Chapter 19

The Genius Knight Who Devours Memories

Chapter 19

Varkan hurriedly assessed the situation.

Another man was standing beside the brat.

Blood dripped from the tip of the man’s sword.

It was a face Varkan knew well.

‘A squad leader of the White Wolf Knights.’

After fighting countless wars, one naturally came to know the enemy soldiers as well.

Especially those who had survived numerous battlefields.

Just then.

“Ghh...!”

Another scream rang out.

Thud. One of the soldiers collapsed helplessly to the floor.

Varkan’s gaze immediately shifted to the side.

A woman stood beside the fallen soldier.

Varkan’s eyes widened.

‘How?’

He had not sensed her presence at all.

Her expression had not changed in the slightest.

A bloodstained sword was held in one hand.

‘She’s skilled.’

Cold, sunken eyes.

‘I can’t underestimate her.’

And it was not only that woman.

That squad leader did not feel like an ordinary soldier either.

As for why the brat beside them had come, he had no idea.

Varkan’s mind raced.

Dragging this out would put him at a disadvantage.

“Joseph!”

A soldier near the door turned his head.

“Yes!”

“Go outside and send the signal!”

“Understood!”

Joseph immediately turned around.

The door was only a few steps away.

He grabbed the handle and opened it.

BOOM―!

“Ghuk!”

The entire door was ripped inward.

Joseph’s body flew with it.

Bang! The soldier slammed into the wall and rolled to the floor.

A huge shadow appeared beyond the torn-off door.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

A voice growled like a beast.

Varkan hurriedly examined the man.

‘The madman of the White Wolf Knights.’

A huge build.

Broad shoulders and thick arms.

He looked more like a wild beast that had leaped out of the fields than a human being.

He entered the house with a greatsword resting on one shoulder.

A rough grin even hung from his lips.

“It’d hurt my feelings if you ran away while you had guests.”

“Ghh...”

Joseph, collapsed on the floor, twitched.

Whoooosh― A faint light appeared in his hand.

Varkan’s eyes changed.

‘Good.’

A small artifact clutched in Joseph’s hand.

The pattern engraved on its surface glowed red.

Calm returned to Varkan’s eyes.

Judging from their reactions, those people were all looking straight ahead and seemed not to have noticed the artifact.

“Four of you?”

Varkan slowly looked around.

“You didn’t think we came this far completely unprepared, did you?”

The artifact activated.

Then the rear support unit should have seen the signal as well.

‘Five minutes.’

They would arrive within five minutes at most.

He only needed to hold out until then.

Varkan’s gaze turned toward the remaining soldiers.

‘Three of us. Four of them.’

They were not overwhelmingly outnumbered.

Besides, he was the vice platoon leader of the Seventh Reconnaissance Unit.

He was not so weak that ordinary soldiers could easily take him down.

‘Enough.’

Five minutes.

He could easily hold out that long.

Shing― Varkan drew his sword.

The blade gleamed beneath the lamplight.

“Don’t think you’ll leave here alive.”

Varkan’s sword naturally pointed toward Creed.

The strongest should fight someone befitting his strength.

Then the brat standing beside him spoke.

“Squad Leader.”

The brat stared only at Varkan, as though he had no interest whatsoever in the other soldiers.

“I’ll kill that one.”

Varkan thought he had misheard.

No matter how he looked at him, that brat could not possibly face him.

‘Youthful recklessness? That brat won’t live long.’

Creed looked at the boy for a moment.

He seemed about to tell him that he had chosen the wrong opponent.

‘That’s right. I’m your opponent.’

Varkan pointed his sword at Creed again.

But Creed casually nodded.

“Yeah. You should be the one to kill him.”

“...?”

Creed looked away and adjusted his grip on his sword.

“We’ll cover you.”

Varkan let out an incredulous laugh.

“What?”

The brat either had no sense of fear or had completely lost it, because his face remained expressionless from beginning to end.

Varkan pointed the tip of his sword at the boy.

“...You?”

Then he pointed at himself with his free hand.

“...Me?”

It was absurd.

They were sending a wet-behind-the-ears brat against him, vice platoon leader of the Seventh Reconnaissance Unit?

“...Hah.”

A hollow laugh escaped him.

“You must think very little of me.”

BOOM- Varkan kicked off the ground and charged.

_____________

Rohan’s heart pounded.

Not because he was nervous.

‘My first real battle.’

This was the first chance to properly use everything he had learned until now.

Varkan moved first.

BOOM―!

The distance closed in an instant.

His sword surged upward from below.

