Chapter 45

Chapter 45. Bloody Battle in the Night (2)

Even though he had eliminated four enemies in an instant, Balun could not simply rejoice. There were still as many as ten enemies right beside him, trying to cut off his breath.

“Hup!”

Immediately after cutting off the heads of three of them, Balun lowered his body. He felt a sharp steel aura pass over his head.

He had truly avoided the attack by a hair’s breadth.

However, Balun knew that danger was also opportunity. The man beside him had left himself briefly defenseless while thrusting his sword. Balun did not miss that opening.

Balun swiftly shifted the axe he had been holding in both hands to his left hand, then shot out his right fist and struck the man’s face.

THUD!

The skull of one man in black caved in in the shape of his fist. The man could not even scream and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

At that, the expressions of the men in black hardened.

They exchanged glances, nodded, and quickly began retreating.

They had decided that continuing like this would not work.

“You cannot run!”

Balun shouted thunderously and tried to chase them.

Rustle.

But their forms vanished as though sinking into the darkness, so he could not.

‘No, these bastards can use stealth too?’

Balun gritted his teeth and gripped his axe. It was an unexpected case, but there was no reason he could not deal with it.

Balun used Enhancement Art with all his strength. He felt his bulging muscles compress, and enormous power filled his entire body.

At the same time, every sense in his body became extremely sensitive. Things he had not felt before began to reach him.

The darkness that had completely settled trembled faintly. The sight of the bushes swaying in the wind looked abnormal in some places. Even though nothing had touched it, he saw dry soil scattered on the ground pop up like popcorn.

Balun did not miss that phenomenon.

“I found you, rat!”

Balun brought his axe down without hesitation. One of the men in black, who had blended into the darkness, was split vertically.

The expressions of the men in black within the darkness hardened. How had he discovered them while they were in stealth?

“I will split the rest of you apart too!”

Balun’s hands and axe became a duet and danced the dance of death. Whenever his axe reached the place his instincts cried out to, blood rose without fail.

And five minutes later, SLASH!

In the end, Balun cut off the life of the final man in black as well.

“Hoo! Hoo!”

Balun gasped for breath and looked around. He saw more than twenty pieces of corpses scattered around him.

After confirming that he could not feel Killing Intent nearby, Balun picked up the hand axe he had thrown and sank down on the spot.

‘Phew, I thought I was going to shit myself.’

A wave of dizziness swept over him. It was because he had used Enhancement Art at full power.

Because of that, he had spent a great deal of strength in an instant.

‘This is why I do not use it at full power...’

When he used Enhancement Art at full power, fatigue came easily. That was why Balun put effort into controlling his strength.

By the way, He felt dizzying pain. When he checked, his entire body was covered in minor sword wounds.

When had he been hit this much?

He checked. One on his side, one on his abdomen, one on his thigh, and one on his shoulder blade.

In addition to those, there were as many as five small grazing sword wounds.

In other words, he had been struck by swords nine times.

‘Damn it, this really hurts like hell!’

Balun stood up with his face twisted in pain. His entire body stung so badly that he felt as though he would go mad, but he could not stay still. There were still many enemies in this forest.

‘It is fine. I have gone through this many times. I know I will not die just because I was hit this much.’

While constantly hypnotizing himself, Balun closed his eyes. There was still plenty of faint Killing Intent. Even though he had dealt with fourteen of them.

Just how many enemies were there?

‘They really came prepared, damn bastards.’

Just how large was their organization, for them to have so many members?

They must be members raised with great effort, so was it all right for them to consume them like this?

Was the reputation of being one of the world’s three great Assassin Guilds perhaps achieved through scale? Was that why they did not care even if they used up this many people?

He spat. Blood was mixed in his spit.

‘Is everyone alive?’

He sincerely hoped so. Otherwise, there would be no reason for him to go through all this hardship.

Step, step.

Balun moved his feet. Along the blood dripping from him, a long line of blood stretched across the ground.

***

What raised the expedition’s loosened tension in an instant was not the appearance of the enemies.

It was the earth trembling finely as though an earthquake had occurred, and Balun’s faint shout.

