The soldiers of Star Dragon Outpost were perfectly coordinated, their combat skills, equipment, and experience completely dwarfing the players.
Facing the Ghoul Eaters, who were equally overwhelming to the players, they quickly formed a triangular formation, reacting optimally in the shortest amount of time.
Chaos and order collided, erupting in the darkness with a thunderous roar.
"Boom!"
The Ghoul Eaters frenziedly charged the soldiers. Despite their emaciated appearance, the Ghoul Eaters moved with surprising agility.
In contrast, the soldiers of Star Dragon Outpost were heavily armored, making them less nimble.
It was a struggle between the spear and the shield.
For the first time, the players saw the "invincible" Ghoul Eaters being stopped by the iron shield wall of the Star Dragon Outpost soldiers.
The shields screamed and howled with each impact, and the soldiers' bodies trembled.
But the defensive line didn't budge an inch.
More than individual combat ability, the soldiers were demonstrating teamwork to the Undead players. The players, who had previously been patting themselves on the back for their teamwork in taking down a single raider camp, could only gape in astonishment.
So this is what real combat is like!
That ferocious spirit wasn't just about charging recklessly. It was about strategic action, about training ingrained over countless days and nights, and about making the best choice in the instant of a sword swing.
Is everyone in this world a swordmaster or what?
Linde didn't care about the players' lives.
The soldiers' performance was also in line with his expectations. If the infantry of the Lander Kingdom didn't have at least this much ability, they might as well be dead.
His eyes were fixed on the Ghoul Eaters, and his expression was slightly grave.
"Holy crap! These Ghoul Eaters are using formations!" The white-stocking enthusiast couldn't help but swear.
You gotta curse when playing games. What kind of game is it if you don't swear? You have to curse even while playing visual novels, damn it.
The Ghoul Eaters were strong, fearless of death, and immune to pain. This was why Linde and his soldiers were unwilling to clash with them.
People might be disgusted by rabid dogs, but not afraid… It's just that they don't want to get involved. It's too troublesome and doesn't provide benefit, and it's easy to get into a mess.
But that doesn't mean they're unbeatable.
Because the Ghoul Eaters lack discipline and act loosely, they can only passively take a beating when facing soldiers in formation.
But if these rabid dogs start using formations to target them, that's a different story altogether.
His previous guess was right. There's someone controlling the Ghoul Eaters from behind.
Like a queen bee and her swarm.
"Awooo!"
One Ghoul Eater, slinging a bulging sack filled with who-knows-what, actually stepped on the heads of its comrades, leaping over the soldiers' line and lunging towards Linde.
Under the fractured moonlight, the diving, hunched figure was like a deadly chain launched from the abyss, aimed directly at Linde's neck.
Menacing bone claws plunged downwards.
Tortoise Shield, who was "watching the cutscene" from the sidelines, couldn't help but gasp.
How would Linde, the village chief of Noob Town, respond?
He turned to look at the handsome man, whose face was impassive as he held his longsword, raising it in an upward thrust.
Zzzzz!
Was it a hallucination, or was it a glitch in the game? Tortoise Shield noticed that the blade of the longsword in Linde's hand flashed red for a split second.
The red light flashed, carving a crescent arc from bottom to top.
"Thud Thud"
The Ghoul Eater that had lunged at Linde fell to the ground, making two distinct thumping sounds.
The upward slash had effortlessly bisected the Ghoul Eater, with no resistance whatsoever.
Could there be something different about the weapon in the lord's hand?
Looking at the cleanly severed Ghoul Eater, Tortoise Shield, as a bystander, exclaimed, "Holy crap, a skill! It's a skill!"
"What?" The other two barely-alive players and the battered white-stocking enthusiast, who had just escaped from the fight, all turned to look at him.
Even though he was about to die, that was a skill!
Did things like that even exist in this game?
Before, they all assumed that such a realistic world wouldn't have things like that.
"The boss just did that!" Tortoise Shield gesticulated wildly, more excited than when his leg was saved.
Boss? What kind of nickname is that?
Linde forcefully suppressed any change in expression. He had indeed just used a skill—Crowley's Fury.
By igniting the inner strength of a Great Knight, it sets the weapon ablaze, making it sharper and adding fire damage, greatly increasing its power.
He didn't need to fully ignite it. After all, his original strength was enough to easily tear apart a Ghoul Eater; the fury was just a slight boost, helping the blade to be sharper.
The number of Ghoul Eaters was still increasing. More and more were appearing.
The soldiers' defensive line remained unbroken.
But the Ghoul Eaters flanking from the sides were increasing in number. Anyone could see that the pressure on the soldiers was rising.
However, their elite combat prowess was on full display. Ordinary soldiers would have used all their stamina and energy just to hold back the flood of Ghoul Eaters. The Star Dragon Outpost soldiers, on the other hand, not only blocked the attacks but also counterattacked. The longswords that thrust out from the gaps in the shields always struck the Ghoul Eaters' heads with precision, piercing their throats and dealing maximum damage.
To do this required more than just strength, it also required ample combat experience.
They can't kill them all, can't deal with them all, more and more… The only good news was that there were only about a dozen Ghoul Eaters in total.
As long as they could hold out, they could win.
That was, if the Ghoul Eaters were really "stupid" enough to only attack head-on, stubbornly trying to break through from the front.
With someone directing them from behind, that wouldn't happen.
Everyone present realized that these Ghoul Eaters seemed to be deliberately avoiding the impenetrable wall of shields, and were instead working together to bypass it from above and from both sides, with their sights set on—Linde!
"My Lord!" Soldier Reid turned his head, watching the Ghoul Eaters get past the shield wall, his heart pounding.
The others also reacted, their first thought being to abandon the defensive formation they had created and rush back to Linde's side to protect him.
The only ones who remained calm were probably the players.
If an NPC died, it meant he wasn't an important NPC, and the plot would definitely introduce a new NPC later.
If the NPC didn't die, it meant he was an important NPC.
We players are still watching the cutscene.
"Don't worry."
Linde faced the seven or eight hunched figures lunging at him, gripping his longsword with both hands.
"Crowley's Fury - Ignite!"
Whoosh!
The flames that instantly engulfed the blade illuminated half of Linde's face in a red glow. The firelight reflected in his pupils, making him look like a lion ignited with rage.
The swirling, writhing crimson flames were like boiling blood, mirroring Linde's expression in that moment.
He rotated his wrist and swung forward.
Wielding the flame-wrapped longsword, he unleashed a wave of heat that spread in all directions. Tortoise Shield, lying on the ground closest to Linde, was the first to feel it. He thought he could hear his hair sizzling from the intense heat.
The Ghoul Eaters, who had seemed unstoppable a moment before, now looked like moths drawn to a flame.
The ground trembled, and everyone seemed to hear the roar of a lion.
They could clearly see the golden-haired man wielding the flames. It was as if the flames were dragging him along, or… he was commanding the flames.
The fire, like pure rage, rolled! Roared! Devoured everything!
Swallowing up the Ghoul Eaters' screams of agony.
Rapidly swung longsword, powerful chops, a sharpness that made it seem like a hot knife through butter, an unstoppable forward momentum… All of it made Linde as ferocious as a lion entering the arena for a hunt. The Ghoul Eaters were just prey in his eyes, offering some fleeting amusement but no real threat.
Even the flames swirling around the blade were no longer the main attraction. The fire was merely the red mane of the lion, showing off its power.
Linde was the lion.
And the players, watching, had only one thought:
"Holy shit, that's awesome!"