Shadowed Gaze: The Highserk War Saga - Chapter 85

Lured by the scent of blood and intoxicated by the carnage, the soldiers rushed in like carnivorous fish. Those who had been watching from a distance now gathered their numbers and charged at Walm. He thrust the tip of his halberd into them, standing his ground to meet their attack. The soldiers in the front displayed an aggressive posture, but there was a certain hesitancy in their movement, as if their hearts weren’t fully in it. It was a transparent feint.

“Here I go!!”

Walm quickly shifted his stance and leaped towards a soldier trying to circle to his left. In a blink, the distance closed, and the soldier reflexively swung his mace down, aiming for Walm’s head.

The blunt weapon, cutting through the air with a whoosh, grazed Walm’s temple, striking nothing but air, failing to bite into flesh or metal. The Meizenaf soldier, having exposed a vulnerability, covered his upper body with a round shield. To an observer, it might seem like a solid defensive move, but to anyone with a certain level of skill, such a defense that created its own blind spots was fundamentally flawed.

Walm, exploiting this blind spot, thrust his halberd between the soldier’s legs and pulled back with all his might. The hooked blade on the side tore through the soldier’s clothes and the ligaments at the back of his knees.

“Ugh, gyaaahhh!!”

The soldier, screaming with saliva frothing at his mouth, collapsed to the ground. His comrades, attempting to compensate for their fellow’s blunder, pressed in from the front and right side.

Timing his thrust with the soldier lunging from the front, Walm drove his halberd forward. Their spear tips crossed, but Walm deflected it with the side blade, and the enemy’s spear passed over his head. In contrast, Walm’s halberd gouged the enemy soldier’s throat.

A gaping hole opened in the soldier’s throat, and blood spurted out instantly. The soldier, clutching his throat in a desperate attempt, was already out of Walm’s focus as he turned to address the threat from his right. The remaining soldier’s war axe, with its sharp vertical trajectory, was closing in.

Although the axe had the power to cleave through helmets and armor, its large, vertical swing was predictable, and unless taken by surprise, it was unlikely to hit its mark.

Walm, pulling one leg back, adopted a half-facing stance towards the enemy soldier, keeping his eyes fixed on the axe. Twisting his upper body and ducking, the blade grazed his cheek and passed by.

“Wha-aaah?!”

The soldier’s expression of rage instantly turned to fear as he tried to regain his footing. But it was all too late. The tip of Walm’s halberd slid under his arm, reaching his heart. The spear mercilessly ravaged his arteries, snatching away his life in an instant.

Walm cracked open the skull of another soldier who, despite losing his ligaments, still dared to charge at him, using the side blade of his halberd. Wiping the blood stuck to his weapon, Walm then caught the scream of Karim, who was supposed to have been retreating with a friend.

“Who is that guy?!”

Reacting to the scream, Walm’s eyes caught sight of something unbelievable.

“Hey there, where are you going? Come play with me, little bunnies!”

There was a mercenary, pursuing a fleeing young boy with an agility that wasn’t expected of his massive frame. The giant, possessing strength even greater than his size suggested, literally smashed through the resisting Dalimarcus soldiers as he closed in on the two. It was impossible to find a spot on his body that wasn’t drenched in blood.

“Uwaaah, don’t come here, go awayyyy!”

“Kuuh, ugh, such cute cries, so enticing, fuuuh.”

The most repulsive aspect was the swelling at his lower abdomen, unnaturally engorged in a manner wholly unsuited for the battlefield. He was an exceedingly distasteful individual. Even if he were to be reborn, it was certain that Walm would never be able to form any friendly ties with him.

“Perverts, they’re everywhere.”

Accelerated by wind magic, Walm launched a Strong Strike from behind. The man’s appearance and behavior were repulsive, but his threat was incomparable to the surrounding soldiers.

His halberd should have split the giant’s skull, but the man, at the last moment, bent his neck back almost to the point of tearing it off. Planting his leading foot as a pivot, the giant spun around, his two-handed sword clashing with the descending halberd, deflecting its tip.

“Who, whaAAAT!?”

Not only did the man possess a blessed physique, but also the control to master it, wielding his sword without being overpowered by it. Ah, indeed marvelous. Fortune was fair. Even from the brief encounter, Walm could tell that the man had something everyone desired.

“Disgusting muscle dummy, go hump the ground or something.”

“Shuuut uuuup, don’t get in my way!”

The clash of “Strong Strikes” briefly illuminated with a dazzling light. It was not merely brute strength; these sword strokes were backed by extraordinary physical power, a troublesome opponent who could easily dismantle any slight trickery.

