Starting With an SSS-Rank Swordsmanship Talent

Alaric and his subordinates brought the people they had captured to the empress.

“Is it them?” The empress looked at the captured group. She observed them deeply, but she couldn’t find anything auspicious about them.

She looked at Alaric with an inquisitive gaze, waiting for his response.

Looking at her expression, Alaric was silent for a moment.

How should I tell her?

With his Appraisal trait, he could see the strong connection of these people with the heretic cult, but he couldn’t say this to the empress without disclosing his Appraisal trait.

“Your Majesty can have your subordinates check their identities. I’m sure they are connected to the cult.”

Yskaela furrowed her eyebrows, but she didn’t press him for answers. She turned her head to the Grand Commander and instructed. “Lock them up and send someone to investigate these people.”

“Your subordinate obeys.” The Grand Commander nodded to acknowledge the command.

After resolving this minor issue, the empress went to inspect the surviving soldiers of the Guseomdong Army. Her presence uplifted their mood, but she could still sense the complex emotions on their faces.

“When are we going to attack the city, Your Majesty?” Alaric suddenly asked.

If the heretic cult was allowed to make preparations, taking back Guseomdong would be difficult.

There were also the remaining residents of the city whose situations were still unclear. Who knew what kind of atrocities would be done to them?

Knowing the heretic cult, Alaric could already imagine what they would go through.

The empress stared at him and replied with a cold look. “After the soldiers have rested, we will head straight to the city and take it back from the heretic cult’s hands!”

Alaric could feel the overflowing killing intent from her eyes.

…

Alaric went to get some rest after his conversation with the empress.

Inside his tent, he was about to take a short nap when he heard someone’s footsteps.

“Who is it?” He frowned.

“Tsk! Your ears have become sharper.” Nivis stepped in with a chuckle.

Seeing her, Alaric sat up and looked at her with a questioning look. “Nivis, what are you doing here?”

The centauress snorted and grabbed a chair. She then looked at him and spoke. “Alaric, the situation has become more serious. Two of Veronica’s Venerables had already fallen and multiple cities are being attacked by the heretic cult. If you aren’t careful here, you might end up getting yourself killed.”

From her observations, the empress was no longer in her peak state of mind. Because of the constant pressure from the heretic cult, she had been making questionable choices recently. If this continued, there would come a time when they would fall into a disadvantage and fall prey to the heretic cult’s schemes.

Hearing her words, Alaric rubbed his temples and took a deep breath before he replied. “I have already thought things through. We must see this to the end!”

Nivis stared at him in silence for a long while. She then shook her head and sighed. “Fine. I will lend you my full strength for this battle against the heretic cult, but you’d better not expose yourself to this kind of danger again without sufficient strength.”

She still wanted to make use of Alaric so she could return to her hometown. She couldn’t afford to see him get killed.

Alaric raised his eyebrows in surprise.

All this time, Nivis had never used her full strength. She had only used the strength of a Transcendent Knight.

As a Catastrophe-grade beast, her power could rival that of a peak Venerable.

“That would be really helpful, but you shouldn’t transform into your original form.” He reminded her.

Nivis belonged to a rare species of centaurs that were highly sought after. If her identity were exposed, she might be targeted by everyone on the continent.

She scoffed. “I don’t need to transform to beat those bugs of the heretic cult.”

Alaric couldn’t help but smile at her response. “You sure are confident.”

“Even you haven’t seen my full strength. Just wait and see. I’ll show you the reason behind my confidence.” She stood up, turned around, and left without looking back.

Alaric watched her leave with a look of anticipation. Just as she had said, he still hadn’t seen her display her full prowess in battle.

Alaric was looking forward to seeing her performance.

***

The sky darkened as evening came.

The empress led the Veronican Army to march straight to Guseomdong. Everyone kept their eyes on the surroundings, observing the darkness with wary faces.

No one knew what kind of traps lurked so they were careful.

Suddenly, they heard monstrous roars coming from the left side.

Roaarr! Roaar!!

Hearing this, the empress could already tell that they were from the humanoid monsters.

“Prepare for battle!” She shouted to the troops.

It was dark so the soldiers could only make use of the torches to see what lay ahead. With this weak lighting, they could barely see the shadows of the enemies.

“They are coming!”

” Watch out!”

The generals warned their troops.

With the warning from the generals, the troops managed to keep their composure. They unsheathed their weapons and eyed the incoming enemies.

Although visibility was low, they could clearly hear the roars of the humanoid monsters.

In the next moment, tens of thousands of humanoid monsters clashed with the troops in the left wing.

The commander of the left wing, Min Taehyun swiftly relayed a series of commands to the troops.

“Shield bearers, forward! Don’t let them get past our formation!”

“Archers, release your arrows! Don’t hold back!”

The troops staunchly defended their positions. With the timely instructions from their generals, they managed to stand firmly without any major losses.

Just then, more enemies appeared, and this time, they were coming from the right side.

So they are spread out, huh?

Alaric was positioned in the right wing together with the Grand Commander so he heard the approaching noise.

He looked at the Grand Commander and gave him a knowing look.

As if understanding his intentions, the Grand Commander raised his sword and shouted to the troops. “Prepare for battle!”