By Zephyria ======
Blood erupted from the head, half of which had been blown away. Red Eagle, who had been standing behind River Vole, was completely drenched in the spray.
“Aaaagh!”
Red Eagle flailed his arms and fell flat on his backside. The corpse’s knees buckled, and it slumped forward. Thud. A dull sound followed, like a sack of grain being thrown to the ground.
Wolf stared down at the corpse, unable to even breathe. He couldn’t believe it. Of all people, River Vole was dead.
“Ugh… blegh! Gueh!”
Red Eagle vomited onto the ground. Just then, the sound of wind pierced Wolf’s ears. His heart suddenly hammered in his chest, and his gaze instinctively shifted to the right. Something else was flying toward them! Wolf instinctively leaped in front of Red Eagle.
“Get back!”
At the same time, he thrust the chest in his hands upward. With a crack, the chest was sliced in half. Clothes and gold coins spilled out in a heap. Wolf looked down at the severed chest before snapping his head up. Right… it’s coming from the right.
Nearby, an old inn stood braving the winter wind. Soon, the sound of murmuring voices drifted from behind the inn.
「Did you see that? That brat blocked your blade.」
「Wow, he’s got good eyes. For a mere attendant.」
「Is he really an attendant? Not the Prince?」
「No, no. The Atanians probably tamed him like a docile lamb, so that scrawny thing is the Prince. Look, even the quality of the robe is different.」
The men spoke loudly as they walked out from behind the inn one by one. Seven in total. Because they were chatting in the Stohl language, Wolf couldn’t understand what they meant. He recognized only one thing clearly: they were enemies. And extremely dangerous ones at that.
Their appearance alone overwhelmed River Vole’s. While River Vole’s face had been clean, these men were covered in tattoos even on their faces. One held an axe. One had a crossbow. Four had spears. And one held a crescent-shaped blade connected by a long chain. That blade was the culprit that had sliced River Vole’s head in half like a melon.
Wolf’s entire body was drenched in cold sweat. This was dangerous. He was outnumbered.
He hurriedly looked toward the horse traders. People, startled by the sudden bloodshed, were staring this way. Many of them were Atanian women.
“Please help us!”
Wolf shouted. The Atanian women flinched.
“Please ask your husbands to help! Tell them I’ll give them all these gold coins if they help!”
Wolf pointed with his finger to the gold coins scattered across the ground.
“We are Atanians! We are only seventeen years old! I don’t want to die in a foreign land!”
At Wolf’s plea, the women seemed agitated. Some of them grabbed their husbands’ sleeves and begged. The men, without fail, shook their heads and repeated the same words.
“Tnoi, tnoi!”
It was one of the few Stohl words Wolf knew. ‘No.’
His insides boiled. Why wouldn’t they step forward when he offered gold? There were dozens of men over there, yet they were hiding because they were afraid of a mere seven… Cowardly bastards!
“Aren’t you ashamed to be such men in front of your wives! Just drop dead, all of you!”
Wolf slammed the remaining half of the chest onto the ground. Red Eagle looked up at Wolf and sobbed.
“Wolf… a-a-are we… are we going to die? Why…”
“I wonder that too. Why we have to die here.”
Wolf spat the words out as if chewing them. In the meantime, the men had drawn closer.
「White-Eyed Cat, what the hell is that attendant babbling about?」
「He said aren’t you ashamed to be such men in front of your wives and told us all to drop dead.」
「What’s he talking about? He should worry about his own life.」
「He’s not wrong, though. My pride is wounded in front of my wife.」
The men, who had been chatting among themselves, stopped in front of Wolf. All of them were giants, no less than River Vole. Wolf clenched his fists and looked the men straight in the eye. Since he was going to die either way, he refused to sob pathetically.
One man stepped forward. He was the only one among the seven with brown hair, and he held a spear.
“I am White-Eyed Cat.”
Wolf flinched at the sudden burst of the Atania language.
“My grandmother was from Atania. Now, are you the Prince?”
“…I am an attendant.”
“Hmph, as I thought. That trembling coward sitting on the ground must be White Deer’s son.”
“Why do you want to kill us!”
He had to stall for time. He had to find a chance to escape somehow.
White-Eyed Cat replied bluntly.