“Seems like a musclehead, but he’s got some neat tricks up his sleeve.”

Walm cursed his own miscalculation, realizing this was an opponent he should have finished off with the first strike. He launched several thrusts to gauge reactions, but the man did not parry in the same way twice.

“Annoying, so annoying, damn annoying… Guys like you, ah, are no fun at all.”

Walm’s thrust, repelled by the belly of the sword, had its return stroke diverted by a hooked blade aiming for his wrist. Sliding his hand along the hilt, Walm adjusted his grip and unleashed a diagonal slash to repel the man who was pressing into his personal space.

The man, favoring brute force, shifted from his charge to circling to Walm’s left, evading the downward strike of the halberd.

“Using small tricks with that appearance…”

Mixing feints to the head and attempting to sweep the feet, Walm’s every move was blocked by the man’s agile steps and sword handling. The two-handed sword, heavy as it was, moved as if it were a twig, ready to deliver a crushing blow at any opening.

“Ah, aah, AHH, just die already! Dieeee!”

The man moved in, seemingly carelessly. Reluctantly, Walm responded. He couldn’t afford to take his time – it was merely a duel between two soldiers. If surrounded, enemy spears would greedily devour Walm’s insides.

With all his might, Walm’s halberd shot straight for the man’s throat. The man attempted to twist its trajectory with his sword guard. The brief clash of guards tilted in Walm’s favor.

The pushed aside halberd plunged toward the man’s throat. Its side blade tore the skin, drawing blood. Walm muttered a curse under his breath.

“Damn it.”

The man, tilting and folding his upper body, narrowly avoided severing his carotid artery or spine. A two-handed sword raised high came crashing down.

“Ahhh!! Die, just dieee!!”

It was too late to dodge. Walm chose to move forward, blocking the blade at its base with his gauntlet. The surface was scraped off, and the magical barrier violently peeled away. His ulna creaked in protest but did not break.

Biting his teeth and with cheeks flushed with excitement, Walm lunged into the man’s chest. The man welcomed him as if greeting a beloved lover.

“Damn youuu, I’ll crush you to death!!”

“Hah! Try it, you bastard!!”

Both discarding their weapons, Walm and the man wrapped their arms around each other’s shoulders and waists. Pure strength was not in Walm’s favor. Stepping back to match the man’s forward momentum, Walm entangled his leg. Both tumbled to the ground in unison.

Feeling the man’s hot breath in close contact, a chill ran down Walm’s back. The man’s open jaw attempted to bite off Walm’s throat. Walm pulled his head back and swung it forward with momentum. The headbutt, empowered by his helmet Saverlia, left a painful mark on the man’s face. His nose was crushed, blood dripped, and front teeth chipped.

“Ha, your ugly face looks better now!!”

“Huuuh, I’ll smash you into pulp!”

Their entangled bodies were not easily separated. Their coiled arms slowly reached their limits. Walm had no intention of continuing a mere test of strength. He cast a dark smile.

“Do you like the heat?”

Walm conjured magical power, and the man realized it was already too late.

“Shut uuppp, ah, AHH! Gyyaaahh!!”

Wrapping his hand from the man’s armpit to the shoulder blade and touching the throat with the other, Walm materialized fire magic. Flames engulfed them both. Unlike Walm, who possessed fire resistance, the man’s sebum burst, blood boiled, and flesh charred.

Desperate to escape the flames, their tangled limbs wouldn’t easily come apart. A normal person’s throat burned would lead to immediate death, but the man’s ample magical power’s protective barrier delayed his demise.

“Ahh, gah, Gyyaaahh… ah…”

His vocal cords seared, eventually, blue flames burst from his mouth. Walm, having burned through the neck, stood up quietly.

He stood out too much. Almost all around were enemy soldiers. Walm tossed the man’s head to the following mercenaries. The mercenaries, showing the ease of the powerful, halted in their tracks.

“Hey, hey, Digor got taken out.”

“Ugh, he’s all charred.”

“That guy always had a thing for boys. I knew he’d end up like this.”

“But what about ‘that’? Fighting him doesn’t seem worth it.”

The mercenaries spoke as if it were someone else’s concern. Both the mercenaries and the regular troops shifted their attention from the baron’s common foot soldiers to the one who was causing chaos. Walm felt drawn into the theatricality of the battlefield, as if he were about to dance wildly at its center. It meant the opening of a stage that would not end until one side danced to their death.

Translator – Lyxxna