I Obtained Sword God Level Talent - Chapter 86



85 – 085. The North (1)

“Don’t fall back! If we retreat, the central Empire is in danger…!!”

*Snik!*

A man, having sliced down an orc, commanded with a voice as sharp as a whip.

“B-but, there are just too many of them!”

“Damn it! The infantry on the front lines are at their limit! Their numbers are overwhelming!”

“Kuhh…!”

In the aftermath of the sudden clash with the monster horde, the man’s face remained grim.

So many. Too damn many. They were all near-veterans from the Northern Expedition, but no one knew how the hell these things had sprung from the Northern woods.

*Thwack!* *Sshhhack!*

“He-help me…!”

“Mommy… Mommy…”

Even if they were the Empire’s elite troops, they were just ordinary humans, untrained in mana.

The knight’s face grew deathly pale, staring at the mounting pile of his men’s corpses.

*Squish!*

“Everyone, prepare to retreat! I will hold the front line!”

The man finally made the call, shouting it out again. His adjutant and the soldiers around him cried out in shock.

“Wh-what are you saying?!”

“You’ll die! You’ll die, commander!”

“…I know.”

The man wiped blood from his sword and spoke with a grim expression.

“I can’t send my men to their deaths so I can live, can I?”

*Thunk!*

Staring forward, the man steadied his stance.

“Koooaarrr!”

“Screeeee!”

The line had already broken. From the start, stopping that many monsters without knights or mages was near impossible.

“Everyone, get out of here! I’ll hold them!”

The man gave a powerful shout and stepped forward, his feet heavy.

“What kind of noble runs away with his tail between his legs in the face of the enemy?”

*Shhhwip!* *Thwack!*

Rushing forward, swinging his sword, the man analyzed the situation, teeth clenched.

‘At least three hundred orcs, and more than five hundred kobolds. Damn it all! How did these b*stards, who are usually at each other’s throats, manage to…!’

But that wasn’t the important part now. The man regained his focus. It wasn’t like he was welcoming death anyway.

*Snick!*

“Ugh!”

Then, a stray arrow grazed his arm.

His vision blurred instantly, his head swimming. Instinct told him the arrow was poisoned.

“Is this the end…?”

*Thump!*

The man, kneeling on one knee, checked behind him.

‘Those dog-b*stards.’

A smile crept onto his face, naturally.

“Support the Captain!”

“Uwaaah…!”

“For the Empire! Forever!”

His subordinates, who should have been evacuating, stood their ground with determined expressions. They were even hurling spears and such at the monsters surging forward.

This was insubordination. If he survived, he planned to kick their asses.

*Sshhhk!*

“……!”

Was it because he’d let his guard down for a moment?

A massive axe was raised above the man, whose stance had been half-broken. If the b*stard’s axe fell like that, the man’s head would be severed clean off.

*Splat!*

Instead, the Orc’s head, which had been aiming for the man’s, exploded.

“Filthy lot, aren’t they.”

And a cold voice echoed through the battlefield.

*Whoosh…!*

A chilling wind swept through the battlefield, through the forest.

“……Eh, uhh?”

“Tsshk?”

Everyone turned their gazes. Both monsters and humans. Everyone instinctively felt that the owner of the voice was no ordinary person.

“You are…?”

The man found it hard to even open his eyes.

The instant he appeared, he’d had the illusion of an indescribable, blinding light pouring out.

“We are the ‘Round Table.’ We just happened to run into you.”

“R-Round Table, you say…”

The man’s mouth hung open, looking stupid, as if something had occurred to him.

‘The Round Table? Isn’t that the newbie guild that recently hit the jackpot in the Imperial Capital!’

Rumors swirled within the company about their ability to sense emotions and destinies tied to high-value goods, or whatever. But had they really possessed this kind of raw power?

“You’ve done well.”

Frey, approaching him slowly, patted the man’s shoulder.

It was a sight reminiscent of the past, watching Lancelot and Frey.

“H-However, there are still monsters…”

Snapping out of his reverie, the man frantically scanned his surroundings. Despite the arrival of such powerful backup, the number of monsters was still—

“The number…”

The man’s mouth slowly fell open.

*Shwack! Shwack!*

Already, the battlefield had become a scene of slaughter so swift it was almost exhilarating.

‘Are, are those people also from the Round Table? Good heavens! Everyone is at least a 6th-tier master!’

It wasn’t just Frey who had stormed onto this battlefield.

The guild members of the Round Table who moved with him, beings who could cut down monsters like these as easily as breathing, had all joined the fight.

The outcome was obvious.

Hundreds, nearly thousands, of monsters had all been sent to the afterlife in less than ten minutes.

*Swish*, the man awkwardly rose to his feet.

It was an unbelievable, awe-inspiring sight.

