Chapter 879 - The Flower of the Battlefield Is
The two members of the Ruby Knights, Mattia and Achilleunon, took their positions and exchanged glances to correct their stance.
It was done without consuming even the time of a blink.
Their response was that fast.
They weren't flustered by the winged horse either.
Although no verbal conversation passed between the two, they knew what they needed to know.
Achilleunon sank into thought with an expressionless face.
'He didn't dodge my javelin, but used it to increase his falling speed?'
He's no ordinary acrobat.
'A special ability?'
It doesn't look like it.
Achilleunon lowered the tip of his long spear obliquely.
The speed was extremely slow.
It was so slow that it was more than enough for the opponent to see and attack, and even slow enough for Aishia or Marcus, standing far behind, to see.
It was a lure.
Naturally, the opponent did not react.
'He'll maintain a defensive attitude.'
Because he would do the same.
The fellow who fell from the sky didn't radiate momentum, just quietly changed his position.
Like a calm lake.
A lake where a brief smile hung on his face, making him extremely unpleasant.
The fellow stood with himself and Mattia on his left and right.
Mattia recalled the moment she swung her greatsword just now.
'Did I use less force?'
No.
When dealing with the cute semi-knight with orange hair, she had kept some strength in reserve, but not just now.
That is, no matter how much of a knight he was, he should have rolled on the ground.
Even if his spine wasn't broken, he should have performed a breakfall in time and been disheveled.
If that had happened, she would have continued her attack as is.
But it didn't happen like that.
Her prediction was wrong.
The moment a split second ahead, seen with a knight's insight, had changed.
Did the cute orange one standing behind block her back?
'Does a wagon wheel stuck in the mud come out just because a mantis lends its strength?'
If that mantis were a Mantis, one of the monsters, maybe, but otherwise, it was impossible.
'If it were a monster, it wouldn't even have hands to push the wagon in the first place.'
The conclusion is this.
Even though she swung with all her might to knock him away, that man absorbed the impact transmitted from her greatsword.
The orange hair's help was just a trigger.
Meaning, even without her, that fellow might have rolled on the ground, but he wouldn't have been in great trouble.
"You're a super interesting guy. Hey, but can't you hear me? You came riding a Pegasus?"
Mattia asked.
The opponent knight answered in a calm tone.
"The ride was fantastic. I even slept on the way."
If scratching the opponent's insides before fighting can gain an advantage, there's no reason not to.
This is also a knight's virtue.
Knights of the South, including Mattia, learned and practiced this.
But it felt like words weren't getting through at all.
'He's calm even in this situation?'
While giving distance to two knights?
What's more, what did he say?
He came while sleeping?
The funny thing was that he seemed to have imbued Will into those words.
Is he telling a lie with sincerity and genuineness?
Why bother?
Why?
Or did he really sleep on the horse?
Sleeping on a galloping horse is considered a stunt, but on a Pegasus without a saddle?
"Look at this guy."
Mattia grasped the opponent's skillful eloquence.
Achilleunon was less perceptive than her.
"Alone?"
It was a question asking if he intended to face two alone.
"Yes, I don't particularly have thoughts of marriage yet."
"...What is he saying, this crazy bastard."
Achilleunon revealed his bewilderment.
Is even that a trick?
To Mattia, it seemed fifty-fifty.
That was Achilleunon's aim.
Half of it was sincere.
Because the bewilderment itself was real.
Her fellow knight, who handled a long spear better than his own hands, admitted he had no talent for beating opponents with words, and instead enjoyed using that to act angry and deceive the opponent.
So he uses it even when he's really angry, and uses it even when he's really surprised.
It's the art of using emotions.
A knight sees through clumsy tricks.
That technique of Achilleunon's was created after seeing the emotional control of elves distorting the truth.
That's why he easily deceives opponents.
However, perhaps it was too obvious a trick for Enkrid.
By his side walked an existence who distorted the truth and engaged in verbal attacks, calling them jokes, more than twelve times a day.
"Hello, fiancé, today is a good day for marriage. And a day when the day of my death approaches."
Such morning greetings are daily life.
Considering only the superficial meaning, both are correct, but looking closely, the day of death approaching is a common thing to everyone.
People who know when they will die are rare, but intelligent species die someday.
There is no existence with eternal life.
Even that Dragonkin will die someday.
Themares admitted it with his own mouth.
He even said that the end of a Dragonkin is almost always suicide.
And that it is not a sad or painful thing.
For them, death is ending thought, stopping, and resting.
Fishing up the fish called sadness from the river called death is the privilege of those with short lives.
Therefore, elves and Frogs often exclude sadness from death.
Dragonkin go further than that and do not understand the reason to be sad in death.
Enkrid ignored the trick of the fellow holding the long spear and asked back.
"Are you alone too?"
Achilleunon didn't belong to the handsome category no matter how you looked at it.
His eyes were narrow and his nose bridge low.
His lips were thick, resembling a common river fish.
