My Students Regret It After I Retired

8 – Slaughtered Knights, A Grave Difference in Power

Terepian’s hands began to tremble. A man who had been on countless battlefields, more than worthy of being called an elite.

The man had fought for his life in battlefields where swords flew in every direction, believing his bravery to be an unchanging value that wouldn’t shift depending on the situation or circumstances. That was the man’s pride and self-respect. Bravery that wouldn’t back down in any situation, that was the reason the man lived.

But in the eyes of that man, filled with bravery, fear began to take root for the first time.

“This… this isn’t it…”

The reason he could be brave even in the face of death was because it felt like a fight he could win. Even when fighting over 100 people with only a dozen men, or when he was ambushed and fought with one arm due to severe wounds, or when the formation was devastated by long-range interception artifacts, Terepian had not been afraid. In the end, the ones attacking were also just humans. So he believed that there was at least a slight possibility that he could win.

If there was even a 1% chance of hope, I wouldn’t have given up. Conversely, right now, even that 1% of hope didn’t exist.

“Kkyaaahhh!”

While Terepian’s hand was trembling, another knight had his throat ripped out by the mantis-like monster, Lyrad. The knight next to him struggled to get away, but his heart was pierced by overwhelming speed.

A body over 3 meters tall. Overwhelming strength that could crush a human body just by swinging. Even an overwhelming agility that could travel meters in the blink of an eye. Lyrad was not a being that a human body could possibly overcome.

Terepian stared at Lyrad and muttered,

“That…that monster, even the no-name bug, Leos, caught… A great knight like myself… am I going to give up here!”

Terepian forcefully calmed his trembling hand and gripped his sword, swinging it towards the mantis-like mutant monster, Lyrad. The sword energy bursting from his blade tore through the air, charging towards the monster.

“Die!”

The moment Terepian bellowed and brought his sword down,

-Clang!

With a clear sound, the mutant Lyrad’s blade blocked the sword completely. Not even a scratch on the monster’s blade.

“A…s…save me…”

He tried to beg for his life, but the opponent was not a being that could speak like a human. He had dismissed it as a mindless creature, but in the face of overwhelming power and instinct, intelligence felt like a trivial factor. An opponent who wouldn’t respond to pleas. Overwhelming terror and the fear of death began to surge.

‘From the start… I… I wasn’t an opponent I could win against… I should have just run…’

But the man’s realization was far too late.

-Thwack!

Terepian’s upper body was pierced straight through by Lyrad.

The knights around them scattered in a panic and began to flee, but the monster, as if having a meal, began to devour the knights one by one, and then started to slash those who remained.

A single monster emerged from the mutant Redgate. That one monster mutilated 34 out of the 35 knights.

“Sssshhhkk!”

He shrieked towards the sky as if sending some kind of signal, and soon, ironically, the only thing alive at the scene was Terepian, whose upper body had been pierced by the first mutant monster. Every knight was dead. And despite being left alone, Terepian’s survival instinct took precedence over the thought of avenging his fallen comrades.

Even as blood gushed from his body, Terepian, with a sliver of hope to live, laid down his sword and surrendered.

“S-spare… me… ugggh…”

In a state where he could barely beg for his life, Terepian coughed up a massive amount of blood. Begging for life was a shameful act a knight should never do. Moreover, begging a monster—not even human—for his life was the ultimate disgrace.

Nonetheless, Terepian slammed his forehead to the ground and cried out.

“I surrender… I surrender, please just spare my life…”

“Sssssss!”

Lyerad swooped right in front of Terepian. Tears began to flow from Terepian’s eyes. If Lyerad were to simply swing the blade on his arm, the man’s head would be severed in an instant.

The mantis-type mutant monster, Lyerad, looked at Terepian with amusement and let out a chilling laugh, before spreading his wings and flying into the sky.

Barely having escaped with his life, Terepian clutched his abdomen and collapsed painfully to the ground.

“It… it understood me… and toyed with me… a monster… understands words…?”

It was too unnatural to dismiss as coincidence. The monster’s gaze and actions, as if he was sparing a crawling bug, were far too bizarre to be written off as mere chance.

“This is a disaster…”

They had believed that even the strongest of the dull, mindless monsters could be overcome somehow. But that was just their delusion. The mutant monsters clearly possessed intelligence. So much so that they could understand human speech and toy with lives.

“Shit…”

Terepian, pushing aside the rising shame, dragged his body inch by inch with his hands towards the Imperial Palace.

