Shadowed Gaze: The Highserk War Saga - Chapter 86

In contrast to the mercenary group that had shifted to a wait-and-see approach, the Meizenaf troops charged in all at once. They were a cut above the common soldiers encountered so far. The more Walm observed them up close, the more certain he became of their capabilities. They wielded well-worn equipment and trampled over the Dalimarcus troops without being swept up in the heat of battle, proceeding with a cold efficiency.

Despite being a local skirmish, their standard of fighting reached that of soldiers who had once staked the existence of their nations in the fierce battles of the northern countries.

Walm felt an out-of-place nostalgia for his own kind, the likes of the Highserk troops. There was no time to indulge in sentimentality as he crossed spears with them. After a few exchanges with the blade, his muscle memory took over, and Walm did not miss the trajectory of the spear.

The halberd he thrust, following the path of his retracted spear, was drawn into the gap in the throat armor of his opponent. The deadly blade fulfilled its intended role, and blood flowed from the armor following a breath mixed with a watery sound.

Walm ignored the enemy who had lost the ability to fight and focused on his next opponent. The enemy slightly extended his round shield and, folding his elbow, readied his long sword. This was no common soldier forced to learn poking and group maneuvers in a rush. He had been trained in combat regularly, refining his skills into a personal form of warfare.

Having witnessed Walm’s earlier exchange, the enemy tried to close the distance while circling to the right, planning to dive into Walm’s reach after deflecting a spear thrust with his longsword and round shield.

Once he engaged, he would not let go. When Walm made a small thrust, his spear tip was deflected by the edge of the round shield. The enemy lunged into the distance as Walm retracted his weapon. Walm, anticipating this, took a step back and scooped up his halberd from below.

The enemy soldier, supporting his left hand holding the round shield with his right hand still gripping the sword, tried to deflect the strike. In a forward-leaning low stance, if he could evade the halberd strike, he would undoubtedly step in and execute a shoulder charge on the off-balance Walm.

Walm poured his strength and magic power into the halberd, striking with a Strong Strike. The regular soldier, realizing his mistake, widened his eyes.

“Guuh, tss, aaaaah?!”

The axe-like blade, biting into the shield, tore through the iron plate and reinforced wood, severing the left forearm. The soldier tried to fend off the follow-up attack with his remaining right arm, but the sudden flow of blood and pain deprived his movements of their precision.

The twisted spear penetrated through the jaw, immediately incapacitating the respiratory organs. Although the regular soldier was at a disadvantage in terms of skill, he did not panic, creating space and distance, trying to avoid a one-on-one with Walm.

“You’re skilled. Avoid one-on-ones. Don’t waste energy unnecessarily,” Walm thought, receiving unappreciated advice from an enemy equivalent to a non-commissioned officer, a 10-man team leader.

Walm glanced around. The situation was deteriorating rapidly, and his allies were continuing to retreat into the limited confines of the castle. If the entire force got caught in this chaos, annihilation was inevitable.

Walm watched a longsword graze his temple and immediately pulled back his leg. A short spear thrust through the space where he had been just moments ago from the side.

“Don’t get too involved, whittle them down.”

Even as Walm tried to reduce their numbers, deadly blades relentlessly closed in. He slid the sword blade off his gauntlet and evaded a large swinging war mace with a step. Keeping his breath shallow, he continued to move his entire body.

“Phew, haaah!”

He felt the sword tip through his armor. No matter how much it was considered a second skin or a magical barrier, it was not omnipotent enough to prevent a direct hit.

“Keep attacking! Don’t let him rest!”

“Maintain distance, don’t get too close!”

The enemy soldiers communicated, coordinating without breaking their formation. Fatigue accumulated, and wounds increased. Along with this, Walm’s heart continued to race. His body, which had been forced to rest for a long period, was gradually adapting.

Walm, who had defended against a stabbing attack with the axe head of his halberd, did not miss the Meizenaf soldier who was rushing in, holding a spear at his waist, almost directly from the side.

Two enemies in front, and three more to his left and rear – Walm was surrounded, and it must have seemed like an opportune moment to strike. Being continuously poked without a break was the least desirable situation for Walm. He longed for an overconfident soldier rushing in from a safe distance to deliver a fatal blow and smiled darkly.

“Stop, fall back!”

Swinging his halberd to the right without any preparatory movement, Walm executed a strike so swift that even the warnings of the experienced soldiers were in vain. The blow, delivered with such force that his grip covered even the stone butt at the base of the handle, cut through the soldier’s throat without allowing any chance for defense or evasion.

