Chapter 12
“…So, you’re telling me the entire 3rd squad got wiped out, their tendons sliced up and sold like meat scraps?”
“He wasn’t your average fighter. At least Expert high… maybe even Superior!”
“Nonsense! Even in the Alcantara Knights, Superiors are rare. And you think one’s pretending to be a wandering knight?!”
“I swear it’s true…”
To begin with, the 3rd squad was created by rounding up nobodies from taverns and street corners, all to do dirty and lowly work.
Compared to the 1st and 2nd squads, they lacked both skill and dignity. Dalton didn’t even share the greater objectives with them that he did with the other two squads.
They were nothing more than tax collectors, gatekeepers, menial laborers, and night watchmen.
Still, even rotting trash could meet the bare minimum qualifications to call themselves knights.
They were at least armored in chainmail, with bits of plate armor decently equipped here and there.
Dalton knew better than anyone that just the 3rd squad on horseback could easily crush a mob of a hundred or two peasant soldiers.
“…Where the hell did a guy like that suddenly appear from…”
As Dalton spoke, his protruding lips and buck teeth drew attention. The sight was comical, yet none of his subordinates dared to laugh.
“Fine. I get it. Have the entire 3rd squad, including their captain, put on night watch duty.”
“…Yes, sir.”
As the 3rd squad leader bowed and left, Dalton paused a moment longer before addressing the remaining two squad leaders.
“Did you meet this month’s quota?”
“…There’s been a string of disappearances lately, and the atmosphere in the domain isn’t great.
On top of that, outsiders using the domain have also decreased significantly. Troubled times, as you know.”
“And?”
“…We’ll find a way to meet the numbers.”
“Make it happen within ten days. No excuses.”
“Yes, sir.”
Their conversation wasn’t about money.
Dalton threw the pen in his hand onto the desk with a sigh. He slowly scanned his subordinates.
“Don’t forget why we came all the way out to this rural corner of nowhere.
If it was just about making money and living well, we never would’ve come here.
Don’t forget our purpose.”
His subordinates gulped nervously, eyes fixed on Dalton’s buck-toothed face.
“Dismissed.”
At Dalton’s order, the knights left, leaving him alone in his office.
Once alone, he pulled out a piece of paper.
[30 days. 100 children. – Denver]
Glancing once more at the small note, he crumpled it and tossed it into the fireplace.
‘The number of kids we need to collect just keeps increasing.’
Unlike before, the number of children demanded by the main group had started to rise.
“…It’s too late to turn back now. I have no choice but to see this through.”
Dalton knew exactly how the captured children were being used. He shook his head.
There was no path to return anymore—not that there ever was.
BOOM!
“….”
Lost in thought, Dalton’s ears suddenly caught the sound of an explosion.
“Captain! We’re under attack!”
Dalton quietly rose, grabbed the sword hanging on the wall, and moved toward the mansion's front gate with the vice-captain.
***
Karl pushed his horse through the early dawn darkness at high speed.
Silver, his steed, snorted irritably at the morning ride.
“I’ll boil your feed and make it warm and soft when this is over.”
Soothing his horse, Karl arrived in front of the mansion.
Though not the grand estate of a high noble from the capital, it was large enough to house several dozen people, surrounded by a solid wall.
Karl approached the front gate with confident strides.
“Who goes there!”
The 3rd squad sentries shouted, drawing their swords as they approached Karl, failing to recognize him from just a few hours earlier.
They were swept away by the shockwave.
BOOM!
Karl, charging forward at full speed, swung his sword at the gate.
The result was like a massive battering ram crashing through it. No—worse than that.
A mere battering ram wouldn’t have knocked over the knights standing nearby.
***
By the time Dalton reached the gate, what he saw were five members of the 3rd squad sprawled across the ground and the massive, shattered remnants of the gate scattered like rags.
‘That gate… was made of wood, sure.’
Yes, the gate was wooden, but it was intentionally built large and imposing to match the dignity of the knight order.
It wasn’t the kind of thing that should’ve shattered with a single sword swing.
‘Did he smash it with something else besides a sword?’
If that damage was caused by a sword, then the man in front of him truly was at least a Superior. Dalton slowly stepped forward to face him.
“This kind of rudeness at this hour… outrageous.”
Even as Dalton flashed his crooked buck-toothed smile, the man before him said nothing.
“My men said you did them a favor this morning. Are you here about that incident?”
Karl still said nothing.
“I see your skills are impressive, but surely you’re aware that the Alcantara Knights are behind us?”
“Bullshit.”
“…!”
Dalton’s calm expression faltered slightly.
“Even if all of you die, Alcantara won’t lift a finger.”
At Karl’s calm tone, Dalton’s brow twitched once again.
“You seem quite confident.”
“I’m certain. I know the Alcantara Knights better than you.”
“…What? Well, no matter. I’ll just tie you up and ask later.”