‘I must… I must deliver this message. Leos… if not him… no one else can…’

It was always Leos who single-handedly dealt with the numerous mutant species that had existed in the Empire in the past. At the time, it was just a man of unclear origins doing the work, so even seeing a massive monster die didn’t evoke much. He thought of it as merely someone taking care of bothersome tasks. But it was different now.

The reason Leos had single-handedly caught the Red Gate mutant monsters was because he knew he was the only one who could.

‘I… the Empire… we’ve all been terribly mistaken.’

People tend to underestimate and judge what they haven’t experienced. Not just the Empire, but even the Terepians thought that since Leos killed mutants so easily, other trained knights could surely do the same. The Terepians changed their minds when they actually faced mutants.

Knights, troops, any artifact, it was all meaningless. Leos. They needed the monster Leos, the one who single-handedly smashed hundreds of Red Gates. The man must have some special characteristic, ability, or information to deal with mutant species.

They had to inform the Emperor. Leos was absolutely necessary to prevent the Empire’s demise.

*

“Keep up, it’ll be a pain if the monsters spot us for no reason.”

“Yes! I’ll follow as fast as I can!”

I put all the baggage Herisia was lugging around into my inventory. She loosened up, feeling unburdened, and spoke.

“So, do we just break through the monster zone now?”

“Don’t talk crazy. We’re going back.”

“Huh?”

Herisia looked at me with a questioning expression, so I gave her a brief explanation.

“If we can avoid confronting monsters, that’s the best option. Mutants, in particular, can possess overwhelming power capable of defeating dozens of knights individually. If we’re unlucky enough to encounter two or three at the same time, even I’d have trouble fighting while protecting you.”

“If it’s hard to protect *me* while fighting…does that mean that when you fight alone, you can kill two or three of those mutant things?”

“I can. I’ve already done it a few times before.”

At Red Gates, especially when mutants appeared, I took on the subjugation alone. The reason wasn’t anything other than the fact that the others were just getting in the way. Mutants are extremely sensitive to stimuli. To take them down, there can’t be even the slightest mistake. So, ironically, in the specific case of attacking a mutant, companions only become an obstruction.

‘Of course, that’s only if it’s two or three. One is no problem at all.’

I pulled out daggers and other weapons from my inventory and tucked them away within my clothing. It was possible to use items right away after taking them from the inventory, but that would cause a short delay between taking the item out and it materializing again. On the other hand, if I hid weapons all over my body, I could use them instantly during a series of combat actions, making it much more efficient.

In a battle where a single moment can determine victory or defeat, blindly trusting the inventory was no different than taking a shortcut to death.

After walking for a while, Herisia spoke.

“I used Distance to check the location you mentioned, Leos-nim, and it seems Benedict is over in that cave. But there’s a problem…”

I turned my head, following Herisia’s gaze. The cave where Bendict was presumed to be. Because a massive monster was blocking it.

“It looks at least 3 meters tall…? How about we wait until that monster disappears and enter later?”

Ignoring her words, I trudged forward.

“I’ll kill it and come back. Wait.”

I scan the opponent. A praying mantis-type mutant, its name is Lyrad. There was no way I wouldn’t know. Lyrad was the name I gave it when I first subjugated one.

‘It’s got blood on it.’

The mantis-type monster, Lyrad’s blades, were covered in blood, presumably human. I glanced anxiously towards the distance. Anxious that maybe that idiot Bendict was dead inside, after all.

“Leos! It’s dangerous! Even so, killing a monster like that all alone is…”

“Be quiet. It’ll be over in a moment.”

I immediately began running towards Lyrad. Then, its gaze instantly snapped towards me.

“Shhheeesss!”

It let out a grotesque noise and began ejecting its fluids. But I didn’t dodge, continuing to run straight ahead.

-Sssssssshh

The monster’s fluid touched my body, beginning to melt it, but that bit of pain was nothing. If I had tried to dodge, it would have used its long reach to tear me apart.

Surprised that I didn’t avoid its fluids and came straight for it, the monster raised its blades to attack.

-Whoosh!

The strength of its blades was similar to steel, so blocking it was foolish. I plunged into its attack, dodging it, then twisted my body, kicking off the ground and moving to its abdomen.

-Thwack…

Attacking the only weak point on Lyrad’s body, it let out a scream and tried to soar into the air. I immediately fired a long-range interception artifact at its wing joint.

-Crackcrackcrack!

A mana bullet hits the wing joint perfectly, and the thing loses its balance, crashing to the ground.

-Thud!

It fell from the sky, taking an immense impact from gravity and its own weight. I, with an emotionless expression, watched the Lierard crawl on the ground and raised my dagger.

“A low-tier among mutants. Pathetically weak.”