Chapter 26

Chapter 26. Wolf Blade (3)

The shock on the faces of the guild swordsmen was plain to see, but Balun himself did not notice it at all.

‘Damn, what was that?’

He was too stunned by his own actions.

‘How did I do that?’

To be honest, he was bewildered.

And for good reason. He had not even used Enhancement Art.

He had only done what he always did and put all his strength into it. Yet he had cut through three men at once. And he had done it without even the slightest feeling of resistance, as if he were slicing tofu.

‘Did I get stronger?’

Well, he had been training hard every single day.

But even so, could something that had never worked before suddenly start working?

“Get him! Grab him!”

CLANG!

Balun shoved those thoughts aside.

That was not what mattered right now.

“Urgh!”

The swordsman who had blocked Balun’s axe with his sword had his arm trembling violently. The bastard was gritting his teeth and holding on.

Balun saw the others closing in. They were probably trying to help their companion, who was being pushed back. Balun poured all his strength into his arms, twisted the angle of the axe sideways, and shoved.

The sword edge scraped and slid aside, and the man staggered.

“You need to work out more.”

“Ghk...!”

Balun drove his foot hard into the man’s stomach.

THUD!

“Gah!”

The instant the man fell, Balun bent low at the waist.

WHOOSH!

Someone’s sword swept horizontally over his head. Balun felt several strands of his hair being cut.

Sure enough, a few locks drifted down to the ground.

‘Damn, that almost took my head off.’

Balun’s heart pounded.

That had been a truly sharp attack. It had caught him completely off guard.

Luckily, he had dodged on instinct. Otherwise, he would have been cut down without a chance.

“Tch! He’s quick!”

Someone clicked his tongue behind him.

Then came a warning shout.

“Everyone, be careful! He moves far better than his size would suggest!”

“Yes, sir!”

As Balun listened to those ringing shouts, he let out a rough breath.

Fierce excitement and tightly buried fear ruled over him. The extreme vigilance born of that fear was awakening the beastlike instincts inside him.

The predator’s instinct buried deep in his unconsciousness, the instinct that had made him a hero of the tribe.

Everything around him came into view. What was before him, he saw with his eyes. What was behind him, he sensed by instinct. Every single enemy within a full three hundred sixty degrees was caught in Balun’s sensory net.

They had surrounded him, but they could not bring themselves to come any closer.

They had seen the monstrous force with which he had taken three heads in a single blow. They could feel Balun’s Killing Intent prickling against their skin.

Balun understood that clearly.

He did not know it with his head.

He knew it with his body.

Like a beast.

A beast instinctively sensed whether its prey was frightened or not. That innate hunter’s sense was what made it a predator.

Balun was the same.

No matter how fearful he was, Balun was still a predator. His overwhelming talent, beyond compare, and the life he had lived had made him that way.

No, they had left him no other choice.

To survive in that savage world, he had no choice but to become a predator.

And that predator’s instinct was telling him something.

These men were afraid of him.

‘This might be more manageable than I thought.’

A tiny scrap of confidence rose inside Balun.

The little Lü Bu inside him cautiously poked his head out the window.

“Come at me, you little rats!”

Balun roared. He swung his axe through the air and glared at them threateningly. He could feel the men who met his gaze flinching.

“Balun is alone. You are many. So why don’t you attack? Are you scared? Afraid to die?”

“......”

“Then don’t attack! Throw down your weapons and surrender! Those who surrender won’t die! But if you do not surrender, then you will all die—”

FWHIIIIIIISH!

Balun’s eyes flew wide open.

He instantly ducked. Something sharp grazed through the space where his head had just been.

‘An arrow.’

At once, Balun’s face twisted into something murderous.

A bad memory had surfaced.

How many times had he nearly died after being shot by archers? He had lost count long ago.

‘Those filthy ranged bastards.’

Attacking from far away like cowards?

How was a short-range fighter supposed to live like this?

Even before anger could fully rise, Balun’s body was already moving.

At some point he had already drawn a hand axe.

Without even looking, Balun hurled the hand axe in his left hand with all his might toward the direction the arrow had come from.

WHOOM!

The hand axe tore through the encirclement in a straight line and buried itself squarely in the skull of a man in a cap who had been crouching in the corner.

“Ghk!”

The man who had hidden there and fired the crossbow let out a dying scream and collapsed. At the sight, the guild swordsmen’s jaws dropped.

How in the world had he done that?

It was a throw so uncanny it bordered on the miraculous.

More astonishing still was the fact that, in that brief instant, he had located the one who had fired.

How had he figured that out in such a desperate moment?

Of course, he had not figured it out.

He had simply gone with his gut.

Balun shouted.

“Why use a crossbow? Are you cowards? Have you no honor!”

