Chapter 381
(Kyle Calendar Year 515: Age 22)
Northern Front ⑱ – Those Who
Ride the Winds
Translator : PolterGlast
While the various armies across the plain were forced into a
grueling, blood-soaked attrition, the ones who noticed the emergence of the Z-Flag
earliest were the First Army under Marquess Gorman, who were in the
midst of a brutal melee against the charging columns of the Cain Kingdom.
Across a chaotic, smoke-filled warzone where both armies were violently mixed
together, the thunderous tolls of the high command's brass bells were
structurally drowned out by the sheer noise raised by men and horses. Because
they were fighting in a position closest to the main camp, it was rather
natural that they noticed it quickly.
「 Report, my Lord! At the main camp the bell is being repeatedly struck and the Z-Flag has
officially been hoisted! 」
「 I see……
」
Marquess Gorman merely answered the herald's report
with an exceptionally short, quiet grunt. Bending his neck to look over his
armored shoulder, his veteran eyes scanned the azure sky; there, four
triangular flags fluttered violently within the wind, and the Z-Flag was
fanning out proudly.
「 This changes the board…… hurriedly
issue an immediate orders to our left-wing! Devote yourselves
to fluidly absorbing and redirecting the enemy's momentum, and cease all
attempts to stand as a stationary wall in their way at the front! 」
「 Wh—But my Lord! If our frontline
units execute that lateral shift, we will completely be broken through! 」
It was no wonder the subordinate was surprised. Because up until now, every single drop of
their blood and bone had been dedicated to a singular objective: striving not
to be broken through, anchoring their boots desperately to block the enemy's
surge. Therefore, it was strictly because of that suicidal endurance that their
fragile lines had somehow managed to hold their ground at the very limit……
「 Let those bastards break through! 」 Saying so, Marquess Gorman
smiled fearlessly, his lips curling into a fierce, terrifyingly arrogant smile.
「 ーーー?! Yes, my Lord! 」
The adjutant completely failed to understand his master's
intent, but looking at the commander
who normally never showed a smile except for exceptional thresholds (such as
standing before Lady Yuka or the Demon King Takuhir), he could
only choose to place his absolute faith to that smile. Following the instructions, he rapidly drove his
spurs to send fast-riding heralds running, and simultaneously had the
signal-bearers raise custom banners in various places conveying the immediate
transition from 'Thorough Resistance' to 'Fluid Redirection'. The battle-hardened officers and soldiers who saw this
sudden alteration let out a collective grunt of intense confusion—yet, relying
upon the absolute prestige of the Marquess, they seamlessly adapted their lines
and followed the instructions, albeit suspiciously.
※
On the battlefield, the exact split-second the unyielding,
stubborn resistance defining the Marquess Gorman units suddenly
evaporated, they finally seemed to run out of strength; unable to resist the
fierce attack, they allowed the screaming forces
of the Cain Kingdom Army—buoyed by an unhinged, near-maniacal combat
morale—to violently plow straight through, splitting the defensive front wide
open just now as if being cleanly sheared and torn apart.
「 Enemy camp breakthrough! We have
punctured their core and officially broken the heretics' center to piecesーーー!!! 」
Despite suffering considerable damage, the combat morale of
the Cain Kingdom Army, which tore through the elite vanguard of the enemy forces through a half-crazed offensive, boiled up violently
into a hysterical state of pure ecstasy, and a thunderous roar of absolute
triumph arose simultaneously with the breakthrough.
「 All units,
from here on execute a sweeping wheel toward the left quadrant! We shall trap
their main body within a devastating pincer attack alongside General Golpa’s
ballista batteries and execute total annihilation! By our hands, we will decisively conclude the ultimate triumph of this
battle! 」
「「「「 OOOOHーーー!!! 」」」」
When the Second Prince of the Cain Kingdom hoisted
his master blade high into the sky and shouted loudly, his forces also roared and responded greatly. Having successfully
secured an overwhelmingly advantageous tactical position by breaking through
the enemy camp, every noble within his inner ring was perfectly convinced that
they would become the supreme leading actors of victory in this battle. Because
they had suffered an unsightly, humiliating defeat in the opening acts of this
invasion and committed the catastrophic blunder of having the absolute totality
of their national ballistae taken, they had endured the suffocating humiliation
of being looked down upon the most among the invading armies, together with
their master. Therefore, it was precisely to wash that burning disgrace from
their armor that they had transformed their physical vessels to fight as an
unyielding host of suicidal dead warriors—and right now, that agonizing effort
was about to be spectacularly rewarded.
It was the exact fraction of a second when their leading
cavalry squadrons leaned their weights to turn their horses' heads and draw a
wide, counter-clockwise arc, desperately rushing to strike the exposed
rearguard of the First Army and decisively conclude the victory. Along with a
sudden, unnatural gust of wind, arrows carrying tremendous, high-velocity
momentum violently attacked them.
FWOOOOOOSHHーーー!!!
A synchronized volley of high-velocity iron bolts sliced
through the atmosphere with a terrifying shriek, slamming straight into the
leading elements with pure kinetic overkill.
