WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Asakusa
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Veteran of the Northern Front ◈
Chapter 21: Operation Frostfire (8)
──────
The arrival of a warrior at the level of an intermediate knight was a disastrous development when we were already struggling.
Especially if they targeted Marcus, who had been holding off the enemy.
“Marcus!!”
Marcus rolled across the ground and slammed into the rock wall. I kicked off the ground and charged at the figure in wolfskin.
“You dog bastard!!”
I cursed in the barbarians’ language and brought Black Axe down, intending to split Hakal in two with a single blow.
But Hakal not only blocked it with ease, they swung their greatsword and sent me flying.
Bang!!!
The impact was beyond anything I could have imagined.
I forced myself to rise, enduring the pain that felt as if it were twisting my insides apart.
“I did not expect an Imperial to speak our language.”
“...”
“I am Hakal, deputy chief of the Kalnamu Tribe.”
“...”
“You are quite strong for an Imperial. What is your name?”
“Fuck, introductions are...”
When Hakal failed to understand and frowned, I raised my middle finger to help Hakal understand.
Hakal’s expression froze in an instant.
Looks like the middle finger was universal after all.
‘Of all people, I had to run into this bastard...’
Hakal the Blue Wolf.
Hakal was the deputy chief of the Kalbawi Tribe, the largest force near the front lines. During the Frostfire Incident, Hakal would counterattack the Imperial Army and inflict tremendous losses. Later, Hakal would become one of the vanguard commanders in the Great Invasion.
‘This is seriously fucked.’
There was no one here capable of dealing with Hakal.
Even Marcus, for all his talent, could barely hold out against Hakal right now.
To make matters worse, Hakal’s arrival had raised the barbarians’ morale, and the battle line was beginning to buckle.
“The third rank has collapsed!”
“Send in the fourth rank immediately! Stop them from advancing! If we give ground here, it’s over!”
No matter how hard Pellon tried to hold the enemy back, Pellon’s forces were outnumbered.
“The fourth rank has been taken out.”
“The fifth rank is slowly being pushed back too.”
We were trapped between a rock and a hard place.
Every soldier sent in was being ground down.
Then,
“You. Where are you looking?”
Hakal brought the greatsword down with murderous force.
I raised Black Axe to block it.
“How simple.”
The greatsword shifted course and came for my neck.
Slash.
The blade barely grazed the back of my neck.
The thought that my head could come off if I let my guard down even once sent a chill down my spine.
“Damn it...”
A powerful enemy stood before me, while soldiers were dying all around me.
If I remained tied down here, our losses would only grow.
‘If that’s how it is...’
I decided to try and lure Hakal into lowering their guard.
I took a deep breath and slowly opened my mouth.
“Hakal, are you sure about this? The weaker your tribe gets, the happier those Red Axe Tribe bastards will be.”
“What? How do you know that?!”
The Red Axe Tribe boasted the greatest power among the barbarian tribes and was an unspoken rival of the Kalnamu Tribe.
Hakal froze in shock when I, an Imperial, mentioned something not widely known even among barbarians.
I did not let the opportunity slip away.
‘Now...!!’
I squeezed every ounce of strength from my body and swung Black Axe.
Realizing I had caught Hakal off guard, Hakal frowned and quickly assumed a defensive stance.
The axe barely grazed Hakal’s shoulder.
It was less than I had hoped for, but it was too early to be disappointed.
Without giving up, I stepped forward again. Using Black Axe’s weight and centrifugal force, I spun once and brought all that power down toward Hakal’s head.
Whoooom!!!
Black Axe tore through the air with an ominous sound.
‘Even Hakal would have trouble coming away unscathed...’
Then,
Something unbelievable happened.
‘!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’
As if Hakal had predicted it, Hakal lightly redirected my attack.
And that was not all.
“Urgh!”
Hakal easily cut through the iron armor Berun had given me and sliced open my chest as well.
Dizzying pain overwhelmed me. Blood poured out as I collapsed onto the ground.
When I looked at Hakal in disbelief, Hakal sneered and answered my unspoken question.
“You are decent, but did you think such a shallow trick would work on me?”
“...”
“As a warrior of the Kalnamu Tribe, I have fought warriors from countless tribes.”
“...”
