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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Shio
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Aella sent Uhtred to spy on us, but gazing into the abyss meant being read in return.
We knew that Aella and Osberht were in a hurry, and we could see that they were like beasts, eager to snatch their prey.
‘You absolutely won’t be able to retreat now. Isn’t that right, Aella? Osberht?’
“Sound the horns! Raise the banners high! We advance! Warriors of Aros!”
[Buuuung- Buuuung-]
[Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!]
Along with the long horn blasts, the sound of fists striking shields in unison filled the air as we walked toward the enemy.
In response, the enemy lines also began to move toward us with great commotion.
‘As expected. I knew it.’
Although Aella and Osberht were in a critical situation with their rear base in danger due to Olaf’s attack on Strathclyde, their Northumbrian ally, they couldn’t turn back with us on their tail.
They would be attacked from both sides if they did.
Now the only choice left to them was to face us. Their battle line was still longer than ours, so I set a trap—a trap to lure out Aella.
As the two forces advanced toward each other without hesitation, they finally came within arrow range, and both sides raised their shields in unison.
“Skjoldr! (Shield)”
“Scyld! (Shield)”
[Whizz-! Thud! Thud!]
The Norsemen and Angles formed shield walls with similar timing, using almost identical words.
Soon, arrows flew forcefully, striking the lines of both sides that had momentarily slowed down. After enduring three more volleys as they slowly approached each other, the two lines finally charged madly forward.
“Forward-! Forward-!”
“Kill them all!”
“In the name of God!”
“Yaaah!”
[Thud! Crack! Clang! Slice! Bang!]
When weight is added to speed, it becomes force.
The warriors, who threw away concern for their own safety and charged madly at each other, fell and felled others with a sound like thunder striking.
It was a struggle and momentum that made it hard to believe these were people exhausted from a week-long siege, but it didn’t matter to me.
[Whoosh- Thud! Whoosh- Crack!]
My strikes, which seemed to hit the enemy with the weight at the end of the axe rather than its sharp blade, shattered and tore apart sturdy wooden shields and iron helmets alike.
Because I wielded it so swiftly and sharply, not a single tooth of the axe blade was lost as it cut and smashed everything around me, leaving no one standing properly before me.
Faced with this ferocity that cut and flung away opponents without even giving them time to scream, Aella and Osberht’s warriors only stared at me with terrified eyes, not daring to charge.
Thanks to that brief hesitation, I could sense the shape of the battlefield with my exceptional senses.
Although there was pushing and shoving here and there, overall, it was an even match. I hadn’t expected it to be easy, but it certainly wasn’t a battle that would end quickly. At this rate, we would eventually be overwhelmed by numbers and wither away.
‘Then I’ll have to create an opening.’
Beyond the terrified eyes, I could see Aella and Osberht waiting, not in a distant position this time, but in a place where they could charge at any moment. I had to lure out those two.
“Warriors! Raise your shields!”
“Raise the shields!”
My booming voice echoed across the battlefield, where both sides were testing each other’s strength. The warriors, who remembered what we had agreed on beforehand, hurriedly stepped back, creating distance from their opponents and forming a wall of shields.
“Hold!”
“Protect the left! Guard the left!”
“Val-hal-la!”
“Don’t chase the enemy! Don’t chase them!”
Of course, some who were caught up in the frenzy of battle didn’t manage to join the retreating line in time and fell to the enemy’s concentrated attacks, but this actually served as better bait, causing the Angles in the center of the battlefield to begin attacking us with all their might.
[Whoosh! Slice!]
As the enemy right in front of me started to slowly step back, I easily deflected the sword thrust aimed at my neck by someone whose eyes had gone wild, and instead took the exposed wrist.
“Argh-!”
“Slowly fall back!”
“Fall back! Maintain the line!”
“Do not break formation under any circumstances!”
At my orders, our line slowly retreated while shouting madly, and I could see the enemy’s reserves finally moving.
‘Just a little more.’
The Northumbrian warriors directly facing me felt that something was wrong upon seeing my cold expression, but with their comrades continuously pushing from behind and on both sides, they had no other option.
