A Regressor's Bucket List

Chapter 226 : The North (5)

[Breaking News, Church Allied Forces on the Anti-Demon Front Break Through the 'Beautiful Reef' and Reach the Northern Demon King's Territory]

[Baron of Bewitchment, 'Siren', Captured Alive]

A massive force, comprising one-fifth of the Order's entire military strength, had gathered.

This didn't simply mean that the numbers were so.

Of course, the word 'military strength' usually referred to the number of soldiers making up the army, but strictly speaking, its true meaning was more accurately interpreted as 'the total amount of power an army possesses'.

In other words, even if the numbers were relatively small, if the total power they could exert was great, it wouldn't be incorrect to say they had great military strength.

And the expression 'one-fifth of the Order's entire military strength' used in this Northern Subjugation War held precisely that meaning.

In truth, the actual number of soldiers participating in this Northern Subjugation War did not amount to one-fifth of the Order.

It couldn't be helped.

Since it took the form of a 'surprise attack', it was impossible to draw troops from the opposite side of the vast Order Territory.

The Northern Army, which originally formed the northern Anti-Demon Front, and the Order's Central Army.

And that was all, with some emergency support received from the Order Territories adjacent to the northern front.

After the defeat in the 'Northern War' and the subsequent collapse of the northern Order Territory, the Order's forces were concentrated in the southeast.

And since the natural barrier known as the 'Black Sea' served as the Anti-Demon Front, the original Northern Army was almost nonexistent, making it insufficient to be called one-fifth of the total forces.

However, despite this, the reason the Order could confidently claim the 'one-fifth' figure was not simply about filling the numbers, but because it signified the participation of 'high-level' forces.

The participation of Hero-class or higher combatants, who boasted the prowess of being a match for a hundred on the battlefield against Named Magical Beasts and above, and High Priests who could sway the course of the war with advanced Divine Magic.

They were claiming that the combined power of all these forces amounted to that much.

And that claim was not merely false.

The Baron of Bewitchment, 'Siren', who had firmly blocked the path to the northern Demon King's Territory, was captured without putting up any significant resistance, and an entire brigade of Magical Beasts was wiped out in an instant.

That wasn't all.

Since it was the first subjugation war in a long time, there were many voices of concern, though they didn't go as far as to completely oppose it.

But contrary to their thoughts, once they crossed the Black Sea, the war proceeded at a breakneck pace.

[The Order Destroys 3 Adjacent Demon King's Territories in the North]

As if proving that their long-prepared plan was not in vain, the Order destroyed the three Demon King's Territories adjacent to the Black Sea almost simultaneously.

Upon hearing the news, even the factions within the Church Allied Forces that had initially shown a lukewarm and hesitant attitude towards the 'Northern Subjugation War' began to eagerly boast of their own achievements and praise the effort, claiming that a successful subjugation was possible thanks to the Order's Headquarters' preparations.

Of course, it wasn't as if there were no difficulties in the process.

Though not publicly disclosed, in the case of the third barony among the three destroyed Demon King's Territories, a 'Knight' from the Demon King's direct Royal Guard was present, whether by coincidence or something else.

Their participation required more forces than had been allocated based on prior analysis.

However.

That third barony, which had faced such a hurdle.

Was resolved more easily than expected thanks to the actions of a certain man.

* * *

[Connecting to 'System'.]

[User, High Priest 'Christopher Christian']

[...Verifying limited access privileges.]

[Displaying the operational map for .]

Tiring-!

"...Not this direction."

Tiring-!

"...Not this one either."

Tiring-!

"But this can't be it either..."

Haaa-

Inside the temporary command post barracks, a deep sigh escaped from High Priest 'Christopher Christian', the appointed Commander of the 33rd Division.

He was examining the operational map displayed by the system, moving the drawn operational symbols around, but he furrowed his brow as if nothing he tried felt right.

"...There's no solution."

[]

Naturally, the operational map he was looking down at depicted the battle situation in the 'Demon King's Territory' located in the north, beyond the Black Sea.

As was clearly evident from his displeased expression.

The situation on the front, now on its fourth day, was not good.

If asked for the reason, one could naturally list hundreds of factors, but the core problems could be condensed into a few key issues.

First, the limit of available forces.

This Anti-Demon Front, named , was a place that should have been conquered long ago.

After all, of the three Demon King's Territories adjacent to the Black Sea that were invaded via the Beautiful Reef, the other two had already reported their destruction yesterday.

Of course, this wasn't because 'Christopher Christian' was less capable than the commanders in the other areas.

Though the difference was slight, if one had to say, he had the most combat experience among the commanders in charge of the three strategic points, and he prided himself on being specialized in matters of warfare.

However, there had been an unplanned incident.

The appearance of a 'Knight-rank'.

