『The great Khan, the never-setting sun of the eastern continent, united the vast grasslands and spread word of his glory far and wide. Having built a great empire, Khan stained the sprawling continent with blood. After tasting the Age of War, he departed for the heavens in accordance with the laws of swordmasters, so that he would no longer be entangled in worldly affairs. Yet even though the first Khan had departed, Khan did not vanish.

For Khan was a sun that would never set.

The warriors of the vast grasslands who inherited his will wished to plant their flags on every stretch of land across the sprawling continent. But it was no easy task. Long years had fractured the Great Land. Ideologies, conflicting interests, and countless other circumstances plunged the great empire into an age of turmoil. The Great Land was no longer ruled by a single Khan. It turned like a machine of interlocking gears, driven by dozens of feudal lords and a king in name alone who possessed no absolute power.

In that age of turmoil, a champion appeared, claiming to be a descendant of Khan. The feudal lords laughed at him. They mocked him for coming from a family without a pedigree and sneered that he was an ignorant, ill-educated fool. Emboldened by the lords' power, others did the same.

But that state of affairs did not last. Khan's descendant slaughtered every one of the dozens of feudal lords in the Great Land and impaled their heads atop the flag the ancient Khan had carried. At the sight of him roaring beneath that bloodstained flag, the warriors of the vast grasslands trembled.

"Khan has returned."

The fragmented power came together in an instant. This had always been a land inhabited by Khan's descendants, a gathering of those who worshipped strength and conquest. And here was a champion who had split open the heads of the high and mighty through sheer strength, without political struggles or dirty schemes! In the eyes of the grassland dwellers, that champion was already the god of war reborn, no different from Khan descending into the mortal world once more.

And so, having attained a position akin to a god's, Khan's descendant declared that he would plant Khan's flag on every stretch of land across this vast continent. Thus would they reclaim their former glory and establish an age of their own.

With those words, Khan's descendant declared war.

The Great Land's conquering army had no navy, and its shipbuilding technology was woefully poor, so its conquest turned toward the eastern continent. The War of Conquest that began thus proceeded with overwhelming force. The many nations of the eastern continent, steeped in peace since the end of the Age of War, tasted once more the nightmare of the 「Great Land」 they had learned of in history.

Six countries were engulfed in flames and reduced to ash, and their people returned to the earth without distinction between women, the elderly, or children. The Great Land's conquering army offered only one opportunity to negotiate: surrender. If that demand was not met, they refused all further negotiations and devoted themselves to destruction. Faced with the terrifying violence unleashed by the Great Land, the nations of the eastern continent had no choice but to surrender without even fighting if they wished to survive.

The Great Land had Khan's descendant.

Moreover, its conquering army was the continent's strongest land force, the only one in all the continent capable of opposing the 「Heavenly Empire」. Thus every country but one came under the Great Land's dominion. The country that resisted to the very end was tiny and insignificant.

A country whose land resembled the shape of a tiger.

A peninsula on the fringes of the eastern continent.

Han.

When the Great Land's conquering army arrived at his doorstep and shouted for him to surrender, the king of Han, clad in a dragon robe, gave a brief, matter-of-fact answer.

"F*** off."

It was an answer no one had expected.

People said the king of Han had gone mad under the extreme strain. But the truly unexpected event came afterward. Han repelled the 「Great Land」's conquering army no fewer than three times in succession. Thus rose the curtain on the longest war fought in nearly a hundred years.』

* * *

The 「Great Land」's conquering army, recreated in the spirit world by the witches, did not fully reproduce the legion recorded in history, but it was still powerful enough. At this moment, however, the illustrious conquering army's vanguard could not hide its bewilderment.

"What the—"

What Han had sent against the advancing army was a swordsman wearing a helmet. And that swordsman, who had appeared out of nowhere, was tearing through the battlefield alone. With a single swing of his sword, heaven and earth shook and the wind howled. Brave cavalrymen fell from their horses, broke their necks, and died. As the vanguard's momentum faltered, the soldiers behind them could not contain their confusion either. The great conquering army's pride wounded by a single man? Impossible...

"That bastard! Kill that fucking bastard first! Cut off his arms and legs, and mount his head atop the flag!"

The conquering army's fury focused on one swordsman. This time, instead of spear-bearing cavalry, seasoned soldiers swarmed him. Some among them had made names for themselves.

But...

"Ghurk—"

When nine seasoned soldiers were wiped out in less than seven seconds, the soldiers present sensed that something was wrong. There was something strange about the way Han's swordsman wielded his blade. His first strokes were vicious, like those of a venomous swordswoman. The next were silent, like those of an assassin who had lived in the back alleys. The last were practiced, like those of a light-eyed knight from the west.

One soldier spoke.

"A ghost."

He was right.

"Han has finally summoned a ghost to win the war..."

It was a situation no ordinary reasoning could explain.

"His blade is possessed. A Sword Demon! A Sword Demon bars our way..."

Dozens of spearheads and dozens of sword tips were being toyed with by one man's blade. Beyond the rising dust, the helmeted swordsman looked like a ghost.

Well.

"Just as I thought, fighting at the very front was stupid."

Had they known what that swordsman was muttering to himself at the moment, they would not have been so afraid.

"This is fucking brutal. At this rate, I won't die from a sword through me. I'll drop dead from exhaustion."

「Hoho, but isn't it fun?」

"F***..."

「As I always say, stop at 'eff.' How many times must I—」

... Really.

* * *

The 「Great Land」's conquering army was a powerful legion. But being a powerful army did not mean that every individual in it was powerful. No army in the world could be made up that way. I targeted that fact. From what I saw through Suspicion, the conquering army's vanguard was composed of unimpressive fighters. Their muscles were well developed, the spears and swords in their hands were very sharp, and their warhorses were excellent. Their charge would be formidable indeed.

