Kingdom’s Bloodline

An Eckstedt light infantryman gripped the hammer in his hand tightly. Breathing steadily, he knocked the thick wooden shield in his left hand rhythmically and followed the footsteps of the teammate in front of him closely.

As one of more than ten unit leaders under Liroque’s military unit, he was over thirty years old and this was not his first time in the battlefield.

The men of Northland were born to wield swords and battle. It did not matter if they were farmers, hunters, craftsmen or woodcutters. Sometimes, it was so for women too.

To shed blood in the battlefield and slug it out with the most powerful enemies; the survivors would then swig the wine of victory to their heart’s content. How satisfying and glorious was that?

He would get even more elated and excited each time he swung his hammer. He savored the vague sounds of cracking bones in his enemies’ bodies.

An example would be now, as the unit leader over thirty years old, he roared joyfully and stepped forward to catch up with his comrade. He forcefully knocked his hammer into the crown of a Constellatiate who could not dodge in time.

Roaring furiously, he pulled out his hammer and blood splattered on his face.

The next moment, the unit leader pounced on another citizen of Constellation, who went forward as replacement without hesitation.

‘They… these Constellatiates are truly tough.’ Having thought of that, he swung his shield at his opponent and made the person stagger.

‘With such casualties, normal troops would have lost their morale a long time ago, scattering themselves and fleeing.

‘Unless, they are elites.

‘Unless, they have a competent commander who was just as firm.’

With agility as well as experience, the unit leader dodged his opponent’s sudden and dangerous sword thrust. The sword’s blade grazed past the left side of his forehead.

“Hey, you are a veteran.”

The unit leader laughed out loud and swung his hammer, causing the enemy to retreat.

*Clip clop!*

*Clang!*

*Slash!*

Various sounds rang from the side—of hooves, clashing, and sword blades splitting armors in half.

A solid and fierce, male voice rang from a battle steed. “We are looking for Lampard!”

The Constellatiates, who were in a defensive formation, had their spirits lifted at the same time. They shouted and strode forward, trailing the knights on the battle steeds as they charged at the Eckstedtians.

The unit leader’s expression changed. ‘They are breaking out of the encirclement.

‘But, why are they going north?

‘Although the encirclement is indeed a little weaker on the northern side compared to the side of Broken Dragon Fortress… But even if they break through, they would only face the archduke’s military camp and other, even more elite troops, right?

‘And… what about that knight who charged out of the battle formation?’

It was a menacing man who swung his greatsword with force. With a swing of his sword, he chopped off someone’s head and sent blood as well as flesh splattering everywhere. Meanwhile, the battle steed beneath him sent two men flying.

A child was tied to his back alongside a large bow with silver and black stripes…

“Wait!”

The unit leader narrowed his eyes.

‘Is it… that bow?

Shortly after, he shouted.

“Him!

“It’s him!”

The unit leader of Eckstedt’s light infantry roared loudly. He was in a frenzy like he had found the most rewarding war booty. He paid no further attention to the panting Constellation veteran in front of him.

Grinding his teeth in excitement, he charged towards the steed without hesitation.

The unit leader shouted deliriously.

“The Kingdom’s Wrath!

Many of the Eckstedtians trembled and turned their heads towards the man on the horse.

The unit leader raised his shield over his head to protect himself from the man’s greatsword. He swung the hammer in his hand into the steed’s belly.

However, the greatsword did not swerve over. It was not deflected by his shield as he had expected.

Instead, the greatsword quivered in the man’s hand and it was thrust downwards.

The unit leader could only feel his right collarbone becoming cold. He then felt a surge of extreme pain.

The battle steed grazed past him. His knees buckled and blood flowed out from his shoulder.

Despite that, he still swung his weapon with all his might.

The hammer scratched the steed’s belly, inflicting another injury on the battle steed, which was already covered in wounds.

The battle steed let out a sad cry and collapsed along with the man in front of the unit leader.

‘Hehe, at least… I stopped the steed of the Kingdom’s Wrath,’ the unit leader thought, with much effort.

His shield fell out of his hand. Pressing onto the bleeding wound on his shoulder, he felt the pain that pierced deep into his lungs. The unit leader then raised his hammer with all his might. He wanted to swing it towards the man, who was climbing up from the ground, as well as the boy behind his back.

‘My last blow… will kill the Kingdom’s Wrath…’ he thought.

However, as soon as this thought appeared, a petite figure wearing a cloak rushed over from the back. She swung her machete rapidly and sliced off the unit leader’s right hand.

“Argh!”

The unit leader roared in indignation.

