Chapter 365
(Kyle Calendar Year 515: Age 22)
Northern Front ⑤ – The Stirring
Battlefield
Translator : PolterGlast
Even as the First Army and Second Army
defending the Northern Front, along with Viscount Durul’s independent unit,
commenced their coordinated movements, the army of the Istoria Orthodox
Theocracy remained entirely motionless, maintaining an eerie, ominous
silence. In stark contrast, the individual military forces of the Ville,
Lute, and Cain Kingdoms had
begun pushing deeper into Empire territory,
ruthlessly trampling the innocent citizens, the land, and every village and
town in their path. As real-time scout reports of this devastation filtered
back to their encampment, certain individuals wore smiles of profound, satisfying
malice.
「 Even so, Lugner, it appears
the bait you showcased has worked marvelously. 」
「 Hmph. Humans are remarkably simple
creatures, Azel. When a man sees someone in a similar station attain
something, he inevitably covets the exact same prize for himself. It matters
not whether it is a material possession or the hearts of the people. And
furthermore…… since everything those fools originally desired was thoroughly
gutted and stolen by our own hands, they were starving, devoid of bait. That
made them all the more desperate. 」
「 Hahaha! Despite being the
legitimate son of a Viscount house, you possess a remarkably profound
understanding of the depths of human depravity. 」
「 Hmph. Azel, what does that
ancient history matter anymore……? 」 Responding with a sharp click of his tongue, Lugner
wore a particularly displeased scowl. He himself had grown up entirely steeped
in jealousy and deep-seated resentment, a conditioning that had permanently
warped his personality into something remarkably cold and cruel.
The younger brother who had been uniquely coddled by his
maternal uncles; the younger brother who possessed the absolute trust of the
head butler, adored by both the common citizens and the soldiers. Long before
he received the baptism of darkness at the tender age of fifteen and
permanently stained his soul in shadows, Lugner had spent his entire
youth glaring at his younger brother, Erol, through a lens of toxic
negative emotions, coveting everything he himself lacked.
「 So, how do you intend to proceed
from here? Do we mobilize our forces to match their advance? 」
「 Azel, it is still far too early. For now, we shall remain at an
elevated vantage point and spectate the entertainment as those fools bleed one
another dry. Or, to be entirely precise, it is more accurate to say we are
simply biding our time for the absolute perfect opportunity. 」
「 But won't the arrow shields (refugees)
we dragged along become entirely useless if they grow accustomed to indulging
in a life of peaceful luxury within the city? 」
「 Heh. Those wretches have already
grown thoroughly addicted to plundering under the borrowed majesty of God. From
this moment forth, they will actively crave to steal even more, all under the
sacred banner of His divine name. 」
Indeed, the moment these fanatics entered the town lying
just ahead of Alexis's pre-arranged traps, they immediately commandeered
the vacant houses of the evacuated residents as their own personal dwellings.
They systematically and enthusiastically swept through the town to hoard every
leftover scrap of wealth, re-labeling the stolen loot as a 'Sacred Offering to
God'. As for provisions, the military regularly supplied them with food and
harvests stolen from the surrounding frontier villages. Devoid of hunger, they
were currently enjoying a standard of living that was incomparably more
luxurious than anything they had experienced prior. Consequently, they firmly
believed that these plundered spoils were a divine blessing, granted through
God's infinite mercy as a reward for the immense spiritual merit they
accumulated by marching in His honor.
「 Therefore, when the time comes for
us to launch our ultimate offensive, they will serve us magnificently as our
frontline arrow shields. And to permanently sever any lingering ties between
those converted traitors and their old homeland, we shall ensure they meet a
spectacular, bloody end at the very end. 」
Ultimately, Lugner and his inner cabal harbored four
distinct, covert objectives.
·
To thoroughly ravage and gut the
newly ceded territory of that detestable brat, bleeding his national strength
dry and forcefully pushing him back beyond the old national borders.
·
In that exact process, to forcefully
deplete the brat’s active military strength, and if fortune favored them,
permanently alienate and sever the loyalty of the soldiers originating from the
Istoria Imperial Kingdom.
·
To systematically exhaust the
military strength of the three kingdoms that had so easily swallowed their
bait, claiming at least one of those nations as their own personal spoil of war
when the dust settled.
