you are only to listen. Do not speak.”

Following that command, the knights ran in silence while Pekda began speaking to himself.

“The enemy infantry is moving to our rear to cut off our retreat. But we won’t be retreating. We’ll break through the cavalry in front.”

Again, Pekda lifted his hand, half-folded. Their speed dropped further, now no faster than a man sprinting at full strength.

His next commands followed in quick succession. He extended his thumb and forefinger, which was a signal for them to draw their bows. All knights reached for the rods fixed at their waists, and in the blink of an eye, the rods unfolded into bows.

This was Volkanus’ ambitious creation—the portable bow—making its first appearance in battle. Next came the signal to draw arrows. The knights retrieved compact arrows from special quivers attached to their belts. Each arrow was no larger than a finger, but at the press of a button, the shaft extended outward into a full-sized arrow.

“Holy Knights, ready your Taurus Archery. Galaxy Knights, prepare Yaksha Archery. The next signal I give will be for the Holy Knights. The one after that will be for the Galaxy Knights.”

Taurus Archery, which launched three arrows in a triangular formation, was something every Holy Knight learned. Calmly, they nocked three arrows onto their bowstrings even as they continued to run.

The Galaxy Knights did likewise, preparing their Yaksha Archery, a technique known for its devastating single strike. Just as the assault unit continued their silent charge...

Rumble....!!!

The frozen plains trembled with the thunder of galloping hooves, echoing from all directions as if right before them. The unit tensed, but no one slowed, and no one broke formation. It was because Pekda did not waver, and he issued no new command.

The hoofbeats grew louder. Soon, the cavalry was visible to the naked eye. Just as Pekda had predicted, three hundred riders barrelled toward them at full speed.

“Holy Knights, aim for the enemies’ torsos. Galaxy Knights, aim for their horses.”

Pekda lifted his clenched fist, the signal to ready for release.

Rumble...!!!

Gulp.

The distance rapidly closed—five hundred meters, four hundred, then three hundred. They could now see each other’s faces.

However, Pekda’s unit wasn’t shooting yet. Tension tightened every knight’s chest, and just when the moment was about to snap... Pekda dropped his fist—it was the signal.

Twang twang twang twang!!

Seventy knights released three arrows each. Since they were arranged in a triangular formation, none of the arrows struck an ally’s back. A total of two hundred ten arrows shot out from a distance of two hundred meters.

The charging cavalry showed clear signs of panic. Even with their limited knowledge of archery, they knew one thing: shooting from horseback while running is nearly impossible. And even if someone managed it, the accuracy would be atrocious. As such, they assumed Sefira’s unit would stop before firing. Instead, the arrows came flying while the knights were still running.

Frantically, the cavalry lifted their spears.

“Hup!!”

At the front, Fuan, the commander of the Order of the Black Leopard, let out a battle cry. His steel spear bent like taffy as he deflected the incoming arrows.

Clang clang!

The Black Leopard Knights behind him, despite their shock, also blocked the arrows decently. The arrows that they weren’t able to deflect struck their armor and bounced off or pierced them harmlessly.

“Hah! I-I got nervous for nothing.”

“There’s no power behind these arrows at all.”

The cavalry, who had nearly panicked seeing Sefira fire while running, now mocked them as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, the distance closed to a mere one hundred meters. At that moment, Sefira’s assault unit fired a second attack. This time, it was only thirty arrows.

“Hahaha! Already out of arrows?” Fuan sneered, seeing the drastically reduced number of arrows.

He thrusted his spear forward in provocation.

But Pekda gave another command. “Holy Knights, Yaksha Archery. Galaxy Knights: Taurus Archery.”

The moment he spoke, the arrows from Yaksha Archery reached the cavalry.

Crack! Crunch!

The clash of Bydent’s spears against the incoming arrows and the thuds of arrows striking armor sounded dangerous.

“Wh-what?!”

“Ack!”

Neigh!!!

The cavalry, who had expected the arrows to come for them, were caught off guard when the shots instead flew toward their horses.

Whether by skill or sheer luck, some managed to block the arrows. However, the impact was far heavier than the first attack, so much so that many even lost their grip on their spears.

Even Fuan, the commander, hadn’t expected the arrows to target the horses; he faltered once, but true to his self-proclaimed status as a Grandmaster, he forced himself to parry the arrows regardless.

Bzzzz!

“Ack!”

His spear didn’t slip from his grip, but its shaft trembled violently, leaving him momentarily frozen. It was just for a second, but even a second was enough on the battlefield for countless things to happen.

