Chapter 230: Recapturing Bezos (4)

It was a scene too unbelievable to accept.

Jared doubted his own eyes.

As if someone had sliced the wall with a sword, the section targeted by Briol’s army rose into the sky. The Imperial soldiers stationed on that part of the wall clung to the edge, screaming in desperation.

Everyone held their breath at the sight.

“Is this Lord Inariel’s power…?”

Urgent voices began erupting all around.

“Where is His Highness?”

“He’s already inside!”

“Damn it! Quick, follow him!”

“Shame on us for doubting!”

“Who was the one who hesitated?!”

“You doubted too!”

“Enough—run!”

Jared also spurred his horse quickly. It’s worth mentioning he had lost the earlier debate among the knights and had been placed in the rear.

All the knights who had hesitated out of fear of crashing into the wall were now spurring their horses and charging forward.

“Protect His Highness!”

By then, Yuri had already broken into enemy lines alone. Jared remembered the sight of his back as he dashed forward without hesitation while everyone else still wavered.

Though he argued with him every time they met, he couldn’t help but acknowledge him.

His lord, Yuri Briol, was truly an extraordinary man.

“Let’s go, let’s go!”

Jared shoved aside a middle-aged knight in front of him and crossed the threshold of the wall.

“Ah…”

Then he saw a sight that mocked all his worries.

Not a single intact corpse remained.

Blood and chunks of flesh were scattered like leftover food all across the wall.

The equipment prepared for defense was completely shattered, reduced to rubble across the ground.

It was as if a whirlwind made of blades had torn through the inside.

Jared murmured,

“The Spinning Whirlwind…”

It was one of Yuri’s signature techniques.

A wheel of sword energy that spun endlessly, shredding enemies.

When he first began using it, it only inflicted superficial wounds, but now it had been perfected into a definitive annihilation technique, literally pulverizing all obstacles.

He remembered the first time he met Yuri.

Back then, he thought he was nothing more than a reckless boy. Though his talent stood out, Jared had been stronger at the time.

But as time passed, where were they now?

Yuri had reached the level of the Ten Greats, while he could barely keep up.

Jared muttered bitterly.

“How shameful…”

He had never doubted his own talent. He’d never said it out loud, but he believed that if he kept training steadily, he too could one day be near the level of the Ten Greats.

But that was a naive thought.

This wasn’t about some distant “someday”—it was about the “now.”

Right now, he was just a mere escort knight barely supporting Yuri. And by the time he eventually got stronger, how far ahead would Yuri already be?

“Damn it…”

Jared thought of Laurent. The one who had always followed Yuri was no longer there. They didn’t even know if he was still alive.

But Jared had a hunch that one day they would meet again. And when that day came, at the very least, he didn’t want to be weaker than him.

“Jared, where are you going?”

A knight riding beside him asked while turning his body. He seemed to be a viscount from somewhere.

Briol’s knights all looked like bearded, pot-bellied lords, but they wielded swords like demons. He was no exception.

Jared shouted,

“I’m going around the flank!”

“Why?”

“Because following His Highness is too easy!”

The middle-aged knight widened his eyes in surprise and burst into loud laughter.

“An escort knight abandoning his lord out of boredom!”

“So what?”

“I love it!”

And after laughing even louder, he turned his body in Jared’s direction.

“Let’s go together! I, Macphos, will fight with the brat today!”

Then the other knights reacted.

“What’s going on? Where’s Sir Macphos going?”

“No idea!”

“I’m going too!”

“Follow them!”

A group of knights began changing direction.

“Yes! Following the cleared path is boring!”

“Hey! His Highness isn’t just some nobody!”

“Let’s go wipe out those fresh imperial bastards!”

As Jared and a group of knights veered off onto another route, the knights coming behind also began stirring.

“Should we split off too?”

“Great idea!”

Like a river branching off as it flows, Briol’s knights scattered in every direction.

With the army divided, access to the entrance became more open, and thus, the rest of Briol’s troops could pass through the wall without stopping.

The Imperial army offered no meaningful resistance. They had prepared to defend the wall, but never imagined the enemy would enter in such a ridiculous way.

“For Briol!”

Jared, who was cutting down enemy soldiers as he advanced, soon ran into a group of Imperial knights clad in black armor.

The knights of Briol shouted fiercely.

“They’re Imperials!”

“Kill them! Kill them!”

They said Briol was a land of knights, but watching them now, they looked more like bandits.

Jared smirked, placed one foot on his saddle, and stroked his horse’s mane.

“See you later.”

Then he leapt from his horse. Jared’s steed immediately turned around and withdrew from the battlefield.

Soaring through the air, Jared could see, one by one, the faces of the Imperial knights looking up at him.

All were expressionless.

Yuri often spoke of the Empire’s black army, calling them war machines without fear or pain.

Perhaps these were precisely those soldiers. Spinning midair, Jared gripped his sword tightly.

He didn’t believe lacking fear or pain was an advantage.

The will to live.

The fear of death.

That’s what pushes humans to exceed their limits on the battlefield.

