Cavalry is indeed terrifying, but in reality, it’s not that scary at all.
I seem to recall reading or hearing something like that somewhere.
It’s true.
The sight of a single elite cavalryman charging with a spear, his eyes burned by the flash, is nothing short of magnificent. Holding the spear tucked under his arm, it would be an ideal pose for a sketch that shines bright against the backdrop of his armored chest.
Confronted with a dull-colored spear and standing before a galloping horse, one would normally shrink back and be unable to move.
However, this is where the weakness of a cavalryman challenging an infantry soldier one-on-one lies.
If you read the trajectory of the spear and duck your head just so, the deadly tip will rush past in a gust of wind behind you.
That overwhelming speed is indeed a weapon, but it can also be a weakness.
If you manage to avoid the aim like that, your own speed will be such that correcting for it will be impossible.
As we passed each other, I slashed upward from below with the Sword of Desire, severing the cavalier’s arm. The sound of a wailing scream, a stream of flowing blood, and the subsequent noise was likely the sound of the tortured rider falling.
Cavalry are intimidating. When they fully utilize their thrusting power, even the most robust species cannot withstand being swept aside by spear or hooves.
If they charge at you in a line, escaping would likely mean getting caught by someone’s spear or hooves.
Yet, if it’s a lone cavalryman, standing still on the ground is hardly frightening at all.
If you can land an attack while passing by, they become an easy opponent. Their intimidating presence and the speed that elicits a sense of death make calm responses difficult, but if you endure and cool your mind, you can exploit their bluntness and counterattack.
In truth, cutting the horse’s legs to make it fall would be the easiest method—but in doing so, the rider would get caught up in the tumble and die. I have no heart to kill a horse that is being forced into service for the sake of humans.
Above all, considering the aftermath, how could I not be all the more careful?
Wielding the Sword of Desire and shaking off the blood, the cheers heightened by the thrill of battle resonate. I feel a diminishing sense of sanity as the sounds from deep in my brain chip away at my composure, but I have work to do, so I cannot complain. I do not intend to be the kind of narrow-minded person who complains about the cheerful hum of a passenger in the front seat.
Cavalry scatter and come at me from three directions, attempting to surround and kill me. They time their approach to avoid colliding with each other.
To coordinate so perfectly and position themselves with precision in an instant indicates high training.
They are good soldiers. In such a remote area, being trained to this level is far too good to be used for meaningless tasks. Surely, they have honed themselves relentlessly as knights and riders.
Truly, the world is unreasonable.
If there are restrictions from the past, after exchanging the nearest blows, I could fire a shot with the Eastern-style crossbow at my side and dodge the position of the third cavalryman who’s in the way to slash again, but… that might be a bit too leisurely.
“Prepare yourselves, my soldiers, warriors of the sword.”
I activate the spell. My magical power is merely in the “superior” category due to the actual value of my “stored magical power,” and my “instantaneous magical power” is only at “good,” making it painfully inadequate compared to the lavish specialties and racial traits of others.
I am merely a sorcerer. Therefore, even if it sounds somewhat embarrassing or extravagant and would likely elicit laughter, I have no hesitation in using incantations to activate my spells.
Almost simultaneously.
The riders are all thrown off their horses.
By their own swords at their waists.
What I am doing has not changed from the past. Thanks to “multiple coexisting thoughts,” I enact multiple developments of the “unseen hand” in parallel. Extending the range, raising my feeble strength to the level of the average human, and achieving delicate movements through a “third hand” that gives me “tactile sensation.”
Countless “hands” reach out to grab the riders’ swords, drawing them to deliver a strike to their jaws.
One man falls straight back, and the horse loses control and gallops off in the wrong direction. Another tilts and falls, but unfortunately, the right foot’s stirrup has come loose, leaving him dangling and unconscious while being tossed around by his horse. The last one seems to have fallen rather cleanly and is groaning, suggesting he is still conscious.
What a waste. Had they engaged me face-to-face, they could have proven to be quite skilled.
Instead, just like that, they are easily dispatched without understanding what happened. Is this not utterly unreasonable and absurd?
If they had not come here to pick a fight with me, they could have fought under the light.
“Those who carry blades, gather and form your ranks.”
Moreover, the absurdity does not end here.
“Gah!? Aaaaah!?”
The man, who had been crawling from his horse, drops his sword upon being hit by the Sending Wolf. I obtained three swords, and his own weapon also freed itself, borrowed from the three who had been neutralized by the flashy spell of light and booming sound.
Six swords, held by the unseen hands, perform a wild dance before me. Each sword is mentally assigned a number as they slice through the air as if breaking void in practice.
