The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary

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“Seize the knights! If they resist, kill them! But take that big man alive! I’ve got business with him!”

“I’ve got business with you too, but I don’t want to be dragged off!”

Soldiers rushed in under Magna’s command.

Storm and his men, who were not willing to be captured without a fight, were overwhelmingly outnumbered, but they still managed to defeat the soldiers one after another.

In most cases, when comparing knights and soldiers, knights were stronger. Moreover, Storm and his men were Imperial Guards, specially selected knights among the knights. There was a huge difference in training and experience between them and general soldiers, and they were incomparable in terms of skill.

The soldiers wanted to overwhelm them with their numbers, but the entrance to the catacombs was not wide enough to allow so many people to pass through, and as a result, the knights worked together to defeat the small number of soldiers who entered one after another.

“Can’t you put out that fire?”

Although the knights still had some advantage in the battle, Storm believed that even with Loren and his team, they could not defeat all the soldiers in the castle with a force of about ten men. 

Knowing that they would eventually run out of strength, they would have to think of some way to retreat from the situation, but it would be difficult to cut their way through the soldiers and reach the entrance to the catacombs.

If the flames surrounding the coffin, which was the entrance to the secret passage, were extinguished, they should be able to escape from there. But the flames, which showed no sign of dying out, were spreading such heat around that even if the knights tried to get close enough to put them out, they would be driven back.

[‘Shayna, Energy Drain.’]

Loren, thinking that if it was a magic flame, it could be extinguished with Shayna’s energy drain, called out to her. But the answer he received was not good.

[‘I’ve already tried, but it just won’t go out.’]

“Loren, I think it’s the kind of thing you can’t get rid of without doing something about the magician.”

Lapis, who seemed to have some idea of what Loren was planning, said. As he cleaved off two soldiers who were attacking him, Loren looked at Noel, the magician who was burning the coffin. She, along with Magna and the king, were on the other side of the thick wall of soldiers, so it was unlikely that he would be able to get to them anytime soon.

“Don’t worry. If they only have soldiers within the castle fighting for them, I think Gula and I will be able to handle the situation just fine.”

The soldiers rushed to Lapis, who was wearing a priest’s uniform, and Gula, who was wearing light, revealing clothing, as they seemed easy to deal with.

However, those who tried to approach Gula disappeared one after another without understanding what had happened, and those who tried to approach Lapis were unable to hit her with the weapons they brandished, and were sent flying by a single blow from her fist or foot. They slammed into the walls or even to the pillars, and fell to the floor.

“That’s outrageous.”

“It would be a lot easier if it weren’t for Storm and his men.”

Perhaps thinking that the knights were too occupied intercepting the soldiers to pay attention to her, Lapis was not going very easy on the soldiers. But even so, she could not afford to be too reckless.

“Gula too. Some moderation, please.”

“Yes, yes. I’ll show them the best of my magic!”

From the point of view of Loren and Lapis, who knew what was going on, the disappearance of the soldiers was definitely due to Gula’s authority. But in the presence of the public, Gula was determined to claim that it was all magic. 

There was no other way to explain it, and Loren, who was leisurely cutting down a nearby soldier in the meantime, thought that he should let her do as she pleased. He took a big step toward the soldiers who entered the catacombs in an endless stream, and swung the greatsword in his hand in a wide arch. The blow sliced through a pillar of stone, cutting through soldiers on its path, then easily cut through another pillar, producing screams and sprays of bright red blood that stopped more soldiers following in their tracks.

Another flash of Loren’s greatsword, and several soldiers were cut down at the torso, spraying blood and flesh at the soldiers behind them. Some soldiers began to fall back, as if they were afraid of Loren moving forward.

“Let me handle these troublesome adventurers for you.”

Magna came forward, pushing aside the soldiers who had started to fall back.

After confirming that Noel was with the king, he instructed the soldiers while looking at Loren, who was squaring off against him with his greatsword ready.

“I’ll deal with him. You deal with the knights and the girls.”

Loren, thinking that the knights were whatever, but the girls must surely be more formidable than himself, held up his greatsword to Magna as he came forward.

Magna, on the other hand, held a shield which he had taken out of nowhere in his left hand, and in his right hand, which he kept in a relaxed stance, he held the long sword that Loren had seen several times before.

Magna’s stance was that of an orthodox shield user, but the fact that it was not unconventional meant that it was a solid stance, and Loren frowned, thinking it would be a hassle to deal with.

“Here I come, scoundrel.”

At the same time as he spoke, Magna lunged at Loren, shield at the ready.

If it were just any shield, Loren’s greatsword could have cut through it and reached Magna’s body. But the sword only glanced off the shield’s surface, producing sparks while Magna pressed close, overpowering Loren by force.

