Slash—!

The mutant ogre’s neck flew into the air.

Its jaws had gaped so wide that faces of other greenskins were visible through its throat.
The roar that never came spilled from the severed neck as a loose breath of wind.

“Phew.”

I stopped and looked back.

Thud.

The headless mutant ogre crashed to the ground.

“Sir Kyrie killed the mutant ogre!”

From behind, Jo shouted in her sharp, ringing voice.
She was a staff officer at least touched by the rank of superhuman, and having suffered the roar once before, she’d recovered her wits quickly.

“It’s dead?”

“The mutant ogre is dead!”

“Sir Kyrie killed the mutant ogre!”

Hopeful cries spread among the soldiers.

“Get a hold of yourselves! Are you soldiers of House Astreios or not!
Where did you sell the resolve to live forever, clear as lightning!”

Those who failed to join the cheering were kicked in the backside by Nereus.

“Push forward!”

“Waaagh!”

“Spears up!”

Soldiers rose one by one, seizing their weapons again.

The ogre was smaller than the last one, and the ground here was open; the roar’s effect had been weaker.

“Thrust!”

“Advance the line!”

“Push shields! Shields!”

The tide turned once more.

Nereus’s heavy infantry crushed the last hobgoblin elites; my spearmen skewered the backs of fleeing orc warriors.

“Screee! Scree!”

“Humans too strong! Humans!”

“Our shaman’s dead! Run!”

At last the greenskins threw down their weapons and bolted.
Even the four-armed orc warriors fled down into the surrounding jungle.

Fweeeet!

Then a piercing whistle tore the darkness.

“What’s that?”

That’s not our house’s signal whistle. We don’t have any call like that.

I turned without thinking—and realized.

The sound came from the opposite side.

“Kyrie!”

“There! A human ahead!”

Nereus thundered toward me with Thunderstep.

“Screee! Scree!”

“Kraaaagh!”

“Kieeeek!”

The beasts that had been fleeing suddenly wheeled around.
All of them, eyes rolled back, charged straight at Nereus and me.

“What the hell’s wrong with them!”

“Could it be that sound—?”

It went against every beast’s instinct.

Impossible. Normally, a single Blue Knight’s shadow makes beasts scatter.

We were standing at the center of the camp, on the highest point of the hill.
Because of that, we saw it.

Torches moving in the brush.
A figure whose skin was not the same hue as a greenskin’s.

The Bio-Radar showed a shape about the size of a hobgoblin, but in the torchlight it was clearly human.

We had to catch it.

But between it and us, hundreds of greenskins still charged with blood-shot eyes.

I looked at Nereus.

“I’ll clear a path. You go after it!”

“What?!”

Nereus stared as if he’d misheard.

Opening the path only takes one reckless push, but catching that figure means plunging into a swarm of beasts.
He might be hiding powers of his own. I’ll have to risk it.
Sorry, but I can’t die here.

I wondered if my thoughts showed on my face.

“…At times like this, I almost see why you were top of the class.”

Nereus muttered something indistinct.

“Go.”

I stopped thinking.
Now was a time for blades, not brains.

Woom—!

I over-loaded my nerves and expanded the Bio-Radar.
The beasts’ movements lay before me like pieces on a chessboard.
In my head I mapped the Thunderstep lines that would let me cut through the most of them.

Rumble!

I poured the rest of my power into my legs and drew those lines into reality.

Sssh-ssh-ssh-ssh!

I became a white streak flashing through the beasts.

Even under neural acceleration my vision cut in and out, heightening the sense of speed.
Beasts that should have lumbered closer over seconds were, in the blink of an eye, already upon me—or already severed.

Had any been fast enough to track me, they might have jabbed at perfect timing for a counterstrike.

Swaaaash!

None were.

“Hah.”

I staggered slightly, a pleasant lightness in my limbs.

Thudthudthudthud!

Goblin necks, hobgoblin chests, orc legs fell a heartbeat later from their bodies.

The core of the charging beasts between Nereus and me was gone.

“Nereus!”

“I know!”

Rumble!

Nereus bolted down that path.

“In the name of thunder, halt where you stand!”

His legs flared with crimson current, his body became a streak of red light.

The figure below was already fleeing into the jungle.
He moved faster than a common man—at least squire level—but a Blue Knight using consecutive Thundersteps was faster than an arrow.

Nereus reached and seized for him.
The massive hand that could crush a body whole clutched the fugitive’s cloak.

Boom!

A blast rang out.
Not the step-boom of Thunderstep—a burst of compressed air.
An explosion born of high pressure, not heat.

“Gah!”

Nereus’s huge frame lifted from the ground.

The hooded figure had thrown off his grasp.

What—?

I sprang up, gripping my sword.
That was not strength a human frame should have.

The figure spread both palms, drew them back, then thrust forward at once.

There was little power in the motion itself—but the effect that followed was different.

Boom!

Wind surged like a cannon blast.

The airborne Nereus spun through the air like some comic-book villain and flew clean over my head,
spiraling down onto the far side of the camp.

“Ugh-aaah!”

He crashed out of sight.

The blast did not harm me;
at worst I had to shut my eyes against the gust and smoke.

A wind-art adept!

So the stiffness in my legs came not from my body, but from the shock in my mind.

Could it be—Rykenta?!

The figure who had flung Nereus away dashed into the jungle.

Then the stigma in my right eye blazed.

