My Villains Episode 178
42. Bridle (10)
The remains of the gate and barrier.
A long, shallow trench dug in two layers.
The north wind pushing the sand dust.
A swarm of arrows cutting through the blue sky.
Soldiers using shiny swords...
It was the scene of a battlefield.
Count Tristan’s spearmen were armed with chain mail and helmets, holding spears over 2 meters long, and hanging small targes from their left forearms.
“Left foot! left foot! Left foot, right foot, left foot!”
They followed the command and moved forward with great strides. When someone was hit by an arrow and fell to the ground, someone else took his place.
On the other hand, Longville’s men lined up inside the trench lines were poorly armed compared to their opponents.
A wide helmet and short spear in cloth armor reinforced with brass gongs or cowhide. Their outfits were not much different from those of the soldiers in other rural areas, but they all had large shields.
“Don’t stick your head out-!”
At the shout of a sergeant, Longville’s men lowered their heads and pressed their shoulders against their shields.
About half of them were carrying large federal plaques, a favorite of mercenaries, and the rest were hiding behind a large door that they had removed from somewhere. They made the shield a wall and the trench a moat.
Behind the defense line, buildings such as barns and inns were huddled together, and dozens of archers fired arrows from hiding under low stone walls or tiled roofs.
When the two armies were close enough, Multingham’s army began to charge.
“Return-!”
“Lord who shines!”
Not to be outdone by this, Longville’s army also shouted.
“Light, watch over me!”
“Down-lose!”
The men in Longville’s line threw pots at the enemies who sang their god. The soft pots made of baked earth broke when they hit the soldiers’ helmets or armor or the poor ground.
The soldiers of Multingham’s army were stunned by the contents splattered from the broken jars.
“This”
“Oil! Oil!”
Torches and flaming arrows flew at them, as if they had been waiting impatiently for them to explode in astonishment. Even the black, sticky liquid that Mr. Multingham was covered with was instantly ignited.
“Hot hot! Aww!”
“Gwangmyeong-”
“Damn it, step back!”
“No room to retreat! Keep charging!”
As the lead was engulfed in flames, Multingham’s spearmen roared in confusion.
“Ughhh!”
The burning soldiers rolled on the ground and screamed, but the fire did not go out. The oil, mixed with bituminous sugar and sawdust, exploded and engulfed the victims.
Cheeik!
The flames gushed out in all directions, and the momentum was not unusually bloody. It was the power of the so-called ‘flaming oil’, which was created by Master Castrite.
Not to be outdone by this, a white pillar of light rose from Multingham County. The pillar of light, as thick as a log, was shot down in an instant and struck Longville.
There was a roar as if a giant had been clubbed.
At the same time as two pieces of wooden doors were used as shields, three or four soldiers in line soared into the air without screaming. As if that wasn’t enough, the pillar of light, or the ‘Spear of Power’, even destroyed the barn behind the defense line.
Rurr-
sand dust rose again.
Pillars of light were fired one after another, punching holes in the ranks of Longville’s army.
‘...Certainly powerful, but.’ The commander of Multingham’s army, Angus, watched this scene from the ruins of the gate and smiled bitterly.
‘It would be difficult to handle the Count’s anger if he was hit by a blind arrow.’
His gaze turned to the side.
There, four wizards were chanting spells while being escorted by elite soldiers. Among the saboteurs, they were relatively young people who had been brought here at Doil’s insistence.
Even for young people, Count Tristan’s efforts to nurture them and their wealth were truly enormous. So, the sight of those noble saboteurs preparing spells right in front of the battlefield was unfamiliar to even a middle-aged commander who had spent decades as a soldier.
Angus watched with half delight and half anxiety as the saboteurs crumbled the defenses of their enemies with each blast of their spells. Then, suddenly, he frowned.
“......Uhm.”
What he found was a knight who jumped out from between the defense lines with a blue cape flying.
“Come on! Prince Ulkar’s second knight, Langbold Earlshore, is here!”
Langboldt, also known as ‘The Greatest Knight in the East’ or ‘The Shouting Wave’, swept through Muultingham’s spearmen in an uninhabited field.
He was holding a dagger with a long crossbar and a longsword with a narrow blade in both hands. His flexible waist, confident chest, light feet, and quick hand movements were impressive.
“shit. Did the true iron knight survive?”
The explosion that destroyed the gateway must have consumed quite a few troops, but in the midst of that, the man seemed to have been lucky to survive. Unlucky...
Angus thought so and ordered the adjutant standing next to him.
“Tell the knights it’s time. hurry!”
“yes! I will also prepare a combat team.”
“okay. If the knights complain, just ignore them.”
“yep!”
Not long after his order was given, a group of troops surrounded Langboldt.
“Turn off-”
“Hmm.”
After pulling a dagger from a soldier’s neck, Langboldt gathered two knives in his right hand and touched the tip of his mustache with his left.
Wiping the blood from the tip of his mustache with his gloved fingertips, Langboldt scanned the siege net.
Five knights in massive full helms and ‘coats of plate’ wore mask-shaped steel helmets and twenty heavy soldiers in scale armor, holding white shields.
“They must be the geese of Multingham.”
The sergeant must have gathered about six or seven like that. The sergeant led his troops and ran to the place where Ellen was. It was their mission to protect the only wizard on their side.
Ellen, who glanced at the sergeant who said that she was here to protect herself, asked Cole, who was pulling a protest.
“Is that Atilia?”
“yes. It looks like you broke down the gate with the secret technique you’ve seen before.”
“Where is that bitch?”
