The Genius Archer Who Became a One-Man Army

Chapter 3

Pawab!

Lian, who had leapt off the ground, gripped the spear’s shaft with his left hand and placed his right palm on the tip of the spear.

And the moment he leaped over the bushes, he saw the twisted, hideous form of the beastmen crouching on the ground.

“ANJDI TMQRUR!”

“vlg-!”

Thwack!

The beastmens were startled by Lian’s sudden appearance and scrambled to get up.

However, the reaction was somewhat delayed due to the dirt and gravel covering their bodies.

Thwack!

At that moment, Lian’s spear pierced the neck of the beastmen furthest to the left.

Despite the lack of strength, the precise attack to a vital spot left the beastmen dead on the spot without a chance to react.

“Hua!”

Then Lian, pulling out his spear, immediately placed his right palm on the tip of the spear.

Although it was just a technique he had seen from afar,

Whoosh!

He spun the spear’s shaft with his left hand as he pushed the tip with his right palm.

The spear extended out like a rotating javelin and pierced the chest of a beastmen in front of him.

Thunk!

With a dull thud, the beastmen, holding a large sword, fell to the ground.

“Cough!”

Then, spitting blood, the beastmen’s hand holding the sword fell down. However,

‘So shallow…!’

Damn it, despite using some technique, it was impossible to kill the adult beastmen with a single blow.

Lian had precisely stabbed the left chest, but the pierced beastmen dropped its sword and grabbed Lian’s spear with both hands.

“ZNFMTK-!”

And as the beastmen shouted something, a young beastmen beside it charged at Lian with a menacing glare.

The beastmen raised the large sword and brought it down towards Lian’s head.

Pawab!

But at that moment, Lian let go of the spear and rolled on the ground.

The beastmen’s attack barely missed Lian, slicing through the air.

“Krrrk-!”

Boom!

Finally, the beastmen with the spear in its chest fell backward.

Fortunately, there was only one scouting group of beastmens.

“Kaaaaah!”

But the remaining beastmens charged at Lian, screaming as they lost their weapons.

“Ugh!”

Lian screamed and reached out to the beastmen climbing over him.

The beastmen attempted to strike Lian’s face with the sword it was holding.

But,

Crack!

“Ugh!”

The moment the sword was thrust towards his face, Lian instinctively grabbed the beastmen’s sword with both hands.

His palms split open as he gripped the blade, and the blade slid across his face.

“Aaaaah!”

“Grrr!”

The fight continued between Lian and the beastmen, with the beastmen’s weight pressing down on the sword while Lian struggled to hold on.

‘Am I going to die like this…?’

Blood continued to fall onto his face, and his hands trembled with effort.

He knew he couldn’t hold out much longer.

“Aaaaah!”

Lian pushed the blade aside and turned his head in the opposite direction.

Thwack!

At that moment, the beastmen’s sword narrowly missed Lian’s face and struck the ground instead.

“WNRUQJFLREK-!”

And as the beastmen began to pull the sword back out,

Crack!

“Snap-!”

Lian smashed the side of the beastmen’s head with a stone he had picked up.

In the moment when the beastmen’s eyes glazed over and it was briefly stunned,

“Aaaaah!”

Lian flipped over and pinned the beastmen to the ground.

Thud! Thud! Crack! Thud! Thud!

Lian continued to strike the beastmen’s head with the stone without rest.

When the blood spattered and the beastmen’s body lay still,

“Huff, huff, huff!”

Lian breathed heavily.

“…Damn it, this is messed up.”

Looking at the beastmens, they seemed like rookies.

It was frustrating to find himself in this situation after ambushing three novices.

Lian looked at his trembling hand.

Only now did he feel the pain from the wounds on his palm.

He frowned at the dirt and sand-smeared injuries. But there was no time to linger.

‘I need to get back quickly…!’

Lian took the sword from the dead beastmen and hastily attached it to his belt, picking up the spear and the beastmen’s head and hurriedly started moving.

If there were more of their comrades nearby, he would be in a dire situation.

Thud!

But his tense body stumbled over a rock and fell.

‘Damn it all.’

Getting back up, Lian started running towards his team again.

It was a grueling uphill climb, but,

‘But I made it…!’

He felt as light as if he could fly, despite the exhaustion.

* * *

“Where the hell is that bastard going?”

Lian had disappeared from view, having gone as far as the end of the opposite gorge.

‘That son of a bitch… I’ll give him a good beating when he gets back.’

Starting from climbing the steep gorge to acting alone, there was nothing to like about the situation.

Tauran was waiting for Lian to return so he could give him a good scolding. But then,

“Squad Leader Tauran!”

Someone shouted from below, and Lian’s figure became visible again.

There was still a considerable distance, but they could see each other with the naked eye.

“Lian, that bastard!”

Tauran ran down to where Lian was and shouted.

He felt he wouldn’t be able to quell his anger without slapping him at least once.

