A familiar howl rang out above the sounds of battle. I immediately traced the sound to its source—one of the land wolves I’d lent to the Intelligence Department. A small tube used for carrying messages was tied around the land wolf’s neck with a piece of string.
“Thanks, Ruyah.”
I removed the tube containing the missive and quickly read its contents.
“Enemy leader secured.”
A smile bloomed on my face.
You gotta give it to Seerio’s department. They sure work fast!
“We’ve captured your leader! This is your last chance to surrender!” I shouted, projecting my voice as much as I could for the enemy combatants to hear, and I could feel a renewed vigor come over my men as they realized victory was at hand.
It was in opposition with my personality to speak so gruffly, but in a situation like this, what mattered most was being taken seriously by my opponent.
The news that their leader had been captured sent the enemy soldiers spiraling into confusion.
“Even without Lord Kawavaugh, our mission remains the same!”
I gathered that “Kawavaugh” must be their leader’s name, but it was a cardinal rule of combat psychology that the capture of their commanders inevitably sent an army into disarray.
“Is this leader worth risking your lives for?! If you’re that eager to journey home to be with the Goddess, then by all means, keep fighting, and I’ll send you off myself!”
These men weren’t fighting out of loyalty to their country; they were fighting for their survival. Without a country, it was inevitable that one would value their own life more than ever since they had nothing else left.
In response to my challenge, the enemy combatants surrendered one after another. We stripped them of their weapons and magical items and replaced them with magical items of our own to bind the captives’ magic. We quickly ran out of the magic-binding items and had no choice but to remove them from anyone who agreed to vow upon their name not to resist and use them only on those who refused to cooperate.
“You bastard!!!”
The same man I’d been speaking with earlier, who appeared to be a higher-ranked officer among the enemy’s forces, lunged towards me, swinging his sword wildly. It suddenly occurred to me that he might’ve actually been one of the captured leader’s direct subordinates.
I have to respect his determination to carry out his leader’s mission to the bitter end.
“All right, then. Let’s do this.”
I drew my beloved sword and took up a fighting pose.
The previous commander of the Beast Knights Legion passed this sword down to me. There was a gentle curve to the blade, making it a bit unique to handle compared to a standard-issue longsword, and its hilt was made from the horn of a rhinoceros. The first commander of the Beast Knights Legion had commissioned it to be made out of the horn of a rhinoceros that had died naturally, and the sword had been passed down from commander to commander ever since.
My blade intercepted my opponent’s, and I heard him chant a short spell.
Wind magic, huh? That’s inconvenient…
I used magic as well, creating a small shield on my left arm. This shield, which incorporated metal drawn out of the ground deep beneath our feet, wouldn’t break so easily. Not even a wind blade would get through it.
I dodged one swing, deflected another, then lashed out with a strike of my own.
This pattern continued for several more moments, and although I didn’t deliver any fatal injuries, my opponent’s movements soon became clumsy and heavy.
“Damn it…!”
However, it was clear that the man was determined to fight to the death, and that made him desperate. Even though he’d clearly started to weaken, I couldn’t afford to let down my guard just yet.
I sensed a large amount of magic start to gather and was in the middle of casting a defensive spell of my own when…
My opponent suddenly swallowed something, and I felt the magic swirling around us increase drastically.
“…Gwaaagh…!”
The magic he’d summoned was too much for his body to contain, and it began spilling out of him. The wild and unrestrained wind magic took the form of sharp blades that went flying in all directions, cutting into everyone in the immediate area and causing significant damage.
He’s lost control of his magic. I bet that thing he swallowed was a magical stone.
If someone swallowed a small magical stone, they could expect to replenish some of their depleted magic, but if they over-reached and swallowed a stone that was too large and powerful, the body wouldn’t be able to contain the magic, and it would rampage out of control.
Talk about a double-edged sword, eh?
I deflected some of the wind blades with my shield, but not all of them.
“…Ow!”
A flash of heat seared across my right thigh, followed by something warm and wet flooding down my leg. My leg could no longer hold me up and I fell to the ground, flinging out magic as I did.
“Become a dome of solid stone.”
I created a half-sphere of stone around the man to trap his rampaging magic, but it wouldn’t hold for long.
“Everyone retreat! Hurry!”
Already, I could hear cracking from the stone dome surrounding my opponent. My magic was advanced-level, but it was common knowledge that the raw power of out-of-control magic rivaled that of even elite-level magic.
I, too, attempted to retreat, dragging my leg uselessly behind me, but I knew deep down that I wouldn’t make it in time.
“Neigh!”
“Uwaz?! What are you doing?! Get out of here, now!” I shouted frantically, trying to dissuade Uwaz from racing towards me, but he didn’t listen. “Uwaz!”
Once he reached me, the warhorse reached out and tugged on my arm with his teeth, urging me to climb onto his back.
Somehow, I draped myself haphazardly across his back, and while I was not properly mounted by any stretch of the imagination, by some miracle, Uwaz broke into a run without dropping me.
I heard rock crumbling behind us, and immediately, the wind assaulted us again. What hurt even more than the seemingly hundreds of blades slicing into my flesh, though, was the sight of wounds appearing on Uwaz’s body one after another.
If I don’t kill that guy and stop this out-of-control magic, Uwaz might not make it. With that thought, I threw myself off of Uwaz’s back.
The impact of my landing reverberated through my many injuries, but I ignored the pain and focused on gathering up my magic for one final attack.
I sensed Uwaz turning to come back for me, but there was no time.
“Become quicksand, sinking deep underground.”
This spell caused a considerable area around the target to slip into a sinkhole of quicksand, so I would’ve liked to avoid using it if possible, but…
The last vestiges of magic left my body, and my consciousness became hazy.
I didn’t even know what ultimately happened to the man whose magic was raging out of control.
Seerio, the rest is up to you now.