Chapter 177 - Splendid as a Flame (5)

The Paladins of the kingdom, having broken through the pikemen's phalanx, leaped straight off their horses.

And then they began to run wild like madmen.

"Guaaah!"

Screams ran rampant, and severed heads flew through the sky.

"Stop them! Stop the Paladins first!"

"Senior Knights, take the Paladins! The rest will block the other knights!"

The knights of the Empire stepped forward to try and prevent the battle line from collapsing, but it was not enough.

The Paladins of the kingdom were literally crushing the knights of the Empire with overwhelming power.

Distinctions like Double Chain or Triple Chain were meaningless.

Because their inability to block a single strike from the Paladins was all the same.

Unable to watch any longer, the Commander of the Imperial Knights stepped forward.

"You wretches!"

The commander shouted as he gathered all his mana and scattered his sword strikes. He believed that even though he hadn't surpassed the wall, if he faced them with the resolve to die, it would be possible to hold a Paladin back for a brief moment.

But he was mistaken.

His sword was snapped in half in a single blow. The subsequent slash left a long, deep cut across his chest.

"A-As much as they are Paladins, for it to be this much..."

The commander let out a gasp of astonishment, unable to even think of clutching his wound.

And that became the commander's final words.

SLICE.

The Paladin's sword severed the commander's neck.

THUD, ROLL.

The head, wearing a face full of disbelief and astonishment, rolled across the ground.

The Senior Knights who had gathered to help the commander stared blankly at his headless corpse.

"Get out of here first!"

"Join up with another legion and plot for the future!"

The Senior Knights, who had been hesitantly backing away, suddenly shouted and turned to flee.

"R-Retreat!"

"Fall back!"

The knights scattered in all directions at once. The pikemen, who had been desperately maintaining their formation even while being trampled by the kingdom's knights, threw down their spears and began to flee.

However, there was nowhere suitable to run.

The kingdom's knights blocked the way in front, and the flames blocked the way behind.

The Imperial Army, trapped between the flames and the knights unable to advance or retreat, was annihilated by the kingdom's knights.

A similar scene was unfolding inside the encampment.

"The actual troop casualties are not large! Put out the fires first! Doing so will open a path to survival!"

The 91st Legion Commander screamed at the top of his lungs, desperate to somehow quell the extreme chaos.

Perhaps those efforts paid off, as the soldiers who had been rushing about in confusion began to extinguish the flames, centering around the Legion Commander.

But a bolt from the blue struck the Legion Commander just as he finally felt a sense of relief.

"Enemy cavalry is charging toward this location!"

At the report of the pale-faced messenger, the Legion Commander asked as if he were screaming.

"What about the knighthood! Just what on earth are they doing!"

"Our knighthood has been wiped out!"

"What!"

The Legion Commander let out a cry of shock and gaped in horror.

Something was approaching from beyond the still-raging flames. Despite being quite far away, the massive presence constricting his heart made the Legion Commander freeze in place.

CRUNCH.

In the paralyzed Legion Commander's eyes, he saw the flames splitting far away. Every time that happened, a blue flash surged high into the sky.

"I-It's definitely the Paladins of the kingdom!"

The messenger cried out, turning pale.

"Please evacuate immediately!"

The Royal Guards and commanders caused a fuss and pushed the Legion Commander's back.

But there wasn't even time to flee.

WHOOSH!

A sudden wind raged as if a typhoon were blowing.

The flames, which had barely been brought under control, surged again in the fierce wind.

"Guaaah! My arm! My arm!"

"Save me!"

The soldiers fighting the fire were engulfed in flames and screamed. A collapsing barrack caved in completely from the strong wind and crushed the soldiers.

The surroundings turned into a chaotic mess in an instant.

SWOOSH.

And in that moment, a disaster descended from the sky.

CRASH!

The Legion Commander momentarily lost consciousness from the sudden impact.

When he regained his senses, the rampaging flames had been extinguished like a lie.

All that remained were the completely collapsed barracks and heaps of ashes.

The Legion Commander, who was staring blankly at the sight, flinched with a sense of incongruity.

GRRRR.

An uncomfortable noise like scraping iron. A damp breath licked his back.

The Legion Commander forced his creaking neck to turn and look behind him.

Right there, where the burning barracks had been just moments ago, in the spot where the knights and commanders escorting him had been gathered, an enormous wyvern was sitting directly behind him.

Trampling upon crushed corpses, its claws gripping a bunch of shredded chunks of meat.

Grrr.

The wyvern stretched its maw wide.

WHOOSH.

The moment the damp breath touched his face, the Legion Commander simply collapsed.

"Are you the Legion Commander?"

Only after hearing the heavy voice did the Legion Commander realize the presence of the rider mounted on the wyvern's back.

