I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

There was another person who, almost simultaneously with Suehiro, sensed the change in Aoto.

As soon as Qing Deng stood up again, Kiryu, who had been watching from afar, suddenly frowned.

As if trying to etch every scene he was about to witness into his mind, he held his breath and stared intently at Qingdeng in the distance with a solemn expression.

……

……

—Ah...it seems his left shoulder injury is more serious than I expected.

Aoto, who had previously been hesitant to directly confront Suehiro, suddenly dared to take Suehiro's gun head-on to test how much strength Suehiro, whose left shoulder was already injured, still had left.

Although Suehiro's left hand could still barely grip the gun, it was clear that he could no longer exert any force with it.

Although he was very excited, Qingdeng remained calm.

With only one arm still usable, Suehiro's strength was no longer what it used to be—one new strategy after another began to emerge in Seito's mind...

Suehiro's shrill scream when he was injured in the shoulder naturally drew the attention of the members of the Exile Group who were still fighting.

Seeing that Suehiro was injured, many members of the Exile Group wanted to come and support him.

However, Saito and Komuro were not invisible. The members of the Exile Group noticed that Suehiro had been injured by Aoto, and they also noticed this exciting good news at almost the same time.

Their morale was further boosted, and they held onto the members of the Expeditionary Force tightly, preventing them from interfering with Qingdeng.

With his arm crippled, Suehiro's thrusts were far less powerful and faster than before.

However—Suehiro did not back down at all.

Rather, he fought even more fiercely than before.

Because he knew in his heart that time was no longer on his side.

With such a huge wound on his left shoulder, if the battle drags on, the ever-increasing blood loss will further weaken him.

Suehiro frequently used footwork to press forward against Aoto.

But Qingdeng remained calm and composed.

With a faint, maniacal smile still on his face, Qing Deng continued to dodge Suehiro's attacks while carefully observing Suehiro's spear techniques, just as before.

Suehiro's current strength is no longer as great as his—this made Aoto think of a new way to break through Suehiro's defense and get close to him!

Qingdeng took a deep breath and adjusted his breathing.

Then squint your eyes slightly and concentrate.

call……!

Ahead, Suehiro once again swung his spear, aiming straight for Aoto's chest!

Qing Deng gripped the knife tightly in his hand and quickly switched his stance to the lower right.

After Suehiro's wind cut reached the optimal position, Aoto suddenly swung his sword diagonally.

Target—the wind-cutting spearhead!

Qing Deng's sword struck Suehiro's wind-cutting spear tip precisely from the side.

A tremendous force traveled along the shaft of Kazegiri's spear and into Suehiro's arms.

Suehiro felt as if a fast horse had collided with his wind-cutter.

If his arms were intact, Suehiro would certainly not be afraid to compete with Aoto in strength.

However, there are no "ifs" in this world.

With only one arm remaining, Suehiro was completely unable to compete with Aoto in terms of strength.

The two swords and spears touched for only a moment before Suehiro's wind-cutting was deflected.

The wind-cutting blade, deflected, flew high into the air, and Suehiro nearly lost his grip on the gun barrel.

The instant after successfully deflecting Suehiro's wind-cutting attack with his sword, Aoto stomped his back foot and charged straight toward Suehiro at the highest speed he could currently achieve!

Suehiro attempted to retrieve the wind-cutting blade that had been knocked away for a defensive maneuver, but with only one arm, he no longer had the strength to retrieve it before Aoto could finish him off.

So he simply abandoned the gun, reached his right hand to his left waist, and drew the katana from his left waist.

Just as he drew his katana, Qing Deng, taking advantage of his wide-open defense, rushed towards him and slashed at him with his sword—

clang!

In a split second, Suehiro miraculously raised the sword he had just drawn from its sheath and parried Aoto's slash.

"Ugh...!" Suehiro, who could only use one arm to fight against Aoto's two arms, felt as if his body was being flattened little by little.

Seeing that Suehiro had blocked his attack, Aoto showed no expression or emotion.

He silently and swiftly changed his tactics!

