Chapter 75 - 71: Knights vs. Beetles (Middle)
Chapter 75: Chapter 71: Knights vs. Beetles (Middle)
"ROAR!" A roar mixed with anger and pride.
Ola swung his giant axe in a great arc, the furious gale sending two pouncing beetles flying.
Their black carapaces were no different from eggshells under his axe, splattering green ichor everywhere.
Down in the pit, his Knights did not disappoint him.
The Rock Breaker Knight Order was forged in mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
One Knight crouched down, and another used his shoulder and shield as a foothold to haul himself up.
Their comrades above immediately reached down and pulled them up.
Working in teams of three with coordinated and efficient movements, all thirty Knights were soon free.
They quickly formed up around Ola, creating a back-to-back circular defense. With shields held before them and the blades of battle-axes and spears pointing outward, they resembled a steel porcupine bristling with spines.
However, that spark of hope flickered for but a moment.
Behind Velin, from over the gentle slope, more black carapaces surged forth.
One hundred of them.
Two hundred.
A black tide surged past on both sides, completely encircling Ola and his Knights.
This time, they didn’t form a rigid phalanx.
The swarm divided into several dozen smaller squads.
They began to maneuver with fluid precision.
"SKITTER... SKITTER... SKITTER..."
The uniform, rhythmic scraping of their appendages sounded like Death sharpening his scythe.
A squad of beetles on the left wing suddenly accelerated, launching a probing charge.
The Knights immediately raised their shields, preparing for the impact.
But just as they were about to make contact, the squad of beetles, as if obeying a silent command, veered sharply to the side in perfect unison.
Their sharp horns scraped against the edges of the Knights’ shields, kicking up a trail of blinding sparks.
They hadn’t committed to a direct clash.
Just as the Knights were momentarily thrown off balance, another squad of insects from the rear right seized the opening. Like a black dagger, they stabbed viciously at the exposed flank of a Knight who had turned to face the first threat.
"CLANG!"
One Knight was sent stumbling from the impact. His comrade immediately covered the gap, driving the beetle back with the pommel of his axe.
But this was only the beginning.
Charge, halt, feint, harass, retreat...
The insects were like a pack of cunning wolves. They never engaged in a direct fight, striking and then immediately retreating.
They would always nip at the Knights from the most awkward angles, slipping away just before a counterattack could land.
The Knights were being run ragged. Their proud circular defense was constantly being warped and torn under the relentless harassment.
Like a rock on the shore battered relentlessly by the waves, their stamina was draining at an alarming rate.
On the hillside, Sea Wolf’s mouth hung open wide enough to fit a fist, his grip on his harpoon forgotten.
"Fuck... what the hell are these things? These bugs... have they gained sentience?"
The sailors beside him were staring, their eyes wide. This scene was far freakier than the tales told of the Sea Sirens.
High in the sky, Dragon Eagle Knight Rudolph’s pupils contracted slightly.
His gaze passed over the beetles moving with disciplined precision, locking onto the distant figure on horseback.
Velin Klein.
He wasn’t shouting, wasn’t yelling, wasn’t even making any hand gestures.
He just watched quietly, occasionally lowering his head to scribble something in a notebook resting on his leg.
A chill went up Rudolph’s spine.
’This isn’t a battle.’
’That man isn’t commanding. He’s... running a test.’
’Ola and his Rock Breaker Knight Order are just lab rats being repeatedly dissected on an operating table.’
"Son of a bitch!"
Ola roared, cleaving a beetle that got too close in two with one swing of his axe.
Sweat dripped from his beard, soaking the lining of his breastplate.
His breathing grew heavy.
’We can’t go on like this. We’ll be worn down and killed.’
Ola was a reckless man, but on the battlefield, he possessed a beast-like intuition.
His eyes were fixed on the constantly shifting black beetles, his mind racing.
’Chaos. It’s too chaotic!’
’These bugs’ attacks have no pattern. A strike here, a jab there... it’s impossible to defend against.’
’But... is there really no pattern?’
’Weren’t they just moving in a rigid, puppet-like phalanx a moment ago? When I charged in, they didn’t react with any flexibility at all.’
’And now they’ve suddenly gotten smart?’
He stopped paying attention to the annoying harassment and instead stared intently at one of the Knights on his left flank.
The Knight had just blocked a charge with his shield and hadn’t yet regained his footing when a beetle surged forward like a phantom from his rear right!
The Knight twisted awkwardly to dodge, and at almost the same instant, a squad of beetles directly in front of him launched another charge.
’There it is again!’
Ola’s pupils constricted. He remembered!
’Three minutes ago, another Knight suffered the exact same continuous pressure from three directions.’
’This isn’t random at all!’
’This is a goddamn fixed, endlessly repeated execution ritual!’
’These monsters don’t know how to coordinate with each other. They’re just executing the same command over and over!’
’Charge from the left, stab from the right, press from the front! It’s cold, precise... like a programmed killing machine!’
’And if it’s a machine, there has to be a gap in its gears!’
"On my command!" Ola’s voice was hoarse, but it carried the ferocity of an all-or-nothing gamble.
’He’d found it!’
’He’d found the fleeting gap between the gears of this machine!’
He saw the young man named Velin lower his head again, writing something in his notebook.
’Now’s the time!’
"In the name of solid rock, grant us unyielding strength!"
Ola planted his battle-axe on the ground and roared the ancient Prayer.
A solid, earth-yellow aura spread out from him, flowing into the body of every Knight.
[Unyielding Aura]!
Everyone felt a warm current surge through their bodies, and their fatigue vanished completely.
"To the left! Charge with me!" Ola pointed his axe toward a direction that seemed to have no openings.
"For honor and Gold Coins! Crush them!"
He stopped defending and charged out.
The Knights followed without hesitation.
In his hands, Ola’s battle-axe became a gray tornado of death.
[Whirlwind Slash]!
The massive axe blade shrieked as it tore through the air, striking precisely at a single point.
There, two squads of beetles had just completed a crossover maneuver!
The timing was perfect!
SCREEECH—!
It was the sound of cloth being violently torn apart.
The coordination between the two squads of insects instantly broke, and a fatal gap appeared in their seamless formation.
The un-hit beetles in their squads continued to mechanically execute their now-useless maneuvers.
"Well done!"
The Knights’ morale soared. Following Ola, they plunged into the gap like a red-hot branding iron.
Their momentum was unstoppable!
The swarm’s formation was torn wide open.
Ola’s eyes were fixed on only one thing: the young figure fifty meters ahead, still looking down and writing.
A savage and triumphant grin spread across his face.
"Kid!"
"Your note-taking ends here!"