The 9th Class Swordmaster: Blade of Truth-Chapter 314: The Awakening of the North (1)

“My lord, you’ve changed.”

Aidan was the first to speak as Karyl descended from the Thousand-Year Ice Cave.

“Have I?”

Just from standing close to him there was a faint tingling sensation on Aidan’s skin.

What exactly happened in there?

As an assassin, Aidan had come close to death countless times, but now, Karyl’s presence felt unnervingly still, as if he no longer held any trace of life.

“Is it the imperial army?” Karyl asked casually.

“How did you know?” Hashir asked in response, looking at him.

“It’s not really surprising. Hashir, take this and release the messenger hawks. They should be able to reach their destination by now.”

“Yes, sir.”

Although puzzled, Hashir took the red elemental stone Karyl handed to him and refrained from asking further questions.

When did he prepare all this...?

Suddenly, Aidan’s earlier words came to mind.

You can’t judge him by our standards.

It became clear to Hashir—Karyl had foreseen several moves ahead, and their worries were nothing but baseless concerns.

“I’ll deal with the imperial army. You’ve got your tasks. Lilliana, when you return, deliver my message to Hwarin.”

“What should I tell her?”

“Tell her that the time has come.”

At Karyl’s words, those present couldn’t help but let out a soft gasp.

“Patun, Kuntai, gather all the scattered tribes currently fighting the imperial forces. The tribes will no longer act separately. From now on, we will unite under the name of the Great Warrior."

“Yes, sir.”

“Let’s move."

With a bow, the two left immediately, taking the messenger who had brought the news with them.

“And your progress, my lord?” Aidan asked.

“We’ll see soon enough. Fortunately, a suitable opponent has come along, so it’s a good opportunity,” Karyl said with a faint smile.

“The Green Knights, huh? I thought they’d send the Blue Knights, but oh well. Seems like Olivurn is in a rush, judging by how quickly they dispatched forces from Piasta.”

The Blue Knights would have been stationed closest to the north, but the Green Knights had been sent instead, and the reason was simple—Olivurn wanted to keep Kuwell MacGovern close to him.

He’s playing the same game as the Titan.

Karyl remembered how, in the past, the emperor had used the Green Knights instead of the Blue Knights during the investigation of Baron Reige’s secret ledgers in Piasta, to avoid empowering Olivurn.

Now, Olivurn was using them to protect himself.

Poor Gahwel. He’s always the one cleaning up the mess. Whenever there’s trouble, he’s the one sent to deal with it.

A bitter smile strayed on Karyl’s face as he thought of Gahwel, the commander of the Green Knights.

“Well, this cleanup shall be his last.”

Karyl slowly opened his palm, then clenched into a fist.

Crackle... crackle...

In that moment, an eerie, silvery-gray light gathered in his fist, a light that no one had seen before, and then it vanished just as quickly.

***

“ATAAAAACK...!!!”

A thunderous battle shout pierced through the northern blizzard.

“Waaaahhh...!!”

“Hroaaaaahh...!!”

In the frontlines, a massive knight swung his flail in a wide arc over his head, roaring with all his might. It was Gahwel the Wrathful, commander of the Green Knights. True to his fearsome moniker, his massive flail roared as if it would crush everything in its path.

The knights at the front charged, their armor gleaming with a bright, bluish-green hue. Yet Gahwel’s flail stood apart—its surface rusted to a near-crimson shade, stained by the blood of his countless enemies, never fully washed clean.

When thinking of the Green Knights, most simply imagined the hue of their armor, but not Gahwel. To him, that name evoked the blood of the countless enemies he had slain.

“Follow the emperor’s command! Annihilate these filthy tribes and restore the empire’s stability!”

It was an unexpected assault. The wave of green-clad knights surged forward, cutting through the blizzard, with soldiers following behind, weapons raised as they charged.

“Those maniacs... Do they even know where they are?!”

“Out of all times... now?!”

Though caught off guard momentarily, the northern immigrant tribes defending the entrance remained composed, quickly drawing their bows from the watchtowers.

Thwip—! Thwick—!

Even without mana, their sharp arrows found their marks, piercing through the gaps in the soldiers’ armor with deadly precision.

“Aaargh!!”

“Uaaagh—!!”

The imperial soldiers screamed and fell, but the Green Knights pressed on, undeterred.

Boom!!!

At the front, Gahwel’s flail slammed into the support pillar of a watchtower, and with a splintering crack, one side of it collapsed.

“Ugh?!”

“Aaagh...!!”

As the tower crumbled, the northern troops stationed on it plummeted to the ground. Though this terrain was treacherous, it posed little threat to knights empowered by mana, and the crude wooden defenses set by the tribes clearly were no match for them.

“Take the summit!!”

The Green Knights, now deep within the tribes’ defenses, began dismantling the towers one by one as the imperial army followed behind, destroying the fortifications.

“Look at that... there must be tens of thousands of them.”

“Tch, what a massive force...”

“How long have they been preparing for this?”

“It’s like they were waiting for our lord to head north before launching this attack.”

The dread was palpable in the voices of the tribal chiefs as they gazed at the incoming flood of imperial forces.

“No need to wait for reinforcements!! We will carry out the Second Extermination Decree of Heresy ourselves!!” Gahwel’s shout echoed from below.

“We can’t let them advance any further into the north,” Hwarin said with a frown, biting her lip. “I will go."

“Stop! You haven’t fully recovered yet. Let me lead the charge,” said the chief of the Iron tribe, stepping in to steady Hwarin as she staggered to her feet.

“We’ll buy some time. Not even the Jannabi’s poison will be able to stop that many soldiers. It’s not that we’re weak. There’s simply too many of them.”

The Iron tribe chief hefted his hammer and slowly walked down toward the enemy.