To Ellen, whose eyes were shining bright blue, Cole gave a brief explanation of the war situation.
“...Mr. Utequai, freed from the curse, tried to finish off Atilia, but failed due to the arrival of the enemy.”
“Where is Utequai now?”
“The injury was so bad that I put it in the back. With the help of Mr. Munch, I was able to pull it back.”
“Where is the bundle?”
“I do not know. When I noticed it, it was gone.”
Cole let go of his string, shot and killed an enemy soldier who was approaching behind Langvolt, and then asked Ellen.
“By the way, where is Phoenix-sama?”
Instead of answering, she quickly started casting spells.
The words, which seemed to be as few as six or as many as ten, scattered in the air and became wind, wrapping around Ellen. He summoned the ‘spirit of dance’.
Ellen made gentle circles with her off-white wand and pointed towards the half-slanted wooden fence. Following her command, the light green wind blew away with a whirling, light sound.
In the place where the dancing spirit was heading with her skirt waving, Phoenix was running with all her might, breathing short.
“Whoop hoo-”
He had no helmet, only a javelin in his armor.
The Enig family’s magic armor ‘Lupus’ worn by Phoenix was struck by lightning the other day, so its gray fur was completely scorched black. Thanks to that, he got along very well with him with black hair and black eyes.
Even wearing heavy chain armor with iron pieces, Phoenix ran as if he were bare-body. Then, at the end of the slanted wooden fence, he kicked the wooden floor with all his might and jumped up.
Crackle!
In the aftermath of that violent run-up, the half-slanted wooden fence collapsed.
Thanks to this, Phoenix was flying through the sky like a bird. He had flown nearly five or six meters before he began to draw a parabola toward the ground.
And at that moment, Phoenix twisted his back in the air and threw a javelin.
Wedge liquid! The javelin, which tore through the air and flew about 40 meters, pierced its target without a chance to use its hands.
“Kuhhh”
The man who was about to cast a spell among the four young saboteurs coughed up blood and looked down at his body. Because the javelin completely penetrated the pit of the stomach, all he could see was the spearhead a couple of spans wide.
The other saboteurs looked up in amazement at the spot where the spear had come from. Then he opened his mouth until his chin fell out.
Boooung-
The spirit of dance embraced Phoenix. Feeling the heavy wind, he shrank and then opened wide.
Phoenix glides quickly as if it had blown its wings. After tens of meters, he landed in front of the saboteurs and the soldiers protecting them.
“This crazy-”
A heavily armed shield soldier gritted his teeth and pulled out a pulse.
Phoenix rolled off the ground in an instant and got up. Then, in one motion, he pulled out Hrunting, cut off the pulse, and stabbed the shield soldier in the neck.
“Kureu,”
the blood that had filled up in his throat gushed out of his mouth through his breath, then was sucked back into his throat. The milky blade pulsated violently and drew blood.
The shield soldier fell forward and before he could bury his nose on the floor, the red-coated blade cut two more soldiers.
Angus, the commander, belatedly discovered the sight and let out a scream instead of a scream.
“Stop that bastard!”
At his command, the reserve forces moved quickly, but Hrunting moved several times faster than he did.
One soldier’s face was crushed by a furmal, another was blinded by blood, and a soldier’s back was broken by a kick.
Some soldiers were stabbed in the heart, some had their chests split, and some had their entrails poured out.
Usually, of course, the throat was cut. Like tentacled witches, creeping dragons, robber barons, giant trolls, and legendary soul shamans.
The saboteurs were quite calm even in front of Phoenix, who had defeated twenty soldiers in an instant. As befits battle mages, the three memorized spells appropriate to the situation.
The first to step forward shot the ‘Spear of Power’. A huge pillar of light rushed in as fast as an arrow.
However, because it was Phoenix, who had been fed up with arrows for a long time, he responded very skillfully to the attack. He just shrugged his shoulders and avoided it.
As Phoenix, who avoided the spear of power, rushed fiercely, a second saboteur came out. He was holding a long wooden staff, and he slammed the ground with the tip of the staff.
Phoenix slammed toward the ground as soon as the second saboteur lifted his staff. As soon as he fell flat on the floor, boom! There was the sound of air bursting, and shockwaves spread in all directions.
The faces of the saboteurs turned pale as Phoenix, who had avoided the ‘Repel’ spell, stood up shaking his head.
“Come on Obrem!”
The other two men hurried the last mate. By the time Phoenix, whose body was stained with the soldiers’ blood, attacked them, the third and last spell was completed.
jjoong-!
With a sound like a gong being struck, something obscure blocked the path of the saboteurs. It was a ‘barrier of power’, a transparent shield that could not be discovered if you weren’t paying attention.
However, as if Phoenix had no intention of attacking head-on from the beginning, he kicked off the ground and jumped up.
As it had done on the wooden fence before, the ground was hollowed out by the violent run. However, unlike before, when he jumped almost horizontally, this time he jumped almost vertically.
” 100 million’?”
The wizard who opened the shield of power made a shrieking sound, but Phoenix was already jumping over him. No, to be precise, I was leaping over him and stabbing him deeply with a knife. At that moment
,
the bloody blade that dug into the hat pierced the heart with its long tongue.
“Oh Obrem!”
“Damn it-”
As the saboteur holding the wand died, the other two’ faces turned pale.
Soon after, two blue heads soared into the sky.
“Huh-”
Phoenix, who killed twenty-six people in an instant, calmly took a breath and looked around. There was a red aura in his black eyes.
The soldiers rushing at him stopped abruptly.
W ......
And there was stillness.