They could only go forward, toward that unyielding shield wall.
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“There! The enemy’s center is being pushed back! We must strike now! Hahaha!”
The Konungrs’ backsides were twitching. Both had caught the strong scent of victory in the air.
Every sense in their bodies screamed that now was the chance to push these infidel barbarians back into the cold pit of hell they had crawled out from.
“Attack! We attack!”
As Aella and Osberht excitedly charged towards the enemy lines that were rapidly shaking and retreating, Uhtred, who had been given command of the rear reserves as a reward for risking his life to propose negotiation on behalf of the king, felt that something was off.
‘This quickly?’
It was too early for one side to crumble after the initial charge. Or did these Norsemen have some unknown circumstances that even he couldn’t perceive?
‘It probably doesn’t matter anyway…’
He had been placed in the rear even after returning from enemy territory, due to the obvious checks by the two kings who had made Bamburgh their base. Even if he gave advice, he would be lucky not to be laughed at.
Uhtred watched the two Konungrs charging frantically and sincerely prayed that his worries were unfounded.
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If one were to look down on this battlefield from high in the sky, they would have seen that our Norse battle line had curved into a clear crescent moon shape. Concave, drawing the Angles in.
The center of the that line seemed like it would collapse at any moment. While our Aros warriors held firm, giving ground to the enemy only as much as I had ordered.
And when the Angles’ breathing became labored, caught between the shield wall that suddenly stopped yielding and the pressure from behind, I knew the time had come.
Finally, having confirmed that even the enemy’s reserves had moved, I gave the signal.
“Now! Hrolf! Open the gates!”
“A-ros! Push-!”
“Push!”
The shield wall that had seemed like it would stand strong for a thousand years suddenly rose up and forcefully pushed back the weakened enemy vanguard.
Seizing that momentary gap, I immediately dashed forward.
“Hel-a!”
“Hel-!”
“Aros-!”
The warriors who followed behind me, shouting the cries that boiled up from their chests, held two-handed axes instead of shields in their hands, and all wore sturdy armor made of good iron.
Storolf followed closely behind me as I dashed forward like the wind, waving a long banner and swinging his sword with the other hand. The warriors who followed me, splitting the enemy lines, seemed to have nothing but destruction in their minds, disregarding their own lives as they brought down their axes.
[Crack-! Thud! Crack!]
“Ugh!”
“Guh!”
It happened so suddenly that the enemy vanguard, unable to respond in time, was swept away like dust. Our breakthrough, which should have lost momentum, gained even more force due to my presence at the front, carving a bright red line through the enemy formation.
“All who block me will die!”
[Whoosh-! Thud! Whoosh- Crack! Splinter!]
Having advanced by sending three or four enemy bodies flying at a time from the tightly packed formation, I finally threw away my broken axe and drew the sword from my waist, slicing through every gap I saw before me at a speed that left only shadows of light.
“Argh-!”
“Charge! Charge!”
“Look only ahead and run!”
After a brief moment of worry for Bjorn and Ivarr, who had taken charge of the most difficult positions at both ends of the line, I finally saw Aella and Osberht beyond the shouts of the Norsemen who had all turned and were now pouring into the gap I had opened.
“Aella-!”
A desperate roar that was hard to believe came from my body, rising from my gut, passing through my chest, and emerging from my throat.
At the same time, I felt the string controlling my reason snap with a ‘twang’, and relying only on beast-like senses, I cut down everything blocking my path and advanced.
“Stop him-! Argh!”
[Slash! Slice-! Thud!]
Dodging the blades aimed at every part of me a step ahead, kicking away annoying shields and sending them flying, then cutting down the warrior beyond.
As I did this, the force of my forward charge gradually accelerated, until by the time I reached Aella, the surreal scene unfolded where the heads I had cut off only rose into the air after I had passed.
But such things weren’t important now.
“Huu-”
I tried to calm my body, which felt like it would burn up entirely, with one deep breath and made an effort to look at my opponent as rationally as possible.
“Y-you… you… demon…! Are you a demon!?”
