7 Chapter 7: The Decisive Blow

The moment their weapons clashed, Boris knew he was defeated, as the overwhelming force transmitted through the handle of his axe numbed his entire body.

The Beastmen leader was forced to step back under the force of the impact.

The mercenary leader staggered back several steps, using his axe as support to prevent falling, his palm split open, blood staining his golden beard a crimson hue.

"Ugh..." Boris swallowed the blood in his throat with difficulty and forcibly stood up, ready to fight again. The anxious mercenaries quickly surrounded their leader to protect him.

"Humans... dishonorable, kill them all together!" the Beastmen leader pointed at Boris, now protected by several mercenaries. Boris's face turned an unhealthy red; he motioned the others to step aside—he could still fight!

The mercenary leader lowered his right shoulder, positioned his axe diagonally, and gathered all his strength in his arms, charging once more at the Beastmen leader.

"Whirlwind Slash!"

The Berserker's core battle technique saw the mercenary leader spinning rapidly, clashing once again with the Beastmen leader, who had to retreat continuously to parry the fierce blows.

It appeared Boris was gaining the upper hand, but in reality, he was growing desperate. The Whirlwind Slash drained a significant amount of stamina, and he couldn't maintain it much longer.

Elsewhere, the mercenaries were suffering heavy losses. Their ranks began to falter, and those caught within the Beastmen group were quickly dismembered and devoured, their blood further inciting the ferocity of the Beastmen. Several Horned Warriors broke through the mercenaries' lines, charging towards the female sorceress.

The sorceress looked grim and instructed her protectors, "Cover me."

"Ms. Trovick, you..." A handsome young mercenary clad in finely crafted leather armor, holding a greatsword, looked at her with concern.

"...I need to cast the sixth-tier spell, Blizzard. It requires a lengthy preparation!" Her expression was icy, reluctant to explain further, but realizing the mercenaries were on the brink of collapse, she added quickly.

"They won't last long enough to protect you; a sixth-tier spell requires at least five minutes of chanting. Teresa, do you think they can hold out that long?" A young voice called from behind, startling everyone. When had someone approached them unnoticed?

"Mr. Ryan!" the empire merchant exclaimed joyously. Ryan was clad in full chain mail, wielding a golden warhammer and a single-handed sword on his back, his black hair dusted with snow, and his blue eyes twinkling with a slight smile.

Seeing the kingdom knight's arrival, the sorceress breathed a sigh of relief. "You finally came. Cover me, I'll finish them off!"

"Just you?" Ryan raised his hand, revealing a Horned Warrior's head he was holding. "Beastmen are cunning. They wouldn't think to flank you? The only way now is to kill the Beast King."

Indeed, after inheriting the relics of the old demon hunter, Ryan had also sensed the power of the Demon Rock and rushed to the scene, killing a Horned Warrior that attempted an ambush along the way.

With little time for discussion amid the chaos on the battlefield, where the mercenaries' casualties had already exceeded thirty percent, limbs and corpses were strewn everywhere. The Beastmen, too, had suffered heavy losses; most of the Lesser Horned Beasts that had entered the battle were now dead, and several Horned Warriors had fallen, but their numbers were still greater, and they had reinforcements.

In the cold winter, food was scarce for humans and Beastmen alike.

"I'm going in, cover me with magic!" Ryan hefted his warhammer, giving the sorceress a reassuring look. Reluctantly, she nodded: "Understood."

An Ice Armor spell was cast on Ryan, and after casting several spells in rapid succession, the sorceress's complexion turned pale. Taking a deep breath, she began chanting the Blizzard spell.

On the battlefield, Boris was reaching his limit; his stamina was nearly depleted, and the whirlwind's momentum slowed. The cunning Beastmen leader immediately sensed the human's exhaustion, switching from defense to offense. Boris was forced to retract his axe to block, but the terrifying force from the Beastmen leader's axe sent him flying, crashing into the snow, unable to get up.

Ryan noticed the mercenary leader's defeat and was ready. Pale blue energy gathered in his hands. He touched his warhammer, and the originally golden iron head now glowed red-hot, vaporizing the snowflakes that fell upon it.

