Paladin of a Ruined Order - Chapter 121

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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Chapter 121: Elbridge, Eighteen Years Old (1)

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The musky stench of demonic beasts gave way to the smell of blood as the battle came to an end.

While the knights removed their helmets to cool down, Jansen walked among them, offering encouragement.

"Everyone did well. Let's keep it up."

The reason Jansen encouraged the knights was simple. Jansen was the expedition leader.

After encouraging every knight and checking on their condition, Jansen returned to Reto and Elbridge with a grin.

"How was that? We may not be as good as the knights of Hebron Fortress, but... we're useful enough, aren't we?"

"You're far more than merely useful."

During the recent battle, Expedition Leader Jansen had not needed to give complicated commands.

Even without detailed instructions, every knight moved like part of a single organism, each carrying out their role perfectly.

The moment the battle began, the knights formed a defensive formation, blunting the demonic beasts' charge and protecting the mage responsible for sealing the demon.

They seemed to be fighting entirely on the defensive, but whenever a threatening demonic beast appeared, they immediately formed a strike team, broke through the battlefield, and intercepted it.

As a result of that coordinated battle, they had fought more than ten demonic beasts without suffering a single serious injury.

Reto was impressed.

"They seem more skilled at hunting demonic beasts than the knights of Hebron Fortress."

"Even if you're only saying it to be polite, it's nice to hear."

"I'm not just saying it to be polite."

Jansen laughed easily.

"Right. We ought to be good at at least one thing."

The knights of Hebron Fortress in the north specialized in fighting small numbers of powerful foes with all kinds of unpredictable variables. In other words, they specialized in fighting demons.

They placed more importance on quick thinking than structured combat, and on individual skill and instinct rather than moving as a group.

These knights, on the other hand, focused not on individual achievements but on reading the flow of battle and fulfilling their roles as part of a group. Their strength lay in flawless group combat, and they specialized in hunting demonic beasts rather than demons. Their approach differed, but their skill was excellent.

'Well, they did join the third expedition...'

Jansen had said that two expeditions had already failed, and this was the third.

When an expedition failed, the usual response was to gather people more capable than those from the previous expedition and prepare another.

The second expedition was better than the first, and the third was better than the second. There was no room for mediocre knights in this third expedition.

As proof, Elbridge and Reto were the only young knights in the expedition.

Even the youngest of the others were in their late thirties, while the older knights had gray hair.

Knights and Paladins began serving as squires by their late teens at the latest, so many of them had likely been living on battlefields since before Reto and Elbridge were born.

In effect, every knight in this expedition had the ability to command a small expedition.

Until now, Reto had subtly considered such knights beneath him.

Reto felt a little ashamed.

'...I've only spent a little time at the fortress, yet I got full of myself without even realizing it.'

Jansen then spoke seriously.

"The first battle went reasonably well, but don't let your guard down. If the demon could only control a dozen or so demonic beasts, the previous expedition couldn't have been wiped out."

"...Wiped out?"

"Yes. The first expedition came back with losses and reported what they learned, but not a single person from the second expedition returned. Everything we know came from the first expedition."

Reto tensed slightly and asked, "What kind of demon do you think we're dealing with, Sir Jansen?"

The answer came from Elbridge instead.

"It's highly likely that it controls far more demonic beasts than this, or demonic beasts that have mutated into more troublesome forms."

As he spoke, Elbridge nudged the corpses on the ground with his foot.

Other than the birdlike demonic beast they had hunted first, every one of them resembled a dog.

Jansen agreed with Elbridge's guess.

"That's what we think too. The first expedition reported that there were close to thirty demonic beasts. And there's a good chance that wasn't all of them."

"...More than thirty."

A battle against that many would be difficult to end without casualties.

When Reto looked worried, Jansen apologized belatedly.

"I'm sorry we dragged you two into the fight. But we desperately needed your help. You have strengths that ordinary knights like us don't."

Reto and Elbridge agreed.

* * *

The expedition followed the edge of a small forest for two days.

The forest, which had seemed level at first, gradually developed a gentle slope and began rising.

It was not steep or massive like the mountains of the north. It would be fair to call it a large hill, or perhaps a small mountain.

The forest ended when they reached the highest point.

At the top of the hill was an open field covered in grass that reached from their ankles to their knees.