Another wave of arrows flew in, similar in presence to the earlier Yaksha Archery attack. The cavalry’s vanguard, already struck by the first Yaksha Archery, had been thrown off their horses. With the front line collapsing, the rear ranks toppled like dominoes before they had any chance to react.

Some knights braced themselves, thinking the next arrows would target their horses again, but they were wrong.

Thud! Crack!

The sound of flesh tearing and spears shattering rang out from all directions. This time, the Yaksha Archery arrows were aimed at their torsos, and the slower knights couldn’t react in time.

Of course, the arrows weren’t powerful enough to kill outright since they were fired by low-rank Holy Knights who were only one or two stars, but they caused more than enough searing pain and fear of death.

“Get up and get into position! What are you doing?!”

Fuan, the only unscathed knight, pestered his subordinates. However, Pekda didn’t give the cavalry any chance to regroup.

Ninety more arrows followed in rapid succession, this time from the Galaxy Knights: Taurus Archery. Radiating with aura, the Bydent knights could tell these were on an entirely different level from the Holy Knights’ earlier shots.

While not as destructive as Yaksha Archery, which could shatter boulders, they still possessed enough power to pierce through iron with ease. The Bydent soldiers were overwhelmed; their minds were in chaos. They could no longer tell whether the arrows flying toward them were weak ones or deadly ones.

“Ahhh!!!”

Fuan knew he should give orders and control them, but he was too busy deflecting arrows aimed at him to do so. With no commands, the cavalry fell apart into chaos. Some struck wildly, trying desperately to block arrows. There were those who tried to dodge but were hit in vital spots by faster-than-expected shots. Some of the knights leaped aside, colliding with allies. Overcome with fear, some swung too widely and cut down their own comrades. It was utter pandemonium.

Meanwhile, Sefira continued their charge without slowing. When the two forces were less than ten meters apart...

“Scatter!”

At Pekda’s shout, Sefira’s knights accelerated suddenly, splitting left and right and passing straight through the cavalry formation.

Fuan and the Bydent soldiers gripped their spears tightly, bracing for another attack at any moment, but when Sefira’s assault unit simply ignored them and ran past, they froze in brief confusion.

“Haa... haaah...”

Only when the distance stretched past a hundred meters did someone finally let out a breath of relief. Then everyone collapsed all at once.

“You worthless fools! What do you think you’re doing?!”

Fuan slammed his spear into the ground, livid.

“Get up! We’re pursuing them!”

Despite their disastrous performance against Sefira’s attacks, casualties were surprisingly low—only seventeen dead out of three hundred. But more than a hundred were seriously wounded, and the fallen horses would never rise again. Barely fifty horses remained usable.

The cavalry rose reluctantly under Fuan’s glare, but their faces were filled with resentment and dissatisfaction.

“You! What’s that look for? Are you refusing orders from your commander in the middle of a war?!”

No one answered. Talking back now would only get them punished. But their silence only enraged him further.

“If you’re not on a horse in ten seconds, I’ll consider it insubordination and execute you on the spot! Move!”

His killing intent made the cavalry jolt into motion. However, not everyone could keep their mouths shut.

“Sir, what about the wounded?” cautiously asked a Black Leopard Knight.

“They couldn’t even withstand Sefira’s pathetic arrows, and you think we have time to tend to the wounded?! Leave them! Only the uninjured will follow!”

“What about those who lost their horses?”

“Unbelievable! Must I spell out everything for you? Tell them to run! And if they don’t keep up, they’ll be treated as deserters!”

Fuan gave no thought at all to his men’s condition. He believed he was projecting the charisma of a commander, but the troops only felt their morale sink even further as they began the pursuit of Sefira’s assault unit.

* * *

The Bydent family’s main estate allowed Sefira’s surprise attack with ridiculous ease, and it was swiftly occupied. This wasn’t merely because they failed to anticipate infiltration by archers.

“What do they gain by taking the main estate? What could possibly justify such a reckless move...” muttered one of Bydent’s vassals.

He was captured before he could even flee, and he was in disbelief at Sefira’s gamble. “The only victory conditions in a Family War are the death or surrender of the family head. And Sefira surely knows that Lord Jordic personally marched to the battlefield.”

Occupying the estate offered no real advantage other than humiliating the Bydent family. And since humiliation was indeed felt, one could say that the goal was achieved. Of course, Keter, who devised the operation, wasn’t ignorant of that fact. He sent the infiltration squad because he had another objective.

