"Urgh?!"
As the trainee knight staggered, Azadin grabbed the spear shaft.
'I've been had!'
The trainee knight, seeing Azadin closing in while holding onto the spear shaft, panicked and reached for the short sword at his waist.
Azadin, the trainee knight trying to draw his short sword,
Just as the two were about to clash, an interruption came.
—Swish!
A second spear shot out from the side, aiming at Azadin. Another trainee knight, seeing his comrade in danger, lunged forward at a terrifying speed, thrusting his spear.
'As expected, the holy knights are no pushovers.'
Azadin had no choice but to abandon his attack and retreat repeatedly. However, it wasn't without gain. He had hit the trainee knight with a stone and taken his weapon.
"Hey! Tasig! Fall back!"
"Be careful! This bastard is no joke!"
The trainee knight, called Tasig, stepped back and steadied his breathing. Even though he was wearing a helmet, the stone Azadin had thrown struck with such tremendous force that his vision wavered.
"Are you alright? How could you let him take your weapon?"
"Why don't you try? That guy is no ordinary foe."
"Who the hell is he? An adventurer?"
Trainee knights, who had been carrying out a massacre across the farm, began to gather one by one.
The trainee knights of the king's church frowned. They had no intention of letting things escalate this much. They had planned to subdue everyone as quickly as possible, but suddenly, a skilled fighter had appeared and was interfering.
"Hey, are you really picking a fight with us, knowing that we are holy knights of the king's church?"
Gazrek, the holy knight, spoke to Azadin.
"And those who slaughter the people of Hubris like this call themselves holy knights?"
"They are heretics!"
"Proof?"
When Azadin countered, the trainee knights fell silent. The truth was, they hadn't intended for things to spiral this far. Initially, a civilian had been killed due to a misfired arrow, and in trying to cover it up, they had to kill more. Then, one of them escaped, forcing them to silence more witnesses, which led to the massacre of the entire farm.
'Thinking about it now, this was idiotic.'
'But now that we've started, we can't turn back.'
'Damn it, I don't even think it was my arrow. We should've just identified the shooter and made a few of them penitent knights instead.'
As the trainee knights hesitated, Gazrek stepped forward.
"We are holy knights. We are specialists in dealing with heretics. Are you doubting our judgment? Or are you a heretic yourself, daring to question the actions of holy knights?"
"That's absurd. You call someone a heretic without proof, and that makes them one? And you think that excuse justifies what you're doing?"
"It seems you refuse to recognize the authority of the king's church."
Gazrek drew his sword.
"Are you a heretic too?"
Azadin raised the tip of his stolen spear to eye level.
"No. I am merely a humble pilgrim."
The spear in Azadin's hand swayed like a blade of grass, its afterimage stretching long.
"Hmph! You seem to have some skill!"
Gazrek formed a sigil while gripping his sword.
A blinding light burst forth from his blade, dazzling the eyes of those around him. At the same time, he pivoted and charged at Azadin.
'That technique again?'
Azadin had already encountered this method during his battle with Kozel. A simple yet highly effective combination of holy knights' magic and swordsmanship—blinding the opponent before striking.
However, Azadin had no trouble with bright lights. His vision did not rely on his physical eyes but on a form of transcendental perception.
Thus, there was no reason for him to be blinded, but he deliberately pretended to be in pain, luring Gazrek in. This knight seemed to be their leader—crippling him in a single strike would allow Azadin to subdue the entire group.
But just as Gazrek lunged, he suddenly withdrew.
"Damn it."
Amidst the flash of light, two arrows came flying.
Both targeted the weak points of Gazrek's armor—one aimed for the inner thigh, the other for the gap at his throat. A shot like this was impossible without extraordinary archery skills.
However, Gazrek deflected the arrows with the thickest part of his armor and retreated.
"Are you alright?"
"Are you unharmed?"
Ishmael and Midiam, seeing Azadin surrounded, had fired their bows in support.
'Damn it. Stay put.'
Azadin regretted that Gazrek had escaped from the trap he had set, but he couldn't lash out at his allies for trying to help.
"Be careful! These bastards are from the Herald Clan!"
Gazrek had figured out Azadin's group's identity.
"And why do you think that?"
"Why? Because only members of the Herald Clan can fire such powerful bows at that age!"
Gazrek, witnessing the unexpected strength behind Midiam and Ishmael's arrows, shouted. At his words, sighs of relief came from the trainee knights.
"They, they're from the Herald Clan?"
"Then we were right all along!"
"Yes! If this village is harboring the Herald Clan, they must be heretics!"
"Followers of the Emperor!"
Gazrek commanded the trainee knights.
"Stop talking nonsense and surround them!"
"Yes, sir!"
The trainee knights, having shed the weight of their conscience, moved swiftly, unlike when they were shackled by guilt. They split into two groups—some moved to assist Gazrek in surrounding Azadin, while others charged toward Midiam and Ishmael.
"Damn it."
As Azadin was caught off guard, Gazrek drew his sword and lunged at him.