As Tauran quickly descended to Lian’s location, he saw something in Lian’s hands.

“Tauran! It’s an ambush!”

“What is that…?”

For a moment, Tauran squinted at what Lian was holding.

Something from which red blood was dripping.

“Eek!”

Realizing that it was a human head, Tauran collapsed to the ground in shock.

Seeing this, Lian had a dumbfounded expression.

‘What the hell, this guy?’

Was he really that frightened just by seeing a human head?

“…Sigh.”

Well, what could he expect from a rookie squad leader?

With a small sigh, Lian adjusted his expression and ran over to Tauran.

“Tauran, it’s an ambush!”

“Wh-where did you… No, did you fight?”

Only then did Tauran notice Lian’s disheveled appearance.

He was covered in dirt as if he had rolled on the ground, and his face and hands were smeared with blood.

Lian nodded.

But Lian, seemingly unconcerned, lifted the head of the beastmen he was holding.

“We need to report back quickly. There’s an ambush at the end of the gorge, and we’ve roughly assessed their numbers.”

“How many are there?”

“I’m not sure, but it’s possible there are more than our army.”

“….”

Tauran’s expression hardened at those words.

Believing the new recruit’s words without question was risky, and taking a scouting party to the end of the gorge was frightening because of the potential for combat.

But what really pressured Tauran was something else.

That all this credit would go to the new recruit, Lian, who did it all by himself.

But at that moment,

“Thanks to you, Tauran, we discovered the enemy’s ambush.”

“…What?”

“You sent me to scout the end of the gorge. It’s not common to scout that far… you must have a lot of experience.”

Tauran’s expression brightened immediately.

“That’s right? Haha, it’s thanks to your good work.”

“Then we should hurry back.”

“Yes, let’s go!”

With Tauran’s words, Lian and the scouting team hurried back to the main unit.

* * *

“Hey, did you hear?”

“What did the new guy do?”

The atmosphere in the 3rd platoon was different from usual.

This was because the new recruit who went out on a scout had brought back significant results.

“They say he ran to the end of the gorge?”

“Crazy, how far is that to run?”

“I mean, honestly, you can get there if you try. The Pellon Gorge isn’t that long.”

“That’s true. But to scout the gorge and go that far, that’s unheard of.”

Soldiers with some experience threw in their thoughts as they grasped the current situation.

They wanted to ask Tauran directly,

“Just leave him be. He’s not in a good mood.”

Bark said, looking at Vector, the leader of the 6th squad, who was looking at the barracks.

Although he led the scouting team, only Lian was called to the emergency meeting.

It would naturally hurt his pride as a squad leader.

“What on earth is taking this meeting so long?”

They could only look at the barracks used for the emergency meeting.

“These are indeed the tattoos of the beastmens.”

The tattoos on the face of the head Lian brought back were unique to the beastmens.

Although the tattoos varied between tribes, it was clear that this head belonged to the beastmens.

“An ambush at the end of the gorge?”

Captain Raymond of the Eagle Company felt a chill run down his spine.

It was entirely unexpected.

“Approximately how many?”

“…I’m sorry, I can’t give an exact number. But in my personal opinion, it could be comparable to our army, or perhaps more.”

“On what basis?”

“The beastmens usually fight based on overwhelming numbers. Additionally, when I identified the swaying bushes in the windless plains, I could see the entire area where the gorge ends and the plains begin. So… if they’re ambushed at a proper distance, their numbers could match ours, or if densely packed, they could exceed ours.”

They already knew that there were nearly five hundred ambushing beastmens.

But he couldn’t simply state that number.

‘A new recruit wouldn’t have the ability to see all that.’

He should just report what he saw accurately. That would be enough for a new recruit with some interest in military matters.

First platoon leader Brian clicked his tongue.

“There’s no need to pay attention to a new recruit’s opinion. It’s impressive he found the enemy’s ambush, but any further information is meaningless.”

“That’s right. It’s more important to send a new scouting party to the end of the gorge for proper confirmation.”

Following the words of the 1st platoon leader, 5th platoon leader Teloal added his thoughts.

But the captain, looking as if he was contemplating, glanced at the map spread on the table.

An ambush in the widened plains where the gorge ends.

There, a large number of troops could indeed hide in a fan shape.

And seeing this,

‘This could be…?’

Lian didn’t know much about Raymond.

Raymond died in the first battle of the Pellon Gorge.

After that, Eagle Company was disbanded and merged into another unit, so there was no way to know about Raymond.

But now, seeing Raymond, something familiar overlapped.

“Uh, Captain.”

“…Hm?”

“A new recruit shouldn’t interrupt while officers are talking!”

Brian raised his voice slightly when Lian interrupted. But Raymond raised his hand to stop him.

His gaze was fixed on Lian.

“What is it? Speak.”

An earnest look.

Despite knowing it was reckless, Lian spoke to him.