Bonus chapter thanks to @John from Ko-fi!
Enfer, watching Sylvain charge with the knights, took his position before the barrier.
The moment their eyes landed on Enfer, the monsters' gazes sharpened. Their approach noticeably quickened.
"Hmm, do you wish to kill me?"
Enfer hadn't stepped forward merely to show off his strength. He wanted to confirm the existence of an unseen commander.
If something was truly directing the monsters, it wouldn't ignore Enfer, the heart of the barrier, standing alone.
And as he predicted...
The earth-shaking stomps of the monsters converged on Enfer. It wasn't a simple attraction. Every monster was clearly, deliberately charging towards him.
"There's definitely something giving orders."
Enfer placed the tip of Gram on the ground.
As a test, he drew a diagonal line in the air.
The head of a leading monster, far in the distance, was severed. The brief slaughter ended after cleaving through a few more behind it.
He didn't care about the black liquid staining his blade. Enfer's swordsmanship split everything it touched uniformly.
"This way, I can't tell how hard that black stuff is."
This time, Enfer raised his sword horizontally and slightly crouched. From there, a horizontal slash erupted.
And the monsters, still far away, were now separated into upper and lower halves.
Although it seemed no different from the previous carnage, Enfer nodded.
"Indeed, the black parts are cut a little slower."
Knowing that was enough.
As if making such a declaration, Enfer's sword swung repeatedly.
The monsters diligently gathered to kill him. Their speed increased, surging towards Enfer like a wave.
...However, closing the distance still seemed a distant prospect.
Meanwhile, a soldier watching from atop the barrier opened his mouth.
"Sir, what is that? What is the Lord Commander doing?"
"What do you mean? He's cutting down monsters."
His superior next to him replied nonchalantly.
The soldier trailed off and looked back at Enfer. His swinging sword, the monsters being cut down from afar. No mistake, even after rubbing his eyes. His senses weren't dulled.
"That's not aura, is it?"
If it were aura, if he were cutting down monsters by releasing sword energy, the soldier wouldn't be this surprised. Of course, he would have marveled at the tremendous level of aura and sword energy that remained powerful enough to cut down even the monsters behind the first, despite the distance.
But Enfer wasn't using aura. He simply swung his sword, and monsters at a seemingly irrelevant distance had their heads flying off and bodies split apart.
'Besides, if that were aura, there should be a time lag before it reaches them, but there isn't.'
As if cutting down monsters right in front of him.
Enfer's sword instantly killed them.
"What, are you a newbie?"
"N-No, sir. But this is the first time I've seen the Lord Commander fight."
"Well, he hasn't participated in battles much lately. He's been focusing on training the Roach Knights and soldiers."
At those words, the soldier looked around at the others. Some were as surprised as him, but most were watching Enfer's fight calmly.
"We don't know for sure, but everyone's guessing it's divine power."
"Divine power... Certainly, I've never seen a technique like that anywhere."
Divine power, that would at least be somewhat understandable.
...Although he couldn't comprehend which god and what kind of ability would result in something like that.
"Perhaps the knights know? About the Lord Commander's technique."
"Well, the Lord Commander is a man of few words. He talks a bit more with Commander Sylvain, so maybe he knows?"
The soldier listened to the conversation in a daze, watching Enfer.
The phrase 'one-man army' - he always thought it was an exaggeration. In this era, the position capable of killing the most enemies was undoubtedly the mage.
But even for mages, killing a thousand at once wasn't easy, and it required sufficient troops to protect them.
Yet, Enfer was currently single-handedly, without a single scratch, annihilating hundreds of enemies.
Of course, they were monsters, but would it have made much difference if there were humans among them?
"The Lord Commander's epithet is 'Iron Wall,' right? The Roach Knights and we initially disliked it for being too plain."
"...That's right. Because he never allowed a single intrusion, the Iron Wall."
"But these days, it seems fitting."
His superior observed Enfer and his surroundings.
Enfer standing before the barrier. The monsters pouring in like a tide but unable to close the distance.
And the countless corpses piling up between them.
"What must be done to prevent damaging the wall?"
Prevent the enemy from even reaching the wall.
Therefore, the Iron Wall.