「 Gahーー?! 」
Leaving behind only short, choked screams, the initial
cluster of dozens of cavalry sprinting at the front were violently blown away
from their saddles along with their men and horses. Launched from an
astronomical distance that completely defied conventional archery, these
hundred projectiles—possessing an intense momentum like iron-tipped heavy
infantry short-spears—tore and pierced straight through the infantrymen in the
rear ranks along with their steel armor.
「 Arrows?! Unbelievableーーthis is impossible! 」 「 Where on earth did they fly from?! 」 「 With this kind of tremendous power?! 」 「 All units lock your
shields! Beware of the enemy ballistae! 」
Against the invading troops who were bewildered, another
identical simultaneous mass volley attacked without a moment's delay. Forced to
bathe in a secondary baptism of intense, wind-infused arrows that flew from out
of nowhere, the forward momentum of the Cain Kingdom vanguard completely
stopped midway through their tactical turnaround, and their horsemen stood
rigidly petrified and frozen in place.
※
The ones who applied this attack with a range and bow force
unimaginable normally were none other than the elite One-Hundred-Strong Long
Spear unit boasted by the Special
Fire Corps. Every single warrior within this unit were elites carefully
selected even among the master Longbowmen; furthermore, they were actively
supported and fired by Mages skilled at targeted, single-point enhanced Wind
Magic, allowing their effective range to easily exceed a threshold of 500 meters.
「 Press them hard! From here on,
maintain our cadence to ready continuous volleys…… fire! 」
Glenn, the
Vice-Captain of the Special Fire Corps, unleashed a thunderous command,
seamlessly firing another shot of long spears
into the sky in rapid succession. Alexis, who had safely entrusted the
command of the Long Spear unit to him, aggressively drove his horse forward
while the second volley was arcing through the clouds, closing the distance
with the frozen columns of the Cain Kingdom army all at once. The 1,900
elite Longbow Cavalry sweeping behind him, upon closing the distance to
a coordinate exactly 200 meters away, immediately checked their reins and
entered a synchronized shooting posture.
「 From here on we will annihilate
them! Signalers, begin the three strikes! Loose three consecutive volleys, now!
」
Across a battlefield that had rigidly fallen silent for an
instant due to the terrifying fury of the second shot of Long Spear-volleys, the crisp, clear sound of a signaling bell
echoed through the wind—and right on cue, a terrifying cloud of 1,900
certain-kill arrows guided by Wind Magic was released into the sky.
「 Enemy attack, it's coming!! 」
Darkening the entire northern sky exactly like an artificial
solar eclipse, the cascading lattice of arrows rained down accurately upon the
officers and soldiers of the Cain Kingdom, descending with absolute
precision to harvest their lives.
「 Why?! WHY IS DESTINY TREATING OUR
CROWN LIKE THISーーー?!!
」
While the unhinged, blood-curdling shrieks of the Cain
Kingdom's Second Prince echoed across the valley, the Cain Kingdom
Army, taking the fierce, relentless storm of arrows
head-on, had their proud knights fall into the dirt one after another as they
were torn to shreds.
「 Report! The retreat path in our
rear…… is completely gone! 」
The underlying tactical reason for that localized entrapment
was absolute: Marquess Gorman, who correctly judged that the Long Spears attack
had forced the enemy's advance to a dead stop, forcefully slammed his
temporarily opened formation shut once more. While lock-sealing and blocking
the retreat path behind their backs, he concurrently turned the unit on the
left end around, moving to execute a rapid pincer maneuver and half-encircle
them. On a battlefield with nowhere to escape the kill-zone, the trapped
invaders were unilaterally and unresistingly exposed to the terrifying fury of
the master Longbowmen.
「 I will…… I was destined to secure
the supreme honor of acquiring these new northern territories, depose that
incompetent older brother, and be crowned as the new true Sovereign King…… 」
Those were the absolute final, delusional words uttered by
the Cain Kingdom's Second Prince, whose bloodshot eyes received the
second simultaneous rapid-fire volley and became completely dumbfounded at the
magnitude of the catastrophic damage. They, who had aggressively broken through
the elite front ranks of the Marquess Gorman army with a reckless
charge, had successfully driven their momentum straight to the absolute limit
point of their offensive; yet, upon receiving the attack of the Long Spears unit, their offensive hit
a wall, and they subsequently received
fatal damage from a mere three consecutive volleys conducted by Alexis……
and were flawlessly annihilated and deleted from the board.
※
Beholding the sight of the Cain Kingdom Army being
thoroughly crushed until they no longer functioned as a structured army, Alexis wasted zero time and immediately shifted his
alignment to his next action.
「 Leave dealing with the cleanup of
the remaining soldiers entirely to the infantry of the First Army, and we will
advance straight toward the side of Marquess Gorman in the center!
Through a long-range counterattack, we will systematically neutralize the enemy
ballistae under General Golpa! 」
Following Alexis's instructions, the massive unit of Longbow Cavalry lined up directly behind Marquess
Gorman's army. Rapidly arranging their tactical formations, they
seamlessly integrated their spell-work and immediately commenced a continuous
stream of long-range suppressive shooting whose flight distance was
artificially extended by Wind Magic across the open plain.
