Ch.6: Small Victory
The invading army, conscious of royal intervention, had once retreated from their siege, but they ca flooding in like a tide to prevent any ti for reorganization.
Waaaaaaah-!
The defending side had only about 300 n in total, including all conscripts, while the attacking side had over 2,000 elite soldiers alone. To make matters worse, the advantages of siege warfare didn't apply very much.
Teoong!
Shaaak.
Siege ladders were placed against various parts of the inner castle walls, and Viscount Yenton's elite soldiers activated their neural accelerators. With enhanced bodies and quick reaction speeds, they climbed the walls in an instant.
Whiiik, taak!
So defenders shot arrows at them, but most soldiers easily dodged, and those with good abilities even caught the arrows directly.
"......Damn it."
Befitting the appearance of the 'Age of Close Combat', the defenders steeled themselves and prepared for battle on the castle walls.
Whirilirik-kaang!
The first one to climb up the castle wall imdiately threw a hand axe as soon as he showed his face. Just as the defender in front hurriedly twisted his waist, he explosively leaped forward using that gap.
Right after that, he finished with a clean thrust that would be difficult for ordinary eyes to react to in ti.
Puook!
"Keuk, kheup......"
And at the very mont the first casualty occurred, Calix was standing nearby.
No one can remain calm in the middle of a murder scene, and Calix was no exception.
"......"
Although he had experienced countless deaths during his life as a mine slave, this was his first experience with blood spurting like a fountain.
He had received combat training on the way here, but a life-or-death fight had sothing fundantally different from ordinary practice.
Confusion, fear, and even the desire to run away.
Fortunately, his mind was quickly organized.
[Emotional abnormality detected]
[Neural substance injection]
[Entering real combat mode. Please be careful of dizziness]
[Reality acceleration 1.5x]
Neural accelerators were said to be inventions of mages.
For Calix, sothing truly magical unfolded.
As he entered a state of hyper-concentration with the feeling of ti perception slowing down, his montarily stopped brain began to turn.
Honestly speaking, there would be no need to bravely fight back.
The most important factor was survival.
"Ueoah-aah!"
However, even if he ran away in terror like so conscripts, there was no guarantee of survival...... Since that was the case, he had to fight as advantageously as possible and endure.
Once he made his decision, the next step was to put it into action.
Calix kicked off and rushed toward the enemy soldier who was now charging at his second target.
Paak!
In the mont when his muscles, maximized with the assistance of the neural accelerator, quickly pushed his entire body forward, his right hand grasped the broken spear shaft he had tucked at his waist.
'Fortunately, the light isn't very clear.'
Considering that the attacker's neural accelerator showed a dim gray color, it was a gamble worth trying.
However, since he didn't know when other enemy soldiers might climb up, Calix also put his full effort into one attack.
'Faster, faster.'
[Combat enhancent activated]
[Reality Acceleration, 1.6x]
Hwaaak-
As his reaction speed was enhanced in an instant, the resistance felt on his skin also increased. His head was spinning fast, but it felt like his body couldn't keep up.
Still, there was no problem.
'If I remove excessive force from my body and just lean my upper body forward...... I'll naturally beco faster.'
His experience as a diver shone once again, and based on the exquisite sense of balance that seed like he would fall forward but wouldn't, his acceleration exploded.
Shuwaak!
That force soon gathered at the tip of the spear shaft, gripped with both hands, and was fiercely driven toward the enemy soldier's back.
Puuuook!
Kwadang-!
Just before the spear tip pierced, the opponent hurriedly looked back, but instead, the spear tip aid at his back pierced through his chest, and Calix put his weight behind it and drove it into the ground.
Huu, huu, huu.
Whose rough breathing was this?
'Did I kill him? No, is he dead?'
"Keuk, keuk, keureureuek......"
Tuk.
First murder.
However, since there was no ti to be lost in sentint, Calix recovered the spear tip embedded in the dead man's flesh and pushed away the waves of emotion.
Dalgeuraek.
The price of the gamble was one longsword that the enemy soldier had been using and-
"Neueo, neueoeo......"
[Voice signal adjustnt]
[Combat enhancent deactivated]
[Reality Acceleration, 1.5x]
"You are......"
The bewildered expression of the allied soldier who had received help.
"There's nowhere to run."
"......"
"So let's fight together and survive."
"......Heu, acting all superior."
The soldier replied gruffly, but gratitude toward Calix was evident in his expression and attitude. Since Calix had saved his life, he was no longer just so conscript.
The sa was true for the others.
"Volga!"
"Eoeo, I'm going. I'm also going out to fight! What are you doing, you guys! Let's go!"
Waaaaaaah!
Rather than encouraging everyone, Calix called out a specific person's na to make them take the lead, then went around the castle walls where a full-scale battle was taking place and lent a hand.
In reality, how great could the moves of a conscript who was too busy adapting to the neural accelerator to properly learn swordsmanship even once be?
He watched the color and clarity of light emitted by neural accelerators regardless of enemy or ally, found places that were quickly fading, and went there to balance things out.
Kaang!
"Huuk, huuk......"
"Fall back! You protruded too far alone!"
"Damn bastard, you're the only one acting superior again......"
Naturally, it was impossible to cut people down like chopping firewood, but since it was entirely possible to bring his sword to the path where a blade was coming down, he grabbed Volga's neck, whose life was hanging by a thread, and dragged him back.
After confirming that the defensive line was straightened, this ti he conversely rushed toward an enemy soldier who had penetrated too deeply among the enemies.
Deureureurek!
Puook!
The ambush from the side failed as the blade deflected off the opponent's chain mail, but before it could lead to a crisis, the allied soldier who had been facing off drove his blade into the enemy's abdon.
