The Indomitable Martial King

“Taah!”

As Tilla leaped among the ogres, her battle axe continuously splattered blood into the air.

Beside her, Siris was also engaging other ogres. Clumsy wooden clubs targeted her repeatedly, each one thicker than her body. A mere brush would cause fatal injuries, rupturing her internal organs. However, Siris skillfully maneuvered through the gaps in the attacks, swinging her sword.

“Hah!”

With a clear yell, her silver scimitar danced. Though the scimitar, newly purchased in Strassand, was neither mithril nor a significant magical weapon, it was a quality sword forged by a competent blacksmith. Its silver blade sequentially sliced through the ogres’ limbs and tendons, spilling fresh blood.

As time passed, Tilla and Siris began to slow down, evidently fatigued. Sillan once again raised a prayer with a resonant shout.

“Philanence, protect them! Make their arms endlessly strong and let their hearts beat like dragons!”

A pinkish holy light enveloped Siris and Tilla, revitalizing their movements to peak condition. Currently, Sillan was enhancing both Tilla and Siris simultaneously from behind. Considering that ordinary priests could only bless one person at a time, Sillan’s capability was remarkable. In fact, Sillan had once managed to bless twenty knights simultaneously at full power; this was not particularly challenging for him.

Thus, Sillan continued to support Tilla and Siris while casually checking the situation elsewhere.

‘Are they doing well over here?’

Behind him, a blue blade aura flashed repeatedly, eliciting screams. If Tilla was using brute force to confront ogres head-on and Siris opted for hit-and-run tactics, Russ was completely overpowering the ogres with his tremendous skill.

“Hup!”

With a short yell, Russ launched himself into the air. Quickly reaching eye level with a three-meter-tall ogre, Russ extended his blade aura. Although the ogre tried to block with its club, the destructive light from Russ’s blade not only sliced through the club and the ogre’s neck but also cut off the forearm of another ogre standing behind.

“Kraak!”

“Kruk!”

As soon as Russ dealt with two ogres in a single breath, he spun his body in the air. Normally, such a maneuver would be impossible without a foothold, but he managed to change his stance using the recoil from unleashing his Blade Aura.

While spinning, he instantly sliced an incoming club into three pieces and poured out a flurry of consecutive attacks. The flow of his power was so natural, it was as if he had always practiced this technique. The way his spontaneous action flowed so naturally was a testament to Russ’s extraordinary talent. Even Repenhardt wouldn’t be able to move like this without practice. Of course, Repenhardt might have simply taken a hit from a club and then delivered a painful counterattack.

Whooooosh!

The Blade Aura whined through the air like a whip. The ogres being cut also moaned in pain. Facing the majority of the ogres alone, Russ was overwhelmingly dominating the situation. Sillan inwardly marveled,

‘Indeed, an Aura user is still an Aura user. Ogres are no match for him.’

High-spirited, Russ decapitated an ogre’s head and bellowed,

“Hmph! You filthy monster, you dare target a human blessed by Seiya!”

“Wow, what kind of textbook knightly dialogue is that? Why do they all say the same thing?”

Hearing the cringe-worthy dialogue, the admiration Sillan felt retreated. He twisted his lips and then looked afar, about 30 meters from where the battle was taking place, in a clearing within the forest.

There, Repenhardt was engaged in a fierce battle with a gigantic monster. It was a hydra, over 10 meters long with eight heads.

Fwooooosh!

With a loud noise, one of the hydra’s heads spewed flames. Repenhardt, embracing the head with both arms, charged forward. Jumping over the hydra’s head, he remained unscathed by the flames.

“My body is like steel! Do you think mere flames can harm me?”

Boasting boldly, Repenhardt swung his fist.

“Force Strike!”

The Aura bullet hit one of the hydra’s heads, causing a loud explosion. That wasn’t the end. After launching the Force Strike, Repenhardt grabbed the hydra’s head with both hands and continued pounding. Each punch had the power to dent even steel. The hydra staggered, trying to bite at Repenhardt with its other heads.

“Kaaooo!”

In the moment the three heads rushed towards him, Repenhardt instead grabbed one of the hydra’s heads and rolled his foot. With both arms wrapped around the head, he kicked off the hydra’s shoulder and leaped down. No matter how gigantic the monster was, it couldn’t escape the principles of leverage; the creature’s center of gravity shifted forward, causing the massive hydra to topple over.

Repenhardt, fueled by his momentum, let out a boisterous cry.

“Urat-chara!”

Holding onto the hydra’s head, Repenhardt then threw the creature completely over him. A man not even two meters tall had executed a throw on a ten-meter monster. Sillan, watching from a distance, doubted his own eyes at the ludicrous scene.

‘Oh my, can that gentleman really do such a thing?’

How often would a hydra experience being thrown on its back in its lifetime? Naturally, it received the full impact of its own weight. The hydra, falling onto its back for the first time, let out a piteous scream.

Gwaaaack!

With eight mouths, the scream sounded almost like surround sound. Despite the successful hit, Repenhardt’s expression didn’t look particularly bright.

‘Oh dear, am I going mad? Why did I shout that?’

