CH 28

It was the first time I had heard the voice of an Elemental, so it felt good. Sunhyuk did not hesitate to accept the proposition of an Elemental. Soon his dominance over his attribute emerged, and the Elemental did not reject, but accepted being dominated.

'Atiya. That is my name.' [You have successfully contracted with the Basic Wind Elemental, Atiya.]

Once the message had ended, Atiya threw herself to the tip of his spear.

"Huh?"

Atiya threw herself within the tip of the spear and disappeared from my eyes just like that. All of a sudden, Atiya's aura, which had disappeared, began to spiral round the tip of the spear as it became powerful enough to support the lack of aura in his skill.

"Ah…"

Sunhyuk couldn't help becoming dumbfounded for a moment after the young female was pierced by his own spear. However, the enemy was right in front of him with an aura resonating from the sword almost completed. He wiped away Atiya from his thoughts and began to quickly infuse more power towards his spear.

Shiiiiiiiiiiiik. Baaaaaaaaaang.

A ear splitting sound wave exploded out, almost occurring simultaneously with the thrust, as soon as the glowing sword was thrust forward. The aura blade collided with the howling wind once more. It was an identical situation from before, but the results were completely different this time. The aura blade could not entirely disperse the wind, and the leftover energy from the wind overwhelmed the front lines of the Sastane.

"Vanguard, crush them!"

Sunhyuk cried out, seeing the Spearhead of the Sastanes collapsing completely.

"Prepare for impact!"

The Heavy Cavalry, who were solely charging behind the back of the Spearhead, shouted to each other as well.

*****

Though he overcame the Spearhead, it wasn't like the enemies had completely collapsed. Sunhyuk horse jumped over the bodies on the ground while Sunhyuk thrust his spear out. The Sastane Cavalry, that had just witnessed their Spearhead collapse, hurriedly thrust out their spears as well.

But their resistance was meaningless in front of the destruction of their vanguard, and as such, the overbearing charge of the 24th Regiment engulfed them.

"Ahhhhhhhk!"

The weight and momentum of heavily armoured enemies was too much for the Sastane, as they began to collapse from fatal injuries, as their light armors were ruthlessly speared in by the 24th Regiment.

Damn.

It was only a moment to hurl forward the spear before his arm had twisted, due to building up too much aura, but that brief engagement with their enemies became enough for him to feel a sense of killing more vivid than ever before.

But, he was still in the midst of a battlefield. If not for this, then his previous encounter in the battlefield against the enemy had made this somewhat more blunt. Following the muscle memory which he had practiced in training, he formed a small aura on the tip of his spear. It wasn't as grand as the one he used to collide against the Advanced Knight, but it was enough to slash through the Heavy Cavalry of the opposition.

The enemy spears all began to thrust towards him from the front.

"Hiya!"

Sunhyuk reflexively turned his hips around, as he was able to evade the thrusts of his enemies. But the Sastanes who had attacked him had already passed by him.

"Don't slow down. Don't try to overextend and finish everything by yourself!"

In this extreme battle where the two cavalries were jousting for supremacy over each other, it did not allow them enough luxury to exchange blows, causing Sunhyuk to reveal a new perspective against his enemies, as he thrust his spear forward.

"Bang!"

This time, both sides only stabbed air. They just confirmed the intense hostility towards each other, as no casualties were exchanged in this round.

"Ahhhhhhhk!"

Then, an abrupt scream from behind was heard, and Sunhyuk couldn't differentiate whether it was from an ally or foe. He wanted to turn his head quickly and check the condition of his allies, but he refrained himself. He became too busy avoiding and blocking attacks in front, this was all he could muster while relentlessly thrusting his spear forward.

Whew. Whew.

His heart was beating furiously as he became numb from the turmoil of the battlefield. The roars of the conflict continued to echo through his ears, as his breathing became hotter and coarser inside the cramped helmet of his. That heat and intensity, and the presence of blood in the air, caused him to feel breathless.

'Are they following me well? Don't tell me I'm the only one left?'

With those appalling thoughts weighing him down, his desire of looking back caused his body to stiffen.

Please. Please.

What he saw in front of him were those enemies full of killing resolve. Praying that he wasn't the only one, he galloped towards them.

And when he had reached his limits, a yell burst out from behind.

"We broke through the enemy!"

In that instant, his narrow field of sight widened to the sight of a few surviving riders of the opposition passing him by, as he viewed a welcoming site of the wide prairies.

*****

The Sastane Cavalry lived up to the infamy surrounding their name. Their penetrating horsemanship, exceptional swordsmanship, and firm resolve, confirmed why they were the strongest in melee combat.

However, the Goddess of Victory favored the Kingdom of Ardenburg. The official Knights of Sir Pilgram, along with the rest, were deemed to be stronger than Knight Apprentices from the other side, were completely defeated, and even the trustworthy Ahn Yoojung, a Elementalist, was not able to play a significant role due to her Elementals.

As a result, the Sastane Cavalry was completely crushed by the 24th Heavy Cavalry. Nevertheless, it didn't mean that all was fair and dandy for the Kingdom of Ardenburg.

At the end of the furious battle, the Heavy Cavalry of the 24th Regiment, which initially had 100 Riders, had 40 or so left. Despite the Mengsk Light Cavalry only providing support in the rear, they had lost over half of their riders as well. That was how deadly and vicious this battle truly was.