"I asked if you are the Legion Commander."

The muffled voice coming from behind the fully enclosed helmet possessed too much majesty to belong to a mere knight.

The Legion Commander found himself nodding without realizing it.

"I've won this time as well."

As the wyvern's rider muttered softly.

SWOOSH!

A sharp, wind-piercing sound rang out from somewhere.

THWACK.

In that instant, the Legion Commander felt a pain as if his back were being branded by fire.

When he looked down, a sword blade was abruptly jutting out from his chest.

"Keugh."

A moan escaped a beat late. Strength drained from his entire body. The Legion Commander squeezed out his last ounce of strength and turned his head.

A knight wearing golden armor was running toward him.

His vision faded to white, then back to black.

In a world gone entirely pitch-black, only the lion crest engraved on the knight's chest remained like an afterimage.

The Legion Commander closed his eyes. And he never opened them again.

* * *

The King of Dotrin furrowed his brow.

"Isn't this a bit petty when everything is already over?"

Even at the King's voice, which was clearly filled with displeasure, the Prince of Leonberk paid no mind.

He merely retrieved the sword that had pierced the Legion Commander's back and replied nonchalantly.

"What matters is who lands the final blow with the sword. What does it matter who spotted him first?"

"You are shameless, placing your spoon on a finished soup."

"Honestly, Dotrin only lit the fire under the pot. Shouldn't we be considered the ones who stirred the pot and did all the real cooking?"

"If the Warlocks hadn't lit the fire, how could things have gone so easily?"

"Would the results have changed just because you didn't light the fire? Besides, cold soup is naturally easier to drink than hot soup."

The Prince didn't yield a single word.

"Anyway, the 91st Legion Commander's head belongs to our kingdom."

"Well then, since you're dead set on being stubborn, there's no way I can handle this."

The King of Dotrin clicked his tongue and shook his head.

The Imperial commanders, who had luckily survived the wyvern's assault, were watching this display.

They trembled with humiliation but did not dare step forward to interrupt the conversation between the two men.

The encampment had burned down, and the legion had been utterly fragmented. Furthermore, the knighthood that went to defend the perimeter had been wiped out, and the command staff of the legion, including the Legion Commander, had all been killed in action.

It seemed they had judged there was nothing left to gain from fighting any further.

The surviving knights and commanders discarded their swords as if on cue.

"We surrender."

The two men, who had been glaring at each other, turned to look at them.

And then they spoke simultaneously.

"Says who!"

"Pick up your swords again. I will give you the chance to fight honorably to the end."

* * *

The responses came out almost at the same time. The expressions were different, but the meanings behind them were no different.

I glanced at the King of Dotrin.

I couldn't see his face hidden by the helmet, but I could easily tell that his fighting spirit had not yet cooled.

I was the exact same.

"We do not accept surrenders."

At my words, the Imperial commanders stuttered as they replied.

"O-Our forces have already lost the ability to resist. Thus, we will surrender to prevent unnecessary casualties on both sides."

That shameless answer was utterly absurd.

"The Empire is the one who started this war first."

"It does not matter who started it first. We clashed skills on the battlefield, and you all won. Although we have been defeated, we hope to be treated with courtesy as surrendered generals."

I chuckled in disbelief and asked them.

"So because you admitted defeat, you're asking me to at least spare your lives?"

Was my expression too blunt? The Imperial commanders, who had been yapping so well, hesitated and avoided answering.

"Our families back home will pay an appropriate ransom in the future."

The answer they finally brought out after a long while was truly a spectacle.

It wasn't something they said like grasping at straws in their final moments. The Imperial commanders genuinely considered that to be sufficient. They believed it was only natural that they would preserve their lives.

"If my guess is correct, you must be a prince of the Leonberk Kingdom. If you know chivalry and understand nobility, you must recall the pact of blue blood."

"What's that."

"Though we contest our skills, if the opponent surrenders, unconditional safety must be guaranteed for knights and nobles so that noble blood is not shed in vain. This is an unspoken agreement between all the families that exist on the continent."

Because I was so flabbergasted, I played along for a bit, and the Imperial commanders prattled on self-importantly.

Eventually, I burst into laughter.

War isn't some child's play.

It was absolutely laughable how these jackals, who had lunged at us to trample another's country and land, sought to save their own lives like flipping a palm the moment the situation turned against them.

I laughed and snickered, then asked the King of Dotrin.

"What do you think?"

"The meaning of the war I know and the war they know are far too different."

The King of Dotrin, sitting on the wyvern's back, looked down at the Imperial commanders.

"In our Dotrin, the loser follows the victor's treatment. Even if that happens to be a miserable death."

"Well, what a coincidence."