·
To contribute heavily to the
ultimate victory of the First Prince, utilizing it to prompt a massive, future
military expedition that would simultaneously annihilate both the Kyle
Kingdom and the brat’s nation in a single stroke.
To achieve this ultimate, lifelong ambition, Lugner
considered the Istoria Imperial Kingdom, the Orthodox Theocracy,
and the kingdoms of Ville, Lute, and Cain to be entirely
disposable assets, perfectly content to see them thoroughly ground to powder as
sacrificial pawns.
「 We have already taken the vanguard,
struck the first blow, and secured our military results. Therefore, it is only
fair that the remaining three nations step forward to bleed their own flesh.
Even if the brat and his forces somehow emerge victorious, they will be
severely depleted after trading blows with a unit thirty-five thousand strong.
And furthermore, we have absolutely no necessity to secure a technical victory
in this specific engagement. 」
Saying this, Lugner let out a cold, chilling laugh.
On this singular tactical premise, Lugner's calculations aligned with
absolute, flawless perfection with the hidden designs of Duke Harry.
※
Meanwhile, among the three invading nations, the very first
to break the peace and initiate active combat was the Cain Kingdom,
which was pushing northward through the central sector. Under the grand
delusion that their flanks were completely secure due to their allies marching
parallel to their left and right, they advanced at a leisurely, arrogant pace.
They meticulously plundered every town and village along their path, using the
horrific spectacle of crucified civilian hostages displayed at their absolute
front to completely deter any potential ambush. They pushed forward, entirely
oblivious to the fact that a disciplined military unit—acting on precise
scouting data—had already navigated the hidden back-roads to outmaneuver them,
completely concealing themselves within the dense forest flanking the highway,
silently waiting for their arrival…… And finally, the fated moment arrived.
「 We shall tolerate these glorified
bandits running rampant across our soil no longer! From this moment, we shall
aggressively provoke the bandits, inciting them to violently erupt, and drag
them straight into the killing grounds of our hidden ambush. Not a single enemy
soldier shall return to their homeland alive—follow me! 」
Spurring his men forward with a fierce, commanding roar,
Marquis Solis personally led a striking force of two thousand elite
cavalry, launching a sudden, violent assault against the central army of the Cain
Kingdom Army! Instead of slamming
into the horrific frontline convoy where the hostages were displayed, they had
meticulously navigated a clockwise flanking route to completely bypass the
vanguard. They lay in wait inside the forest, biding their time until the
absolute perfect window opened. And the moment the timing aligned, they
executed a devastating charge, slamming directly into the marching columns
spanning the mid-to-rear ranks of the ten-thousand-strong unit.
「 En…… Enemy ambush! 」 「 Mount a counter-defense! Pivot the lines to the left
immediately! 」
「 Why are
they slamming into our flank?! Wh-what is our vanguard doing?! 」 「 An assault from the left wing?! That's impossible! What on
earth is the Ville Kingdom
Army doing?! 」
Utterly devoid of legitimate combat experience, entirely
blinded by their sheer numerical advantage and their absolute complacency
regarding their parallel allies, the Cain forces plunged into immediate,
chaotic panic. Confronted by an attacking unit originating from a coordinate
that physically should not exist, they began to fumble through a remarkably
slow, agonizingly sluggish attempt to re-orient their defensive lines.
「 Hmph. Arrogant amateurs! This is a
vast, wide-open battlefield. Did your smooth brains honestly assume you were
sitting right next to your allies? Did you genuinely believe we would politely
sit at the end of the highway and wait to trade blows with your front lines? 」
Laughing in pure derision at the enemy's pathetic display,
the Marquis openly mocked them. He intentionally assumed a Column Formation
to execute a reverse-parallel sweep alongside their marching line,
systematically closing the physical distance between them. The exact moment the
optimal threshold was crossed, he signaled his men. A sharp bell chimed across
the field, and his riders seamlessly cut their horses' speed, unleashing a
devastating, simultaneous volley of arrows from their heavy Esthol Bows at a
crisp distance of 200 meters.
「 As expected, across a marching line
stretched so thin and wide, executing effective Wind Magic fire support
is an absolute impossibility. The number of Wind
Mages is also insufficient. But regardless, it is glaringly
obvious that these wretches are utterly unaccustomed to actual warfare. 」
Just as the Marquis muttered to himself, the initial volley
of two thousand arrows wasn't enough to inflict a lethal, definitive blow
against an army of that scale. However, the sheer shock of the impact
thoroughly shattered the marching formation
of the Cain Kingdom Army,
sending them into such immense disarray that mounting an organized counter-fire
was an absolute impossibility.