Dalton raised a hand, and the twenty knights lined up behind him slowly began to surround Karl.
As the ring closed in and reached what they judged to be the right distance, several knights kicked off the ground.
Slice!
The head of the first knight to charge fell to the ground. That was just the beginning.
“…!”
In just five minutes after the first decapitation, more than half of the twenty knights lay on the ground.
Karl had assumed they’d be trash like the ones at the inn, but these were a cut above.
‘And none of them are trying to run.’
Even with over half of them dead, none tried to flee.
It was strange—unlike knights who were cruel only to the weak, or who were half-thugs at best.
Third-rate knights usually thought of escaping first when faced with overwhelming strength. That was the current state of most low-rank knight orders.
But these men’s eyes still burned.
In their eyes, Karl saw a strange fire and firm resolve—alongside a beast-like madness.
It was hard to understand.
“….”
“….”
The knights exchanged glances and charged again.
Before long, they all lay collapsed on the ground, and only Karl and Dalton remained, staring at each other.
“This… has gone in a direction I never expected.
The 3rd squad might have been little more than errand boys, but they were good enough to make one of them a squad leader… I seem to have forgotten that.”
Dalton’s voice lowered.
Suddenly, his eyes began to turn red.
It was that same beast-like madness Karl had seen in the eyes of the knights he’d taken down.
“Hm?”
For the first time, Karl’s expression shifted.
And then, the moment came—Dalton’s body, which had been of ordinary knightly build, began to swell.
“What is this now.”
Karl had spent 15 years crossing from the West Continent to the East, and from the East back to the West.
Ten of those years were spent on the battlefield. Even so, this was something he had never seen before.
Muscles swelling like balloons, fur sprouting all over the body—
Karl had known this world was not the same as medieval Earth.
He had heard of qi, and had seen magical items—so rare that they held tremendous value—on a few occasions.
But magic itself? Not once in fifteen years.
And now, suddenly?
Even so, Karl didn’t lower his sword.
He merely adjusted his grip.
“Looks like you’re surprised. Yes… I’ve gone beyond the limits of humanity.
Superior or whatever—you won’t matter in front of me.”
Dalton, his voice now a low growl, could no longer suppress the primal instincts surging within. He howled.
It was a threatening shape and sound. But Karl couldn’t stop himself from muttering something that popped into his head.
“…Even transforming doesn’t fix those buck teeth, huh.”
A flicker of emotion appeared on Dalton’s now-beastly face.
Apparently, his buck teeth were a sore point. Even as a monster, his expression visibly scrunched.
“Have you ever looked in a mirror like that?”
The already massive buck teeth had doubled in size after the transformation. Combined with the fur, he looked more like a giant rat on two legs than a beast.
“…”
Dalton, now fully beast-like, swung his enormous hand at Karl.
His sharp claws looked as hard as steel and, in terms of speed, far surpassed that of an average Chevalier-class swordsman.
Karl, however, evaded them all with a strange, flowing footwork.
“You’re pretty good at dodging—like a damn rat!”
Karl avoided the unrelenting, chained attacks with ease and at some point launched himself backward, widening the distance between them.
Now at a considerable distance, Karl stood still, eyes closed, his sword sheathed at his waist, facing the charging Dalton.
“What’s this act now?!”
Standing still, eyes closed, with sword at the ready—it looked exactly like someone waiting to die.
Dalton, charging straight toward him, threw his weight into a powerful swipe of his claws.
Flash!
“Graaagh!”
In that moment—when Dalton was certain his claws would pierce Karl’s neck—a flash of light blinded his vision.
At the same time, something cold yet burning sliced across his stomach in a wide arc.
The sky and ground flipped over several times.
Dalton collapsed to the ground, briefly losing consciousness before his eyes snapped open.
‘What… what the hell was that?’
Even through the beast’s rage in his blood-red eyes, confusion leaked out.
Instinctively, he tried to move his legs and retreat—
But there was no sensation below his waist.
And for good reason…
Thud!
Dalton’s lower half, severed cleanly, was now collapsing far off in the distance.
His upper body writhed on the ground.
Some of the beast-like features were already fading.
What remained looked like a hybrid—an animal’s body with a human’s face—panting and twitching on the ground.
“How… why…”
The effects of the transformation made Dalton hard to kill outright, so he was still capable of speech.
“I’ve lived in this world with a sword in my hand. That’s all.”
“Yeah… fair enough.”
Dalton nodded slightly. If Karl had been the weaker one, he would have died.
“But… you’ll regret this someday.
You’ve drawn their attention now.”
With an unusually clear voice, Dalton left one final warning for Karl, and then closed his eyes.
Karl only looked down at him indifferently.
[Hidden quest completed. Strength and stamina stats increased.]
[Achievement unlocked. Fame stat increased.]
[Forced progression quest conditions met.]