As they pushed deeper into the territory of the Kingdom of Cameliard, the air grew heavier and heavier with the damp stench of blood and the smoke of burning fires.
On the outer front lines of Cameliard's royal castle, a scene no different from hell itself had already unfolded.
Boom!Boom!
The source of the massive tremors shaking the earth was the giant army that the Kingdom of Nogales prided itself on.
Each time those enormous monsters roared, wielding crude iron maces and giant wooden clubs the size of wagons, Cameliard's defensive lines were scattered like dry leaves.
Behind them came the brutal warriors of Ireland and the Vikings of the north, charging forward with thunderous battle cries. The overwhelming mass of that army of ten thousand was already on the verge of swallowing Cameliard's front whole.
And even that was not their full strength. Only half of the ten thousand—five thousand—were fighting, while the remaining five thousand stayed to the rear, keeping the neighboring kingdoms in check.
"Do not yield! Knights, if this place falls, we lose both our home and the princess! Lock your shields together and endure!"
Cleodalis, the white-haired veteran who served as both the chief steward of Cameliard's royal castle and the supreme commander of its army, raised his sword high.
His entire body was already soaked with the blood of his enemies and his own sweat, and the hand gripping his sword trembled violently.
Under his seasoned command, Cameliard's soldiers were somehow holding the line by throwing away their lives one by one, but to anyone watching, there was no hope of victory.
Before the monstrous strength of those savage beast-men and giants, even the stratagems of a veteran of countless battles were rendered powerless.
Inside the royal castle, in the hastily assembled command post, a fierce argument among the knights had reached its peak.
"Commander! The southern corner of the wall has already collapsed under the giants' maces! It's only a matter of time before the gate is breached!"
Knight Bertole cried out, tearing off his helmet with a face drained white. Deep despair and fear clouded his eyes.
"Rather... rather than this, we should declare surrender to King Rience even now and secure our safety! That may be the last act of chivalry left to us if we wish to protect the innocent people and the royal house of Leodegrance!"
"What insane nonsense are you babbling, Bertole?!"
At those words, the young knight Guiomer, who was also Princess Guinevere's cousin, flew into a rage and half-drew his sword.
"You would have us kneel to that monster?! Rather than surrender to that sadistic tyrant who cuts the beards from conquered kings and makes cloaks from them, I would sooner die nobly with a sword in my hand! We fight to the death, and nothing else!"
Guiomer's brother, Knight Sinados, also glared at Bertole and joined in.
"Calm yourself, Guiomer. But Bertole, I cannot overlook such defeatism from you. The defensive Magecraft laid upon the gate and the main walls is still serving its purpose well enough. The enemy's assault is fierce, yes, but the core of our knightly order still stands. If we endure, then there is surely still a chance to turn this battle around!"
Bertole pounded his chest in frustration.
"Do you think I say this because I want to? I, too, offer this as a knight's last resort, with my heart torn apart, for the sake of the lord I swore loyalty to and for the sake of this kingdom! Just look at the numbers of those Vikings and giants from beyond the sea!"
At that moment, Sir Garo and Sir Gi, two more of Guinevere's cousins, stepped up beside Guiomer and struck their shields heavily.
"Bertole, I understand your loyalty, but we stand with Guiomer. As knights of Cameliard, we will do no more than swing our swords until the final moment and fall."
"That's right. Cameliard's pride is to break before it bends."
The knights steeled themselves, but Bertole pointed beyond the walls and cried out in anguish.
"Pride alone won't stop those giants! Look! Even the magical barriers on the gate and walls are reaching their limit—they're on the verge of collapse!"
Crash!
Just as he said, a giant siege ram slammed into the gate, and the hideous sound of cracking rang through the entire castle. It was the very moment Cameliard's end drew right up before them.
Then, from the flank of the battlefield, a sudden storm and a towering spray of water crashed into the right mobile division of Nogales's army.
"Out of the way, you worthless little runts!!"
KRAAASH!!
A massive invisible slash of wind tore through the air and swept away Nogales's vanguard in one blow.
Dozens of armored soldiers were hurled into the air with their bones shattered, and at the same time, the gigantic water-blade Caenis summoned by striking the ground surged like a tsunami, completely cutting through and drowning the enemy's flank formation.
