Chapter 64: Holy Knight Georgic (5)
The opening of the fissure is enough to attract beasts that are already too numerous to count and they are chased by horses galloping across the fields.
The five hundred horses are in a strange formation.
Hunters on the backs of horses borrowed from the Horsemen are at the center, protected by hundreds of other Horsemen.
“Fifty white horses on the flank, fast!”
“Archers!”
The Hunters’ enchanted arrows shot at the beasts but they don’t have much of a hit rate since shooting arrows from a horse requires far more skill and practice than shooting from the ground.
Even the Lionheart scouts, take years of training before they’re put into action, let alone the modern men who’ve been on horseback for the first time today.
The Hunters’ volleys of arrows land in the wrong places, and Yong-Wan grinds his teeth.
“Damn it….”
He couldn’t believe that he, an S-class archer, let alone the other Hunters, was like this…how hard was it to shoot an arrow from a horse?
“Take out the ones approaching from the flanks!”
“Don’t skimp on the holy spells!”
The horsemen were skilled, slaying the charging beasts as they rode.
Even as they rode at full speed, they would gouge out the eyes of beasts that charged from the flanks with their lances or trip them with their legs.
Unlike the hunters, who were useless on horseback, the horsemen were different. They were masters of combat, having spent a lifetime honing their skills, but even as they risked their lives to protect them, the beasts kept coming.
“Beast horde!”
“I’ll take the skies.”
Stallion, awakened as a Pegasus, swoops down as Beatrice fires magic arrows from behind Leon.
Her overwhelming firepower mowed down the creatures trying to snatch their mounts. But the cracks don’t stop at one place. They were all over the gate, which was starting to disappear because the closing condition was fulfilled.
“We’ve got a herd of boars charging from the front!”
One of the horsemen shouted to the hunters.
“Flank them and get around them, the leading thirty will charge with me!”
Leaving the Hunters behind as they flanked, the leading Horsemen charged at the boars.
The wild boar is a particularly intimidating beast because of its charge. Normally, it’s best to avoid a head-on collision and cut them down from the side.
The horsemen were able to do just that but they didn’t.
-Boom!
They collide head-on and pierce each other, sending flesh flying in all directions with the impact.
-Don’t let any of them escape!
The tangled horses and boars struggle against each other but the boars can’t even think about chasing the hunters because the knights are stopping them.
“…….”
“Your Majesty?”
Watching it from the air, Leon gritted his teeth. Seven knights had just died instantly from the impact, without even a chance to regenerate but their souls flowed into the Holy Grail.
“Keep them at bay.”
Beatrice didn’t ask any more questions until they reached the gate the flying knights fell one by one.
* * * *
One by one, the exhausted Hunters leave the gate but even at moment of escape, the situation is not favorable because beasts attack them from all sides.
-“Keeeeeeee!
-Kaak!!!”
“Guard!”
“Shield wall!”
But the portal is guarded by Knights, the Lionheart King, and the Magician Queen.
As they dismount, the bodies pile up in front of the gatekeepers. Nevertheless, beasts try to break through the gap and block their retreat but a group of hunters block them.
-What?!
The black eagles are shot down by flying arrows, and the boars mad dash is stopped by a large man.
-Eh?
“Yeon-ha!”
“Hold on tight!”
While Golden Chul, who had been disarmed by Georgic, held onto the boar, Huang Yeonha punched it in the side until the thick boar’s hide was punctured and it finally collapsed.
“Are you finished?”
Yong-wan approached, his guildmates having been sent off first, but he stayed behind to help the Horsemen and Leon, and as a stationary artilleryman, he was second only to Beatrice in clearing the air of threats.
“We did nothing.”
Golden Chul watched in admiration as Leon and Beatrice still shot down the beasts. He knew they were strong, but he hadn’t expected them to be that strong.
As a rescued man, he had stepped forward to help ensure the safety of the rear, but the more he watched them fight, the more he realized his own weakness.
‘Is that a knight…….?’
Today they had witnessed the end of an honorable knight and now he owed Leon his life.
This debt must be paid, one way or another, today.
“Come on, it looks like they’re all gone. Let’s get out of here.”
“…….”
The four of them walked out of the gate, checking on Leon, who was staring the way they had come.
* * * *
The beasts are still coming. If we delay, we’ll be swept away by the tidal wave of beasts.
Leon remained where he was, even though he knew he needed to get out of there as quickly as possible, with the Horsemen acting as shields.
-Stop them!
-Don’t let any of them go back!
The Knights were falling since the terrain, the numbers, and the odds are stacked against them, but they are desperate since their end is near.
“Your Majesty!”
A young girl’s voice called out from behind him. It was Han Ha-ri and the cadets.
“I told you to go first.”
“…….”
They knew they wouldn’t be much help and that they should retreat first, leaving the Lionheart King and the Magician Queen to their own devices. But…….
“I think we should…see them through to the end.”
Ha-ri felt obligated to see them through to the end.
They were men who were willing to sacrifice for justice and who could choose death for glory and honor.
Not a single one of them wept, nor a single one spoke of resentment or hatred.
What is it about honor that they believe in so fiercely, that they take it for granted?
And Leon…why did he still remain, knowing of the knights’ loyalty?
Perhaps he has an obligation to the knights or perhaps he has to stay until the end and make amends for his loyal knights and soldiers even if it’s dangerous and irrational.
“If you want to stay. Stay.”
With those words, Leon stared at the knights of the Horsemen until there was not a single one left. And when the beasts he’d seen over the horizon finally reached him, when he confronted them, he realized that…….