“Our swords are too precious to waste on a stinking beast like you! You’re fit for nothing but being an arrow sponge!”

One of them sneered back at him in answer.

He was standing in the rear line.

At once, he became Balun’s target.

“Then you’ll die to the arrow sponge.”

Balun charged straight at him.

CLANG!

Three swords shot out at once and blocked Balun’s axe. Grinding his teeth, Balun poured all his strength into it and flung them aside. The three men barring his way were hurled backward and toppled over together.

“Urk!”

“This bastard’s insane!”

Balun leaped over the gap in the collapsed encirclement and rushed forward.

SLASH!

“......!”

He cut off the head of the man who had sneered from the rear.

The head flew up into the air, then crashed to the ground.

His face was frozen in utter shock.

“M-monster.”

Someone muttered it.

The fear spread like contagion. Just as hundreds of sheep could not deal with a single wolf, the twenty swordsmen were now utterly terrified of Balun alone.

The swordsmen only maintained their circle around him, not daring to come close.

Balun looked around at those who had lost their will to fight and spoke in a low voice.

“I could kill every one of you if I wanted. But I won’t. Why? Because I don’t want to fight.”

‘Please stop coming at me. Please.’

“I came here to speak with your leader. That is all I need to do. Then no one has to die. Everyone wins. Do you understand?”

‘Honestly, this is hard. I feel like I’m about to die.’

He had fought wars for six years straight, yet war itself still never became familiar.

“Don’t attack. If you don’t attack, you won’t die. Balun swears it on his name.”

As Balun said that, he glared at them.

They slowly edged backward.

Naturally, a path opened up.

“Wise choice. Balun keeps his promises. You live.”

Balun strode forward along the opened path.

At the end of it stood a three-story stone building.

Balun boldly walked toward it.

No, he was about to go inside when he stopped.

He had heard a voice from within.

“You idiots. You couldn’t even handle one man and ended up opening a path for him.”

The door opened, and someone stepped out.

He wore chainmail and a plain white surcoat, and the look of him was unmistakably knightly. The iron helmet on his head only made that impression stronger.

“So it was you. The barbarian who killed Derek.”

“Are you the leader?”

“Yes. I am Philip Monteil, Guild Master of Wolf Blade. Head of the Monteil Family and the brave sword of the kingdom.”

Philip introduced himself with one hand on his chest.

He seemed surprisingly courteous.

Balun found it baffling.

A polite introduction at a time like this?

But the man’s expression was anything but polite. The blazing fire in his eyes was proof enough, and so was the trembling fist at his side.

‘He’s strong.’

Balun’s expression hardened.

He could feel at once that this was not an easy opponent.

‘He knows how to fight.’

One thing was certain.

Of every enemy he had met in the civilized world, this man was the strongest.

“And who are you? Who exactly are you, to commit such shameless acts?”

“I am Balun, Warrior of the Red Fang Tribe. Son of Senior Warrior Ktam and Rana.”

Balun introduced himself as well.

This sort of exchange of names was familiar to him too.

The barbarians had that custom as well.

“First, let me correct one thing. Balun did not do anything shameless. Balun is upright. Balun is justified.”

“You lie without so much as wetting your lips. You killed my men. You caused unrest in the city. And you claim you are upright and justified?”

“Yes.”

Crunch.

Philip ground his teeth.

“Because of you, my subordinates died. You killed decent citizens who devoted themselves to the sword. You killed young men who dreamed of becoming Knights.”

“......”

“And you can still say that? Do you not feel even the slightest bit of remorse?”

“No.”

“You are not someone I can allow to live.”

“Was that wrong?”

Philip let out a dry, disbelieving laugh.

Just as he was about to speak, Balun cut in first.

“Your men touched Balun first. They harassed Balun. They threatened to kill me and tried to kidnap me, saying I had to come with them. So I only responded.”

“What?”

“They even came to where I was sleeping and threatened me. They brought a whole crowd of subordinates and said they would kill me. If I had stayed still, I probably would have died.”

Philip’s expression shifted strangely.

It was the first he had heard of any of this.

“So what should I have done? Gone with them? Even though it was obvious I would be beaten to death if I did? Was that what I was supposed to do?”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“So if I do not resist, I die, and if I do resist, I still die? Is that how you people treat others!”

Balun shouted furiously.

To anyone watching, his face was full of grievance and outrage.

But inside, he was thinking something else entirely.

‘Damn, he looks absurdly strong. Can I even beat that?’

The confidence that had been surging inside him began to drain away at once.

Part of it was because Philip so clearly looked like a master fighter.

But more than that, it was because the man was wearing armor made of iron.

How could anything be this unfair? Balun was wearing leather armor, while his opponent was wrapped in iron.

‘Will my axe even bite into that?’

He had never tried, so he did not know.