As a knight, his physique was balanced and his body shape good, but his face ruined everything.
Face is not proportional to skill.
Appearance is not a knight's virtue.
He knew.
He knew, but he didn't feel good.
Considering appearance as a talent, the provocation from one of the best in the entire continent was even more unpleasant.
"I'll cut off your tongue."
Achilleunon also ignored Enkrid's words.
"Do as you please."
Mattia answers.
Enkrid, with the two between him, quietly steadied his breath.
The smile from before had vanished without a trace.
Apart from enjoyment, there was no room for a smile between swords, spears, and seriousness.
If things go wrong, he dies.
Apart from skill, a person dies if they bleed a lot, dies if their neck is cut, and dies if their organs are punctured.
Aishia couldn't intervene between them and retreated.
There would be nothing more foolish than fainting from blood loss in this situation.
She tore the outer surface of her inner gambeson to use as a bandage and wrapped it around her arm to stop the bleeding.
The wound was too large to control by voluntarily moving muscles.
Marcus from afar, Aishia close by, and further away, some allies and enemies were watching.
The cave the two knights had pierced was on the verge of collapse, so no one came out through there.
Instead, the Lihin-Stetten commander also used his head.
He had the soldiers use shields and such to shovel the dirt dug by the two knights to suppress some of the flames.
The entire unit couldn't come out in formation, but some could come out to survey the outside.
The commander was observing the situation under the escort of the Horseshoe Infantry.
Would his two ally knights have ravaged the enemy?
That expectation was not easily met.
Didn't a knight suddenly fall from the sky and appear?
When writing his autobiography later, would it be better to write that an enemy knight fell from the sky?
Or would it be better to omit it?
Two allies, one enemy.
The difference in numbers was clear.
What's more, weren't the two Ruby knights people with special talents?
Mattia and Achilleunon were famous knights even within the great power.
A chilly air settles.
The noise of rocks breaking and exploding just a moment ago felt like something that happened a month ago.
That's how messed up the sense of time was.
It was because too much had happened in a short time.
Hwareuk.
Only the sound of fire burning the air, as if meeting a mortal enemy, spread.
The start was Mattia.
Her alias was Monstrous Strength; she was confident in strength.
The knight's greatsword, kicking off the ground with a bbeong-, drew a horizontal line through space.
Matching that, Achilleunon's long spear flew behind Enkrid's right side of the head.
Both had outstanding distance control abilities.
They stopped exactly at the distance they wanted and revealed their specialties.
One with a greatsword, one with a long spear.
Enkrid stood in place and gripped Dawn with both hands.
It's not an opponent to face with two swords.
It would be nice if he could face two knights just because he had two swords, but that's difficult.
His best is when holding a single sword.
While facing two knights, naturally, the one alone is at a disadvantage and has less chance of winning.
Everyone thought so.
Only one person in this place showed confidence.
Jjeong!
Enkrid flew sideways as if bouncing and received the greatsword with Dawn.
Mattia felt her strength being pushed back momentarily.
There is no time to continue thinking.
She must press down with the clashed swords.
Mattia pressed down on the opponent as her instinct told her.
Achilleunon also chased as soon as the target moved.
He widened his stride and bent then extended his elbow.
'The match is in an instant.'
Mattia and Achilleunon's judgments overlapped.
"If it's an opponent you're seeing for the first time, retreat."
"If you don't know the opponent, don't decide the match in one blow."
"Don't forget that time and terrain can also be allies, and use them."
It was a moment when the instructor's teachings were useless.
There was no time to apply such things.
The opponent had the two on either side but did not retreat a single step, nor did he show a defensive attitude.
Boldly showing his back to one side, he faced the attack of the other.
It seemed the opponent's foot moved even before Mattia's sword finished its swing.
That's how fast the reaction was.
And that's how crazy it was.
Therefore, the tactics before the battle became a mess.
While these two learned and mastered tactics through hundreds of mock battles in the knightly order, Enkrid rolled to survive with meager skills, and later, a Frog, who would lack nothing to be called a genius of the century in terms of individual tactics, taught him.
Enkrid made a bold decision with rational thinking and just moved like that.
Whose side is time on?
Not decided.
Is it advantageous for the opponent if it drags on?
Then just make it so the opponent can't use that advantage.
"It's a simple logic. Simple action is best. Thinking of tactics while swinging a sword is for morons."
This was Luagarne's saying.
In terms of instantaneous judgment and ability to frame the battle, few in The Madmen Knights could catch up to Enkrid.
The two knights in the position of facing him found the best path within their stretched thoughts.
'If I don't know the fellow, he does not know me either.'
Mattia knew that logic.
Achilleunon had the same thought.
The two poured out everything they had.
'Strength of a Giant.'
Mattia used the special ability to defeat a giant in arm wrestling.
Achilleunon momentarily activated the Invisible Hand.
There are many born with special abilities in the South.
