Chapter 374
(Kyle Calendar Year 515: Age 22)
Northern Front ⑪ – The Advance
of the Vanguard
Translator : PolterGlast
Having reorganized the military strength in the meeting held
during the day and finished finalizing their structural repositioning across
the sectors, Alexis found himself standing entirely alone inside the
command tent of his main camp.
「 If only the primary main unit of
the Royal Capital Knights would arrive at least…… we could place them on
the Left Wing, allowing the Special Fire Corps to devote their entire
focus to countermeasures against the enemy's heavy ballistas. But as things
stand, the specialized Long Spear unit remaining under our command has
been half-reduced to a mere 100 people, and the Mages capable of commanding
their coordination are catastrophically limited…… 」
Long Spear;
this was a highly specialized attack that Christoph and Aura were
famously skilled at even among Wind Mages. It was a combat technique the Istoria Imperial Kingdom was once skilled at,
calling it the 'Arrow of God', and it specialized the raw effective range and
piercing striking power of arrows by concentrating focused support onto a
single, needle-thin coordinate, rather than the area-of-effect support normally
using Wind Magic that Takuhir and his forces used. A long-range attack
that clusters only a select few elite, outstanding individuals who use
particularly strong, heavy bows even among longbow soldiers, and performs
peerlessly on a rugged battlefield where cumbersome catapults, which have
difficulty moving, cannot be operated; this precisely would be their premier
tactical mechanism to unilaterally eliminate enemy ballistas from well outside
their firing range.
「 Hmm, fuming over assets we simply
do not possess is a complete waste of mental energy…… I have no choice but to execute what I can now. 」
While muttering so to himself and meticulously writing down
the latest strategic operational plan, a quiet, disciplined voice came from
outside the command tent of the main camp.
「 Excuse me for the late-night
intrusion, General Commander. An elite operative from the espionage unit under
Lord Reim's command has freshly arrived together with Commander Gail,
saying they have an urgent, critical report…… 」
「 Reim's subordinates…… I see, show them here into the tent
immediately. 」
Alexis
comprehended the reality of the crisis immediately. The specialized espionage
unit led by Reim had successfully infiltrated deep within the
infrastructure of the Istoria Orthodox Theocracy, and a sudden, urgent
notice of this nature must be conveying major, dynamic new movements of the
enemy army.
The exhaustion-lined messenger accompanied by Gail
was immediately invited into Alexis's command tent.
「 Please allow me to explicitly
convey the precise strategic report entrusted to me by Lord Reim to the
General Commander. 『 The enemy columns seem projected to
start moving to commence a full-scale frontal advance at dawn tomorrow. Please
arrange a perfect, ironclad interception posture to deal with them.
Furthermore, as the psychological maneuvering towards the territory residents
remains catastrophically insufficient, in times of immediate emergency, please
deal with them and suppress them without holding back a single shred of
hesitation for us. 』 That concludes the dispatch. 」
「 I see, first of all, you have my
gratitude for your good work and speed on your duty as a messenger. Please step
back to the barracks and take a thorough, good rest. So…… what specific
business brings Commander Gail here? 」
Since the unit led by Gail was positioned at the
absolute forward coordinate closest to the enemy's staging grounds, he could
logically understand why the intelligence operative visited his gates first.
But the fact that the Commander had personally accompanied the herald to deliver
the report meant he probably had some specific, covert speculation weighing on
his mind.
「 Hahaha, the second those bastards
start moving to initiate their frontal advance, the ones who shoulder the
absolute burden of holding their momentum off will be our unit, does it not?
Besides…… 」
「 Besides? 」
「 The overall numbers remain
catastrophically insufficient, but a specific shipment of 'that' item
successfully arrived at our gates earlier. I would like to humbly ask your
official permission to dynamically deploy and use them in this upcoming
battle…… 」
A sudden realization rippled through Alexis's mind.
In the first place, casting his memories back to the absolute beginning of this northern campaign, it was Gail who first
confronted the swarming sea of territory residents claiming to be the 'Apostles
of God'. And the exact second that initial contact concluded, he had
aggressively sent a fast messenger to order the production of a highly specific
implement all the way to Gaia while simultaneously offering his
definitive tactical advice to Alexis. But even looking at the strict
timeline, the fulfillment of that order was staggeringly, unbelievably fast.
