Chapter 35…
The phrase “torn to shreds” suited it perfectly.
Dante’s sword, stripped of sharpness, was just that.
Not a flawless blade technique, but a killing sword — one devoted solely to slaughter.
Except for the very first strike, Dante deliberately restrained himself, conserving as much mana as possible.
There was no need to expend his full strength against these kinds of monsters.
Arpeon’s innate sharpness alone was more than enough to cleave through their flesh and bone.
He relied only on the raw strength of his body.
As a result, the monsters were denied a clean death.
“Huup—!”
With a short, powerful breath, Dante swung Arpeon upward.
Crunch!
Was it an ogre?
A monster nearly three meters tall was split in two and collapsed.
Through the gap, a goblin with a crude wooden spear charged at him.
Dante dodged as if out of habit and extended his foot.
The goblin’s chest caved in, and it spat blood.
He didn’t evade.
He took the blow head-on and swung his sword at the next target.
One falls.
Another falls.
Dante’s sword cut through the battlefield mercilessly, ravaging the monsters’ bodies.
It wasn’t the honorable combat of a knight, but the brutal war of mercenaries who had rolled in the mud.
Nobles would surely sneer at such vulgarity, but Dante didn’t care.
The same was true of Acracion.
They had long since discarded face and dignity.
Their honor lay only in two things:
Killing the enemy, and saving their allies.
And yet…
“Commander! This never ends!”
They had slain more monsters here than in the entire past week combined.
But it hardly made a difference.
It was like scooping a bucket of water from the sea.
True, their presence had dispersed some of the monsters’ focus as intended, but it was still far from enough.
“What about reinforcements?”
“They’re arriving, but still not enough to turn the tide,” Milleon reported.
Dante glanced over the battlefield.
Indeed, there were more troops now than when they had first arrived.
Even a few knight orders had appeared.
Yet as Milleon said, they were still being pushed back.
At this rate, Outpost 302 would surely fall before the day ended.
“His Highness needs to arrive quickly.”
Belladion was the rearmost fortress.
It was only natural, since the supreme command was based there.
But because of that, Isabelle had yet to reach them.
“Acracion, cover my back.”
They had to buy time.
At the very least, they had to prevent the outpost from collapsing.
Feeling the knights gathering behind him, Dante pushed deeper into the battlefield.
His target was singular.
The one commanding this massive horde.
“Where are you?”
Unleashing even the mana he had kept in reserve, Dante scoured the battlefield with his senses.
Blood and flesh splattered, bones shattered, the sounds ringing in his ears.
Acracion fought as one with Dante, becoming a single perfect blade that swept across the battlefield.
Monster corpses piled into mountains, their blood flowing like rivers.
A crimson storm of lethal beauty pressed deeper and deeper until—
“There!”
Dante’s eyes flashed.
Amid the countless rabble of monsters, he sensed one immense core of concentrated mana.
At least behemoth-class in power.
A monster no ordinary soldier, nor even most knights, could ever face.
Without hesitation, Dante hurled himself toward it.
Sensing his intent, Acracion spread out, cutting down every monster that tried to bar his path.
Shhhhk-shhhhk-shhhhk!
A path opened in an instant.
Dante did not spare a glance elsewhere and sprinted toward the source.
And then—
It came into view.
Larger than an ogre, with jet-black skin.
Dozens of writhing tentacles sprouted from its body.
It was a calamity, far beyond the monsters around it.
“It’s Gorgos!”
Milleon cried out in shock upon recognizing it.
A nightmarishly powerful being.
The sheer mana emanating from its crouched form was vast enough to engulf the entire region.
Dante bit his lip.
The name didn’t matter.
What mattered was that Gorgos was commanding this monstrous army.
GROOOOOAAAAH!
Spotting Dante, Gorgos roared and lashed out its tentacles.
Each one powerful enough to break a knight order’s charge.
And there were dozens of them.
But Dante—
Took just a single step.
With speed greater than before, he slipped past them all.
BOOOOOM!
The ground quaked like an earthquake, dust clouds rising to blot out the battlefield.
Surprised that Dante had dodged, Gorgos recoiled its tentacles and swung its fist.
KRRAAASH!
