Chapter 129 - 124: I Had No Choice
Ola’s rough palm enveloped Velin’s hand. A sharp CRACK of knuckles made Velin’s face twitch unnaturally.
"Deal!" Ola grinned, baring a mouthful of yellow teeth, his smile one of relief from a heavy burden.
’Blackmail and extortion, just scraping by while waiting to die—that’s no life for a Knight.’
’He had no choice before. From today on, it’s time for a new way of life!’
The next morning, on the field paths of Newly Town, the atmosphere was strange.
Thirty Rock Breaker Knights stood clad in simple leather armor, shouldering battle-axes. Their eyes blazed, brimming with the will to fight.
Behind them, however, stood thirty garrison members. Though their equipment was superior, most of them were so nervous their palms were sweating.
Barrett stood on high ground, his one remaining right eye narrowed in scrutiny and confusion. From his perspective, Ola’s orders were complete nonsense.
"Groups of five! Two Knights, three garrison members! Use the watchtowers at the edge of the fields as your core and form ten defensive circles."
Ola’s booming voice echoed through the morning mist.
"The garrison members are responsible for lookout and repelling! The Knights are responsible for killing! If an enemy appears that you can’t handle, sound the horn, and I will lead the remaining ten Knights to provide immediate support!"
’Splitting the most elite Knight force into small groups?’ Barrett scoffed inwardly.
’It’s no different from shattering a Longsword into a dozen pieces—a cardinal sin on the battlefield.’
’This approach would completely waste the advantage of a Knight’s charge, exhausting their stamina in endless, scattered sprints.’
What surprised him even more was that Ola himself hadn’t charged to the front. Instead, he stood in the center of the vast field, like a dispatcher.
Meanwhile, on a watchtower on the walls of Newly Town, Velin was calmly observing the unfolding battle through a brass spyglass.
"He’s messing around! The Knights and the garrison have never cooperated before. This will just make them get in each other’s way and create chaos." Caroline crossed her arms. "I advise you to correct his mistake immediately."
"No." Velin lowered his spyglass. "Quite the opposite. He’s found the optimal solution."
He pointed into the distance. "Look. They don’t need to coordinate. The garrison members are the shields; their job is to ’trigger the alarm’ and ’create a momentary delay.’ Meanwhile, the Rock Breaker Knights are the spears. They will find the right moment to kill the beasts on their own. This method is the most efficient way to clear out these troublesome, scattered incursions."
Velin laughed. "I thought Ola was just a sharp battle-ax, but I never expected him to be an all-rounder who understands strategy and tactics! Caroline, we may have hit the jackpot."
Caroline looked at Velin’s expression, pursed her lips, and said no more. The worry in her eyes, however, had indeed dissipated.
Sure enough, when a small drove of swamp boars appeared from the west, the nearest squad immediately reacted.
Three garrison members raised their spears, forming a crude phalanx. They nervously pushed forward, halting the boars for a crucial instant.
In that very instant, the two Rock Breaker Knights cut in from the side, their massive battle-axes tracing two cold gleams through the air.
SHLICK!
Two boar heads flew high into the air.
The remaining boars, startled, were immediately dispersed by the phalanx. The entire process was efficient, concise, and injury-free.
Elsewhere, a few swift swamp mongooses that attempted a sneak attack were also dealt with just as easily.
A flash of surprise showed in Barrett’s single eye.
He understood. This tactic had perfectly integrated the two types of units available, units whose combat effectiveness were worlds apart.
"This guy..." Barrett muttered to himself. "He’s really something else... His talent for command is as ridiculously high as his damn melee skills."
The victories in battle came quickly and decisively.
The harvested Magical Beast meat boosted morale even further.
For the next few days, the boundary was lined with burning torches by night.
By day, they sallied forth, hunting down wave after wave of Magical Beasts drawn by the sea-salt potatoes.
