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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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While trying to calmly assess the situation and calm Cheryl’s rage, who rarely showed her emotions intensely, I realized their chances of winning were not even worth considering.
Cheryl was from Ogatorf.
With the skill level she demonstrated by killing those she encountered on the way, unless ten enemies attacked her perfectly in unison or she was unable to use her aura, he could confidently claim that with each swing of her sword, their necks would be severed.
The top graduate of the Royal Academy did not attain that rank through simple games.
Even if it was a game, the mere fact that she could render them incapacitated was an unbiased truth devoid of any prejudice.
“Although the full truth has not been revealed yet, what has been uncovered is enough to warrant immediate execution.”
Moreover, she was not a makeshift knight like the other noble sprout.
To his eyes, she might have seemed quite young, but she was already a warrior prepared to kill at any moment.
With just her alone, she could slaughter all the enemies gathered in the ruins, not to mention those scattered in the forest.
On top of that, if Eldmia Egga, who had undergone outrageous training since childhood to kill the Demon King’s commanders, joined her, it would be a death sentence for those lowly adventurers who had only aimed for easy prey.
With nearly perfect coordination born of deep resentment, they had reached that level of ability.
“So let’s stop with the trivial worries and just kill them all,” he said coldly while ruffling Cheryl’s hair.
Cheryl nodded in agreement, instantly calming down.
From the beginning, they had come thinking the enemies were mere thieves.
Simply killing them all and tossing their leader Pavera’s head would be enough of an accomplishment.
Anything else could be dealt with by involving the Guild.
There was no need to lose composure over the deplorable actions that would make even a devil cry.
Understanding this, the now calm Cheryl, or rather, Danmuji, opened her mouth.
“Shall we kill the ones in the forest first?”
“Leave them for later. I’ve already killed about nine, including the archers I encountered on my way in. If we combine the ones you killed, we’ve practically decimated the command structure already. It’s not too late to deal with them. In fact, if there were messengers among those we killed, the command may have already noticed something amiss.”
As always, striking the head first makes the rest easier.
“We’ll charge in, kill the commanders first, and then start the rest of our plan. Follow closely.”
Eldmia declared with utter calm and without hesitation.
In this situation, he did not feel any sense of mortal danger, maintaining the same composure as their morning sparring session.
And this was not misplaced confidence stemming from overestimating his abilities or underestimating the enemy.
‘Nine.’
The number he mentioned so nonchalantly almost made Cheryl’s expression change, but she managed to control herself.
The soldiers initially encountered at the forest’s edge were indeed not difficult.
The archers were so stunned by the sudden situation that they couldn’t even draw their swords, and the others around, though reactive, were inconsequential.
However, the trio she encountered deeper inside were different.
Although she had restrained her aura, considering the prolonged battle, apart from the one she killed by surprise, the remaining two had superior reflexes and judgment.
Against the last one, she had to parry three strikes before finally slaying him.
Even at the Academy, there were only a handful of people who could deflect a surprise attack like that.
Yet the enemy had such skilled individuals as mere scouts, indicating their considerable strength.
“That sword looks quite clean, despite everything?”
“I took their weapons and threw them to kill them on the way. You should remember this too. What we hold in our hands is ultimately just a sharp blade. If you forget that and let your guard down for a moment, you’ll end up dead. When the situation is uncertain, it’s best to keep your own weapon in top condition.”
She vaguely recalled hearing that advice before, from a renowned sword dancer her father had briefly brought in when she was young.
But she had never imagined it would be applied in such a way.
“Well, it doesn’t matter for now, unless we later acquire some incredible flaming sword, or legendary blade that doesn’t care about blood or grime.”
With a smile that seemed out of place for the situation, Eldmia ruffled her hair again.
That patronizing smile and tone, like an elder brother advising his much younger sibling, was utterly infuriating.
Come to think of it, he had been like this since their first meeting.
Looking back now, despite being overwhelmed by someone her age who had been called a prodigy since childhood.
Without ever showing off, or saying there was no need for two suns.
Yet always refraining from retaliating when struck, instead spouting insults, Eldmia had remained consistent for over a year.
