novelraw Chapter 228: Abyssal Holy War - Continent's Barrier (4)
Chapter 228: Abyssal Holy War - Continent's Barrier (4)
Episode 228. Abyssal Holy War - The Continent's Barrier (4)
Those who were not deeply asleep or were still awake due to the ceaseless noise of battle reacted to my shout, however late, but those who had fallen into a stupor from the fatigue of the long battle could not.
“Aaaak!”
“My leg, my leg—!”
The gaunt, yet abnormally strong, arms of the Drones that shot up from the ground out of nowhere snapped the legs of the soldiers who had no idea what was happening.
“Get away, damn it!”
“S-save me! Save me!”
The completely unprepared rear, ambushed from a place they had never even imagined—the ground beneath them—was thrown into chaos in an instant.
“Damn it! Gaston, gather all the cavalry and fight back!”
“Y-yes, Your Excellency the Marquis!”This is the worst.
The only way we could fight against the Drones, who possess strength and agility that overwhelm humans, was by engaging in the group combat characteristic of our species.
We could compensate for our lacking physical abilities with firearms and fight back by cooperating with one another, but there was no way that would work against enemies that suddenly appeared in the middle of our encampment.
“Aaaahk!”
“R-run, run away… Ugh!”
Once it became a situation of individual combat, the Drones, which had no weak points aside from their heads, were practically massacring our allied forces.
“Hic, heuk, huff!”
As I used my sword to sever the neck of a Drone that was targeting a fallen soldier, the soldier, tears streaming down his face, bowed his head repeatedly.
“Th-thank you! Thank you! Your Excellency the Marquis!”
“Go to Commander Millbeau and tell him! To deploy the Revolutionary Guard to the rear!”
“Y-yes?”
I had to frown at the soldier, who was in such a panic he couldn't even properly understand me.
Damn it, at a time like this—
“His Excellency the Marquis Lafayette!”
The voice of a much-needed person was heard.
“Vachet! Go and tell Millbeau! Deploy the Revolutionary Guard to the rear, and if there are any remaining reserve units, send them too! Make sure the units currently fighting on the front line don't waver, but since the reserves have been reduced, I permit a retreat to narrow the defense line inward!”
“Y-yes, Your Excellency the Marquis!”
“Y-Your Excellency the Marquis!”
Hearing the urgent shout of the soldier on the ground, I immediately swung my sword, cutting off the arm that was reaching for me, then brought it down again to sever the neck.
The headless Drone slowly collapsed to the ground.
“Get a grip and protect yourself!”
“Uwaah… I will!”
I immediately started running.
If the battle line starts to collapse from the chaos in the rear, it’s all over.
The number of troops resting in the rear wasn't small, but in a situation like this, they're helpless. Can the Revolutionary Guard and Gaston suppress this?
No, I have no choice but to believe they can.
Right now, there’s something more important, and I have to get there!
Slashing every Drone I saw, I ran frantically until I reached the gate—
“Ugh!”
And swiftly lopped off the head of a Drone that was about to thrust its arm into Louis.
“Hah, hah, th-thank you, Your Excellency the Marquis.”
Damn it, I almost saw Christine shed tears of blood.
I immediately drew my dagger, pierced the back of the head of a Drone charging another mage, and asked, gasping for breath.
“What are the Magic Corps’s losses? Where is Commander Maxim?”
Even to my own ears, my voice was filled with annoyance and anxiety, making me flinch, but this was a serious problem.
If things go wrong here, we could lose even more—
“Uwaah, how on earth do these things move! I want to take one apart!”
Fortunately, Commander Maxim, who had just blown a Drone’s head apart with lightning magic, was chattering away just fine, and I let out a sigh of relief.
…More importantly, is this really the time to be saying something like that?
Louis shot up from his spot and replied.
“Six have fallen. I apologize… We had used up almost all of our mana on the gate's construction and couldn't fight back properly.”
I pressed my hand to my forehead.
It was a surprise attack in the rear, which they believed to be the safest place, so it’s understandable that the mages would suffer casualties.
But of the 20 mages who came with the vanguard, six were dead.
I went to Commander Maxim and asked.
“Commander, what about the gate's construction…”
“Come on, do I look like I can be building a gate right now? You have to keep us safe for us to build anything! Why did Drones suddenly appear here? With 6 people down, it’ll take at least three more days—”
I think I now know what it feels like for the sky to turn yellow.
“Two days. I’ll give you two days. Whatever it takes, within that time…”
“Hey, is that something that can just be done? In the first place, are we even safe from now on? We got hit because we trusted you people and used up all our mana! If I had thoughtlessly used up all my mana, I would’ve been hit too!”
Annoyance flared up, and a rebuttal burst out of me before I knew it.
“Damn it, how are we supposed to predict an attack from underground!”
“Well, doesn’t that mean this could happen again? Is there any guarantee this won’t happen again? Are you going to dig up all the land here?”
“Y-Your Excellency the Marquis!”
As I, incensed, raised my sword, Louis was startled, and Maxim also flinched.
