Chapter 325: Array of Pressure

The horses faltered, some, unworthy of the Demon Realm name, even stumbled and fell.

The array exerting pressure was originally set up by the Human Realm to hunt Heroes. Of course, it wasn’t set strong enough to kill a person outright, considering allies might lose or damage charms that negate the array’s effects during battle. Still, any ordinary person trying to enter this place unprotected could be called suicidal.

Milan, flattened against his horse as if crushed by the insane pressure, gritted his teeth and lifted his head. Veins bulged in the whites of his eyes, a testament to his desperate struggle.

“What is this nasty pressure?!” Milan exclaimed.

“The air is crazy heavy… it feels like an array,” someone replied.

Snap. The sound of teeth grinding mingled with the words of others as they tried to endure.

“…Looks like it’s set up to counter Captain, right?”

“Then getting rid of it would help.”

Though their bodies felt heavy and breath hitched in their throats, there was no need to voice the grim reality and dampen morale. So, the Lofty Knights acted nonchalant, deliberately lighthearted.

A voice, seemingly unchanged from usual, cut through the air, several times heavier than normal.

“Captain will be alright, right?”

“Of course, he will be. First, let’s get rid of this damn array and find the Captain. We can’t fight properly in this state if we run into enemies.”

“Alright, everyone listen up! Smash anything that looks like the array’s core! Stone towers, stuck branches, trees with paper on them… just destroy anything that looks suspicious!”

“Destroying things is our specialty!”

“…Hold up, everyone,”

Where do you think you’re rushing off to without a plan?

Those reckless bastards were shouting excitedly, ready to charge ahead blindly. Kleter, quickly stopping them, pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Still, this is enemy territory, and we’re inside the array. It doesn’t seem like the kind to make us lose our way or trap us, but we might encounter enemies. We should refrain from moving individually.”

“Ah, right. Then let’s split into smaller groups and move around. If you encounter enemies, call for backup,”

“Will our voices even carry?”

“Hmm…”

Milan looked back at Kleter.

Not again… Kleter’s brow furrowed in annoyance, reading the familiar history of similar situations and the helpless look in Milan’s eyes, clearly indicating they had no solution.

‘…These guys always look to me first when they’re stuck,’

But what could he do? In this hopeless group, he was the only one with any preparedness and a functioning brain. In the end, he sighed and gave them the answer they wanted.

“I swiped two communication stones when I was gathering herbs before we left. Originally, we were given one, so there are three in total. Let’s link them up and move while connected. They’re already registered to each other,”

“Great! Then dividing into three teams would be perfect!”

Milan vaguely tried to count members with his fingers… before realizing his arm wouldn’t lift properly due to the pressure. Instead of wasting energy on a pointless struggle, he divided them by calling out names.

Then, gripping his horse’s reins tightly, he nodded.

“See you later, then!”

He wondered if it was okay to be so careless, but… well, this much should be fine.

Kleter was already too exhausted to wrangle his unruly comrades and overthink things, so he didn’t bother to argue further and spurred his horse on.

…

Most suspicious things visible were easily dealt with without dismounting.

After all, anything trampled by horse hooves wouldn’t remain intact. In short, even though they were destroying every suspicious thing under the array’s influence, their progress was fast.

Perhaps that was why, as time passed and more things were destroyed, the pressure crushing his body seemed to gradually lessen.

‘It could just be that I’m getting used to it, though, whatever.’

At least thinking positively wouldn’t hurt.

Thinking that, he turned his head to look for other suspicious things—

“Ah…!”

Suddenly, his body felt lighter.

The suffocating breath cleared in a rush of liberation. The array had vanished. Briefly pausing to adjust to his suddenly weightless body, Kleter turned his head towards the voice coming from his chest.

– This is Milan. Encountered Primiero Knights in combat. Found a stone tower and succeeded in destroying it. Seems like that was the core.

“…What?”

Destroying the array aside, Primiero Knights?

Knowing their skill and spirit well, Kleter’s face hardened.

– I said we succeeded in destroying the array’s core. Didn’t the pressure disappear? The guys were muttering about wedges to prevent the core from collapsing and how it shouldn’t be this easy. Seems like there were other things protecting this core, and we must have destroyed them while we were messing around.”

“No, that’s not it…”

That wasn’t why he asked again. His eyes, filled with confusion, flickered for a moment, but he quickly recovered from his bewilderment and asked again.

“Do you need backup?”

– No. There aren’t many of them to begin with, and their condition isn’t good either. Looks like they fought before running into us.”

“Still, just in case, I’ll head over. Northwest from the starting point, right?”

– Right.

Alright then.

Click. The communication cut off, as if not accepting any objections. Milan, looking at the now silent communication stone, scratched his head sheepishly.

“You really didn’t need to come…”

Before him were the Primiero Knights. To be precise, Primiero Knights in an injured and weakened state.

It wasn’t their doing. They were already in this state when they first encountered them. Corpses of demon soldiers scattered around indicated they had already fought a battle.

‘They won, but… they won with heavy losses.’

Seeing them like this even with the array advantage, their opponents must have been either incredibly strong or driven by desperation. And in that state, we, relatively fresh, appeared.

