The 9Th Class Swordmaster: Blade Of Truth [EN]: Chapter 255

179. The Yoman Battle (2)

“…….”

Ganes, the Sword Master of the Duchy, gazed down from the ramparts. The flag bearing the anchor, the symbol of the Fran army, snapped in the biting wind.

The enemy was so close they were visible to the naked eye.

This close confrontation was a first since the war began.

“Any orders from White Bunker?”

“None of note. They said securing Yoman alone would guarantee victory in the war.”

“Hmm…….”

He bit his lip slightly at his subordinate’s report, but quickly nodded.

‘A few days ago, about 2,000 enemy reinforcements arrived in Yoman. The number of troops is similar. With the Great Rampart, it’s not a big problem for us,’ he thought.

As he thought, numbers weren’t the issue.

But their attitude had changed.

Unlike before, the enemy wasn’t just posturing in front of Yoman; they had come out ready for battle.

‘The enemy’s reinforcements may mean that our side has suffered defeats elsewhere… Does Lord Tully still think the war situation is favorable?’

He trusted in the mighty Yoman and didn’t consider defeat a possibility.

However, what he still couldn’t understand was why his forces were unnecessarily tied to Yoman, which had such a solid defense.

‘With that number of troops, it would have been better to launch an offensive and end it.’

Ganes already knew that his regret was pointless.

“They won’t be able to cross the Great Rampart… But tell them to prepare for the enemy’s attack. Use the counterattack as an opportunity to wipe them out this time.”

“Yes!!”

The subordinate saluted and hurried down the ramparts. Ganes still held his massive halberd upright on the ground, watching the enemy.

He was focused on a certain person who had been bothering him, who was looking up at the ramparts again today.

The light purple hair visible inside the pure white cloak made of white rabbit fur, worn on her head, was a rare sight even in the Duchy.

‘A mage, perhaps.’

The only way someone receiving such treatment could be in such a position at a young age was if they were a mage.

And Ganes’s guess was correct.

However,

‘Even such a kid is on the battlefield.’

That thought only made him bitter. Of course, he too had been thrown into the battlefield in his teens, surviving until he finally reached the position of Sword Master.

But he was a man.

It might be a sexist remark, but unlike himself, who had lived with the desire to wield a sword since he was a boy, the girl in front of him just looked like a child in his eyes.

“……Hmm?”

However, Ganes’s expression hardened as he looked down at Serica Lauren on the field.

The girl, looking up and smiling at him, casually raised her middle finger with a truly bright smile.

Then, she brought that finger to her neck and drew it across, sticking out her tongue.

“…….”

Ganes stared at her with a dumbfounded expression. But before he could say anything, she moved first.

Mercy on the battlefield?

Serica knew better than anyone that that was recklessness and a luxury they couldn’t afford.

“Waaaaaaaah―――!!”

“Waaaaa―――!!”

As she raised her arm high above her head, the soldiers shouted and began to run.

“Foolish…….”

Ganes muttered, watching the enemy. In his eyes, they were nothing more than moths flying into a flame.

“It’s just a civil war. They don’t have a mission to fight for so desperately that they fear death… It must be the fault of a commander who takes life lightly.”

He shook his head.

The arrows poured down from the ramparts.

The arrows falling from above due to the extraordinary height difference flew towards the soldiers at several times the speed of ordinary arrows.

Swoosh―! Swoosh swoosh――!!

Tadaang――!! Tadadadadaang―――!!

The shield bearers, holding huge Kite Shields over their heads, ran at the very front.

The arrows bouncing off the shields rang loudly like the sound of rain, and the relentless arrows eventually pierced even thick steel, causing soldiers to fall here and there.

“Advance!!”

Ganes’s vision shifted briefly at the commander’s cry. Serica’s figure in the white cloak was so conspicuous that he almost forgot about the commander.

‘I need to take care of that one first.’

Ganes decided to end this tedious battle as quickly as possible.

The best way to do that was to behead the commander… or the mage.

Thud―

He placed his foot on the edge of the ramparts and slowly gathered his mana.

Zzzt…… Zzzt zzzzt……!!

As his unique attribute, lightning, crackled, the blade of the halberd sparked with electricity. But somehow, the power seemed a little weak.

That was because the material of his halberd was Ultimatum, a mineral with water properties.

Although water and lightning weren’t completely incompatible, he couldn’t draw out its full potential.

Kwaaaaang―――!!

But that wasn’t a big problem for him, a Sword Master. Just as he was about to step off the edge of the ramparts and jump,

‘Where……?’

Ganes looked for Serica, who had disappeared from his sight for a brief moment.

It was only natural for a mage to cast spells from the rear, protected by soldiers.

So Ganes looked for her in the rear.

But surprisingly, she was among the advancing soldiers, even closer to the ramparts than they were.

Thud―

Serica Lauren came out of the group of soldiers and put her hand somewhere on the ramparts, as if it were the place she had been aiming for from the start.

Twitch.

