A Regressor's Bucket List

Chapter 234 : The North (13)

The battle to conquer the continued for three days and three nights.

This wasn't an exaggeration simply to express its length.

The actual battle took a full three days to conclude.

A power struggle between a giant bull monster and a man clad in armor, locking their long weapons and horns, persisted day and night.

The conquest only ended after its leader, the Count of Excitement, ‘Minotaur’, was finally defeated.

This was quite a different outcome from the plan The Order's Allied Forces originally had.

The advantage of this Northern Subjugation Force was its powerful Hero-class combatants compared to other corps.

Considering that The Order's Allied Forces had relatively little experience in chaotic battles, the original plan was to go all-out on the first day and end the fight swiftly.

The plan went awry when the Minotaur made an unexpected ‘escape’.

As it was a long-prepared plan, the Order had even taken into account the tendencies of the Demonic Species on each Anti-Demon Front.

The title the Minotaur received from the Demon King, along with its rank, was ‘Excitement’.

As the word suggested, the Minotaur was the type of Demon to get easily worked up.

A belligerent personality, the type that couldn't easily calm down once it got excited.

Therefore, from The Order's perspective, the possibility of the Minotaur fleeing was completely unforeseen.

They might have been prepared for it to charge into a trap, unable to control its anger, but they couldn't deal with it turning tail and leaving first.

Of course, the fact that its destination after fleeing was still the battlefield was a bit puzzling.

In any case, after avoiding the high-ranking Heroes who came to face it, the Minotaur roamed all over the battlefield during the subsequent pursuit, evading them.

It finally stopped moving only after countless weapons were embedded in its back.

Naturally, the casualties suffered by The Order's Allied Forces in the process were not insignificant.

Of course, since the Minotaur was caught and killed while avoiding a direct confrontation and fleeing, there were almost no casualties among the Hero-class, but the losses among the soldiers were severe.

The Minotaur's unique ability was ‘Red Excitement’.

It was an ability that grew more powerful the longer the battle dragged on and the more blood was spilled on the battlefield.

According to the original plan, it should have been tied down in a separate battle with the Hero-class and unable to even set foot on the main battlefield, but when the Minotaur took the unexpected action of fleeing, the bloodshed on the battlefield was ultimately converted into power for the Tauren species.

Consequently, the soldiers' casualties naturally had no choice but to increase.

Of course, these losses among the soldiers did not continue indefinitely.

After a three-day-and-night pursuit, the Minotaur fell, and the Hero-class joined the general battle, causing the soldiers' casualties to diminish in an instant.

And so.

Finally, the Order's Allied Forces were able to declare the conquest of the Anti-Demon Front, .

“…I guess we got off cheap.”

U-jin, sitting on a log in front of a temporary barracks, muttered as he surveyed the gruesome scene of the blood-soaked battlefield.

Downhill Wilderness.

In the distance, he could see the corpses of the Tauren species piled up like mountains, and the particularly conspicuous, massive carcass of the Minotaur.

Swish.

Turning his head to look closer, he saw the bodies of the allied soldiers.

Though smaller in scale, they were laid out side-by-side, completely covering the ground on one side.

‘…….’

It was true he felt a little sorry for the dead soldiers, as saying they ‘got off cheap’ felt like they had traded the soldiers' lives for the Heroes' lives.

But it wasn't wrong.

In the first timeline, The Order's Allied Forces had lost half their troops just reaching this point while dealing with the Black Blood Disease, and half of the Hero-class had died in the process.

Compared to then, the troop losses were certainly smaller.

Hooo—

‘…I tried to avoid the crowded places…’

U-jin had sought out the Minotaur himself partly to test how effective the prototype he received from Emily was against a Count-level Demon, but it was also to minimize the casualties of the Hero-class forces, as the current result showed.

It was a sorry tale for the dead soldiers, but unlike the border wars of the Anti-Demon Front where maintaining the line was the top priority, in a subjugation war, a single Hero was far more crucial personnel than a multitude of soldiers.

Among them, high-ranking Heroes who could directly confront Demons were each critically important.

Of course, that didn't mean U-jin had just run around recklessly, shifting the damage meant for a Hero directly onto other soldiers.

It was a kind of ‘cushion’, so to speak.

U-jin had maneuvered his way through areas of the battlefield with few allied soldiers and a high density of the Tauren species.

In fact, the number of Tauren who died in that process was nearly on par with the number of soldiers.

Well, it was inevitable that a sliver of guilt remained, but he didn't let it sway him.

After all, that someone had to die was a foregone conclusion.

‘I did my best, and that's enough,’ U-jin thought, calming his uneasy heart.

‘…….’

The reason U-jin's strategy of luring the Minotaur was possible was because this place, the , had a slightly different structure from other Count-level Demon King's Territories.

Normally, a Count would have three or four Barons under their command, each leading a species of Magical Beasts. In contrast, this Demon King's Territory, led by the Minotaur, was composed of a single species, the ‘Tauren’.

