Frieren 07

Title: The First Bloody Battle

As the cavalry and the horde of beasts clashed,

The villagers panicked. Some grabbed weapons to help, while others tried to flee in desperation.

But Aura paid them no mind. Whether they won or lost, they likely couldn’t stay here. So, she merely watched her puppets charge forward and said with a frown:

“I’m telling you, Ash, why do I have to fight humans to protect humans? Shouldn’t we just run?”

“Quiet, Aura. I’m thinking about this too.”

Ash only wanted to develop steadily, but he had accidentally gotten entangled in a human war… This bizarre situation left him helpless. He could only cover his forehead with one hand and lament that life was always full of surprises.

Though what Aura said was true, Ash couldn’t just leave… After all, they had lived here for years.

Even during their conversation, in the village filled with the stench of blood, wails, screams, and war cries echoed, like a true battlefield.

Ash silently raised one hand, and the air instantly grew still. Blood splattered in the air suddenly changed from its parabolic arc and fell straight down.

The knights had an advantage against the beast horde thanks to their sturdy, enchanted heavy armor. Almost simultaneously, their horses couldn’t bear the weight on their backs and collapsed awkwardly to the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.

Gravity in a wide area was altered. Though the change wasn’t massive, it unexpectedly had a dramatic effect on the horses carrying their riders into battle.

The villagers, wearing no armor, seized the opportunity. They rushed forward with slightly heavy steps, wielding simple weapons and stabbing at gaps in the knights’ armor. The beast horde, less affected, attacked their helmets.

In an instant, human screams filled the air.

But the leader of the infiltrating cavalry, Maynard, was the best of the best. When his horse fell, he rolled and managed to stand on one knee.

“Waa, waaahhh!!” A villager shouted in a trembling voice, swinging a hoe to strike his head.

However, Maynard simply raised his hand, cut the hoe in two, and with another swing, easily sliced through the waist of the villager charging at him.

“He’s really strong, but… he needs to be taken out.” Though an acquaintance died before him, Ash remained unfazed. He drew the village’s best sword and quickly advanced.

Maynard took a stance, preparing for close combat.

The mage behind him, clad in armor and riding a horse to protect against arrows, saw this. Struggling under the gravitational pressure, he laboriously removed his helmet and tried to take off his steel gauntlets.

At that moment, Ash suddenly stopped, twisted his waist to gather strength, canceled his magic, and hurled the longsword with force.

*SWOOSH!*

Under the repulsive force, the sword’s speed was faster than imagined. Maynard glared at it, instinctively raising his hand to block, but suddenly froze.

*SWOOSH!*

The spinning longsword flew past him and pierced straight through the forehead of the mage behind him, who had just removed his helmet.

*PU-CHI!*

With a spray of blood, the shocked mage stared wide-eyed, unaware of how he died, then fell backward with his head tilted up.

Maynard, stunned and turning back, had his face splattered with his comrade’s blood. His expression began to twist:

“—You bastard!!”

“You’re wearing armor to fight me, and it’s been weighed down and thickened, which means… this time, I have the advantage.” Ash pressed his hand down, focusing his magic to maximize the gravitational effect.

“Ungh—?!”

Maynard instantly felt his legs grow heavy, and his body began to buckle. Clearly, he couldn’t withstand the intense pressure. He was forced to plunge his sword into the ground, struggling to stay upright.

Ash nodded in satisfaction, then drew a slender, sharp armor-piercing spike from his waist.

In this world, many human soldiers wore heavy armor, so this tool was very useful… He hadn’t had a chance to use it before, but this time it came in handy.

“Relax, I’ll end your life quickly.” Ash raised the spike, aiming to pierce his opponent’s neck.

Suppressing an enemy with magic and delivering a fatal blow to kill them—this process he had mastered. But as he was about to drive the spike in… his hand was suddenly empty.

The armor-piercing spike was swiftly snatched, and in the blink of an eye, it stabbed precisely into his neck.

The speed was so fast he had no time to react. Aura, not far away, opened her mouth in shock.

Impossible? This was no ordinary human…!

Despite wearing heavy armor and being under abnormal gravity, he could still move that fast? Ash, lacking experience fighting humans, realized he had been outmaneuvered.

Of course, as a mage, it wasn’t wise for him to engage in close combat with humans. But compared to other demons, his experience was too limited. Sometimes, he could only rely on weapons, and as before, he had to use deception to kill the mage.

Unfortunately, with his neck pierced, Ash couldn’t make a sound. He only let out a noise like a broken air pump, spitting blood, and staggered to the ground.

With wide, confused eyes, he saw the man pull his longsword from the ground, glaring at him coldly through his helmet with a smug smile, then raising his sword:

“You’re too young. You thought you could restrain me with something like this?!”

The sight, clearly about to kill him, made Ash’s struggling movements freeze instinctively.

As a demon, he was still practically a baby. He hadn’t grown much at all. This was the first time he’d been so close to death, and this time… he felt utterly powerless.

At that critical moment, as the sword was about to fall—a demonic bull suddenly charged, slamming into Maynard with force, sending him flying.

Caught off guard, Maynard was flung into the air and crashed into a nearby house.

“Guaaaarr!!… You lowly monster! How dare you… attack me!!”

The attack, which he could have dodged, he was forced to take due to the altered gravity and the weight of his armor. This enraged Maynard. He took a stance and reached out, trying to grab the car-sized demonic bull charging at him again.

But at that moment, the gravity on his body vanished. Caught off guard, Maynard was struck in the chest by the bull, smashing through a stone wall and sent flying to who-knows-where.

On the battlefield, now without Ash’s gravitational support, the heavily injured knights seized the opportunity and engaged in fierce combat with the beast horde and the resisting villagers.

Battle cries echoed through the sky, but… it didn’t take long for everything to gradually return to the calm it had before.