The front guard of Julian’s formation consisted of a line of pikemen that would tear apart the enemy’s formation, allowing the heavily armed soldiers to move in from the left and right flanks to crush them.
The frontlines of the formation were thick, with Julian far back from the very first line, but the red figure plunged straight forward, not seeming to care.
“Are they hoping to break through the front with those numbers?” asked one of Julian’s knights.
“It might be possible. She isn’t normal. No normal soldier can stand against me.” Julian twisted his hand around and the rain moved.
Like a waterfall, pounding down, like a leviathan capturing its prey, it turned to a cruel blade and struck at Setrayu’s defensive troops.
But the water dispersed, not taking a single life. A burning glow leaped from the broken earth and struck the water, turning into a burst of steam that the approaching knights pierced through.
Army collided with army with no care that their shields, armor, spears, and bodies perished. Battle cries, or perhaps desperate rally cries, roared from both sides, mixed with the clash of weapons and armor smashing together.
It immediately descended into a chaotic melee, with the girl of crimson shining within.
She leaped above soldiers’ heads with inhuman feats of strength, slipping past their swords and spears, wreaking explosions of fire around her. Swords, shields, and helms clattered to the ground as they burned with the blackened dirt.
Julian struck the moment the hole opened in his squad’s formation, giving him a clear shot. A wicked spear of water that could skewer the ground slammed into the swirling wall of flame, but…the girl was no longer there.
The girl rushed into the formation, splitting the cloud of steam. Julian’s side launched wind spells to intercept, but the fierce fire she threw at them crushed the wind, roasting several tens of people alive instantly.
“M-My lord, at this rate—” One of Julian’s personal guards was shaken by the small dragon’s force.
“Stand firm. Have the aerial troops focus on countering variants.”
“My lord?!” The guard gaped.
“With the red dragon out of the picture, if we stop that girl, there will be no one left on the battlefield who can stop the dracovitae. Stopping her means victory. Even if she were as powerful as a dragon, we have enough soldiers to wear her down and perhaps inflict some damage. Then I will use the dracovitae to finish her off.”
“B-But the number of soldiers we’ll lose…”
“There is no way to protect all the lowly soldiers here. Combat is dangerous, or didn’t you know that?” Julian furrowed his brow at the man in contempt for his foolishness. “I’ve anticipated all of this. If I use the dracovitae to attack, I’ll have to pause my efforts to undo the shackles on Setrayu, and the red dragon will return. Which means I must only use it as a counter and to deliver the final blow. I put this army together for this purpose. Follow my orders and carry out your duty. That will result in the fewest deaths and our victory.
“And any who believe my strategy to be flawed, I will allow you to speak now, but only now. Tell me a way that will result in fewer deaths, that will defeat her for certain. But if you’re simply resisting me because you fear the danger in front of you…”
He glared into the eyes of each of his personal guards.
Everyone around him was of outstanding strength, but the closest to him were handpicked by him, people who would become his trusted servants, chosen without concern for their station at birth or rank during his father’s rule.
“There is a fool here that threatens the lives of every soldier who fights for our cause and the prosperity of our country. I will eliminate her before she can kill us,” he said.
Some of them stood frozen in shock, but about half of them, particularly the young or those Julian chose specifically for their abilities, seemed deeply moved, admiration and respect bordering on worship in their eyes.
None disagreed with him. And there was no more time to listen to them anyway.
The roar of battle surged towards them at an impossible rate.
The crimson girl approached alone, destroying their formations, flying forward like a meteorite in the night sky.
There were only about ten elite warriors between her and Julian.
That wasn’t a big problem though. This was where it would go down, now was the time they determined who would win and who would lose.
“Come! Attack me! Do, and I will finish you!” he shouted.
The knights moved as one to strike at the girl.
Fire erupted to swallow several of them at once, but, if they knew the attack was coming, they could defend, prepare. These warriors with their high-quality equipment, powerful bodies, and trained skill might be harmed by a dragon’s hellfire, but they wouldn’t die instantly. That was important.
The magic users cast healing and support spells one after another, and the knights hung in there. One knight swung his sword at the girl while inside the swirling flames.
She jumped out of the way, kicked his helm, and flipped. From midair, she swept the area with waves of fire. As she landed, she thrust her arms to the sides, smashing through armor with her palm strikes, sending two knights flying.
“Now!”
For a moment, she was still, and in that moment, Julian struck with the Hurricane of Insight.
Just like a dragon’s breath attack, an attack from a dracovitae was a primeval power that used the mechanisms of the world itself to directly wipe out your enemy. Because of that, it gave little forewarning, like magic did. It was vicious and it was instant.
Chilled air so cold it might freeze your very soul rose from the ground, then a huge, spear-like icicle that rivaled a dragon in size erupted from the ground.
The crimson girl no longer moved, surrounded by ice reflecting a myriad of lights.