「 Sir,
can you truly destroy those ballistae without utilizing our specialized Long Spears? 」 Glenn,
who had successfully finished commanding the Long Spear unit, also joined Alexis, lined up his horse
parallel to the young general's saddle, and spoke to him.
「 I understand what you want to say, Glenn. Because it is undeniable that this is ultimately strictly
long-range suppression fire, you see. However, within the laws of the field, to
move and transport those heavy mobile ballistae, the power of men and draft-horses is indispensable. In addition to that, if our
rapid-fire salvos forcefully compel the loaders and artillery shooters to flee
and abandon their platforms to save their own skins, it will be equivalent to
neutralizing them as useless scrap metal. Besides, we possess zero luxury to
lounge here; we are in a hurry because we must hasten our footsteps to secure
our next move. 」
「 Ah, I see. To an opponent boasting
long-range superiority, utilizing long-range suppression fire to completely paralyze
them, is it? Truly masterful, Sir. With
this volume of arrows falling over their heads, they
probably won't dare risk advancing carelessly by a single meter anymore. 」
Exactly as their words calculated, the vital draft-horses
and men that supported the hyper-mobility of the Lute Kingdom's
specialized mobile ballistae completely power-failed under the pressure;
receiving their attack that systematically released 2,000 arrows in a single
volley, the horses panicked and the crews scattered, executing a disorganized
retreat toward the rear. In their desperate haste to escape the wind-infused
arrows, they completely abandoned as many as 300 fully operational ballista
platforms straight on the front lines……
「 The central spine is secure! Then
exactly as our operational blueprint mapped out, Sir
Glenn will immediately lead 1,000 cavalry and move to launch a
rapid rescue array to support the Second Army under Marquess Solis! As
for my direct forces, we will sweep toward the right quadrant to support and
extract the Empire forces! 」
「 Understood! But tell me…… is the
Third Division alright? 」
「 Starting with Mars-san, each
captain anchoring that sector is a battle-hardened veteran of a hundred bloody battles. If they devote themselves entirely to an unyielding
defensive posture, their disciplined brawn will likely hold out against an
invading enemy army that possesses about double their numbers. Right now, our
absolute priority is the urgent matter of supporting these collapsing sectors. 」
「 I see…… an impeccable calculation, Sir! In that case, let us also hurry and let our arrows fly! 」
When Alexis bended his neck to look up at the high
rearguard sky, Glenn likewise
cast his eyes back toward the clouds. There, floating proudly to the left side
of the original scouting balloon from earlier, a secondary balloon fluttering
flags in a brand-new, different arrangement had successfully risen. The Z-Flag
was now prominently, beautifully snapping within the wind, securely fluttering
immediately below the second triangular flag and the fourth triangular flag.
『 Had
our Commander-in-Chief meticulously issued such detailed, long-range
instructions in advance……? Are they perhaps actively using those structural
grids to signal and show consideration for us even now? Even though our Special
Fire Corps had finalized our blood-oaths and made up our minds long ago,
gladly consecrating our mortal vessels to serve as a disposable shield…… 』
Glenn maintained a solemn, respectful silence as he looked up at
the sky, and before violently wheeling his horse to lead his 1,000 Longbow
Cavalry, started running at full speed down the plain. After successfully
destroying the core lynchpin enemy, if their specialized strikes could save Marquess Kamin and the others' broken
noble armies which were in danger of total annihilation, and provide a
devastating flank intervention to support Marquess Solis who was being
half-encircled, the macro-geometry of the war situation in this direction would
instantaneously reverse, making it possible to tie it down toward a definitive
victory all at once. To that extent, the terrifying destructive
capability wielded by master Longbowmen in units of a thousand is great,
operating as the ultimate, campaign-altering key capable of changing the war
situation. Only after thoroughly destroying and breaking the Ville Kingdom
army and the Lute Kingdom army from the table could they properly
possess the necessary tactical leverage to confront the true nightmare
remaining upon the board: the Istoria Orthodox Theocracy army, which
still possessed an overwhelming, massive 20,000-strong military strength. Alexis's
basic strategic from the absolute beginning was to preserve his absolute
crowning jewel, the Special Fire Corps, while securely holding them back
within the shadows to think about where to use them, waiting for the precise,
volatile scene to launch his elite assets and tie it to victory by changing the
war situation all at once. And one more deeply human nuance woven into his
calculations…… harboring such protective thoughts, he probably doesn't
want to force them to point their lethal arrows toward the faces of their own
estranged imperial compatriots as much as possible. Not just a cold response
fitting military logic, Glenn couldn't
help but feel the true weight of the young General Commander's feelings.
However…… the cruel mathematics of the battlefield refused
to let the situation proceed as smoothly as they thought. Because deep within
the opposing command post, there was a certain, cold-blooded mastermind whose
eyes were gazing coldly at their movements across the battlefield with absolute
clarity. The violent clash between bravery and bravery, between resourcefulness
and resourcefulness, was slated to continue across the burning plain for a
long, grueling while yet after this.
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