「 We shall peel away their flank, and
right after, we pivot! We are dragging these fools straight into the jaws of
our main ambush! On my command—follow me! 」
At Marquis Solis’s fierce signal, the cavalry of the Second
Army shifted into a fluid tactic reminiscent of a rotating wheel formation.
They systematically shaved away the enemy's left flank through high-speed
hit-and-run sweeps, inflicting catastrophic, bleeding wounds upon the side of
the Cain army.
「 Wh-what are you fools doing?! The
enemy numbers two thousand at the absolute most—they are a pitifully small number! Mount a counter-attack! Why has that weapon not
been unleashed to intercept them yet?! 」
「 The weapon was deployed strictly at
the absolute front of our vanguard to prepare for a frontal assault!
Re-deploying them to the flank…… we cannot make it in time, Your Highness! 」
The response that came back to the commander was a
desperate, panicked shriek. The absolute pride and joy of their military—their
ultimate trump card weapon—was left completely useless. It had been
meticulously configured under the assumption that the defenders would arrive
from the front, allowing the Cain forces to violently sweep them away
while they hesitated at the sight of the hostages. Against a high-speed flank
assault, it was nothing more than an expensive paperweight……
「 Tch!
Infantry divisions, clump together and form a solid defensive wall along our
left wing! Cavalry divisions, the enemy is a microscopic force—pursue them
relentlessly and hunt them to the last man! 」
Unsheathing his blade, the Supreme Commander of the Cain
Kingdom Army—their arrogant Second Prince—screamed his commands. Yet, his voice
echoed hollowly across the front lines. The raw structural placement of his
infantry and cavalry completely violated basic military logic; the sheer volume
of his own panicked, disorganized soldiers created massive traffic jams, making
a coordinated, collective response physically impossible. The young prince,
however, lacked the basic caliber to comprehend his own blunder.
「 Utterly laughable! The enemy is so
thoroughly consumed by panic that executing a legitimate pursuit is the
furthest thing from their minds. All riders, cycle clockwise and initiate a
secondary breach! Right after, we execute an organized withdrawal. 」
Flawlessly seeing through the enemy's sluggish, broken
responses, Marquis Solis ordered a secondary charge. Like a massive,
grinding wheel turning on its axis, his elite cavalry slammed into them once
more. They acted exactly like an industrial buzz-saw carving through raw
timber, mercilessly shaving away the left side of the utterly chaotic, unsightly
enemy unit.
「 Chase them! Pursue them! To be
toyed with in this manner by such a pitifully small unit severely compromises
our dignity! 」
Frantic and bleeding pride, the image of the King of Ville—the
very man he had continuously looked down upon as an inferior
subordinate—sneering at his pathetic failure flashed vividly inside the Second
Prince’s mind. If he failed to secure any military glory here and suffered a
wretched, humiliating defeat, he would fall catastrophically behind the other
two nations……
「 Hmph. Arrogant fools. Go learn with
your very lives what it truly means to wage war. 」
Muttering this to himself as his mount sprinted across the
plain, Marquis Solis maintained the ironclad composure of a
battle-hardened veteran. He understood with absolute
precision the fatal structural vulnerabilities that plague an over-sized,
bloated army. Ten thousand against two thousand—despite holding an overwhelming
numerical superiority, the fact that they were being unilaterally trampled and
humiliated meant their leadership would inevitably fly into a towering,
irrational rage and chase after them. That was the unyielding, baseline
psychology of an incompetent commander commanding a massive unit. Furthermore,
because the prince knew he held the numerical upper hand, the Marquis correctly
calculated that the enemy wouldn't dare risk wasting time harming the hostages.
It was precisely for this reason that he had boldly chosen to leave his main
force behind, operating strictly with a high-speed, minimal strike force.
「 Chase them! Hunt them down and
slaughter every last one of them! 」
At the Second Prince’s frantic, unhinged directive, three
thousand elite cavalry and a massive wave of two thousand light infantry broke
formation, throwing themselves into a reckless, disorganized pursuit. With this
final act of desperation, the marching array of the Cain Kingdom Army disintegrated into total,
absolute chaos.
