Former General Is Undead Knight

Volume 2, Chapter 6: Unicorn’s Horn③

Although Talmiya had readied her double-edged knife to launch another barrage of attacks on Clown, she had no choice but to back down upon learning that Robin Hood was assisting Clown from afar.

Such a judgement would mark her as a failure in a normal situation.

Talmiya was known as the fastest member of 『Dancing Sword』. Typically, she could avoid arrows that came from the front.

However, she instinctively felt that doing the same against Robin Hood was tempting fate.

All he did was set his bow, and yet, Talmiya felt that the area within Robin Hood’s range had been transformed into a death zone.

Robin Hood took his eyes off Talmiya and guided his horse toward Clown, who stood with a dumbfounded look on his face.

「You go circling around them! Hold back their leader! You and you, split their group in two while keeping a watch on their non-combatant. Kill the weakest amongst them! I’ll cover you guys with my arrows! Is that clear? Make sure you’re not holding back after coming this far, and put your life on the line!」

The dampened morale of the masked men of 『Slaughterer Circus Troupe』, whose numbers had dwindled to eight from the original forty, regained their momentum upon hearing Robin Hood’s order.

They swung their swords at 『Dancing Sword』 with renewed vigor.

It was such a precise order.

The only way to destroy 『Dancing Sword』 was to isolate Fando from the other members and use that chance to destroy the other members.

As long as they could isolate Fando from the rest of the party, the next thing to do was to lure them by aiming for Legge, the perception-type magician and non-combatant member.

『Dancing Sword』 had the choice to abandon Legge, but doing so would only cause suspicion and disturb their formation.

That was why crushing the other members was easy as long as they could achieve those two objectives.

The movements of the masked men changed tremendously with a clear, precise order.

Such changes weren’t limited to their own, individual movement.

Again, such an order was meaningless unless it was precise and everyone was willing to follow it to a T.

And the man who appeared out of nowhere understood Clown’s situation at a glance.

A masked man threw his axe at the back of the swordsman who was guarding Legge, the non-combatant magician.

The axe sunk into the swordsman’s back, breaking his spine.

Two masked men flanked another person, who was shaken by this scene. Like cornered prey, he fell to his knees with a sword sticking out from his abdomen.

He was decapitated a moment later.

「SPLENDID! TRULY WELL DONE! NOW THERE’S ONLY SIX LEFT! FIVE IF YOU EXCLUDE THEIR NON-COMBATANT! VICTORY IS OURS! DON’T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN! DON’T GET IMPATIENT! YOU OVER THERE, STAND BACK A BIT! THOUGH IT’S JUST TEMPORARY, YOU’RE STILL UNDER ME, I WON’T FORGIVE ANY UNNECESSARY SACRIFICES!」

Robin Hood shouted his order.

The masked men regained their morale and ran toward 『Dancing Sword』.

Although 『Dancing Sword』 put up a good fight against forty opponents in the beginning, the addition of Robin Hood to their opponent’s lineup instantly turned the tables against them.

Robin Hood raised his voice, giving his orders while pulling his bowstring. After killing Botom, he had yet to kill anyone else.

「W-Who… the hell are you?」

Clown asked Robin Hood.

How in the hell could he easily turn the tide of battle facing an opponent who could win against greater numbers?

Moreover, it was the order from a man who just happened to pass by.

Robin Hood smiled ear to ear upon hearing Clown’s question. Even Clown, a man, was captivated by that brilliant smile.

Clown came to his senses and shook his head.

「I just raised their morale. Anyhow, how about you do your job properly? Their leader won’t fall that easily.」

Clown had already taken the posture of someone who was trying to run.

Clown had no intention of obeying the mysterious man who came out of nowhere, nor did he want to leave. Thus, he just stood idly there.

Upon hearing Robin Hood’s words, he hesitated a moment and then swallowed.

At this rate, achieving his goal wasn’t a pipe dream. Even though it had yet to be realized, the tide of the battle had already clearly turned in their favor.

Thus, Clown readied his knife and made a beeline toward 『Dancing Sword』.

In that moment, a giant man clad in full-plate armor entered the battlefield from the opposite side of where Robin Hood appeared.

「What in the world is this commotion? Those clothes… a bandit attack?」

Robin Hood squinted his eyes, glaring at the man in armor.

The former instantly recognized that the latter was by no means an ordinary person due to his voice.

The word “strong” was basically etched on every single part of the latter’s body.

「A third party, huh… You over there! Stop targeting those people and focus on that armored man. KILL HIM FIRST! Clown, use your prided speed to strike him from behind!」

Half of the eight total men moved in accordance with Robin Hood’s order to surround the man in armor.

Clown used his agile and nimble body to leap into the tree branches, circling around behind the armored man.

The four masked men stood outside the range of the armored man, stabbing their weapons to restrict his movement.

In the next moment, two spurts of blood sprayed into the sky.

They were confused; they should’ve been outside of the armored man’s attack range.

But of course, taking a simple large stride, the armored man reaped the lives of the two masked men in front of him.

The reason why his weapon seemed to become longer was because his movement was simply too fast, so much so that it gave the illusion of a longer sword.

The remaining masked men who chose to surround the armored man trembled in fear. They fell on their rears and gripped their weapons, unable to understand what just happened to their comrades.

「Though your appearance, attire, and skill seem to be different from theirs, are you their boss?」

The man in armor ― Lambert — glared at Robin Hood, who gave his command from afar. Lambert ignored the masked men who had fallen on their rears, as if they were not even worth being killed by him.