The Primiero Knights were clearly in a disadvantageous situation, but befitting a knight order that once dominated the south, the fire in their eyes was still vibrant.

Initially, perhaps they had a chance. They had means to negate the array’s effects, while we were restricted and weighed down by it… But then, during a brief skirmish, we found a stone tower, threw weapons at it… which didn’t reach, so we ran over and destroyed it directly. More fighting broke out in the process, taking some time, but we still succeeded in our goal.

‘Finding it was the hard part. Now that the array is broken, our victory is assured.’

Setting aside the fact that it was hidden subtly in a secluded corner far away, in the shadows, and they might have missed it if they hadn’t instinctively looked there… anyway.

Even if it was luck rather than skill, the result declared the Primiero Knights’ defeat. They could have yielded to avoid annihilation, but even so, their eyes burned fiercely.

Forcibly ignoring the malice pricking his skin, Milan opened his mouth with a reluctant expression.

“So… are you going to keep fighting? If you stop here, I can just let it slide,”

Their captain was a higher priority than the Primiero Knights, who posed little threat.

If they were smart and backed down, they would live, and we wouldn’t waste time here. It would be mutually beneficial.

But things in this world rarely go as smoothly as one hopes.

“We’ve become useless baggage anyway,”

…

“Whether we die fighting or live to face defeat here, it makes no difference,”

The Primiero Knight chuckled lightly and rejected the offered hand.

When Stigma Primiero left the Empire, abandoning his knight order, they lost their affiliation. In the current Empire, their position was utterly ambiguous. They weren’t as powerful as ‘Heroes,’ nor were they particularly numerous. To make matters worse, being the knight order of ‘one who abandoned the Empire,’ they were met with suspicion and surveillance.

It was only natural that they would be reduced to expendable pawns.

‘If only their strength was intact, maybe things would be different.’

They had already lost many in battles against demons. Even if they returned alive, nothing awaited them. Better to die fighting here.

“Looks like reinforcements will arrive soon. Let’s finish this quickly before then,”

Thus, to at least take honor with them, the Primiero Knights raised their weapons again.

***

In a flashback, Deon Hart from the Eight Years’ War reappeared on the battlefield.

His red pupils gleamed with madness as he relentlessly butchered his enemies. His lips curled into a wide arc, letting out a clear chuckle that was utterly out of place in the situation.

Attempts by others to save the unlucky ally caught in his path were futile. Evading all attacks as if only targeting one, he relentlessly butchered his prey until it was unrecognizable, then discarded the corpse and turned his head to find another victim.

“Ugh…”

Fear crawled up their spines.

They had heard of Deon Hart during the Eight Years’ War, but who would have imagined it would be to this extent?

The melee Heroes who witnessed their comrade, now unrecognizable and having seemingly suffered all the pain they would ever feel in their life before dying, faltered and retreated. No one, no matter how prepared for death, wanted to die like that.

‘…This is dangerous.’

Seeing that everyone was clearly frozen in fear, Aletea, who was observing, let out a heavy sigh.

Despite her reason coldly assessing the situation, her hand, wiping her face, was also clearly trembling.

‘I should have told them to refrain from attacking his face as much as possible.’

See? Touching that national treasure of a face, of course, its owner would get furious.

…Even the joke she told herself couldn’t dispel the fear. She shifted her focus of thought.

‘The melee Heroes are frozen, so the only ones to rely on are the ranged Heroes.’

However, this battle was predicated on the melee Heroes playing their part. Even if not to kill him directly, they needed to at least restrain Deon Hart.

Fearing that they might be his next target, the melee Heroes’ movements became passive. In such a situation, ranged attacks towards Deon Hart were just slightly annoying attacks, nothing more, nothing less.

Clang! Deon, deflecting the incoming weapons, paused briefly and scanned his surroundings.

“It feels like you’ve been only attacking me since a while ago…”

…

“What are you doing not coming at me?”

A beast-like leisure settled in his gently curving eyes.

The battle had become much easier. Before, he had to keep jumping up to evade the simultaneous attacks from all directions, even knowing it was dangerous. Now, he was not only grounded but even given time to rest.

‘I should have done this sooner.’

If it weren’t for the fact that this fighting style wasn’t to his liking, it would be so useful.

Silence enveloped the surroundings. In a space where even breaths were held, for fear of drawing those crimson eyes if even a sound was made, only the sound of rain and leaves rustling in the wind lingered.

‘But…’

Deon, sensing an unsettling detail, turned his head to one side.

The battle between the Primiero Knights and demon soldiers had ended long ago. It had practically ended in self-destruction. He had personally confirmed it during brief lulls a few times, so it was certain.

So, it should be quiet all around him, but…

‘What is this commotion?’

Deon picked up a faint commotion from afar.

A terribly familiar voice and shouts of ‘Captain’ or something similar. Crimson eyes, instantly recognizing the owner of the voice, flickered with a hint of confusion.

‘…Mad dogs…?’

What? Why are my guys here?

Didn’t they listen to a word I said? Why, what were they thinking, coming to a place of death themselves?

Damn bastards. Based on worry, anger surged. The moment Deon’s brow furrowed deeply—

“…Ah.”

The terrible pressure that had been crushing his body vanished.