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Chapter 53
The northern sky was dimly spread with starlight.
Hadel, having stepped outside the barracks, pulled his fluttering cloak tightly against the cold northern wind as he gazed toward the front of the Fourth Defensive Line.
Because of the darkness, he could not see very far, yet it felt as though the fierce battle were unfolding vividly before his eyes.
“…Arteon.”
Hadel called his name in a low voice.
When he had first seen him, distrust had come first.
Too young.
And compared to that, achievements that made no sense.
Everything felt exaggerated, like a staged performance.
Of course, he knew in his head that the achievements were real, having heard that rewards for merit had been granted in the Imperial Palace.
But why was that?
Was it simply that he did not want to acknowledge it?
The image of him from their first meeting—nothing about it had pleased him.
A light frame, not yet fully grown.
And yet, an incongruously calm way of speaking.
‘But….’
After being assigned a platoon, the 모습 he showed was the complete opposite of what Hadel had imagined.
On this harsh northern battlefield, he trained day after day and soothed his comrades.
In not even a few days, he had completely taken control of the platoon.
‘And even that absurd operational plan….’
Clear judgment and instant decisiveness.
And above all else… those eyes.
A gaze so deep and sharp that it was hard to believe it belonged to a fifteen-year-old burned vividly into his mind.
The more Hadel traced his memories, the more a chill seemed to run down his spine.
That gaze was not something one could gain merely from outstanding combat ability.
It was the gaze of someone who had witnessed countless deaths.
Something only those who had crawled up from the mud could possess.
That was why it was all the more puzzling.
How could a soldier so young have such eyes?
“…You must come back alive.”
Considering the disposition of Battalion Commander Leorn, there would be no avoiding severe punishment if the operation failed.
But even so, Hadel hoped more for the soldiers’ safe return than for the success of the mission.
Operation failure.
Punishment.
Things like that lose all meaning with time.
He did not want to see a soldier with such tremendous potential fade away in a place like this.
Had not so many capable soldiers in the North met absurdly senseless deaths?
Since becoming a soldier, he had led countless troops and sent off countless comrades.
But this time…
Hadel’s gaze, fixed on the front, carried a wish more desperate than ever before.
Beyond the brush, through the thick fog, a massive silhouette appeared.
On his upper body was a coat made of animal hide, and over the muscles visible beneath it, scars accumulated through experience stood out darkly.
A huge axe was clenched in his hand.
Ulgrak frowned deeply, looking in the direction from which the javelin had flown.
“Damn it… those cursed Imperial bastards… what kind of X-damned nonsense did they pull…!”
Though the words were muttered low, the killing intent within them was murderous.
Then Ulgrak raised his head and looked at the man standing beyond the brush.
“……”
His build was that of a grown man, but the face glimpsed at a glance looked somewhat youthful.
However, the pressure emanating from him—
At a single glance, Ulgrak realized that the brat was an Imperial commander.
Clench.
Ulgrak tightened his grip on the axe.
And the moment their eyes met—
Boom!
“……!”
Without even a moment’s hesitation, the brat charged straight at him.
It all happened in an instant.
Even if they were surrounding him, this was a battlefield packed with their own warriors.
“A bold one, indeed. But with that boldness, you won’t live long!”
Ulgrak roared as he lifted his axe.
At the same time, he stomped heavily on the ground.
Boom!
The surrounding grass shook violently, spreading a powerful aura.
And then…
Slash!
As he ran through the brush as if swimming through it, Arteon’s field of vision took in Ulgrak and all the warriors of the Kar Tribe.
The hallucinations caused by the smoke of the Pimacho seemed to be fading, as most of them appeared to have returned to their senses.
‘But….’
The aftereffects had not completely vanished; they could not fully focus on the battle.
‘If not now….’
There would never again be a chance to fight the enemy commander without interference.
Arteon’s movements were swift like a ferocious beast, yet stealthy like a shadow.
At the strange motions he had never seen before, Ulgrak’s pupils wavered slightly.
But—
“With tricks like that, do you really think you can put even a scratch on me?”
Ulgrak swung his axe widely at the charging Arteon.
From upper left to lower right.
The diagonally sweeping axe menacingly targeted Arteon’s head.
Swoosh.
Arteon’s eyes locked onto the swinging axe.
He had fought Kar Tribe warriors who wielded such massive axes before.
If he dodged the attack, they would immediately rotate their bodies and launch the next strike at even greater speed.
If one lost momentum to them, it became a troublesome style—either endure until the end or flee while dodging endlessly.
‘That’s why….’
Deflect it.
Arteon focused every ounce of mana he could currently control into Iglis.
Woooooong!
As the intense mana was drawn in all at once, Iglis resonated softly, as if delighted.
And then—
With all his strength, he swung his spear toward the enemy commander’s axe bearing down on him.
KRAAANG!
A tremendous roar echoed.
The surrounding warriors flinched and froze in place, and the brush at the point of collision was flattened in a perfect circle.
But the most shocked one in that space was none other than Ulgrak.
His arm and axe were flung skyward.