Aella’s expression, seemingly greatly shocked by the sight of even his guards who tried to protect him all dying, was hidden behind the grotesque face guard covering his face.
But it didn’t matter. Now he was within my range.
“I can’t believe it… I don’t believe it…! God! Protect your servant! Guard me! For God’s sake-!”
Unlike Aella, who could only raise his shield and sword with trembling hands, unable to dare to move, Osberht bravely charged at me, making the sign of the cross.
‘Has he gone mad?’
Did this one not see what had just happened before his eyes?
Wondering if he might have some hidden trick, I avoided the sword thrust aimed at my face, then habitually swung my sword down towards the enemy’s exposed head.
[Crack!]
“Guh!”
My sword strike, which went in too sharply and heavily, easily split the weak helmet and the skull beneath Osberht, who had nothing but courage without any tricks.
[Thud!]
“Argh! My Konungr!”
“You, Norseman! You shall be cursed by God!”
Osberht’s loyal Huskarlar, who witnessed their king die so miserably, all screamed and charged at me, and I, respecting the warriors’ will, cut them all down.
[Slice-!]
“Agh! Gurk…!”
[Thud]
“…”
“Demon… it’s a demon…”
Osberht, who had unfortunately fallen face-first into a somewhat muddy spot.
Having fallen forward in the same posture he had been thrusting at me, Osberht died in a position like an eagle with spread wings. Around him, the blood of the warriors who had fallen all at once, as if to protect him even in death, pooled to form a small puddle.
‘Like an eagle bathed in blood. Osberht. You at least met a warrior’s death.’
What about you, Aella?
Aella and his guards seemed incapable of normal thought in the face of the meaningless and miserable death of their long-time rival for the throne.
For every step I took forward, they retreated two steps, continuously muttering the word “demon” under their breath.
By now, all the surrounding noise had quieted, and those who had survived this bloody battle so far, sensing that the end was near, were all looking this way.
“Aella, Konungr of Northumbria. In case you don’t know, let me tell you once again. I am Helgi Ragnarsson.”
[Swish-]
I roughly wiped the blood-red blade on my clothes. The blade that had shone bright blue now had nicks here and there, but it still looked sufficient. Enough to cut down one more.
“You may not remember, but the Ragnar Sigurdsson you killed was my father.”
“S-stop! Stop! Don’t come any closer! Where are my Huskarlar! Where are my warriors! Kill him! I said kill him!”
I could see Uhtred flinching in the distance. He hadn’t been visible on the battlefield, so he must have had some circumstances. For whatever reason, he didn’t seem to have any intention of moving.
That was fortunate. It could have become a bit more tiresome.
The king’s authority had vanished, and all that remained in its place was fear.
No one else raised a sword for Aella anymore.
“You Judas-like traitors! You shall be cursed! You shall not be forgiven! Men without honor! You’re not even men!”
As I slowly approached, matching my steps to the king who was shouting and pointing fingers at those around him, not even a look of pity reached him anymore.
“Do you know who I am? Norseman! Infidel! Barbarian! I am Aella! I am the ruler of all Angles above the Humber!”
Finally stopping his retreat and facing me like a warrior, Aella shouted loudly towards the sky and then immediately charged at me.
“Lord! Protect me-!”
A textbook, heavy attack. Skills honed under a good teacher for a long time.
[Whoosh- Whoosh- Whoosh-]
[Clang! Clang! Clang!]
A short thrust aimed to draw out my shield, followed by a downward strike that immediately turned into a series of blows aimed at my head.
However, as I parried all of these without any difficulty, Aella finally raised his sword high above his head with a large motion.
“Die-!”
‘Was three sword strikes the limit of your patience?’
I had been patient until now to catch him.
As I lightly dove into the widely swung right arm of my enemy, I drove my fist into Aella’s chin.
[Thud-!]
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Let’s be real people. We all expected this didn’t we?
And BOY was it satisfying. Same hubbub as usual, if you catch any errors ping Oihs in the Arcane Translations Discord.
Thanks for reading!
Bro go full beast mode
That was AWESOME…