Each and every guild member possessed power that was simply absurd. With this much strength, they could probably wipe out an entire nation.

And on top of that…

‘Ah, wait a minute. Looking at their faces again…’

The man sensed something was off.

Crown Prince Friedrich, the absolute ruler of the North, ＜Bladeslayer＞, the newly famed ＜Knight＞ Lancelot, and… a woman clad in noble, pure white, among others.

They were all monsters, each one at least a couple of steps above the norm. Only then did the man look at Frey, who stood before him, with a gaze filled with awe.

“Who… who are you?”

Respect dripped from his eyes.

* * *

Subjugating the monsters wasn’t difficult. Of course, it wouldn’t be. Everyone participating in the subjugation was at least a 6th-tier master. Even if you brought in monsters completely consumed by magic, this force could easily tear them to shreds.

“For monsters to come down this far. It’s strange,”

We resumed our journey. Lancelot, perched on the roof of the carriage, muttered lowly while surveying the surroundings.

“Which is why it’s strange. That a rift happened to appear near the Holy See.”

“Right. A rift, a rift…”

Lancelot fell into a reverie, silent for a long while. Turning my head, I pondered what was to come.

‘Of all places, a rift opens in the Empire’s north, and of all times, the Papal Seat is under siege…’

A ‘rift’ was like a passage, a channel connecting the human world with another space.

Just like the rift we’d seen at the western border, I knew this new rift, the cause of this monster surge, was also being used as a passageway by the monsters.

‘Too damned convenient for a coincidence, isn’t it?’

From noble mtl dot com

It was that very string of coincidences that felt so off to me.

Monsters appearing from a rift isn’t all that strange. But the problem was where this particular rift had opened.

‘…For now, I need to join up with the Papal Seat, and then think it through.’

With so little information at hand, making a reasonable judgment was difficult. This too was just a vague guess, reality could very well turn out to be far removed from what I imagined.

“The good thing is, we’ll be able to join the subjugation force soon.”

Just as I was thinking all that,

Friedrich spoke, his usual playful face replaced by a tense, hardened expression.

I nodded in reply.

“Yeah. We’ll probably meet up within an hour.”

There was the explanation from the Empire army’s outer defense unit we’d encountered earlier.

They had said they were guarding and defending a location far from the main base, just in case there was a breach in the subjugation force’s encirclement…

“The more I think about it, the stranger it gets. How… how did such a ridiculous coincidence happen?”

He must have been thinking along similar lines as me.

Friedrich mumbled with a dark look on his face. It must be a hard thing for the lad, who, aside from his slightly eccentric personality, was going to make a quite reasonable Emperor.

“Rather, it seems the Emperor has been tolerating your escapades for quite a while?”

“It’s like an extended vacation, to put it in perspective. Maybe, once this is over, I might have to return to the palace.”

Friedrich said lowly with a bitter expression.

“Hmm, is that so?”

“…I was expecting you to at least be a little disappointed.”

I let out a soft laugh at Friedrich’s grumble.

“People sometimes display their strength in different settings. In my opinion, the palace, not the guild, is where you belong.”

“Is that so…”

I quietly nodded to Friedrich, who trailed off his words.

Like I’d said, Friedrich was quite a special existence.

But the fact we can’t overlook is… his being in the Guild, meaning the Round Table, isn’t a great help.

Well, it’s not that it’s *no* help at all. To be precise, wouldn’t ‘Emperor’ Friedrich be able to offer even greater assistance?

Which is to say.

‘This guy’s ascension to the throne might even be brought forward.’

The main storyline is already a twisted mess. There’s no telling when or where some unforeseen event might break out, so it would be better to gain the authority of the new Emperor as quickly as possible.

“Frey! Up ahead, there seems to be a subjugation force camp!”

Just then, Ariel’s sharp voice echoed within the carriage.

*Swoosh.*

At the sound, I reflexively glanced out the window. Sure enough, just as she said, a fairly large wooden palisade came into view.

*Thud!*

“Who are you people? Did you receive His Majesty’s permission?”

As the carriage slowly reduced speed, a guard standing before the palisade gate approached and asked, saluting.

…Is it because they’re regular imperial soldiers? The man had quite a disciplined aura for a soldier.

*Swoosh.*

I didn’t bother to open my mouth. There was no need to answer; it was a simple matter to show that face known to all citizens of the empire.

“…Y-Your Highness, the Crown Prince!”

*Thump!*

The guard, as if having seen a ghost, immediately prostrated himself and shouted.

His cry was so loud that a crowd of people had gathered around the carriage.

“…Do you really have to do this.”

“I hate troublesome things.”

Ignoring Friedrich’s grumbling, I got out of the carriage.

Thanks to being the Crown Prince Friedrich’s party, we were able to enter the camp immediately.