The Escort Knight Who Is Obsessed by the Villainess Wants to Escape - Chapter 149

The Imperial Army’s Magic Commander

Geist, the leader of the current Imperial Royal Mage Division, clicked his tongue as he observed the battlefield.

“I didn’t expect him to be this troublesome.”

It had already been four hours since they had confirmed Eliza’s magic was nullified and launched their offensive.

Yet, the Imperial forces had failed to close the distance.

By now, even the sun had set.

With darkness creeping in, advancing became even more difficult, while the enemy was now at an advantage, free to run wild.

“Was his name Judas…?”

Eliza’s knight and protector.

He was single-handedly tearing through the Imperial Army’s formation.

Blocking their advance or severing supply lines at every opportunity.

To make matters worse, he was mounted on a moon stag, making pursuit nearly impossible.

Even Geist’s teleportation efforts struggled to keep up with him.

Whenever he appeared, Judas would slip away in an instant.

And Geist couldn’t afford to be absent for too long just to chase down one man.

His role was to oversee the battlefield from above, issuing commands and relaying information.

Moreover, he had to suppress the enemy mages who were defending the estate with powerful long-range magic—only then could the Imperial forces break in.

But if he left Judas unchecked, no matter how much effort they put in, they couldn’t push forward because of him.

One man alone had halted the entire advance of the Imperial Army—for four whole hours.

He had effectively seized control of the battlefield.

“He wasn’t supposed to be this strong… What happened?”

The Imperial court had conducted thorough investigations into Judas.

He wasn’t someone who had frequently revealed his combat prowess.

Yet, he had grown so strong that he surpassed even the military strategists’ and Geist’s own expectations by an overwhelming margin.

Geist had to make a decision.

He sought out the Imperial Army’s strongest knight and proposed a plan.

“Captain of the Guard. Let’s set a trap.”

***

Boom!

A massive explosion.

As if a star had fallen.

All nearby Imperial soldiers turned their attention to the impact site.

Sand and grass shot into the air.

The blast had struck one of the Imperial Army’s makeshift camps.

And what had fallen wasn’t a star—it was a man.

“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”

“Maintain distance while securing visibility! Hold formation and retreat in step! Surround him!”

“Notify the nearby units! That man, Judas, is here!”

A ten-man squad leader swiftly took command.

The Imperial forces had endured repeated ambushes over the past few hours.

The enemy’s tactics were shockingly unconventional.

An airborne assault, leveraging the moon stag’s powerful leaps.

Judas would soar high into the air and plummet like a comet onto his target camp.

The unpredictable assaults, coupled with the dust and chaos they created, allowed him to cut down his enemies before escaping with ease.

However, as the pattern repeated, the Imperial Army had begun to adapt.

“Raise your shields and close ranks! Withdraw slowly while maintaining formation until visibility is restored!”

Since Judas’s strategy relied on creating confusion, the key was to avoid being swept up in the chaos.

The soldiers braced themselves, standing firm with tense anticipation.

At any moment, a flash of ivory light might streak toward them from the dust cloud.

But they did not waver in fear.

After all, their opponent was just one man.

A single warrior could not overcome the discipline of a well-coordinated army.

He would be countered.

They were certain of it.

At that moment—

-Crack!

The sound of armor being torn apart.

A soldier collapsed.

“There! He’s there!”

One of the troops shouted urgently.

And in the next instant, he found himself staring into a pair of golden eyes.

A blur of movement in the darkness.

He reached for his sword—

But his head was already severed.

Along with it, his torch tumbled to the ground.

Flames licked at a nearby tent, and within moments, the entire camp was ablaze.

Judas moved indifferently through the burning encampment, cutting down his enemies one by one.

There were no distractions in his mind.

His rage had settled into something calm, sharp—yet at the same time, obsessive and relentless.

“Target spotted. Approach. Eliminate. Spotted. Approach. Eliminate. Spotted. Approach. Eliminate…

***

Judas cut down enemy after enemy.

He moved on instinct.

If he saw an enemy, he charged.

If victory seemed likely, he fought. If defeat seemed inevitable, he withdrew.

And then, upon spotting another enemy, he fought again.

For four hours, he repeated this without rest.

His mind was consumed with nothing else.

There was no room for other thoughts.

There were too many things to think about—so many that his overloaded brain abandoned complex reasoning.

He simply discarded reason and succumbed to raw instinct.

The instinct to kill the enemy.

Something even more primal—destruction, rage, irritation.

His entire body was drenched in blood.

The stench seeped into his brain.

But he didn’t care.

He wasn’t particularly intoxicated by the killing or the battle.

With emotionless eyes, he executed each movement like a machine.

Like a nutcracker cracking nuts.

He simply cut down and killed his enemies.

The keen-eyed moon deer, Yuel, noticed his emotional shift.

After battles, when they moved again, Yuel would rub its head against him affectionately. That was the only time Judas showed any emotional response.

He would give a bitter smile and stroke Yuel’s head.

“I’m fine.”

He spoke those words with a face and voice that were anything but fine.

And when it was time to fight again, he became reckless—like a moth diving into flames.

Yuel, watching him with anxious eyes, had no choice but to follow.

“Shall we rest a bit?”

When Judas suggested it, Yuel refused.

He had more than enough stamina.

He was only worried that Judas would push himself to death.

“Thank you for staying with me.”

That was the only thing Judas said to Yuel.

Then, his expression darkened again.