This was Ryan's unique ability, taught by the mysterious man—a method of utilizing human brain psychic energy without relying on the magic network. Though Ryan lacked the innate talent for casting spells, he could imbue his weapon with various elemental damages for short periods.

The Beastmen leader quickly targeted Ryan, bellow elling, "Human! Eliminate! Execute!"

"Today it's you beasts who will die!" Ryan charged out from behind a snow mound, leaping high and slamming his warhammer down on the head of a Lesser Horned Beast.

"Thud!" The beast's skull burst open, its brains splattering everywhere. Ryan then swept his hammer sideways, another Horned Warrior instinctively raised its shield to block, but both the beast and the shield were sent flying, crashing to the ground ten meters away. Its chest plate and shield were deeply dented, the body gruesomely mangled, clearly beyond saving.

Two more Horned Warriors roared and charged. Ryan could smell their rank breath as they thrust their poor-quality spears at his shoulders. Ryan barely acknowledged them, his hammer smashing down on one of their heads.

"Sizzle!" The red-hot hammer seared the beast's head, emitting a smell akin to grilled meat. Amidst screams, the creature's head turned into a bloody mess, its spear clattering to the ground.

Ryan dodged another spear thrust with a swift sidestep, broke the spear's tip with his hand, and plunged the broken end into the attacker's skull. With a kick, he sent the beast tumbling away.

In a single round, four Lesser Horned Beasts lay dead by Ryan's hand.

"He's incredibly strong; is this really Mr. Ryan?" The empire merchant's face was a mix of surprise and excitement, while the mercenaries guarding the sorceress nodded in agreement, all but the handsome swordsman who muttered, "What's so great about that?"

"Roar!" Realizing the threat Ryan posed, the Horned Warriors abandoned their clashes with the other mercenaries and charged at him en masse. Undeterred, Ryan gripped his warhammer with both hands, dodged an overhead strike from one beast, then jumped onto its axe, using it as a platform to launch himself up and smash the creature's skull. He used the dead beast's body as a shield against other attacks, taking another life in the process.

The kingdom knight was like a tiger amongst sheep, slaying five Horned Warriors and over a dozen Lesser Horned Beasts in just three minutes.

"Thunder Strike!" Ryan raised his warhammer and slammed it into the ground. The massive shockwave swept over the Beastmen, their heads spinning from the impact, and they staggered back, dazed and fearful. Seizing the moment, Ryan extended his right hand, shifting the warhammer to his left. A strong white light converged into a tangible psychic blade that seemed to grow out of his wrist, emitting a soft white glow.

Ryan spun around, wielding the psychic blade, cutting through the air.

The surrounding Beastmen stood still.

No, not completely still.

Their bodies seemed to shift.

They moved along a perfect straight line.

All the Beastmen around Ryan were bisected at the waist, their agonized howls and struggles echoing across the battlefield. Ryan's chainmail was drenched in their blood, the fetid odor unable to deter the kingdom knight as he continued his onslaught against the remaining foes.

The battlefield dynamics had completely reversed, the Beastmen's morale shattered, even the sturdy Horned Warriors retreating. Ryan's display of combat prowess filled the beasts with dread.

"ROOOOAAAARR!!!" The Beastmen leader, realizing the direness of the situation, abandoned Boris, who was rolling on the ground struggling under its attacks, and charged at Ryan: "Human... knight... die!"

"You're the one who will die!" Ryan gripped his sword, pointing it at the Beastmen leader, knowing the time was nearly right.

"Everyone pull back, the spell is coming!" Boris called out from the ground.

"Blizzard!" As expected by Ryan, as he retreated, the sorceress completed her chanting of the sixth-tier spell—Blizzard.

Hundreds of ice spears formed in the sky, sharpened into lethal prisms. Under the sorceress's command, they shot towards the Beastmen, the power of a sixth-tier spell far surpassing any lower-tier ice spells. Hundreds of ice spears pierced through most of the Beastmen, eliciting wails of agony as their blood was frozen within their wounds, some Lesser Horned Beasts and chaos dogs even having their heads and limbs sheared off.