“Among them were more warriors who handled an axe better than you than I could count. Know your place, Imperial.”
Axes were the common weapon of the barbarians.
Some, like Hakal, used swords or spears, but most barbarians wielded axes.
I had thought it was an attack that might work, but to someone who had fought countless barbarians, it was merely a familiar technique.
“Cough! Fuck...”
“You chose the wrong opponent. Die now.”
Shhk.
After that brief remark, Hakal brought their greatsword down.
‘Damn...’
The blade descended toward my head.
I thought it was too late to block or dodge, and squeezed my eyes shut.
“Lord Ubel!”
A familiar voice called out, and someone appeared before me.
“Max...?”
Seeing that I was in danger, he had thrown himself in front of me.
Slash!
Before I could say anything, Hakal’s greatsword swept across Max’s face, leaving a red circle behind.
“Argh!”
“M-Max! You bastard!!”
I struggled to my feet, drove Hakal back with Black Axe, and gave the others an order.
“...Take Max and fall back.”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
Hakal looked at my staggering form as though unable to understand.
“You still refuse to give up?”
“Give up? What’s that?”
“You are stubborn...”
I did not know about anything else, but there was no way I would give up while the bastard who had slashed my subordinate’s face stood before me.
Of course, I knew the situation was too dire to turn around through sheer will alone.
‘But that... doesn’t matter anymore.’
Even if I died, I was taking that bastard with me.
But what was going on?
Thump. Thump!
My heart slowly began to pound.
Despite the disadvantage, my body burned hotter than ever.
＊＊＊＊＊
Marcus, who had been slammed into the rock wall, gritted his teeth when he saw Ubel facing the enemy.
‘Lord Ubel cannot handle Hakal alone.’
Marcus had to help somehow.
Dragging a creaking body along, Marcus joined the battle.
“Lord Ubel, I will hold Hakal back. So...!”
Marcus urged Ubel to retreat.
But rather than fall back, Ubel charged even more aggressively.
‘No!’
Marcus knew that Max’s injury had enraged Ubel, but this was reckless.
Even now, Ubel could barely block the greatsword.
‘At this rate, something truly terrible will...’
Then,
Something changed.
A haze flowed from Ubel’s body.
‘Hah! Could that be?!’
An energy Marcus knew well began to emanate from Ubel, from whom Marcus had sensed no energy at all just moments before.
＊＊＊＊＊
The fight against Hakal was simple.
I blocked Hakal’s attacks with everything I had, then counterattacked whenever an opening appeared.
It was a crude method I would never normally use.
Yet for some reason, I had a strange certainty that it was the right answer right now.
I redirected the heavy sword falling toward my head and swung Black Axe.
While Hakal treated me like a toy and let Hakal’s guard down, this was my only chance to stand against Hakal.
Thud!
Strangely, the more I swung the axe, the more strength seemed to boil up inside me.
At first, I thought I was imagining it.
But as Hakal’s expression gradually changed, I realized I was not.
“What...!”
Scrrrreeech!
The greatsword and Black Axe scraped against each other, scattering sparks.
My muscles, red as red ginseng, twitched.
It was as though they still had strength left and were demanding that I draw more from them. It made no sense, but I trusted my instincts and forced out so much strength that my body felt ready to tear apart.
Then,
Black Axe, which had only been pushed back helplessly, not only held its ground but began to close the distance between us.
Before long, I was meeting the greatsword head-on.
“This is impossible! You received the Blessing of Nature in the middle of battle?”
The Blessing of Nature?
Was Hakal talking about mana?
‘This power I’m feeling right now is mana?’
I was not sure, but judging from Hakal’s reaction, it seemed so.
‘Me, using mana...’
There was a reason people said that life had its ups and downs.
My fighting spirit surged at this unexpected stroke of luck.
That did not mean I could overwhelm Hakal.
If I was a chick that had just broken out of its shell, Hakal was a duck that had already begun to fly. All I could do now was be satisfied with my improvement and fight with everything I had.
Thud!!
A vicious crash echoed through the canyon.
Even before this, my raw strength had rivaled that of a mana user.
Now that I had awakened mana, I could confidently say that no one could beat me in a contest of strength.
“You brainless bastard, die!!”
Realizing Hakal could not crush me with strength alone, Hakal coated the greatsword in aura and pressed the attack.