"Now then, let's see the skills of the Emperor's Herald!"
Gazrek's sword thrust forward like lightning, and at the same time, the trainee knights who had partially surrounded Azadin jabbed their spears at him. Azadin attempted to escape their encirclement.
"Not a chance!"
"Catch him!"
Everyone started chasing after Azadin. At that moment, he suddenly closed in on the trainee knights surrounding him and picked a fight with the knight at the very edge of their formation. Azadin's short spear lightly brushed against the trainee knight's spear, as if toying with him.
"You bastard!"
The trainee knight reacted aggressively, trying to swat Azadin's spear away. But at that instant, Azadin's short spear coiled around the knight's spear, striking downward toward the ground before bouncing up and transforming into a thrust.
Shocked by the lightning-fast counterattack, the trainee knight hastily lifted his spear to parry—but even that had been within Azadin's calculations. He had foreseen this response three moves ahead.
—Clang!
Azadin struck the knight's spear aside, completely throwing him off balance.
"Urgh!"
The trainee knight staggered, taking a step sideways, inadvertently blocking the path of his comrades. The knights who had been encircling Azadin found their cooperative attack disrupted by their own ally.
At that moment, Azadin spun on his heel and dashed away.
Was he trying to escape?
"Where do you think you're going?!"
The trainee knights pursued him, but then Azadin threw his spear.
"Huh?"
Surprisingly, the spear wasn't aimed at those forming the encirclement. Instead, it was hurled at the back of a trainee knight who was advancing toward Midiam and Ishmael, the two young members of the Herald Clan.
—Thud!
Azadin's thrown spear cleanly pierced through the knight's thigh.
The rear side of the femur, the hamstring torn apart, the bone shattered—the sheer force of the throw was overwhelming.
"Arghhhh!"
The knight screamed as he collapsed forward, and when the spear lodged in his leg struck the ground, the wound tore open further, causing him to collapse sideways in horror.
"You bastard!"
"Do you take us for fools?!"
The trainee knights were enraged that Azadin had ignored them and thrown his spear, leaving himself unarmed. They all attacked him at once—but Azadin took off running again.
"Urgh?"
"He's fast!"
Azadin widened the distance in an instant. The knights, weighed down by armor and carrying spears, struggled to keep up with the unarmored and now unarmed Azadin.
"This is absurd!"
They couldn't even attempt a throw like Azadin's—there was no guarantee they would hit their mark, and they had never seriously trained in spear-throwing. If they threw and missed, they would just be handing a weapon to the now-unarmed enemy.
"This doesn't make sense!"
The trainee knight who had been advancing toward Midiam and Ishmael was thrown into confusion. Just moments ago, they had the advantage in numbers, but suddenly, they were the ones at a disadvantage.
Before him stood young boys and girls—skilled archers of the Herald Clan—and behind him, the adult Herald warrior who had just taken down his comrade with a single spear throw. He was now caught between them, surrounded. His fellow knights, who should have been helping, were floundering behind, moving at barely half the speed of the Herald warrior.
As the knight panicked, Azadin rushed in. Shockingly, his target wasn't the standing knight but the one who had collapsed beside him.
"Ahhh!"
Azadin approached the knight who had been impaled through the leg, quickly drawing the short sword from his waist. Though undecorated, the knightly sword was of solid craftsmanship. Azadin then turned his attention to the still-standing trainee knight.
"D-don't come any closer!"
The trainee knight thrust his spear at Azadin, but his heart was already shaken—his attack was sloppy at best. With the possibility of an arrow flying into his back at any moment, his reaction was only natural.
Azadin reversed his grip on the short sword, holding the blade with both hands as if it were a cross-spear. Using the hilt and guard, he caught the shaft of the knight's spear, trapping it in place like a clothesline snagging a laundry pole.
With a smooth motion, Azadin guided the spear's tip downward.
—Thunk!
The knight's spear stabbed into the soil of the field.
"Damn it!"
It was too late to pull it out! Thinking fast, the trainee knight reached for his short sword, but by then, Azadin had already closed the gap.
—Thwack!
Azadin, still holding the sword in reverse grip, swung it like a mace, smashing the guard into the knight's helmet.
The helmet crumpled under the impact, and the knight collapsed to the ground. In a single blow, a holy knight of the king's church had been knocked unconscious.
The holy knights had started out as the overwhelming majority—but now,
They were being taken down one by one.
"Damn it. That bastard is a master of combat. Well, I guess that's to be expected from the Emperor's Heralds!"
Gazrek realized he had made a mistake. Azadin might not have been heavily armed, but he knew exactly how to use his strengths.
The tactics Azadin displayed provided an answer to why knights in heavy armor didn't favor spears.
Knights in armor wielding spears were simply too slow. Even a light-footed warrior could easily outmaneuver them, and Azadin had exploited that mobility to pick them off one by one.
'So, the reputation of the Divine King Slayers wasn't just for show. But still, we have the numbers…'
For the first time, Gazrek felt the creeping realization that he might die here.