At the very next moment, Genard also rushed over from the back, and chopped off the unit leader’s head with his blade.

“You are right.” Panting, Genard told the dead body, “I am a veteran.”

The soldiers of the Fury Guards risked their life and charged forward one by one. They pushed aside the enemies in their way and tried their best to scramble to Arracca Murkh’s side.

At this point, Putray and the others were only just catching up to Arracca.

The battlefield became chaotic because the soldiers of Constellation broke the encirclement.

“The Kingdom’s Wrath! He is here!” many of Eckstedt’s soldiers shouted with excitement and the news spread rapidly throughout the battlefield.

Like sharks who smelled blood, countless soldiers of Eckstedt charged towards Arracca and Thales. They snarled savagely as they approached from the front, the sides and the back.

“Really?” Behind them, Wya spoke in dissatisfaction, “He is like a target! He is even piggybacking His Highness!”

“Do not doubt your commander!” Putray fell down from his steed as well. He rapidly advanced forward within the triangular battle formation used by the soldiers for assault. “At least believe in the prestige of the Kingdom’s Wrath. His Highness’ safety is best assured by his side!”

Thales anxiously lay face-down on Arracca’s back and suppressed the dizziness he felt from falling down the steed earlier. “What do we do now?”

Arracca held his sword calmly with both hands and split open the light armor of an enemy to his left. He just left the man there, lying on the ground and wailing.

He looked at the Iron Fist Flag, which was a distance away. He then looked at the countless number of enemies that were charging towards them. The soldiers filled the fan-shaped area in front of Arracca as well as Thales and surrounded them. In a cold tone, he said, “The steeds could only bring us until here.”

“Assault formation!” Arracca shouted loudly, and his whole body trembled. Pressed against Arracca, Thales could clearly feel that Arracca’s heart rate was increasing and that his body was heating up. His muscles were also expanding and trembling rhythmically.

He was like a predatorial wild beast who was prepared to start hunting.

Thales immediately realized that this was Arracca’s Power of Eradication. In his field of vision, Arracca was like a raging volcano. Explosive, ominuous, and terrifying fluctuations emitted ceaselessly from the inside of Arracca’s body.

Arracca gritted his teeth. He held his sword in his right hand and gripped the leather covering on the ridge of the sword with his left hand. Dragging his weapon behind him, he charged towards a large number of enemies in front of him.

As if by a conditioned reflex, the surviving soldiers of the Fury Guards caught up to him on both sides. They followed their commander and charged towards the opponents without hesitation.

Arracca was at the forefront, like the cutting edge of a knife.

At the frontline, five blades whizzed towards him at the same time. Three were aimed at his head and chest, while the other two were aimed respectively at both his sides.

A furious roar erupted from Arracca’s throat. He thrust his feet into the ground, lowered his body, and charged at these soldiers!

Being tightly bound, Thales tried his best to bend his head and press it closely against Arracca’s shoulders. Even so, he could still feel at least three blades grazing past the top of his head.

Arracca shouted explosively. All of a sudden, the blood vessels on his arms expanded and transmitted an explosive force. He swung his massive two-handed sword fiercely and created a bloody arc in the air!

*Slash…*

Three of the soldiers’ blades along with their forearms broke away from their control and fell powerlessly onto the ground.

Blood splattered down onto Thales’ forehead. He gritted his teeth and furrowed his brows.

‘Does it have to be so bloody every time?’

Arracca did not even care about the soldiers who attacked him from both sides. Howling, he crashed into the chest of the light infantryman in front of him. That man was holding his right hand and wailing miserably when it happened. Arracca fiercely elbowed him and made him fall.

The Fury Guards on both sides were only a bit slower than Arracca. Similarly, they roared furiously and charged. They stopped the two soldiers whom Arracca had missed before they could plunge their blades into his vital organs.

The Fury Guard on the left successfully thrust his sword into the opponent’s lower abdomen. He then pushed off the opponent, who was shrieking in pain. Ignoring what happened next, he continued to follow Arracca. They proceeded to assault the second row of enemies.

As for the Fury Guard on the right, he was unfortunately pierced by the Eckstedt soldier’s blade. However, he continued to charge forward without any regard for danger. He pounced on the enemy and brought him to the ground. Another soldier walked over the two individuals, who were grappling with each other on the ground without even looking. He reinforced the triangular-shaped assault formation and continued to move forward.

In a little more than a second, at the tip of the formation, the fierce Arracca advanced and broke through the first row of enemies.

Without reducing his speed, he continued charging forward.

