Thump. Thump.
Raul slowly ran towards the more than twelve thousand enemies. In the almost surreal stillness, the only sound he could hear was his own heartbeat.
‘Ah, it’s been a while since I felt like this.’
A memory from his past life flashed through his mind: charging towards the enemy encampment while surrounded by guild alliances. Even for the number one ranked player, charging alone against thousands was akin to suicide.
Yet, even then, he was thinking more about finding a way out than succumbing to fear.
‘Though I lost my life, I took several key enemy leaders with me.’
Now, facing even more numerous and stronger foes, the feeling was entirely different. Knowing he had allies to back him up added a sense of security, but more importantly, he had confidence in their victory.
‘Sixty armored users. Honestly, that’s a daunting number even for my past self.’
Raul instinctively realized he had surpassed his previous incarnation, Bae Dohyun.
「Activate: Regnator!」
Infusing mana into the bracelet on his wrist, golden metal began to envelop his white power armor. The golden armor, which covered half of his upper body, exponentially amplified Raul’s power.
「Radiant Aura!」
As he activated the Radiant Aura, now at intermediate level 8, a halo of golden, sacred energy emanated from his body, spreading across the battlefield.
Shiiiing.
Simultaneously, semi-transparent golden wings unfurled from behind Raul, lifting him slightly off the ground.
The phantom wings, responding to his divine power, poised to launch him forward at any moment.
「Rabel, support me with everything you’ve got!」
「Leave it to me!」
By now, a blue spellbook named ‘Skill Codex’ had materialized in front of Raul’s chest, and Rabel perched herself on his left shoulder, wielding a small magic wand.
As incantations flowed from her small mouth, various magic circles shimmered around the Skill Codex, stacking multiple buffs on Raul.
With the effects of Nakia’s ‘Amplification Potions’ taken before the battle added in, Raul’s body surged with unprecedented power.
He was in a fully enhanced ‘full doping’ state, deploying every asset obtained in this life.
Finally, Raul activated the secret technique that had once secured his number one rank in his past life.
“Open: Field of Weapons!”
Shraaaang!
Dozens, hundreds of weapons erupted from behind Raul, ascending into the sky.
Daggers, short swords, long swords, bastard swords, two-handed swords, zweihanders—dozens of swords.
Short spears, battle spears, long spears, halberds, pikes—dozens of spears.
Clubs, maces, war hammers, battle axes, tomahawks, flails—dozens of blunt weapons and axes.
And hundreds of throwing knives, small enough to fit in the palm. All these weapons formed a formation above Raul’s head, radiating golden energy.
It was a legion of weapons, a fearsome and magnificent sight that captivated both friend and foe alike.
***
Meanwhile, the high command of the Baronial Alliance, whose hearts had shrunk at Raul’s bluster, quickly reacted when he truly began his solo charge.
“Knights, advance! Capture him at all costs!”
“Archers, begin shooting as soon as he’s within range!”
“Sir Latrell, we entrust this to you.”
Charging alone against an entire army seemed like sheer madness unless Raul was a Master.
“Leave it to me. I’ll make him pay for his arrogance.”
Firing up with fighting spirit, Latrell gathered his subordinates.
“We’re going after him! Follow me!”
Sixty knights from Viscount Jaden, along with the rest of the knights, crossed the camp, trailing behind Latrell.
Thwong, clang!
Arrows and bolts began raining down on Raul as he entered range. A group of 150 knights charged at Raul, led by the 60 armored users who had already activated their power armor, mana blades igniting on their swords.
“Hurry! The enemy is moving!”
Raul’s gradually approaching back was visible to the cavalry and knightly orders departing behind him. Latrell was impatient, knowing they had to capture Raul before reinforcements arrived.
But it was too late to worry about that now.
“Hey, what’s that?”
“Holy shit.”
“What the…!”
Raul’s body erupted with a pillar of light, wings sprouting from his back. Surrounded by a dazzling magic circle, hundreds of weapons formed above him in the sky. All this happened almost instantly, and before they could react, Raul closed the distance.
“Charge! Crush him!”
There was no time to ponder what they were seeing. Latrell ordered a full-on assault. But then, he noticed something peculiar.
‘A fairy?’
Perched on Raul’s shoulder was a green-haired fairy. As she murmured and smiled gently, Latrell realized something was terribly wrong, but it was already too late.
Rumble, boom!
Thud! Thunk!
Whinny!
With a tremendous vibration, the ground in front of the knights suddenly erupted with large and small stone spikes. The horses, unable to stop in time, crashed headlong into the spikes, letting out pitiful screams and spraying blood everywhere.
“Ugh!”
“Damn it!”
The armored users reacted quickly, kicking off their horses and leaping into the air, avoiding direct impact with the spikes, but the knights’ charge formation was completely shattered.
And at that moment, an unwelcome guest greeted them.
Swish!
“Everyone be careful… Ugh!”
As if waiting for this moment, Raul’s weapon legion descended upon the airborne armored users.
Thud! Clang! Crash!
“Ugh!”
“Damn it!”
Caught in the storm of weapons, the armored users were relentlessly beaten in mid-air and flung in all directions.
Thanks to their power armor’s protective fields, they survived the ordeal, but the impact was transferred directly to their bodies, and some of the weaker power armors were on the verge of breaking.