A finish aided by luck.
Still, there was no leisure to rest.
Peoook! Kwadang!
Just about ten steps away, an allied soldier was being struck by a mace and falling like a log.
Like his caved-in head, a new hole had appeared in the defensive line.
'I have to go.'
As he tried to move his steps again.
[Exhausted state due to muscle overload]
[Rest is recomnded]
"......I haven't even fought that much."
Even if he forced himself to speak, the cold reality didn't change.
Insufficient als, three weeks of marching, and the overwhelming fatigue that followed the extre concentration during battle were eating away at Calix's stamina in real ti.
And most of all, as is always the case with battle, waves cannot be stopped with just two hands.
Beonttuk!
[Warning, combat alert]
[A mid-level entity is approaching nearby]
[Please avoid]
"Ah......"
A 'clear purple light' that had been among the extre minority on the battlefield was approaching Calix.
***
"Hmm."
Royce, the leader of the rcenary group 'Mountain Rabbits', climbed up to the castle wall and looked around. The western wall seed to be getting organized, except for so parts.
"Boss. It's obviously all over...... Are you going to dance or sothing?"
"Haigo, you bastard. The employer wants us to earn our money."
"They said to finish organizing the western wall, when did they speak so cheaply?"
"That's the sa thing. Since there seems to be a problem, go up and pay with your life. Isn't that what it ans?"
Basim, who was both a dwarf technician and combatant, and Hadiya, from a desert tribe, couldn't stand it, started arguing.
Behind them, about 40 people climbed up the ladders one by one.
Just because their na was funny didn't an they could be taken lightly, because they were one of the leading large rcenary groups in the kingdom.
Then suddenly, Royce looked at one place and quietly nodded his head.
"That's the one."
"You an the one in plate armor?"
It was Vice-Captain Marik who responded.
However, he had guessed wrong.
"No, the pale one."
"......His equipnt is poor."
"He must be a conscript. He's holding a sword but isn't wearing any armor at all. If he were a soldier belonging to a territory, he would at least have leather padding."
What followed was a simple agreent.
"......His movents are good. His battlefield vision is quite wide."
"He also knows how to utilize his strengths. He doesn't seem to know how to use a sword, but he's pretty good for soone like that."
"Certainly, he doesn't start unfavorable fights at all. He only chooses advantageous locations, and if it seems unfavorable, he retreats and then charges in with allies."
"I guess this is how he's managed not to collapse so far. The ones who should be commanding on the field are just stuck next to the lord."
"Oh, are you going directly?"
"I have to earn my money."
And right after that, rcenary leader Royce walked along the castle wall.
Since the opponent had nowhere to run, there was no need to hurry.
"Iyaaaak-!"
When a defender who hadn't been dealt with yet charged at him, he just stopped walking for a mont. After lightly tilting his upper body according to the blade's movent to dodge, just as the opponent who failed in the surprise attack tried to recover his body's center.
Deopseok! Whiiii-
Uaaaah!
He grabbed him by the collar and threw him outside the castle wall.
Overwhelming neural accelerator performance and extraordinary strength to back it up.
"......"
Even without the common evaluation that he could beco a knight and more if he set his mind to it, his strength was evident enough that the defenders just hesitantly retreated.
And at the end of that, two people faced each other.
The leader of 'Mountain Rabbits', Royce, looked at Calix for a while before moving his hand to the right side of his waist and drawing his sword.
Seureureureurik.
His first impression was quite pleasing.
'He's not rolling his eyes, looking for a place to run, and he won't hide behind allies half-heartedly...... Is that it? He's brave.'
There was nowhere to run from a castle wall on the verge of falling anyway, but his basic attitude was acceptable.
So he activated his neural accelerator at low output to give leeway and tested the opponent's level by extending his sword from where he stood and slightly shaking its tip.
"Even if it's low output, it would be a high figure for a beginner. You've set it up well."
"......?"
"I'm saying this because I see your pupils moving following the sword tip. It's a common technique rcenaries use when gauging the output level of neural accelerators. Your experience is certainly immature."
By estimation, the neural acceleration level was at most '1.6', even being generous.
Pretty good for a conscript, but in the rcenary world, it was the level of just escaping the beginner stage.
'So what will you do now?'
Everyone knew that he couldn't win by fighting. Not just Calix, but the expressions of the soldiers beside him showed that.
Kwaaaaang!
Indeed, since the strongest among the attackers had headed for the castle gate, the battle would end soon.
So perhaps it could be resolved with words.
"Will you beg? If you ask
to spare your life, I might consider it. This battle isn't a war to kill even the seeds. It's just a territorial war. A quarrel among high and mighty people."
"......"
"Shall I let you go like this?"
Instead of answering, Calix clumsily raised his sword.
The position of both feet, the way he gripped the sword, etc. Nothing was done properly...... It was at the level of crudely imitating the basic swordsmanship stance he had stolen glimpses of from knights as a child.
However, his finely trembling pupils remained straight toward the rcenary captain. What shouldn't be misunderstood was that this wasn't trembling from fear.
Tseutseutseutseutseuk.
When he suddenly raised the output to 1.7x with combat enhancent, the surrounding people staying in a specific flow of ti simply didn't notice that minute change.
"You raised your accelerator output."
"......"
"Yes, that's how it should be."
At this, rcenary captain Royce showed a genuinely sincere smile for the first ti in a long while.
Anyone who would live by the sword should be like that.
All that remained was to assess how much talent he possessed.
Swaaaaak!
Whether he was worth bringing along or not, the final test would be sufficient with just one slash.
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