※
「 A truly magnificent display of the Tsuri-no-bushi
(Feigned Retreat and Ambush) tactic. In all likelihood, they have meticulously
laid a massive hidden ambush right at the end of their escape path. 」
The man observing this chaotic, unfolding skirmish from the
crest of a small hill had pushed his military lines right into the enemy's
immediate vicinity, perfectly correlating his movements to mirror the
interception strategy proposed by Marquis Solis’s Second Army.
「 Our victory is mathematically
assured! From this moment, we officially assume a Crescent Moon Formation,
placing our disguised divisions at the absolute front of our vanguard to breach
the enemy lines! First, we shall assault the enemy's vanguard directly from
their rear, liberating our captured common citizens from their bonds! 」
Marquis Gorman, the commander steering the First
Army, bellowed his orders and forcefully swung his right arm down in a
grand arc. At his signal, the elite forces of the First Army crested the
hill like a devastating avalanche, surging down to assault the exposed flank of
the enemy encampment.
「 Massive cloud of riders approaching
from our right flank! 」 「
E-Enemy assault?! 」 「
Could it be the Lute Kingdom
Army? 」
For a single, fatal second, the disorganized Cain
forces mistook the incoming wave of riders for their own parallel allies. Why?
Because billowing proudly at the absolute front of the charging cavalry were
the unmistakable, highly distinct banners of their own allied military. In
reality, these were meticulously crafted counterfeits designed to mirror the
enemy's insignias with absolute precision…… Because of this brilliant
deception, the Cain forces suffered a critical, catastrophic delay in
re-orienting their defensive posture. Furthermore, the core structural muscle
of their military—their three thousand elite cavalry and agile light infantry—had
already broken away to chase after Marquis Solis’s baiting force.
Tearing through the bewildered, hesitant enemy lines like
wet paper, the peerless, elite soldiers of the First Army slammed into
their vanguard with absolute, terrifying violence.
「 It's
a massive enemy unit! 」 「
C-Cowards! Utterly underhanded! 」 「 We're doomed…… it's over…… 」
Utterly unaccustomed to legitimate warfare, the remaining Cain
soldiers completely lost their minds, trembling in pure, unadulterated terror
as three thousand heavy cavalry shook the very foundations of the earth,
delivering a bone-shattering shock charge into their ranks. Even though the
prince had detached a massive chunk of his force for the pursuit, the remaining
camp still possessed five thousand active troops. Yet, confronted by the
terrifying, synchronized violence of the First Army, their minds
completely broke; they misjudged the incoming three thousand riders as a
colossal, endless unit that massively outnumbered their own. Blasted wide-open
by the impact, the vanguard completely failed to organize a coherent defensive formation, turning their backs to the fight and fleeing in a chaotic,
every-man-for-himself scramble.
「 Underhanded, you say? Warfare is
fundamentally a game of life-and-death deception! And furthermore, for
spineless cowards who dare display innocent, defenseless citizens as human
shields to speak of honor…… it makes me laugh in pure derision!
」
Staring down the enemy with fierce, blazing eyes, Marquis Gorman
personally split the vanguard wide-open at the front of the charge.
Prioritizing the lives of his people above all else, his riders systematically
liberated the crucified common citizens from their bonds, instantly
transferring the remaining containment duties to his following infantry. With
that completed, his heavy cavalry pivoted, launching a relentless, crushing
assault directly into the exposed center and rear ranks of the panic-stricken unit.
「 Hiiiiieeeee! 」 Confronted by the sudden entry of a brand-new enemy unit
slicing through his center, the Second Prince completely forgot every ounce of
his previous, arrogant grandeur, letting out a pathetic, high-pitched shriek of
pure terror. His legs shook so violently that he was forced to desperately
clutch the mane of his beloved warhorse just to avoid slipping out of his
saddle and getting trampled.
「 Your Highness, we shall hold the
line here! Please, retreat at once! 」 「 Wh-Where?! Where am I supposed to retreat to?! 」 「 Forgive me, Sire! 」
Without wasting another breath on the hysterical royal, his
commanding general forcefully smacked the hindquarters of the prince's horse
with the blunt end of his spear, forcefully driving his sovereign out of the
jaws of the lethal battlefield. Turning back to the meat-grinder, the general
rallied the rapidly thinning remnants of his troops, launching a desperate,
suicidal counter-charge directly into the jaws of the First Army.