Apart from his refined strength and swordsmanship, it seemed Eldmia as a person had been fully formed long ago, always standing above her.
Occasionally displaying behaviors that wavered between flippant and solemn, he nevertheless consistently imparted teachings to her, as if reciting lessons learned from someone else.
Even the Academy’s professors showed flashes of jealousy when praising her genius, yet how could someone who’s not even a prodigy stand before her with a magnanimity and affection that surpassed even her senior instructors?
“Hey, worry about it later. Let’s go. I’ve got your back.”
There was no chance the answer to the question she had pondered for a year would suddenly appear.
So, as always, she kicked Eldmia’s shin and said, “You’re infuriating.”
“Ah, this tiny thing has nothing better to do than kick me.”
Taking her light grumbling as a signal, he dashed forward.
Despite anticipating and gathering her aura, she momentarily fell behind his burst of acceleration.
Fearing he might soon outpace her completely, she pushed herself to keep up, rapidly closing the distance until the enemies’ faces became clear at the edge of the thicket.
The wind whipped past with a force that could slice off an ear, but as they neared the thicket’s end, Eldmia would undoubtedly accelerate once more.
Employing maneuvers even skilled aura knights struggled to master as if they were natural, he would slice through the fastest reacting enemy in one strike before passing them by, trusting that she would follow behind.
-Kyaaack!
As expected, Eldmia’s sword arced gracefully from a distance strikingly similar to her estimation, cleanly severing the throat of the soldier who had reacted to the sound and was about to shout, passing through him.
The sluggish enemy, even after witnessing that scene, still could not comprehend what had occurred.
“Shit!”
“Adventurers! The scouts have been breached!”
“Emergency! Bi-iiik?!”
Immediately following, slashing the abdomen of the still dazed soldier and continuing to run, Eldmia had already cut down two more enemies in his chosen path.
Despite their heightened senses from tension and aura, they could barely track his blazing speed as he seemed to glide between them, unfailingly shouting out:
“I am!”
How infuriating those words had been when he first uttered them with the same attitude as her.
“That bastard is using aura-aack!”
“Kuhuk!”
His sword lashed out again, felling two who attempted to block his path before they could even react.
One was clearly out of the sword’s range by about a span, yet somehow deeply cut, clutching his severed carotid artery as he collapsed.
Eldmia would not miss the numerous gazes reacting to his shout, converging as if awaiting orders, or trying to protect someone.
“Eldmia!”
Provoked by his audacious demeanor, by the realization that she had met an equal for the first time, she had lashed out violently to conceal her pounding heart.
In hindsight, she should have struck harder.
Had she known he would turn out to be such an infuriating lone vanguard, even that would have been insufficient.
“Shit, stop him! Stop him!”
“Who the hell is that bastard!”
What seemed like careless, sweeping motions cleanly sliced through the wrists and necks of soldiers charging at him in a single strike.
The elegant sword trail, beautiful enough to make even the spraying bloodstreams appear artistic, almost seemed to illuminate the path she needed to follow behind him.
She cut down any enemies he missed, whose attention was drawn to him.
However, she could not match the precision with which his blade struck vital points with each swing.
“Egga!”
How much time must an ordinary person have spent training to reach such a level? It was different from simply enhancing one’s body with aura.
After all, skill was something that, no matter how strong, could only be etched into the body through rigorous training.
That’s why she could tell.
The trajectories resulted from Eldmia, in his youth before properly learning the sword, repeatedly practicing the simple motion of ‘swinging’ from various angles.
If only to perfect that basic act which was not even true swordsmanship – those trajectories were precisely what allowed his sword to move as it did.
The fact that such graceful movements could only be achieved through an arduously long time committed solely to that rudimentary practice, from a period before he could call himself a true swordsman, was something she could not fail to recognize as one raised to inherit a knightly lineage.
“Why is he an aura user?!”
“Since you’ve acted so recklessly, regret it as you face death, you bastard!!”
“Uu, uwaaahh!”
Although his occasional unsophisticated remarks and inexplicable boasting tended to grate on her nerves, the sight of him running wild with proper swordsmanship made his movements seem like a dance.
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