Medieval Knight System: Building the Strongest Empire Ever!-Chapter 26: Trade Flesh for the Kill

Most of the guys I’d faced until now didn’t know the first thing about swordsmanship.

During a brief lull, I glanced down to check my condition and realized that the viper blades I thought I’d barely dodged had left a scattering of small cuts all over my body. Not the time to worry about scratches, though. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but the pain was slowly fading.

"Ted! You okay?"

"Damn it, they got my leg!"

Ted and Oscar were doing their best to hold off the five vipers attacking from behind. They’d killed one, but the remaining four were pressing hard, and they were barely hanging on. When Ted took a hit to the leg and couldn’t maintain formation, things started falling apart fast.

I couldn’t drag this out any longer.

I steadied myself, listening to my pounding heart, and tightened my grip on the handle.

First strike wins.

I attacked first: my longsword and Frost’s longsword clashed violently, practically throwing sparks. The guy clearly understood binding and winding techniques too, so this was turning into a real chess match between trained swordsmen.

During binding, when the blades are locked together, you can anticipate what kind of winding technique will come next based on the opponent’s center of gravity and the force they’re applying. Experience sharpens that instinct, but unfortunately, I didn’t have much of that yet.

The viper Frost feinted as if to swing left, then shoved hard, trying to knock me down. But my strength was nothing to scoff at. I’d been drilling wrestling with Hans every single day. I used his forward momentum against him, grabbed Frost, and threw him down.

It was textbook—it would’ve made a judoka proud. I tried to stab him while he was down, but the other vipers rushed in before I could finish it. Hans tried to finish off the fallen Frost with his arming sword but took a pommel strike to the head instead.

"Get lost, you little rat!"

Thwack!

"Agh!"

Frost scrambled to his feet and came straight at me instead of finishing off Hans, making it three-on-one again. I tried to regain control while fending off three blades, but it wasn’t easy.

Damn it. I’d tried keeping my steps tight and dodging cleanly, but took a slash across the chest. The adrenaline must’ve been flowing, though, because I didn’t feel any pain. Frost was a skilled swordsman too, faithfully following the principles of seizing initiative and controlling the attack.

Using skills like that for back-alley thug work—what a waste.

The situation was decidedly against me.

So I grabbed one of the vipers trying to stab me, pulled him in while hooking his leg, knocked him down, and created a momentary two-on-one. I feinted a push at Frost, then right after binding, I threw heavy force into my winding to pin Frost in place and stabbed the viper next to him in the throat.

"Wha—what?!"

"Guh!"

My strength was greater than Frost’s, so I’d forced it through with brute power. But then Frost’s headbutt slammed into my face, snapping my head backward.

Fuck, was that a snake head or a boulder?

I stepped back to assess the situation. Hans was out cold from the pommel strike, and Bodo was trembling helplessly, clutching a dead viper’s arming sword. Thankfully, Ted and Oscar were still holding on, but Ted’s leg was bleeding badly.

Was this really the only way?

Trade flesh for the kill.

But this strategy wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

Without F-Rank Knight (military power 20%, courage 20%), I wouldn’t have lasted this long.

Every strategy has its limits. Sacrifice too little flesh and the payoff is diminished; sacrifice too much and you might lose bone as well. This kind of tightrope walk wasn’t a strategy just anyone could pull off without nerves of steel.

But I had a trump card by my side that no one else knew about.

[Medieval Knight provides medical services for Wolfgang. Miraculously heals vitality recovery, external injuries, and internal injuries. However, severed body parts cannot be regenerated, so be careful.]

[Medical service costs 5,000 points per use.] 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

5,000 points was absurdly expensive, but a bargain when you thought of it as the price of your life. It was disappointing that severed parts couldn’t be regenerated, but even so, it was miraculous enough. Plus, this was comprehensive treatment—as long as you had 5,000 points, you could survive even severe internal and external injuries.

The hard part was saving up that many points.

Still, as long as this service existed, I wouldn’t die a pointless death.