But was it not only natural to think that a blade could not pierce iron armor?

On top of that, his axe was not in good condition anymore. Several chips had already formed along the edge.

‘And there are not even any obvious joints to aim for. The face is the only option.’

Balun formed a strategy.

Aim for the face.

That was the only way.

“My men harassed you first? Ridiculous. You must have started the trouble first, you stinking barbarian.”

Philip pulled off one glove and flung it at Balun.

“Barbarian. I challenge you to a duel to the death. I will cut off your head with my own sword. With that, I shall console the souls of my fallen men.”

As Philip drew his sword, Balun thought to himself.

‘Is he an idiot?’

A duel? Why a duel? It would be much easier to just rush him all at once.

‘And what if, by some chance, he loses? Has he not thought about how humiliating that would be?’

It truly was a way of doing things Balun could not understand.

If it were him, he would have ordered an all-out attack at once.

“Fine. That suits me.”

Balun gripped his axe tightly and nodded.

Well, if the man was willing to fight him one-on-one of his own accord, that was good news for Balun.

One-on-one was far better than one against many.

‘Just aim for the face. The face. If I hit the iron parts, I won’t kill him. The face is the answer.’

The face. The face.

Balun repeated those words over and over in his mind so he would not make a mistake.

He had been pretending to stay calm all this time, but in truth he was under extreme tension.

And when someone was tense, mistakes became much more likely.

“Roy. Count, then blow the whistle. That will signal the start of the duel.”

“Yes, sir.”

‘A whistle? What kind of whistle?’

Was this some sort of Olympic event?

“You are not to interfere. If anyone dares to step in, I will regard him as one who has stained my honor.”

“Yes, sir!”

‘Well, look at that.’

What a grand gentleman we have here.

He was even making sure his subordinates stayed out of it on their own.

Balun found it absurd, but this culture of dueling was perfectly ordinary in this world.

Especially for Philip, who came from a line of Knights.

What more needed to be said in a world where trial by combat existed?

FWEEEEET!

After the duel began, Philip was the first to strike.

He darted in with nimble speed and swung his sword.

Admiring the economy of the movement, Balun raised his axe to meet it.

‘First, I’ll lightly test our strength against each oth—’

CLANG!

CRACK!

‘Huh?’

With a sharp ring of steel, the haft of Balun’s two-handed axe split apart.

The axe dropped powerlessly to the ground.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

Balun was deeply flustered.

He had never imagined this.

His axe had broken in a single exchange?

That had not been part of his expectations at all.

“Hahaha! Your axe has broken, you fool! God Himself foretells my victory!”

Philip rushed in laughing thunderously.

A blue glow gathered around the sword he swung. It was not especially vivid, but it was enough to cover the blade.

“Aura!”

“So even a barbarian knows it. That’s right. Aura. The proof of my life!”

“That’s unfair! Balun is barehanded!”

“With God watching over our duel, how can you call it unfair!”

“Won’t you give me a new weapon?”

“No such thing!”

WHOOSH!

The sword carved a trail of blue light as it swung.

Balun hastily threw himself into a roll across the ground.

‘Damn, why is his sword so fast?’

Calrent had said that those who used Aura possessed physical abilities superior to ordinary people.

It seemed he had been right.

Otherwise, there was no way Philip could swing a sword that quickly.

“You flee like an eel! But how long can you keep running!”

Balun dodged one sweeping slash after another.

After rolling across the ground three or four times, his whole body was instantly covered in dust.

There must have been a rock somewhere in the dirt too, because his back was starting to ache.

“Master is the greatest!”

“Kill him already!”

“Philip! Philip! Philip!”

The guild swordsmen shouted Philip’s name in a frenzy.

It felt like standing in the middle of a concert for some famous singer.

Their heated cheers kept sharpening Balun’s tension.

‘This won’t work. I need to try something.’

Balun watched for an opening.

An opportunity to get inside the man’s guard.

The chance came quickly.

Balun dodged a horizontal slash and immediately drove himself into Philip’s chest.

And then.

THUD!

“Ghk!”

First, one punch to the stomach.

While Philip doubled over.

Grab!

Balun seized the chain section of the armor across Philip’s chest.

Flex!

The muscles in Balun’s arms bulged.

He felt tremendous power surging through them.

He twisted the armor in both hands as though grabbing a man by the collar.

Naturally, the chainmail stretched tight.

But perhaps he had put far too much force into the pull.

RIPRIPRIPRIP!

The chainmail suddenly tore down the middle in a long split.

“What the hell!”

“Huh?”

Balun stared blankly in confusion at what he himself had just done.

‘Why did that happen?’

He had only intended to grab the man by the chest and follow it up with an uppercut to the chin.

‘At this point, am I even human anymore?’