Beyond it lay a modest but steep slope, almost a cliff.

A purple cloud was visible beyond the cliff. It was a common sign that a demon was about to appear.

"It looks like a demon is going to show up."

"We need to be careful. Tell everyone not to relax."

The knights then noticed that the grass at the top of the hill had been pressed down in several places.

"There's something over there."

"It looks like armor..."

The expedition's knights looked around. Human bones and fragments of metal were scattered everywhere.

They gathered the metal pieces and examined them.

Several knights found familiar church emblems among the fragments, along with traces of knights they had known.

"This looks like the remains of the previous expedition."

"The second expedition died here?"

"Probably."

"Hmm..."

Elbridge gestured for everyone to come closer and spoke quietly.

"Come over here. Keep low."

The knights bent at the waist and approached Elbridge.

Before him was a rocky slope that was almost vertical, as though a giant shovel had scooped it out. Because of the steep incline, they could see quite far without anything blocking their view.

Then they saw a black mass below the slope.

"That's..."

The mass was made up of the doglike demonic beasts they had seen earlier.

The problem was that there were not ten, nor twenty or thirty of them.

There were easily more than a hundred demonic beasts, each larger than a calf.

Once the difference in numbers passed a certain point, skill and tactics could no longer close the gap.

That was exactly the situation they faced. They had stopped around ten doglike demonic beasts with barely any losses, but they could not do the same against nearly two hundred.

To make matters worse, there was a demon among them.

It was a humanoid demon, its whole body wrapped in a dark-red, rippling covering that could have been skin or clothing.

It even had a massive bow slung across its back.

"It looks just like a hunter. Were the demonic beasts its hunting dogs?"

The expedition's knights exchanged opinions in low voices.

"Let's first figure out whether we stand a chance."

"A chance? If we don't, are you planning to form a fourth expedition?"

"Better than dying pointless deaths here and leaving the next expedition with no information. The second expedition died here too."

The discussion began to turn toward retreat.

Not because they were cowards. It was simply the most reasonable conclusion.

Just as the expedition reached a rough agreement and prepared to head back the way they had come, Elbridge's expression twisted.

Jansen asked, "Sir Elbridge. What's wrong?"

"...The wind has changed direction."

Reto asked, "So what?"

Unlike inexperienced Reto, the veteran knights understood Elbridge's meaning.

Until now, the wind had been blowing from the demon and its pack of demonic beasts toward the expedition. Now, it blew from behind the expedition toward the demon and its pack.

And whether they were wild dogs or hunting dogs, dogs had keen senses of smell.

That likely had not changed much after becoming demonic beasts.

Bad feelings rarely proved wrong.

As if they had caught the expedition's scent, the hunting dogs wandering below the hill all looked up at once. The demon's gaze also fell on the expedition.

Jansen muttered, "...We're screwed."

The hunting dog demonic beasts began barking and running.

They could not climb a slope as steep as a cliff, so they ran in a wide arc. Just as the expedition had climbed up along the gentle side of the hill, the hunting dogs seemed to be planning to do the same.

Reto thought, 'How do we get out of this?'

There was no way out. Knights and Paladins had superior physical abilities, but they were not fast enough to outrun those demonic beasts.

'We're definitely getting caught.'

There was no escape route. Everything went dark before his eyes.

Then Elbridge asked the expedition's knights, "Everyone. How long do you think you can hold out here?"

Jansen answered for the knights.

"Does that matter?"

"You're right. We don't have a choice. Hold out as long as you can."

"Fine. We'll buy as much time as possible."

Reto did not understand where this was going.

What were they supposed to hold out for?

"Elbridge. What are you trying to do? Do you have a plan?"

Elbridge pointed not toward the gentle slope behind them, but toward the near-vertical cliff.

"Reto. You're coming down this cliff with me."

Reto looked at the steep slope.

Even at the lowest estimate, it looked fifty to a hundred times taller than a person.

"...I think we'll fall to our deaths."

"We don't need to get down without a scratch. Grab onto anything, step on anything. We just need to avoid injuries serious enough to keep us from fighting."

Reto looked below the cliff.

Then he understood Elbridge's plan.

There were no demonic beasts near the demon right now.

The pack of doglike demonic beasts was climbing the hill along the gentle slope.

