A few dozen meters from the main gate of Alsace, the most intense battle is unfolding at the river and its banks.
“Goooaah!”
An Orc Warrior swings a thick, long-bladed Greatsword with ease, charging straight at the enemy.
“Damn, Hard Body!”
In response, a Heavy Cavalry Knight deflects the attack with his shield and pushes the Orc back as if rebounding.
Even for an Orc known for its immense strength, being met with the full force of a trained Heavy Cavalry Knight armed with martial arts can cause them to stagger backward in surprise.
“Charge!”
The Heavy Cavalry Knight activates the martial arts technique ‘Charge’, increasing the piercing power of his Halberd and launching a counterattack at the unsteady Orc.
However, the enemy is no slouch; despite its compromised stance, the Orc swiftly raises its Greatsword with one arm and deflects the approaching spearhead.
The defended Orc steps back a few paces, resetting the distance for the next engagement.
“Hah… hah… Demon Race, I didn’t expect them to be this tough…”
The captain of the 3rd Heavy Cavalry Unit murmurs breathlessly after seeing only twenty or so Demon Race warriors charge out from the main gate; he thought it was an opportunity.
These warriors are elite among the Demons defending Alsace, and he had confidence that if they could scatter them, their attack would surge forward.
But now, facing the clash of blades, reality sets in.
The tremendous charging power of the Demon Race has already disrupted their straight line formation, leading to a chaotic and muddy melee.
Despite their numbers exceeding those of the enemy, even the heavily armored knights, with their ironclad defenses, are beginning to fall one by one.
The situation prompts a decline in morale among the Heavy Cavalry, while the Demon Race grows more spirited, launching fierce attacks accompanied by terrifying roars.
Even the Demons, who have reduced in number by about two-thirds, have fallen prey to the heavy halberds wielded by the Heavy Cavalry.
Among the surviving less than twenty Demons, not a single one remains unscathed; each is drenched in blood, a mix of their own and that of their opponents.
Yet, they continue to fight fiercely, and even seasoned Heavy Cavalry members cannot help but feel an eerie sense of fear from their resolve.
It’s possible they might truly be pushed back by this momentum.
“It’s impossible, we cannot lose! — ‘Great Cut!’”
The captain successfully deflects another Orc attack, using the axe part of his Halberd to counter it.
The martial arts technique ‘Great Cut’, known for its increased slashing power, finally finds its mark on the Orc’s torso, tearing through its thick leather armor and dealing a fatal blow.
“Goraah, grugh…”
Blood spews from the Orc as it is sliced vertically, and with blood bubbling from its mouth, the beast’s massive body finally sinks to the ground.
This marks the second Demon taken down.
For the Heavy Cavalry captain, it remains only two.
At the corner of his vision, he sees a subordinate being crushed by the massive sword of a two-meter tall werewolf.
“Damn, at this rate—”
“Don’t take your eyes away in the middle of battle, scrap knight.”
That voice delivered along with an overwhelming killing intent prompts a swift reaction, a testament to his skills.
“Hard Body!”
“Black Calm!”
A flash of dark swordplay; even defending with martial arts does not completely nullify its power, forcing him to step back involuntarily.
Yet, he maintains his stance; showing a gap now would allow that ‘Demon’ to certainly strike him down, and he has already understood that this enemy is precisely that type of character.
“Haah!”
Instinctively, he swings his Halberd — it meets resistance.
He manages to deflect two black long swords that came as a follow-up attack.
Once again, he readies his shield in preparation for further onslaught, but the enemy also momentarily retreats.
“That ‘Demon’… this man is too dangerous; I must take him down now.”
He firmly locks eyes with the figure clad in all black, known as the ‘Demon’, through his helmet.
This man, who repelled Kilvan’s squad headed to occupy Irz Village, thwarted infantry charges with black magic in the previous battle, and built a mound of countless corpses by the riverside — his achievements are undeniably worthy of the appellation ‘Demon’ by the Crusaders.
Standing face to face, this realization becomes even more pronounced.
The man has black hair and black eyes with an extremely sharp gaze, and his jet-black robe is now stained with both his own and the enemy’s blood.
Yet, unlike other Demons, he overflows with fighting spirit, raising the morale of the Demon Race around him.
In those dark eyes, resembling the night, he clearly sees a deep-seated hatred boiling beneath the surface.
“…Here I come!”
Banishing the rising fear with steel-like resolve, he steps forward with a lethal intent.
All of this ‘Demon’s’ attacks are terrifying, but he already understands from prior encounters that with this armor and shield, he can adequately defend against them.
Even the menacing great axe of the huge blade he had been struck by earlier failed to cleave through his large shield, leaving only surface scratches.
(I will approach and deflect his attacks with ‘Hard Body’, and once he is off balance, I will finish him with ‘Charge’ or ‘Great Cut’!)
He faithfully adheres to the basic strategy of a Heavy Cavalry Knight, attacking.
With the certain defense against the enemy’s attacks, and the ability to deliver a lethal counter with a single strike, there’s no need for unnecessary tricks.
It’s a basic yet fully formed strategy without weaknesses.
“Whoaah!”
“Magic Bullet!”
The terrifying black bullets that had mercilessly slain the infantry strike against his upraised shield.
“Don’t think you can stop me with this level of attack!”
A considerable recoil runs through his arm, but it’s not enough to halt his charge.
Undeterred, he pushes forward with his assault.
“—Black Calm!”
“Hard Body!”
The exchange of techniques resumes, but this time the body positions of both are reversed.
The heavy great shield, unleashing a force as if a rolling boulder were charging, cannot be cleaved through by the martial arts technique ‘Black Calm’ alone.
“Guh—”
The ‘Demon’s’ stance falters.
This clear opening is one not to be missed by one capable enough to have risen to the rank of Heavy Cavalry captain.
“I’ve got you!”
He raises the Halberd, unleashing the martial arts ‘Great Cut’ that can even slice through rock.
“—I told you not to look away.”
With this straightforward strike of the Halberd aimed at the grinning ‘Demon’, it should all end.
But his arms won’t move; no, he feels his strength rapidly draining from his body.
“Walking in the darkness, dancing in the night, a single white blade—’Shadow Crossing Hanzou’.”
He hears someone’s voice in his ears.
Someone is riding on his shoulder, and that person has driven a blade into his neck.
Only he cannot comprehend what has happened, but the ‘Demon’ standing before him sees everything clearly.
A woman, having approached to the utmost limit with her presence suppressed by the Power of Blessing, is seated on the Heavy Cavalry Knight’s shoulder, deeply inserting a large dagger through the gap in his armor at his neck.
“Kah—”
But all he can see is the fountain of bright red blood spewing from his neck and the face of the grinning ‘Demon’ beyond it.
He cannot even catch a glimpse of the form of the one who has killed him until his final moment.