N-A-A Chapter 118 : What Happened That Day (9)
Chapter 118 : What Happened That Day (9)
What Happened That Day (9)
On the day of the departure ceremony and the battle at the spirit stone quarry,
that green-eyed bastard Hank killed the Rhino company commander and stared at the battalion commander.
For a moment, I thought that was the look of a true madman,
then the battalion commander's voice rang out.
― Don't hate him too much. Hoho."
He replied in an off-handed way to that slightly bitter tone,
but the battalion commander added another word on purpose.
― Well, really, it's all my fault that you've been hated by Hank company commander. Hoho."
At the time, he just let it go without much thought,
but now, looking back, all the pieces fit together.
'The battalion commander's son was Hank?!'
Even so, he must have lived with severe inferiority issues, being forced to serve as 2nd company commander under Lantz.
'He exploded because the battalion commander favored me.'
Of course, even knowing the context now, I still had no intention of forgiving Hank for his atrocities.
The root problem was his inferiority and fundamentally flawed nature.
Still, hmm,
'I can't help but feel a hair's breadth of sympathy.'
Hank was about to witness his father's death before his eyes.
Seeing the despair on his face reminded me of the sad memories of my own past.
However, at the moment, both Hank and I were powerless.
We were too weak to stop the battalion commander's death... *Goodness*, what a damn situation.
'I worked so hard, and yet nothing changed?!'
Clink. *Chak!*
The shadow soldier readjusted its sword grip.
The aura on the blade still glowed black as ever.
*Phwiiing!*
A dominating sword attack, a level higher than before, targeted the center of the battalion commander's body.
Of course, the battalion commander dodged lightly.
But the more he dodged, the faster and more precise the shadow soldier's next attack became.
In other words, the battalion commander would be sliced by the aura-infused sword and die before long unless this pattern was broken.
He had to deflect the attack to stop it, but sword energy couldn't cut away the aura.
As the shadow soldier prepared for its third attack—
"Father!!"
Hank, completely losing his senses, charged at the battalion commander.
'I told him over and over not to get involved! Does he want to get himself killed along, too?!'
I focused, getting ready to throw Black Vein to stop him.
Damn it. How do I throw it to stop him without hurting him?
As I was caught in this dilemma—
*Thud!*
Lantz tackled his torso with a shoulder charge.
*Crash*. The two company commanders tumbled together on the ground.
I was amazed at Lantz's reflexes and furious at Hank's stupidity,
and Lantz seemed to feel the same way.
*Thwack!* Lantz struck Hank's cheek with the pommel of his sword.
"Snap out of it, Hank!"
But Hank, like a kid, struggled to escape from Lantz's grasp.
"Let go! I said let go!!"
It was such forceful strength that anyone seeing it might think they were wrestling,
but fortunately, Lantz was stronger than Hank.
Hank couldn't shake him off.
"Aren't you going to let go?! I said let—?"
Hank's frantic struggling abruptly stopped.
He looked startled after seeing Lantz's face, his lips twitching.
Thick tears were running down Lantz's cheeks.
"Why are you...?"
Lantz struggled to open his tightly shut lips.
"This result is because you and I were careless. If we had thought like Platoon Leader Ian..."
Lantz trailed off, glanced at me once with a crumpled face, then turned his gaze to the battalion commander and spoke.
"Hank. If you're a commander, you need to watch what consequences your mistakes bring. Only then... can you prevent making the same mistake again. Remember the battalion commander's teachings."
*Thunk. Drip, drip.*
Lantz's tears fell ceaselessly onto Hank's face.
At some point, even the color of mana swirling around the two of them had turned clear.
'The succession is gone now.'
What rotten luck.
If only the 666 hadn't come up this quickly,
if by some miracle the two of them had reached the fourth rank.
'Who knows how it would have turned out.'
*Gnash.* Grinding my teeth, I turned my head to look at the battalion commander.
He had just narrowly dodged the sixth aura strike from the shadow soldier.
Watching wouldn't change anything,
but I couldn't help but fix my gaze on him.
I wasn't alone in this.
Zaiya and Ricky also watched the battalion commander's final moments with tearful eyes,
and the other soldiers were the same.
But... the old man—
'His eyes are closed?'
The battalion commander was again preparing to dodge, his face calm and collected.
He seemed serene to a degree that it was hard to tell if he'd accepted death,
or couldn't accept reality at all.
*Whoosh!*
The seventh attack was incomparably faster than the first.
The aura barely grazed the battalion commander's right arm.
His right arm guard slipped off with a *seureuk* sound and scarlet blood welled up.
Only then did the battalion commander open his eyes and ask me,
"Hoho. Ian, contact like this doesn't count as a hit, does it?"
It was an attempt to exploit a loophole in the rules,
but the shadow soldier still didn't disappear.
The three floating eyes also didn't change.
"You have to clearly deflect the shadow soldier's attack for it to end."
"Is that so? *Goodness*..."
At that moment,
'What's that?'
The battalion commander's lips curled slightly.
It was the same mysterious smile as always.
"I have no choice. Hoho."
But his eyes had changed.