"Oooooh!" The Beastmen leader knelt on one knee, barely enduring the blizzard's assault, numerous cuts marking its arms and legs, its body retreating in a straight line across the snow.

About a minute later, the magic's force finally ebbed. Most of the Beastmen who hadn't managed to find cover were dead, the Beastmen leader itself frozen within a block of ice.

With the sixth-tier spell expended, the sorceress's face turned pale, her body nearly collapsing.

"Ms. Trovick!" The young mercenary instinctively reached out to support her, but the sorceress swatted his hand away with her staff: "Don't help me! Mr. Banda, I'm not that frail!"

"Uh... yes," the young mercenary named Banda replied, retracting his hand somewhat awkwardly.

Using her staff for support, the sorceress stood shakily. She raised her head, and although the battlefield was now obscured by the blizzard's white fog and smoke, making it difficult to discern the situation, the mercenaries knew that Ms. Trovick no longer had the strength to cast another spell of that magnitude.

From the original forty or fifty in the mercenary group, less than thirty remained, almost all of them wounded except for those assigned to protect Trovick. They looked tensely towards the smoke-covered battlefield.

"It's over! Mr. Ryan is still out there!" Oliver exclaimed, his hands covering his face in despair.

More despair was yet to come.

"AAAAAHHHH! Humans... I want you all... dead!" The sound of ice shattering came from the battlefield. As the smoke cleared, the severely wounded Beastmen leader broke the ice encasing its upper body. Its body was riddled with wounds, most of which had been frozen over, and while its lower body was still firmly encased in ice, many ice spears were embedded in its flesh. Yet, none of this was enough to kill it. With its legs still frozen, it once again raised its great axe, calling for more Beastmen to join the fray.

From the depths of the forest, more Beastmen surged forth.

"Kill... humans!" The Beastmen leader struggled fiercely, cracks forming in the ice encasing its legs.

It was doomed.

"Ms. Trovick, what do we do?" one of the mercenaries asked.

"We still have him," the sorceress said calmly, without a trace of panic, causing everyone to pause.

Him?

"HAHH!!!" Behind the Beastmen leader, Ryan's shout rang out. The kingdom knight leaped high, his sturdy boots crushing the skull of a frozen Lesser Horned Beast. Using it as a stepping stone, he propelled himself forward towards the Beastmen leader.

The Beastmen leader reacted, trying to turn around to block, but its frozen lower body slowed its movements. Before it could lift its axe, Ryan's hammer struck its chest. The red-hot metal head crushed the Beastmen leader's ribcage and seared its chest black.

"AAAAHHHH!!! Humans!!!" Despite suffering such grievous injuries, the Beastmen leader did not die. It grabbed its axe with its right hand and swung it towards Ryan, the blade whistling through the air.

Ryan was quicker. He had already released his hammer, and the white psychic blade reappeared, slashing down and severing the Beastmen leader's right forearm and hand, which fell to the ground along with the crudely made axe. The Beastmen leader screamed in agony, clutching the bloody stump of its arm as blood spurted out.

Yet still, it did not die and continued to struggle, trying to free its legs from the ice to grab its axe with its left hand.

"Hmph!" Ryan spat dismissively, stepping on the Beastmen leader's chest. He grabbed its long horns with one hand, a flash of white light following.

The huge, bloodied head of the Beastmen leader was lifted high by the kingdom knight, who then displayed it to the remaining Beastmen horde: "Who else is there?!"

"Ooooooowaaaaa! Flee... flee... Humans... powerful!" With their leader dead, the Beastmen ranks instantly broke, scattering in panic. They frenziedly ran for their lives, even cutting down their own kind who blocked their escape path, tumbling and crawling back into the depths of the forest.

"We won! We won!" Oliver joyously embraced his guard, Fark, as the mercenaries reveled in their survival.

Cheers filled the forest.

The sorceress finally relaxed significantly and turned around to find the blood-covered Ryan standing behind her.

"It's been a long time, Teresa."

"It has indeed, Ryan."

"Sorry I'm late, I just got back today."