Among them, two knights born with monstrous strength and telekinesis were together in this place.
'You're out of luck.'
Achilleunon's head heated up and his nose bled.
Extending his long spear, he snatched Enkrid's ankle with the Invisible Hand.
His eyeballs stung and his heart felt cold.
It was a physical reaction from overusing the special ability.
Mattia was the same.
The veins on her forearm swelled as if they would burst.
Enkrid lifted his foot in order to dodge the Invisible Hand, struck the greatsword of the knight, making use of the strength pouring in from the Heath of Monstrous Strength, and then used Dawn to ride down the greatsword, trying to cut her wrist.
Mattia momentarily gripped the sword with only her left hand and struck the opponent with the flat of the greatsword, shaking him off.
Enkrid was bold here too.
He didn't do any evasive maneuvers.
Kwang!
He raised his left arm to block and deflect the greatsword that was used with the flat side.
It was the Valaf-style martial arts' Body Deflection.
At the same time, the sword in his right hand bent like a snake and pierced Mattia's neck.
If one is used to using two swords simultaneously, something like this is possible.
Using techniques with the beats of both hands staggered.
To be precise, he staggered the beats of his body and right hand.
Enkrid struck with the sword before blocking, and Mattia didn't anticipate that.
All of this boiled down to one simple and clear word.
Difference in capability.
One side was faster.
Had richer combat experience.
And did not lose in strength.
Kkurureuk.
As Mattia spilled bloody bubbles, Achilleunon's long spear stabbed Enkrid's side.
Even that wasn't a fatal blow.
"It hurts."
There were various reasons, but for words spoken by someone who had pierced a knight's neck in one blow, it was excessively plain.
"You."
Achilleunon couldn't hide his panic.
His eyeballs grew large and his nostrils widened.
People stop breathing or inhale more air when surprised.
People trained as knights are usually the latter.
Maximizing oxygen supply for explosive muscle movement.
Filling the lungs with fresh air and increasing oxygen concentration in the blood to prepare for subsequent intense activity.
Kkurureuk.
Mattia tightened her muscles to block the wound where bloody bubbles were rising and raised her greatsword again.
It's correct to die immediately if there's a hole in the neck, but a trained knight can endure.
Will held her together.
"This, kkeureuk, strength?"
Of course, it's hard to speak easily.
Even if she endures, it would be hard to last long.
"I gained it by training with a bear beastkin every morning, lunch, and dinner."
The moment swords crossed, he knew the opponent's specialty was strength.
That's why the answer was easy even if the question was incoherent.
"One more time."
Mattia said, wrapping a healing scroll for emergencies around her neck.
Blood trickled down under the scroll.
Could she live?
Achilleunon saw it as difficult.
It wasn't a hole pricked by a needle or awl.
A sword tip went in and came out.
The size of the hole was smaller than three finger joints, but larger than two.
"No time."
The situation changed.
Now, if time drags on, it's advantageous for Enkrid.
But he didn't watch the opponent die while holding the advantageous ground.
"You bastard!"
When Achilleunon and Mattia attacked again, he faced them.
He didn't pull back.
He didn't turn to defense.
Even though he had the secret technique of Killing Embers, he did not use it.
Opponents who staked the match on skills built up through a lifetime of training and discipline with outstanding talent.
'It would be a waste not to face them.'
That was the madman's thought.
Mattia thought the goddesses of fate and luck played a prank in the first fight.
She framed the battle to decide the match in one blow again and attacked, and this time two of Achilleunon's fingers were cut off.
He had just tried to move the opponent's cloak to cover his eyes and failed.
That was the price.
The blood flowing between the healing scroll wrapped around Mattia's neck increased.
If what flowed a moment ago was a calm stream, now it became an angry river.
No matter how much of a knight she was, she couldn't fight more with a wound that bad.
Enkrid clearly showed the two.
That even if the two attacked with full force, it wouldn't work, and the difference in capability was clear.
"Do you see and dodge?"
Achilleunon asked before dying.
He dangled his left arm cut from the elbow, lost one eyeball, his armor was cut and burst, and inside, pink organs were bowing their heads in greeting the sunlight.
Enkrid chose words for the opponent's question.
It was a difficult question.
Explaining it would result in too long an answer.
He pestered a guy named Jaxen to polish sensory arts, and a self-proclaimed fiancée and older elf who bet her life on jokes stabbed him with invisible blades of essence every time they sparred.
As a result, he was used to blocking invisible attacks.
Hiding traces of essence blades was routine, and Jaxen's Killing Intent-less Stab even hid killing intent.
The opponent's telekinesis was similar.
Looking at how he used it to grab ankles or hold cloaks, he knew it was a method chosen to deliberately kill killing intent.
But would the opponent be alive until he said all this?
Probably not.
Therefore, the answer had to be in The Madmen Knights' style.
"I just dodged."
Since within the knightly order, including Enkrid, they usually answer like this.
"Dog... like, bas..."
***
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