“Attack!!”

At his command, the tribesmen raised their weapons in unison.

“Kill those filthy bastards!!”

But compared to the imperial army, their numbers were pitifully small.

“We’ll join in. This isn’t about bad timing. The greatest weakness of the tribes has always been their failure to unite under one chief.”

“We had hoped that Karyl would change that, but even he failed... And now, when we thought there might be another chance, the empire has denied us any opportunity.”

“But we won’t go down easily.”

The three heads of the Thunder tribe, each wielding their weapons, followed behind the Iron tribe, ready for battle.

“There are barely a few thousand of them! Crush them!”

Gahwel sneered as he saw the tribes charging from both sides.

Crack!!!

Then it happened.

In an instant, the once unstoppable Gahwel, who had been smashing through the wooden defenses and destroying the towers with his mana-infused flail, had his head violently jerked backward.

“Guh...!”

With a strangled cry, the massive Gahwel was slammed into the snow. He struggled to rise, but a foot pressed firmly on his face, pinning him down.

“Mmph...!! Ghhrr...!”

The soldiers of the Iron tribe and the Thunder tribe, who had been prepared to charge through thousands of imperial soldiers, froze in their tracks, disbelief plastered on their faces.

The Green Knights, who had been advancing with Gahwel, also halted, staring in shock at their fallen commander.

One of the knights at Gahwel's side cried, “Captain!!”

Woosh!

Thud—

But before the knight could do anything, his head spun through the air, landing with a dull thud on the ground.

Drip... drip...

Blood sprayed from the stump of his neck, and the knight’s body twitched, stuck in the motion of drawing his sword halfway, before collapsing to the ground.

“You...”

The soldiers of the Iron tribe and the Thunder tribe swallowed hard as a single, chilling word sent a shiver down their spines.

Szzzt... szzzt...!

What... is that?

The man standing over Gahwel turned his head, and for a brief moment, a flash of light flickered ominously in his black eyes.

“Is numerical inferiority the reason for the defeat?”

His low voice resonated through the air.

Swish—! Slash!!

And in that instant, he drew his sword, mana bursting from its blade. The surrounding imperial knights were torn apart, their limbs severed in an instant.

“He’s become even more of a monster...”

Hwarin couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh as she muttered under her breath, watching the horrifying scene.

“He’s no monster.”

The voice behind her was Hashir’s, and beside him stood Lilliana, her expression equally tense.

“What on earth happened in the Thousand-Year Ice Cave?”

“I don’t know, but one thing is certain: the true Great Warrior we’ve been waiting for has finally emerged.”

“And he brings a message from him.”

Lilliana, kneeling before Hwarin, whispered, “The time has come.”

“...!!”

At that moment, standing before the countless enemies, Karyl turned to the Iron and Thunder tribes.

“I’ll get rid of any excuses for defeat,” he declared as though daring them to witness what was to come.

Fweeeeeeee―!!!

Karyl extended his hand, and Hashir bent his bow, firing an arrow into the sky.

What’s that?

Hwarin remembered seeing a similar arrow shoot into the sky earlier, glowing with a fiery light.

“Was that your doing, Hashir?”

“Yes.”

“And why did you do that?”

“You’ll see soon enough. I’m just following orders.”

The elemental stone tied to the arrowhead ignited, burning brightly as it streaked across the sky, leaving a crimson trail.

“Waaaahhhh...!!”

At that moment, another roar echoed from below the northern hills. The tribes were confused, and even the Imperial soldiers hesitated, bewildered by the sudden noise.

“What’s happening?!”

“What is this?”

Just as confusion spread through both sides, another group of dark figures emerged from the surrounding shadows.

When... did they get here?

Even in the middle of battle, these figures had closed in unnoticed until they were nearly upon them. Hwarin’s eyes widened in disbelief, her gaze trembling.

“Damn, it’s freezing.”

A sarcastic voice cut through the din, reaching the ears of the soldiers.

“The north is on a whole different level. How do people even live here? I couldn’t last a day.”

The voice belonged to a woman who casually walked through the ranks of soldiers, arms crossed, her tone mocking. The imperial soldiers stared in shock.

“The... Digon tribe?!”

“No way...!!”

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“How are they here, from the south?!”

The panicked murmurs quickly spread.

“How did they reach the north at the same time as us? What trickery is this?!” Gahwel shouted in disbelief, still on the ground.

“Gahk!!”

Karyl pressed his boot down harder on Gahwel’s face.

Wh-What strength is this...?!

Even Gahwel, renowned for his immense physical power within the empire, couldn’t comprehend how this smaller figure had him pinned down so effortlessly.

“Tricks? Olivurn targeting the north was predictable. Rather than risk a full-scale war with me, he chose to strike the North first. Even a three-year-old could figure that out.”

"Ghh... Ghhk...!"

“There's no surprise here. The barbarians were already heading this way before you even set foot in the north.”

Aidan, the only one who knew of the Digon tribe’s movements during his trip to the Three Kingdoms of Istria, chuckled at Karyl’s words.

“The Second Extermination Decree of Heresy? Is that what Olivurn called it?”

“You... You bastard!”

Gahwel squirmed helplessly, his face pressed into the ground.

“That order...”

Karyl pressed down again, this time lowering himself, resting one arm on his knee as he looked down at Gahwel.

“...needs to be corrected.”

Schling―

Karyl’s voice was soft but unyielding. “Right here, right now, I declare the Extermination Decree of the Empire.”

“Waaaahhhhhh...!!”

“Yeaaaahhh...!!”

At his declaration, a deafening roar burst from the tribal soldiers—a raw, primal battle cry that shook the ground. The northern tribes’ ferocity now dwarfed the imperial army’s earlier cheers.