Chapter 2080 – 2080. The Fallen Empire
“Kill, kill them! Shoot poison arrows and throw the chain nets!”
A certain bandit shouted as if in a frenzy. The frozen bandits finally began to respond.
Poison-tipped arrows?
They didn’t even tickle. They were far too weak to pierce a knight’s full plate armor. Moreover, my armor was a masterpiece among masterpieces made by dwarves. Arrows without mana wouldn’t pierce it.
Of course, they seemed to know that, as they occasionally shot poison arrows imbued with mana. I caught them all with my senses and deflected those arrows with my sword.
I made sure to avoid the thrown chain nets. If I got tangled in a chain net, I would face the worst-case scenario.
I continued to advance.
“H-Huuuuh!”
A bandit who met my gaze gasped. His sword trembled. I could sense mana from him, but it didn’t feel particularly strong. He was someone who knew how to use mana but couldn’t manifest sword energy.
“D-Die!! You monster bastard!!”
The bandit swung his sword.
I didn’t even feel the need to dodge.
Clang!
The bandit’s sword was deflected. The bandit, having lost his sword, looked at me with a bewildered expression. To him, I must have seemed like a tank.
Swish.
I swung my sword and beheaded the bandit. I caught the falling head with one hand and threw it at a bandit who was trying to throw a chain net at me. The head exploded with a precise headshot. The bandit was wearing a crude helmet, but it was too weak to stop my powerful throw.
Perhaps because the scene was so gruesome, the surrounding bandits hesitated. Some glanced around, trying to escape.
“You idiots! Surround him! Surround him and throw the nets all at once!”
A bandit shouted as if he was bursting with frustration. The bandits finally seemed to realize and surrounded me. But it was already too late. I didn’t come alone.
“Help Sir Deikart!”
“You dishonorable bastards! My spear will judge you!”
“I am Rakgus! Remember my name as you die!”
The knights on horseback, having avoided the traps, charged towards the bandits. The knights’ charge was special. They used mana to reinforce not only their weapons but also their horses and armor, as if covering them with a protective barrier.
The bandits couldn’t stop the knights’ charge. If they blocked the way, their entire bodies would explode. Attack from the side? The horses were too fast for that. Moreover, the knights ignored most attacks.
However, the knights’ charge didn’t last long. The bandits retreated behind barricades to stop the horses. The knights didn’t care. They dismounted and charged towards the bandits.
“Die!”
“You have no right to live!”
I was at the forefront of the knights. If a barricade blocked the way, I would push through with force and kill the bandits. Most of the bandits could use mana, but they couldn’t stop us.
“Damn it. Burn all the food and retreat!”
A man at the very back of the bandits shouted. He looked like the leader at first glance.
“Even if we miss the others, I can’t let you, the apparent leader, get away!”
Some bandits tried to set fire to the food.
“Set fire to the food? These guys aren’t ordinary bandits! But it’s no use! I’ll show you my secret technique! Water Sword!”
Every time Rakgus swung his sword, water was created and soaked the ground. Is this a secret technique, or magic? I chuckled and ran towards the bandit leader.
The bandit leader took out a rolled-up piece of parchment from his pocket. I could feel a strange power emanating from it.
‘A magic scroll?’
The moment the leader unfurled the scroll, a thick fog spread out. The magic fog began to obscure not only sight but also sound and presence.
“You despicable bastards!”
“Every single thing you do is dirty!”
“If you’re an imperial, fight honorably!”
The knights were furious.
[The Heavenly Eye is opened.]
The Heavenly Eye pierced through the magic fog. I could see the leader’s back. I ran through the fog.
[Acceleration is used. It lasts for 10 minutes. Remaining stacks: 11]
[Time Acceleration is used. Remaining stacks: 6]
My body became faster. I quickly caught up to the leader. I was going to cut his legs first and then knock him unconscious by hitting the back of his head. The leader didn’t lose consciousness. His head was harder than I thought.
Surprisingly, the leader counterattacked me. He aimed for the gap below my helmet, at my neck, with a small knife hidden under his wrist. I quickly lowered my head. His knife grazed my helmet and slipped.
‘He reacted to my speed just now. He’s skilled.’
But it didn’t matter.
His legs were already cut while he was running with his back exposed. His last counterattack didn’t work either. If he had fought instead of running, he would have annoyed me more.
“Shit.”
The leader cursed and tried to stab himself in the neck with his knife. I swung my foot and shattered the wrist holding the knife. Before the leader could attempt suicide again, I punched him in the head and knocked him unconscious. Thankfully, he was unconscious this time.
The fog disappeared after five minutes. The knights approached me.
“Amazing, Sir Deikart. To think you would chase and subdue the leader in that fog. I am once again impressed by your skills.”
Cotton and the other knights praised me with admiration.
“Haha. I was lucky. Of course, they say luck is also a skill.”
I was appropriately modest.
