The Third Son of a Medieval Knight Family – Chapter 62 – Tribal Conflict (27)

Author: Dawn

The knights were filled with admiration.

Viktor, who had charged forth without hesitation, was heading in exactly the right direction as if he already understood everything.

The moonlight was already dim due to the overcast clouds, and the surroundings were so dark it was difficult to see even an inch ahead.

However, the well-trained and experienced knights were riding toward their target without much trouble.

It wasn’t as if there were no clues at all, and with a clear guide leading the way at the front, it was even easier.

One knight rode up beside Viktor and asked.

“Sir! Sir! Just like when we departed… how can you tell that their leader is in this direction? And isn’t this area unfamiliar to you? How do you know the way so well!”

‘Because I can see everything.’

To Viktor, this level of darkness wasn’t much of an obstacle.

Even while riding roughly, he gently stroked Podaga’s mane with delicate touches as he replied.

“Sir, when I received the enemy’s sorcery with my body, I felt as if I was somehow connected to the caster. That person is definitely here. And it’s highly likely that their leader is near a witch who wields such power.”

The knight who had asked nodded vigorously at that answer.

“Indeed! You’re right, Sir! My decision to trust and follow you was definitely not wrong!”

“Mm!”

At that moment, another young knight approached from behind Viktor.

He still seemed skeptical as he shouted.

“I followed you for now, but… that’s not enough! Are you really saying you decided to launch this attack based on such intuition?”

The young knight’s words were valid.

Though he had followed along in the heat of the moment in the great hall, as he cooled down while riding, thoughts that this assault had little chance of success kept surfacing.

‘What should I say.’

Viktor fell into slight contemplation when it seemed the young knight wouldn’t be easily convinced.

The knights behind were undoubtedly listening to this conversation as well.

If he gave a half-hearted answer and brushed it off, some of them might even desert.

When they left, they had acted impressive by entrusting their weapons, but knights were human after all.

No one wanted to lose their life meaninglessly in a battle with no chance of victory or meaning.

If they charged in only to encounter the wrong enemies, nothing could be more deflating.

At that moment, another knight riding near Viktor, Mikhail, shouted.

He had finally left his role of guarding the Count to follow Viktor, who had received command authority.

“Everyone, calm down! After all, this sortie’s purpose is to shake them before their encirclement is completed! Even if their leader isn’t there, there should at least be a commander in that direction! Just taking that bastard’s head would be a great achievement!”

It was rational and reasonable words.

They also matched Viktor’s own thoughts.

He was confident he was heading toward where the enemy’s leader was, but he had no intention whatsoever of ending everything with this sortie.

‘It’s enough to shake them up. If we can catch them here, good, and if not, as long as we delay the completion of their encirclement…’

The young knight seemed convinced by those words, but still had a somewhat unsatisfied expression.

Seeing this, Viktor steeled his resolve.

Since they had already entered battle, it would be better for morale to speak with certainty rather than the moderate goals he had been thinking of.

‘It would be good to honestly say I heard the enemy’s plans from Tumen, but…’

There was also the possibility they might cause an uproar saying they had fallen into the enemy’s trap, so that was rejected.

‘Here, I need to be brazen…’

Viktor opened his mouth in his characteristic low but clearly audible voice.

Even while riding, his voice strangely began to stick clearly in the knights’ ears.

“You all remember how I blocked the enemy’s sorcery in the great hall.”

“…”

“That day, I was praying in the chapel. And I heard it clearly.”

“Surely not!!”

Looking at the knights who were suddenly getting excited and pressing closer to his side, Viktor nodded.

“God whispered to me. He told me to defeat the principality’s enemies and save the brothers of true faith. I… received a revelation.”

‘Even so, isn’t this being too brazen…’

Viktor decided to push forward boldly since he had chosen to lie.

In this world where God was the center of everything, almost no one could openly tell someone following God’s will that it didn’t seem right.

Even if they were inwardly skeptical, it was the ultimate tactic to leave them with nothing to say outwardly!

And just as Viktor thought, his words were very effective.