Loren thought that if he held his ground at this point, the sword in Magna’s right hand would soon come at him; leaning on Magna’s shield, he jumped backwards, but Magna’s follow-up attack was swift. He immediately readjusted his shield, and again rushed forward at Loren, who had jumped away.

Loren himself had never experienced being defeated by force, at least not in a fight with a human; it was a difficult and unfavourable situation. He slammed his greatsword onto the surface of the shield again, but this time, Magna did not try to catch the blow. He slightly changed the angle of his shield in the blink of an eye as the blade hit its surface and repelled Loren’s blow.

If Loren had been an ordinary swordsman, he would have been dragged down by the weight of the greatsword as he was knocked away by the mighty force of Magna’s blow, and he would have been thrown off his stance. But Loren had had many years handling a greatsword; the moment he realized that he had been repelled, he pulled back the sword with just the strength of his arm. He lost balance for a moment, but immediately caught Magna’s sword, which was about to strike at him.

“You son of a biiitch!”

Loren shouted a war-cry and tried to push Magna back with his blade as a leverage, but he immediately felt a blow to his abdomen and was sent flying backwards.

The moment he realized that he had been kicked, Magna’s shield was again looming in front of him, and Loren, giving up on intercepting the attack, immediately threw himself down onto the floor to avoid the shield strike.

“How obstinate.”

A blade swung down to slash at Loren, who was on the floor. He rolled to avoid the attack, and as he got up, he spun on the spot and cut down a soldier who was trying to attack him from behind.

“That’s how mercenaries are!”

The soldier’s body had been severed at the abdomen and turned into two lumps of flesh. Loren grabbed the upper body and threw it at Magna with force.

The corpse flew through the air, spraying guts and blood, and headed straight for Magna, who brushed it away with his shield as carelessly as if it were a piece of trash.

“>”

It was Lapis who intervened, as if she was determined not to let that happen. While dealing with the soldiers coming toward them, she fired Force at the corpse that Loren had thrown at Magna. 

The impact changed the direction in which the corpse flew, and at the same time, a new spray of blood flew from the area hit by the spell, slightly obstructing Magna’s view.

Seeing an opportunity, Loren was about to launch an attack, but a barrage of spears suddenly appeared in front of him and blocked his path, making him unable to slash at Magna.

“What an absurd ability!”

Magna’s ability was to pull out all sorts of weapons out of nowhere. It could not be determined whether they belonged to Magna himself or whether they were coming from the armor he was wearing, but in any case, each of these sudden and unexpected appearances of weapons was very intimidating to Loren.

By the time Loren had cleared the spears Magna had summoned, Magna had escaped from the corpse and blood spray that blocked his view.

“What a nasty woman. After I’m done with you, I’ll slowly discipline her.”

“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

Magna looked quizzically at Loren, who had unintentionally given him advice, and Lapis’ voice rose from behind him in strong protest. 

“What do you mean, Loren?! Your beautiful partner’s chastity is in jeopardy!”

“How do you have the nerves to say that yourself…?”

Feeling somewhat disheartened, Loren held up his greatsword and called out to Magna, who once again held up his sword and shield, to fulfil the purpose he had come here for.

“I have a question for you.”

“I don’t think I need to answer.”

“What is your relationship with Commander Yuri?”

Disregarding Magna’s refusal, Loren asked. His words brought a hint of surprise to Magna’s face, but the expression quickly disappeared, and the look in his eyes changed to one of calculating as he looked at Loren.

“Are you from the mercenary group that Yuri used to lead?”

“Yes, I am. And I was told by the Commander that you were the cause of the collapse of the group. Answer me. What are you to Commander Yuri?”

Loren asked again. Magna looked thoughtful for a while, then let out a low, stifled laugh, his shoulders shaking. 

This time, it was Loren who looked quizzically at Magna, who, after laughing for a while, eventually glanced at Loren and said in a happy voice.

“You have caused so much trouble for me. I was going to capture you alive and thank you for all you have done after I question you, but now I have one more question I have to ask you.”

“You don’t want to answer my question, do you?”

“Hmph. I thank you for making me feel happy. Let’s try something.”

Magna’s shield disappeared right in front of Loren’s eyes.

As Loren wondered in astonishment where, the hell, he was really taking it in and out from, Magna held up the long sword with both hands and spoke.

“If you survive this blow, I’ll tell you Yuri’s story.”

“That’s a lot of confidence.”

“You’ll see what I mean with that body of yours.”

Loren had seen Magna shoot an extraordinary light beam from his long sword with little penalties before. He began to doubt Magna’s ability to think straight if he intended to use such an attack, which was something that he didn’t think he could ever defend against, in this subterranean space. But Magna did not perform the deed that Loren had feared; he stepped into the gap between them with such speed that even Loren could not suppress the chill that ran down his spine.

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