The Extra Wants To Live

Just as Catherine finished on gnoll, another one was rushing towards the imperial soldier's.

Catherine quickly jumped over the imperial soldiers and landed outside the shield wall with movements so light that one would not think she was wearing full plate armor.

Clank!

The strong sound of steel rang in Carl's ears.

Now that a large number of soldiers were standing in good formation and there were no effective obstacles such as barriers, a situation was created where Catherine could focus entirely on killing the enemy.

Bang—!

The moment the gnoll was seen running through the trees, Catherine's figure disappeared from sight along with a loud noise.

The fallen leaves that had shot up from the impact were flying wildly, and by the time they had settled and visibility was clear, the gnolls running at the front had already fallen or were flying away, spouting blood.

Plop—!

The sound of the gnoll's body hitting the tree rang in Carl's ears.

Blood splattered everywhere, and his vision turned red.

It looked like beautiful autumn leaves were blooming on the tree trunks, but the hot, bloody smell gave Carl shivers.

Catherine struck down the gnolls at once from the west, at the head of the procession.

Then, with firm footwork, she turned lightly and began to make a sharp turn north to support the relatively unstable conscripts in the rear.

Okay… The barking sound of the gnoll passed by in vain as the sound of the wind.

It was so fleeting that the gnoll didn't even realize that Catherine's sword had cut its throat as she passed by.

Catherine's swordplay continued to move without stopping, and red blood followed, drawing a fluid line.

It was like scribbling ink with a pen. Then Catherine must have amazing calligraphy.

Death bloomed clearly in the places where Catherine passed.

Whoosh… The swordplay dug into the armpit of the gnoll holding the axe up.

Instead of stabbing deeply and killing it, Catherine passed by and slashed it from the armpit to the back with her sword.

The sword hit its spine, and the gnoll fell to the floor, crying pitifully in embarrassment at its motionless body.

Burbubbuk!

Catherine swung her sword across countless waves of gnolls.

Each time her flexible wrist moved, one death piled up, and the body of the gnoll caught on the shoulder and elbow broke like a piece of rotten wood and flew away.

Catherine, running at incredible speed, made a wide circle and passed southwest where the battle with the gnolls had begun, slaughtering even the gnolls hanging on the shield.

The moment the soldiers felt that something had passed by with a loud noise, they were startled and winced at the sight of blood splattering everywhere.

However, they soon realized that it was Catherine, Carl's knight and an imperial knight, who had killed the gnoll.

"Waaaaaa!"

A belated shout erupted from where Catherine had passed.

The gnolls were still rushing forward without end, but the soldiers' morale soared endlessly due to the incredible force shown by Catherine.

"Oh my god! Duren!"

Hilfin's knights were astonished at the sight and stood tall.

The bravery shown by Catherine made them feel embarrassed to even dare to say that they were the same knights.

It could not be said that it was simply the power of mana. There was an incomparable difference in martial arts alone.

"Whoa!"

After making a circle, Catherine slowed down, conserved her mana, and began killing the gnolls one by one.

A big effort was made to boost morale. If she kept fighting like that, it wouldn't be long before she ran out of mana and became exhausted.

Carl was able to calmly assess the situation because he was protected by Bilford behind the imperial soldiers.

"Concentrate on the front until the second row, and from then on, watch overhead! The gnolls climb the trees!" Carl shouted.

At Carl's shout, the imperial soldiers tightened their formation even more.

As they stood close together, several people naturally fell back, and those who fell back raised their spears to protect their heads.

"Narrow the formation! It will reduce empty space! When you get a pat on the back, take a step back!" Carl instructed.

The imperial soldiers could do it on their own, but ordinary soldiers and conscripts with low training levels could not do the same.

Carl walked around the wide-spread formation, patting the backs of the soldiers who were very nervous, and supporting the soldiers' backs to prevent them from falling while taking a step back, determining exactly how far back they should go.

As Carl moved, Bilford followed behind him, wary of a surprise attack from overhead.

Seeing this, Hilfin's knights, including Bordeaux and Corbin, calmly pushed the soldiers back.

In fact, it was a strange situation that Carl was taking the initiative to do this.

Of course, the middle command rank knights should have stepped forward before Carl made a move.

However, there was no reason for a knight to study tactics through proper combat in Hilfin, a rural fiefdom where only a couple of small monsters appeared.

Just trust your armor and rush in to kill it. That was it.

So, absurdly, Hilfin's knights were concentrating on killing the gnolls with spears and swords until Carl gave them instructions and moved.

There was so little answer that Carl didn't even know what to say.

At least Corbin, who had been fighting for the past month, thought he should focus on command.

However, Carl took command, was oppressed by Catherine, and there was no way that Corbin, a commoner knight who was knighted for the purpose of discarding Bordeaux and other noble knights, could step forward first.

In the end, Carl took command alone while Catherine killed the gnolls.

It was a terrible situation.

But looking at the overall situation, the situation was pretty good.

This was because the soldiers' morale was high, they detected the gnoll's surprise attack in advance, and they met the gnolls in full formation.

Carl patting the soldiers on the back and encouraging them as he passed by was also a great help in keeping their morale from collapsing.

Surprisingly, even the soldiers from Hilfin Castle had no idea what kind of commander Carl was, but with just one speech and encouragement, they became elite soldiers who would not back down.

Carl only thought that the soldiers were following along, but everything seemed clear to Bilford, who was fully focused on Carl for security purposes.

Until now, Bilford had not been able to properly see how Carl encouraged the soldiers, how he shook them up, and how he firmly established them.

He was busy fighting in the first battle, couldn't participate in the next battle, and then fought far away, only following Catherine's instructions.

But now, Bilford was right next to Carl, observing from the perspective of a third party.

'I can't believe it.'

Bilford tightened his grip on the sword because it was uncomfortable to see his hands wet and sweaty inside the gauntlets.

As if some inexplicable transcendent power was at work, as soon as Carl's word or hand gesture passed by, the soldier's shoulders, which had been cowering in fear, straightened confidently.

A truly demonic charisma that could not be fully explained in words was exploding from this small, sickly being.