C76: The Road to King (16)

At the same time, a rain of arrows poured down on the soldiers who had rushed to the barrier. They were arrows that the Lunan army had saved for themselves. The retreating troops were startled by Elheat’s skill and became hesitant, while the rain of arrows caused the troops to fall into chaos.

Elheat stood still in front of them, holding a huge spear.

“Your Excellency, that man is Demasin Elheat, the proud warlord of Lunan!”

A vassal of Lucana’s shouted when he noticed Elheat. Lucana smiled when he heard his name. Because if there was anyone worth fighting with in Lunan, it was Elheat alone.

“Elheat? That famous man? The one they say is as taciturn as Captain Istin? That’s interesting. Of course, I don’t think there’s anyone who can match him in reticence.”

Just as Lucana was about to rush over to fix the situation.

“Listen, enemy general, I am Demasin Elheat. If you are a warlord, why don’t you step forward and fight? One on one combat is the only fun on a bloody battlefield, right?”

Elheat exclaimed in a loud voice.

“What?”

The person Elheat called out to was the captain, Istin. Lucana, who had been watching Istin, complained with a dumbfounded look on his face at Elheat’s words.

“Wait, Captain! You’re going to fight just because you’re curious? How dare you! I’ve always wanted to fight a Lunan warlord, and this is just the thing! It’s not funny, I know that the quickest way to kill someone is to surround them and kill them when they come out alone like that……”

To the soldiers around him, Istin didn’t seem to be saying anything, but Lucana was speaking as if he could hear him.

“Wait! Let’s go together!”

Lucana felt like he was going crazy. There was no need to fight the enemy general. He hadn’t expected Istin to lose, but it was outrageous to go toe-to-toe with an enemy general in a situation where he was no match for them in terms of army size.

If he were to lose, the morale of the people would go down. The fact that he had agreed to do so might earn him a huge reprimand from Fran.

However, Istin was a man of great pride. Lucana followed Istin, shaking his head, because he knew very well that he would never overrule a decision he had made.

The newly recruited Narja soldiers split into two and opened the way. Istin rode his horse slowly to the front of the soldiers, and the two generals met face to face at a distance of about 50 meters.

Behind Istin, of course, was a large army of 50,000 and behind Elheat were only the barrier and 3,000 soldiers above it.

“Who are you?”

Istin still had no answer to Elheat’s question. It was Lucana who stepped forward to translate.

“His Excellency Count Istin, third in the order of the Ten Warlords of the Narja Kingdom!”

Elheat burst out laughing happily at Lucana’s words. The name sounded familiar to him. To be able to fight such a strong man, it was the best way to die, he thought.

Of course, whoever it was, he wasn’t going to be beaten easily. But the fatigue of the soldiers at the barrier was at its peak, for unlike the Narja army, which had sent 50,000 troops in shifts to give them a rest, the Lunan army of 3,000 had no time to rest.

“I thank you for accepting my challenge. I never thought I’d meet a warlord as strong as you in my last war. Hahahahahaha! Is it good luck or bad luck? Anyway, I’m glad to see you. Let’s fight, Istin. If you are a true warlord, will you take my spear one-on-one?”

Istin, who was holding a large sword that seemed to be as weighty as his reticence, nodded at Elheat’s words.

“Wait, sir!　Captain! We don’t have time for this. We have to break through the barrier and join the general as soon as possible! What?　There’s no reason for you to fight him! You’ve got to be kidding…….”

Lucana eventually pulled back with a dumbfounded face, unable to stop Istin. Of course, he still looked like he didn’t think Istin was going to lose, but it was a pointless battle.

***

“What the hell is that monster?”

The army of the Narja Kingdom could only hold their tongues. They thought Istin would win by a comfortable margin, but the showdown was very close.

“Lord Elheat……!”

Elheat’s vassals, who were well aware of how he was feeling as he rode out alone, gasped at the tense confrontation. One wrong move and he would die.

He was ranked third in the order of the Ten Warlords of Narja. The Ten Warlords are famous on the continent. In fact, Istin’s martial force was somewhat higher than Elheat’s.

Istin’s estimated martial force was 97 and Elheat’s was 96. A difference in martial force of this magnitude is not enough to determine the winner, only through battle could they determine the victor.

Furthermore, Elheat had no time left. He didn’t have time to think about storing up his strength, and he was going into battle with the sole intention of buying time, that’s why their battle was so close.

The longer the battle went on, the more time he could buy and the more time his soldiers could rest. That was all Elheat could think about. He never thought of defeat, he would buy time and win the battle.

He knew better than anyone else that he would not be able to achieve victory even if he defeated the enemy general, but he was fighting with that kind of intention. Of course, it was all for himself.

The explosion of the skill [Demon Spear] that Elheat used hit Istin. The area around Istin was engulfed in a huge explosion. Istin generated mana with his greatsword and formed a protective film to block Elheat’s skill.

However, Elheat did not stop there. As it was, he soared high into the sky and activated [Gestinburg], the crystallized form of spearmanship that he had refined all his life.

Elheat’s long spear, thrown from the sky, shone with brilliant light and flew towards Istin as if it were a laser beam. The powerful mana light that was generated around the spear was enough to blind anyone who saw it.

The explosion of Demon Spear disturbed Istin’s surroundings, and when he was distracted trying to block the explosion with his greatsword, this attack came. He instantly grasped the fact that the long spear was faster than his evasion speed and infused mana into his greatsword. A powerful light was emitted from the great sword that Istin wielded, the huge sword became more than twice as big as it was before. Istin received Elheat’s spear in that state.

“Giiiiiiiiinnnnnn!”

The two forces collided.

With a vibration that made the earth shake, the surrounding area was tinged with light. Istin, who is famous for his reticence, put all his energy into it and swung his huge sword, which had grown even bigger. That one swing had repelled Elheat’s skill [Gestinburg].

Elheat’s spear, which flew away, got stuck in the wall of the barrier. After landing on the ground, Elheat jumped up into the sky again to pull out the spear that was stuck in the wall. Naturally, Istin didn’t miss his chance and pounced on him.

He was positioned right in front of the wall and Istin was pushed back to block his skill, so he took advantage of the moment and managed to pull out the spear and collided with Istin’s greatsword in midair.

The two of them landed on the ground again and continued the fight. Having used their most powerful skills on each other, they entered into a never-ending battle of strength. At first, Istin tried to save his strength, but it was not enough and the fight continued.

“You are completely absorbed in the battle…….”

Lucana held his forehead. If he intervened here, this pointless battle might soon be over. In fact, he had planned to intervene if Istin was about to be killed but that was a last resort.

For someone to intervene in his fight was what Istin hated the most, and he even considered it a humiliation so Lucana could not intervene. Eventually, the sun set and the surroundings turned dark. The two men interrupted their duel in the darkness and looked at each other.

“Why don’t we settle this tomorrow?”

Istin nodded at Elheat’s suggestion and immediately looked at Lucana.

“Are we moving back?”

Lucana shook his head at Istin’s order. However, Istin’s gaze was filled with a strong will to beat this man and take over the barrier.

“I can’t believe I’m going to defeat Lunan’s finest warrior……”

Lucana wanted to lash out, but he held back. This was the kind of man Istin had been ever since he was a child. Istin’s army retreated to the garrison directly behind him, and Elheat, who had stood and watched the enemy withdraw to the end, fell back into the barrier. All of Elheat’s vassals rushed to his side.

“I’m fine, I’ve even managed to obtain some rest time for the soldiers.”

The vassals shook their fists when they saw him and blamed their own incompetence.