Chapter 27: Reconnaissance Team 5

Kuungh!

“The Giant by the main gate has begun throwing boulders!”

“We’re moving out.”

At last, the great den’s offensive had fully commenced. A beast possessing both intelligence and wisdom was in command, turning this conflict into a true war.

“Team 5, prepare.”

Silverna gripped her spear and assumed a battle stance. Their target: the beast called the “Giant” that was hurling rocks from afar.

Gathered near Silverna atop the wall were Isaac and the rest of the reconnaissance party. After a quick headcount, Silverna leapt straight down from the wall.

Thud!

As she fell, Silverna swung her spear in a wide arc.

Like Helmut’s Red River, Silverna’s white aura fanned out like a storm, surging around her landing spot. The yetis and other beasts clinging to the wall were torn to shreds by that aura.

Thud!

Upon landing, Silverna set her sights on the distant Giant. Behind her, the other members of the reconnaissance party also dropped down. Under normal circumstances, a fall from that height would mean broken legs—or worse.

But thanks to Silverna’s aura acting as a cushion, they landed as gently as if guided by the wind.

The Caldias spear technique typically put strict limits on aura usage—after all, the aura was reserved for the chosen few and didn’t really align with Caldias’s focus on versatility.

However, at this moment, Silverna was doing the opposite: devoting herself to mastering aura, growing, and advancing.

‘She’ll grow quickly, I know it.’

Though she still had a long way to go before matching Rihanna, Silverna would soon catch up.

“Tch!”

Sharen, also an aura user, pouted and grumbled. Until just a few days ago, she’d been more adept with aura than Silverna. But each day, Silverna’s skills increased at such an alarming rate that it was hard not to be jealous.

“I’ll take point.”

Silverna charged forward, as though she herself were a single deadly spear. Her footwork and spear strikes tore through the beasts before they could even swing at her.

Anna, Jonathan, and Melodic followed close behind. They handled the monsters trying to slip back in along Silverna’s path—usually by throwing them off-balance or pushing them aside rather than killing them outright.

That was because the finishing blow was up to Isaac and his sword, trailing just behind.

His sword was light, letting him swing faster than anyone else. And once an enemy’s stance was broken, Isaac never missed the kill shot.

He perfectly fulfilled his role as the team’s cleanup striker—of course, that was also thanks to Sharen providing steadfast support from right behind.

Like an armored tank, the team pressed onward, trampling the horde of beasts underfoot.

“My lady! We’re almost out of the wall’s cover range!”

“We’ll pick up the pace from here!”

At Anna’s report, Silverna tightened her grip on her spear and dashed forward even faster. The rest of the party followed suit, picking up speed.

And then—

“Let’s begin!”

As soon as the Giant entered range, Silverna slammed her foot to the ground, stopping in place to take up a throwing stance. Anna and Jonathan, who had been following behind, rushed past to guard her.

Thud!

Right at the moment Silverna threw her spear, Sharen heaved her greatsword toward the sky. Against the backdrop of a pale-white sky, a delicate Red aura scattered like paint across a canvas.

Empowered by that aura, Silverna’s spear pierced clean through the Giant’s forehead.

Thud!

The four-meter-tall mass collapsed. Despite the success of their plan, no one paused to celebrate. They immediately began plotting a retreat.

“Ice wolves are closing in!”

Melodic, who had been slashing through beasts in sync with Isaac, shouted urgently.

Huge ice wolves poured in from all directions.

Isaac was the first to swing his sword, fending off their approach—until one of the wolve kicked out.

Clang!

His thin sword shattered like an icicle.

“Damn it!”

Isaac immediately grabbed the Falchion strapped to his waist. Drawing it in a reverse grip, he sliced through the neck of the monster that had destroyed his sword. He swapped weapons so smoothly—likely because this wasn’t the first time it had happened.

“Isaac-nim, your sword broke again! My lady, what about your spear?!”

“Hold on! Come on, come on, hurry back here!”

Silverna lifted her palm toward the sky, waiting for her thrown spear to return.

“Stop throwing it so hard! It takes forever to come back!”

“I did hold back! It’s the Red Aura’s fault!”

“Do you have any idea how hard it is for Helmut to control his strength, you fools?!”

Even as they bickered, they kept taking down the approaching monsters.

“Can’t we just ditch them? There are way too many!”

“I should’ve brought a hammer for this!”

Jonathan and Melodic chimed in.  Ice wolves might be beasts, but hitting them felt like smashing ice sculptures, leaving their arms numb with each blow.

“If you knew what this is made of, you wouldn’t say that so easily! Besides, thanks to me, we took down the Giant without any losses—!”

Chak!

Just then, Silverna’s spear snapped back into her hand with a crisp “chak!”

Her aura’s link allowed her to retrieve the weapon this way.

“That’s enough—pull back!”

At Silverna’s command, everyone immediately turned and began to retreat. As they ran, Isaac clicked his tongue, glaring at his broken sword.

“What was it he said again? ‘It’ll never break’? He sure sounded confident!”

“Looks like old Antonio was full of hot air after all!”

Isaac’s grumbling was met with a sympathetic nod from Jonathan.

He had been all smiles earlier, swearing up and down that it would “never break, so swing it around however you like today.” Turned out that the boastful blacksmith was all talk.