“Sir Rakgus also did well. When those reckless bastards tried to set fire to the food and run away, he protected the food with his secret technique. If it weren’t for Sir Rakgus, some of the food would have been burned.”
“I was just doing what I had to do.”
The knights were in high spirits. This battle was a great victory for the knights. The enemies had underestimated the knights too much. I had also underestimated the imperial knights until now.
‘The minimum combat power of the knights is at least B-rank in terms of hunters. I can’t take them lightly.’
On the other hand, more than half of the bandits were dead.
The squires, who had scattered to clean up and investigate the surroundings, ran over to report.
“Sir Cotton! Half of the war supplies are missing! It seems they already took half of it!”
“What?! Damn it! I knew they weren’t ordinary bandits! They’re such a nuisance! First, you run to the Count and report, then come back with the soldiers to clean up this place. The other squires will guard this place!”
Rakgus, after observing the situation, spoke to me.
“Sir Deikart. We need to wake up the leader you captured and interrogate him. Please leave it to me. I learned some interrogation techniques from a torturer in the past.”
“Sir Rakgus is versatile. I’ll leave this guy to you.”
Rakgus forcibly woke up the unconscious leader using mana. His mana manipulation was quite unique. It was similar to acupressure. The other knights also looked at Rakgus with curiosity. But they didn’t ask in detail. People in this world were sensitive about their techniques.
“Kkkkkkkkk!”
Rakgus cut off the leader’s remaining arms and then tortured him.
“If you want to die peacefully, answer the questions truthfully! If you don’t answer or lie, you will suffer for the rest of your life!”
“I-I’ll talk…”
He didn’t even lie about sparing his life. That made it more effective. The bandit leader, knowing that everything was over, explained the situation.
“We are the Thorn Wing Mercenary Group. We were hired by a witch to rob the merchant caravan. We were only told to stop a few knights… I am the vice-captain of the mercenary group and didn’t receive the request directly.”
“Who is the mercenary captain?”
“Derek Kaluan. A one-eyed man. He took half of the goods from the caravan and left for the witch. I don’t know any other details… He left with his subordinates carrying the goods, so they wouldn’t have been able to erase their tracks.”
Elmeyer ordered his squire to find the tracks.
“Sir Elmeyer! I found the tracks! They lead into the forest!”
The knights clicked their tongues.
“The forest. It’ll be annoying to track them. We can’t even ride our horses…”
“We have to chase them right now. If we give up here or let them get away, our honor will be tarnished. We won’t be able to face our lord.”
“More than that, I’m worried about the witch. What kind of magic will that witch use… It would be a disaster if she cursed us.”
Witch.
It was the title given to the rare, naturally born magic users in the Felheim Empire. Since only women were born as natural magic users, they were called witches. However, outside the empire, they were simply called mages.
It was said that witches were strangely more common in the Felheim Empire.
“Even if we get cursed, we can just get it removed later, right? What’s urgent now is catching Derek Kaluan. After that, we can catch the witch who hired them.”
I looked at the knights and said,
“Let’s leave half of the squires here and move. We need to move quickly to catch them.”
“Sir Deikart is right. We need to catch them, so let’s move.”
We followed the tracks into the forest.
However, without horses, our speed was slow. Still, the tracks didn’t disappear, so we had no choice but to keep going.
After some time, the sun began to set, and the tracks suddenly disappeared. The knights were flustered.
“The tracks have disappeared. What should we do?”
“We need to stay calm in times like this.”
“Sir Elmeyer. Calm or not, it seems like we’re screwed…”
“There must be a reason why they suddenly erased their tracks.”
“Isn’t it because they realized we were tracking them?”
“That could be the case. But in my opinion, they were focused on escaping, not erasing tracks. There’s a distance between us. If they leave the territory, it’ll be hard for us to chase them. It would cause disputes with other lords.”
“…So, the reason they erased the tracks is to hide nearby?”
“That’s my guess. So, we need to search this area.”
Following Elmeyer’s suggestion, we searched the area. The sun had set, and what we found was a small village.
Cotton called the knights together.
“It’s hard to find them without tracks. Since it’s getting dark, they must be hiding somewhere to rest. So, how about we rest in that village and look again when the sun rises tomorrow?”
I immediately agreed.
“It’s not good to search blindly. How about we go to the village, rest, and get help from the residents? We can have the residents search for them. It’s for the Count, so the villagers will naturally cooperate.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea, Sir Deikart!”
“But what if the villagers don’t cooperate?”
“Not cooperating with us is the same as rebelling against the Count. We can kill a few as an example.”
“That’s excellent wisdom, Sir Deikart. But we should count people as ‘persons,’ not ‘heads.’”
“Ah, my mistake. I’ll be careful, Sir Elmeyer.”
“Haha. You don’t have to be that careful.”
We laughed and entered the village.
The village chief rushed out to greet us. Cotton stepped forward and asserted the rights of a knight to the village chief.
“We will stay in this village tonight. Prepare good beds, delicious food, cool drinks, and beautiful women!”
I liked the Empire too much.