Clang―! Rohan raised his sword and blocked.

His entire arm was violently knocked aside.

His body was thrown backward.

After retreating two or three steps, Rohan barely regained his balance.

His wrist tingled.

‘Strong.’

Far more than he had expected.

Because of the name reconnaissance unit, he had assumed they specialized in hiding and gathering information.

But that was not the case.

They were people who roamed the front lines and infiltrated deep into enemy territory.

Above all.

‘Noxis swordsmanship.’

Varkan’s sword was neither fast nor flashy.

Instead, there was no wasted movement.

Slash, thrust, block.

It felt as though he used only the essential purposes of a sword.

A sword intended to kill an opponent with the minimum amount of movement.

It felt like swordsmanship honed on the battlefield.

“Not bad for a brat.”

Varkan adjusted his grip on his sword.

“I didn’t think you’d still be standing after taking my sword.”

Instead of answering, Rohan looked around.

Swords were clashing throughout the cramped house.

Creed was fighting two Noxis soldiers, while Johanna had completely locked down the movements of another.

As for Kaisen...

“Come here!”

BOOM―!

Every swing of his sword made the house shake as though it might collapse.

‘We have the numerical advantage.’

If they wanted, Creed or Kaisen could join him and pressure Varkan.

But no one did.

‘On purpose.’

They did not seem to have any intention of helping.

‘Do they want me to grow?’

The corner of Rohan’s mouth rose.

‘Then I should repay them.’

Rohan moved again.

Swish― The one-handed sword aimed for Varkan’s neck.

A simple horizontal slash.

Varkan raised his sword to block.

Clang―! An expected movement.

Rohan’s left hand moved.

The crescent blade curved upward from below.

Swish―!

“Ghk!”

Varkan hurriedly bent backward.

The blade scraped across the edge of his armor.

Screeech― Sparks flew with an unpleasant sound.

Varkan immediately brought his sword down.

And the blade descended toward Rohan’s head.

Rohan raised his one-handed sword.

Clang-! The impact traveled all the way into his shoulder.

‘I’m being overpowered.’

Taking it head-on put him at a disadvantage.

Rohan tilted his sword diagonally.

Varkan’s sword slid to the side.

Scrrrape―! At the same time, Rohan pushed his body inward.

The distance between him and Varkan vanished instantly.

“What...!”

Varkan’s startled voice rang out.

They were too close.

A distance where properly swinging a sword was difficult.

However.

‘The crescent blade is different.’

Rohan’s left hand turned.

The curved blade aimed for the inside of Varkan’s elbow.

Slash, his clothes split and blood sprayed.

“You...!”

Varkan gritted his teeth.

______________

‘Strange.’

Varkan steadied his sword.

At first, he had thought Rohan was merely a child.

A brat who knew how to handle a sword somewhat.

But.

Clang―!

Their swords collided.

Varkan’s arm was violently knocked aside.

It was not because he lacked strength.

For some reason, the brat was using Varkan’s own strength against him.

“Ghk.”

Rohan did not stop.

The moment the sword in his right hand pushed Varkan’s sword aside, the crescent blade in his left slipped in at a strange angle.

Slash! His side burned.

‘Nakandiya swordsmanship.’

Varkan knew it too.

A tribe that made the jungle its home.

They excelled at fighting while moving through narrow spaces.

And their distinctive crescent blades followed completely different trajectories from ordinary swords.

‘How is that bastard using it?’

There was no time to think.

Rohan closed in again.

“Insolent!”

Varkan swung his sword in a wide arc.

Whoosh―! It was not a force some brat could withstand head-on.

Rohan foolishly blocked the sword directly.

‘Got him!’

Varkan thought he had seized victory.

But the instant their blades touched, Varkan’s sword slid sideways.

‘He redirected it?’

Rohan had not blocked the force.

He had redirected the force of Varkan’s swing to the side.

Rohan’s body slipped inside in an instant.

Smack―! A palm struck upward into his chin.

“Ghk!”

His head snapped backward.

At the same time, stab―!

A burning sensation pierced his side.

“Ghh!”

Varkan gritted his teeth.

The crescent blade. Before he knew it, the tip of the sword in Rohan’s left hand had pierced between the gaps in his armor.

‘Impossible.’

His breathing became rough.

Varkan glared at Rohan.

Rohan, on the other hand, looked perfectly fine.

Not even his breathing was disturbed.

The brat was using two swords in completely different ways.

‘He’s not one person.’

A strange thought entered Varkan’s mind.

He was fighting a single brat in front of him...

Yet every time their swords crossed, it felt as though he were fighting a different person.

