Chapter Volume 3, 11: Laughing Clown?

Volume 3, Chapter 11: Laughing Clown②

A tall figure clad in full-plate armor, Lambert, was entering Viscount Le Gael’s mansion without a care in the world.

Each of his footsteps left behind a bloody mark.

Naturally, it wasn’t his blood.

It was the blood of Viscount Le Gael’s soldier, who had tried to kill him for trespassing into the mansion.

After entrusting the duty to take care of the poor child to Kreuz, the second in command of the kingdom’s inspection corps, 『Phoenix’s Eyes』, Lambert rushed into Viscount Le Gael’s mansion just as he declared to Kreuz.

Three soldiers stood in his way, pointing their swords toward Lambert.

But the three of them were trembling in fear. Lambert approached with a nonchalant gait, slaying the first soldier and then the second one as if he was taking a stroll.

The soldiers understood instinctively.

They couldn’t stop the berserk swordsman before them.

At first, they laughed at Lambert, who was forcefully trespassing into the mansion.

Viscount Le Gael, with his timid personality, had already considered such possibilities, so after working together with 『Devil’s Piper』, he strengthened the defenses around his mansion and increased the number of soldiers stationed in his mansion.

Storming alone into such a guarded mansion was suicide.

And yet, every soldier who dared to approach Lambert ended up as rust on his greatsword.

「WHO, WHO THE HE*LL IS THIS MONSTER?!」

「YOU TWO! DO SOMETHING TO ATTRACT HIS ATTENTION! I’LL USE THAT OPENING TO KILL HIM!!」

「U-Understood, Captain Sodom!」

When the soldier behind the two shouted, the two in the front lunged toward Lambert.

「Where’s Le Gael? Hand him over to me! Le Gael has betrayed Regios Kingdom, and protecting him means that you present yourself as my enemy.」

Lambert muttered with a plain, dull voice.

「STOP FU*CKING AROUND! WE CROSSED THE POINT OF NO RETURN!」

The man called Sodom, who stood in the back, replied to Lambert.

The two in front were flanking Lambert.

‘No matter how powerful this guy is… there’s no way he can cope with three simultaneous attacks from three sides. I absolutely won’t miss any openi—!’

Slightly behind the two, Sodom trailed his subordinates without taking his eyes off Lambert.

His eyes were wide open, trying to catch every single movement of Lambert.

‘I became the captain of Viscount Le Gael’s soldiers by relying on my superior eyesight. You’re strong, but I’ll show you how the weak fight! You might be able to kill one, but I’m gonna kill you during that opening!’

Sodom tried his best to catch the movement of Lambert’s greatsword, but his target suddenly vanished from his line of sight.

‘Hm, where is he…?’

The moment he thought this, a greatsword flashed right in front of him, stabbing deep into his che*st.

The greatsword cut his flesh, crushing his bones.

‘What, the—’

On the verge of death, Sodom saw that his subordinates had been sliced diagonally along with their shields, and blood was spurting from their cross-sections.

Lambert kept advancing until he arrived at a spacious plaza, a row of soldiers already standing by in there, ready to stop him.

There were about forty of them.

A tall man—though not as tall as Lambert—in the prime of his life was standing in the center of the formation, carrying a huge battleaxe, huffing upon seeing Lambert.

「How surprising. I heard that there was an intruder, to think that he really came alone.」

The man who wielded the battleaxe was the vice-captain of Viscount Le Gael’s soldiers, 『Aldawn of Battleaxe』.

He fought using his tempered, giant battleaxe.

But unlike what his appearance and weapon suggested, his combat style was actually quite refined.

Although he usually used his raw strength to overwhelm his opponent, Aldawn’s combat style was one where he waited for his opponent to make a slip and then delivered a counter that would instantly end the fight.

「Armored swordsman, you might have the support of the citizens, but you made a big, fatal mistake when you raided the viscount’s mansion all by yourself, you know?」

The moment Aldawn finished his speech, all the soldiers around him also began mocking Lambert’s stupidity.

「You seem to be quite skilled, but in the end, you’re just a muscle-brained idiot.」

「Does he really think that he could defeat all of us and break into the mansion?」

「It seems some of our coworkers received violent ends at your hands. We’ll make sure to repay the debt a hundredfold. Or are you expecting that you’ll get an easy death?」

Lambert only spared a glance at the soldiers.

And then, he shifted his attention behind his back.

The soldiers who were secretly following Lambert from behind had finally shown themselves.

「…I don’t know what you people are trying to do by following me in secret, but… to think that it’s for the sake of using your superior numbers to surround me and cut off my escape, huh.」

「Indeed. Unfortunately for you, armored swordsman, you cannot survive with power alone.」

Aldawn informed Lambert with a condescending tone.

He was the one who had come up with the plan to besiege Lambert.

Aldawn’s strength was top-notch amongst his peers, but outside of combat, he also excelled in tactics and strategy.

「You people, don’t hold back. You managed to raise our morale. But playtime is over. We’re going for the kill.」

Aldawn ordered his subordinates.

「Y-Yes, Vice-Captain Aldawn…」

「You mustn’t show any mercy to this guy. Honestly speaking, we should catch and torture him until he reveals his identity, but this man is way too dangerous. KILL HIM WITH EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT!」

Aldawn ordered his subordinates.

Aldawn was a wise and powerful warrior, not one of your typical knights who only cared about pride.

Thus, he didn’t hesitate to concoct a plan to surround Lambert with soldiers to kill the latter for sure.

Even then, Aldawn didn’t dare to cut corners with his tactic. He went all out to prevent any chance for Lambert to survive the siege.

Following Aldawn’s order, all the soldiers charged at once toward Lambert.

Maybe because he guessed that the intruder had already been dealt with, Aldawn turned around, huffing.

「After you kill him, make sure to reveal his identity. Do you hear me? Let’s make an example of his family for the othe—」

But then, his voice was cut off by a thunderous explosion.

The ground broke open, turning upside down due to the terrifying impact.

Numerous soldiers were thrown lightly in the air.

The movement of the soldiers stopped for a moment as they were completely taken aback by the events happening right in front of them.

But they recovered immediately and leapt toward Lambert with the intention to kill the latter as fast as possible.

Lambert’s greatsword moved as if it was alive.

Every single swing of Lambert’s greatsword tore open the floor and sliced the soldiers along with their armor as if cutting tofu.

Every single swing of his sword was like a reaper’s scythe that would kill anyone who dared to approach.

The slain soldiers were thrown back, blood spraying from the cross-sections of their bodies and dying upon landing.

When all of the second team had been slain, the third team couldn’t make their move.

Lambert advanced quietly toward the mansion, passing by Aldawn and the rest of his subordinates, who stood with dumbfounded looks on their faces, yet to recover after seeing the scene of slaughter.