「 Already, is it? Are you suggesting
they have completed the array? 」
「 Hahaha, when it comes to the raw
marching speed of our unit, dashing through the highway spanning the distance
between Termira and Aegis
in a single, non-stop night sprint is like a casual stroll! And there are
master craftsmen we personally know at the production factory in Gaia.
Thanks to those bastards working in a frenzy through the night for our sakes to
deal with it, we have successfully secured an immediate allocation of about 300
hastily prepared completed implements. 」
「 That is far too dangerous! A meager
force of 300 does not amount to even one-tenth of the swarming force bearing down upon them! 」
「 Hahaha, originally our Heavy
Shield Battalion was meticulously made up of veteran laborers who are
exceptionally proud of their bone-crushing physical brawn, hand-picked from the
finest quarry lines at that. If it's a sea of soft, fragile men, a single one
of my boys can easily show off knocking away about a dozen men each without
breaking a sweat. And above all else…… the sacred honor of Takuhir-sama
and the innocent lives of those deluded outcasts—the only ones upon this entire
front who can humanly save both are
us. 」
Seeing Gail laugh loudly and boast with such
unyielding, magnificent bravado, Alexis also reluctantly felt his
anxieties shatter, finalizing his ultimate tactical resolve.
「 Understood. Then I officially
entrust the containment of the people to you, and ask you to hold them off. But
please make an ironclad, binding promise to my headquarters. First,
prioritizing protecting the lives of everyone starting with Gail-san
above all else, initially activate our pre-arranged traps to deal with them and
bleed away their momentum. Second, in the exact fraction of a second you judge
your lines cannot suppress them, I strictly order you to launch an immediate
tactical assault without hesitation. Please promise me that if those columns
transition into an active, violent mob, you will systematically eliminate them
by conducting a simultaneous, crushing volley from the heavy archers positioned
behind your rearguard. 」
Saying so, Alexis let out a massive, sweeping sigh of
deep psychological weight. Then he locked his eyes onto Gail and began
speaking again, driving his final condition home.
「 Listen well with absolute clarity, Takuhir-sama
has personally and firmly reminded us of a sacred truth—everyone's lives are a
thousand times more important than the preservation of his own noble honor. I
implore you, absolutely do not dare to push yourselves too hard or overextend
your lines recklessly. 」
「 Your orders are thoroughly engraved; I am
aware. Please leave the front line to us. Then, excuse us. 」
Saying so, Gail offered a bright, confident laugh,
snapped a sharp bow, and turned on his heel to return, bounding out of the
tent. Gazing at his retreating back, Alexis still harbored a lingering
shadow of deep anxiety and strategic hesitation walloping his mind.
「 Just in case, send an immediate
courier to Glenn-san asking him to temporarily lend the expertise of Aura-san……
to provide close, real-time tactical support for Sior-san and the
others. 」
Dispatching these highly specialized master mages was
originally a strategic card Alexis had meticulously pre-constructed
within his operational matrix long ago; but because the technique lacked a
definitive guarantee or decisive factor for absolute tactical closure, his mind
had fumbled through immense hesitation, delaying its implementation all along.
But driven forward by the unyielding weight of Gail's magnificent resolve,
Alexis also chose to shed all lingering doubt, having no choice but to
boldly decide on every single asset and means at his disposal to safeguard the
lives of his men.
※
When the dark veil of dawn broke, the morning sun began to
dye the earth into a brilliant, deep crimson as if acting as a grim, prophetic
omen hinting at the monumental death struggle and slaughter slated to trample
the earth. Synchronized precisely with the rising sun, a massive, swarming
human column of nearly 10,000 men erupted
from the gates of the city of Asura, and began marching forward while
loudly raising their voices to sing a sacred hymn praising God, often sung in
the Istoria Imperial Kingdom. Entirely oblivious to the horrific
structural reality and mission given to them—the disposable role of becoming
meat-shield walls designed to absorb the lethal counter-attacks and break
through the enemy's defense line—the faces of all those outcasts who started
walking are said to have been overflowing with pure, radiant joy.