[Hero’s Journey — Stage 12]

[Stage 1: Adoption as Heir]
[Enter the main house of Astreios and end the life of a bastard.]
[Failure Penalty: Death]
[Success Reward: Downstrike]

‣

[Sub-Goal 3: House Representative]
[You have discovered an anomaly beyond the border.
Find clear evidence to turn this anomaly into a matter between great houses.]
[Success Reward 1: Authority “Chain Discharge”]
[Success Reward 2: Celestial Lightning Body Efficiency +25%]
[Failure Penalty 1: Celestial Lightning Body Efficiency −50%]
[Failure Penalty 2: Sub-goal Reset]

Strings of text and objectives appeared in my vision.

Two rewards again—
but also two penalties.

I watched through the Bio-Radar as the figure moved south, then turned my body.

“Nereus. You all right?”

Direction confirmed.
Pursuit now would be reckless.
Better to regroup first.

Dawn bled in.

The mutant greenskin camp was neatly cleaned up.
Soldiers burned out the spore-swamps, recovered loot gathered by goblins, rotated scouts and sentries, ate and snatched brief naps.

“Damn it.”

Nereus sat before one fire, glaring into it.

The physical blow had been minor.
The height he’d been thrown wasn’t great; he’d broken the fall and his armor had absorbed most of the impact.

Humiliating.

He bowed his head not from pain but from shame.

Kyrie yielded the glory to me.

In that situation, the one clearing the way bore greater risk than the one who sprinted through.

Electro-Arts were among the most potent of all house abilities—but also among the most taxing.
Consecutive Thundersteps meant neural overheating.

Kyrie had risked that and opened the path for him.
All Nereus had to do was catch the target.

It would have been an honorable capture—the one likely responsible for the mutant-beast outbreak.

He’d blown it.

Had Kyrie rebuked him, Nereus could have answered in kind.

It was Kyrie who called me here.

After all, Nereus was commander of another sector and had come to aid Kyrie against the brothers Prochus and Epichus.

That’s why he yielded me a share of the credit.
At the academy we’d have charged together, even if we both missed the mark.

Kyrie had shown consideration.

I failed to take it.

A faint self-loathing weighed on the giant Blue Knight.

But Nereus shook it off quickly.

“Kyrie.”

“Yeah?”

Kyrie made the pragmatic calculation at once.

He’s about to complain that I pushed the risk onto him. What do I say?
Play dumb. That’s best. Pretend I don’t even know what he means.

That, too, was pragmatic.

The one-eyed Blue Knight put on his mask of calm.

Not a hint of resentment.
After dragging me here for this solo operation, he means to show those two adopted heirs what real merit looks like.
Different mindset altogether.

Nereus found himself quietly impressed.
Look at that steady face.
That single eye that holds only one thing.
Even to say sorry or thanks would seem discourteous.

“The man looked to be of the Wind-Power House Rykenta. Judging by his use of ability, he wasn’t of navigator rank. Likely some lesser branch.
Let’s wrap this up fast and move. If we act quickly, we can catch him.”

He meant to see it settled himself next time.

He knows I passed the task to him on purpose.
That’s what he’s saying—that I was scared of some half-blooded branch whelp.
He’s claiming he’ll hunt him down himself rather than leave it to a coward like me.
If I’m not careful he might steal the whole achievement.

Kyrie read it as a challenge.

This one came to the Border Patrol Corps to fight me, not aid me.
He may shun Trisan’s tricks, but that makes him the more dangerous foe—I can only beat him in strength.
That man, I’ll be the one to capture him.

Kyrie glanced over the clean-up and answered in kind—deliberately provocative.

“Fine. We’ll drain the mutant ogre’s essence as well.
If it comes to it, we’ll take only the elite and break through at speed.
My Bio-Radar has range—once I catch his trail, we can find his hideout.”

“Prepare.”

Nereus took it the same way.

Only the elite? He sees me as one of his elite troops.
Right. Between us, goodwill lasts once.
He’s always had that knack for twisting words to needle people.
Even handing me the honor earlier was probably a dare—‘let’s see you prove it.’

Their history was too deep for either to take the other at face value.

“Jo!”

“Adjutant!”

The two Blue Knights each called their subordinates.

Kyrie’s 117th Centuria and Nereus’s 121st began advancing south like lightning by midday.

The figure presumed to be of the Wind-Power House had erased his trail well—but his very appearance meant that once they went south, they would find some trace.

That belief proved right.

“Sir Kyrie.”

That evening, one of Jo’s scout teams reported a discovery.

“There, sir.”

“A mutant ogre?”

A village that had one bound in its square.

Even beyond the border, this was still inhabited land; the form of the settlement was little different.

A stockade of timber and earthen walls.
Watchtowers against beast attacks.
A large main gate and a few side gates.

The village of Rykenta they found resembled the ones of Astreios in every structure—
the difference lay in its people.

“Where is the Navigator? Without the Navigator we can’t face a Blue Knight!”

“Is the messenger-bird away yet? We must report to Lady Erika at once!”

“Hurry! Burn it all!”

There were hardly any “villagers.”

Soldiers running back and forth, staff officers barking orders, squires clutching swords and swearing oaths,
and in the central pavilion, the dim silhouette of a superhuman warrior seated beside his adjutant.

Only fighters filled the place.

Kyrie and Nereus exchanged a look.

Chapter 34

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