I Was a Sword When I Reincarnated (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 1.5

SIDE: BAYREEDS

“WHAT ON EARTH is happening?

“Aaaaah!!!”

“Gaaaah!!!”

“Eeeergh!”

Velmeria, my beloved daughter, was demolishing my knights. Like Frederick, she had somehow developed blue scales all over her body, making her look more like her ancestors. But, despite her transformation, I still knew it was her.

With each swing of her arm, she fired giant balls of water at the knights. With each swing of her broken sword, she unleashed a shock wave that sliced through the adventurers.

“Come on! Keep pushing!”

“Dammit, I can’t hit her!”

“How did she see that?!”

Despite my knights’ best efforts, not one of them managed to land an attack. Velmeria dodged and blocked everything. Spells, arrows, spears… Everything. One of the attacks would graze her occasionally, but they bounced right off Valmeria’s intense mana. My daughter was the enemy of the capital, and I had ordered my men to kill her. They had so far failed, but I was hardly happy about it. In fact, I was beginning to doubt whether this thing was my daughter at all.

“I’ll rip all of you insignificant worms to pieces!”

She certainly looked like Velmeria, but it seemed like something else was inside her. Both her strength and her personality had changed.

“Hah ha ha ha! Die, die, die!!!”

The sounds coming out of her were neither male nor female. The noise was high-pitched and grated the ears. Something else was clearly in control of her body.

“General Bayreeds, what do we do?!” asked one of my platoon commanders, approaching me with eyes full of confusion. 

The man’s officer was supposed to report in to me, but that one had already fallen in battle. The platoon commander was actually asking two questions. First, what do we do about the increasing number of casualties? Second, would I give them permission to attack my daughter? Either way, my answer remained the same. It didn’t matter if Velmeria was being controlled by something else. 

“Keep on the offensive!” I shouted. “The palace is behind us! If she gets past, she might go after the king or slaughter civilians!”

The king and the civilians. The two things I’d sworn an oath to protect. As much as I loved my daughter, I had to do my duty.

“Y-yes sir!”

“There are bound to be mages amongst our reinforcements,” I said. “Hang on until they get here!”

“Shouldn’t we contact the palace for backup?” the field commander asked, looking at the palace behind us. 

The royal guards were the cream of the crop. The strongest of the capital’s knights. Their commander might be Granzell’s strongest and most famous warrior—ranking amongst the likes of Hundred Blade and Hariti. But I couldn’t ask for their help. Their place was by the king’s side. Their mission? To protect him with their lives. Whether the capital was terrorized by a single enemy or an entire army, they had to stay with him. They were the king’s shield. Eliminating threats and protecting civilians was our job.

“Can you see it, Starg?”

“Yes… Well, not completely but I cannot believe what I’m seeing.” 

Starg was one of House Bayreeds’ knights, and my personal bodyguard. He was an elite fighter, and also possessed Identify. Still, it took time for him to completely analyze Velmeria. And, going by the pale shade of his face, things weren’t looking so good. 

“She’s that powerful?” I asked. 

“I hate to be rude, my lord, but your daughter is a monster.”

Starg was no stranger to battle, but he was terrified. This was the same Starg who faced down a demidrake and fired an arrow between its eyes.

“First of all,” he said. “I could not Identify the broken sword. Whatever it is, it’s enchanted, and a powerful piece of equipment.”

“I see…”

Is that the Sword of Mad Faith that the Black Lightning Princess mentioned? Fanatix? But it isn’t lodged in her back…

“Secondly,” Starg went on. “Although I could Identify Skywall Zefield, Lady Velmeria is too strong. I cannot grasp her full strength. Her total stats are over one thousand, at least.”

“She’s stronger than an A-Rank,” I mused.

“She also has an absurd number of skills,” said Starg. “Sword King Arts and Mastery, both at Level 8, Instant Regeneration 8, and close to a hundred advanced Skills. She also possesses some Unique and Extra Skills. I can see Sword King Mastery, Shinryu Form, Flame Drain, Herculean, Skanda, No Cast, Mana Control, and Spirit Control, but she definitely has more.”

