The Third Son of a Medieval Knight Family – Chapter 52 – Tribal Conflict (17)

Author: Dawn

Complete darkness had settled around them, but perhaps because the moon shone so brightly, visibility wasn’t too bad.

And this wasn’t necessarily unfavorable conditions for those preparing an ambush either.

Especially for those like them who were relatively confident in their martial prowess.

The knights moved forward in a reasonable formation.

The attendants, including squires, were scheduled to strike the enemies in a second wave after the knights’ charge ended.

Viktor and Yelchin stood at the very front of the formation.

Yelchin drew the massive sword he had been carrying at his side.

The broad-bladed longsword that matched his build looked menacing just to behold.

“Since this is our first time fighting together and it’s dark, I’ll explain simply. Sir Viktor and I will break down the gate at the front and charge through, then you all support us from behind. After cutting the bastards in half in a straight line, we’ll scatter in four directions and kill them indiscriminately. After that, we’ll regroup at the village center.”

“Yes!”

“You bastards better follow well! Don’t let a single one escape!”

“Yes, understood!”

The knights relieved the tension of battle by encouraging their respective attendants.

Finally, Yelchin shouted loudly as if the time had come.

“Charge!!”

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

The thunderous sound of horse hooves began echoing from the outskirts of Remolnyaf.

“Hmm…?”

The barbarian sentry yawned as he leaned his back against a palisade post.

Then, as if he had noticed something, he frowned and began examining the front.

The ominous sound of horse hooves echoing through the darkness.

Just as the sentry was frantically trying to pull out a horn from his chest with a shocked expression.

“Gack…!”

As if born from the darkness itself, a knight suddenly burst forth and hurled the javelin in his hand.

The spear pierced straight through the sentry’s head and embedded itself in the palisade post.

“Wh-what!”

While the sentry who had been dozing beside him was getting up in confusion, another knight was already charging toward him with a face twisted like a demon.

“Die, scum!”

The massive longsword he was holding whipped through the air, and the sentry was sent flying while spewing blood without any chance to react, as if struck by the sword.

When he crashed into what appeared to be a flimsy gate, a loud sound echoed.

“Sir Viktor!”

As Yelchin, who had cut down the sentry in one stroke, shouted loudly, Viktor had already charged in like a ghost.

“Hup!”

Crash!

Charging at full speed with his entire body tensed and swinging his battle axe, the wooden gate was smashed to pieces far too easily despite its size.

Broken wooden planks scattered in all directions and the corpses of sentries who had been alive just moments before lay sprawled about, causing the barbarians who had been patrolling near the gate to freeze.

“Charge! Charge!”

Viktor shouted briefly but powerfully as he began galloping his horse fiercely again.

“A-attack! Attack!”

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The clear sound of striking metal echoed from somewhere.

It was definitely other sentries on the palisade ringing bells.

But it no longer mattered.

Viktor raised his battle axe and brought it down heavily.

The barbarians who had been panicking in front of him were swept away all at once.

“Sir Yelchin, prepare.”

“Ha! I can’t fall behind!”

Yelchin burst into rough laughter as he gripped his horse’s flanks.

Neigh!

Viktor, who had been staring incredulously at Yelchin’s back as he suddenly charged ahead, soon started his own horse.

The full-scale night raid had begun.

The knights’ charge was of such a nature that it simply could not be stopped.

A single knight’s charge alone was formidable enough, but the impact of several knights charging in proper formation was beyond description.

The barbarians were swept away like fallen leaves.

“Ga-gaaah!”

“Aim for the horses’ legs! Stop the charge!”

Barbarians who burst out from various parts of the village swung swords and axes, aiming for the horses’ legs, but most attempts ended in failure.

The knights charging in formation had almost no openings.

“Gack…”

“You bastard vermin, where do you think you’re aiming! How dare you!”

One knight split the head of a barbarian who had been targeting another knight’s horse in two and growled.

Killing intent seemed to pour out visibly.

As if all the barbarians from the vicinity who hadn’t shown their faces until now had been hiding in this village, they crawled out swarming like insects.

Perhaps because of this, though they had already broken through several layers of their loose defenses, the power of the charge was now inevitably diminishing.