※
Around this exact same moment, the Cain forces who
had eagerly broken formation to pursue Marquis Solis’s cavalry were
discovering the true, horrifying meaning of a trap. They had spent the last
several kilometers desperately sprinting after the retreating riders, maintaining
a tantalizingly close distance. The exact moment they believed they were
finally about to overtake the rear-guard of the Marquis’s force, the entire
universe flipped upside down.
「 All riders, fan out to the left and
right! Pivot the formation and initiate our counter-attack! 」
Assuming a tight Column Formation, Marquis Solis,
leading from the absolute front, forcefully wheeled his mount around. Like a
magnificent flower blossoming outward, his cavalry seamlessly split to the left
and right, reversing their trajectory to charge straight back down the path
they had just traveled, launching a ferocious counter-offensive.
Simultaneously, as if they had been waiting for this exact, split-second audio
cue, nearly three thousand hidden soldiers materialized from the shadows of the
flanking forests, the crests of the hills, and the crags of the rocky terrain,
instantly locking into perfect firing formations.
「 All divisions, prepare for
synchronized volley fire! Bells, initiate continuous rapid chiming! Right after,
strike three slow beats! 」
At Acting Commander Kira’s sharp directive, the
tactical bells used to broadcast the exact 'time' of synchronization across the
battlefield began to chime in a rapid, continuous blur. The moment her hand cut
through the air, the bells transitioned, letting out three deep, slow, resonant
tolls that echoed across the plains.
「 An enemy ambush! 」 「 Stop! All riders, halt immediately! 」
The desperate screams of the frontline cavalry echoed
hollowly across the plain. It was far too late; driven forward by the sheer
momentum of their full-speed sprint, three thousand heavy arrows rained down
upon them in a devastating, overlapping crossfire. Struck down mid-stride, the
sprinting horses collapsed magnificently into the dirt, their riders flung
violently into the earth only to be instantly ground to pulp beneath the heavy
hooves of their own following ranks.
「 Commence precision sniping! Fire at
will! 」 The
moment Kira unleashed her follow-up command, her specialized
archers—operating in highly disciplined three-man cells—began to rain down a
relentless, uninterrupted storm of one thousand precision-guided arrows.
Slamming into this utter catastrophe came the pivoted
cavalry of Marquis Solis, ruthlessly hunting down and running through
any dazed survivors who had managed to escape the initial crossfire. The Lute
Kingdom forces, who firmly believed
they held the absolute, crushing advantage of a pursuit just moments prior,
were systematically deleted. Severely thinned out by the arrow storms, they
were forced into a microscopic, isolated pocket, facing an absolute, hopeless
slaughter. And within minutes…… the pursuing vanguard was completely, utterly
annihilated, save for a few miserable stragglers who managed to flee the
carnage.
※
Through this flawless, highly synchronized engagement, the First Army and Second Army successfully coordinated their movements to completely liberate the civilian hostages, while simultaneously inflicting catastrophic, irreversible ruin upon the Cain Kingdom Army—all while keeping their own losses at an absolute, negligible minimum. The completely humiliated Second Prince of the Cain Kingdom was left with zero choice but to flee for his miserable life, dragging the battered, broken remnants of his military—now thoroughly whittled down to a pitiful three thousand men—to seek desperate asylum within the marching lines of the adjacent Lute Kingdom Army. The defending army erupted into a thunderous roar of jubilation, celebrating an absolute, overwhelming victory. Yet, the elite leadership at the core of the high command understood with perfect clarity that this was merely the opening curtain of a much larger, sweeping campaign. And it was at this exact juncture that a faction emerged, prepared to violently shake the entire strategic landscape through a series of utterly baffling, unpredictable maneuvers.
-----
Thank you for my Patrons !!
[Platinum]
-
[Gold]
B random
Nepheos
[Silver]
Corey Hicks
Creris
Frédéric Bertrand-Hudon
Jake Seagraves
Matthew Fraser
Tbaum56
Xavier O'Donoghue
Anton Lim
Austin Lorenzo
Baelee
Bloodyemperor
Ctdela
Curious Panda
David Bankole
Enrique Miranda
nick nasca
SD Fox
Read Advanced Chapters only on my Patreon
-----
