Emperor Has Returned

Chapter 36 Falling leaves(4)

Translator: BaeBae Editor: BaeBae

“Not bad.”

Juan was impressed. While he was talking with Sina, it appeared the Blue rose knights had made the journey towards the back of the village, eliminating any exit paths for Juan.

Cutting off his retreat and allowing their horses a good runway to charge in, it was a good plan.

Juan internally gave them props for getting all the way to the back sneakily without being discovered.

‘If it was anyone else but me they would certainly have panicked.’

Sina tension tightened seeing Juan’s unresponsive reaction.

Sina swung her sword at him, multiple times but Juan largely stayed defensive and didn’t retaliate aggressively .

“Hah!”

Ausrey was first to rush in. He drove his horse straight at Juan.

A warhorse with speed and weight was racing towards Juan. These horses did not stop even if there were spears and swords in front of it’s path.

Juan hastily rolled to the side. Ausrey’s spear narrowly missed and skimmed his cloak.

“Sina nim!”

Same time, Ausrey thru the rein of another horse he’d brought along. Sina quickly mounted the spare horse.

“How many did you send towards the back!”

“Tracks were narrow, only eleven. The rest will come from main, once the battle starts.”

Eleven warhorses would charge into Juan at crossway.

The chances of Juan being able to withstand the spears driving from above and swords was low.

Stay standing in one spot and he would be trampled under their horses.

However, Sina made sure to keep her knights on alert.

“Don’t just rush in, encircle him and take turns!”

Juan was still yet to draw his weapon.

Sina had expected Juan to attack the horses, but seeing his nonchalant attitude, her throat tightened.

Following their leader’s orders, instead of rushing directly at Juan, they circled around making jabs with their spears, waiting for an opening.

“Well, this is a bit annoying.”

No matter how agile he was, there was only a limited amount of space he could use to dodge spearheads coming from all angles.

Before the encirclement was complete, Juan grabbed the nearest knight’s leg. It was a dangerous move as he could have been trampled on.

He then expertly pulled himself up onto the saddle. The knight started to pull out his dagger but was knocked off his horse as Juan pushed him from behind.

“Watch out!”

Sina shouted but the fallen knight was quickly trampled on by the other knight’s horses. Sina gritted her teeth and charged at Juan.

To block her sword Juan had no option but to draw his dagger.

Sina’s sword and Juan’s dagger met. As the horse was too big for Juan compared to his size, Juan was slightly pushed back.

But Juan didn’t intend to stay on the horse for long. Nor fight Sina for long either.

In a flash, Juan disappeared from Sina’s eyes. Sina recalled Juan’s small distance maneuver that he’d used back at the Colosseum.

She’d felt like it was almost instantaneous.

Juan, who’d escaped from Sina’s sight, grabbed the upper part of her helmet and twisted it. Temporarily blinded, Sina lost her balance exposing her white throat.

‘I’m going to get cut.’

Death passed before her eyes. She’d thought her death would be on the battlefield but didn’t expect to come so carelessly and easily.

But then, her horse suddenly raced forwards. Juan lost his opportunity.

Having fallen off the saddle, her leg was caught in the stirrup and was being dragged across.

“Sina nim!”

Ausrey quickly grabbed the rein and pulled the horse to a stop, but it was too late, Sina’s body was a wreck.

Blood was flowing down from her head. As she tried to stand up straight, she lost her balance and wobbled.

“Get that bastard!”

Sina tried running in, after drawing her sword but everyone could see the strength in her right arm had gone. Her sword dangled lifelessly from her arm that broke from the fall. And with all the blood flowing from her head and dust, it would’ve been difficult for her to even see.

Ausrey forcefully held her still.

“Stay here! You won’t be much help if you go in now.”

“Ausrey!”

Sina had no choice but to admit.

However, Juan’s movement was so fast, that even she couldn’t capture him. The other knights would have even more trouble than her. But then, Ausrey lifted his shield and smiled.

“I’ve got a paladin’s shield, remember?. With the power of the emperor’s grace, it will be enough to stop him. Rest here for a bit and join when you’ve recuperated. He isn’t going anywhere soon.”

Like Ausrey said, Juan wouldn’t be able to escape the encirclement with ease. He seemed using the short distance skill wore him down. Most likely, he would save it till things turned dire.

But still, Juan had to eventually tire.

And plus, Hasell and the other knights were charging in from the main entrance.

Sina gave a slight nod. Leaving her behind, Ausrey mounted his horse and set off.

The Blue rose knights didn’t come here unprepared.

Especially Commander Hasell who brought a special weapon and devised a tactic to capture Juan.

It was only a matter of time till Juan was suppressed.

But for some reason, Sina couldn’t help but feel a sense of uneasiness brewing inside her.

*****

It looked like a vortex spinning with Juan in the center.

Wherever Juan moved, he clashed into a knight. The knights were taking more damage but with each collision, injuries started to mount up on Juan’s body.

Both Juan and the knights were unable to land a critical blow.

If Juan committed himself to kill someone, he found himself greeted by three or more spears.

Juan’s expression slowly darkened. Hasell and more knights had joined the fray. The battle started to look even more grim.

And Ausrey decided now to make things even more difficult for him.

