The Third Son of a Knight Family – Chapter 14 – Prologue (13)

Author: Dawn

Puga blinked his eyes.

‘Did I see wrong?’

To witness a person flying through the air right before his eyes.

But it certainly wasn’t a mistake.

Because warriors started flying again.

***

Ignoring the sudden silence around him, Viktor swung his axe to shake off the blood.

The axe was weaker than he expected.

If he controlled his strength poorly, it might break.

‘Not bad.’

But it was fine.

The axe, which he had swung for the first time, not only tore through an armored opponent but sent them flying with the impact.

Perhaps due to some lingering tension, the slightly excessive force he applied was overwhelming.

Viktor was beginning to realize just how strong he was.

“If you don’t move aside, I’ll kill you.”

As he raised his axe and declared confidently, the surrounding warriors’ faces filled with disbelief.

What the hell is this knight saying?

“…Insolent! Kill him!”

Puga, having regained his senses, issued orders with a reddened face.

Simultaneously, mounted warriors began charging forward in droves.

Viktor also charged his horse toward them.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

The distance between them was so close that they would collide in the blink of an eye.

The warrior who happened to be closest to Viktor sneered.

The large-bodied knight before him was clumsily trying to swing his axe upward from below, like someone who had never engaged in mounted combat before.

Swinging a weapon like that would put no power behind it.

‘Just a fool with a decent appearance.’

The warrior swung his curved sword downward from the side.

That measly axe, he’d just parry it.

Once he parried the weapon, the warriors behind would surround him and turn him into a honeycomb.

‘Farewell!’

The weapons collided.

And the warrior was cleaved in half along with his weapon.

Slash!

It wasn’t the sound one would expect when cutting through someone wearing decent leather armor.

As the person split lightly like cheese being cut, the following warriors were shocked.

“What, what the-?!”

Viktor shouted once more, then charged his horse like a madman.

‘I’ll overwhelm them with momentum at once.’

“I told you to move aside!”

“Uh…urgh?”

Crash!

A warrior who raised his shield to protect his face was struck by the axe and went flying while coughing blood.

He rolled on the ground and then lay motionless.

“Die!”

When a warrior spotted an opening and thrust his spear, Viktor grabbed the spear shaft as if he had eyes in the back of his head.

“Uh…urgh!”

As he applied force, the opponent flew high into the air still attached to the spear shaft.

Thud!

The warrior who unfortunately landed head-first fell with a gruesome sound.

What impossible strength!

When several were defeated in an instant, the warriors began to panic.

Viktor didn’t miss that opening.

“I won’t kill you if you move aside! Make way!”

After smashing the heads of three or four warriors while roughly driving his horse, the warriors began to instinctively step aside.

“Hey! What are you doing, you idiots?!”

Puga pushed past his subordinates with a contorted face and rushed forward.

‘Is he their leader?’

Puga faced Viktor and tried to open his mouth to say something, but Viktor didn’t wait.

Viktor instinctively felt it.

If the leader before him died, the enemies would fall apart!

As he charged like a madman without saying a word, Puga waved his curved sword and shouted.

“You, you bastard…! Wait, listen to me!”

Whoosh!

The sound of the axe cutting through the air was terrifyingly clear.

Puga barely ducked his head to avoid it, then lowered his posture almost lying on his horse and swung his curved sword.

It was an impressive technique.

Clang!

However, Puga’s sword failed to penetrate the chain mail and got caught.

“Is that all?”

Seeing Viktor calmly asking as if he wasn’t hurt at all despite the considerable force of the strike, Puga was completely intimidated.

“You, bastard!”

He skillfully retrieved his sword and instantly turned his horse around.

Then expertly raised his horse’s front legs while simultaneously raising his curved sword to strike down.

The curved sword, filled with power, targeted Viktor’s head with a sound that cut through the wind.

‘Arrogant knight…die!’

The opponent wasn’t making any move to counter.

A smile began to form on Puga’s lips.

And that was his last moment.

An axe flew from his blind spot at an unbelievable speed and sliced through his waist.

Puga’s upper body, still seemingly unaware of what happened, tilted diagonally while continuing to swing the curved sword.

Thud.

As Puga’s corpse fell, Viktor looked around with an iron-wall expression.

The warriors hesitated, shocked by the unbelievable situation before them.

‘What impossible-!’

‘He swung later but cut before the falling sword?’

“Mo, monster…!”

Viktor glanced at his axe.

Perhaps from the impact of cutting through several people along with their solid armor, not just cloth, the blade was completely damaged.

‘I need to find another weapon.’

He wasn’t particularly concerned about the corpses.

His first kill, and a mass killing at that, but surprisingly he felt nothing.

In this moment, Viktor was a complete northern warrior.

“Now, what will you do? Will you continue to charge?”

When Viktor threatened in a low voice, the warriors flinched with terrified expressions.

‘Damn…what should we do?’

‘We outnumber him…if we all charge together…’

‘Lord Nitski! Your orders!’