But I just jabbed the pile of dirt at Maxim’s feet with my sword and shouted.
“Look! There are no tunnels! These bastards must have been buried in the ground before we even arrived! To ambush us like this! Since Drones don't hunger or tire, burying them in advance would make for a perfect surprise attack! But this can only be a one-time ambush!
In the first place, if they had been digging a tunnel under our camp, there’s no way we wouldn't have felt anything, and if there were more of these bastards, they would have brought them all out now to annihilate us!”
“A-alright, I get it. I’m sorry. I-I was just surprised.”
Maxim flinched at my glare and averted his gaze, so I let out a sigh, spoke, and turned my back.
“We will narrow the defense line as much as possible and assign a separate guard unit for the Magic Corps just in case, so please, I’m asking for it to be done in two days.”
*
The Allied Forces responded with their utmost effort.
Even against a surprise attack they had never even imagined—Drones suddenly bursting out from under the ground—the reserve and frontline units were thoroughly separated to prevent the Allied Forces from wavering, and the elite units, including the Revolutionary Guard and the Cuirassiers, annihilated all the Drones that had broken into the main base.
However, Paimon had launched an all-out offensive at the same time as the internal surprise attack, and we had to pay a heavy price.
“The casualties are severe, Marquis Lafayette. The Imperial Army alone has over 6,000, and if you include the entire Allied Forces, it has already surpassed 20,000.”
Jill von Leonhardt said with a grave face.
Twenty thousand. Twenty thousand.
The total strength of the vanguard was 100,000, and 20,000 of them were gone.
The damage inflicted in a single day by Paimon's all-out offensive, coordinated with the Drone's surprise attack, was more severe than all the casualties from the days spent since setting foot on this island combined.
“Um… Your Excellency the Marquis. The soldiers' fatigue is also a major problem. Because of the surprise attack, not only the relief troops but also the guard personnel had to fight all night without rest. Even if we try to split the forces to manage rotations now, there's the noise issue since the defense line was pulled back, and the soldiers can't rest properly because they're afraid of what’s under the ground…”
“Damn it, I already told you! If there were more Drones in the ground, they would have brought them all out and finished us off long ago!”
Demian, cut off by my words, flinched and shut his mouth.
I know it’s not Demian's fault.
From the soldiers’ perspective, they couldn't care less about such tactical concepts; the reality that their comrades who went to rotate and rest suffered a mass death is all that registers.
“Tell the officers… to reassure the soldiers as much as possible that there will be no more surprise attacks from underground.”
“I… understand.”
Demian replied hesitantly.
I know this is an unreasonable request.
The officers aren't superhuman; they’re already at their wits' end managing the defense line. When it's their turn to rotate, they're busy trying to rest themselves. What reassurance can they give?
But I can’t publicly admit that the Commander-in-Chief has no answer when there is a problem.
Not in a time so desperate and dark.
As I was rubbing my tired and gritty eyes, General Scharnhorst of Krafte opened his mouth.
“Will the ammunition reserves be alright?”
“...With the delay in the gate's construction, the battle is set to be longer than planned, so I would appreciate it if the Krafte Army could reduce its consumption rate a little.”
Those damned Krafte bastards, spending it like water since it's not their money.
Thanks to them, their losses are low and they are the army that has best preserved its strength, but we no longer have that leeway.
Fortunately, General Scharnhorst surprisingly nodded readily.
“Understood. More importantly, the consensus among our staff is that they are preparing for a final all-out offensive.”
“…That’s likely.”
The engagement, which had continued ceaselessly for days, had virtually stopped.
After launching an all-out offensive along with the surprise attack of the Drones that erupted from the ground, Paimon has since only been sending small-scale Drones sporadically, keeping us on edge.
“Hahaha, it’s finally coming! It will be a most glorious battle!”
Kroxx touched his fangs with his hand and burst into laughter.
I forced a smile for him, but not everyone possessed his tireless valor and physique.
The condition of the soldiers, which had been maintained through rotational rest, collapsed with just one surprise attack.
Even without that, it wasn't easy to fall asleep while listening to the sounds of all sorts of shelling and battle after pulling back the defense line, and now there was even the terror from beneath the ground.
No matter how much we reassure the soldiers, trauma isn't something that disappears so easily, so it's not something that can be resolved in a short period.
Having suffered massive losses, we lack the reserve troops to rotate properly, and without reserves, duty hours naturally have to increase, accelerating a vicious cycle.
We are clearly exhausted, and our morale is falling. The only reason we've held on this long is likely because we are humanity's elite forces.
Two days.
The Magic Corps demanded three days, but the most we can endure is, at best, two days.
Can we even last those two days?
But I didn't even have enough time to ponder that.
Because a frantically running Giselle Davi shouted.
“It's an enemy attack! Judging by the scale, it's an all-out offensive!”
I suppressed the urge to sigh and stood up, sword in hand.
“This will be the last offensive. The end is near. We have done our best, and we will continue to do so until the very end. To your positions.”
*
When I went outside, for some reason, the fog that had been so thick was lighter today.
Thanks to that, the visibility was much wider than usual…
And for that, we despaired.