“We should start scattering soon! The rear ranks will come charging in!”

“Ah, let’s do that. Scatter! Scatter!”

“Scatter!”

As one knight loudly called for scattering, the other knights began repeating his words and spreading left and right to clear a path.

Since it was difficult to use banners in the darkness, repeating commands was important.

As the knights slowly spread apart while pushing back the charging barbarians, a group began rushing through the gap as if to take their place.

“Sir! Sir! I’ve arrived now!”

“Hurry and charge! Protect the knights!”

These were the knights’ attendants.

The knights’ attendants, composed of squires and servants, were a force that could never be ignored.

While they usually served the knights, once battle commenced they became excellent combatants who protected the knights or charged alongside them.

Though their equipment varied, their honed martial skills were considerable.

This was perhaps natural if they were to run alongside the knights while protecting their flanks.

The barbarians who had barely caught their breath after the nightmarish knights’ charge finally stopped were struck by the second wave of attacks and collapsed.

It was a terrifying combination that gave no breathing room.

‘Th-this… this is knights’ combat!’

Lukovich rode with the other squires, trembling with awe.

He was able to glimpse proper knights’ combat methods for the first time in his life.

Viktor single-handedly overwhelming enemies was certainly incredible, but their combat was by no means inferior.

Knights weren’t called war machines without reason.

The charge of knights in formation was impressive, but the systematic and organic precision of their attacks was spine-chilling.

Before them, the barbarians had been reduced to livestock waiting to be slaughtered in turn.

Even when they desperately thrust their swords, they were blocked by solid armor, and even when they found gaps, they were quickly stopped by other knights positioned closely nearby and turned into chunks of meat.

Watching the knights behind the charging attendants replace their weapons and reorganize their formation, something began to settle in Lukovich’s heart.

Something different from when he watched Viktor’s martial prowess, which was so overwhelming that he could only admire it.

‘If I too… became a knight…!’

Longing was unknowingly filling Lukovich’s eyes.

But perhaps as punishment for being too distracted?

“Be careful!”

When someone shouted a loud warning, Lukovich panicked and quickly ducked his head.

Whoosh!

As a long spear passed overhead, he involuntarily made a pathetic sound.

“Eek…!”

“Tch! Die!”

A barbarian who had been hiding in the charge’s path rushed toward the stopped Lukovich again.

‘Damn, I can’t stop…!’

Because he had suddenly pulled hard on the reins, Lukovich’s horse was rearing wildly.

The barbarian thrust his spear as if targeting that moment.

The spear approached right to his eyes, and just as he closed them.

“Aaaah!”

“Are you alright?”

“…Ah!”

Lukovich opened his eyes.

The barbarian lay collapsed with his waist deeply slashed, and a young man was mounted on a horse, standing gallantly as if blocking the front.

“You are…!”

The young man smiled brightly.

“This is in return for the story you told me. Now, please hurry. We’ll lose track of the knights at this rate.”

He was Yelchin’s squire who had asked to hear Viktor’s story.

“Graaah!!”

Yelchin’s sword mercilessly pierced a face and then swept horizontally.

“Vermin!”

As the barbarian warrior fell spurting blood, he shook off the blood from his sword with a contemptuous expression.

As expected, the enemies had schemes.

A considerable number of barbarians, enough to pack this fairly large village, had been lying in ambush to attack them.

For ordinary people, it would have been no surprise to be surrounded and finished off by such numbers.

But this time they had picked the wrong opponents.

The charge of the knight group led by Viktor and Yelchin was so powerful that simple human wave tactics couldn’t match it.

Especially the martial prowess of the two knights who had charged in first transcended imagination.

“Sir, this area is all cleared.”

Yelchin spoke with his longsword slung over his shoulder.

“This area’s finished too. Let’s head to the center.”

Viktor responded to his words and turned around.

Looking at the several corpses laid out in front of Viktor, Yelchin grinned fiercely.

“Heh, so the rumors about you weren’t entirely baseless after all.”

Yelchin was quite shocked despite trying not to show it.

Because Viktor had fought far better than he had imagined.

‘Could he really not be of Kobarov bloodline…? It’s hard to believe he’s the son of that half-barbarian from the borderlands…’

The reason Yelchin had wanted to take the vanguard with Viktor was simple.