When the odd-numbered swords point up, the even-numbered ones point down, dancing in similar fashion to one side or the other. Then, two swords pair up, crossing the hilts over and spinning around. Finally, the six swords gather before me, tracing a circle, spinning vigorously, and then tilting forward from the hilt to form a cone.
“Gather in line, and stand before the enemy without fear.”
There is significance to this flashy sword display. Magic operates by making phenomena appear just so, reinforcing the “legitimacy” of the twisted occurrences. Here, the long-dead flashy incantation, resplendent spell circle, and extravagantly grand catalyst performances are all for the sake of lightening the resource consumption.
The mages take that as mere showmanship and cowardice and solve it by enhancing their own abilities… but I am a lowly adventurer. I have no need to indulge in the elegance they conceive.
Above all, this scene is terrifying, isn’t it? Engraving fear onto those who witness it will slow their movements and disrupt their fighting spirit.
But, will it end with just “six swords”?
I wait for the formation of the sword array, and now several “thrown spears” rise into view.
As a child, I restricted the unseen hand to just six because it was easy to master at that range. Now, with the income from the “vessel of brilliance,” I can indulge as much as I want… and that number has increased to twelve.
I feel like an adult who can buy card packs or toy figures by the carton now rather than one at a time when saving pocket money. Behold, this is the power of virtue.
The increased arms writhe, and the spears materialize, amounting to the total number of seven fallen cavalrymen.
One more than necessary, but there’s a catch.
The unseen hands are forcefield hands, but they are modeled after real human hands with five fingers.
Why do the hands created by magic take such a form? Simply because a hand shape makes it easier to visualize control. Moreover, most tools are designed based on a structure where there is one thumb and two to four other fingers.
The spell, which may seem unnecessary but is rational in its own way, possesses five fingers for movements identical to a human’s.
If I enhance that with “Giant’s Palm,” I can control up to four spears with one hand, as if a child were playing with chopsticks between their fingers.
The spears lifted by a clenched fist cannot perform complex maneuvers, but merely being a spear wall is enough of a threat. Simply pointing them will halt an enemy’s advance and deflect their weapons.
On top of that, these hands can stretch “as far as my line of sight goes,” and being a forcefield with no physical presence makes it impossible to destroy the “hands” themselves.
Furthermore, the invisible swordsman wraps around a single swordsman, with no obstructive friendly bodies in the way. If one sword holds down an enemy’s weapon, it can strike from areas where it ordinarily wouldn’t be able to attack because they would be obstructed.
What else could this be called if not absurdity?
As a finishing touch, my Eastern-style crossbow and the short bow held by the cavalry are placed in the remaining hands.
Alright, we have six swordsmen, one spear wall, and two archers.
“Advance and slay my enemies!”
With that, the spell is complete.
The output is several actions at once, range and line of sight selection, armor point bypass at will, and reactions are impossible in certain areas, I’d say? A bit modest, but given the resource efficiency, this is about all I can do.
Now, now that I have a combo, I need a name for it. If I recited the name of every skill each time, those lengthy incantations would take too long, potentially dragging on for over two hours in a middle phase.
I had given some thought to the name of the spells I was unveiling for the first time publicly, but no matter how I twisted it, I couldn’t come up with a cool name. Above all, there’s no need to shout it out; as long as I understand it, that’s enough.
So, I named it without any curves: “Knights’ Order.” Though it reads essentially the same as the Sword Friends Association, I believe this truly suits it.
Now, enjoy it to the fullest………….
【Tips】At the Threefold Empire’s Magic Academy, even the outdated incantations are still used by some in the underground.
As the rapidly changing situation unfolds, the cavalry commander was desperately seeking optimal solutions with his mind in a frenzy.
There were already losses to the extent that retreat should be considered, but he understood the meaning of withdrawing here. He could not leave a trace or even a single person behind.
The cavalry’s superiority was already lost. Such “absurd” phenomena he had not been forewarned about were taking place. There was no hint that fallen sword clusters would rise and approach them.
Moreover, no one mentioned that the “golden-haired” one was a sorcerer. Neither his superior nor the information broker, nor even the trivial bardic tales he had checked for good measure.
Yet, shouting to the heavens that he was unaware would not make the swords and spears before him vanish, so he commanded his subordinates to gather and dismount. At this point, it was practically impossible to perform a cavalry charge with spears arranged in formation. The swords and spears formed a wall, and most riders would be thrown off their horses before their spear tips could reach.
Then, there was no choice but to dismount and carve a path with their swords.
Though heavy, the armored suits worn by heavy cavalry are not any different than an infantryman’s armor for a knight who could run around in this equipment and occasionally leap onto a horse. The heavy tactical armor designed to withstand arrows, swords, and spear tips was built with the assumption of dismounted combat.