At the King's words, I nodded my head exaggeratedly as if I had just heard an incredible fact.

"Since our kingdom is like that too."

When I rolled my eyes to look at the Imperial knights, seeing them sputtering with pale faces was beyond hilarious.

"If you do things that way, when the war ends, there won't be a single person among your country's nobles and knights who retains their life!"

"You state the obvious."

There was no longer any value in listening to them.

"We stepped forward with the resolve to lose everything if we couldn't protect it. We came here with the intention to die if we couldn't win."

The war they knew and the war I knew were different.

There could be no safe place in this war, and once you stepped onto the battlefield, death would come equally to everyone.

"That is the war I know, and the war of the small nation your Empire sought to trample."

I told them while raising my sword.

"If, by some stroke of luck, any of you survive, go and tell the mighty Imperial Army this."

I kicked a sword that was rolling around at my feet.

"That the kingdom has bet everything on this war, so the Empire must naturally do the same."

The Imperial commander, seeing the sword fall right in front of him, looked conflicted about whether to pick it back up or stand his ground as he was.

I decided to personally relieve him of that dilemma.

THUD.

I kicked off the ground and leaped right into the middle of the Imperial commanders.

Those whose heads were severed spewed blood. The knights, realizing the situation belatedly, screamed and picked their swords back up.

The Imperial personnel who held their swords, yet showed not even a speck of fighting spirit.

The blood spurting from their bodies soaked my own.

"You lunatic prince! You'll definitely regret this!"

"Die! You War Maniac!"

"Your nation will be trampled by the Empire's legions and not even a foundation stone will remain!"

Listening to their spite-filled curses and profanities, I merely roared with laughter.

After swinging my sword while laughing like that for a long time, only corpses filled the surroundings before I knew it.

"Why, is there a problem?"

I asked because he was staring blankly at me, and the King of Dotrin shook his head.

* * *

The battle was over.

The Imperial Army couldn't even escape the encampment engulfed in flames and was annihilated by the kingdom's knights and soldiers who surrounded them on all sides.

Those who refused to step outside the encampment until the end either burned to death or were trampled to death by the Wyvern Riders.

There was not a single survivor.

Our forces faithfully executed my order to leave no survivors under any circumstances, and after the flames died down, they scoured the encampment and cleaned up every last one of those who were hiding.

"Good work."

When I told the knights who gathered by my side after finishing the cleanup that they did good work, they replied apathetically.

"Since those Imperial bastards were originally such weaklings, there wasn't even anything to call 'work'."

"My body only halfway loosened up, so I feel rather stiff."

At the one-eyed cavalry captain's words, the knights chimed in agreement one after another.

Not surprisingly, the kingdom's knights, forged through battles with ferocious Orcs, genuinely seemed disappointed by the Imperial Army's frailty.

"To think these weak-ass bastards went around puffing out their chests as if they were the rulers of the world. It's ridiculous."

"If we had known it would be like this, we should have fought them ages ago."

At the belligerent words of the knights, whose battle excitement had yet to subside, I shook my head.

"The Empire is vast, and its knights and soldiers are overwhelmingly numerous. They won't all be the same, so if there are weak ones, there will be strong ones too. Therefore, do not grow arrogant so soon. The war has only just begun. We have only defeated a mere few of the Empire's countless armies."

At my words, the knights quickly straightened their posture and shut their mouths.

"We apologize. We were short-sighted."

The one-eyed cavalry captain bowed his head and asked for my forgiveness.

Only after seeing that did I realize I had acted too strictly.

However, I didn't bother belatedly giving them back the things they should enjoy as victors.

Because, just as I had said, the war had only just begun.

Enjoying our rights as victors wouldn't be too late even after we completely broke the vanguard of the Imperial Army advancing toward the kingdom.

"Your Highness."

One of Dotrin's Wyvern Riders, who had left the battlefield to search for new targets before the battle was even completely over, appeared before me and informed me of the enemy's presence.

"Three Imperial legions are marching north three days away from here."

A report that did not suit the Wyvern Rider's operational guidelines, which prioritized targeting legions moving alone to minimize casualties as much as possible.

That meant this new enemy was worth taking such a risk.

Sure enough, it was exactly as expected.

The Wyvern Rider informed me that they had confirmed the flag of the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Army for the Leonberk Kingdom front within the moving enemy formations.

"What will you do?"

The Wyvern Rider asked for my opinion, adding that they could look for another target depending on the intentions of our kingdom's army.

"Deliver a message to the monarch of Dotrin."

I answered without hesitation.

"That the head of the Commander-in-Chief will be more than enough to decide the outcome of our bet."

At my words, our forces' momentum, which had temporarily slackened, rose up as sharply as a blade once more.