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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: selkie
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“Imperial Army, rally under the banners!”
It’s impossible to confront the Heavy Cavalry Division with troops that haven’t properly formed ranks.
Cassias gathered the knights and soldiers of the Imperial Army. Gestain also summoned the elite guards.
“Knights, to the front! Engage the Heavy Cavalry Division at the vanguard!”
Raymond issued the order, raising the Soul Sword as he advanced. Gestain naturally followed, and Desia, despite being a mage, confidently moved forward as well.
“Shields up!”
The infantry densely packed together, raising their shields. While they didn’t have the same renown as the Free Isiria Kingdom’s Heavy Cavalry Division, the Philios Empire’s Imperial Army was also elite.
They formed ranks in perfect unison. The sharp ends of spears and blades, resting between the shields, aimed at the Heavy Cavalry Division.
“They’re coming! Prepare!”
There was no need to worry about the enemy’s magic reaching them. The mages of the 19th Heavy Cavalry Division were occupied with Raymond’s Mage Tower mages. They didn’t have the leeway to divert their forces here.
This was especially true because the Fifth Prince’s magic corps included high-ranking mages.
Even excluding the Blue Tower Master, who had withered away using climate magic, the Red Tower Master, Berenus Kyle, was still active. The mages of the 19th Heavy Cavalry Division had no choice but to scream.
Even as they desperately exhausted all their mana, the Fifth Prince’s forces overwhelmingly held the upper hand in the magical battle.
“Cough!”
“Kuaaack!”
Knights and soldiers of the Heavy Cavalry Division fell one by one from the archers’ continued arrow barrage.
Even though they wore heavy armor, gaps in the armor clearly existed, and some arrows pierced those gaps.
Moreover, because they were covered head to toe in mud, it was difficult to raise their shields in time to block. Their movement speed was also significantly reduced, making them easy targets for the archers.
However, the archers’ suppression didn’t last long. As the Heavy Cavalry Division troops closed the distance with the Fifth Prince’s forces, they had to cease their arrow support.
“For the Free Isiria Kingdom!”
“For the glory of victory to the Philios Empire!”
The two formations collided. Shields clashed against shields, and they exchanged spears and blades. Red blood splattered, and the front lines of both formations collapsed powerlessly.
Despite being covered in mud and exhausted from a week of rain, the Heavy Cavalry Division temporarily gained the upper hand at the moment of impact.
“Kuaaaack!”
“Cough!”
The Imperial Army soldiers, who had comparatively weaker close combat abilities, fell powerlessly. Next, the blood of the Mage Tower knights scattered.
The few Imperial Army knights who were present held their ground well enough, but they seemed precarious.
While they held the advantage in the magic battle, their disadvantage in melee combat was revealed. Raymond infused the Soul Sword with a strong energy and stepped forward.
“Elite guards, follow me!”
Suddenly, the Fifth Prince broke through the formation, charging in with a one-armed knight.
Before the knights and soldiers of the Heavy Cavalry Division could react in surprise, the Fifth Prince, Raymond, swung his white mana sword.
“Cough cough!”
“Kuaaaack!”
The blood spilled by the Heavy Cavalry Division knights scattered into the air. Raymond emerged like a god of death through the stream of hot, red blood.
“There are only two of them!”
“Surround and annihilate them!”
The soldiers retreated, and the knights advanced. Nine knights, considered elites within the Heavy Cavalry Division, gathered.
They instantly surrounded Raymond and Gestain, creating a wall of shields.
“I’ll shake things up once. I’ll leave the cleanup to the elite guard captain.”
“As you command.”
Raymond seemed to swing the Soul Sword, then plunged it into the ground. It was at that moment that a question arose on the faces of the Heavy Cavalry Division knights surrounding them. Several small ice storms erupted from the ground.
Five knights with good instincts hurriedly retreated, saving their lives, but the other four were directly caught in the merciless storm and froze solid.
“I-impossible…!”
“He uses swordsmanship and magic at the same time?”
To those who didn’t know about magic swordsmen, it was a scene that defied common sense.
Of course, even if they knew about magic swordsmen, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. The lineage of magic swordsmen had effectively been cut off since ancient times. No one would have imagined that someone who suddenly inherited the blessing of a magic swordsman would appear now.
However, before they could examine Raymond in detail, Gestain, who had drawn his sharp sword, swiftly intervened.
