SMH 147

Chapter 47 – On the Battlefield (2)

TL: Boko

Editors: Frost, StellarRain

Since it wasn’t worth saying anything, Sung Joon didn’t speak. Instead, he raised his sword and assumed a defensive posture.

“So you don’t even feel the need to speak to me? I understand. Then…” Dante said ambiguously. At the same time, he shot out towards Sung Joon like a bullet.

“As expected of Sir Dante!”

“He’s fast!”

Even the most skilled of the knights could only see Dante’s afterimage.

Everyone was sure that Dante would win as his high-speed movement was so fast that it was difficult to even track his afterimage.

However…

“Ugh!”

Dante let out an agonized cry. He immediately backed off without his left arm.

It had happened so instantaneously that even the skilled knights amongst the crowd didn’t know what had happened. Dante was as powerful as an S-rank Hunter, so he was no match for Sung Joon.

“W-Where the hell did a monster like this come from…!?”

Sung Joon swung his sword at Dante’s neck. Dante could see the sword coming, but he couldn’t do anything about it. It was much too fast for him to stop it.

“Ugh!”

He attempted to retreat, but Sung Joon’s sword cut deeply into his neck before he could.

The cut wasn’t deep enough to cut off his head, but it was a grievous wound. Dante’s blood flowed backwards, and it sounded like phlegm was stuck in his throat.

“Heal!”

One of the nearby Healers attempted to ‘treat’ him. However, their Heal wasn’t at a high enough level to treat such severe wounds. The Healers stopped the bleeding a bit, but that was all. The wound remained pretty much the same. Eventually, Dante weakly fell to the ground.

“How can that be!?”

“Sir Dante (rank 278) was defeated this easily!?”

Sung Joon looted Dante’s Knight Brigade ring and bracelet while the Imperial Army were frozen in shock. He was in the middle of battle right now, so he would fuse them later, and raised his sword.

“The Imperial Army does not retreat!”

“For His Majesty!”

Despite them seeing the Brigade’s rank 278, Dante, fall before their very eyes, the Imperial Army overcame their fear and charged at Sung Joon. Retreating from the battlefield was a cardinal sin for the Imperial Army.

“There are about four of them that are around the A-rank level,” Rishubalt calmly explained. There were twenty knights charging at Sung Joon. Four of them were at the A-rank level, which was a pretty high rank for knights.

It seemed like they had stationed their best knights around command, but…

‘It doesn’t matter.’

Sung Joon raised his mana with an overwhelmingly confident expression.

“Tempest Sword.”

Once he uttered the activation words and swung his sword, two-hundred sword winds were unleashed with him at its center. That would be plenty to slaughter the incoming knights.

“Ugh!”

“AH!”

The sword winds ripped apart their armor, and the two left standing used aura armor to barely block it. By the time the bloody sword winds had begun to wane, the battlefield was filled with corpses.

“S-Shit!”

“We’ll need reinforcements.”

The two knights had survived due to their aura armor, but there was no one around them.

If they were defeated, then the guards defending command would be annihilated. Because they were being attacked from both the left and right flanks, it was impossible to hope for reinforcements.

Sung Joon gradually closed the distance, and saw the command behind their shoulders. They remained in place, due to their belief that they would never retreat, no matter the circumstances.

“Ugh!”

One of the knights attempted to attack Sung Joon first. Sung Joon moved even quicker and swung his sword, clashing aura with aura.

One of them was an aura blade while the other was aura armor.

“AH!”

Sung Joon’s aura was greater. The aura armor was futilely ripped apart, and Sung Joon’s sword went deep into the knight’s stomach.

“This is my chance!”

Before Sung Joon could pull out his sword, the other knight tried to attack him, but… Sung Joon drew his dagger and defended against the strike.

Shards of mana scattered as aura met aura. They exchanged a couple of strikes, but ultimately, Sung Joon aimed for the knight’s weak spot.

“Ugh!”

Sung Joon stabbed the top of the knight’s foot. He had seized the opportunity and thrown his dagger. Because of the pain, the knight gave Sung Joon another opportunity.

Sung Joon drew his sword from the other knight’s corpse and swung it.

He cut deep into the knight’s chest, and the knight spewed blood and fell.

“Absorb.”

Sung Joon replenished his mana and stamina through absorption.

“Your synchronization rate has become 57%,” Rishubalt reported, and Sung Joon nodded his head. After that, Sung Joon used his high-speed movement to travel to the enemy’s command. Since he’d killed their guard, there were only a handful of knights and commanders left.

“The Imperial Army does not retreat!” the man wearing a general uniform yelled loudly. If they truly were the Imperial Army, then they would never retreat.

The reason they could follow such a creed was because the Empire never fought battles they couldn’t win.

And even if they were losing, they would only fight if there were another squad nearby, which would reinforce them with overwhelming military strength, but because of the barrier enclosing the battlefield, the squadron couldn’t reinforce them.

“For the Emperor!”

The moment they drew their swords, Sung Joon moved. And the moment his feet hit the ground again, fourteen heads were rolling on the floor.

He had killed all of the commanders, aside from the general. Sung Joon hadn’t killed the general on purpose.

“What’s your name and affiliation?”

“I can’t tell you.”

The general didn’t reply. Sung Joon took a look at his medal, his cape, and his uniform and spoke once more.