But of course, they had a weakness.

The conquering army boasted immense numbers. To maintain those numbers, when training soldiers, they would have chosen a method that could produce a hundred men worth their keep in a week rather than spending decades painstakingly raising a single swordsman of the century. Thus, although the conquering army's basic standard was high, few of its soldiers would have reached truly lofty levels. That was the conclusion my Suspicion had drawn.

In fact, I could tell as much simply from seeing that most of the cavalry in the vanguard carried mass-produced spears.

'Besides, even if they have skilled fighters, they wouldn't put them at the very front. They already have more soldiers than they need. There's no reason to take that risk.'

Anything could happen on a battlefield.

No matter how seasoned a swordsman was, a stray arrow or a haphazard swing of a blade could take their life there.

Master had told me that, whatever might be true elsewhere, on a battlefield even a 「sword runner」 could be killed by a 「sword beginner」. A celebrated swordsman could die at the hands of a furious mother who had lost her son. That was a battlefield.

He was right.

"Surround him! Pin him down so he can't tear through our formation!"

The battlefield was unlike any fight I had experienced before.

Arrows rained down. When I dodged them, spears and swords awaited me. Cold steel driven by nothing but raw muscle, wielded by men who could not even use Mana. Yet it was threatening enough.

I read the 「paths」 and barely managed to evade them. Spinning again and again, I dodged as though dancing. But there were places where I simply could not dodge. Surrounded in a circle, I was targeted by long spears. One of them struck me. A spear thrust from my blind spot hit my body.

TING!

A clear note rang out. Dwight's gift, the mithril armor, had saved me.

The light armor crafted by a dwarven artisan would not permit a mere spear of ordinary iron to injure its wearer. Frowning, I cut through the spear shaft and immediately thrust my sword forward, killing a cavalryman. A 「path」 extended through my body, granting me superhuman strength. Strength enough to break through the spears thrust by dozens of ordinary soldiers in one stroke.

But even with that much strength, I could not defend every direction. And what was an army? An army was not merely a group that swung swords and spears. Its aim was not a glorious victory, but simply victory. To achieve it, a legion could mobilize every violent means at its disposal.

"Bind him!"

From far away, I heard an incantation pronounced in strange sounds.

An eastern language? No. It was not a language meant for communication, but words of activation meant to bring about an arcane phenomenon. The moment those words poured out, I saw writhing 「paths」. Sorcery? Magic? I did not know what it was, but I was certain something arcane was about to occur.

'I have to cut it away.'

I had learned how to counter magic while fighting Jerry Selpit, the dark mage who had come uninvited to my estate. By combining my Suspicion with the blood of steel, I could perform a feat that allowed even a 「sword walker」's blade to disrupt magic. I could do the same this time.

But...

"Throw yourselves in his way! Stop him! If you hold out, we can bind him!"

The commander, with his wealth of experience, had excellent instincts.

He seemed to have sensed something ominous in my lack of panic. Seeing that I did not retreat despite the impending arcane attack, he surmised that I had a way out of this situation. Spearheads came rushing at me with fierce whistles. I could no longer swing my sword freely.

Should I use 「Gale」?

No. Without enough room to swing my sword, I could not create a whirlwind. Then should I trust my mithril armor and take the attack head-on? Mithril was renowned for its high resistance to the arcane. It might easily withstand three or four spells...

'No. That's not it.'

I shook my head as I considered it.

That was not the best option. My Suspicion applied everywhere. Naturally, if my own judgment was wrong, it came under suspicion too. Then what was the best option?

Countless 「paths」 unfolded before my eyes.

At that moment, a powerful voice rang out behind me.

"Sword Demon! Liam! Over here!"

Behind the voice came the clatter of hooves. I turned and saw a woman on horseback. A woman whose hair resembled a swaying horse's tail. It was Maia the Valkyrie. A true barbarian warrior of the north, a wild warrior whose horsemanship rivaled even that of the 「Great Land」's warriors...

"That was a glorious bat-tle! But why try to wage a war alone? War! Is fought together!"

Maia the Valkyrie reached down from her horse and snatched me up. In an instant, she had pulled me onto the horse. Meanwhile, instead of her thick greatsword, she held an exceedingly long spear. It spun in circles in her hand.

"From now on! Let me do my part too!"

"Wait. Maia. Magic is coming. Well, I don't know if it's magic or sorcery, but anyway—"

"I know that too! My Blood-Colored Skin tells me that wicked arcane power approaches."

"Then..."

"Don't worry, Sword Demon! Don't you know the saying of the sages of old?"

Then she said,

"Only the arcane can stand against the arcane."

Maia the Valkyrie.

Beneath her hair swaying from side to side, a faint halo of light arose around her back. In the next instant, it became a pair of wings. Blood-red wings, like the tattoos carved into her body.

She murmured as though singing.

"The Winter Who Never Sleeps shall be with me."

At the same time, Maia the Valkyrie leaped up from the horse. With countless enemies aiming their spearheads at her, her body did not fall to the ground. Instead, she hovered in the air, her magnificent wings shining. Like the battle angels in the continent's creation myth.

Like a true 「Valkyrie」...

「A Valkyrie's dance. It's been a long time.」

Liam murmured delightedly.

A moment later, an angel appeared above the legion striding across the earth. An angel dispensing death, with a greatsword in one hand and a long spear in the other.

* * *

『Name: Valkyrie』

『A title bestowed only upon the greatest warrior women among the barbarian warriors living in the northern Iron Kingdom. The title is taken from the name of the battle angels in the continent's creation myth.』