However, within his close proximity, a squad formed by five experienced veterans attacked head-on. Three of them were wielding shields and blades, while the other two were holding axes. They stared vigilantly at Arracca.

“The Kingdom’s Wrath,” the person in the middle said in a deep voice, “you shall not pass—ugh!”

Before he could finish his words, Arracca ferociously thrust his sword and pierced it straight into his shield. With his frightening force as well as the momentum of the impact, the sword’s blade came out from the other side and pierced into the enemy’s chest.

However, the blade was stuck between the shield and the enemy’s chest bone.

Groaning in pain, the enemy still did what he could to hold Arracca’s greatsword in place. He put in a lot of effort so that the three people around him could take Arracca’s life before he died.

The blade of an axe was the first one to whizz over!

Without any hesitation, Arracca threw out his left fist with a rabid expression on his face. With an alarming force, he punched the middle of the greatsword’s blade!

And with a clank, the greatsword broke!

Arracca howled and charged forward. He kicked the second shield-wielding veteran onto the ground. He then extended his left wrist and moved it to the side of the axe’s blade, diverting it away from his head.

Under the enemies’ shocked gazes, the axe slid past Arracca’s forearm, taking with it a piece of skin and flesh.

The broken sword in Arracca’s hand was thrust into the axe-wielder’s neck before he could react.

Roaring furiously, the last two enemies charged towards Arracca. However, the latter did not even look at them. He was fully focused on dashing forward!

Just as before, the Fury Guards on both of his sides trailed behind him. They risked their lives and pounced forward, eliminating the threat of the two remaining people on his behalf. This time, both of them were not as lucky and they lost their lives. However, the rest of the Fury Guards behind them still pounced forward without any regard for their lives. They maintained the formation and eliminated the dangers that came from both sides.

Thales suddenly realized something.

The sword-and-shield soldiers of the Fury Guards were shielding both of Arracca’s sides with their lives. This was so that the latter could break through the enemy line in front of him and get to the center without any disturbances. This would ensure that the momentum of his unstoppable and frightening force was always at its highest.

In a little over two seconds, Arracca had broken through the second row.

The next batch of enemies appeared before him.

Two individuals in front of him were holding longspears. The tip of the spears were aimed straight at Arracca’s heart. They were determined to force Arracca into retreating with the tip of their spears, no matter how Arracca was charging forward.

Another three shielded the sides of these two people’s body closely.

However, Arracca did not give them such a chance.

He shouted at the top of his lungs, and the Power of Eradication, which came in the form of an explosive fluctuation, surged into his right arm. Like an erupting volcano, he threw the broken sword in his hand, which was extremely battered.

The whizz of death lasted for a couple of seconds. The tip of the blade, which still had remnants of blood and flesh on it pierced into one of the men’s faces.

He quivered and the longspear in his hand, which was pointed towards Arracca, fell powerlessly.

“No! Brother!” the other spearman beside him cried out in sadness.

Arracca’s expression was ferocious. He grabbed the front part of the falling longspear and took it into his hand. He then thrust the longspear forward fiercely!

His Power of Eradication was activated again. As Arracca howled like a maniac, the other spearman was hit in the chest by a force that was akin to that of a siege hammer. Groaning, he could not take it anymore and fell onto the ground. After that, the howling stopped abruptly.

The longspear was again retrieved by Arracca. He then used it as a rod. Waving it with force, he swept it towards the lower bodies of the remaining three people!

Without changing his expression, Arracca turned the spear and stabbed one of the three people on the ground to death. He then continued charging forward without looking back.

The Fury Guards on both sides again caught up and got rid of the remaining two people.

“How long can you keep this up?” Thales looked at the dense mass of enemies in front of him, and then at the Iron Fist Flag far away. Calculating the time and distance in his mind, he asked Arracca.

“Long enough,” Arracca spoke in a deep voice and dashed towards a sword-wielding infantryman, “As long as the Fury Guards are still around.”

Within five seconds, Arracca had broken through the third row.

Under Thales’ stunned gaze, Arracca flung the longspear steadily. It pierced into the thigh of someone attacking them head-on.

Totally unarmed, the Kingdom’s Wrath dashed forward with all his might, dodging a sword in the process. However, it left a wound on his right arm.

The Fury Guards pounced forward fiercely as always, getting rid of the enemies on both sides with their bravery and sacrifice.

Amid the frenzied and furious roars, the blade of an axe came attacking. The Kingdom’s Wrath dashed two steps forward without a glance. He grabbed the longspear by its pole and threw it. It caused the enemy, who was holding his thigh and gritting his teeth to fall. At the same time, Arracca nimbly turned around and blocked the blade of the axe with the longspear’s pole.