-What a sight…!
A black stain covered the sky while the four-legged beasts on the ground scrambled, the black eagles that had gathered in numbers were swooping down in unison.
“Your Majesty… I think we should get out of here.”
“Not yet. Not yet.”
Leon was waiting for someone. He was willing to risk it for that last one but the moment the birds were about to make their final plunge──
-Kiii?
-Kii-e-e-e-e-e-e-e!
Screams erupted here and there as the black specks that covered the sky screamed and crashed, unable to spread their wings.
“What’s wrong with them?”
The cadets were puzzled, but Leon understood and in the next moment, he sensed the ‘soul’ that had returned to the Grail and realized that the Great Soul Strike had pierced the incarnation of the Beast.
“After all…….”
Leon’s entire body trembled as anger and uncontrollable hatred shone in his bloodshot eyes.
“You will pay for this, and the Beasts you serve will die the most horrible deaths!”
Holy Knights impose consequences through the Holy Laws but are the oaths uttered by the greatest Grail Guardian really enforceable?
This oath is something that Leon will enforce one day.
“We’re retiring but I will remember this day.”
Turning their reins they left but no one pursued Leon.
* * * *
The gate of Jeju Island closed and Leon and the cadets were escorted back by the president of the Association, Mr. Oh Kang-hyuk. However, their steps were heavy, as their leader, Leon, remained silent.
The cadets who hadn’t participated in the gate attack had a puzzled look on their faces, but Kim Jae-hyuk and Han Soo-ho took notice.
With all that done, they returned to the bedroom but Leon couldn’t sleep for a while.
This is not the first time he has witnessed the death of his comrades-in-arms as countless knights have fallen in the Great War against the demons, soldiers have met their end, Holy Knights who he could on have ascended one by one, and saints and priests have fallen into the arms of the gods.
In the end, only Leon survived and when the gods moved the pantheon to his heart, he accepted it willingly, but the weight was by no means light.
“After…….”
Leon stood up, unable to sleep, and Yappy whimpered beside him, but Leon patted him on the back and left the room.
The guild compound has a bar for drinking. Not the fancy, upscale bars of the city, but a crude facility to supply the soldiers and relieve their fatigue.
Only recruits who have completed their training period are allowed to drink here. Even then, it’s deserted, as they go to bed early because of their training.
“Oh, Your Majesty?”
There was an unexpected customer.
“Queen.”
“Can’t sleep?”
“Neither can you?”
Beatrice tilted her head with a languid smile and a goblet full of red wine in her hand.
“How can you drink without food?”
“Because I want to get drunk.”
She leaned back against the table, uncharacteristically agitated.
Unlike her usual laid-back demeanor, she looked vulnerable now.
“I’ll have a drink, too.”
“You’re drinking with me?”
“I’m drinking with you.”
“Whoo-hoo…….”
Beatrice staggers to a new glass and pours the wine. The overflowing goblet was full of red.
“Your Majesty…do you also honor those who have gone before?”
Beatrice’s gaze fell on the glass and Leon smiled bitterly as he looked into her red eyes through the swirling wine.
“Being a monarch is a tiring job.”
You must carry more burdens than anyone else, be stronger than anyone else, and never give up even if no one is left standing at the end of the fight.
Leon took a big sip of his drink. It was strong. Very much so.
Beatrice wordlessly refilled his empty glass and grinned as they clinked their glasses together.
Unexpectedly, it was a common culture across the worlds.
“Queen.”
“Call me Beatrice. I have no kingdom or people to protect anymore.”
How can a king of a kingdom with no people be called a king? Beatrice gave him a sympathetic glance as she recited her lament.
“And so it is with me.”
“Not so with you. You are carrying their souls, and the gods themselves are counting on you.”
And most of all.
“You are soothing their souls and fulfilling their hopes. You are a great king, incomparable to the likes of me.”
“……Don’t blame yourself. You are as good a king as any.”
She threw herself into the machinations of the demons to save her people and her country.
After nearly a hundred years of destruction and rebirth she may have failed, but who can blame her for her determination.
“You were victorious in the end, uncompromising with evil, upholding justice and conviction, so that even now your people and knights can hope for paradise.”
Beatrice’s eyes were both praising and sorrowful as she spoke of Leon.
“And that is why I feel sorry for you, for you will carry that burden for all eternity. You will lose again and again but you will rise every time.”
Beatrice had seen the look on Leon’s face when he was forced to watch Georgic ascend. It was a terrible loneliness, a struggle with no end in sight.
He must have been frustrated but he was not one to crumble in frustration; he would rise again and again.
She wanted to lean against him, struggling under her own weight, to rest her burden on his shoulders, even if it was only for a brief moment of respite.
The Death Knights had stood by her until the very end, and the only way she could repay their loyalty was to ensure their safe reincarnation.
She could rely on them no longer so she must do whatever he can to lighten his burden.
“If there is anything you would like me to do, please tell me.”
No matter what it is, Beatrice will give Leon what he wants. Leon read her determination and will and smiled bitterly.
“This king has fought so long alone that he has forgotten all those comrades-in-arms who once fought by his side…….”
Today, Leon recalled that loss.
“My people, my friends, my kingdom. My…….”
Leon didn’t think much more of it; he didn’t want to mention the two men for only he remembered the losses and sorrows that were his alone.
Leon looked at Beatrice.
“You must not die before this king, for the death of a companion is hard on the bones, no matter how many times it happens.”
The night wore on as they, who shared the same wounds, spent a long time talking.