-I will split you all apart!

Thanks to that, the expedition was able to fully finish preparing for battle before facing the enemies.

THUNK!

Roton pulled out his sword. One man in black collapsed. Roton lightly pushed the falling man away with his foot and swiftly looked around. He saw a fellow knight struggling under the combined attack of two men in black.

Roton immediately ran over and thrust his sword.

THUNK!

Thanks to him, Knight Martin, who had been in danger of dying, barely managed to save his life.

“Roton!”

“Are you all right?”

“I am all right. Thank you.”

“Get up quickly. There are many enemies.”

Roton held out his hand. Martin took his hand and stood up.

“This is chaos.”

“It certainly is.”

The two looked around. The entire campsite was blazing fiercely. It was because of the arson Gregory had deliberately committed.

It was Gregory’s insane plan to clear away the darkness by offering the campsite as a sacrifice.

Looking at the tents turning into ash, Roton shook his head.

“This will be a problem even after we survive.”

“What do you mean?”

“All the tents are burning. How are we supposed to camp?”

“It will not be too late to think such luxurious thoughts after we survive.”

“That is true.”

Sword strikes were flying wildly amid the rising flames. The two knights charged into that blaze.

They swung their swords frantically. Several men in black died under their blades.

Of course, their bodies were not in perfect condition, but even so, they were knights.

They had honed martial arts their entire lives and were combat machines that had spent their lives killing. No matter how unable they were to use Aura, their skill itself had not been damaged.

“The situation is better than expected.”

Roton said that while looking around. He had thought it would be hopeless, but surprisingly, the situation held promise.

Thanks to the flames that had burned the entire campsite, the darkness had been pushed back, and a considerable number of the Assassins’ combat techniques had been sealed away.

Moreover, they had not been ambushed first but had been prepared in advance, so the flow of battle was going far better than expected.

“I have no choice but to admit it.”

“Admit what?”

“That Balun is the hope of the expedition.”

“Certainly.”

Martin nodded. He knew it as well. If Balun had not detected the surprise attack in advance with his monstrous senses, this result would never have happened.

“Let us hurry.”

“Let us.”

More time passed after that, and blood and fire completely burned the campsite.

Only when there was nothing left to burn and the flames had completely died down could the two men’s swords finally stop.

“It is over.”

Roton sat down on the ash-covered ground and looked up at the sky. Dawn was rising over the land where the flames had completely gone out.

“Did we fight through the entire night?”

“Something like that.”

Roton let out a hollow laugh. To think he would see the rising sun after fighting. To think he would survive even after that.

Suddenly, he heard a rustling sound. When he turned around, Pathfinder Patem was diligently gathering corpses in one place.

They were all the corpses of the men in black.

“You survived too, Pathfinder.”

“Yes, Sir Knight. Thanks to my talent for hiding, I ran around quite well.”

“Do not act humble. I saw you skillfully stabbing the enemies.”

“You saw that? Haha. This is embarrassing. I may not look it, but I killed as many as two Assassins.”

“You did well.”

Roton praised him sincerely. Killing two of them truly was a job well done.

“By the way, Mage Gregory’s condition looks quite bad. Will he be all right?”

“There is no way he is all right. He must be suffering from mana going berserk.”

“Gasp, m-mana going berserk?”

“He overexerted himself.”

“Ugh. Such a thing happened. Then what should we do? Should I fetch some water for him?”

“Leave him alone. Not helping him is helping him.”

“I-is that so? Understood.”

Roton looked around and asked.

“By the way, where is Balun?”

“Balun?”

“Yes. Have you seen him?”

“No. I have not seen him.”

Roton asked everyone, but no one said they had seen Balun.

Even so, no one thought that Balun had run away.

“Surely he did not die while fighting?”

It was a question from one of the expedition members.

“He went out first by himself, did he not? He must have faced several Assassins alone. Perhaps he died while fighting...”

“That is highly likely. There has been no word from him until now.”

At Roton’s answer, the atmosphere quickly grew heavy. In truth, though they had not said it aloud, everyone had expected something similar.

How could someone survive alone in that chaos?

They had survived because they had worked together, but it would be difficult for Balun.

