Chapter 876 - How an Ordinary Soldier Fights
As a commander, it is not easy to give up high ground that secures vision while advancing.
In that sense, when the Lihin-Stetten commander discovered the hilly terrain, it was natural for him to decide to cross it.
"Advance."
They did not lower their guard, but there were no traces of the Naurillia army.
Not even a little.
It was natural, but the enemy would likely find it hard to prepare.
'At that time, the Lihin-Stetten army had already broken through the Demon Realm.'
The commander believed this single sentence would be the beginning of his autobiography.
The Demon Realm was rough and dangerous, but not hopeless.
The path was twisted and finding direction was difficult, but it was still bearable.
'I didn't know such a path existed either.'
The morale of his allies was full.
Words of the Great Emperor's protection spread within the unit.
Half was what the commander intended, and half was what the soldiers themselves chattered about.
'Even in hell, the Great Emperor watches over us!'
The Demon Realm is hell.
Even without exaggeration, to someone, those words would be the flawless truth.
Walking through that hell, the monsters they encountered opened a path.
They did not covet red blood in exchange for black blood.
Monsters and beasts opening a path.
If the soldiers who experienced all this didn't get excited, they wouldn't be human.
"Uoh!"
The giant unit, Lihin-Stetten's pride, let out strange shouts.
Even hearing those shouts, no murderous intent settled in the monsters' achromatic black eyes.
Some ghouls attacked unknowingly, but no monsters that could actually threaten the army attacked.
"Even in hell!"
"The Great Emperor!"
This was why such slogans were created.
They broke through the Demon Realm and began their march. Even without monsters and beasts, the air of the Demon Realm is murky and the ground is muddy.
It wasn't a good environment for people to stay.
Some races, like giants and frogs, endure reasonably well, but it must have been truly painful for humans or elves.
It had been three days since they broke through such a Demonic Domain and stepped on ordinary ground.
The march was smooth.
Even though over a thousand troops were moving, it was no different from a travel journey.
'But is this the time to let our guard down?'
The commander did not.
What's more, although this unit included two knights, he didn't think that solved everything.
Lihin-Stetten's commander was a clear-headed person.
He understood his role and was faithful to it.
That was why he advanced while carefully examining the surroundings.
There was no need to increase the marching speed.
The Great Emperor said he had no intention of dragging this war out, but there was no need to move urgently and suffer unnecessary damage.
The commander cast his gaze wide.
'Open fields make us easily visible.'
On the other hand, once crossed, hills or mounds are good for hiding an army, and conversely, make it easier to secure vision.
Since everything is seen better from a high place.
He couldn't order the knights around, so in the meantime, scouts including soldiers with keen eyes moved ahead constantly.
"No signs are visible."
The adjutant who compiled the scout reports said.
"The march route?"
Unlike the map, the terrain had changed in various places.
This area seemed to have encountered natural disasters a few times.
'Several hills have formed.'
It wasn't rough terrain.
Moderate hills are easy to climb, and after climbing, it's beneficial as high ground is secured.
The natural disaster had been helpful.
"We must take a route avoiding the eastern forest."
"That side is good for enemy ambush, and even without ambush, monsters and beasts easily come out of the forest."
The commander had five adjutants.
All were people to fill the gaps in his thinking.
They chose the most rational and advantageous route and advanced.
They took the best route for marching.
If a person named Ragna from a certain knightly order had led them, he would have found the path so well it would be unimaginable.
Supplies would become a problem, but this would be solved by meeting just one city.
'Plunder.'
In the first place, the number of soldiers wasn't that high.
Instead, they had only brought fast-footed, elite units.
Excluding the two knights, there were thirty in the giant unit, fifty cavalry armed with chain mail, and the Horseshoe Infantry, whose small-scale operation capability was the best in the South and whose fighting skills were top-class, serving as scouts.
Their number alone was two hundred, plus regular infantry.
The total force here numbered twelve hundred from the Purple Corps among the Five-Colored Armies.
Excluding the giant unit, two siege units, special units boasted by the Purple Corps, were included.
Most were infantry, but this was enough.
Because two knights were with them.
"It feels like we've been invited into a land where no one welcomes us."
One adjutant said.
It was a soft and lax attitude.
Jjak!
The commander swung his riding cropriding crop and struck the air.
The sound of the leather attached in several strands at the end tearing the air was loud.
"Invitation?"
That is not a word needed for an autobiography.
"I will correct it."
The adjutant bowed his head.
They advanced too easily.
That planted flowers in their heads.
Softness invites carelessness.
The commander didn't want that.
He was a hard person.
He was a true soldier who knew how to repeat taking gains while minimizing losses.
