Chapter 91: Northern Conquest War (8)
“You deserve to die disgracefully, spilling your blood on the ground like this! The Heavenly God Tanggu will punish you!”
“You are worse than a pig, you heathen! Your futile ambition to become a Khan ends here.”
After saying that, Ludwig and I continued to clash our swords in battle.
I slashed diagonally from above my left shoulder down to my right knee and then another one up to his neck, following through with a kick with my right foot.
He effortlessly blocked my two consecutive attacks with his sword, and my right kick, which I thought would be the finishing blow…
…was easily parried with his right arm wrapped in chain armor.
Blocking my leg, clad in iron greaves, with an arm covered in mere chain armor should have caused considerable shock… Damn, he blocked it with such ease.
Indeed, he possessed the strength befitting an absolute powerhouse who had risen to the position of Khan in the north, where only the law of the jungle prevailed.
“Even a mosquito bite would hurt more than that! Shouldn’t you kick harder if you want to face me?”
I wanted to tell him to shut up but responding to that, given that my attack missed, would have been meaningless.
No, he would take my response as an opportunity to mock me, and his words would spread throughout the army.
If that happened, the morale of the imperial army would fall, and the barbarians, waiting only for the time of their deaths while being surrounded, would seize the chance to kill our soldiers and escape.
“Are you trembling in front of my majesty like a mute who has eaten honey? How cute! Fine, I’ll kill you and then take off your helmet to see how cute your face is!”
Saying this, Ludwig stomped on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
This obscured my vision momentarily, and seizing the moment, he precisely targeted the gap between my helmet and breastplate, thrusting his sword while shouting.
“Avenger of my loyal subordinates of T?ner! I will kill you who slaughtered my valiant warriors! Die, you bastard!”
In an instant, I tried to deflect his attack with my sword. Yet, I remembered my instructor’s words that many die trying to block a stabbing motion, which has a very narrow attacking area, when simply dodging could save one’s life.
So, I blocked his attack with my left arm and managed to deflect the trajectory of the incoming sword, but…
…a numb and tingling sensation, accompanied by a heavy impact as if being hammered, spread through my left arm.
Damn it! Surely, if I took off my armor and checked, there would be a bruise on my arm.
Nevertheless, I attempted to use the arm that had blocked the sword to strike at his face when his attack missed, and his balance was disturbed.
However, he kicked my left arm hard with his right leg, and due to the recoil, my arm and torso were left clearly exposed.
“I’ll send you to join your deceased mother and father soon! Die!!”
After saying that, instead of attacking me with his sword, he lifted his right leg and kicked my torso hard with the sole of his foot.
Thanks to my helmet and armor, I managed to avoid injury.
In an instant, I became dazed, and Ludwig looked down at me with a rotten smile, raising his sword high and then swiftly bringing it down, saying,
“Enemy of T?ner! Die here and become dog food!!”
He plunged his sword at lightning speed toward the gap between my helmet and breastplate.
The sound of his sword cutting through the air and plunging down at lightning-fast speed seemed to unfold in slow motion before me, allowing me to roll on the ground and dodge just before his sword struck.
“Coward! Do you want to live, even if it means tasting the humiliation of rolling in the dirt?!”
At his words, his subordinates, even amidst the fierce battle, laughed at me with gleeful voices.
“Rolling in the dirt and looking like a roasting pig!”
“The Khan himself avenges the T?ner tribe! Long live the Khan!”
“Floundering like a deer cornered in a hunt! Haha!”
My soldiers might have lost morale hearing such words, but at that moment, I had no luxury to care about such petty concerns.
Because Ludwig, in front of me, seemed to see this as an opportunity to gain the upper hand.
In close combat, the one who gained the upper position first would usually be the victor.
“Originally, I would have liked to sit on my bed and admire your beautiful face, but it seems that won’t be possible! You little brat!!!”
“Just because you have a torn mouth, you spew filthy words! You rotten barbarian Khan, killing you hundreds of times wouldn’t be enough!”
Having said that, I rolled back once more, quickly stood up, and narrowly dodged the kick he threw at me.
“You’re indeed capable enough to have killed T?ner! But by just dodging like this, can you even inflict a minor wound on this noble body of mine?”