His pupils shook violently, so much so that he could not even comprehend what had just happened.
“He… deflected my attack?”
How could a brat with such a small frame produce this kind of power?
But he did not think long.
Then he would simply attack harder, so that it could never be deflected again.
Woooooong!
A bluish mana flickered around Ulgrak’s body.
As his aura surged upward with tremendous force—
“Take this as well!”
Ulgrak’s axe, bounced up into the air, came crashing straight down.
KWAHHHHHHNG!
Destructive power incomparable to before.
The ground was shattered, and stone fragments and torn brush flew in all directions.
“…?”
Ulgrak’s eyebrows twitched.
The attack he had thought impossible to dodge—yet his axe was embedded deep in the ground.
But then—
SWOOSH!
Arteon, having dodged to the side, thrust his spear toward Ulgrak’s flank.
Startled, Ulgrak twisted his body urgently to avoid the spear.
He wanted to grab the shaft and snap it in half right then and there, but the speed at which the spear was withdrawn exceeded even the speed of the thrust.
‘This brat….’
Ulgrak’s gaze fixed on Arteon.
Youthful appearance or not, that did not matter.
‘He’s skilled in battle.’
And not just any battle, but fighting against them.
There was none of the textbook-like movement typical of Imperial soldiers.
Unlike ordinary Imperial troops, most commanders gained their strength through systematic education and training.
Compared to their own natural, feral style, it was like seeing the orthodox forms of swordsmanship or spearmanship.
But such types tended to crumble more easily than expected when faced with unforeseen variables.
Because of that, had not more than ten Imperial warriors already died at Ulgrak’s hands?
‘But….’
This one was different.
He could not say exactly what was different, but—
“Damn brat….”
Perhaps it was best described as having a scent similar to theirs.
Ulgrak frowned deeply and raised his axe again.
The brat still looked young.
Which meant he had even more room to grow.
‘If I let him live….’
There was no predicting how he might change in the future.
Ulgrak’s instincts were screaming danger.
Do not let him live.
If he survived and grew further, he would become extremely dangerous.
Having made up his mind, Ulgrak drew up his momentum and charged toward Arteon.
Even if it meant some sacrifices here, he intended to kill this one for certain.
“Hah!”
Through the distorted air, Ulgrak’s axe rushed toward Arteon.
Grazing past his hair, the axe sliced through empty space, then changed direction to launch a second attack.
But—
Tap!
On the very boundary of death, Arteon calmly evaded the attack.
And just as Ulgrak’s assault was about to gain even more momentum—
“Hah!”
KRAANG!
“……!”
Even at the cost of taking the impact, Arteon severed the core and broke the flow.
“You bastard!”
Each time, Ulgrak roared and swung his axe with even greater force.
Whenever the flow seemed about to turn in his favor, Arteon’s ghostlike movements that cut it off again and again made rage boil up inside him.
“I’ll kill you!”
At some point, anger had overtaken reason.
Boom!
Ulgrak leapt from the ground and raised his axe high.
By now, a blue flash crackled like lightning along the blade, pouring out intense killing intent.
At that sight, Arteon’s eyes flashed.
“HRAAAAAAH!”
Normally, such an attack should have been dodged without a second thought.
And the Arteon of the past would certainly have dodged it as well.
‘Now…!’
But the current Arteon, who had mastered the Northern Vargas spear technique, approached it in a completely different way.
At the moment Ulgrak poured all his strength into a single strike—
Slash!
Shifting his body to the side, Arteon angled Iglis across his left arm like a shield and slammed directly into the side of the axe as it came crashing down.
An attack akin to ramming with his entire body while keeping the spear pressed close.
And the instant Arteon’s spear struck Ulgrak’s axe—
KWAHHHHHHANG!
With a blasting sound as if the air itself were torn apart, Ulgrak’s axe was knocked aside.
The downward strike drove deep into the ground, and Ulgrak, shocked that his attack had been blocked, staggered back a step.
“You crazy bastard…!”
Ulgrak hurriedly tried to pull his axe free from the ground and prepare his next move.
But at that moment—
Stuck!
“…!”
Was it embedded too deeply?
The axe did not come free in one pull.
‘Don’t tell me…?’
Ulgrak’s pupils shook violently.
Was all of this planned by this brat?
His mind fell into chaos.
But then—
“I’ve been waiting.”
In the split second Ulgrak flinched, Arteon seized the opportunity and gripped his spear with both hands.
From the earlier impact, his left arm was blackened and torn with wounds, blood flowing freely.
Despite the fairly critical injury, he did not even blink—such was his ferocity.
Then, gripping the spear with both hands, Arteon poured all his strength into a thrust toward Ulgrak.
SWOOOOOSH!
A sound like the air being ripped apart rang out.
Arteon’s spear shot forward in a straight line, aimed precisely at Ulgrak’s heart.
And the moment the spear reached his body—
PUAK!
“TAMAAAAAAN!”
From behind, the desperate scream of the Kar Tribe’s adjutant, Moldur—who had been fighting elsewhere—echoed across the entire battlefield.
