I broke through the Rykenta lance formation head-on.

Of course, I had no intention of riding straight onward to charge into their main line.

“Frey! Turn!”

I yanked the reins and pivoted the horse.

Immediately after lances collided, chaos erupted.

In that chaos, I needed to kill even one more of their superhuman fighters.

Rykenta censer-bearers twisted around in their saddles, aiming mounted repeating-ballista sidearms at us.

“Kirikirie!”

Frey spun the Storm-Flash greatsword in a full circle and placed himself before me.

“Just trust me!”

A golden curtain of electrical sparks flashed.

The bolts bounced off the blade and the wall of current.

Whump! Whump! Whump!

Front!

My biological radar caught a disturbance.

From behind the path I’d just taken, dozens of tiny steel pellets shot upward.

“Gah!”

“Argh!”

“Ugh!”

They punched clean through our retainers and censer-bearers.

Even those not hit directly collapsed as their horses were pierced.

“You dare trample me?!”

The Rykenta navigator had stood up again ahead.

Understandable.

Wind-King Armor isn’t going to be crushed by horse hooves.

But I could not—must not—abandon everything to rush him.

Nor could I, even if I wanted to.

“Get him!”

Two Rykenta censer-bearers and four retainers circled wide to strike me.

Snap—shhhhk!

A steel net unfolded, trying to ensnare both me and my horse.

I did not make the foolish mistake of simply slashing with my Storm-Flash blade.

They weren’t stupid enough to bring nets that could be severed with one Blue Knight’s casual swing.

I extended my left hand.

Released lightning in a pulse.

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!

“Agh!”

The retainer holding the net rope screamed and collapsed.

The net fell half-unspread to the ground.

“Hrrrrih!”

But one of my horse’s legs had already been entangled.

In that instant, other Rykenta censer-bearers and retainers fired their small repeating-ballista rounds.

Fweee! Fweee! Fweee!

My horse took several more bolts to the leg and buckled.

But of course, I did not remain idle.

I released lightning again and again.

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!

Sustaining simple discharge bursts like this was no longer difficult.

Even after downing the one who threw the net, I swept my arm sideways and continued firing.

“Graaah!”

“Ghk!”

“Urgh!”

Rykenta knights, censer-bearers, and retainers toppled from their saddles in succession.

I could have roasted them outright, but there was no need to waste mana.

“Leave it to us!”

“Knight Arius of Astreos advances!”

The fallen enemies were crushed under hooves, or pierced by our cavalry lances.

“Kirikirie! Leave your back to this unbelievably handsome prodigy!”

Frey swung the Storm-Flash greatsword and cleaved a Rykenta knight coming at my rear cleanly in half.

Fssh-rraaak!

Then, ahead, a wind blade expanded in a ring the size of a wagon wheel.

SHRRAAAAAAACK!

“Arghhh!”

“Gahhh!”

The knights and censer-bearers surrounding the navigator were sliced apart along with their horses.

The power was tremendous.

Even from here, only feeling the faint aftershock, my cheek stung.

The navigator in green armor hadn’t escaped unharmed either—his arm was torn off, and he was heaving harsh breaths.

Our eyes met.

I drew a dagger from my belt without hesitation.

I charged it with electricity via Weapon Imbuement, and threw.

Fshhk!

The dagger crushed into his breastplate.

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!

It did not draw blood.

“Ghh!”

But the discharged current momentarily locked his muscles.

“Hmph—!”

I unleashed Chain Discharge.

CHZZZZZZZK-CHZZZZ-CHZZZZ!

Lightning leapt through the ranks of Rykenta retainers.

They dropped their weapons, bodies stiffening.

“Frey!”

“On it, on it!”

I stamped the ground with Thunder Step.

“One-eyed devil!”

A Rykenta knight urged his horse to intercept me.

“Move.”

Trusting in Body Enhancement and Thunder Step, I slammed into him with my shoulder.

“Ugh!”

Both horse and rider were hurled aside.

Even then, the knight managed a mid-air somersault and swung his blade at my skull.