There were only eight remaining, but their morale had not broken.
Certainly, they did not willingly choose this battlefield, but when determined as necessary, they risked their lives and accepted a mission devoid of glory and safe passage, fully aware of the deathly dangers ahead.
Without a righteous cause, who would accept such a task that involved attacking a manor where innocent people live, even if it was under a filthy noble’s bloodline?
The heavy cavalry that dismounted drew their swords, which had been tied to their saddles, and set their horses free. They would have no way to return if they were caught in combat.
“Form a line!”
With their long two-handed swords, the knights prepared to charge zealously with the disguise of being suited for dismounted combat.
It was a grand farce. They had come to a miserable land on a foolish quest, faced an unexpected formidable enemy, lost over half their forces, and in the end, they had to attempt a reckless charge under an incomprehensible magic.
“Charge!!!”
Holding their swords, they cast away the ridiculousness and threw their lives into the fray. In response to the command, the subordinates, having received painful blows that made one want to cover their eyes, pushed forward without wavering.
The distance to the enemy was far too great. On top of that, just as if mocking them, spears without their bearers obstructed their path.
“Oh! Cut them away! Slip through!”
“Gah!?”
“Ugh… what the hell!?”
The knights who aimed to cut away the protruding spear points pushed through. However, one of the light-armored cavalrymen was stabbed down, and one of the heavy cavalrymen who had cleared away a spear was struck down by arrows from short bows and crossbows that found their way into the gaps in his armor.
Even without points, the cavalry spear wall hurled into the armor without reservation. Furthermore, a grip on the handle could mean losing ground, and by the time they moved forward, all had been heavily drained.
The cavalry spears wrapped around a sturdy iron core, capable of withstanding the cavalry’s charge, are quite difficult to slash through, leaving many swords dulled. Still, if they can navigate the spear forest, they would then face the sheer number of swords set against them.
“Damn it…! Halt! Their movements are monotonous! Knock them down and break them!”
The downward strikes of swords were as monotonous as the spears and demonstrated much easier movements compared to what a human would perform. This would make it simple to fend them off and approach the “golden-haired” one.
But just as I thought it was easy, a wave of intense, heavy killing intent rushed through; my instincts kicked in.
I tilted my sword, deflecting the thrust that was aimed at me, and opened my body to the right. The outward blade would surely graze under the armor plates, which had few weaknesses like the armpits.
The initial strike was a falsehood… No, it was deceitful; that rush of what looked like a crude piece of wood being wielded by an amateur in their swordplay was merely a façade.
Now, the sensations honed over years of the knight’s training led to illusions of the “invisible swordsman” standing at the handle of the drawn sword. In a relaxed stance, it resembled the form of the golden-haired one, gazing down upon the knights in the distance.
Impossible! Does every single one of those swords possess his skill!?
By the time I felt that tremor, it was too late.
A multi-voiced scream echoed, and blood splattered against the armor, the evidence of my subordinates’ defeat.
In seconds, two fell. One had his right hand severed from the gaps of his gauntlet, and the other was cut down at the back of his knees, crashing to the ground. With that, their tendons severed, they could no longer stand.
“Guh… Please, leave!”
Regardless, he grasped the blade meant for the next comrade trying to strike down and held it back. His palm split open under the rough sword, blood oozing out, and deep cracks formed in his flesh, grinding against the bones of his fingers.
“If we can just crush that magic…!”
“Go! Please!”
“Be a shield! Stop that sword! You must cut him down!!”
The man who had lost his right hand drew his concealed sword with his left, while the others desperately held back the swords to create a path.
In a narrow, narrow moment of opportunity, the knight slipped through. The sword nearly grazed across his back armor, throwing sparks, as he stepped over the blood of his downed comrades.
“Prepare yourselves!!”
Though ashamed that he could not raise a proper name, he charged forward with his beloved sword.
“Impressive! I accept your challenge! Come!!”
With an awkward smile, he positioned his weapon, preparing to slice the golden-haired one. Perhaps it was their mutual fighting spirit that charged the magically imbued two-handed sword, shimmering under the moonlight, while an even darker magic sword screamed in ecstasy………………
【Tips】Dismounted combat. When a cavalry charge is deemed no longer advantageous, cavalrymen don armor specifically designed to accommodate dismounted fighting. Particularly, heavy cavalry clad in thick armor remain an undeniable powerful combat force even after dismounting.
If you also fancy armor point ignoring, you’ll surely enjoy range: line of sight selection as well.
Wouldn’t it also be nice to include the inability to react?