Unlike them, he must have fought in the darkness. Alone, at that.

Assassins were strong in the darkness. Even Balun would be no match for that.

“No. He will be alive.”

At that moment, a voice rang out. It was Gregory.

Using his staff as a cane, he approached with a pale complexion.

“Mage Gregory! Have you found Lord Balun?”

“That is not it. How could I use magic in my current physical condition?”

“Then...”

“It is simply a feeling. A feeling that Lord Balun is alive.”

“A feeling? What do you mean by that...?”

“It was the same in the underground dungeon. Even in a situation that seemed utterly impossible, he calmly defeated the enemies and saved us. I feel he will do the same this time as well.”

It was then.

The faint sound of someone walking, step by step, reached them.

Everyone turned their heads, and soon, they were shocked.

Balun was approaching while limping, covered in blood.

From head to toe, he was entirely red.

Just how much must he have fought to look like that?

“Balun!”

“Lord Balun!”

Balun lifted his head. He saw his comrades.

They looked fairly fine.

Balun’s face naturally twisted.

Did they not look too fine?

‘Damn it. I was the only one who suffered again.’

Someone had gone through all that hardship!

He had not counted the numbers, but it felt as though he had killed more than seventy or eighty people almost entirely by himself during that night.

Was that all?

There had even been some bastards who fled, so he had chased them down to the end and killed them too.

He had barely held on to his fading consciousness, killed the final fleeing enemy to the very end, and had been returning to the campsite.

But they were that fine?

‘Ah, this is unfair. So damn unfair...’

THUD!

Unable to continue his thought, Balun collapsed while walking.

“Balun!”

“Lord Balun!”

The expedition members rushed over in a panic and supported Balun.

Balun had already lost consciousness.

“Is-is he dead?”

“Good heavens, just how many wounds does he have?”

“His hair is matted with blood!”

“A Priest! Bring a Priest...! No, there is no Priest. Then a Mage! Bring a Mage!”

While the expedition members made a fuss, Gregory silently examined Balun’s condition. Soon, he brought his index finger to his lips and gathered everyone’s attention.

“Everyone, please be quiet.”

“What is wrong?”

“You will know if you remain quiet.”

At those words, the expedition members all fell silent. And ten seconds later, they understood why Gregory had told them to be quiet.

SNORE!

Because Balun was snoring.

“H-he is sleeping?”

Soon, hollow laughter spread here and there.

“I do not know what kind of body he has. To think he can sleep while snoring even in this state.”

“You can say that again.”

Here and there, people let out sighs of relief and added a word or two, but Gregory and the three knights could not easily laugh.

That was because they had a rough idea of Balun’s condition.

In their eyes, Balun’s condition resembled a body that had suffered mana depletion.

Mana depletion was a phenomenon in which one used up every last drop of the mana one possessed, leaving the body in a state of exhaustion.

However, as far as they knew, Balun could not handle mana.

In other words, there was no way mana depletion could have occurred.

Then what had happened?

No matter how much they thought about it, there was only one answer.

‘He used his stamina beyond its limits. He pushed himself to the very edge of the extreme.’

He had quite literally gone beyond his limits.

He had used up every last drop of his stamina, and then held on to a body that should no longer have moved through sheer mental strength.

Because Roton was a Warrior walking the same path of martial skill, and because he was a knight who had experienced the battlefield, he could be more certain than anyone.

What kind of fight Balun had fought last night.

And how comfortably they had fought by comparison.

‘We were saved.’

Roton laughed bitterly. A sense of shame and deep emotion surged up at the same time. It was shame toward himself, who had believed he had fought with all his might, and deep emotion at realizing that he owed his life twice over.

“Everyone, do not just stand there watching. Hurry and lay Balun down somewhere soft.”

He stopped his thoughts and gave orders to the members.

“Yes, Sir Knight. Ah, but is it all right not to treat him?”

“Of course we will treat him. But what is more important than that is rest.”

“Rest?”

“Yes. Let him sleep deeply. Then he will wake up well on his own.”

“Understood.”

The ash-covered clearing where dawn was breaking began to grow busy.