The balance of the battle shifted in Walm’s favor. In close combat, once the balance tips, it leads to a cascading collapse. To Walm’s right, there was only one soldier left. The surrounding soldiers, wary of their encirclement being broken, rallied to assist the isolated comrade, hoping to reestablish their numerical advantage.

Walm correctly recognized this tactic and knew exactly how to disrupt it. While it was easy to attack the isolated soldier, a well-defended soldier could prove tenacious, and Walm couldn’t avoid the covering attacks from the others.

His targets were two soldiers to his left, whom he rapidly closed in on, accelerated by wind magic. The distance between Walm and them was ideal for a fight to the death. The two enemy soldiers, their faces tinged with surprise, halted and braced for a relentless defense.

There was no time for careful swordplay. Walm raised his halberd above his head and brought it down with immense force. The soldier wielding a longsword couldn’t withstand the powerful strike, his weak resistance faltering as he was knocked back. The axe head of the halberd smashed through his collarbone, severing the arm halfway.

Continuing forward with inertia, Walm collided with the mortally wounded soldier. Seizing the soldier by the throat, Walm swapped positions with a dance-like movement, turning around his opponent.

A soldier on the left, now alone, swung his war hammer horizontally. The dull sound of metal indicated to Walm that it had only struck the back of a dying comrade.

“You bastard!!”

They were close enough to grapple each other. Naturally, this range favored the war hammer, and the halberd should have been less effective. Amidst the soldier’s minor swing with the war hammer, Walm kicked up the longsword and grabbed it with one hand.

It was a weapon dropped by the fatally wounded soldier, and as the war hammer came swinging down, Walm countered with the longsword. The blades collided with a high-pitched clang, the sword slid along the hammer’s handle, severing the four fingers gripping it.

“No, ah! AHH―”

Ignoring the war hammer flying in the wrong direction, Walm slid forward and thrust the longsword at the soldier’s throat, cutting off his vocal cords and abruptly silencing him. Leaving the sound of air mixed with blood behind, Walm faced the remaining three soldiers.

“Charge, kill him!!”

As the 10-man team leader’s order rang out, the soldiers rushed forward. Walm, with his halberd stained crimson, slashed it through the air. Though out of range, his aim was to fling the blood caked on the blade.

“Dodge!!”

The soldiers had no time to shield their faces as the blood of their comrade splattered into their eyes, forcing a reflexive blink and obscuring their vision. What awaited the immobilized soldier was a horizontal swing of Walm’s halberd.

Biting into the forearm and penetrating the torso, the halberd destroyed even the iron armor. Blood gushed from the deep wound, and the soldier, with a fatal injury to his organs, collapsed to his knees, motionless.

“Wha― Ah, ugh―”

The remaining two soldiers, not letting their comrade’s sacrifice be in vain, struck down at Walm with a longsword and a battle axe. The distance, space, and limbs were insufficient for Walm to parry.

Determined, Walm entangled the hook-like blade of his halberd with the battle axe to avoid a direct hit. The 10-man team leader, focused and relentless, initiated a tug-of-war between the entangled halberd and battle axe.

“GET HIM!!”

The last subordinate was striking down at Walm with a longsword. It was a powerful, unhesitating blow that would have been unblockable even with armor. It was a clever coordination, effectively restraining Walm’s halberd.

Internally cursing yet admiring their strategy, Walm let go of his halberd. Surprised, the 10-man team leader’s eyes widened. “If you fancy my halberd so much, you can have it for a while.”

Gripping the longsword’s hilt, Walm stepped back half a step while turning his waist. The blade, drawn at the shortest distance, was stopped just shy of the neck. The clash was momentary. Twisting his wrist, Walm flicked the blade, cutting from the right side of the soldier’s head to the left jaw.

Released from the power struggle, the 10-man team leader, now leaning forward, tried to bring his battle axe down on Walm’s skull. The unavoidable outcome would have been a shattered skull and exposed brain matter.

However, that didn’t happen. Pressed closely, without time or space to turn his wrist, Walm simply pulled back the hilt of the longsword.

“Oo, a―ahh…”

The strike, powered by magically enhanced strength, shattered the jaw and shook the brain. The 10-man team leader, staggering, collapsed to the ground as Walm smoothly thrust the longsword into him. The man reached out trembling hands, grasping at nothing before falling to the ground.

“Such precise aim.”

Without a moment to relish the aftermath, magic was already closing in on Walm. A fireball detonated at his feet, spreading an explosion and setting the soldiers he had been fighting with ablaze.

“Direct hit!!”

A light, out-of-place female voice reached his ears. Surrounded by flames, Walm narrowed his eyes in discomfort, fixing his gaze on the culprits.

Translator – Lyxxna