No, beyond being effective, tremendous waves beyond what he himself had imagined began to surge.

“Sir Viktor has spoken! God is with us!”

“Everyone, let’s bow our heads for a moment. Isn’t the Sir conveying God’s words on His behalf?”

‘What, to this extent?’

Even Viktor, who had spoken the words, was flustered.

“But… no matter what, to believe those words at face value is…”

“This fellow! Sir Viktor is one of the most faithful knights protected by God since the famous Battle of Permikoff! His faith isn’t something you can carelessly mention!”

“Ah, no… what did I say? I didn’t know he was such a faithful knight…”

When one knight from the Count’s formation raised his hand timidly to object, the Count’s knights who had long witnessed Viktor’s achievements rushed out to rebuke him, and after that no one could voice words of doubt.

Even the cool-headed Mikhail shouted to Viktor with an excited expression.

“Sir, if that’s really true, then their leader must definitely be ahead of us! God is with us!”

“Waaah! God is with us!”

‘…I’m screwed if we get there and no one’s there.’

Viktor wondered if he should change his words now, but if he did, the knights would be all over him before they even fought.

He hardened his expression even more like steel.

And shouted in a trustworthy voice.

“Warriors of the North’s finest, elites of the principality! Let’s go! Let’s kill all the bastards blocking our path! God wills it!”

“God wills it!”

“Kill them all!!”

The charge began to pick up even more speed.

The strike force composed of knights under Count Odor and Count Yakobski, along with their attendants and a small cavalry unit, was targeting the barbarians’ head as swiftly as an arrow and as sharply as a well-honed blade.

While those who had opened the castle gates and charged to catch the barbarians off guard were crushing and trampling the unprepared enemy camps, Bohdan was gradually rallying his subordinates and preparing defenses.

The barbarians, who had initially been panicked and desperate just to avoid being swept away, quickly regained their composure under the command of the charismatic giant called Bohdan.

“They’re just a handful anyway! Even if they’re knights, there’s nothing special about them.”

“We just need to hold out until reinforcements arrive. We just need to protect the chief until the end and that’s it.”

As the barbarians began to rally, Viktor perceived this situation with ghostly intuition.

He carefully observed the barbarians who were gathering while slightly shifted to the left.

‘Their defense is getting thicker. There.’

“All personnel, prepare to charge!”

“All personnel, prepare to charge!!”

When Viktor shouted, the knights repeated the command as practiced and began forming a sharp wedge formation with him at the front.

Having somehow ended up conducting night raids frequently and gaining considerable experience, the knights were calmly following his commands even in the darkness, just as Viktor intended.

Normally, knights were extremely difficult to control due to their overflowing desire for glory, but these ones were following Viktor’s commands obediently without any complaints, to an eerie degree.

They were even skillfully forming a wedge formation on their own without much coordination.

When the knights briefly retreated, the barbarians who had been helplessly swept away could finally catch their breath and assess the situation, but it was only a temporary reprieve.

The sharp wedge formation reminiscent of a well-forged blade, with Viktor at the front, looked suffocating just to behold.

When the heavily armed knights began emitting explosive killing intent while glaring forward, their momentum was so intense that some began urinating themselves and fleeing without even crossing blades yet.

Viktor opened his mouth.

“Target: those gathering on the left. Their leader is likely behind them. Raise weapons.”

“Raise weapons!!”

“Raise weapons!! Focus!”

Before he knew it, Viktor was speaking down to them, but the knights didn’t mind at all.

Having entered the battlefield, they were already completely overwhelmed by his charisma.

Finally, Viktor raised the massive battle axe he was holding and shouted.

“Charge!”

“Charge!!”

“Sweep them away!”

Men and horses rushed forward simultaneously with exquisite coordination, as if they had become a single collective organism.

When the mounted knights’ bodies rose and fell in unison, it resembled black waves.

The climax was the knight at the front.

Viktor’s already massive frame seemed to become even larger and more imposing, as if receiving the momentum of the knights supporting him from behind.

When such a knight rode at insane speed, it became a bizarrely ominous and truly terrifying charge that seemed to lose perspective.