Standing tall at the center of the battlefield, Arthur raised Caliburn and shouted boldly to the Heroic Spirits.
"Everyone! Wipe out every last one of those bastards! Compared to the scale of the East, ten thousand is downright adorable! Go on and raise hell in the most spectacular way you can!!"
With that command, Arthur unleashed the dragon's fury of Pendragon and charged into the heart of the front lines like a falling meteor.
"Kahahaha! Time to crack some skulls!!"
Caenis burst into mad laughter and swung her trident, while beside her Penthesilea charged into the enemy ranks with battle spirit blazing from her body.
Where the two warrior women passed, limbs were crushed and shields shattered to pieces, as though the battlefield itself had become a butcher's block.
The Vikings rushed them with axes raised, but a single bare-fisted punch from Penthesilea punched straight through armor and chest alike, killing them instantly.
Then, with a shriek that seemed to tear the sky apart, Oda Nobunaga came gliding through the air as though riding atop her massive matchlock gun.
Hundreds of matchlocks lined up behind her back.
Looking down at the giant who had been trying to smash down the wall, Nobunaga slowly curled her red lips into a grin.
"In front of me, those oversized idiots are nothing but giant stationary targets!"
When she snapped her fingers, dozens of matchlocks aimed at a single point all at once.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Precisely guided magical bullets pierced straight through the giant's huge temple and blasted out the other side.
Splurt!
Struck directly by bullets imbued with the concept of anti-Mystery, the giant's brain burst apart before it could even scream, and it toppled like a rotting ancient tree.
Everyone on the battlefield was stunned by the sight of a giant—one that had terrified Cameliard's army—dying instantly from nothing more than a girl's casual point of the finger.
And that was not all. In the rear, a maddeningly beautiful and deadly spectacle of Magecraft began to unfold.
With the gentle yet chilling smile of the fairy Vivian, Morgan spread vast Magecraft of mud and mist across the air.
As Medea deployed a magic circle through High-Speed Divine Words, the combined Magecraft of the two witches descended upon Nogales's rear forces.
Thud!Thud!
Morgan's crushing pressure Magecraft intertwined with Medea's spatial binding Magecraft, forcing hundreds of Irish warriors and Saxon soldiers to collapse where they stood.
As the earth pressed down on them with dozens of times normal gravity, their movements slowed to such an extreme that taking even a single step became nearly impossible.
Then Merlin's illusion Magecraft of cognitive distortion was added on top of it, and the enemy began mistaking one another for monsters and destroying themselves.
"W-What in the world is happening?!"
From atop the walls, Bertole, who had argued for surrender, Guiomer, who had cried for a fight to the death, and even the battle-hardened veteran Cleodalis all stared down at the battlefield with jaws hanging open.
A mysterious relief force of barely more than a dozen people. And yet in less than ten minutes after their sudden arrival, Nogales's overwhelming imperial army of five thousand had completely lost formation and was being slaughtered one-sidedly.
Thus the flow of battle was utterly overturned beneath the fists of the golden-radiant boy king.
With strength to uproot mountains, with spirit to overshadow the age.
With a single slash from Arthur, countless enemies were cut down and sent flying. Before that monstrous strength, even giants were knocked over in a single blow.
Clang!
A Viking swung down an iron mace, and Arthur blocked it with one raised arm. The Viking stared in horror.
"W-What kind of monster are you?!"
Arthur immediately threw a punch and crushed the Viking's head. Then he swung his sword as Mana Burst exploded from him in a storm, sending enemies flying before they could even resist.
Even the foot of a giant trying to trample him was stopped with one hand. Then, taking hold of that same foot, Arthur lifted the giant into the air, swung it around, and hurled it away.
Boom!
Enemy soldiers died pointlessly, crushed beneath the falling giant.
It was absurd power—strength so overwhelming that he could reverse the course of war all by himself.
The other Servants were extraordinary as well, but Arthur in particular stood out above them all.
In the East there was Xiang Yu of Chu, in the Middle East there was Altera of the Huns, and in the West there was Arthur of Britain.
A peerless champion who could destroy a nation single-handedly stood here now in the flesh.
"So that is the heir of Pendragon. King Arthur."
Watching him from afar, Guinevere's eyes shone with wonder. Before her, a new myth was unfolding.
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