Although whatever the commander said, it was inevitable that the unit atmosphere would loosen a little.
Passing the forest, they passed three small ponds where water had gathered in appropriate places.
A hill relatively higher than what they had crossed so far blocked their way.
"We cross."
The knights did not allow time dragging.
The commander could not ignore the knights' opinion.
Above all, avoiding the hill in front of them meant wasting time.
'A war with no need to drag on.'
Their goal was not the capture of the capital but a strike.
With just that, Naurillia would become a chaotic hodgepodge like a stew boiled by a greedy novice cook with various ingredients floating around.
"Send the Horseshoe Infantry."
Still, the commander did not forget prudence.
The two knights did not rebuke him for that.
"There is nothing."
They cross one hill.
There is no sign of the enemy around.
The two knights said nothing special.
They advance again.
Another hill blocks their way.
Detour?
No, no need.
The brow of the knight whose eyes he briefly met narrowed.
He seemed displeased about something.
The commander moved the scouts again.
Time was delayed a little by that, but there were no enemies.
"Advance."
Except for the hills, the road was well-paved and good for walking.
Swamps or rough terrain were nowhere to be seen.
The land filled with dark soil looked as if someone had personally stepped up to smooth it out.
But who would do such a thing?
There was no reason to consume manpower and krona at the level of civil engineering works in a place like this with no cities or anything nearby.
Therefore, the commander did not suspect.
It was after they had crossed four small hills and two large hills.
"There is no detour."
Suddenly, a narrow path blocked on the left and right appears.
A canyon.
Two mountain ridges that would consume considerable time to detour blocked the way as if waiting.
The commander's eyebrow twitched.
"Send the Horseshoes."
The Horseshoe Infantry stepped up again.
The slope is steep to climb the canyon.
Should he detour and check if anything is hidden?
One hundred Horseshoe Infantry passed through the canyon as they were.
Nothing happened.
"We cannot delay time here."
One knight said.
The commander agreed.
They walked through the canyon as they were.
One of the knights turned his gaze left and right.
"No ambush."
It was a knight's keen eye.
Deceiving it is difficult.
Of course, not impossible.
Being difficult meant there were people who accomplished it.
How long had they walked?
It was when the main force was completely submerged in the canyon.
Kurreureu.
There were no people on the cliff, but there were plenty of enemies sufficient to hide their presence from a knight.
"...Rocks!"
The commander's eyes widened.
With a kurreureu sound, rocks that could easily crush ten people stretched themselves from atop the canyon, shaking off dust.
It was a landslide.
Rocks rolled down and piles of dirt collapsed.
That wasn't the end.
Since the road curved, from a place where the front view wasn't open, that is, a place not reached by the knight's gaze or hearing, something large flew in with a tung-! tung-! roar.
"Hmph!"
One knight snorted.
"Uoah!"
At the same time, thirty giants called the Red Blood Beasts formed a square formation.
"All forces prepare!"
The commander shouted with the feeling that it was okay if his vocal cords tore.
Rocks rolled, dividing the scouts and the main force.
Kurreureureureu! Kwajijik.
"Shit!"
The cavalry couldn't find a way to dodge the rocks.
Some ran forward, but the rolling rocks were faster than horses.
Kwajik, Kwadeuk.
Soldiers crushed under rocks rolling straight on couldn't even scream.
"Kkuaaaak!"
"These dog-like bastards!"
Only soldiers whose legs or arms were crushed got the chance to scream.
Dust soared.
Dust clouds filling all directions blocked the view.
The commander, even in a situation where visibility narrowed so only the person standing next to him could be identified, shouted continuously and then coughed violently.
It was because dust had entered his throat.
'A commander who sees an easy path and takes it is a correct commander.'
It wouldn't be easy to turn back from a place they were finally lured into.
All the more so if they had knights.
It was the result of years of effort.
Marcus prepared for a war that might not happen and imagined the existence of a commander he didn't even know.
Even if all of this ended as a futile and empty waste of krona, he prepared.
He filled swamps to pave roads, gathered and piled dirt, sand, and stones next to existing hills to induce the opponent.
It was a trap built through time.
Even a knight would have found it hard to feel déjà vu.
Thus, he welcomed the enemy in this canyon called 'Snake's Whim'.
It wasn't an easy task.
For this, considerable royal property was used, and krona was poured in enough to make the Marquis Baisar family stagger.
'If I hadn't had a foot in the western trade route, the family would have been ruined.'
All these preparations that could have ended vainly saw the light.
If he wasn't happy, he wouldn't be human.
Although it was hard to cheer right now, things had gone as desired.
Of course, not everything is good.