“It looks like the general’s uniform for the Cold Wind Brigade… Is it the central front at the border?”

The Cold Wind Brigade was renowned for being stationed at the central front. Sung Joon was well aware of this, as he was once head of the Knight Brigade.

“The border? How foolish… We’re already past the central front. This is the Kingdom Alliance’s territory!”

He didn’t know exactly where they were, as they were situated on the plains, but the general was kind enough to explain the situation to him.

The general had told him in anger, but it seems like he realized what he had said and closed his mouth. It didn’t seem like he would give away anymore information.

“The fact that the Empire has pushed past the central front is huge. It seems like they should be wary of their eastern and western fronts as well,” Rishubalt said. If they advanced straight from the central front, they would reach the capital.  Therefore, the Kingdom Alliance and the Empire had stationed the majority of their troops on the central front.

“Absorb.”

Sung Joon killed the general and uttered. However, he didn’t recover much mana or stamina.

“There’s no change in your synchronization rate,” Rishubalt reported. He had expected as much, so Sung Joon’s expression didn’t change.

“The battle’s not over yet,” Sung Joon said. The Imperial Army still hadn’t retreated yet, as they were guarding the front.

But by destroying their command, Sung Joon had crippled their command structure, and as a result, each squadron became weaker.

The loss of their chain of command caused each squadron to act independently. Because of that, the Kingdom Alliance had the advantage.

“What do you plan on doing now?”

“I’m going to help the Kingdom Alliance until the Imperial Army is completely annihilated,” Sung Joon replied. He was still holding the Kingdom Alliance’s flag. He forcefully waved the flag and continued to attack the Imperial Army.

Due to the loss of their command structure, each squadron’s commander couldn’t communicate with each other, and Sung Joon defeated each squad one by one.

Whenever he broke the Empire’s flag, which represented the squad, Sung Joon would wave the Kingdom Alliance’s flag.

“Yeah!”

The Kingdom Alliance cried out, while the Imperial Army’s morale hit rock bottom. But despite that, they didn’t retreat, which was quite impressive. Of course, there was nowhere for them to run because of the barrier.

The Cold Wind Brigade’s four-hundred infantry troops resisted until the very end. However, they were annihilated by the Kingdom Alliance’s enveloping attack.

“You have cleared the Awakening Dungeon. Would you like to return?”

“Do I have to go back right now?”

“You don’t, but I don’t think I can maintain it for very long,” Rishubalt replied, and Sung Joon nodded his head in satisfaction. If it were possible, Sung Joon would like to meet with the Kingdom Alliance’s commander and speak with him.

Sure enough, Sung Joon sat atop the pile of Cold Wind Brigade’s infantry soldiers, and the Kingdom Alliance’s commander approached him.

He was a handsome, middle-aged man wearing a general’s uniform for the central army. Overall, he looked rather gentle, and he was adorned with a metal on his chest that only those part of the Elite Knights could wear.

“Are you a high rank knight of the Elite Knights…?”

“Yes, you are correct. I’m part of the third central army corps right now.”

“Third central army corps?”

“Yes. I’m the commanding general, Sandor, of the third central army corps.”

Sandor didn’t explain his circumstances in detail, but with just a brief introduction, Sung Joon could roughly figure out what was going on with the Kingdom Alliance.

Originally, the first and second central army corps were in charge of protecting the central front. Considering the fact that the third central army corps were protecting it meant that the situation wasn’t good for them.

“There’s a chance that the fourth central army corps has intervened as well. Of course, even if you ask General Sandor, he won’t tell you,” Rishubalt said. He’d gained some trust because he’d led them to victory, but Rishubalt believed that he wouldn’t tell them about the Kingdom Alliance’s situation.

Sung Joon somewhat agreed, but it felt like he would at least tell him how the war was progressing.

“The Kingdom Alliance was able to win today because of your actions,” Sandor said politely.

“If it’s not too much trouble, could I have your name please?”

He could understand why Sandor was being so polite, to the point that it was excessive. While they had attacked the left and right flanks, Sung Joon had defeated all the guards and annihilated the enemy’s command by himself.

The rest of the commanders didn’t disagree with Sandor’s high assessment of Sung Joon’s strength.

“I can’t give you my name,” Sung Joon declined politely. Sandor took a step back, looking disappointed, and spoke.

“Is that so…?”

“Just know the name ‘Roukel’.”

“R-Roukel?”

Sung Joon’s reply shocked Sandor and the other commanders. It had been quite a long time since Roukel had died, but his name wasn’t something that could be said lightly.

“Is that the truth?” Sandor asked seriously. Sung Joon had a hostile relationship with the Species Alliance in his past life, but he didn’t really have any trouble with the Kingdom Alliance.

Sandor was also well aware that Roukel had never significantly harmed the Kingdom Alliance, so he didn’t draw his sword. If he were a part of the Imperial Army or the Species Alliance, then he would’ve drawn his sword without hesitation.

“At the very least, I’ve inherited ‘Roukel’s’ will.”

In a way, inheriting his will could be interpreted as learning Roukel’s swordsmanship. Sandor nodded his head and spoke.

“There are some things I’d like to ask you in order to attack the Empire and the Species Alliance. Is that alright with you?” Sung Joon asked hurriedly. Rishubalt was starting to look strained.

“Of course. As long as it is within my power to answer…”