He, who was originally wrestling with Suehiro, suddenly dodged to the left, moving with his sword to Suehiro's left side, thus extricating himself from the struggle.

Unaware that Aoto would suddenly dodge, Suehiro was unable to stop in time, and his body fell forward due to inertia.

In that fleeting moment, Qingdeng swiftly shifted half a step to the side, switching to a stance that made it easier to exert force, holding the sword with his lower left hand.

The blade flew close to the ground before soaring into the sky!

The blade, slashing upwards, pierced deeply into Suehiro's body.

"Ugh...!"

Suehiro lowered his head, looking at the blade that was now embedded in his abdomen.

The knife in his hand fell to the ground.

He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.

But when he opened his mouth, all that came out was blood foam and words that were difficult to understand.

After a brief struggle, its eyes began to roll backward.

Immediately afterwards, his head seemed to be pulled backward by his rolled-back eyes, and he fell backward as well.

Suehiro's body fell heavily to the ground, stirring up clouds of snow mist.

The snow mist stirred up drifted in the air for a while before settling like light dust on Suehiro's body, which was gradually losing its life force.

[Ding! Talent detected]

At the same instant Suehiro collapsed, a cold system voice echoed through Aoto's mind.

[Successfully Replicating the Talent: "Physical Fitness"]

[Talent Introduction: Possesses outstanding injury recovery speed]

……

……

At this very moment—

Suehiro and his men's temporary camp —

Click...click...click...click...click...

Cracks began to appear on the statue of Niou, the one with the title Suehiro.

Before long, dense cracks covered the wooden statue like a spider web.

then……

Kara.

With a soft "crack," the majestic statue of the Benevolent King shattered into dozens of pieces, scattering across the ground...

……

……

At that moment, a member of the Exile Group who was fighting fiercely with Komuro and the others caught sight of Suehiro lying in a pool of blood. He was so shocked that he forgot to attack and didn't even notice a cold snowflake falling on the back of his neck.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, his face pale, then took a few steps back without saying a word, turned around and ran, but accidentally bumped into one of his companions behind him.

The man grumbled and clutched his aching chest, but inadvertently caught a glimpse of their commander's corpse.

"Mr. Suehiro is dead!" A terrifying scream echoed across the entire battlefield.

At the sound of that scream, the members of the Extermination Group stopped fighting.

When they discovered that their commander-in-chief, Suehiro, had also been killed in action after Yamada, their expressions turned pale with a visible speed.

The only reason they could muster the courage to fight against Aoto and the others was because of Suehiro.

Suehiro's spear skills and his wind-cutting ability gave them the confidence to turn the tide of the battle!

And now... with Suehiro's death, their last fighting spirit and morale have completely vanished.

The members of the anti-barbarian group who remained on the battlefield began to flee in disarray.

A true defeat.

Almost no one stayed behind to continue fighting.

They scrambled about like headless flies, running for their lives.

Komuro and his men did not pursue them—after such a long and arduous battle, their strength was almost exhausted.

Watching the members of the Extermination Group flee further and further away, Komuro and the others looked dazed. Exhausted and somewhat dull-witted, they didn't immediately realize—they had won! They had repelled an enemy force that outnumbered them nearly tenfold!

Anthony and Elodie also looked dazed.

The grandfather and grandson stared blankly at the surroundings, where the sounds of battle had finally ceased. After a long while, perhaps it was because they were such close relatives, but they did the same thing: as if all their strength had been drained, they slumped to the ground, their limbs weak.

Kinoshita Mai, who was also slightly dazed due to not yet being able to process the fact that "the enemy has retreated," suddenly caught a glimpse of a scene out of the corner of her eye that made her pause in surprise.

She noticed Kiryu standing beside her and gave him a strange, ambiguous expression that was neither a smile nor a frown.

This was the first time Kinoshita Mai had seen such an expression on the old man's face since she had known him.

Kiryu, with that strange expression, stared intently at Aoto, who was still standing beside Suehiro's corpse, panting heavily and adjusting his breathing rhythm.

His left hand gripped the long, narrow cloth bag he was holding tightly in his left palm. The knuckles of his fingers turned slightly white from the force.

call……