"Get out of the way!"
When Dick saw the malformed arms on the two Abominations' backs swing backward, he knew what they were about to do.
Thick black chains covered in barbs wound around the arms on these monsters' backs, each ending in a vicious hook sharpened on all four sides. Never mind getting hooked in the body-even a graze from those blades would render ordinary armor useless against an Abomination's terrifying strength.
Worse still, every Abomination seemed to have been given a passive spell like "Quick Aim" by the Necromancers. Their hooks flew fast and true, and ordinary people could scarcely dodge those lightning-fast attacks. When Abominations were close to death, they also often chose to unleash all the plague inside their bodies and swing their hooks wildly around them as weapons.
Against that propeller-like attack, getting close was impossible unless one could sever the thick iron chains with a sharp weapon. Thus, when experienced Warriors faced Abominations, their first targets were invariably the malformed limbs on their backs.
Dick had noticed this, but he was too far from the Abominations' target-Erigor, who was charging at the very front. Seeing that their hooks were already flying, Dick gritted his teeth and hurled the Fire of Justice in his hands at Erigor.
Driven by Dick's current peak strength of 100, the massive warhammer struck the Paladin before the coldly gleaming hooks could reach him, knocking Erigor away. The two whistling hooks missed and struck the wall behind him, burying themselves deep in the stone. As the Abominations pulled backward, the sturdy city wall cracked and groaned, raising an immense cloud of dust like a collapsing house.
Dick had no time to check Erigor's injuries. He lunged at the two Abominations empty-handed. Losing the Fire of Justice had drastically reduced his combat strength, but fortunately, he had already changed classes, so he could bring out his other weapon now.
Whoosh!
Darion, who had been stunned by that blow, watched Dick charge at the two unstoppable Abominations. Dick leaped high, and amid a burst of Holy Light, a blue-and-red two-handed greatsword appeared in his empty hands. The instant this deadly weapon appeared, the Abominations, which had intended to continue attacking, turned their attention to Dick.
But Dick had already finished gathering his strength. After 2,800 years, Strom'kar, the artifact known as "The Warbreaker," truly faced an enemy for the first time. Dick could even feel waves of humming coming from the sword. It was excited, it was ravenous, it was roaring, it was howling madly-it yearned to reap its opponents' souls!
This was an artifact that belonged on the battlefield. Although Dick could feel Strom'kar rejecting him, its hunger for victory temporarily united this self-aware artifact with Dick's will.
Strom'kar even lent Dick its power. Madness, bloodlust, wildness-even with only one man and one sword, they would carve their way through heaven and earth!
This was the battlefield killing intent contained within Strom'kar.
A blue arc of light blossomed from Dick's hands as he landed. Without even stopping, he passed the first Abomination and unleashed another heavy slash at the bone battle-axe the second Abomination had raised.
Clang!
The two weapons collided. Dick staggered back three steps, his face turning pale. The terrible impact left him dizzy and his hands numb, but the second Abomination fared even worse. Its heavy battle-axe was torn down the middle, and most of its arm was ripped apart along with it by Strom'kar's unleashed ferocity.
"Aaargh!"
The second Abomination took a step backward, foul blood spilling everywhere. Then its ugly eyes saw its companion-the companion that had stood motionless since the beginning. Its enormous upper body slid smoothly off its lower half.
Most of its body, amid an eruption of green plague,
crashed to the ground. An instant kill with a single blow!
Strom'kar's first display of its edge gave the watching Paladins absolute confidence in victory.
"Hurrah!"
They shouted and threw themselves into battle with even greater ferocity. But while everyone was caught up in excitement, the experienced Erigor grabbed the arm of Darion, who was trying to help him up as he coughed blood.
"The warhammer! Give... give him back the warhammer! He... needs that warhammer!"
"What?"
Darion was a little dazed. Looking at the Abomination that had been killed in one blow, he asked in confusion,
"But Dick looks much stronger with that sword!"
"No! That isn't a weapon a Paladin can control! Cough... its power is different from the Holy Light. Dick can't control it perfectly. Only this warhammer suits him best! Go!"
Watching Erigor brace himself against the wall and stand up on his own, Darion gritted his teeth, lifted the warhammer in both hands, and ran toward Dick. That battlefield was dangerous. With Darion's strength, before he had even formally become a Paladin, the slightest brush from an Abomination would mean certain death!
But he went anyway. Although Darion had never performed as well as his older brother Renault, and could not even complete a Paladin's basic martial training, this was certainly the first time he had felt the fervor of battle. Weak as he was, as he moved through the dangers lurking throughout Stratholme, the valor and passion of the battlefield his father so often described to them settled over Darion at that moment.