*Snap!*

The pole broke and as if it was all planned beforehand, Arracca held the broken pole. With the broken piece, he turned his body and hit the axe-wielder hard on the bridge of his nose!

As the axe-wielder groaned and shut his eyes, the Kingdom’s Wrath ditched the broken longspear and grabbed the handle of the axe, which was between the axe-wielder’s hands. He did so with accuracy and pulled it towards himself. Arracca headbutted his opponent’s already injured nose in a fearsome and violent manner. As his opponent fell to the ground dizzily, he snatched the axe.

Arracca overtook him and the other fellow, who was panting and holding his pierced thigh. Arracca continued his assault.

Within eight seconds, Arracca had broken through the enemies’ fourth row. However, one of the Fury Guards was killed.

Within eleven seconds, Arracca had cracked open the heads of two soldiers with the axe and broke through the fifth row. Two of his Fury Guards died.

During the sixteenth second, two infantrymen, who were obviously military officers in chain armor, approached them. Arracca made a shield soldier retreat with the axe and he spent some time to snatch a short sword. He pierced it into the two military officer’s unprotected eyes and throat, after which he broke through the sixth row.

During the nineteenth second, Arracca pierced a person’s dominant hand easily by thrusting the sword. He then used his enemy as a shield. He seized the axes of two soldiers and twisted their necks. He then used one of the axes to cut open the fourth person’s chest. He had now broken into the seventh row. Another one of the Fury Guards died.

Thales watched all of this with his eyes wide and mouth agape. He watched as the bare-handed Arracca snatched an enemy’s blade with bold momentum as well as instinctive battle skills, and broke through the interception of countless opponents.

‘Could it be… This is the “Knight of Honor” that the deceased from my past life talked about?’

Amid the assault of the Kingdom’s Wrath, the Eckstedt light infantry’s line of battle was like a thin piece of paper. It was rapidly being penetrated by Arracca. It was the type of speed one had when training for a run.

“Damn it! Does he never get tired?” Gasping for breath behind Arracca, Wya slit the throat of an enemy who was wailing in distress on the ground. He watched Arracca’s assault in shock. “We have been running all the way and we have not stopped at all!”

“Is this the first time you have heard of his nickname?” Putray snorted softly.

Next to them, Aida pursed her lips. ‘His movements when he faces a large number of enemies and his multiple blows are even smoother than they were five years ago.’

Within a matter of minutes, they had broken through more than twenty lines of defense.

However, the members of the Fury Guards on both sides were still continuously sacrificing themselves.

In his anxiousness, Thales noticed something. ‘Arracca is gritting his teeth harder and harder.

‘He is also gasping more and more for breath.

‘How long can he hold up his… physical strength?’

With a cold expression, Arracca thrust a hammer into its original owner’s face. Pushing away the enemy, who was wailing miserably, he roared and charged at the next person.

It was a fully-armored military officer. He had a frightening double-sided greataxe in his hand.

He was giving out some orders loudly.

‘He seems to be a commander.’ Listening to the military officer’s orders, Thales furrowed his brows and thought to himself.

The Kingdom’s Wrath was a legend.

All of Eckstedt’s soldiers had heard of his nickname, and all legends of the battlefield were related to him.

The body of this frightening man contained the fire and fury of the entire of Constellation.

No one had ever been able to block his assaults.

At least, this was what Liroque heard as the commander of Eckstedt’s light infantry military unit.

Until he too, saw it with his own eyes that day.

Liroque was a Northlander who was six and a half feet in height, and at that moment, he furrowed his brows tightly. Watching Arracca break through half of his military unit like there was no one there at all, Liroque gently stroked his double-sided greataxe. He licked his teeth and looked eagerly at Arracca, who was in front of him.

With Liroque’s supra class abilities, he could have been the leader of a heavy-armored axemen unit. However, those damn heavy armors were just too expensive. Besides… he preferred being a commander.

Many warriors would lose their reason when driven by blood lust. Only madness would be left. They neglected to defend themselves and lacked resourcefulness.

However, this would not happen to him. Layork knew very well that the truth of the battlefield was not to kill and injure, but to survive.

Liroque took a deep breath and inhaled a mouthful of cold air. He looked at Arracca, who was charging at him, and Thales, who was on Arracca’s back. He then looked at the Fury Guards on both of Arracca’s sides and flashed a little smile.

‘I have found your weakness.

‘The Kingdom’s Wrath.’