“How dare you point your weapons? This is before His Highness, the Fifth Prince of the Philios Empire!”
With a solemn declaration, the swung mana sword cut down the Heavy Cavalry Division knights. They couldn’t withstand even a single strike from Gestain, who had reached the realm of a high-ranking knight, and they spilled blood.
“Kuaaaack!”
“Uaaaack!”
The screams that erupted were only a prelude to the hell that would unfold, and merely the opening act announcing the reincarnation of the magic swordsman. The enemies would be unable to resist before the great disaster.
Raymond moved his lips slightly. Retrieving the Soul Sword to his chest, his sharp gaze quickly scanned the surroundings.
The elite guard members charged through the gap created by the fall of the nine Heavy Cavalry Division knights.
“Gestain, cover my back.”
“As you wish, my lord.”
After hearing Gestain’s reply, Raymond shot forward like an arrow. Heavy Cavalry Division soldiers blocked his path, but they couldn’t dare to confront the swung Soul Sword and scattered blood.
“How can this be!”
“For a rogue from a declining empire to be this strong!”
“He’s at least at the level of a superior knight!”
Everyone was shocked.
Only a short minute had passed since Raymond infiltrated deep into the formation.
However, the corpses of the Heavy Cavalry Division soldiers around him were piled up to the point where the expression “mountain of graves” was fitting.
“The formation is collapsing!”
“Impossible! There are only two of them! And yet the formation is collapsing?”
Unbelievable. Even though they had allowed a deep penetration into the formation, there were only two of them at most. And yet the ranks were crumbling!
“We are the vanguard of the Free Isiria Kingdom! The honorable Heavy Cavalry Division, inheriting the will of the founding king!”
“We do not retreat when facing the enemy, and we fight to the end!”
“Raise your swords! Reorganize the ranks! Surround them! There are only two enemies!”
Indeed, they were the Heavy Cavalry Division, counted among the elites of the Free Isiria Kingdom.
Although the ranks had temporarily collapsed, they soon reorganized in perfect order in response to the commands of the commanders and non-commissioned officers. Raymond was slightly impressed by the sight, even though they were enemies.
“Charge!”
“Knights, forward!”
“If we capture the Fifth Prince, our victory is assured!”
The knights of the Heavy Cavalry Division charged. Although there were nearly twenty of them, Raymond didn’t lose his composure.
He simply smiled comfortably, as if appreciating the noise of the battlefield as background music, and didn’t even adopt a defensive stance. And that was the same for Gestain, the one-armed high-ranking knight guarding his side.
“Charge!”
A sense of unease? They must have felt it, but they ignored it. Because they saw the Fifth Prince, a sweet prey, before their eyes.
But they should never have ignored that sense of unease.
“Cou, cough!”
Before anyone knew it, an arrow pierced the knight’s neck. Imbued with the spirit of wind, it displayed a speed and penetrating power that was on a different level from ordinary arrows.
“Ah, aah…”
At the end of his dying gaze, Sylvia was on a tree, nocking another arrow on the bowstring, her green eyes gleaming.
“A sniper!”
“Don’t be afraid! Overwhelm them with numbers!”
But what the Fifth Prince Raymond was relying on wasn’t just a sniper of high elf lineage. Desia, who suddenly appeared in the sky as a fierce ice storm began to rage, was also present.
“Your Highness, Fifth Prince, you mustn’t abandon me.”
It was Desia who appeared with a refreshing smile that didn’t suit the atmosphere of the battlefield.
Now, every time she, who had reached the realm of a top-tier mage, waved her hand, the bodies of the Heavy Cavalry Division knights who were approaching froze solid.
High-ranking mages are called the true terror of the battlefield, but top-tier mages are also fatal beings with the alias of nightmare of the battlefield.
“Wasn’t it your fault for falling behind? Don’t blame His Highness too much.”
“Elite Guard Captain, you always take Fifth Prince’s side. I don’t like it.”
Desia pouted and raised her hand. A dozen ice spears created around her were fired like bullets, piercing the remaining knights.
“W-what on earth… is this…”
“Wasn’t he a rogue from a declining empire?”
The commanders and officers of the Heavy Cavalry Division trembled with fear.
The one-armed swordsman guarding the Fifth Prince’s side clearly seemed to have reached the realm of a high-ranking knight, the crazy old man who was randomly firing fire magic from the rear was clearly a high-ranking mage, and the female mage who fearlessly used Blink magic to infiltrate deep into the formation seemed to be at the top-tier level.