He wanted to confirm whether Viktor was really of the blood of Sir Kobarov who had caused the incident.

He had initially been filtering out most of what he heard about Viktor’s achievements and martial prowess.

Knight’s military exploits were naturally prone to exaggeration.

Yelchin had thought that if Viktor was really the son of that disloyal man who only caused trouble, he would be nothing special.

From the start, in Yelchin’s opinion, Sir Kobarov himself was incomparable to orthodox knights—someone who had been given a position as part of barbarian pacification policies, so such an evaluation was natural.

However, from what he had observed while fighting alongside him briefly, Viktor’s martial prowess was real.

Viktor’s charge contained indescribable tremendous momentum, and just riding alongside him, Yelchin had to endure tremendous pressure.

The barbarians who had to face that momentum head-on must have suffered even more terribly.

And that wasn’t all.

The heavy attacks that seemed to carry the full mass of his build were nothing short of chilling.

When he thought about whether he himself could withstand those attacks, he had no confidence whatsoever.

The axe strikes that seemed to cut through space itself—simple but incredibly fast and powerful—literally dismembered the barbarians as they flew through the air.

‘Is he even human…!’

It was such terrifying power that it shattered his arrogance in believing that he wouldn’t be outdone by anyone in martial prowess anywhere in the principality.

While Yelchin was momentarily lost in thought, Viktor revealed a slightly satisfied smile.

‘This weapon is pretty good.’

After fighting the barbarians in front of Permikoff, Viktor had wanted an even sturdier weapon, and he was finally able to test the new weapons he had commissioned in actual combat.

The results were completely satisfying.

The battle axe made from solid steel was heavy, but because of that, he could deliver much heavier and more powerful strikes than before.

If he put his full weight behind it, he felt confident he could tear apart even enemies wearing decent armor entirely.

Moreover, the thick blade maintained its sharpness even after cutting through bones and armor.

‘At this level, it should easily hold up even after cutting down dozens of people.’

Viktor swung his axe to shake off the blood and spoke to Yelchin again.

“Sir, what are you doing? I said let’s go to the center.”

“Ah, sorry. The others might be waiting.”

Due to continuously cutting down more enemies than expected, much time had been delayed.

The two men turned their horses’ heads.

The path they had taken was completely filled with barbarian corpses.

It was an unbelievable number to have been dealt with by just Viktor and Yelchin alone.

From various places, the groaning sounds of barbarians who were still alive despite severe injuries echoed.

Viktor opened his mouth with an indifferent expression.

“We’ll need to clean up once more later.”

“Yes. We’ll have the subordinates do it. There’s no need to leave potential troubles.”

The two knights began passing through the path piled with corpses again with composure.

Soon the groaning sounds of those about to die and the sound of horse hooves mixed strangely, resonating across the battlefield.

Of the two who had reached the central square, the first to turn the corner and enter was Yelchin.

“…Get back!”

And the moment he entered the square, arrows began pouring down from all directions without any chance to avoid them.

Viktor grabbed Yelchin’s surcoat with a shocked expression, but it was already slightly too late.

Yelchin’s horse, which had been wearing barding, let out a pitiful scream and collapsed, blood spurting out.

“Sir Yelchin! Sir, are you alright!”

Viktor exerted superhuman strength, enough to pull a fully armed knight off a horse with just one hand, but this didn’t provide much help to Sir Yelchin.

“Grk… damn.”

Blood foam spurted from Yelchin’s lips.

Unluckily, several arrows had pierced through gaps in his armor and were embedded there.

“How could I… make such a mistake…!”

Yelchin tried desperately to get up while covering his arrow wounds with his hands, but he seemed to have no strength in his body and only flailed in place.

“Stay still! It’ll get worse if you move!”

Viktor hastily jumped down from his horse and removed Yelchin’s hands, then urgently tore Yelchin’s surcoat with a rip and wrapped it tightly around the wound area.

“Sir… be careful…”

Step, step.

At the sound of someone walking, Viktor carefully laid Yelchin down and gripped the handle of the axe on his back tightly.

The moment someone’s legs finally came into view.

His eyes began blazing as if catching fire.