While the knights held back the hunting dogs at the top of the hill with the cliff behind them, Elbridge and Reto would take the shortest route to the demon and subdue it.

'Will subduing the demon solve everything?'

He did not know. Judging coldly, the chance was low.

Still, the situation would certainly be better with the demon dead than alive.

There was one bigger problem.

Could the two of them jump down the cliff and subdue the demon by themselves?

"Just the two of us? Isn't there a better way...?"

When Reto hesitated, Elbridge said, "If you can't think of a better way right now, there isn't one. And it won't be just us two."

"Who else is there?"

"The one in charge of sealing."

Elbridge grabbed the mage standing nearby and jumped off the cliff.

"Ahhh!"

The mage's scream vanished below the cliff with Elbridge.

Reto looked down.

Elbridge was slowing himself with his gauntleted hands and sabaton-clad feet, scraping them against the cliff face.

He also made sure to slow down by grabbing indentations, protruding rocks, and small branches whenever he could.

Thanks to those violent movements, it took only seconds for Elbridge and the mage to reach the bottom.

Thud.

Elbridge finally reached the ground, set the mage down, and gestured at Reto.

The barks of the hunting dog demonic beasts could be heard faintly. There was no time to hesitate any longer.

'...My life.'

Reto jumped off the cliff too.

His movement was nothing like Elbridge's. It looked less like a descent and more like a fall. Rather than aiming for something to grab or step on, he only flailed his limbs and struggled to catch anything within reach.

Thud.

Reto soon reached the ground as well.

"Urgh..."

His lower body tingled as though he had stepped on lightning, and his soles and ankles hurt as if someone had stabbed them with knives.

Still, nothing had stopped working. Not because he had moved well, but because a Paladin's body, strengthened by divinity, was that sturdy.

Elbridge shouted, "Let's go!"

Even as he limped, Reto ran after Elbridge.

Their only way out lay ahead of them, so he could not hesitate.

The demon looked at Elbridge and Reto. Then it took the massive bow from its back and drew the string.

There was no arrow in the demon's hand.

But when the demon took aim, an arrow burning black formed in the air and settled onto the string.

Then the demon released it.

Twannng-

The arrow burned as it grew larger.

At first, it was not much bigger than an ordinary arrow. By the time it neared Elbridge and Reto, it was almost as large as a log.

Elbridge immediately raised his shield and prayed.

"Goddess, No..."

Before he could finish the short prayer calling upon the divine power of No Retreat, Elbridge's shield shone white.

The massive arrow exploded the moment it struck the shield, and Elbridge did not move back a single step.

He kicked off the ground again and ran toward the demon.

The demon fired another arrow, but it could not pierce Elbridge's shield, protected by divine power.

Reto's heart pounded wildly.

Elbridge and the veteran knights' quick judgment.

The sacrifice of the knights who had volunteered to act as bait.

Elbridge's decisiveness, ability to act, and skill.

All of it had come together to seize a slim chance of breaking through this situation.

'This is the ability of the Order of the Rusted Shield...'

A joy close to madness surged within him. He had not accomplished anything, yet he felt as though he could accomplish anything.

At the same time, something felt wrong.

'Things are miraculously going well. Why do I feel this way?'

Reto's mind raced through one thought after another. No, it was less like precise judgment and more like associations shooting off in random directions. All kinds of thoughts flashed through his head.

Knights, church, demon, divine power, demonic beasts, Elbridge, honor, fear, survival, Middlemarch, Hebron Fortress, Norens City...

The moment his thoughts reached that point, Reto's eyes widened.

When Elbridge and Reto had left Hebron Fortress and arrived in Norens City, they had seen one section of Norens City crushed flat, as though something enormous had pressed down and pulverized it.

A knight who recognized Elbridge had said it had happened about a month ago.

They had also warned them to be careful if they went south.

'They said that demon had moved south.'

But the demon before Elbridge and Reto was a hunter with a bow.

Its arrows were powerful. Its pack of doglike demonic beasts was dangerous too.

But could that demon's arrows and hunting dogs have left such scars on Norens City?

'No.'

There was only one thing that possibility suggested.

'There may be more than one demon.'

Elbridge had already nearly reached the hunter-like demon. He might be able to swing his sword and inflict a fatal wound.

But Reto looked up.

It was half judgment and half instinct.