The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon-Chapter 318: The Empires Blade (6)

There was hardly a path to follow, yet Leandro saw tracks leading straight toward the forest's center. Perhaps they were here to hunt Garbera. Not that he had any intention of yielding his revenge.

Leandro quickened his pace, gliding through the woods until he reached the snares of his second domain. Thin wires strung across the snow meant to trigger traps. He felt armed figures lying in wait, hidden among the forest-covered thickets.

Leandro made no effort to hide his presence. Since he intended to confront them anyway, it'd be easier to reveal himself. They'd focus on him, brandishing their weapons, and their killing intent would betray their exact positions.

With a soft crackle, snow fell from brittle branches. Brushing the powder from his shoulders, Leandro strode forward openly, crushing their malice beneath his feet as if it were no more than snow. He expected the traps to spring, but instead, the ambushers revealed themselves all at once.

They wore masks of butterflies, lions, and other beasts, their jaws still visible. Leandro already knew where they were, but he felt a single breath of dread when they all emerged in perfect unison.

Some bore greatswords, maces, iron claws, and a twin-bladed halberd. One even wore gloves tipped with sharpened steel talons. Yet their rhythm was flawless, breath aligned as one. They were more disciplined than any knightly order Leandro had faced before.

It felt as though even the forest itself was pressing in. Instead of retreating, Leandro stepped into the center of the pressure, grasping his sword.

The air grew colder than the snow itself. Their courage faltering, the six ambushers felt a sudden urge to flee.

"As expected... a man worthy of our master's notice," said a red-eyed woman with a twisted grin, her halberd glinting.

Snow gathered on her unkempt gray hair, only to melt at once. Shadows deepened across her crooked features.

That woman alone managed to shake free of the pressure. Still, Leandro knew if he faced her strike even once, she'd fall within his domain range.

She kept talking. "Nineteen years old? Truly? You—"

Kkaang!

Before she finished her words, Leandro surged forward and slashed. Purpose, identity—none of it mattered. Such things could be asked after the fact.

"Hey!" the woman shrieked, blocking desperately with her halberd.

However, she failed to deflect the blow and went tumoring through the snow, hair scattered wildly. At once, a greatsword and a mace swung from either side.

"Out of my way."

The killing intent in Leandro's voice made them falter. He pressed on, stomping down on the halberd-woman's leg, snapping the bone.

"Guaaagh!"

Her scream tore the air, her red eyes contorting with agony. As he expected, she had been their anchor. Without her, the formation crumbled. Three more fell in rapid succession. Two remained. Snarling curses, they fired signal flares into the air.

Piiing!

"Damn..."

Both flares soared upward, yet their expressions twisted with resentment, as though furious to have sent them.

Leandro felled them as well, pressing a boot to their chests. "What are you?"

But they gave no answer, only rolled their eyes back in pain.

The reply came from elsewhere. "Uwaaah! Oh my, oh my! Incredible! So young, so strong. Perhaps I should have sent all twelve from the start. These fools! I warned them, but they still rushed in without knowing their place."

The newcomer kicked aside the fallen with careless boots, showing neither respect nor pity.

"..."

They had been formidable in their own right, yet he treated them like toys to be replaced at will.

"Hello there~" the giant sang in a nasal voice, not to appease him, but simply lost in his own amusement.

For a moment, Leandro wondered if such posturing could be called affectation, but he discarded the thought. He was not someone Leandro could afford to lose focus on. Against him, he had to concentrate every fiber of his being.

"You..."

The one Leandro had once crossed blades with in the Blue Lion Knights' training yard. The painted giant. His hair was still well-groomed and adorned with ornaments, but his outfit had changed. A golden cloak now draped his shoulders, the fabric so fine that snowflakes slid from it without leaving a trace. Surely, it was designed to prevent bloodstain, yet no cloak could wash away the stench of slaughter that clung to him.

Leandro tightened his grip on the hilt. He had to cut away even this tension before it consumed him.

Casually, Laura initiated the conversation. "Hohoho, though our meeting was brief, it was fate, wasn't it? I'm so glad you remembered me."

His tone was without a shred of hostility. Indeed, he had not even concealed his approach.

Laura gave him a calm smile. "Since then, I've looked into you a little. You are very intriguing."

"If you had questions, you could have asked me directly."

"Ah, but you left me so suddenly. Do you know how it wounded me?"

A pained look colored his features. Expressive, Leandro thought. Almost theatrically so, like an actor who'd be scolded for overplaying his role. Leandro glanced between him and the masked figures in the snow.

"Your subordinates?"

He nodded, coy and playful. "Yes. I told them to send up a signal first thing. But, haa... I suppose they wanted to test how extraordinary you really were. I nearly missed the show."

Paat!

As Laura finished, six more presences rushed through the snow toward them.

Laura kicked aside the fallen and gestured with his chin. "Carry them away. I'll be staying here with him."

"As you command."

Without hesitation, they hoisted their wounded comrades and withdrew. Not once did they look back, not once did they ask if Laura would be all right. It seemed they could not even imagine him being in danger.

Leandro remained still, watching him. Beyond the forest lay the beast that had killed his mother. Yet this swordsman before him was worth his time.