「 Push forward! Advance! We do not
hold weapons of iron, we commit no acts of slaughter or fight, we merely
advance following the sacred directives of God with absolute faith! Our
footsteps are continuously shielded and protected by His infinite, divine
majesty. Let those weapon-wielding, demonic lackeys witness the unyielding,
terrifying strength of our absolute devotion and faith! 」
Responding with fanatical fervor to the high-pitched words
of the Bishop who was aggressively inciting them from the safety of the rear,
the massive human wave moved forward slowly and steadily at a terrifyingly
unyielding pace. Their marching trajectory was locked directly aiming for the
enemy's barricades and defensive lines constructed utilizing the tight, rocky
bottleneck terrain that lay ahead……
『 Tch,
every single one of these wretches…… has completely, utterly lost their minds
and gone crazy! I don't think they're dealing with this with a sane, balanced
psyche. Don't tell me…… is this nightmare also a manifestation of that absolute
psychological programming via Shadow Magic that I heard detailed by the Chief
in the past? 』
Marching deep within the dense ranks of the column of the
'Apostles of God', Reim was physically incapable of restraining the
silent, bitter clicks of his tongue in his heart. Because the countenances and
expressions of the outcasts surrounding his position were entirely overflowing
with ecstatic bliss and joy, and looking closely, there was absolutely zero
sign of mortal terror or battlefield anxiety across their features.
『 This
is an absolute crisis…… 』
Muttering the grim realization so quietly beneath his
breath, he sent a sharp, covert hand-signal to his embedded comrades and
gradually began smoothly drifting his entire cell toward the absolute rear of
the marching column. Initially, his operational strategy had dictated a high-risk maneuver where his men would
maintain their positions at the absolute front row of the vanguard, boldly
intending to stop their footsteps and remonstrate with them against their recklessness
at the critical threshold, but beholding their unhinged fever, he calculated
with absolute precision and judged that he couldn't logically expect that
tactical effect.
Before long, the massive human vanguard successfully cleared
the span of a single stone bridge, spilling out into a sprawling topography
spreading out in a triangular-shaped pocket of earth ahead. Using the flowing
river as its absolute structural base, the wide highway cutting through the
terrain was flanked on both sides by dense, impenetrable forests and a rolling
matrix of undulating hills, and as a traveler proceeded forward, the forests
aggressively closed in as if forcefully narrowing the road width on the left
and right, choking the highway until the razor-thin apex part about 1 km ahead was only wide enough for barely a hundred people to
walk shoulder-to-shoulder.
『 A
brilliantly engineered tactical pocket; they thought this out well. With this,
if the defenders collapse the stone bridge in the rear and forcefully cap the
thin apex tip at our front, this entire force will truly become nothing more than a collection of rats in
a bag, physically incapable of advancing forward or retreating backward. But……
if the inverse occurs— 』
The exact split-second this thin apex tip is broken through,
whether they turn left or right, the Westlights Demon Territory Dukedom
army will have the exposed flanks of their main divisions struck by a
devastating assault. If a massive human wave marches and crashes in from the
side while each public force is locked in combat confronting a distinct enemy
army on their own fronts, they will be forced into a catastrophic re-alignment,
probably having to change their deployment formations to prepare for it and deal with them. If they receive a
sudden enemy attack from the front at that exact vulnerable time, their allied formations will fall into great, suffocating chaos and a crushing
defeat will become inevitable.
『 We
cannot permit these wretches to breach past here and advance beyond this apex
line under any circumstances.
』
That is the fierce, overriding calculation Reim was thinking, but standing on the opposite side of the
chess board, there were also those veteran warriors currently locked onto the
exact same conclusion.
※
「 This is an absolute crisis…… we
cannot permit those wretches to push past that apex coordinate and advance
beyond here. 」
Beholding the massive human wave of 10,000 civilians boldly
clearing the bridge without a single flicker of hesitation, mouth-chanting
their continuous hymns and uniformly praising God as they silently advanced
straight into the topography that would become a lethal, pre-configured killing
ground, Gail forcefully pulled his eyes away from his deployed tactical
spyglass.
『 There
is zero trace of mortal fear locked inside their hearts. Their entire
consciousness is vibrating as if they are delirious with some kind of unhinged,
fanatical fever. 』
Seeing the terrifying purity of their expressions, Gail
couldn't help but instinctively flash back to the time he confronted the army
led by Viscount Hiyorimi during the brutal siege in Gaia a few
years ago. During that historical conflict, the Hiyorimi soldiers at
that time attacked with abnormally high, raw morale, their souls overflowing
with pure hatred as if violently possessed by a demonic entity. Although the
underlying emotions steering this current crowd were a complete inversion,
their appearance of showing not a single shred of basic mortal terror across
their features was remarkably, flawlessly identical.