“Leave it to me!”

Frey abandoned his horse entirely, vaulting upward to deflect the strike with the Storm-Flash sword.

A path opened.

RUUUMBLE.

I invoked Thunder Step again.

The navigator in green swung his remaining left hand.

Whump.

No visible blade.

But I saw the path of the strike.

I saw it with naked sight, and through biological radar.

I anticipated where the invisible wind blade would travel.

Biological radar showed a black-and-white image; my rational prediction overlaid upon it.

Electromagnetic interpretation still took place in my brain.

And the Heaven-Thunder Body’s reinforced neural network projected the result into my visual field.

I did not detect the blade directly.

But where I expected it to be, a pale outline appeared.

Here it comes.

I slid across the ground with Thunder Step and ducked sharply.

My speed surged as the huge invisible blade passed just above my head.

Prediction correct.

The navigator then reached to his waist to scatter shrapnel.

“Try dodging this!”

“Sir Kyrie!”

A knight on our side hurled a warhammer straight at his shoulder.

A Rykenta censer-bearer threw another steel net to capture the knight.

I ignored them all and charged straight through.

“Block him!”

Rykenta knights, censer-bearers, retainers—all threw themselves in front of the navigator.

In the Empire of Stars, battle was decided by superhuman knights.

But if only superhuman knights decided battles, neither armies nor artillery would matter.

To kill a superhuman knight, knights were needed;
To kill knights, censer-bearers;
To kill censer-bearers, retainers;
To kill retainers, soldiers.

And now Rykenta’s superhumans and near-superhumans swung blades and spears solely to stop me.

RUMBLE—!

I drove my Storm-Flash greatsword down and sprang.

“You flew?!”

I leapt over fifteen meters straight into the air, clearing knights, censer-bearers, retainers.

Even I was shocked by the height.

I had previously been able to leap six or seven meters—now, with Heaven-Thunder Body improving physical reinforcement, the performance was phenomenal.

“Don’t panic!”

“Stab upward!”

“He can’t dodge in midair!”

Dozens of long spears rose like a hedgehog’s spines.

I kicked upward in midair and spun the Storm-Flash blade.

SHRAAAAAK!

Spear shafts splintered like reeds.

I saw the navigator clearly, both by sight and biological radar.

Even with an arm missing, he gathered mana for Wind Lance.

The silent endurance through pain—truly the spirit of a superhuman.

The sword that had just cleaved spears—

—I raised it high.

“Hah!”

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!

I fed more Imbuement, letting lightning blaze along the entire length of the blade.

Like a column of lightning itself.

I twisted and brought it crashing down.

BOOOOM!

All the strength of that fifteen-meter leap went into the strike.

“Kiriiieeeeee!”

The navigator’s outstretched hand brushed past my temple.

The Storm-Flash sword split him from crown to groin in a straight line.

“The navigator is down!”

I raised the Storm-Flash sword and shouted:

“Surrender, and you will not be killed! Surrender!”

Some threw their weapons and fled the melee.

Some drew backup weapons and steeled themselves to die.

Meanwhile, Frey was wrapped in overlapping steel nets, gripping the spearheads piercing him with his bare hands.

“You—! You think you can scar this adorable face?!”

“Frey! Hold!”

“Huh? Aaaaagh—!”

I sent a Chain Discharge toward the retainers.

They convulsed and rolled on the ground.

“You’re all DEAD!”

Frey ripped off the steel net and cut a censer-bearer’s leg off with his greatsword.

This lance engagement was ending.

The battle itself was only beginning.

More than ten lances had clashed.

Kyrie focused his biological radar to assess the outcome.

Six to four. Not bad.

Navigators often overwhelmed Blue Knights in mana capacity.

And each navigator’s attached knights, censer-bearers, and retainers outnumbered those attached to Blue Knights.

A six-to-four resolution was a good result.

“Sir Kyrie!”

Hensonia called from beside him.

He was the Blue Knight who had led the lance that collided adjacent to Kyrie’s.

“We have won here! Shall we reinforce? Or charge forward?”