‘Where the hell did he...’

Varkan glanced around.

The situation had grown worse.

“Aaaagh!”

One soldier collapsed.

The cold-looking woman flicked the blood from her sword.

On the other side.

“Aaaagh!”

One of the soldiers was sent flying through a wall by Kaisen’s greatsword.

They merely glanced in this direction.

None of them came to help.

‘These bastards...’

It felt as though they were using him as a practice opponent.

Even more infuriating was the fact that he felt helpless against this brat.

When the boy took one step forward, Varkan unconsciously stepped backward.

“Pathetic.”

A voice came from beside him, but he ignored it.

Then, sounds of movement came from outside.

Varkan’s face brightened.

“They’re here!”

Thud thud thud thud―!

Countless footsteps.

Soon, shouting erupted in front of the house.

BOOM―! Soldiers poured through the entrance where the door had been torn away.

In an instant, Noxis soldiers surrounded both the inside and outside of the house.

There were more than twenty of them.

A smile spread across Varkan’s face.

‘Good.’

He was saved.

No.

‘I won.’

There were only four enemies.

No matter how strong they were, there was no way they could withstand more than twenty soldiers.

“Tch. You brought quite a lot of small fry.”

Kaisen ground his teeth.

“Damn it.”

Creed also looked surprised.

He had never expected so many enemy soldiers to gather at a position on their side.

He did not think they would lose, but neither could he guarantee they would escape without casualties.

Creed spoke.

“Our allies should be on their way too. Think you can handle that?”

“Haha... Seems you don’t think this will end quickly?”

Varkan grinned.

The fear he had felt moments ago vanished as though it had never existed.

He raised his sword.

“What are you doing?! Kill them already!”

Rumble.

Noxis soldiers poured into the cramped house.

In an instant, more than twenty men filled the room.

Every possible escape route was blocked.

The soldiers formed a circular encirclement around the four.

Varkan smiled at the sight.

“It’s over now. No matter what you do, you won’t leave this place alive.”

Hearing that, Creed raised an eyebrow.

“Pathetic.”

“What?”

“Just a moment ago, you were trembling in fear of a single brat.”

“Hahaha!”

Varkan threw his head back and laughed loudly.

“Pathetic? I’ll admit it. But does pride save your life on the battlefield?”

Varkan abruptly stopped laughing.

“In the end, the one who survives wins. You can preserve your precious pride in heaven.”

That was when it happened.

“Add... reverse rotation.”

A small voice was heard.

Varkan’s gaze moved.

The owner of the voice was the brat.

Rohan.

‘What is he doing...?’

Before the thought could continue, Rohan raised his sword.

At that moment, Creed’s expression changed.

“Don’t tell me?”

Rohan did not seem to hear him.

Then he stepped forward.

Condensed Burst. It was the same stance Kaisen had taught him.

Calves, thighs, waist.

The force traveled upward in sequence.

Then, the sword tip.

The entire process happened in an instant.

Rohan thrust his sword straight ahead.

‘What’s happening?’

Varkan tensed for a moment.

Because it felt as though something was about to happen.

But.

- Fweee...

A brief light flashed.

“...”

And nothing happened.

Silence lingered.

Varkan blinked.

Then, a moment later.

Pfft.

A laugh escaped from somewhere.

“Haha. Hahahaha!”

Varkan burst into loud laughter.

“I thought you were actually going to do something.”

He shouted.

“Kill them!”

The soldiers moved.

Swords descended toward the four from every direction.

That was when it happened.

Creak.

“...?”

Creak. Creak. Creeeeak―

A strange sound came from somewhere.

The sound gradually grew louder.

Then.

Fweeeeeee!

A sound like thousands of tiny birds chirping all at once echoed throughout the house.

It was so loud that the charging soldiers covered their ears and stopped moving.

“What...”

Varkan’s gaze turned toward the source of the sound.

At the place where Rohan had thrust his sword moments earlier, blue light like static electricity was spreading through the air.

And then.

“Get down―!”

Creed reacted first.

He forcibly pushed Rohan’s head down.

At the same time, he pulled Johanna down by the shoulder.

Kaisen seemed to understand the situation as well and lowered his body.

“W-what!”

The Noxis soldiers could not react.

None of them seemed to understand what was happening.

Then a bizarre sight unfolded before their eyes.

‘What the hell is that?’

The light floating along the path of Rohan’s sword gathered into a single point.

The strange sound abruptly stopped.

And then.

FWEEEEENG―!

A pure white noise erupted.

And the entire world was dyed white.