The real problem was for the ordinary knights who followed them. The next targets of Raul’s weapon legion, after dealing with the airborne armored users, were those knights.
“No, stay away!”
“Ah! Please, spare me!”
The rain of weapons descended on the knights, eliciting screams from them.
Ping, clank, thud!
Ordinary knights who hadn’t reached the Expert rank fell almost instantly, unable to even swing their swords more than a few times. Even those knights who had reached the Expert rank and wielded mana blades fared little better.
Clang! Clang! Shlink!
“…Ugh. How could this be…?”
The weapons didn’t just fly; they attacked with the precision and skill as if someone were wielding them directly.
As a knight desperately deflected a couple of weapons, a dozen throwing knives simultaneously struck his vital points.
“Guh, gah…”
As one knight spat blood and fell, the weapons swiftly turned to the next knight. The fewer knights there were, the more weapons targeted each individual, and even Expert-level knights struggled to fend off dozens of weapons at once.
“Damn it! What is this!!”
Clang! Clang!
By the time the armored users rejoined the fray with powerful mana blades to push back the weapon legion, it was already too late. In less than 30 seconds, nearly all the ordinary knights who weren’t armored users had been decimated.
“Form up! Form up and block them!”
Individually, the weapons weren’t an overwhelming threat. If the knights grouped together and minimized their attack range, they could fend them off.
Following Latrell’s shout, the armored users formed tight groups and resisted the weapons, preventing further casualties. But they had forgotten the true threat wasn’t the weapons themselves.
Fwsh, shink, splurch!
“…Ugh.”
“Gah…”
In the sudden onset of fog that obscured their vision, a golden something flashed and sliced through them. A cluster of knights split in half from head to toe, collapsing as the fog turned crimson.
Raul’s ‘Phantom Wing Charge’ had cleaved through the knights. Witnessing this, Latrell’s eyes widened in shock.
‘Aura…?’
If he wasn’t mistaken, the energy shimmering at Raul’s sword tip and wings wasn’t just mana—it was definitely ‘Aura’. Even a low-grade power armor shouldn’t have been cut in half like that without Aura.
In reality, Raul had reached the peak of the Expert rank, producing a temporary ‘Aura Blade’ by squeezing out his strength. But Latrell didn’t care about the technicalities. An Aura Blade was an Aura Blade, be it temporary or not.
“…Re-Retreat.”
As Latrell stammered out the order, golden lightning sliced through the fog several more times. And as the mist cleared slightly, a figure barely twenty remained unscathed. Fortunately for Latrell, Raul had already passed them and was heading toward the barons’ main camp.
‘I-I’m alive.’
Though some weapons still assailed them, it was nothing compared to the terror of facing Aura.
“Fall back! We need to retreat from the battlefield!”
Regaining his senses, Latrell tried to gather the surviving knights to flee.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Thunk! Splurt!
“Gah!”
The First Knights were upon them, launching a lance charge. With over 200 knights, including 40 armored users, the collective charge of the First Knights was devastating. The power armor fields, already weakened by Raul’s weapons, shattered like glass.
“Damn it!”
Latrell, thrown to the ground by the charge, sprang up and swung a massive mana blade at the oncoming cavalry.
Boom!
Rattle.
The charging knights’ fields warped slightly as the lance of a knight clashed with Latrell’s greatsword through a small gap. Despite being pushed back, Latrell stubbornly held his ground and finally managed to halt the knight in front of him.
Several other high-ranking armored users managed to similarly disrupt the cavalry charge of the First Knights. But the officers leading the First Knights did not halt their disrupted formation.
“Don’t stop! We follow the Master’s lead!”
With the First Knights’ charge passing through, the second wave surged forward.
“Wipe out every wretch who dared bare their fangs at the Count Ashton’s house!”
Fifty knights from the Iron Bear Knights joined the First Knights members who had been stalled by Latrell and other armored users.
Fewer than ten remaining armored users from the Baronial Alliance found themselves surrounded by dozens of knights, desperately holding their ground. The situation had become utterly hopeless.
Among their immediate opponents were also armored users, and everywhere they looked, they were surrounded by enemies. Seeing the advancing infantry lines up close confirmed what they already knew.
‘There’s no escaping this now.’
Clatter.
One by one, they began dropping their weapons to the ground, surrendering.
***
“Out of my way!”
Despite Raul’s commanding shout, some soldiers stubbornly blocked his path. Even as other soldiers abandoned their weapons and fled, these men showed their resolve to fight to the end, marking them as elite troops.
But it was all in vain.
Swish, thud!
Without Raul needing to lift a finger, his flying weapons literally sent the soldiers hurtling away. He had no intention of slaughtering them, so he struck with the flat of the blades or the handles, but there was no guarantee they would escape unscathed.
As if parting the Red Sea, the weapon legion cleared Raul’s path, and he quickly reached the command tent of the Baronial Alliance.
“Well, I expected as much.”
Of course, the command staff had already fled, leaving only an empty tent behind, but Raul wasn’t disappointed. He had already instructed Kane to cut off their retreat routes before the battle began.
‘Now then.’
Raul seized the enemy’s war banner planted in the main camp with a powerful yank.
(To be continued)