Chapter 238 - Rivalries (3)

The Fifth Corps was in charge of the eight o’clock position and it was being led by Walker, the adjutant of Allen, the Mercenary King. Allen considered him the most capable adjutant and the one he could trust the most.

Walker was a man of few words, but in contrast to his reserved nature, every decision or action he made for Allen was flawless, which was why the Mercenary King relied so much on him.

Stomp, stomp, stomp!

Walker took the lead as he moved with his mounted unit. His assigned position was the farthest away from the barracks, and according to Masila, it was supposed to be safe from arrows and magical bombardments as the Saint had used the Holy Code to protect them.

Thus, Walker thought there was nothing to be afraid of, and that was why he took the mounted unit, his favorite one, to scout the eight o’clock position before the main force.

-Neigh.

Walker stopped his horse once he saw the entrance to the castle. He then looked at the troops on horseback that had followed him and the troops of the Allied Powers lining on top of the castle walls.

“...”

Walker concentrated Aura into his eyes to enhance his eyesight in order to see who was in charge of defending this position, but to his surprise, he couldn’t see any commanders. This caused him to frown in confusion; he thought something was off.

He gestured to his adjutant, Whitson.

“Spear Number One.”

“Roger!”

Whitson was carrying over ten spears, but he only used one of them, as the rest of them were for Walker. Whitson swiftly handed his commander the Spear Number One as though this was standard procedure.

This particular spear was about the size of a man’s forearm, so one could hardly call it a spear. However, as he picked it up, Walked squeezed and twisted both of its ends like a wet rag.

Creak!

As Walker twisted and pulled both ends of the spear, it became as long as his height. Walker then got off his horse and held the spear in a reverse grip with his right hand, pointing it at the castle.

Walker closed one of his eyes to sharpen the vision in the other. Then, he took a deep breath and threw the spear over the castle walls with a short grunt.

The spear cut through the air, its range and velocity increased by the Aura Walker had infused into it.

Hum!

The Aura kept extending on the spear, making it look like a giant blade that was about to split the sky in half. It seemed like the Aura would hit the castle walls before the spear itself, but just as it was about to hit, it was deflected by another Aura fired from somewhere above the walls, changing the trajectory of the spear. The contact had been minimal, but it was more than enough to completely deflect Walker’s spear.

Instead of hitting the castle wall, Spear Number One flew upwards like a raging dragon ascending to the skies, creating an air current and displaying its length to the Allied Powers. Its motion was entirely different from that of arrows.

“Hmm?”

With that, Walker shifted his attention to the man who had deflected his spear. He saw a handsome man who held his longsword, the blade of which seemed rather thin, over his shoulder.

That man was none other than Von.

Von smirked at Walker before commenting on his spear attack, “That was cute.”

After a while, Walker’s spear disappeared in the clouds. The length of the Aura from the spear was so long that it had taken quite a bit of time for it to be completely out of sight.

Von was like Walker; he was also proficient in altering the shape of his Aura.

The two exchanged looks and instinctively recognized each other as opponents.

“Since he showed me what he’s capable of, I guess it’s only right to show him what I’m capable of as well.”

With that, Von immediately raised the long sword from his shoulder. He then went on the edge of the towering castle wall, which startled his adjutants.

"Sir?! What are you going to do?”

“Don't worry. I just want to get back at him.”

“Pardon?”

Von leaped into the air, holding his longsword with a reverse grip and infusing Aura into it. As he took a short breath, his sword unleashed an explosive amount of Aura. A thin yet immensely powerful stem of Aura extended from the sword and quickly reached the ground.

Whoosh!

Von then stomped on the ground and soared into the sky at high speed, just like a hawk. Once the castle beneath him looked no bigger than a fist, he took in the Aura he had released to the ground.

Von was in midair. He extended his sword to the side and released Aura once again.

Hum, Ripple!

Von released Aura at a much faster rate, capturing the attention of everyone below. It soon took the appearance of a band of light similar to the Milky Way, which seemed like it would split apart the sky.

Von lifted the giant Aura sword like an executioner about to chop someone’s head off.

Swoosh!

His sword split the clouds in half, and as it swung downward, the Aura blade expanded even more. It grew so large that it seemed like Von had the actual Milky Way at his fingertips.

“Milky Way Strike!”

Boom!

Without hesitation, Von unleashed his decisive skill upon Walker and his soldiers.

***

‘So it has begun.’

Masila watched the battle unfold from the Holy Spire just as she had envisioned it. Everything was going according to her plan. The five corps had taken their assigned positions without a hitch, doing what they did best.

Masila shifted her gaze to the four o'clock direction, where Allen, her king and the person she trusted the most, was located. He was the man who led the special city of Faesiling, and Masila had unwavering faith in him. She was confident in his skills, especially considering how long he had been reigning as the Mercenary King.

Knowing how cutthroat the mercenary realm was, Masila knew the significance of maintaining rulership for such a long period of time. Because of that, she was convinced that even if everyone else failed, King Allen would succeed in the four o’clock position.

Despite the complete faith she had in King Allen, Masila couldn't shake off her curiosity. She was certain that no matter who King Allen's opponent was, they would stand no chance against him. Thus, she looked at the castle walls in his direction, trying to see who her king was up against.