“Charge!”

Kyrie looked at Hensonia but pointed ahead.

“We charge!”

His eyes then caught the body of a knight.

Tanzen the Bulwark.

A mercenary-captain knight respected among the soldiers for stable command, textbook swordsmanship, and a steady nature.

And many other retainers, censer-bearers, knights, Blue Knights lay strewn across the ground.

This was war.

Kyrie’s expression twisted.

In the distance, Daniel the Blue Knight was being carried on a stretcher, missing a leg.

“Mercy of the Eternal Star!”

From the rear, Bishop Saturn’s holy power flared.

“Sir Hensonia! Gather the wounded and escort them back!”

“Wouldn’t it be better to press the advance quickly?”

“We have a bishop-grade priest. No need to overextend! Focus on reinforcement!”

“Understood!”

Kyrie did not indulge in sorrow long.

This debt could only be repaid with victory, not tears.

“Advance!”

Kyrie absorbed Hensonia’s lance into his.

Hensonia took only a few of his own men and pulled back to collect wounded and escort them rearward.

Similar exchanges occurred across the battlefield.

The same for Rykenta.

Intact lances merged and advanced; the wounded were escorted back with knights or navigators.

Of course, they had to circle widely to avoid enemy lances.

Some wanted to chase and slaughter the wounded.

“Stop there!”

A Rykenta knight followed Hensonia with several retainers.

“Shoot them. Blow his head off.”

Joy pointed her command baton.

Thoom!

A heavy field-gun fired from the Astreos main line.

“Waaaaah!”

Heavy infantry, pikemen, and net-throwers rushed to block the retainers.

“Tch!”

Even a knight could not break through heavy guns while also pushing past hundreds of infantry.

If caught in nets and struck by artillery, knight or not—instant death.

“Spearmen, formations one, three, and five! Brace! Block the lance!”

Joy coordinated dozens of units like chess pieces.

Hold.

Rykenta’s intact lances were coming to strike the Astreos main body.

With the remaining Blue Knights, the last reserve of knights, and three thousand soldiers—they had to stop them.

Sir. I trust you.

Until Kyrie signaled.

Naturally, it was not only Rykenta’s lances charging Astreos.

Astreos’s lances were also charging Rykenta.

Erica watched from ahead as Kyrie advanced with hundreds of superhuman soldiers.

“Shall we advance our line?”

The memory of that leap and thunderous sword strike was vivid.

It was deeply unpleasant.

“Yes.”

Rykenta forces moved.

Ordinary soldiers could not defeat a Blue Knight head-on.

So they simply would not fight head-on.

Steel nets to strip mobility, walls of wheeled heavy shields, long pikes to kill from reach, wind-blessed repeating ballista, and retainers and censer-bearers who could partly match Blue Knight motion.

“I do not require clever tricks.”

To stop the hundreds under Kyrie’s command, she moved thousands.

“We will crush them from the front.”

But Erica did not relax.

She was not the sort of commander who sent waves of troops to die one after another.

Fweeeeee!

She summoned even the mutated beasts fighting at a distance.

Hmm.

Nereus saw an opportunity.

“Sir!”

“I know!”

This front was brutal.

Nereus fought by the book.

Field-guns at range to wound large creatures like ogres or high orcs.

Blue Knights charging to kill them before they could trigger Mindwave.

Infantry advancing to engage goblins and ordinary orcs.

But once the pipe whistle sounded, everything changed.

“Grrr…”

The mutated beasts that had been attacking ferociously now avoided eye contact.

They began moving past Nereus’s forces—toward Kyrie’s lance.

Nereus had animal-sharp intuition to begin with.

If I let the mutated beasts go and sweep my army down now to hit Rykenta’s flank, I could strike their commander.

Plus, he had studied tactics and strategy specifically to counter Kyrie.

If I do that, Kyrie will be forced to face both the enemy army and the beasts alone. He’ll be worn down and spent. But we will win.

The conclusion came quickly.

Only the choice remained.

Do I do it—or not?

Nereus chose.

Chapter 70

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