The old man's gaze was looking into the future.
Yes, just like the time when Pab and I fought our honor duel.
'It's the same feeling as when he secretly sent me Brain Voice.'
He's always outwardly calm while plotting inwardly—maybe I'm noticing this now because I've heard his Brain Voice so often.
Then...
'Is he using Brain Voice on someone right now?'
Immediately, I shifted my gaze to Lantz and Hank.
Just as I thought.
Their tears had suddenly stopped.
The battalion commander must have been sending something to the two company commanders through his voice.
Goosebumps ran down my whole body.
Don't tell me it's happening now?
'Is he going to strike Schutmann right now?'
I looked back at the battalion commander.
Our eyes met perfectly.
There was no Brain Voice from the old man.
But from his gaze alone, I understood exactly what he wanted.
'All I have to do is attack Schutmann at the right moment!'
What a remarkable old man.
Even with death before him, he's looking for a way to exploit Schutmann's opening.
I was filled with awe,
but first I wiped my tears and corrected my grip on Black Vein.
At the same time, Hank and Lantz disentangled and shot up to their feet.
Their eyes were much sharper than just moments ago.
I was probably the same.
'So when are you going to give the signal, old man?!'
My nerves had me biting my lower lip,
when suddenly the shadow soldier's black aura lunged at the battalion commander.
*Fla—sh.*
A dominating sword attack, on a whole new level compared to before.
Just as my lip burst open and blood spurted out,
the air fell silent, as if it had been sliced—
"Phantom Crest."
The old man's deep voice cut through the air and spread out.
*
The battalion commander's weapon—artifact One Point—was one of Callista's masterpieces, the ultimate weapon of the stabbing build.
In the game, you could only obtain it from a labyrinth that surfaced in the Heroni region about 15–20 years before the current timeline.
In short,
'One Point isn't something just any battalion commander of a small garrison or some measly 4th-rank could have!'
That's why, from the moment I first saw One Point, I knew the old man was no ordinary soldier.
Sometimes, I even tried to learn more about the battalion commander.
But nobody knew his true identity.
In Granfen, only 'strength and honor' mattered, and there was an unspoken rule not to discuss someone's past.
In the end, I gave up trying to find out who the old man was.
I wasn't good at lore, and ambiguous NPCs were a weakness for me,
not to mention all the incoming quests and urgent issues piled up before my eyes.
But the battalion commander must have an even more extraordinary backstory than I imagined.
Not only did he possess the artifact, the ultimate weapon of the stabbing build—
'He even possessed OOPArts!'
Now everything made sense.
Why the 4th-rank battalion commander could use 'Brain Voice,' something only possible from the 5th-rank,
and why he could wield Severing Sword at the 4th-rank.
It was all because of this OOPArts!
"Phantom Crest."
When the battalion commander chanted the activation for OOPArts,
*Fhwrrrr!*
A green flame flared on his left chest.
The fist-sized fire surged throughout his body and vanished,
at the same time, the wrinkles on his hand gripping One Point smoothed out.
His muscles swelled, and he even got a little taller.
To top it off, the old man's trademark white mustache turned an all-too-familiar shade of green.
I briefly thought it was the same color as Hank's hair,
then saw rich teal mana pouring into One Point.
*Woooong. Woong!*
With a sound like it was piercing through dimensions, a *spot!* as the air was sliced,
One Point's blade flashed with teal aura.
The wind reversed its flow,
and the dust on the ground swirled and was sucked up into the air.
And then,
*Zzeo-ker—eong!!!*
The battalion commander's teal aura collided with the shadow soldier's black aura, causing a deafening roar.
With the judgment changing from dodge to deflection,
the shadow soldier finally sank into the ground and disappeared.
The three eyes floating above the battalion commander's head also turned to smoke.
Of course, in the next moment, new eyes appeared and began spinning.
But one thing was certain now.
'The battalion commander's life has been extended much longer than expected.'
The old man's hidden trump card,
OOPArts called 'Phantom Crest', was this kind of thing.
Unlike 'Fragment of the Firmament', which gives overpowered stat boosts and passives,
Phantom Crest allowed for active skills.
Namely,
'Temporary level-up and rejuvenation!'
Rejuvenation was pretty useless in the game,
but the prestige of a rank-up is something else.
It's notoriously hard to gain even a single rank,
but the power jump is immense!
However, the side effects were just as certain.
After the skill duration ends, your rank drops by a full tier during the cooldown.
In the battalion commander's case, after the OOPArts skill duration, he'll drop to 3rd-rank.
And the cooldown is utterly immense.
'I don't know how it translates to real time, but in the game it felt so long; it must be even worse in reality.'
Not that it exactly compensates for this penalty,
but once cooldown is over and you return to your original rank, you get to use a few higher-rank skills.
'Just like how the battalion commander could use Brain Voice and Severing Sword.'
At any rate, phantom Crest was an extremely double-edged OOPArts, and I never really liked it.
I'd always seen it as more of a showpiece than anything.
'Who'd have thought our old man would be the one to have it?'
*Pop!!*
The battalion commander's body extended like a drawn line of teal light.