If there had been a Baron-level Demon to assist the Minotaur, U-jin probably wouldn't have been able to deftly evade its attention and run away for three days and nights.

Well, in the first place, if the high-ranking Heroes' sanctions and holy magic hadn't restricted the Minotaur's body, he would have been caught in the first leap, let alone escape.

Besides.

‘…It was a disposable card, for sure.’

If U-jin's memory was correct, the Downhill Wilderness, including the Minotaur, was as good as a card already discarded by the Demon King's Army.

He hadn't heard it from the man himself, but it wasn't as if the strategist Isaac Einstein was unaware of the Northern Subjugation War.

The lack of existing Barons could be overlooked, but the absence of Knight-class support was clear proof.

The monarch Minotaur's personal capabilities were indeed at the Count level, but its disposition was not suited for ruling over others.

It made no attempt to bring in other Demonic Species, and its structure relied on the monarch's strength rather than being a true faction.

After obtaining the Count title, the Tauren species had been on a path of gradual decline without a single rebound.

While the hollow title of Count remained, their actual military strength had long been surpassed by the neighboring ‘Orc Mountains’.

And above all.

‘…We won here in my past life, too.’

It was a pyrrhic victory compared to now, but in the first timeline, The Order's Allied Forces had somehow managed to secure a win up to the .

From Isaac Einstein's perspective, who already knew about the ‘Northern Subjugation War’, giving up a Count-level Demon King's Territory that didn't need to be conceded was difficult to understand logically.

A Count-level territory was not small, and the Order's Allied Forces at the time were in no proper state, having failed to solve the Black Blood Disease.

Even though combining forces with the adjacent Orc Mountains would have created a front capable of resisting The Order's Allied Forces, Isaac Einstein had allowed them to occupy the Downhill Wilderness.

If he hadn't experienced a past life, he wouldn't have been able to guess the intention, but U-jin already knew the outcome of this Northern Subjugation War.

Isaac Einstein's intention in not defending but rather ceding the would be starkly revealed in the subjugation of the ‘Orc Mountains’ that was to follow.

“Anti-Demon!”

“……?”

It was then.

Someone, tense, approached the log where U-jin was sitting and gave a military salute.

“Greetings, Sir Hero Seo U-jin!”

“…Ah, yes.”

‘Judging by his epaulets, he doesn't seem to be low-ranking.’

The military discipline in his voice was burdensome.

Sure enough.

“The Commander-in-Chief summons you.”

The soldier's subsequent message was quite a heavy one.

***

He arrived at the barracks, guided by the soldier.

Inside, a woman dressed in armor more dazzling than any soldier or Hero he had seen so far was waiting for U-jin.

As soon as she saw U-jin's face, she skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point.

“…It's thanks to you, Sir.”

“……”

It was not an unfamiliar face.

The situation was different, and he couldn't see the characteristic frown that conveyed the grim state of war.

But it was definitely a face he had seen in his past life.

Kanna Cartier.

If U-jin's memory wasn't mistaken, she was the person who had served as the Commander-in-Chief of The Order's Allied Northern Subjugation Force in his past life as well.

“On behalf of The Order's Allied Subjugation Force, I express my gratitude.”

“…It was nothing. This is my first time seeing a Valkyrie in person.”

At the same time.

She was also an individual who had received the special title of Valkyrie from the Pope.

Pfft—

“On the battlefield, we're all just warriors. Being a Valkyrie doesn't make me any different.”

“……”

She shook her head with a slight smile, but contrary to her words, the title of Valkyrie symbolized speciality in itself.

It was a special title granted only to the female warrior with the greatest martial prowess of her era among the many high-ranking priests, the ‘Paladins’.

It was similar to how, although there were many adjudicators, the only person with the title ‘Heretic Inquisitor’, a high-ranking priest dedicated to dealing with Demonic Species, was Leonardo Louis Button.

In other words.

She was the strongest human among all the Paladins belonging to The Order's army.

“Let's dispense with the modesty. Everyone on the battlefield has already witnessed your contribution, Sir.”

“……”

“The Hero-class forces suffered virtually no losses in the process of dealing with the Count-level Demon, Minotaur. If you act humble about that, it's as if no one else did anything.”

“……”

“That won't do.”

Shaking her head lightly, Kanna Cartier praised U-jin directly.

“I had anticipated at least a quarter of our forces to become casualties. I never thought we could resolve this with so little damage. In particular, your strategy of using your martial prowess to eliminate the Tauren—a strategy of using barbarians to fight barbarians —I dare say it was the optimal strategy one could use on the battlefield.”

“……”

Of course, U-jin's reaction to such praise was lukewarm.

The reason was simple.

‘…I was just running away.’

It wasn't an act done to receive praise, and honestly, from U-jin's perspective, compared to the upcoming subjugation of the ‘Orc Mountains’, he had done it with a casual thought of ‘This should probably work,’ without much deep consideration.

“That's not it……”

Well, even if he tried to explain.

“Enough with the pleasantries. If there is anything you need, speak. I will grant you whatever it is.”

…It didn't seem like she would listen anyway.