The blow carried mana strong enough to warp the air itself.
“I’ll cut it.”
Dante stayed calm.
Smoothly, he thrust his blade.
Like flowing water.
Arpeon’s edge rose against the tide of mana and met the monster’s fist.
Slaaash!
It split cleanly apart.
From fingertip to shoulder, the massive arm was bisected.
With a shriek, Gorgos stumbled back, black blood spraying like a fountain.
The mana it exuded surged violently with pain and rage, a pressure so intense it felt like it could crush Dante’s body just by touching him.
Yet Dante pressed on without hesitation.
Monsters flung themselves at him to shield Gorgos, but—
Shhhhk!
Acracion’s knights had raised an unbreakable barrier around Dante.
None could get through.
Freed from interference, Dante stamped down hard and closed in.
At the same time, Gorgos whipped its colossal tentacles madly.
Whip-crack, whip-crack!
Like living whips, they rained down.
Dante’s face hardened.
“Damn it.”
This time he couldn’t dodge so easily.
He stopped and swung Arpeon furiously.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang!
Shockwaves burst as steel met flesh.
“Too many!”
There were far too many tentacles for a single sword to block.
Blood splattered from his cheek, his armor dented.
And that was only from glancing blows.
Though Dante tried not to show it, his body was reaching its limits.
But still he pressed on.
Step by step, through the rain of tentacles.
Until finally—ten steps away.
Close enough for his blade to reach Gorgos.
Dante poured mana into Arpeon.
Light burst forth.
A light so brilliant it could be seen across the battlefield.
Compressed into a single massive blade of pure destruction.
Dante’s will-imbued sword descended on Gorgos.
Vwooooom!
The earth writhed, the air screamed.
With all his strength, Dante’s blade pierced Gorgos’s skull.
Slaaash, crack-crack!
Its black skin tore, its skull shattered, its brain split in two.
Hsssss—!
White steam hissed from Arpeon, heat from the friction of tearing flesh.
Black blood poured down from the ruined head.
“Khhh—!”
Though wracked with pain as if his own body was breaking, Dante did not stop.
He wrenched Arpeon free and swung again.
This time weaker, almost ordinary compared to before—but enough.
Enough to sever Gorgos’s shattered head.
Swish!
With a clean slice, the monstrous head floated into the air.
Thud!
Its body collapsed to the ground.
For all its immense power, the end was anticlimactic.
The overwhelming mana that had blanketed the battlefield vanished as if it had never existed.
It was over.
The monster that led them had died in an instant, plunging the horde into confusion.
The allied forces, witnessing it, roared with renewed morale.
“Commander!”
“Sir Dante!”
Acracion rushed forward.
Knowing Dante had spent all his strength, they moved desperately.
Waaaaaahhh!
Amid the deafening cheers of their allies, Dante sank to the ground.
Gorgos’s blood soaked his armor, but he didn’t care.
“I just… want to rest.”
His eyes grew heavy.
“Protect the Commander!”
“Clear the way! We must withdraw at once!”
The knights shouted frantically.
But it wouldn’t be easy.
The monsters, suddenly leaderless, now surged toward them seeking revenge.
Even Acracion couldn’t hope to cut through tens of thousands without orders.
“I… must… stand…”
Dante tried to rise, but his body, drained of all strength, kept collapsing.
“Milleon! Carry him!”
At Zionhac’s command, Milleon lifted Dante’s small, limp body.
“We’re pulling out! Elaine, Triciel, Kain—clear the path! The rest of you, protect the Commander and Milleon!”
There was no reply.
They had to put every ounce of strength into their swords.
Acracion carved a path forward, cutting down monster after monster.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands.
The horde no longer cared about Outpost 302.
They wanted only one thing—Dante’s head.
Acracion seemed on the verge of being swallowed whole.
Even Zionhac, always optimistic, now thought of death.
And then—
A sun rose.
An enormous artificial sun, conjured from a massive magic circle that filled the sky.
Vwoooom—!
It descended upon the horde, engulfing tens of thousands of monsters in an instant.
“Magic…”
“A mage…”
Hearing Zionhac and Milleon mutter, Dante smiled faintly and closed his eyes.
The Mage Corps had arrived.