Ola also proposed a suggestion to Velin—have the farmers harvest in a concentrated manner. They would start from one side, and as soon as a plot was clear, they would completely abandon its defense and focus their strength on the areas yet to be harvested.
Velin adopted this suggestion. The pressure on their defenses decreased dramatically, and their efficiency skyrocketed.
In the warehouse, golden sea-salt potatoes were piled mountain-high.
Even more gratifying, the stocks of air-dried beast meat in the adjacent larder were also growing at an unexpected rate.
Just when everyone thought they could breathe a sigh of relief, the true test arrived.
A piercing horn blast shattered the quiet afternoon.
The largest, and final, plot of unharvested sea-salt potatoes was under attack.
A Level 3 Magical Beast, the Frenzied Swamp Bear.
Ola was the first to rush to the scene.
He saw the giant bear trampling through the field with its massive body, ignoring the terrified farmers around it. It was heedlessly digging up sea-salt potatoes and stuffing them into its mouth.
"Throwing axes!" Ola roared.
His Knights immediately drew hand-axes from their backs and threw them viciously.
Over a dozen hand-axes spun through the air with a whistle, striking precisely all over the Frenzied Swamp Bear’s body.
The blades cut into its thick hide, drawing blossoms of blood. Though unable to inflict a fatal wound, the intense pain successfully enraged the beast.
It let out a deafening roar and charged toward the Knights.
"I’ll take this one!" Ola slammed his massive axe into the ground with a THUD and went to face it alone.
He used no flashy combat skills. He simply lowered his body, his legs planted firmly in the earth.
[Stone Skin Protection]!
At that moment, every muscle in his body swelled. Veins writhed like knots of rope beneath his bronze skin as the power of his bloodline erupted from within him.
On a distant earthen slope, the farmers had long since stopped their work, watching the scene in terror.
The massive body of the Frenzied Swamp Bear slammed violently into Ola’s diminutive figure.
The dull thud of the impact made every heart skip a beat.
The ground beneath Ola’s feet crumbled, and he slid back several meters, his boots plowing two deep furrows in the earth.
But he held his ground. Using his massive battle-ax, he had forcibly halted the great bear’s devastating charge.
"ROAR!" The bellow that erupted from Ola even drowned out the great bear’s own roar.
His beard trembled and his eyes were Crimson Red, but it was clear he wasn’t in pain. On the contrary, he seemed to be enjoying it.
"Get him! Lord Ola!" It’s unclear who shouted it first.
The farmers on the slope erupted with gasps of shock and shouts of encouragement.
They were no longer afraid, no longer hiding. Watching the Dwarf who was dwarfed by the great bear’s shadow, they saw these crude Knights as their Guardians for the very first time.
The great bear raised its claws and swiped down viciously.
Ola sidestepped the blow, and in a fluid motion, brought his axe up, slicing open a wound on the bear’s stomach so deep that bone was visible.
After a series of perilous clashes, Ola seized an opportunity. At the small cost of a graze to his left shoulder from the bear’s claw, he poured all of his strength into his battle-ax.
Carrying all his fury, the massive axe bit deep into the Frenzied Swamp Bear’s neck.
CRACK!
The sound of shattering bone was clearly audible.
The massive bear’s head slumped powerlessly.
The crisis was averted.
Ola leaned on his battle-ax, panting heavily. A mixture of sweat and blood dripped from his beard.
A frail figure came running down from the earthen slope.
It was the son of Harold—the man who’d had his thigh gored by a boar—a boy not yet ten years old.
He was clutching a waterskin. He ran to within a few paces of Ola, but was too afraid to get any closer. He simply held the waterskin over his head and said timidly, "L... Lord... drink!"
Ola froze. He looked at the child, whose face was streaked with tears and dirt, then down at his own blood-soaked hands. For a moment, he was at a loss for what to do.
One of his Knights stepped forward, took the waterskin from the boy, and handed it to Ola.
He took the waterskin, tilted his head back, and drank deeply.
At that moment, a thunderous, tsunami-like cheer erupted from the slope!