Certainly, being cornered like this, it seemed impossible to even wound Ludwig, let alone kill him.
If I died or were gravely injured, the entire army’s morale would plummet.
Ludwig could potentially escape using that momentum, and if he succeeded,
The North would once again fall into chaos, and many people would die as a result.
But why did I feel that especially Lieutenant Laura would be heartbroken in this desperate situation?
So damn it, I couldn’t be killed by someone like Ludwig, whom even dogs wouldn’t eat if given his corpse.
“Just because I rolled on the ground doesn’t mean I’m weak enough to be beaten by someone worse than a pig like you!”
“The barking of the empire’s dog is indeed the best! Even Tanggu would be immensely impressed by your bluff.”
After saying that, Ludwig swung his sword from left to right with great force, aiming at my armpit.
Due to the tremendous force and speed of his swing, instead of thinking about counterattacking or blocking, I stepped back as I had before, dodging the attack, and then struck his forehead with the pommel attached to the handle of my sword.
Ludwig, not expecting the attack, sharply bent his body to avoid the pommel’s strike.
This was an improvement compared to how he easily blocked or deflected my previous attacks.
Taking advantage of his bent position, he lunged at me, trying to knock me down.
I had already rolled on the ground once because of him; I couldn’t let it happen again.
“Do I look foolish enough to fall for the same trick twice?”
I twisted to the left, and Ludwig missed, grasping at thin air.
Though he looked slightly comical for a moment, he nonchalantly complimented me as if unfazed.
“The brat has really learned how to run away properly!”
“Yes, I learned a thing or two from T?ner, who ran away with his tail between his legs. You’ll end up the same.”
“You! How dare you insult my loyal warrior?!”
Crazy bastard. He insulted me a lot and then complained when I insulted his dead subordinate.
Then he swiftly struck down toward my neck from above his right shoulder, holding the sword only in his right hand.
The sound of the air splitting was so loud and forceful that I could hear it clearly, even through my helmet.
“Die, you insect of the empire!”
The barbarian chieftain before me had eyes filled with the certainty of victory, thinking, ‘Now you’re dead!’ But his strike seemed exaggerated and empty.
The reason was that his right-hand sword swing was excessively wide, making his targeted trajectory at my neck obvious.
No, it even seemed like he was baiting me to block it.
So, instead of blocking the attack or exploiting the gap, I looked to his left.
Sure enough, in Ludwig’s left hand, he held a cavalry sword upside down.
Coward! If I had only focused on blocking his attack, I would not have been ready for the one coming from the left.
When I saw that, I considered drawing my dagger with my left hand to block it for a moment.
But a small dagger would have been no match for the weight of Ludwig’s cavalry sword.
And an imperfect block could have led to a serious injury.
So, instead of dodging or blocking his attack, I grasped my sword with both hands and aimed for his throat.
Then I pushed off the ground with my right foot and lunged forward as though I were flying.
This maneuver allowed me to close the distance within the range of the blade he swung with his right arm and block the incoming attack from the left with my sword.
In this ruthless world where survival of the fittest reigned, and swordsmen often met their demise, the one who had climbed to the position of Khan through killing said to me in a mocking tone,
“Kid, not bad!”
With that, I moved in closer, completely intercepting the attack from the left with the sword in my grasp.
Then, we were so close that we could hear each other’s breaths and heartbeats.
Before he could react, I jerked my head to the side with all my might and struck his helmet.
Although the move didn’t injure or kill Ludwig, it did catch him off guard, causing him to fluster momentarily.
Seizing the opportunity, I knocked his left-hand sword aside and wielded my sword with only my left hand.
Then, instead of backing away, I pushed off the ground once more and barged into him with my shoulder.
As Ludwig’s body tilted momentarily, I stepped further into his space, twisted my whole body to the right, and hit Ludwig’s exposed face beneath his helmet with the back of my steel gauntlet.
Through the steel of my gauntlet, I felt his teeth shatter, and Ludwig contorted in pain.
It might not have been a deadly blow, but for the first time, I had managed to strike him solidly.
Now, if I continued to press the attack, I might manage to slash his throat.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