Scanning for the next enemy, Judas spotted a large marching force.

A battalion filled with Royal Knights and Imperial Guards.

The enemy had gathered an elite force for a decisive breakthrough.

Judas didn’t think too hard about it.

They were enemies. They had gathered their strongest.

So, he would fight.

He climbed onto Yuel’s back.

Words were unnecessary.

They had done this countless times.

Yuel knew what to do.

Just as Judas had once drawn magic through Yuel’s horns, now he could channel his power into Yuel in return.

With the moon’s magic fully awakened, Yuel unleashed monstrous strength.

His muscles tensed and swelled as he leaped with all his might.

The sun was setting, and the rising moon cast its glow over the twilight sky.

A deer soared across the dusky heavens.

At the peak of their ascent, Judas jumped.

His target—the vanguard’s largest unit.

He pulled his sword back.

The moment he hit the ground, he would cut down as many as possible.

The moon’s pupils gleamed in ivory light.

His falling figure resembled a plummeting moon.

Faster and faster, he descended.

The wind roared in his ears, almost deafening.

The ground rushed toward him in an instant.

By the time the enemy noticed him, it was already too late.

—Boom!

He crashed down, crushing the enemy captain beneath him.

A thick cloud of dust billowed into the air.

Judas swiftly scanned his surroundings.

His vision was obscured.

He reconstructed the enemy’s formation in his mind, recalling what he saw from above.

Vanguard—Imperial Guards.

Core—Royal Knights.

No supply units, only combat troops.

Their tactics would likely be by the book.

Keeping their distance, surrounding him…

At that moment, his survival instincts screamed.

Attacks surged in from all directions.

Judas reacted purely on instinct.

He leaped high into the air.

More than ten swords stabbed into where he had just stood.

The crossing blades bloomed like a deadly flower.

But they stopped just short—expecting him to dodge.

He was still midair.

Warnings flooded his senses again.

Beyond the thick dust, a platinum knight came hurtling toward him.

Imperial Guards

Judas instinctively knew he had fallen into a trap, but he didn’t care.

Even if he had known, he would have charged in anyway.

If it couldn’t be blocked or avoided—

He would break through it head-on.

He shifted his sword to one hand and swung it behind his opposite shoulder.

A stance for a wide slash.

The guards’ spears closed in.

Six in total.

The range of this technique covered approximately 300 degrees in front.

The one behind him—unavoidable.

He left it to luck.

At the moment when the spears drew close enough for him to see their sharp edges—

He swung his sword in a broad arc.

An ivory-colored light traced a thin crescent.

For a brief moment, it was as if a waning moon had appeared and vanished in the air.

Clang!

The five intercepted spears rang out in unison.

Judas landed safely on the ground.

For some reason, the rear remained untouched.

Turning back, he saw Yuel had rammed into the last guard.

Yuel and the guard tumbled to the ground.

The guard gripped his spear tightly and thrust at Yuel, but Judas was faster.

He threw a throwing dagger, striking the exposed armpit, then dashed forward to sever the man’s neck.

With a firm pat on Yuel’s rear, he sent him back into the fray.

“…!”

There was no time to catch his breath.

The Imperial Guards and the knights charged in at once.

He dodged by a hair’s breadth, redirecting attacks with minimal movement.

His movements were almost acrobatic.

Like walking a tightrope over an abyss—one misstep would mean death.

Yet, despite the ever-present risk, he did not hesitate to counterattack.

As if he did not care whether he lived or died.

“Guh…!”

A knight fell, his throat slashed.

“Aaagh—!”

Another screamed as his eye was pierced.

“Urgh…!”

A third collapsed, knocked unconscious by a strike to the jaw with a shield.

The captain of the Imperial Guard watched the scene unfold and couldn’t help but admire.

“Impressive.”

Geist sneered beside him.

“Is now the time to be praising the enemy?”

“I give credit where it’s due. It’s almost strange that someone like him has remained unknown until now.”

“That’s because the mage he serves is an even greater monster than I am.”

It was true.

Had Eliza been in his right mind, this brutal battle wouldn’t even be necessary.

Everyone would have been reduced to ashes in an instant.

“There’s only a slim chance, but we must kill him and seize the Sun statue before that monster regains his senses.”

“I know.”

The captain of the guards unsheathed a massive Zweihander.

“He’s starting to slow down.”

Judas had been fighting non-stop since the battle began.

No matter how skilled, he was still human.

His stamina was reaching its limit.

His movements visibly slowed.

Red lines appeared across his body.

Shallow cuts.

His arms, shoulders, thighs.

Bit by bit, he was being slashed and stabbed.

The captain of the guards strode toward him.

Geist issued orders to the Imperial Mage Corps.

“All mages, prepare your spells. He’s quick—stagger the attacks and wait for the right moment to overwhelm him. Use spells that won’t obstruct our allies’ vision.”

Geist glanced down at his black amulet.

He had stationed a small unit near the mansion, instructing them to signal if they found the Sun statue—but so far, nothing.

Originally, he had planned to infiltrate the mansion himself, but Judas had become an obstacle.

If he ignored him, the casualties would be severe.

If he focused on him, his own time would be wasted.

One man had delayed them for far too long.

“If we just kill him, we’ll push straight through. Hurry up and finish this. His Majesty is waiting.”

The gathered mages simultaneously began casting.

The captain of the guards led his elite warriors toward Judas.

The end was near.