Ausrey’s shield flew towards Juan. With eyes wide opened, Juan swung his dagger at it, but Ausrey skillfully stopped his attack. Juan’s heart was beating. It felt as if some delicate hands were suppressing his movement.

Back when Juan attacked Kato, Ausrey managed to block his attack by moving at speed beyond his capabilities.

Ausrey’s heart fluttered.

‘So this is the power of the emperor’s grace!’

Paladins were fully equipped with these items and clothing. Ausrey couldn’t even imagine how powerful they must be.

Juan attacked Ausrey a few more times but was each time his attacks were stifled. He clicked his tongue and gave up attacking Ausrey. He’d received two additional injuries while trying to do so.

“Does this bastard have eyes on the back of his head or something!”

As Juan dodged an attack from behind targeted towards his back, a knight vented his frustration.

Ausrey concurred.

Although Juan’s body was full of injuries, no one had dealt a fatal strike.

‘How long are you going to keep this up.’

Ausrey tutted.

Having worn no defensive gear, Juan’s evasiveness was quick but his movements were big. It looked as if he would tire before he could take care of all attacking knights.

But with most knights receiving injuries, he needed to think what this could mean in the long run.

Juan suddenly found himself cornered.

Ausrey and Hasell both realised they’d driven Juan into a corner where he couldn’t escape.

In doing so, they lost their numbers advantage, but now Juan could only move in a certain direction if he wanted to escape.

“Huh, you guys hunting a cat or something?”

Muttering a sorrow, Juan blasted himself forward using the wall and cut the throat of a knight standing nearby.

Blood gushed out.

As if he was telling them that they’ll never catch him, Juan moved without being hampered.

Ausrey who’d been quiet till now, ran at Juan.

Instead of confronting Ausrey shield, Juan kicked it, making room between them. However, Ausrey wasn’t pushed back from the kick, and he simply ran at Juan once again.

Ausrey, unafraid of death, charged towards him and Juan had no choice but to meet him head on. The moment Juan thrusted his dagger forwards, Ausrey met it with his shield.

“This is the will of the knights!”

Kwang! As they collided, Asurey felt a deep pain in his palm.

The moment his shield and Juan’s dagger collided, he felt as if his fingers had all broke.

Juan tried to step back but Ausrey grabbed his dagger. A deep cut was made on his palm and blood flowed down.

“Now!”

Juan movement’s were halted. This was enough.

Juan saw a net being casted over him. He tried to use blink, but there was no escaping the wide surface net.

Just like that, Juan had been caught by the Blue rose knights.

“I suspected you guys were hiding something.”

As Juan muttered, one of the knights with anger on his face, pierced his spear through Juan’s thigh.

Juan scowled and glared up at him.

The knight’s face paled just from looking into Juan’s eyes but he didn’t let go of his spear even if his hands were shaking.

Meanwhile, Ausrey pulled out Juan’s dagger that had gone through his shield and hand. Looking at the delicate piece of patterns on the dagger, his feeling turned strange.

“Ausrey, go and get treatment. You’ve contributed the most today.”

“Not at all. If it wasn’t for the commander and Sina nim’s plan……”

“Right. We’ll need to bring Sina here. If she didn’t tell us about this bastard’s tendencies and patterns, capturing him would’ve been impossible. We’ll need to show him to Sina anyways. I’ll go and….”

As Hasell got up to head over to Sina, he was hit by something large. The impact would have even shaken up a horse.

Hasell panicked and looked behind. A grand knight in armor stood.

As Hasell tilted his head, wondering if there was such a tall knight in his Blue rose order, his head disappeared.

*****

“You son of a bitch!”

As the knight who’d stabbed Juan, attempted to stab again, another knight stopped him.

“We’ve got him now. Stop!”

“But this bastard killed Arber!”

The other knights agreed and let out a torrent of abuse at Juan.

The situation was worsening, yet Juan had a relaxed look on his face. Looking at Juan’s expression, this infuriated the knights even more.

“Look at that bastard’s arrogant expression! Thinking that we won’t harm him!”

“We don’t make the decisions! I’m sure the church won’t give him a painless death. Rather than act rash now, better to send him to the inquisitor as soon as possible.”

The others all nodded at the knight’s reasonable words.

Heretics. Something more terrifying than death awaited those who attacked the church. The knights were concerned Juan would die too early into the interrogation.

Then, Juan opened his mouth.

“Think you guys need to worry about what’s behind you more than me.”

“What?”

“You are not the only one who has a secret plan.”

Suddenly, a flapping noise sounded from behind and above the Blue rose knights, blood and skin flew into the air.

Behind them, a headless Hasell’s body slowly tipped over to the side, and fell to the ground. Screams broke out.

“Commander nim!”

A giant knight stood before him. In his hands was a heavy shield and a mallet.

He was covered in mud, dust and blood so it was difficult to confirm his identity.

However, Ausrey could clearly recognise the shield in his hand. It was equivalent to the one that he was currently holding.

“Could it really be…..”

Ausrey quickly looked behind.

Juan was smiling.

“I was considering using it for myself, but it was too big and heavy. So I simply returned it to the owner.”

Arwen who’d been turned into a fog creature, headed straight for the knights.

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