Undying Berserker
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Chapter 46 - Duel
🕑 Added 2025-01-24 14:16:46 +0000 UTCAll those in the camp who could fight were following them… There were only around three thousand warriors against almost ten thousand enemy soldiers. The odds were stacked against them, but the natives looked like they were going to enjoy themselves instead of heading into a battlefield where they would be outnumbered three to one.
When the army crossed half of the distance, they finally had the chance to see the enemies in the distance moving, and they seemed to be in a hurry… there were no signs of their lines being any close to being completed. Thanks to that, the charge gained even more speed… Zelos could finally understand something. Somehow, Reina was able to see in the distance the perfect moment to attack the enemy… it was when they were their weakest or unready to defend.
“Weakest… could it be?”
Before Zelos could complete his thinking, he saw some horses coming from the enemy’s camp toward them. It looked like the enemies didn’t want them getting any closer to their camp for some reason. It wasn’t like they had the high ground there, so maybe there was another reason the cavalry came… to buy time, perhaps.
It didn’t take long for the two groups to collide… Edea fired some arrows and then claimed the heads of some archers. Zelos recovered the arrows for her, but she hesitated in getting them. She wasn’t a real warrior… even though she was so skilled with the bow.
At the same time, Reina began to move among the enemies and stab them while avoiding their attacks by avoiding them by a very small margin. At that point in time, Zelos could almost be certain that Reina could see the enemy’s weakness, or maybe it was something like, based on the enemies’ stance, she could find the best way to defeat them as quickly as possible.
Either way, the enemy cavalry didn’t last even a single minute, so soon the enemy’s camp was reached… The giant warriors with their shields and spears began to assume their formations to stop them, and soon the chaos started.
“Spread and kill them all!”
For the unusual calm Reina to shout that with all her might… Despite the noise of the horses and the fights, everyone still clearly heard her. Even though they were outnumbered three to one, they still had the confidence of winning without having to use tactics.
The natives began to spread around, and only a small number began to follow Reina, Zelos, and the others. They were among them and soon collided with the few heavy infantrymen who managed to assemble. Those guys got ready to stab Reina’s horse, but she quickly jumped from the animal and passed above them while spinning in the air. She elegantly landed on the ground and then swung her spear… claiming the heads of five enemies with ease.
The remaining natives targeted the other infantrymen and faced them directly and soon destroyed their shields before facing them. Reina told the group to follow her to share their same fate, but at that point in time, she was only showing off.
Still, she suddenly stopped ahead when she found a squad of archers armed with crossbows and ready to fire them. As expected, she was weak when it came to long-range attacks, so she couldn’t help but stop. She probably didn’t have much experience dealing with that since she lived in the mountains. However, a solution soon appeared… Zelos threw one of the enemy’s shields at her while he had another. She grabbed it without hesitation.
“Well thought.”
Zelos wasn’t planning to just watch… in the end, and he couldn’t just blame the assholes in the farm for what he had to endure for ten years. All the motherfuckers who love to wage war so badly are part of the problem. Zelos decided to show them the kind of monster they could create, even away from the battlefield.
Zelos and Reina charged while using the shields and then the enemies bombarded them with bolts… Much to Zelos’s surprise, the bolts were literally raining on the shields. Most likely, they were rapid-fire crossbows, and considering the marks that he could see on the other side, they had a lot of power, too.
Still, before the shields could break or suffer too much damage, they reached the enemies… Reina swung the shield and smashed the faces of several of the archers while Zelos used his charging technique and knocked down several of the enemies… when they tried to get up, Zelos swung his sword and cut their heads without hesitation.
Before the others could reach them, things started to get chaotic in the enemy’s camps. Tents began to burn and people tried to run away since they didn’t have time to grab their weapons. Zelos saw some riders coming from the side and then charging toward Heirina and the others…
All sides start an all-out confrontation, and Zelos, for the first time, sees what a real war is. He was completely taken aback by it. Yesterday, his head was filled with anger, but this time it was different… However, he soon recovers and makes up his mind to fight even more fiercely than before. That was the world he was born in.