One Point, infused with his aura, shot toward Schutmann.
'My eyes can barely track that speed!'
Not to be outdone, Lantz and Hank kicked off the ground and leapt.
Unfortunately, as a mere 3.5th-rank, I was slower than them.
At that moment,
*Zzeokkeokkeong!!*
The old man's teal aura and Schutmann's beige aura collided.
A blinding flash exploded.
It was as if the air itself detonated—shockwaves tore through the space,
and after the impact, the battalion commander executed a back-dash to put some distance between them.
'Damn.'
Threads of red blood flowed from the battalion commander's sword-wielding hand.
Meanwhile, Schutmann seemed completely unfazed.
His sword was nothing more than an ordinary arming sword, not even an artifact.
'So this is how it turns out.'
Even if the battalion commander reached 5th-rank with Phantom Crest,
Schutmann was a squire who had inherited Nash's power.
He was a full 5th-rank just a hair's breadth from knighthood.
Ah, so that's why.
'That's why the battalion commander told me I had to reach 4th-rank.'
He must have calculated that even with Phantom Crest, he couldn't win.
That's why he urged me to become 4th-rank—
since while he couldn't do it alone, if there were more fourth-ranks, there might be a chance.
But—
'In a cursed situation where an aura attack will kill him, there's no way to keep the OOPArts hidden!'
It ended up like this.
The point is—
'Can our current fighting strength defeat Schutmann or not?!'
From here on out, this is the real fight.
Now, with the battalion commander temporarily at entry-level 5th-rank, two 4th-rank company commanders,
and me, a mere 3.5th-rank, we had to kill Schutmann.
'It's not a matter of whether we can win. No matter what it takes, we have to kill him!'
Finishing this calculation in my head, I kicked off the ground again.
*Pop!*
At the same time, I unleashed sword energy at Schutmann.
Lantz and Hank did the same.
*Hooong!* *Huhuong!* *Jjeok!*
But Schutmann nonchalantly dodged and deflected all the sword energy and fist energy.
His eyes stayed locked on the battalion commander.
"When the Sovereign sent me here, I was full of doubts...
... But there really was a reason."
*Cheng- cheng!*
He brushed aside the battalion commander's consecutive Severing Sword attacks and whipped off his mask.
His icy expression was downright frightening.
No, it sent chills down my spine.
"From now on, by the Sovereign's decree, I shall execute the traitor Kratnus Kaischen and his cohorts."
Huh? Wait. What did that guy just say?
'Kratnus Kaischen?'
If 'Kratnus' refers to the battalion commander Kratan,
then his surname is 'Kaischen'.
What does that mean in the North's Kaischen Duchy?
'Damn. The old man was royalty?!'
Then Hank must be a Kaischen as well?
Damn it. Did I end up embroiled in some noble family feud?
But I've never heard of Kratnus—well, except for the really famous NPCs, I wouldn't know.
My mind was a mess,
but my body still charged boldly at Schutmann.
I don't know if that's a blessing or a curse,
but at least I'd been excluded from the 'execute them all' threat he made.
I recalled what Schutmann once said.
― I made up my mind to drag you along no matter what.
So I had to do more.
Though I was the weakest, Schutmann wasn't planning to kill me.
If I thought of it as having an invincibility cheat, there was nothing to fear.
'I don't have to defend, I can just keep pressing the attack!'
I adjusted my grip on the kitchen knives and stomped the ground even harder.
As I closed within three meters of Schutmann,
Lantz and Hank reached him first, striking out with attacks,
but Schutmann immediately swept aura toward the company commanders.
*Segeong!* *Hooong!*
Fortunately, the two managed to hastily withdraw their attacks and barely dodge.
But because they had to forcibly control their bodies, their postures collapsed badly,
and in that opening, Schutmann's kick smashed into Hank's chest.
*Crack!*
As Hank spewed blood and flew back,
Schutmann's next move was a punch aimed at Lantz's chin,
but the rejuvenated old man's teal aura shot at Schutmann's torso instead.
It was a fantastic thrust.
However—
'It's a feint.'
Schutmann, as if anticipating it, immediately withdrew the punch aimed at Lantz, spun in place,
and slipped past the battalion commander's thrust by the width of a sheet of paper.
"!!"
One Point, the battalion commander's sword, which he'd been sure would hit,
lost its way as Schutmann's sword shot up high.
Beige aura exploded in a subtle flash.
"Farewell, Kratan."
A hopelessly uncounterable overhead slash rained down upon the battalion commander's body.
I almost groaned in despair—
But Lantz's sword rose to intercept Schutmann's strike.
A subtle golden glow wrapped around his sword energy.
'No way?!'
Whether it was aura or sword energy, I couldn't tell—Lantz's blade and Schutmann's descending sword finally met.
*Seok...*
Lantz's arming sword sliced apart as if it were tofu, spinning through the air.
The faint golden sword energy couldn't even touch the tip of true aura,
and Schutmann's aura-infused sword continued unwavering along its path.
In the end—
'No!'
Schutmann's sword touched the battalion commander's neck,
and with a *tschk* sound, a single drop of red blood flew up.