The barbarians screamed.

“They’re coming!”

“Hold on! Shit, where did all our cavalry go! Hit their flanks!”

“You idiot, they were all lying down sleeping! Stop talking shit and raise your shields!”

“No, I can’t do it!”

“Ah, that stupid bastard…! Aaaaah!”

Another misfortune for the barbarians was that they had few mounted personnel, as they had been busy setting up camp and preparing to rest.

Their clumsy attempt to imitate the principality’s siege techniques had backfired.

Without time to prepare, the black wave of men and horses crashed over them.

Facing cavalry without their beloved horses, they could experience firsthand what emotions their enemies had felt until now.

“Shit! Aaaaah!!”

“M-mom…!”

Those who could at least scream were fortunate.

The shock of a determined knight charge was truly beyond imagination.

Those who met the knights at the front instantly became chunks of meat scattered in all directions.

Infantry without proper preparation could never face heavily armed cavalry.

The few who were lightly armed were a minority, and most of the barbarians who had stumbled out in confusion from the completely unexpected attack were practically naked.

The price was horrific.

Viktor raised his hand and shouted.

“Halt, halt!”

“Halt! Everyone stop!”

“Circle around! Reduce speed while turning!”

The knights in the rear looked puzzled but slowed down.

The knights who slowly turned and broke their wedge formation could finally look around.

And they understood why Viktor had given such a command.

While charging, they had only looked ahead at the person in front, but the situation was already over.

The barbarians’ efforts to rally had actually been a terrible mistake.

“Hmm… is this all?”

One knight muttered as he shook off his spear.

Long intestines that had once been inside their owner’s belly fell to the ground with wet sounds.

Before they knew it, there wasn’t a single barbarian standing around them.

Only chunks of meat, fat, and blood were scattered everywhere.

The scene of massacre was dimly illuminated through the burning camp, but the knights waited for Viktor’s instructions without particular emotion.

Their attitude suggested this level was only natural.

One barbarian who had been writhing on the ground looked up at them with a horrified expression.

‘These bastards… I thought they were just idiots… urgh…’

The barbarians had been mistaken.

The principality, which had been pathetically defeated since the war began, was nothing special!

Even the knights they were proud of were nothing more than beings full of empty reputation who were only slow and easy to catch!

However, with the conditions right and now dismounted, they could finally realize why knights were called nightmare-like beings on the battlefield.

War machines that completely ground down their enemies!

That was the true nature of knights.

Viktor slowly rode his horse into the camp.

Ping!

An arrow flew from somewhere, but he merely waved his arm annoyedly as if a bug had attacked him.

The arrow couldn’t even penetrate his thick gauntlet and fell away.

“Mon-monster…!”

The archer who had shot cursed and loaded another arrow, but there was no obligation to watch that to the end.

Viktor took out a javelin and threw it lightly.

Thud!

“Urgh…”

Finally, even the last archer breathed his last.

Viktor looked around.

From the faint shouting sounds in the distance, enemy reinforcements were definitely approaching quickly.

There wasn’t much time, but it was enough to finish what he had to do now.

Viktor looked ahead.

Dozens of barbarian warriors were surrounding him in a circle, maintaining a desperate defensive stance.

And inside that circle, he could clearly feel one massive wolf beastman covered in scars glaring at him.

Splendid ornaments and expensive-looking armor.

The scars covering his body made him look very experienced, and his violent eyes that seemed to leak light clearly showed this beastman was no ordinary opponent.

“Bohdan.”

“Grrr… so you’re the knight sent by God?”

It was finally the moment when Viktor and Bohdan faced each other.

The two men looked at each other for a brief but long time.

Looking into each other’s eyes, they maintained a strange standoff.

Everyone on the battlefield was concentrating, pretending not to, on what conversation these two outstanding figures would have.

Cold sweat was beading on Bohdan’s seemingly cold face.

When one drop fell along his jaw.

Finally, Bohdan’s closed mouth opened.

“Knight, are you interested in the throne of the steppe king?”

“…?”

Viktor tilted his head, then swiftly drew a javelin from his thigh and threw it.