「 We have no
choice. The absolute second the front of their vanguard reaches the threshold
of 300 m…… unleash the synchronized signal to collapse and drop the rear
bridge! Then simultaneously command the catapult batteries to launch an
immediate suppression barrage of shells! Listen to me with absolute clarity:
use strictly the specialized White Shell (Shirodama)
ordnance exclusively, and under no circumstances must you score a direct hit on
their ranks! You just need to deploy the shockwaves across the front to forge a
physical barrier of dust! 」
Issuing such sharp operational instructions, the veteran foreman-commander forcefully wheeled around to
face the formidable force of 300 exceptionally robust,
quarry-hardened soldiers waiting directly behind his position in the rear
ranks. Every single warrior across their ranks was outfitted with a massive,
extraordinarily thick tower shield, a specialized piece of heavy defensive
engineering which was a distinct, extreme rarity within the swift, mobile units of Takuhir's army.
「 The remaining containment falls
squarely upon your brawn, and I leave it to you guys proud of your physical
strength! Listen to me—by the sacred pride of our Heavy Shield Battalion,
do not yield or take a single step back! The specialized insignia coverings
attached to your shields stand as our ultimate pride, the absolute metric
protecting Takuhir-sama's honor. Do not dare ever permit these fanatics
to defile that canvas with a single drop of blood! 」
「「「「 OOHーーー!!! 」」」」
「 Though, I must admit, Boss, there
shouldn't be any tactical necessity for a high Commander-in-Chief like your
noble self to personally throw your bones into the immediate dirt and
participate in this melee, is there? 」
There was a veteran warrior who stepped up and casually
spoke to Gail with friendly familiarity, hefting an absurd, abnormally
thick tower shield in one hand.
「 Hahaha! Lars, aren't you the
man who was officially entrusted with the command of the unit you led to serve
as the direct Defense Captain of the First Roadside Station? For the
captain steering his own garrison to abandon his post and huddle inside these
vanguard lines…… what business are you executing in a place like this? 」
Of course, because this specialized Heavy Shield division had
been assembled strictly on an autonomous, voluntary recruitment basis, Gail
had been perfectly aware of Lars's participation and enlistment from the
very beginning. So to speak, he was merely returning the casual, front-line
banter and making fun of him, returning a provocative remark with a provocative
remark to ease the tension.
「 I've known you and been trading
sweat alongside you since our old days
laboring as common quarry shoveler-hands, Boss, and my presence here is driven
by the exact same unhinged curiosity as the majority of the magnificent
eccentric folks lined up here. Though, if you systematically filter a military
to gather exclusively the absolute strongest, bone-crushing brawn across the
entire realm, it naturally ends up with your old crew of friends from the labor
yards occupying the absolute center of the formation, Boss. 」
「 Hahaha! You bastards, you're not
wrong! Listen to me, you bastards! From this moment forth, regardless of what
manner of madness wallops our lines, our sole, honorable role is strictly to
grit our teeth, anchor our bones, lock our shields, and politely endure just
getting beaten on without throwing a single counter-strike! Do not dare lose
your focus for a single second! 」
「「「「 OOHーーー!!! 」」」」
Occupying a series of soaring ranks over the past few
years—appointed to serve as a high military commander and granted the peerage
of a Baron—Gail, who had privately found himself feeling unexpectedly
constrained and suffocating beneath the rigid formalities, also smoothly shed the
formal armor of his office. His heart completely returned to the raw, untamed
identity of his laborer foreman days before he knew it, and his very register
and words also transformed back into the classic, boisterous Gail of the
past again.
At his sharp signal, the 300 titans proud of their muscle and strength forcefully hoisted their monstrous tower shields, breaking into a heavy, synchronized sprint. Clearing and passing through the narrow mouth of the apex in perfect, disciplined columns, they fanned out to take up the total width of the highway according to the topography, deployed an immovable, interlocking wall of pure steel shields, and began to firmly block the advance path of the fanatical believers of God.
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