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Even though it was a plain area, there were places to hide because it was adjacent to a hill rising on Sragan’s left side.

The Caion unit began to climb the hill, keeping their bodies as low as possible.

“Damn it… When I think about it, we’ve never taken a normal route anywhere.”

Kyle, who was already large in build, had to crouch even lower than the others.

And his discomfort fueled his complaints.

But then, Jerka, who was right behind him, spoke up.

“Stop whining and keep moving, unless you want the captain to smack you later. I’m already enduring this, staring at your big butt while we move.”

“What, you son of a… never mind. We’ll settle this later.”

He couldn’t afford to cause a disturbance that might jeopardize the mission.

Kyle clamped his mouth shut and refocused on the path ahead.

Shhh.

At that moment, Damian silently raised his fist.

The hundred members of the Caion unit halted in unison, holding their breath.

Before them lay the main force of the Empire gathered in front of Sragan.

“We can’t be seen from here, so don’t worry.”

“Even so, keep your heads down, just in case.”

The bushes were low, so Kyle had to lower his body even further, almost squatting awkwardly.

Everyone else also kept their bodies as low as possible, staring ahead.

Meanwhile, Damian thought to himself.

‘Where are they?’

He scrutinized the enemy forces carefully.

If it was a knight order, their presence would be unmistakable even from a distance.

However, he couldn’t spot any group that looked like a knight order among the enemy troops.

‘They haven’t come out yet.’

If they hadn’t shown up yet, it was a favorable situation.

After all, if the Aura Master didn’t join the battle, their side had an overwhelming numerical advantage.

A hundred against three hundred was manageable, but ten thousand against thirty thousand was a whole different scale.

‘The only thing they’re relying on is the Aura Master.’

Damian scanned the surroundings carefully.

If they slipped out through another exit and circled around, he might miss them.

After observing the front for a while, Damian slowly stood up.

“Move to another location. The information we can gather here is limited.”

“Yes, sir.”

Dianal responded, following Damian’s lead when—

“Captain.”

From behind, Fennil called out to Damian.

Damian turned his head to see Fennil pointing towards a spot.

“Over there, I just saw some others appearing.”

“…”

Damian looked in the direction Fennil was indicating.

It was hard to see clearly since they were moving right below the hill.

“…!”

But Damian was certain.

It was the knight order.

“You spotted them well.”

If they had moved elsewhere in haste, they might have missed them completely.

Damian, relieved, watched the movement of the knight order.

‘Are they trying to join the main force?’

But the direction didn’t quite match.

Judging by the way they were moving now—

‘They plan to circle around and target our rear.’

If, by any chance, the enemy’s main force engaged from the front while the knight order with the Aura Master attacked from the rear or the flanks…

“All units, move quickly.”

Just imagining it was horrifying.

Thousands could die without even being able to put up a fight.

‘The enemy force numbers a hundred.’

But the qualitative difference between them and us is like heaven and earth.

Damian carefully observed the enemy.

To draw their attention, there was only one option—

‘Hit and run.’

After making up his mind, Damian looked at Dianal.

Understanding his gaze, Dianal nodded and began relaying the orders to the squad leaders.

“No direct confrontation. We attack from a distance and retreat immediately.”

Nod.

All the unit members nodded.

Seeing this, Damian briefly recalled the third squad leader he had met in Makstri.

‘If we had his archers here, it would be perfect.’

He couldn’t help but feel regret, but there was no choice.

They had to fight with what they had.

Gripping his spear, Damian began to move quietly.

Though the spear made it somewhat cumbersome, he kept his body as low as possible and moved swiftly.

* * *

“It’s about to start.”

Watching the main force, Piaren murmured softly.

Once Roberta’s main force clashed with the enemy, he intended to attack their flanks and break through immediately.

With the entire knight order mounted, their mobility and breakthrough power were exceptional.

And leading them was the Empire’s Aura Master, Piaren.

With his strength, they could carve through the enemy like a single stroke of an eraser, splitting their forces in half.

As the darkness deepened, it seemed to envelop the knight order entirely.

Their armor, polished to remove any shine, blended into the night.

Their eyes, glinting from within their helmets, were like those of predators eyeing their prey.

They held their breath, waiting for the battle to begin.

Waaaaaaaah!

The distant roar of the enemy.

The clash was imminent.

Anticipating the slaughter to come, Piaren drew his sword.

“Rose Knight Order.”

Swish! Swish! Swish!

At Piaren’s command, the knights of the Rose Knight Order all drew their swords.

Even in the darkness, their longswords gleamed with a sharp, silvery light.

And then, in the distance—

Bang!

The sound of a fierce clash reverberated.

“Charge!”

Piaren’s voice rang out.

With that, the Rose Knights began their charge. But then—

“Aaagh!”

“…!”

Suddenly, a scream came from the rear.

“Waaaah!”

A group of enemies suddenly emerged from the low bushes nearby and hurled short spears at the Rose Knight Order.

The thrown spears, two per person, had been carried for just such a surprise attack.

Frowning at the sudden assault, Piaren shouted.