However, her curiosity transformed into shock when she recognized a familiar face.

“Huh?”

Masila rubbed her eyes, thinking they must’ve deceived her, and looked again, but to her surprise, she confirmed that she had seen the figure clearly the first time.

“Valhald?”

Valhald Gerakan, the former Knight King and the first sword of the first Imperial Ten Swords, was on the castle wall, facing Allen.

“What is Valhald doing here?”

Valhald’s unexpected appearance made Masila dizzy, which was followed by a headache. She had been under the impression that Valhald had resigned from the Imperial Ten Swords and gone to the countryside.

She hadn’t foreseen his appearance in her plan.

“King Allen... is in danger...!”

Masila had so much confidence in Allen’s strength that she even considered Kington, one of the current Imperial Ten Swords, a nobody. However, unlike the shallow Kington, Valhald was different.

Valhald was the real deal.

***

“Is it here?”

Allen moved to the four o'clock position as he led his own soldiers along with the imperial troops and Sun Warriors of the Church of Peace he had been assigned with.

Having seen Irenae, the Saint, block a series of magic bombardments with his own two eyes, Allen was more confident than ever.

‘Even though they’re the Allied Powers, they only have one castle... Just as Masila has said, this shouldn’t be too difficult.’

Allen had gone through a lot of meetings before accepting Arthus’s proposal. When the Eurasian Empire collapsed, a lot of people in his circle asked him about the possibility of making Faesiling into an independent country. But when everyone brought up the idea of declaring independence, Masila firmly opposed it.

There were multiple reasons why she had been opposed to the idea of declaring independence, and Masila had presented many of them in such a logical way that Allen had decided after those meetings to keep Faesiling a special city and help Arthus.

Looking back, Allen believed that listening to Masila had been the right decision. If he hadn’t gone with her idea, he would’ve had to face the imperial troops and Church of Peace as his enemies. In addition, the rewards Arthus had promised them after the conquest was over didn’t sound too bad either.

In fact, those rewards were quite great as Arthus had sworn that he would bestow titles and wealth to him and the ones working alongside him.

Arriving in front of the castle wall, Allen dismounted his horse and set up a siege formation he had used countless times before. He then placed his hand on his sword before he ordered the troops to deploy the siege weapons, such as the ladders.

He then unsheathed his sword, his fingers infused with Aura.

Swoosh!

With Aura in his hand, Allen pulled an extremely long tachi sword from the thin scabbard on his waist.

The name of this magic sword was Vasilipo, and it had played a crucial role in his becoming the Mercenary King. Allen wielded the Vasilipo effortlessly, his expression calm, as if he were wielding an ordinary sword.

His strength was on another level. It normally took five sturdy young men to lift up the Vasilipo.

Allen held the Vasilipo with both hands, leaned forward on one of his feet and bent his waist backward. With that, he effortlessly lifted the Vasilipo over his head.

“Vasilipo, I’m counting on you,” Allen spoke to his blade softly as if it were alive. However, at that moment, the tachi sword actually pulsated as though it had a heart and understood what Allen said.

Thud...

Thud... Thud...

Allen could feel the essence of the mysterious blade through his fingertips. As their hearts beat in unison, he swung the huge tachi sword forward without the slightest hesitation.

WOSH!

The brief and heavy sound traveled across the battlefield, and with that, a slender, blue crescent moon shot forth from Vasilipo.

Allen unleashed a sword strike toward the castle wall, and just about two seconds later, the sword strike froze as it traveled.

Crackle! Crackle!

The water in the atmosphere froze instantly, unable to withstand the frost essence of the attack, but that wasn’t all that happened. The frost blade soon split into multiple bits that left ice trails behind them, which hit and enveloped the entire castle wall with a solid layer of ice.

“Excellent job, Vasilipo. Well done!” Allen complimented the Vasilipo as he wiped his forehead. The tachi sword vibrated a couple of times, as if to express its appreciation for the compliments, then settled down.

It sure was a scene. His sword strike had created a long ice bridge out of thin air and covered the entire castle wall with a tremendous amount of ice. It looked like that specific part of the castle had gone through an ice age.

Allen then pulled out a hammer the size of an adult’s head from behind his waist. He planned to infuse his hammer with Aura and hit the frozen castle wall with it. Doing so would instantly shatter the entire wall along with the ice instantly.

Allen called this Ice Sheet Breaking.

The story behind this was simple. Years prior, Allen had seen a sculptor use a hammer to break the ice sculptures he wasn’t satisfied with. That had inspired Allen to come up with this technique.

Most of his opponents had never seen the light of day again after he had used Ice Sheet Breaking on them.

Allen lifted his hammer, the Burkan, above his head.

Sizzle!

However, much to his surprise, his ice started melting fast.

“What? It’s melting...?”

The ice created by Vasilipo was not ordinary. Allen created it by combining his Aura with the tremendous magic power of his sword, but despite that, the ice was still melting before his eyes.

As the ice melted, Allen felt an intense wave of heat coming from above him, so he looked up to see what produced it.

Above him stood Valhald, the original Knight King, emitting incredible heat without even using his sword.