At that moment,

He knew why she, a mere mage, had kept catching his eye more than the commander in a situation where they were facing each other.

His instincts were warning him.

She was dangerous.

“Hah, hah…….”

The soldiers looked around, wary of enemy attacks that might come from anywhere, their faces tense.

They were all the ones who had received special orders from Serica to find something.

“My father, you know, he was a mediocre mercenary, but he must have had a good personality, because all sorts of people frequented our inn thanks to him.”

They looked at Serica with expressions that said they couldn’t understand why she was telling such a past story in this urgent situation.

“Most of them were trash, but occasionally there were bards or people who knew all sorts of stories. They said they were all people they had met during their mercenary days.”

But she muttered quietly, as if enjoying the situation.

“Someone told a funny story back then.”

Serica groped the ramparts, frowned slightly, and chuckled.

Uuuuuuung……!!!

Uuuung……!!

She pressed the staff into the ramparts with all her might. The staff, like a bladed spear, went into it with a thud―!

She began to pour out her mana with all her might, her eyes sparkling as she said.

“Actually, they said, ‘Long ago, the north was a desert.'”

Creak…… Creak creak……!!!

Creak creak creak……!!

In that moment,

The wall where Serica’s staff was stuck began to crack with a groaning sound. The crack, which was initially a single line, branched out into dozens of lines like a spider web as it went up, and the crack didn’t stop there, but began to spread sideways at an incredible speed.

Something swelled up inside the cracked gaps in the ramparts, and when it couldn’t withstand the mana and burst, cold water began to freeze again, emitting white steam.

‘Ice is freezing inside the ramparts?’

‘What is that?!’

The soldiers couldn’t help but be amazed as they watched the seemingly solid Great Rampart of Yoman crack so easily.

Kwaaaaang……!! Kwagagaang……!!

The ramparts shook violently, and the ground began to rumble as if an earthquake had occurred.

“What, what is it?!”

“What suddenly……!!”

The soldiers on the ramparts lost their balance and began to stagger and fall.

“This root is originally a type of ancient cactus called Hahap. It still remains occasionally in the south, but it’s almost extinct. It’s tougher than a vine and has the property of grabbing the surrounding soil when it grows, so it was sometimes used to build earthen walls in the past.”

Serica chuckled, looking at the cracking ramparts.

“But this isn’t originally a plant that lives in such cold weather. So at first, I was half-doubtful.”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“But fortunately, it’s true…….”

Thud―!!

She plunged the staff into the opposite root again and said in a low voice.

“It’s also true that cacti hold moisture.”

Serica forcibly froze the moisture inside the Hahap with her mana.

As the moisture inside the cactus froze and expanded, the inside of the ramparts forcibly swelled, and the ramparts, which were bursting as if exploding from the inside, began to collapse without regard to any protective magic on the outside.

Kugeugeu…… Kugeugeugeugeu……!!

“……!!!”

Ganes stared at her with surprised eyes.

The roots of the cactus that had sprung out from inside the ramparts suddenly began to run wild, unable to withstand the force.

Jjwa jajak……!!

Jjwa jajajajak……!!

The cracks that had soared upwards and reached the top of the ramparts were now rushing fiercely like waves in the horizontal direction.

Kwaduk―――!!

Kwagagaang―――!!

The thick, frozen roots swelled up between the cracks, unable to withstand the force and shattering into pieces.

The empty spaces where the roots had been broken and the gaps in the cracks meshed together, creating large holes in the ramparts.

As Serica sent mana into it, the empty spaces filled with water and turned into ice once again, pushing the cracks in the ramparts further.

Keudeudeudeuk……!!

However, the ramparts began to make a loud noise as if they were wailing in pain.

“Ice is falling!!”

“Everyone, get out of the way!!”

As the cracks intensified, the ramparts themselves shook, and the stacked bricks at the top shattered and fell.

Kwagang!! Kwagang!!!

The debris of the ramparts was frozen by the cold air, and the falling rocks fell onto the heads of the soldiers on the ground with a roar, like huge chunks of ice.

The Great Rampart (大城壁) began to crumble everywhere.

The mages of Yoman were desperately trying to control the cacti that were freezing and bursting, but the mages couldn’t keep up with the speed at which the roots that had already sprung out of the ramparts were freezing due to the frigid cold of the north.

“The Great Rampart is…… collapsing.”

“No way…….”

The soldiers forgot that they were in the middle of a battle and stared at the ramparts as they gradually crumbled.

They felt like they were dreaming at the sight that they had never believed would happen in history.

“…….”

And that was the same for Ganes.

He didn’t know that such a plant was growing inside the Great Rampart, nor did he think that there would be a mage in the enemy army who could use that much mana.

Kkwaduk―

But he was the leader guarding the gates of Yoman.

The shock turned into anger, and unlike the soldiers, he regained his composure, came down from the collapsing ramparts, and gritted his teeth as he looked at Serica.

At that moment,

Serica Lauren pursed her lips slightly and said, gesturing her finger across her neck.

“Come on.”