To execute this operation, people prepared for death were needed.
In chess terms, bait to lure the opponent.
"Sir Aishia, no regrets?"
"It's better that I do it than someone else doing it and failing. Marquis Baisar."
This was a short conversation held just before all this started.
Aishia of the Crimson Cloak headed to the canyon alone.
The core of this entire operation was rolling down rocks hidden in piles of dirt.
Hiding troops on the cliff would be caught.
But if it was one or two people, it would be hard for even a knight to find.
Someone who could replace the strength of dozens of soldiers while avoiding the knight's gaze—no one else could do it.
Aishia took on that role.
She cut the ropes where the rockfall started and ran.
Calculating the distance, three catapults were also hidden.
They were installed as fixtures here and covered with yellow-brown cloth for camouflage.
They loaded rocks onto those catapults and fired.
'Can they block rocks falling from the sky in a chaotic situation?'
Even if they couldn't kill the knights, they could land a blow on that unit here.
If lucky, even a knight...
Kwang!
A roar cuts off thoughts.
Split stone fragments bounced in all directions through the dust cloud.
A mass wrapped in yellow-brown fog hit a catapult.
Kwang!
"Uaaak!"
From the impact, the head of the soldier next to the catapult exploded, and limbs were severed and flew into the air.
Marcus rode his horse and stood at the end of the curved canyon, watching it all.
"Retreat!"
He shouted.
All soldiers near the catapults retreated.
All movements were swift without interruption due to years of training.
"Back! Back!"
"Withdraw!"
Through the yellow-brown cloud, kwang kwang- sounds and two more stones flew in.
Without fail, they hit and destroyed the catapults.
'Skillfully, from a place not even visible.'
That's why knights are disasters.
They readily do things far beyond human imagination.
Splitting and deflecting rolling rocks to destroy catapults.
They nonchalantly do things that are hard to explain even while watching directly.
"Pour it."
Marcus ordered the next operation.
The real thing started now.
This is how an ordinary soldier fights.
Kwalkwalkwal.
Oil spreads on the ground.
It's the spot the enemy must pass after exiting the canyon.
Would they all die just because a few rocks rolled?
No way, the number killed wouldn't even be a hundred.
What's more, didn't the knight step up and destroy the catapults immediately?
"Archers."
Marcus ordered again.
Hwareuk.
Prepared fire arrows leave the bowstrings.
The fallen arrows built a wall of flames from the ground.
Kwaaaaaaa!
The sound of rising flames rang the air as if tearing ears.
A firestorm rises.
As if a god was angry and heating up everyone living in this land to burn them.
Crimson flames soared, dyeing Marcus's face red.
It was achieved with the help of not only oil but also magic tools laid on the ground.
After rocks comes fire.
Is that the end of it?
No.
"Roll them!"
Next was poison fog.
Kurreureu.
Carts roll forward, bouncing off stone fragments.
Each cart was packed tight with six oak barrels.
If alcohol was inside, it was enough for over a thousand soldiers to drink their fill.
"Burst them."
When Marcus spoke, two adjutants shouted.
"Shoot! Shoot!"
"Now! Burst them!"
The rolling carts fell sideways, oak barrels broke, and purple and green mist rising above them filled the surroundings.
For this, Marcus sought the former queen and asked for help from a witch who had previously served as a court mage and was staying by her side.
She handled poison skillfully, and that was her specialty.
"Even a knight will have abnormalities in their body if they inhale a few breaths. It's hard to be sure it kills them, but they are human too."
These are the words of the former court mage.
Unlike the content of her words, she showed confidence that even a knight would not dare ignore her poison.
'Now, come.'
Marcus withdrew and observed the enemy's movement.
Kwang!
A roar like a collapsing castle wall bursts out.
Here, something unexpected happened, far beyond Marcus's prediction.
The canyon is narrow.
The entrance is blocked if ten horses stand side by side.
So he made a wall with flames and laid poison mist in front of that entrance.
And the roar didn't come from the front.
Kwareuk!
Before the dust from the rockfall even settled, dust clouds are added again.
'What are they doing?'
Marcus narrowed his eyes and watched the situation.
The enemy knight didn't insist on only the front.
He broke the side, the wall of the canyon.
The wall blocks this side from that side, but without that wall, what criterion divides this side from that side?
None.
People divide space and make entrances with a wall like that.
What if the entrance is blocked?
'Just make a new door.'
Simple, but a logic hard to easily think of.
The enemy knight implemented it as is.
Ignoring the wall of flames and the moat of poison mist, he opened a new door.
Kwagwagwang!
The sound of that door opening was so loud that no one could ignore it.
***
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