Starg’s list wasn’t exhaustive. Velmeria possessed more rare and advanced skills. If I didn’t trust him, I would’ve thought he was joking.

“That doesn’t make sense,” I said. “No one can get that strong in such a short time.”

“She is currently in Fanatic and Shinryu Form. I think one of those is to blame for Lady Velmeria’s current condition…”

Shinryu Form! I’d heard of it before. Tirananalia, Velmeria’s mother, spoke of it when she explained draconian mythology. Shinryu were a powerful evolution of drakes, much like high elves were to elves. Although no one knew how to they evolved, there were historical records of several Shinryu over the last ten thousand years. Apparently, they once clashed with the high elves. According to legend, it ended in a draw.

This was a nightmare. As if it wasn’t bad enough that Velmeria was an enemy of the state, now she was powerful enough to overwhelm A-Ranks. If the legends were true, then she should be as powerful as a high elf—on the same level as an S-Rank. But who knew what she was truly capable of as long as she had the Sword of Mad Faith? The Godswords worked miracles and defied reason. Mad Faith was powerful enough to turn an ordinary girl into a monster in an instant.

“Send word to the palace!” I cried.

“S-sir?”

“Tell them to evacuate the king immediately!”

“Yes sir!”

We had no chance of winning. Even if we brought several A-Ranks together, we could still lose. As far as I knew, the only ones currently in the country were Skywall Zefield, Hundred Blade Forlund, Black Lightning Princess Fran, Dragon Bind Eiworth, and Luga Moufle—Captain of the Royal Guard. To even stand a chance against Velmeria, I would have to gather them all together.

The palace wasn’t safe, even with all its barriers. First, we had to get the king out of the way. After that, we’d just have to save all the civilians we could. Chances were, we would die in that endeavor, but it was the best that we could do—buying time for the others to get here.

“We’ll hold her off for as long as we can,” I said. “We might not make it out of here, but we have to fight. Lives are depending on it.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Understood!”

The best thing about this situation was the resolve in the voices of my men. They would follow my orders unflinchingly, even if I ordered them to die. It was a shame that none of them would get out of here, but it couldn’t be helped.

I sent some younger soldiers to carry my message to the palace. After all, they needed to know that defeating the enemy would require several A-Ranks together. After that, my fellow generals would know what to do, even if I died here as well.

“I’ll fight too.”

“Sir!”

“If only Master Dimitris was here,” one officer mumbled.

“Sir Dimitris, eh?”

Dimitris the Indomitable. Jillbird’s sole S-Rank adventurer. They said the martial artist had gotten his nickname after killing a hundred enemies in an instant and without even taking a single step. He operated out of his dojo in the south, but he often trained by visiting various haunts on the continent. He wasn’t a friendly old man by any means, but he had a good heart, and he made a point to save people. Dimitris would certainly be willing to lend a hand here, but I didn’t know whether he was even in the country.

“No use lamenting over people who aren’t here,” I said.

“I-I apologize, sir.”

“That’s all right. It’s not like the thought hasn’t crossed my mind. But we don’t know where Sir Dimitris is right now, so it’s up to us to protect the capital!”

“Sir!”

The officer reprimanded himself and was about to march to the frontlines when I heard a man’s voice.

“I’m not Old Dimitris, but maybe I can help.”

“Huh?”

A large ogrekin suddenly appeared behind me. How did he do that? I didn’t so much as sense his presence! He was no ordinary man, to be sure. His aura reminded me of the Beast King.

The giant unsheathed the greatsword on his back, and it was no ordinary sword. Its mana was oppressive.

“Anyway, backup’s arrived,” he said. “Gravity Blow!”

The man swung his sword and the sky over Velmeria suddenly cleared. It was like an invisible force pushed down through the clouds. Velmeria’s body slammed into the ground.

“Gaaaaah!”

It was the first time Velmeria had suffered significant damage. Who on earth was this man?!

“I wonder how long I can last…” the ogrekin muttered to himself.