They were all monsters gathered together.
“Elite guard, forward!”
“Protect His Highness the Fifth Prince!”
The elite guard followed belatedly. As expected of the Frost Shield Knights with rich combat experience, not a single one fell behind.
“Shall we strike the command headquarters as it is?”
“It’s not good to get too far away from Sir Cassias’ Imperial Army.”
Raymond turned his head and looked at Gestain. He maintained a stern expression and pushed his argument. Raymond then nodded.
“You’re right. We’ll hold our ground until the Imperial Army comes down.”
Raymond said. Only after the Imperial Army led by Cassias approached did he step forward again with the elite guard.
Behind the Fifth Prince, who was wielding the Soul Sword imbued with a clear white aura, were a thousand knights. Raymond, who had digested a bit more of the experience of a thousand knights during the body reconstruction, was now nothing more than a war weapon specialized in slaughter.
In fact, every time he swung his sword, enemy soldiers fell without being able to resist.
And now, the vanguard flag was in sight.
“Commander! At this rate, we might lose the vanguard flag!”
“We must avoid such a worst-case scenario!”
The commanders and officers also drew their swords. Directly behind them, the vanguard flag fluttered in the cold rain and wind.
“Risk your lives to protect the vanguard flag!”
The 21 vanguard flags bestowed by the founding king of the Free Isiria Kingdom held great significance beyond the pride of the Heavy Cavalry Division.
There were rare cases where the Heavy Cavalry Division had retreated, but there had never been a case of them losing their vanguard flag, even if one searched through the history books. This alone showed how important they considered the vanguard flag.
“We must never lose the vanguard flag!”
The commander screamed. While the vanguard flag retreated, the soldiers of the Heavy Cavalry Division ran forward to meet Raymond and Gestain, but they fell without withstanding even a single strike.
“St-stop them!”
“I’ll clear the way.”
Gestain said in a calm voice, then threw himself at the gathering enemies.
The mana sword extended to 3 meters and covered the enemies. Once again, screams erupted, and the enemies collapsed in droves.
Raymond leaped over the corpses of those who had fallen. He used the power of mana to quickly close the distance to the vanguard flag.
“Sh-shit!”
The commander of the Heavy Cavalry Division charged with three knights, but they were no match for Raymond.
As red blood scattered from the Soul Sword swung with the power of a thousand knights, and the lifeless body was buried in the cold ground, Raymond held the vanguard flag in his hand.
“We’ve captured the vanguard flag!”
He shouted, raising the vanguard flag of the Free Isiria Kingdom high.
The gazes of the Heavy Cavalry Division soldiers who had not yet escaped the muddy area were all directed at the vanguard flag. They soon realized that the vanguard flag had fallen into the hands of the enemy and became crazed.
“The vanguard flag has been taken!”
“We must retrieve it at all costs!”
“We will repay this disgrace with our lives!”
Watching the Heavy Cavalry Division, struggling to escape the mud with anger filling their eyes, Raymond recalled the setting of the Madman Corps that existed in the Philios Empire during the ancient era.
“Mage squad, don’t spare your firepower! Wipe them all out!”
Raymond shouted in a sharp voice. The mages, led by Red Tower Master Berenus Kyle, poured out all their magic firepower.
The mages of the Heavy Cavalry Division, who were being pushed back in the magic battle, eventually collapsed completely. At the same time their shields were destroyed, the splendorous mana raining down on their heads swallowed up the Heavy Cavalry Division in the muddy area.
Even the desperate screams were swallowed by the roar. When everything was over and silence returned, there were no survivors in the muddy area.
Everyone had lost their lives.
“Congratulations on your victory, my lord.”
Gestain quietly approached and congratulated him on the victory. A smile spread across Raymond’s lips as he quickly scanned the surroundings with sharp eyes.
They had annihilated the Heavy Cavalry Division, the only central army besides the Free Isiria Kingdom’s royal army and counted among the elites. Furthermore, they had captured one of the 21 vanguard flags that the founding king had bestowed to commend their valor. It was an overwhelming victory.
“You have captured a vanguard flag for the first time on the continent. This is an achievement that will be remembered for generations to come.”
Cassias made a fuss. Raymond simply smiled silently.
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