The blood of the Mograine family flowed in him-the blood of champions, a bloodline that existed only on the battlefield. So even though his face was deathly pale with fear, he still dragged the warhammer toward Dick.
Dick was having a miserable time himself. After its outburst, Strom'kar craved the lowly life of the Abomination before it with even greater wildness. Unfortunately, its wild power was incompatible with both the Holy Light and the order power within Dick. In his hands, this eternal sword of offense could actually only be used for defense.
Dick was deeply dissatisfied, and the unruly Strom'kar was even more so. Time and again, it slipped out of Dick's control to leave wounds on the Abomination's body, but the price was that Dick had already been struck four times. Had he not brought all his Holy Power to bear, he would certainly have been gravely wounded.
Just after he struggled to block a sweeping blow from the Abomination's scythe, Dick heard a voice like heavenly music.
"Dick, catch!"
The warhammer spun through the air. Without looking back, Dick reached out with his left hand, and the Fire of Justice landed in his palm. But just then, another attack from the Abomination descended. Dick could only thrust Strom'kar out to block it. That blow knocked Strom'kar straight out of his hand, sending it flying through the air to plant itself directly in front of the stunned Darion.
Worse still, just as Dick prepared to counterattack, an even thicker chain flew from behind the Abomination on the other side and hooked precisely around the Fire of Justice's haft. The next instant, tremendous force traveled into Dick's hand, sending him flying toward the outer edge of King's Square like a radish being uprooted.
There, an even larger Abomination had already raised its coldly gleaming battle-axe, ready to deliver a heavy blow to the flying Dick.
"Heh heh... Ramstein... wants meat!"
Meanwhile, after Dick flew away, the heavily wounded Abomination lost its target and naturally turned its attention to Erigor on the other side. This Paladin was the strongest person present. Without the Fire of Justice, even Dick was no match for him.
But the blow Dick had used to rescue Erigor had left him lightly wounded, and one arm still hung at his side. In this condition, he could rely on the Holy Light to cut down ordinary troops, but he had no ability to fight an elite creature like an Abomination head-on.
Yet just as the Abomination opened its huge mouth and hurled the hook from its back, a still-young figure suddenly stepped in front of Erigor, who was prepared to face death, with a sword in hand.
It was Darion. The boy's arms were still trembling, but he held that ancient blue-and-red greatsword up in both hands like a shield, standing in front of Erigor.
At that moment, stubborn defiance shone in Darion's eyes. He knew the only possible outcome of standing here was being knocked away. He had seen the power of that hook just now. He might even die. Yet at that moment, Darion still stood in front of Erigor.
Because he knew that this experienced old knight was the only person who could turn the battle around. If he fell, this one Abomination would certainly crush the defensive line the knights had fought with all their strength to build.
That was something Darion could not bear.
He was afraid.
He was terrified.
His whole body was trembling.
But he stepped forward anyway. Had the demanding Alexandros stood here, he surely would have felt heartened by this outburst from his cowardly youngest son. He truly was a child with Mograine blood flowing through his veins.
But a gulf in strength could not be overcome by passion alone. The moment the hook touched Strom'kar, Darion suffered a crushing impact. Like a basketball punched away by a fist, he flew backward in an instant and slammed into the wall.
Erigor's and the Paladins' furious shouts followed, but Darion sat on the ground, his entire body feeling as though it had fallen apart. Blood flowed from his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears-signs of severe damage to his internal organs. Yet he still clutched the sword in his hands.
"Cough... Father... I did... it! I..."
Humm!
The humming of the earth sounded in Darion's ears. He opened his eyes, only to find himself on a chaotic battlefield. It was a battle between human knights and a Troll army, the likes of which he had never seen. One figure, a tall figure wearing a crown, remained on the front line throughout. Wherever he went, the fearsome Trolls fled, wailing.
Wait, that sword! That sword!
He recognized it!
Darion looked down at his left hand. He was holding Strom'kar, its entire blade radiating blood-red light. When he came to his senses, a man radiating the glow of a soul stood before him.
It was the very king who had been cutting down Trolls earlier. With the greatsword on his back, he gazed at Darion. Under that piercing, scythe-like gaze, Darion lowered his head.
The next instant, a ringing voice sounded in his ears.
"You... are you the one who will inherit my weapon?"
"No... no... I'm not..."
"Are you ready to set foot on this wild path? Are you ready to become a true Warrior?"
"I..."
"Then go back. You are still only a child..."