My body is like steel; indeed, a sane person would be too embarrassed to say such a thing. It seemed he might have been overly influenced by Gerard. Reflecting on this, Repenhardt glared at the fallen hydra. Just then, a voice came from above.

“I’m coming, hyung!”

Russ, having already dealt with an ogre, leapt into the air to assist him. Dashing through the air, Russ swung his long swords left and right. The blade aura stretched out like a whip, successively slicing through the fallen hydra’s heads.

It had been almost a month since Russ learned about aura usage from Repenhardt. By now, he had reached the level of extending and altering the form of his aura. Considering it took nearly a year for Repenhardt to reach this stage, the progress was infuriatingly fast.

‘That’s why they say geniuses are unbearable.’

Witnessing Russ master in less than a month what had taken him a year, Repenhardt felt a strange mix of emotions. Never in his previous life had he envied anyone’s talents, so this was a surprisingly fresh sensation for him. Perhaps now he could understand the feelings of the other magicians who had observed him.

However, it wasn’t that Repenhardt felt inferior to Russ. Their talents differed, but his body, bestowed with the legacy of Teslon, was certainly not lesser in quality than Russ’s. Moreover, as a magician and warrior, he had no reason to envy the qualities of others, though lately he felt his identity shaking a bit.

Russ’s blade aura continued to slash at the hydra, splattering blue blood everywhere. Yet, the hydra did not die.

“Grrrrr…”

Despite the brutal impacts and injuries from Russ’s blade aura, the hydra slowly began to rise again. Even a regular wild animal would have remarkable vitality, making it impossible to bring down with a single strike unless a vital point was precisely targeted. Especially, a creature like the hydra could rise again even if several heads were severed.

“Tch…”

Russ grimaced and backed off for the moment. The hydra roared in pain, anger, and humiliation.

“Kaaaa!”

Frantically swinging its heads, the hydra unleashed breaths in all directions. Acid and corrosive fluids, flames and frost, and bolts of lightning successively targeted Russ and Repenhardt. While Russ hastily dodged, enveloping his body in aura for protection, Repenhardt charged forward.

“Spiral Guard!”

This defense technique, which ignored the nature and type of attacks, could only be penetrated by strikes with enough piercing power to disregard rotational force. Unfortunately for the hydra, its breaths did not possess such power. Deploying the Spiral Guard, Repenhardt deflected all attacks and swiftly closed the distance between them. Reaching right up to it, he stomped down hard with his left foot.

Boom!

Planting one foot into the ground like a giant tree, Repenhardt twisted his entire body, focusing all his strength into a single point. With that posture, he delivered a kick that landed on the Hydra’s torso!

Boom!

The wave of aura pierced through the Hydra’s heart, and a majestic explosion echoed. Blood, flesh, and fragments of innards shot up into the air as if a volcano had erupted. No matter how strong its vitality, a creature couldn’t live without its heart. After instantly slaying the Hydra, Repenhardt turned around to see Siris, Sillan, and Tilla running towards him from a distance, having defeated the ogres and joining him.

“Is everyone alright? Any injuries?”

It seemed that there were no wounds. Indeed, with Siris and Tilla’s abilities, enhanced by Sillan’s blessing, they could easily handle about half a dozen ogres. After all, Russ had dealt with most of them.

After checking everyone’s condition, Repenhardt gestured.

“Let’s move on then. We need to get out of this forest quickly.”

* * *

After escaping the foggy forest, Repenhardt and his companions decided to take a brief rest near a small valley. By a stream, they replenished their water supplies and chewed on the emergency rations they had brought along. They did not start a fire, wary that the smoke or smell might attract monsters.

Chewing on some jerky, Sillan shook his head.

“Wow, this place is really harsh. It seems worse than most ruins I’ve known.”

It had been fifteen days since they left Strassand, and a week since they ventured deep into the Setellad Mountains. During that week, Repenhardt’s party had already been attacked over thirty times by monsters. At first, they encountered common monsters like goblins, harpies, and krolbears, which posed no significant threat. However, as they ventured deeper, more powerful monsters appeared, including packs of ogres and even rare beasts like hydras.

After drinking water from his canteen, Repenhardt replied as if it were a matter of course.

“Well, it’s a wilderness untouched by humans. It’s no wonder even the dwarves choose to live away from human reach at this point.”

“But can dwarves really live in such a place? We’re moving through it, but how can a dwarf…” He paused, quickly adding, “Not that I doubt you, brother.”

“Just follow along. You’ll understand once you see for yourself.”

Russ still seemed incredulous that dwarves ‘of all creatures’ could inhabit such rugged terrain. Although he had acknowledged that dwarves could have warriors after seeing Tilla’s strength, changing his underlying perception of dwarves was not easy.

Nevertheless, they were all taking a brief rest. Suddenly, Repenhardt grimaced.

“Damn, can’t they even let us rest for a moment?”

Russ also stood up, grasping his sword. Looking up at the sky, he murmured with a stern face.

“It’s a phantom griffin.”

From afar, the screeching sounds grew loud as a group of monsters approached from the sky.