Despite that, the Heavy Cavalry of the 24th Regiment achieved an outstanding victory once more, defeating the Sastane Cavalry, which had only 30 or so survivors left in total, meaning it was a grand victory.

"We won again!"

Someone shouted with a cracked voice, as others behind soon roared immediately with exuberant cheers of victory.

"We cannot pursue. All the horses and riders are at their limits, and are unable to fight anymore."

Thanks to avoiding the main conflict of the battlefield, the Mengsk Cavalry had some fighting power left, but they decided not to become greedy for any more achievements. They had already lost over half of their troops, and did not have the motivation nor the morale to pursue the enemies recklessly.

"Shit. That Advanced Knight. We had to properly kill them off."

Of course, the Advanced Knight, whom was defeated in the initial impact stage, had survived with his life. With the main force as his target, he had constantly attacked them. If not for Frederik stepping in himself, the casualties would have been considerable. However, for Frederik, who hasn't yet fully arrived within the sphere of an Advanced Knight completely, he wasn't able to bind that Knight down, and as such, he was forced to watch them run away in front of his very eyes.

"It's not like he's necessarily a Knight without reputation, but with that kind of swordsmanship, he should be quite a well-known Knight among the Noctanes. There's no need to pursue unreasonably. If it's about achievements, then we already have plenty."

The Captain of the Mengsk Cavalry looked at the weapons and horses of the Sastanes as he comforted Frederik.

"Besides, it will be hard for them to escape through the borders alive. Since the Commander had already brought reinforcements, they will probably be lying in wait for them." He was somewhat worn out from seeing the completely hysterical Johnstein Pilgram, along with his battered Knights during this fierce battle between cavalries. Their previous proud dignified personas were nowhere to be found. Anyhow, they had all survived so it confirmed their exceptional abilities in the end.

"Viscountess, you did well. Thanks to your magic, we were able to suffer minimal casualties."

The completely exhausted Ahn Yoojung couldn't raise her head as she nodded. But the place she was staring at was quite strange as she was looking at the far away cavalrymen.

"Bastard! You did great! To be able to protect that position to the end! Amazing!" "We were preparing to change formation just in case, but you didn't even turn around." "I think you struck down about nine of them."

All of the men, despite their bloody armor and exhausted selves, all rushed over and surrounded him, and in the center of all of that was none other than Sunhyuk.

"Why is the Dragon Rider labelled as a Basic class…"

Just from his achievements, she realized that it was something a Basic Class could never have achieved, but Yoojung perceived better than anyone else that was not the whole truth.

"How did he…"

As an Elementalist, she was sensitive to the presence of the Elementals more than anyone else. But currently, she began to smell and sense the fragrance of an Elemental from him. But the smell of that Elemental who had broken its contract with her during the battle was now identical to the one emanating from him.

*****

When the battle had ended with the loss of many lives, the first thing that Sunhyuk felt was neither guilty nor sorrow for the dead. Rather, it was his body succumbing to an overbearing exhaustion from pushing his overwhelmed mind and body.

However, he felt alive in the midst of all this, and realizing that he had survived, tears began to trickle down his face.

"If anyone else had taken on that position, they wouldn't be able to do as much as you have done."

All of his comrades came over with wounds all over their bodies as they encouraged him, but he did not take off his helmet. Feeling that joy and relief would insult the dead, he kept his visor down and did not answer.

"Good job. You did well. Very well."

Nevertheless, Clarke, Jonathan and the other cavalrymen did not stop praising him as they continued to remark how well he had done. Thus, he was able to loosen himself up for a bit in the hands of his comrades. Eventually, he shooed the hands of his comrades away and began to collect the corpses of his comrades. There were some who had their arms slashed off, others legs bore gashes or none at all, and a few who were almost unrecognizable. They gathered all of the bodies up, matched the missing bodies parts into one, and placed their weapons by their side.

'All thanks to you for protecting my back, I've survived.'

They all knelt down and thanked them many times. As such, he engraved the deaths of his comrades into his heart.

*****

The monster of the battlefield had sustained a small wound while dealing death to his opponents. Thanks to him, a majority of the riders had survived, and none had to ride during the night; entrusting their lives to fate.

"Congratulations on a grand victory!"

The infantry company quickly marched over and assisted on the battlefield, collecting the spoils and paying tribute to the brave cavalry who had won the battle. Then, a new report was relayed.

"At the end of the pursuit from Mengsk's 5th Regiment, all of the Sastane Cavalry have perished, and we also captured alive an Advanced Knight along with a Magician."

Less than a day had passed, but it seemed that the rest of them were already caught. Through this, the reputation of the Sastanes were completely erased from the world.

While the supporting unit had arrived and were busy organizing the battlefield with congratulatory remarks, Sunhyuk was blankly staring into the sky.

'Thank you for calling me back, my Master.'

The Elemental Atiyah who he was thinking had been killed during the previous day was flying through the air. But the way she was flying in the air was completely different from the previous day.

There were no signs of a young girl, as in place a mature woman now was flying naked in the sky.

TL Afterword: 

Calvis: Looks like MC got lucky. Having a mature elemental woman by your side. Drools*. Ahem, I mean, it's great! MC will become stronger!

TL Notice: No bonus chapters for today due to IatM, but will try and have some for next weekend! Stay tuned!

PR Afterword:

Sai101: Phew - they survived..

BM: N/A

PR Notice: N/A

Blood Dagger Clan Discord: 

Translator: Calvis Proofreader: Sai101, BorderlineMasochist