I currently had 3,500 points.

But I could still use the medical service.

[Service use is possible even with insufficient points. However, you must pay the shortfall within a certain period. Penalties will apply if payment is not made.]

I could use it in an emergency.

Like a loan I’d have to pay back later—but first I had to survive. From crossing blades with him, I could tell this viper Frost was high-level. Nothing like the opponents I’d faced so far. Since I’d only been learning swordsmanship for a short time, I was bound to be outmatched in experience.

But youth is a fearsome thing—I had the advantage over Frost in strength and speed, at least. Still, the reason I was trying to trade flesh for the kill was that I was outnumbered two-to-one and my allies in the rear were getting pushed back.

The textbook says to calm your nerves and focus coldly on the opponent in front of you, but the human heart tends to grow more desperate as time drags on.

Frost must’ve seen through my state of mind, because from the binding position, he wound his sword diagonally trying to slice my hand. I quickly caught it with the crossguard to keep my hand intact.

"Got you! Stab him!"

I’d fallen for a combination attack: Frost pushed with binding, temporarily pinning me in place. I tried to break free with strength, but Frost held on for dear life. The result was that I momentarily exposed my flank, wide open, and the surviving viper lunged to stab me.

Even if I twisted to dodge, I couldn’t avoid a critical wound.

Damn it, please don’t let me die in one hit!

"Aaaah!"

"Hans!"

Hans, who’d come to his senses, tackled the viper and wrenched him away from me. I didn’t waste that opening and headbutted Frost square in the nose. Going head to head, the harder skull would obviously win, but striking his nose snapped Frost’s head back violently, and I managed to break free.

With Hans’s help, it became a one-on-one between me and Frost.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

I pressed in close with binding and countered his counters. When I swung fast at his head, Frost smoothly deflected it and jabbed my left arm with his blade tip. Luckily it didn’t sink in deep, and as I stepped back while maintaining binding, I twisted my arm diagonally and slashed Frost’s ribs.

But it wasn’t a deep cut.

In the fierce exchange, I was accumulating more and more wounds.

Huff, huff. Getting weaker.

I was fading fast from continuous blood loss.

Frost was exhausted too, though.

I glanced at Hans, and he was still locked in a messy brawl with the viper. Maybe from the pommel strike to his head, Hans’s movements were sluggish, and he was starting to lose ground. Neither had a weapon in hand, so they were slugging each other in the face and even choking each other as if trying to kill.

Frost didn’t miss that moment and seized the initiative with a diagonal slash.

In that instant, one move flashed through my mind.

Clang!

Swoosh!

"What?!"

I blocked the diagonal slash, but Frost transitioned to a sliding cut—pressing and slicing while locked in binding—deeply gashing my left arm and trying to twist into a stab. But I sacrificed my left arm, hooking Frost’s crossguard with the inside of my elbow and wrenching it upward with the back of my hand.

"Aaaah!"

I unleashed monstrous strength in that instant.

I don’t know where that kind of power came from, but I was that desperate, that savage. With both hands trapped, Frost had no choice but to follow as I heaved upward. The result: his left chest lay completely exposed. A dagger hung at my right hip.

It was decorative, but it had a real edge. This dagger bore the Streit family crest. I’d never thought I’d actually use it. It was literally just for show. The longsword and dagger Father had passed down—symbols of the Streit family.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

I drew the dagger in a reverse grip and drove it into Frost’s heart again and again.

Every time the cold metal plunged into his heart, Frost’s bulging eyes glared at me with terrifying intensity. But I screamed like a madman and kept stabbing. Blood splattered everywhere, and only madness, fear, and death coexisted. While I stabbed frantically, Frost finally went limp.

He died with his eyes bulging in bitter defiance. I kicked the corpse away and barely held myself up with my longsword. Then I quickly checked my left arm. Deeply cut, but thankfully not severed. But it hurt like absolute hell. I hadn’t felt this kind of pain even when I’d died before.

"Huff, huff. Damn. Hurts like a bitch."