“What do you care, since you’re about to die anyway?”
“I need to know! Tell me!”
“I don’t want to. Just die.”
Wolf’s eyes widened. White-Eyed Cat’s spear was already closing in rapidly. In a split second, Wolf threw his arm up. The shaft of the spear grazed his side.
Grab it!
Wolf gripped the spear shaft tightly with one hand. As he yanked the shaft down with all his might, White-Eyed Cat lost his balance and staggered. A look of bewilderment crossed the man’s face.
「Ugh… th-this brat?」
Wolf didn’t miss the opening. He whipped his elbow upward. He immediately took a wide, fast step forward. In an instant, he closed the distance to White-Eyed Cat. His elbow, accelerated by the forward momentum, slammed deep into the opponent’s face.
‘The elbow is the strongest part of the human body after the knee.’
‘To increase destructive power, use speed! Strike when the opponent is rushing in! Dig in and strike!’
Crack—. Wolf doubted his own ears. The sound of the elbow connecting was unexpectedly loud. Moreover, the sensation traveling up his forearm was unmistakable. The nasal bone had shattered like a windowpane and collapsed. W-wow, to this extent…?
“Ugh! Ghu!”
White-Eyed Cat groaned and dropped his spear. Again, Wolf did not miss the vulnerability. He grabbed White-Eyed Cat’s shoulders with both hands and bent his knees deeply.
‘When breaking the opponent’s jaw with your head, always strike from below! Make the teeth clash together. The sound is no joke when you hear it yourself.’
Leap. Wolf’s head slammed hard into the opponent’s jaw. White-Eyed Cat’s mouth shut with a loud clack. The sound of upper and lower teeth colliding and grinding escaped to the outside. Screech—. Crunch. Crack.
“Whoa…!”
White-Eyed Cat’s comrades screamed. As soon as Wolf let go, White-Eyed Cat fell backward.
「You idiot, you got beaten by a green brat?」
「Stop stalling! Kill him!」
The men simultaneously aimed their weapons at Wolf. Wolf hurriedly picked up White-Eyed Cat’s spear. He had managed to take down one man by luck, but the real fight was only beginning.
Could he even fight properly?
As for hand-to-hand combat, he had a smattering of knowledge from combat training hours or the tall tales told by the older brothers in his neighborhood. But weaponry was different. Even to Wolf, the way he held the spear felt awkward.
「Die—!」
Two men with spears charged first. The tips of the spears headed straight for Wolf’s chest. It was the moment Wolf was about to lean his waist back.
A thwack sound echoed. The men thrusting the spears froze mid-motion. Wolf also froze.
What on earth…
The men dropped their spears and fell to their knees side by side. Blood poured profusely from holes punched through both their sides. A thick scent of iron spread.
Only the desolate sound of the wind continued. The men’s comrades, and even the people watching from afar, were all speechless with stunned faces.
Wolf shifted his eyes to the right. A large log was embedded in the ground, trembling. That log was what had just pierced through the bodies of the two men who had attacked Wolf. He couldn’t believe it even though he saw it with his own eyes. No matter how sharp the end was, it pierced through two human torsos at once…?
Wolf turned his head toward the direction the log had flown from. From a distance, a man walked leisurely toward them, a large axe resting on one shoulder. He looked as if he were wearing a wolf skin, stripped whole from head to toe, as a robe. Because of the backlight, his face was cast in deep shadow.
The wolf man shouted.
「Hey! That’s my guest! Get lost!」
What is he saying?
Wolf didn’t understand the meaning of the wolf man’s words, but he quickly caught the vibe. He wasn’t an enemy. But he wasn’t a kind knight either. Simply put, a stronger guy had appeared.
The men who, until a moment ago, had aimed their weapons at Wolf and Red Eagle quickly turned around. 4 against 1. Though they were outnumbered, considering the monstrous strength that could pierce two people with a log, the men had a sufficient chance of winning.
Just as he thought that, the door of the nearby inn burst open.
「Hmm?」
The wolf man looked back with a disinterested face. The men rushing out of the inn were, at a glance, more than twenty.
At least 24 against 1…
No, 24 against 2?
Wolf narrowed his eyes.
Looking again, there was one more person wearing a black robe behind the wolf man.
7 – Hell Execution Order