Those who do not fear death cannot escape it. Jared’s perception expanded.

In that moment, he could see everything around him at once.

He landed in the rear of the Imperial cavalry. The knights there turned simultaneously and raised their swords.

The blades closed in. But to Jared, everything moved in slow motion.

The sword paths aiming for his life moved with astonishing slowness.

If he didn’t dodge, he’d die instantly.

And because he didn’t want to die, his mind entered overdrive, calculating with extreme precision the optimal move to survive.

His heart pounded.

Energy coursed through his body like a flood. Jared opened his eyes with resolve.

As the blades nearly touched him, he understood what to do.

He twisted his neck, spun, and with a single motion, slashed.

A wave of sword energy tore through the Imperial knights. Blood splattered, clouding his vision.

Then he heard a voice.

“Hey, hey! Going solo, are we?”

Jared smiled.

Macphos and several knights had broken through the rear with him. He wasn’t alone.

His body, tense with adrenaline, relaxed slightly. His attack trajectory now smoothed out.

If he’d been walking a razor’s edge before, he now strode across a thick rope.

It’s worth noting that Jared had completed “owl-style” night raid training.

Which meant this felt easy.

The knights led by Macphos charged into the disorganized Imperial rear.

Their momentum surpassed that of the enemy.

“For Briol!”

“For Briol!”

Jared resumed his movements to survive and reoriented his path to kill.

It didn’t take long.

There were so many ways to take the neck of a retreating enemy that choosing one was more luxury than necessity.

He flanked and struck at the enemy’s gaps. He didn’t face them head-on—he appeared suddenly from outside their vision and claimed their lives instantly.

It was a tactic inspired by the ronin’s style. They didn’t fight to test sword skills—they fought to take lives.

“Sir Jared! That was filthy and effective!”

“I learned it from His Highness!”

“Now you’re blaming him?”

“I’m serious!”

The Imperial knights didn’t even scream as they died.

Suddenly sensing a chill, Jared stepped back. An Imperial knight, who seemed dead, slashed at his ankle.

Though blood gushed from his chest due to the unnatural effort, his face remained expressionless.

Disgusted by the black magic, Jared crushed his head with his foot.

“How revolting…”

Looking up, he saw the Briol knights cutting through the enemy with renewed vigor. Even Macphos, having a bit of leeway, turned to speak.

“Easier than you expected?”

“Seems so.”

“No Black Knights, but I heard some squad commanders are still around.”

“Probably hiding in the rear.”

“Could be…”

As they talked, Jared suddenly stepped ahead and swung his sword.

An Imperial knight had tried to attack Macphos from behind. Though Briol had the advantage, the enemy weren’t amateurs.

“Whoa…”

“You owe me one.”

“Looks like it.”

Macphos let out a low chuckle.

“Debts are best paid immediately. I’ll follow and protect you today.”

“No need!”

***

Jared took a deep breath.

Though the operation had started well, the Imperial forces were overwhelming. Not just in number, but in the individual skill of each knight.

He didn’t know where they’d gotten so many, but no matter how many he killed, more kept coming, to the point where his sword felt dull.

“Phew…”

Looking back, he saw Macphos drenched in blood.

The number of knights who had followed Jared had already dwindled.

Some had died, and others had to withdraw due to injuries.

It was tragic—but such was war.

“Everyone’s a mess.”

“Did you think war was easy?”

“Even so…”

Jared spat bloody saliva as he recalled the comrades who’d died before his eyes.

“How many more have to die before this ends…?”

“It’s just starting and you’re already melancholy. When you hit middle age, you’ll be a sight to see.”

“That’s still far off.”

“That’s when life begins.”

Joking back and forth, they made their way deeper into the castle of Bezos. Briol’s army had virtually taken it. There was no longer any strong resistance.

The few Imperial soldiers who showed up surrendered immediately, and those under the influence of black magic only fell in senseless suicide attacks.

Soon, they reached the heart of Castle Bezos.

A towering structure stood before them—the castle’s core.

And at its entrance—

“Ah…”

Jared, at the front, let out a sigh. Macphos, who had been chattering nonstop, also fell silent as he stopped.

A solemn silence settled.

There he was.

Sitting on the shattered remains of a door, head bowed, a young man with black hair.

Around him lay so many Imperial knights’ bodies, it was impossible to count. The blood flowing from them had completely soaked the ground.

Jared finally understood why no high-ranking Imperial knight had shown up.

They had all been slain by that man.

The crushed and scattered armor and helmets—symbols of the feared title of Imperial Knight Commander—lay like trash across the floor.

The one responsible for that massacre lifted his head.

His face was spattered with blood, but as he smiled, his white teeth showed.

“Well, you’re late.”

He staggered to his feet. At first, he couldn’t keep his balance, but he finally stood firm on both legs.

Then, he forcibly raised one barely functioning arm and rested his sword—engraved with the word “guilt”—on his shoulder.

Yuri Briol.

Despite being in tatters, he smiled as if nothing had happened.

“It was a fierce fight, wasn’t it?”