On the surface, the purpose was to lure the forces surrounding Sefira back toward the main estate, but the true goal was to locate the Moon Rabbit Tribe, one of the Seven Cursed Species that were rumored to be hiding somewhere within Bydent territory. Naturally, this mission of finding them was a secret known only to Katherine.

“The Moon Rabbit Tribe is hiding somewhere in Bydent territory. Pretend you’re searching for treasure and find them, then show them this.”

Katherine turned the note Keter had handed her between her fingers. Though it looked ordinary, it was enchanted. She didn’t know the exact magic, but it was clearly related to security or verification.

“By order of Lord Keter, find anything small and valuable!”

The infiltrators were all Holy Knights, yet they rummaged through the Bydent estate like bandits. They kept invoking Keter’s name as they threatened the people inside. It wasn’t because they disliked Keter—they were doing so because Keter had ordered them to act that way.

“Lord Keter ordered that anyone who resists will have their eyes gauged out. Whoever wants to be blind, step forward!”

To the Bydent vassals taken hostage, Keter was both the person they hated most and the one they feared most, so the threats worked extremely well.

Even so, the Bydent soldiers were nowhere near capable of retaking the main estate. The arrows fired by Sefira’s knights from the rooftop were absurdly fast, accurate, and powerful; every shot they released hit its mark and inflicted serious wounds.

“Where the hell are all these arrows coming from?!”

“Who was the idiot who said they would run out soon?!”

“They must’ve fired over three hundred already!”

Logically, fifty knights should only be able to carry between one hundred fifty to two hundred arrows total. But Sefira’s infiltrators shot arrows as if they had an endless supply. This was also thanks to Volkanus’ masterpiece: the ultra-compact arrows.

They were small in size, but each specialized quiver could hold up to one hundred arrows. This meant that, in theory, fifty knights could carry as many as five thousand arrows, though they had only brought about eight hundred in total due to technical limitations in mass production.

“Do not conserve arrows. Fire them like they’re unlimited.”

“What if we really run out?”

“Mix in some Aura Arrows from time to time and stretch them.”

“Ah, got it.”

Thanks to Keter’s deception tactics, even with over five hundred soldiers, the Bydent forces were helpless against just fifty archers, left only to panic and stamp their feet in frustration.

Meanwhile, Katherine descended alone into the underground levels of the estate. She went straight down to the lowest floor and looked around. No one was there. Just in case someone was hiding, she even tried sensing for mana, but detected nothing.

No trace of the Moon Rabbit Tribe.

Contacting the Moon Rabbit Tribe was a secret mission assigned solely to her. Even other Sefira knights could not know.

Katherine took out Keter’s letter and spoke into the air, “Lord Moon Rabbit, I’m not here to harm you. I’ve come to save you.”

This too was by Keter’s instructions. There was no response, but she continued without faltering.

“If you refuse to appear, we will set fire to every building in Bydent. After taking the estate, we will collapse every underground chamber...”

“That’s quite a vicious threat, my child.”

Katherine flinched, hearing the voice from behind her, but she did not turn around recklessly.

“Are you... Lord Moon Rabbit?”

“My name is Nila, and I’d rather not be called something as ridiculous as ‘Lord Moon Rabbit’.”

“May I turn around?”

“You like asking permission, I see. Go ahead.”

Katherine slowly turned, then lowered her gaze as the voice came from about waist height. But when she saw Nila, Katherine blinked in surprise.

“Humans always react that way. They say I look far too young for my voice.”

Just as Nila said, her voice was that of an elderly woman, yet her appearance was that of a small girl, perhaps nine years old. The only differences from a human child were her soft, fluffy brown fur and the pair of rabbit-like ears standing tall atop her head.

Perhaps because it was winter, her fur was puffed up so endearingly that Katherine unconsciously felt the urge to reach out and pet her.

“Put that hand down. I have no desire to be patted by someone hundreds of years younger.”

“Oh, my apologies. And, this...”

Remembering her mission, Katherine quickly composed herself and held out Keter’s letter. Without touching it, Nila made the note rise into the air and drift into her hand.

How is that possible? I sensed no mana at all...

Katherine, unaware that the Moon Rabbit Tribe possessed innate telekinesis as a bloodline ability, watched Nila with a mix of curiosity and tension.

With just a flick of her hand, Nila broke the wax seal on Keter’s letter, and at that moment...

Bzzz!!!

Lightning burst from the note and engulfed Nila.