Before Zelos and Reina could reunite with the others, two figures suddenly charged at them… the first slammed his body against Reina and then pushed her to the distance. While the other swung his sword at Zelos, and even though he jumped to the side and avoided the blade… his neck began to bleed.
“I was expecting to find many people here, but not you, kid.”
Zelos squinted his eyes while looking at Elmer. The plan worked, but not the way Reina had planned. When they got separated from the group, the two enemy leaders appeared and targeted them instead. Maybe the sudden arrival of another cavalry unit wasn’t a coincidence.
Regardless, Elmer looked much better than before. He didn’t look weaker, and he also had a long sword in his hands and a weird glove in his left hand. It was weird to look at that since there was this odd feeling...
“Don’t ignore me, kid.”
Elmer swung his sword again and then Zelos suddenly felt his left ear burning. In the next moment, he saw half of it falling on the ground, and then the wetness of blood began to drip from the other part that was still left in place.
“What do you want me to say? It has been a while? How are you?”
Perhaps it was a good idea to buy time since the natives had the advantage in the situation and Zelos knew that he wasn’t experienced enough to deal with Elmer… moreover, his trait allowed him to attack from a distance somehow, and that was the first long-ranged trait that Zelos had seen that operated offensively.
Elmer just smiled and then swung his sword again. This time, Zelos used his charging technique to the side and avoided the hit… Thanks to the hit, he saw a mark in the shape of a line suddenly appearing on the grass. At the same time, he saw a few of the grass blades around moving.
“A trait that let him control the wind with his attacks… or perhaps he can just control the wind and extend the reach of his sword and make it like a whip.”
“Impressive. I didn’t think that you had the physical strength to do that. I thought that you were just a random kid that belonged to a rich family and was playing mercenary, but it seems that I was wrong.”
Elmer took a few steps forward, and Zelos immediately realized that it would be harder to dodge if he got closer. He also couldn’t use the charging technique often, so he truly was in a bind. Zelos wanted to confirm the surrounding situation, but he couldn’t turn his head or even blink for a second… he focused on his ears and only heard the sound of metal colliding, grunts of pain, and people screaming.
“I guess I will have to do this somehow. It will be a good experience, if nothing else.”
Zelos lowered his stance and got ready to fight, Elmer blinked several times after seeing that and then chuckled. It was funny that a kid like Zelos thought that he could fight him… it would be even funnier if it weren’t actually very annoying.
Elmer charged and then swung his sword. Zelos raised his sword and then blocked the invisible attack, but he still felt his shoulder burning… even if he blocked the wind in an area, that wasn’t enough…
Before the pain could even decrease, Zelos charged at the enemy and then swung his sword. Elmer smiled and then blocked the attack with a single hand but then opened his eyes widely when his defenses were easily destroyed. The dark sword approached him, but then he blocked the weapon with his glove and then jumped backward.
Upon impact, another sound of metal colliding took place, but the glove didn’t suffer any damage, nor was Elmer’s hand pushed away… Zelos felt like he had attacked a brick wall somehow…
“I guess you must have a strength-type trait… that would explain why you are here. I almost messed up again… I tried to fool around with that crazy woman and then ended up caged for several months. I need to learn my lesson.”
Zelos recalled the wounds that Lua showed before and the ones that Elmer caused… now he could understand how things played out for this retard to end up in prison. In any case, that had been a golden chance for Zelos, but now the enemy was no longer going to underestimate him.
Elmer swung his sword around in several angles and then Zelos tried to run away while protecting his head from the attacks… it didn’t take long before his body and clothes were damaged and dirty with blood… it truly looked like he had been whipped by a sword. The enemies trait was annoying, and it didn’t look like it used that much magic to make it work.
Still, Elmer stopped attacking for a moment and then began to study Zelos… he was surprised that Zelos wasn’t showing any signs of pain. The longer the distance between him and the target, the more swallow the damage would be, but after being hit several times, he was bound to have a harder time moving.
“You must have some decent physical defenses as well… It can't be helped. I wanted to enjoy this slowly, but if you are here, the others must be here as well. I will only feel satisfied if I am the one who claims their heads.”