They had launched the military operation assuming they would face one Baron-rank Demon and a brigade-sized force of other Magical Beasts, as previously identified.

But a Knight-rank suddenly intervened, cutting down five 2-star Heroes, hundreds of soldiers, and even two 3-star Heroes.

If Christopher had known of its existence from the beginning, he wouldn't have given up his forces so easily, but the Knight-rank's appearance was a truly 'unforeseeable, sudden situation', making a response without casualties impossible.

It was only because he had hastily withdrawn his troops that the losses were limited to that extent; if he had pushed forward even after confirming the Knight-rank, his forces might have been annihilated.

In any case, due to the loss of forces from this unexpected situation, it was now impossible to take any effective action with the remaining troops.

Of course, it wasn't as if there were no options at all.

Christopher Christian and his division weren't fighting the subjugation war alone; he could simply request reinforcements from the nearby divisions that had finished their battles.

However, the problem was the time it would take for reinforcements to arrive.

The North was characterized by its unique mountainous terrain, making it difficult for large-scale forces to move except on existing roads.

And since the area where the Anti-Demon Front, , was located was particularly far to the east, it would take quite some time to receive meaningful support.

And second, the absence of Hero-class personnel.

Hero-class personnel were precious.

Beyond simply being few in number, their ability to confront 'Titled Demons' made Hero-class personnel essential.

You could say there was a difference in 'class'.

Just as no number of pawns on a chessboard can take down a single queen, it was impossible to defeat a Titled Demon no matter how many soldiers you threw at it.

Yet, you couldn't just ignore them, as the damage a single Titled Demon could inflict on soldiers was astronomical.

Therefore, even if it was difficult to kill a Titled Demon, Hero-class personnel were essential on the battlefield just to curb their slaughter to some extent.

But the Hero-class personnel dispatched to the Unknown Corner were woefully insufficient.

Originally, there should have been enough Hero-class personnel to conquer the Anti-Demon Front , but the intervention of the Knight-rank had created a shortage.

To make matters worse, in a situation where personnel were already scarce, several of them had been killed by the Knight-rank.

Of course, since a request for support had already been made, additional Hero-class personnel would arrive.

But the same was true for the other side.

By the time the requested Hero-class personnel arrived from headquarters, the enemy would likely have received their own reinforcements, be it another Knight-rank or a Titled Demon.

If possible, ending it in the current situation would be the best outcome, but with the forces at hand, it was a pipe dream.

For now, they were forcing the Order's soldiers forward in a literal 'war of attrition', but this was not a sustainable form of combat. It was merely a way to needlessly expend troops to hold a front that should have been pushed back long ago.

"...Should I just join the battle myself?"

Although Christopher Christian was positioned as the Commander, he himself was a High Priest with martial prowess equivalent to or greater than a 3-star Hero.

As a 'Paladin'—a holy knight class among High Priests—he possessed considerable personal strength, so it was only natural for him to feel the urge to take to the battlefield himself.

...Of course, it was an impossible option.

There was no one to whom he could delegate his command, and unless there was a higher-ranking officer, he was the supreme commander here.

If he left his post, there would be no one to coordinate the battlefield, and the entire military operation would fall apart.

If something were to happen to him, it wouldn't be surprising if the entire force was annihilated, let alone the failure of the military operation here.

The situation was so dire that the words escaped him automatically, even though he knew it was impossible.

"...If only a 4-star Hero would just drop from the sky. Then I might be able to find some kind of answer."

The Hero-class personnel currently participating in were five 2-star and eight 3-star Heroes.

Normally, ten 3-star Heroes were needed to safely take down a Baron-rank Demon.

That was why the initially assigned Hero force was about ten 3-star and ten 2-star Heroes to support them.

But seven of them had died, and the enemy had a Knight-rank Magical Beast capable of handling three or four 3-star Heroes.

On top of that, the Demon King's direct 'Knight-ranks' were mostly unidentified Magical Beasts not recorded in the Order's codex.

This naturally made them harder to deal with and more difficult to conquer.

At best, mobilizing the current personnel to their fullest would only serve to suppress the slaughter by the Demon and the Knight-rank, rather than creating any variables on the front.

To create a change on the front and devise a meaningful strategy, they needed a 4-star Hero to appear, or the current number of 3-star personnel to more than double.

"Huuu..."

...Of course, having experienced his fair share of battlefields, Christopher Christian knew full well how absurd such a hope was.

Variables on the battlefield only ever occurred for the worse.

If such a solution existed, it would have been found already in the process of searching for a way out.

...Just as he was about to resign himself to the situation.

It was then.

Tiring-!

[Notification from 'The Order's Headquarters' of new Hero-class personnel participation.]

Along with the sudden notification sound, a new alert window popped up on the operational map.