“That, does it even… have an end?”
“W-what in the...”
I let out an empty laugh.
Drones, Drones, Drones, Drones, and more Drones.
As if all the offensives until now had been a joke.
A seemingly infinite wave was surging toward us.
I uttered as if in a lament.
“...Wake up all the troops who went to rotate and gather them.”
“Yes, Your Excellency the Marquis!”
I know that this is a drastic measure for us, who must ultimately endure for two days.
But it is all too clear that without gathering every last soldier and squeezing out every ounce of our remaining strength, we cannot stop that wave-like offensive.
No, even if we do squeeze everything out, is it even possible to stop that?
“Artillery, fire!”
“Feuer!”
“All batteries, fire!”
At the officers' orders, cannonballs flew with a roar and struck the swarm of Drones.
The explosions from the explosive shells engulfed the ground, pulverizing Drones, and heavy metal cannonballs crushed Drones in a line as they passed through.
But the Drones destroyed like that were soon buried under the wave of other Drones. As if our feeble resistance would be buried just the same.
Neither the light infantry's shooting, nor the line infantry's shooting.
They cannot stop the wave of Drones surging forward like a tide.
Seeing the wave of Drones that, no matter how many fell, endlessly poured in and finally crashed into our encampment, I had an intuition that this was the end.
“Y-Your Excellency the Marquis.”
Nevertheless, I drew my sword.
“...There is nowhere to retreat. Deploy all troops.”
Even if we are to be defeated because we are outnumbered, we will fight until our last breath.
I cannot repeat the despair and guilt I felt when I finally gave up back in Iberica.
“We are the very barrier of humanity, and defeat will not be tolerated! Allied Forces, follow me!”
“F-follow His Excellency the Marquis!”
I spurred my horse onward and began to charge toward the frontline.
Even as I charge toward the overwhelming wave of Drones, the Cuirassiers and Gaston, as well as the rest of the Allied Forces, naturally follow behind me.
Is this choice of mine any different from the Blue Knight’s end?
Before I can answer that, my sword cuts, slashes, and splits the necks of Drones.
Sometime in the middle of swinging my sword in a trance, I lost my horse.
By the time I couldn't even count how many Drones I had cut down, I came face-to-face with the Red Demon, leading countless Drones.
“Ah, how beautiful. So very beautiful… Pierre. So much so that I want to have you stuffed and preserved just as you are.”
Paimon says chillingly, with a deep smile, as if whispering words of love.
I glanced to the side and looked at the Allied Forces, fighting hard but ultimately about to be buried in the overwhelming wave of the enemy.
“It is your defeat, Pierre.”
An empty laugh escapes.
Defeat. Defeat…
I simply readjusted my grip on my sword.
If I can't do my best until the moment my life is snuffed out, I won't have the face to see Christine even in death.
“Don’t be too discouraged. It was a fight where I was overwhelmingly advantageous from the start, so I have no intention of disparaging your efforts…”
Paimon’s words stopped.
And, the air changed.
The fog, which I had felt had thinned for some reason, was slowly receding.
What is this?
The moment I thought that, Paimon groaned.
“What, is this…”
The ground is ringing.
Not the unpleasantly mechanical, rhythmic vibration of the Drones.
It’s the disorderly noise made by countless living creatures.
And a vibration I’ve heard countless times.
This is… cavalry.
The moment I thought that, a cavalry unit struck from the flank.
“Charge, Revolutionary Army! For Francia!”
Louis Desaix’s mana-infused shout echoed across the entire battlefield, and the Cuirassiers, holding high the flag of Francia, charged forward at high speed, crushing the Drones underfoot.
Desaix? The Desaix I left in charge of the homeland, why is he here?
“Advance, advance! For Krafte, for His Majesty the Great King, for His Majesty Heinrich!”
Cavalrymen in the distinctive jet-black military uniforms of the Krafte cavalry are galloping alongside them, holding high the Eagle Flag with a scepter—the King's Flag.
Before I could even process what was happening, the wave of cavalry tore through the Drones—and as I ran with them, I spurred a horse and my eyes widened at the person riding towards me.
“This, this is absurd!”
Paimon shrieked and lunged at me, but I parried Paimon’s claws with my sword, pushed him away, and jumped up to mount the horse.
The long black hair flying in front of me disturbs my field of vision.
“…Christine?”
Am I seeing things right now?
“Don’t talk to me, Pierre. Thanks to seeing you in the middle of another suicidal charge, I’m so angry I can’t stand it.”
Her tone is chilly, but Christine, dressed in her admiral's uniform, is riding the horse in front of me.
“How are you here?”
Instead of answering, Christine turned her gaze to the rear—
The moment I followed her and turned my head, a light burst forth.
The light, erupting with enough force to drive out all of the violet fog, drives the fatigue and despair from my body, and from the bodies of all of us who were on the verge of collapse, and breathes life into us.
The violet fog that had tormented us so terribly is swept away by the storm of light and drifts farther away.
And, Eris’s voice, filled with divine power, rang out across the battlefield.
“Do not give up!”