‘Crazy bastard. Who is Hakal calling brainless?’
I was somehow holding back Hakal’s assault by relying on Black Axe’s durability when Marcus stepped in at just the right moment.
“Lord Ubel!!”
“Get lost, Imperial!”
Under normal circumstances, Hakal could have taken down two novice knights alone.
But the two Hakal faced now were not ordinary novice knights.
There was no need to mention Marcus, a genius among geniuses. As for me, my monstrous strength meant that even Hakal could not overpower me in a contest of strength.
In other words, the two people facing Hakal were novice knights, but their abilities had surpassed that level.
Under the relentless joint assault from Marcus and me, Hakal let out a roar that sounded almost like a scream.
“You cowardly bastards!!”
But we had no intention of sparing Hakal.
“Marcus, now!”
“Yes!”
While I took Hakal’s attacks like a shield, Marcus unleashed his signature dazzling spear techniques.
The result was...
Shk!
Marcus’s spear pierced Hakal’s thigh.
“Urgh...!”
“Huh? What’s wrong? You’re not as good as before.”
“You bastard!!”
It was too early to let my guard down just because Hakal was wounded.
I kept provoking Hakal just enough to hold Hakal’s attention.
As Hakal could no longer rampage as they had before, the soldiers who had been pushed back as far as the tenth rank began to rally.
“Do not retreat! Advance! Do not let the vanguard become isolated!!”
Pellon had moved to the front and was personally fighting barbarians as he encouraged the soldiers.
And that was not all.
Everyone was giving everything they had to hold back the enemy.
Had Hakal noticed that the tide was turning?
Hakal vented fury.
“You insect-like Imperials! Do you think your desperate struggles will change anything?!”
“Will they change anything? Of course they will.”
As if on cue, a roar rose from the distance the moment I finished speaking.
“Waaaah!!!”
“Kill the barbarians and rescue our comrades!!”
Hundreds of soldiers appeared behind both the allied and enemy lines.
But that was not the end of it.
A welcome voice came from atop the rock walls surrounding the canyon.
“Thank you, truly, for holding out this long. You have done your best. Leave the rest to us!”
Berun had returned at last.
And he had brought more than four thousand soldiers with him.
“W-What is this...?”
“Ah... Spirit of the Kal Tree.”
The barbarians were aghast at the sight of Imperial soldiers closing in from every direction.
They were already trapped in narrow terrain that limited their movement, and now they were surrounded.
They were rats in a jar.
Standing atop the rock wall, Berun pronounced his sentence before they could say anything else.
“Throw everything!!”
“Argh!!!”
“R-Run!!”
The soldiers atop the rock wall fired arrows at the enemy and rolled nearby boulders down.
The barbarians screamed as they died, like something out of a disaster film.
“Retreat! Retreat! I will clear a path!”
Hakal came to their senses and ordered the barbarians to withdraw. Hakal tried to break through the encirclement and open an escape route.
But then,
“That one! That is the commander! Everyone, target the warrior in wolfskin!”
“Yes!!”
Berun’s sharp eyes had recognized that Hakal was the leader, and he ordered concentrated fire.
Arrows rained down without pause. No matter how skilled a warrior was, no one could block every piece of steel falling from the sky.
“Urgh!”
Arrows began to lodge across Hakal’s body one by one. Hakal tried to use the corpses of fallen tribesmen as shields and flee.
But I had no intention of just watching.
I grabbed a spear lying on the ground.
“Take a gift with you, you bastard!”
Then I hurled it at Hakal’s back with all my strength.
Whoosh.
Distracted by the arrows and boulders falling from above, Hakal noticed the spear flying from behind too late.
The price was enormous.
Thunk!!
“Cough!”
The spearhead pierced straight through Hakal’s chest.
Hakal staggered and glared at me with murderous eyes, but the following arrows and rocks buried Hakal without a trace.
Rumble!!
At that point, even the grandfather of all knights would not have survived.
‘It’s finally ove...’
But had I pushed my body too far?
The tension holding my body together vanished when I witnessed Hakal’s death, and my vision blurred.
“Lord Ubel, are you...”
“Stay... awake...!!”
Marcus and the others rushed toward me in alarm.
Their figures were the last thing I saw before my vision went completely dark.
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