The warriors looked uncertainly toward Nitski, Puga’s fellow warrior.

Nitski, though sweating cold, shouted.

“No matter how strong he is, he’s alone! Charge all at once…argh!”

The warriors looked with astonished expressions at where Nitski had been.

As soon as he opened his mouth, Viktor threw his axe from a distance and hit him squarely in the head.

Nitski collapsed with the axe embedded in his face.

Holding Puga’s curved sword, which no one knew when he had picked up, Viktor’s words echoed.

“Will you continue to charge?”

Despite being a low, quiet voice, it was strangely clear.

His eyes were cold and hard, yet they seemed to burn like flames.

When the warriors remained silent, Viktor gestured to Lukovich.

The two slowly began to ride through the warriors.

But none dared to attack.

They seemed completely subdued, even averting their gaze whenever Viktor looked around.

This behavior was unbelievable for those fierce warriors of the steppe.

Kulak, who had been watching all this in a daze, let out a sigh.

‘An even more impressive knight than I thought.’

Unbelievably powerful strength, composure maintained with chilling calmness, charisma radiating enough to instantly subdue a crowd!

He was truly a knight comparable to the legendary ancestral wolf warrior that appeared in legends.

While Kulak was wondering what to do next, their eyes met.

Flinch!

“Are you…going to kill me?”

Viktor smiled slightly.

“Honorable warrior, Kulak. I know this situation is not what you wanted. And I remember your mercy as well. I look forward to meeting you on the battlefield next time.”

“…Thank you.”

The two men from the principality slowly rode away from the village without looking back.

Watching them blankly, Kulak suddenly let out a hollow laugh.

‘Mercy…hehehe.’

Kulak could sense it.

Even if he and Puga hadn’t clashed and had faced that knight together, it wouldn’t have made much difference.

He had to struggle to control his emotions, which were fluctuating wildly.

‘I should give thanks to the ancestor wolf.’

Too many things had happened in one day.

He began to contemplate how to report this while coldly regarding the warriors who were hesitantly approaching, especially the Uley tribal warriors who had betrayed him.

****

Lukovich was doing his best to calm his excitement while clutching his pounding heart.

But the excitement wouldn’t easily subside.

‘Crazy…crazy!’

His master was a being that inspired more awe the more he knew him.

Just when he thought he was manipulating enemies with wisdom, he instantly threw the scene into chaos and then crushed them with overwhelming power.

When he saw dozens of barbarians unable to speak and avoiding Viktor’s gaze, a thrill ran through his entire body.

To see those crazy barbarians act like they had their tails between their legs!

It was a rare sight one might not see even once in a lifetime.

Seeing him trembling, Viktor misunderstood and addressed him.

“Are you alright, Lukovich? Are you still afraid?”

Lukovich had to hold back tears that threatened to spill at his concerned words.

Such kindness that made it hard to believe he was the same knight who had been rampaging like a madman earlier.

Where else in the world was there a nobleman who treated his servant like this?

Lukovich bit his lip hard and shouted loudly.

“No! What would I fear when I’m with Lord Viktor! I, Lukovich, will follow you with my life for the rest of my days!”

“Speak more quietly. Have you forgotten we’re on the run?”

“Ah, yes…”

The first battle was successful.

He had fully realized his own strength and learned how to control it to some extent.

They had driven the enemy away without major damage and eliminated their leader-like figures, so they should be safe for a while.

But Viktor wasn’t complacent.

‘That barbarian warrior, Kulak was it?’

Though the warrior had said he would let him go, it was obvious he would soon start pursuing them once some time passed.

Even if that wolf beastkin didn’t want to, the atmosphere didn’t seem so lenient.

“There’s a high possibility they’ll pursue us. It would be good to take shelter somewhere for a while.”

“Hmm…it would be quite serious if those barbarians catch up.”

Lukovich nodded.

They were famous for their pursuit skills.

Even the roughest and most experienced hunters of the north would acknowledge their superiority as hunters.

If they started pursuing, they would catch up quickly.

“So, you know the local geography better than I do, right? Where should we go now?”

At Viktor’s question, Lukovich pondered.

The direction they were currently heading was east.

There was nothing if they continued this way.

Only vast plains would continue to greet them.

Moreover, the eastern steppe area was a region even Lukovich didn’t know well.

‘In that case…’

“It would be good to go a little further from here and then turn north. If we go north, we’ll likely see hunters or merchants wandering around collecting fur. We could ask them if there are any villages or cities nearby where we can rest, couldn’t we?”

“North…”

Viktor looked up at the sky.

A realm he had never visited was waiting for him.

‘This is just the beginning.’

The principality’s territory wasn’t bad either.

After evading all the barbarians, it might be good to go south.

Viktor nodded.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Yes! I’ll lead the way.”

The two began to ride quickly yet lightly, conscious of pursuit.

Dust covered their retreating figures.

It was the beginning of a long escape.