Thanks to the covering fire provided the moment they got back into the wall’s defensive range, they managed to return to safety fairly quickly.

Once inside, everyone took a moment to compose themselves. As they did, Isaac let out a weary sigh.

“Today, I’m definitely giving that blacksmith a piece of my mind.”

It was rare to see Isaac so emotional. Rolling up his sleeves like he was ready to dash out at any moment, he was just about to stomp off when Anna handed him a towel and spoke up.

“Isaac-nim, didn’t you think it was a bit strange this time? It felt like those  Ice wolves were waiting for us.”

“Yeah, exactly. That’s exactly what I thought too.”

Jonathan nodded at Anna’s comment. Silverna, arms folded, likewise waited for Isaac’s opinion. He slid the broken sword back into its scabbard and nodded.

“Definitely. How many times have we dealt with sudden attacks by those Giants in exactly this way? They must’ve set a trap, knowing we’d come after the Giant.”

They had clearly been waiting, expecting someone would come to assassinate the Giant.

“Here, drink this.”

Sharen handed him a water bottle from the side. Taking a swig, Isaac organized his thoughts before he continued.

“Historically, great dens were often led by extremely intelligent beasts. This time’s no different.”

In truth, Isaac already knew which beast was commanding this great den—and how it would eventually die.

‘It hasn’t made its move yet.’

Apparently, the time wasn’t right for that thing to appear. In any case, it was a being humans couldn’t track down unless it acted first. If it didn’t make a move, there was no way for humans to spot it.

‘Just like you told me.’

He glanced briefly at Silverna. From what Silverna had told him in his previous life, the beast leading this great den was no ordinary monster.

Even Uldiran Caldias had reportedly struggled to subdue it.

“Wh-what? Why’re you looking at me like that?”

“Right?! Right! Exactly. I think this operation just got harder!”

Anna stepped in front of Silverna, whose face had begun to redden with embarrassment. Maybe it was fine on the battlefield, but in everyday life, Silverna still had trouble hiding her emotions.

Tap!

“Ow!”

“Oh, sorry.”

Isaac yelped in surprise as Sharen, who had snuck behind him, was massaging his shoulders. Even as he complained, Sharen just kept up the gentle kneading.

Jonathan, watching them, spoke next.

“Lately, Lady Sharen seems to be awfully nice to Isaac-nim.”

“Oh, I noticed too. Last time, when Isaac said he was hungry, she actually went to the mess hall and brought him a sandwich.”

With Melodic chiming in, everyone’s eyes turned to Sharen. But Sharen answered confidently, shrugging her shoulders.

“What’s weird about being nice to my brother-in-law?”

Well, she had a point. They were family, after all.

It wasn’t exactly flawed logic, but because it was Sharen, it still felt a bit off.

“Isaac, feel good?”

“…….”

“Feel good?”

“…….”

“Feel good?”

Isaac, avoiding the question with the water bottle still in his mouth, finally gave a small nod.

“Yeah, it’s… comfortable.”

Since she was asking whether it felt good, well, it did. The moment he admitted it, Sharen moved right in front of him and stuck out her head.

A signal that she wanted her head patted. Half demand, half request.

Just three days ago, he’d made the mistake of not patting her head and was rewarded with a full day of shoulder-ramming. Lesson learned.

Pat-pat.

“Hmm-hmm!”

Sharen purred in satisfaction. Seeing this, Jonathan suddenly sidled up to Isaac with a question.

“Sir, are you sore anywhere else? I happen to be really good at massages.”

Maybe the sight of Isaac patting Sharen on the head made him want to offer up his own massage skills. Isaac declined and then turned his gaze beyond the wall.

“They’re running away.”

“Well, with the Giant gone, they don’t have enough firepower to break through the wall.”

The beasts were in retreat. In truth, this latest offensive was more like a test run than anything else.

They’d knocked on the wall, so to speak, to see how sturdy it was before deciding to try and break it.

‘I should get the Margrave’s opinion.’

If he joined as Silverna’s adjutant, he’d be able to attend the war council. In his previous life, the Malidan Barrier had pretty much handled the gret den on its own, so he wasn’t too worried. Still…

Minimizing damage now would make it that much easier to deal with future threats.

‘But first, I need to visit the smithy.’

He fully intended to give that blacksmith a piece of his mind for handing him a supposedly unbreakable sword that had shattered like glass. He was on his way out to do just that when—

“Isaac!”

Silverna, now out of her armor and wearing a coat, suddenly pointed at Isaac and made an announcement.

“Cut your hair! Don’t tie it back anymore!”

“…Huh?”

“That’s an order from your captain! Cut it—shave it bald if you have to! I don’t like the look of it!”

With that, Silverna stomped off in a huff, looking genuinely angry. As Isaac stood there, baffled by her sudden outburst, Sharen watched her go and whined in disbelief.

“What’s her deal? I think it’s deadly charming when he ties his hair up.”

“Haha…”

At that, Anna scratched her cheek awkwardly and added in a small voice,

“That’s exactly why…”

– – – The End of The Chapter – – –

[TL: Join Patreon to support the translation and to read up to 5 chapters ahead of the release: https://www.patreon.com/readingpia

Join Our Discord for regular updates and have fun with other community members: https://discord.com/invite/SqWtJpPtm9 ]

Support Author

Join Discord