"You... are the only son of Desery Batyenne, aren't you?"

"That's right."

Laura had been waiting here for him, prepared. Leandro had told no one of this place. Well, with Laura's resources, it couldn't have been difficult.

"You've come for revenge, haven't you? That's the task you spoke of."

Leandro nodded.

"And when it is done? What will you do then?"

"I've never thought about it."

Beyond avenging his mother, Leandro had no purpose. Life had never felt so burdensome that he wished to rest, nor so wearisome that he wished to end it. He had simply grown numb.

"Heheheh... I know the feeling. I too once lived for years with nothing but vengeance burning in my chest."

"You?"

"Oh my, doesn't it suit me?"

Everyone carried some heavy story pressed against their heart. Leandro could not say for certain that this man had escaped without bruises and cuts from his own burdens.

Leandro shook his head. "No, just... did you succeed?"

"Succeed?"

"Did you kill them?"

Laura covered his neatly groomed beard with one large hand and laughed. Yet the expression that crossed his face was different. Leandro could not tell if he was suppressing laughter or stifling pain.

"You'll learn soon enough that true vengeance is something else entirely. I admire your purity, but revenge itself... it is meaningless. Uheheh... kuhuhuhu..."

His grotesque laugh, tinged with a metallic rasp, seeped into the snow at their feet. Leandro paid little attention. Words like those could be found in any book or sermon, and he had no patience for such weary lessons.

Laura's next words forced his eyes wide. "When this is over... why don't we rule the Empire together?"

"Rule... the Empire?"

Laura smiled with satisfaction at the shift in Leandro's expression. "Yes. Whenever you choose, come to me. It need not be now. I'll cultivate you, nurture you. With talent as radiant as yours, I wouldn't hesitate to devote my body and soul."

"..."

"No one loves this Empire more than this maiden. I cannot allow such a treasure as you to slip away." He pressed his long fingers to his forehead, shaking his head dramatically. "Move this land as you wish. Rule with justice. You long for a world where no knight suffers the same fate as your mother, do you not?"

"Just who are you?"

"Hoho... why, I told you. I am Laura."

Shrrk. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He slid backward as if on ice, his presence retreating until it vanished entirely. Had he meant those words? A fierce gust of wind blew upward through the trees, sweeping snow across the ground. The place where Laura had stood was erased in an instant, the storm smothering every trace of their battle.

Leandro raised a hand against the flurry that struck his face. The wind slammed against branches, against the earth, against itself—until all dissolved into the air. Just like that, all evidence of their clash was gone.

Leandro steadied his thoughts and turned deeper into the forest.

***

Ten years of waiting, and yet Leandro felt no tremor of fear. He had envisioned this moment countless times, practiced every step with precision. The bait, scarecrows soaked with a specific scent, had been set. All he had to do left was mask his presence and wait.

Epheta leaves and Breras berries. A storm would be enough to stir Garbera, dragging it from slumber. It'd come for this lure even if it were at the farthest edge of the forest.

Kurururuk...

The ground quaked. Beneath the snow, tangled vines writhed upward, spreading along the barren winter trees. The snow upon the earth receded. The wind died, and even the pale light was extinguished. Darkness fell from the heavens.

Kururuk... kururuk...

From the black sky descended a colossal vine-centipede. Even without its full length, the portion hanging downward was the size of a barge.

Leandro froze when he saw it. It was too small.

Kurururuk...

Garbera was a monster born of corpses, of everything it devoured and absorbed into its vines. It grew endlessly, swelling larger with every kill—wrapping, consuming. Even in death, its unseen roots remained, preparing for rebirth.

If it had been resurrected, it should have been large enough to swallow a barge whole without opening its jaws.

Leandro watched the vine-centipede seize the scarecrow in its coils, gnawing at it again and again. He was taken aback. He didn't wait ten years to fight such a small, feeble thing. The true Garbera's head should have been a writhing mass of its victims' faces. Yet upon this one, there were only a few pale white circles, no larger than a hand.

The vines clutched the scarecrow and began to climb upward. Leandro could not wait any longer.

Fwoosh.

Twenty steps away, blue flame ignited along his blade. The still air drew inward, sucked into its edge. This was a secret technique forged not to kill men, but to vanquish demons large enough to crush men in their fists and devour them whole.

Kururuk?

Sensing something amiss, Garbera raised its head. Leandro's gaze already burned with the fire of a reaper.

Bzzt!

The surrounding darkness collapsed inward, feeding the blade until it blazed. Blue lightning shot downward, then rebounded, ripping open the blackened sky.

Krrraaaaaaagh!

The vines shrieked as the bolt tore through them, burning white-hot. Then, it crumbled into ash and fell into the snow. As the creature tried to flee, lightning speared upward from the ground, severing its limbs. Trees snapped, and the earth split apart as the storm ravaged the forest.

Kurururuk...

The nineteen-year-old Leandro stood before its half-charred body. As he split the core, his gaze wavered with unease. "This isn't right..."

Leandro's father had collected every book written about Garbera. He knew its lore well. To measure its age, all one had to do was count the series of rings within its core. Each ring meant ten years.

And the mark revealed by his blade was none. Not a single ring. It was smooth and empty.