“Who are they?!”

“Enemies! Attack them!”

The adjutant shouted urgently, leading the knights towards the attackers.

Some of the knights at the very rear, who were lucky enough not to have been injured, turned with fierce determination in their eyes.

“You filthy bastards!”

From the look of their armor, they were just regular soldiers.

For these nobodies to dare attack them without fear!

A Rose Knight surged forward, swinging his sword at the one leading the enemy force.

Whoosh!

His speed was tremendous.

The precision of his movements and the angle of his sword were perfect, the strike fierce even before it was fully unleashed.

But as the Rose Knight swung his sword at Damian—

Swish!

Damian casually stepped forward to the left, twisting his body slightly.

Shing!

The knight’s sword sliced through the air, narrowly missing the hem of Damian’s right sleeve.

The knight’s eyes, visible through the visor of his helmet, widened in shock as his sword missed.

‘Did… did he dodge that?’

This wasn’t something that should have been possible for a mere soldier to evade. He hadn’t blocked it—he had dodged.

He had swung that sword thousands of times every day.

He had trained hard enough to live up to the name of the Rose Knights, and this strike was worthy of that name.

“There’s no need to be so surprised; it was a good attack.”

Damian spoke, addressing the knight who had frozen for a moment.

Indeed, it was an attack of a different caliber than what he had faced until now.

The trajectory of the sword, its speed, and the timing—

All were top-notch, nothing lacking.

But the problem was the opponent.

‘I’ve faced attacks like that countless times before.’

Being part of a knight order led by an Aura Master meant each knight was highly skilled.

But didn’t he already have experience from his past life of killing eight knights from an order led by an Aura Master?

And now—

‘I’m even stronger than I was back then.’

Whoooom!

Magic energy poured out from Damian’s body, flooding into his spear and causing it to glow with a blue light.

When a mage’s training reaches the 7th rank, they can utilize Aura as well.

The knight was startled by the intense blue glow from Damian’s spear and hastily raised his sword.

Shing!

Damian thrust his spear with such speed that the knight staggered backward in fear.

The attack aimed at his chest was so fierce it made his heart pound.

But at that moment—

“It’s your legs, you idiot!”

The loud voice from his side.

The knight fighting Damian flinched at the shout and quickly swung his sword downward, but—

“You’re too late!”

Swoosh!

The spear, which had been aimed at his chest, abruptly changed direction and struck the gap in the armor near the knight’s knee.

Crunch!

“Aaagh!”

The spearhead dug into the unprotected joint, and red blood spurted out.

As the knight staggered, Damian struck his helmet’s side with the shaft of his spear.

Bang!

A destructive force that rattled the brain.

The knight’s body wobbled, and the magical energy emanating from him dissipated.

He had clearly lost consciousness for a moment.

“Haa!”

Damian then lunged forward, hooking his spear around the knight’s legs.

Thud!

The heavy weight of his armor made a dull sound as he crashed to the ground.

“You bastard!”

“Aadin!”

It seemed his name was Aadin, as the other Rose Knights shouted while rushing forward to save him.

Thud!

But Damian quickly plunged his spear into the fallen knight’s neck.

“Gurgh!”

The knight made a gasping sound as the life left him, dying instantly.

The other knights were visibly shaken by the death of their comrade.

No, it wasn’t just his death that shocked them; it was the fact that the one who killed him was not a knight but a mere soldier.

Whoosh!

Damian, who had just killed a Rose Knight, quickly retreated, keeping an eye on the knights.

He rejoined his comrades, maintaining a distance of about ten meters from the knights.

“You filthy… You dare…!”

“How dare you kill Aadin…!”

The knights in the back trembled with rage.

They wanted to charge and kill them right away, but the ferocity Damian had just shown made them hesitate.

Swish.

Damian turned his head to look at someone approaching from the front.

‘That must be him.’

It was clear to him at a glance that this was Piaren.

Blonde hair.

A delicate face that could almost be mistaken for that of a woman, if not for the expression of pure malice visible through his helmet.

Damian quickly shouted to his comrades.

“Scatter! Get to the rendezvous point, no matter what!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Understood!”

With Piaren now on the scene, fighting would be suicide.

At Damian’s command, the Caion unit members began to retreat into the bushes without any semblance of order.

“…!”

The Rose Knights, seeing this, yelled in shock.

“Do you think we’ll let you escape?!”

“We’ll kill every last one of you!”

They dismounted and immediately chased after the Caion soldiers.

The dense undergrowth was too thick for their horses to pass through.

However—

Clang, clang!

Their thick armor, which protected them so well in battle, became their greatest hindrance.

The heavy armor slowed them down, making it impossible to catch up to the fleeing Caion soldiers.

Whoosh!

Damian, watching the charging Rose Knights, was the last to slip away.

“We’ll meet again.”

Murmuring softly as he glanced at Piaren in the distance, Damian disappeared into the bushes.

It might seem like only a single enemy had been killed.

‘But for the first battle…’

The Caion unit had achieved victory.

A faint smile graced Damian’s lips as he fled.