novelraw Chapter 249
Chapter 249
248. Childhood Friend - Tactics
When Leo was struck by lightning for the second time, Lena briefly flashed before his eyes. He genuinely thought he might die, but he forced himself to stand on his trembling legs and raised his fist.
"Waaaaaah!! Swordmaster!"
"Charge! Charge! We have the Swordmaster with us!"
The cheers erupted.
The soldiers looked at the Swordmaster with eyes full of admiration. Inspired by the fact that he had survived a lightning strike, they pushed through the heavy rain and charged at the enemy.
Luckily, they didn't notice that Leo had raised his fist instead of his sword, which would have made him a perfect conductor for the lightning.
Deciding that he needed to be more cautious, Leo swung his sword at a knight who had gotten close. Whoosh! The knight dodged, but Leo quickly followed up with a kick, sending him sprawling.
-Splash!
"You filthy bastard...!"But the knight was no pushover. As he fell, he flung mud at Leo and quickly slipped away among the pirates.
Annoyed, Leo raised his sword high in anger.
He was worried another lightning strike might come, but just then, something white swept across the battlefield. A pulse of energy surged through, and Leo's aura blade sliced the knight caught among the pirates clean in half.
'What was that?'
He wondered, but there was no time to dwell on it. He was on the front lines. Leo raised his aura blade even higher and plunged into the enemy ranks like a beast. He knew that once he was mixed in with the enemy, it would be harder for any mage to target him.
"Follow the Swordmaster!"
A brutal close-quarters battle ensued. The Marquis Guidan's elite troops charged with such momentum that the pirates' formation began to crumble. The knights of the Right Kingdom had been fighting while retreating, but...
"Wa-wait! We're on the same side... Agh!"
The mixed force of noblemen in the second row appeared, cutting down the retreating pirates as they advanced. The knights abandoned the chaotic front line to join the mixed force.
"Exterminate the remnants of the rebels!"
The mixed force, now in formation, clashed head-on with the Marquis Guidan's troops. Despite their superior numbers, the Gaiden troops, their formation disrupted by the fight with the pirates, began to falter.
This was why the troops were divided into the first, second, and third lines. It's nearly impossible to reestablish formation in the midst of battle.
Thus, Prince Elzeor had used the pirates as bait, and Count Geogis Germain had skillfully maneuvered his troops to press the front lines. The Marquis Guidan's troops, now weakened, found themselves on the defensive.
"...It can't be helped."
Leo Dexter, who had been encouraging his men on the front lines, sighed as he surveyed the battlefield.
At this rate, they would lose.
Even without any tactical skills, he could sense that the momentum had shifted to the enemy. To turn the tide...
'Damn it. That bastard Rev was acting like everything was under control—where the hell did he go?'
If he led his knights to break through the enemy lines and cut down their commander, he wouldn't make it back alive, but the battle would surely turn in their favor.
But why should he go that far when this wasn’t even his round? He could just take Lena from the Marquis Guidan's territory and leave this kingdom.
Since this wasn't his round, there wouldn't be an ending, and he was already married. He was confident he could live happily with Lena for the next few decades, happier than anyone else in the world.
However, if he bailed now, Rev would die. He would lose another precious round.
[19/23]. It was absurd that human lives seemed to matter less than numbers, but he couldn't just turn a blind eye.
Muttering curses, Leo made up his mind. Just as he was about to tighten his grip on his sword and charge, a messenger came running up to him.
"Sir Leo! A message from Count Ogleton!"
"Good timing. Where's Rev?"
"General Rev left command to Count Ogleton and went to secure the forest over there."
"Why the hell would he go there with the enemy right in front of him... Fine. What does Count Ogleton want?"
The messenger relayed the Count's request. He asked Leo not to charge but to form the battle line into a diagonal.
"Diagonal? What does that mean?"
"He asked you to fight farther away from the river. The ground is sloped, so if we hold the higher ground, we can hold out."
Would that really help? But Leo didn’t argue.
In a battle, the person who has the most influence on the outcome isn’t the soldiers or the knights, but the general. The formation changes depending on the commander's disposition, and victory or defeat is determined by how well it aligns with the enemy's formation and the environment of the battlefield.
Leo knew that much.
But there was something that made him uneasy. Count Ogleton wasn’t a general.
As a noble with lands and private soldiers, he was obliged to study military tactics, but after showing an aptitude for magic at a young age, he had studied at the magic tower instead, meaning he likely knew little of military strategy.
'...Still, he must have a reason for making this request.'
This is how it should be done, or that’s how it should be done. Now was not the time to cause confusion in the chain of command when things were moving so fast. Reluctantly, Leo thought it was just as well that he didn’t want to charge and changed his direction.
Meanwhile, at the command post in the rear, Count Ogleton was deep in thought. He visualized the flow of the battle as he surveyed the field through the heavy rain.
The picture he drew in his mind was different from that of an ordinary general. Count Ogleton saw the army not from a tactical viewpoint but from a magician’s perspective, viewing it as a living organism. Though he was not well-versed in military tactics, he understood the nature of humans better than anyone.
Humans were creatures that could be unexpectedly fragile, dying from a mere burn, yet somehow enduring even when pierced through by an ice spike.
If left alone in a dark room, they might quickly go mad (though not so much if the floor was soft earth), but when hung upside down in groups, they bizarrely managed to survive longer.
Count Ogleton had experimented on over two hundred slaves as part of his personal research, accurately gauging the mental and physical states of the soldiers.
'They're still holding out... for now.'
Raindrops sapped body heat, and the mud drained their strength. In Count Ogleton’s view, the reason their front line was slowly being pushed back was exactly that.
They had exhausted themselves fighting the first wave of the enemy, while the enemy’s reserves had conserved their strength.
To recover from this...
'Even a slight elevation advantage would help.'
The ground sloped down towards the river.
It wasn’t steep enough to be immediately noticeable, but when dealing with thousands of soldiers, even a slight elevation could make a difference. Soldiers on higher ground would naturally put more force into their downward strikes, while the enemy below would struggle to strike upward with the same force.
Hence, the diagonal formation was ordered.
If the Swordmaster held the higher ground (even without factoring in the individuals he would cut down), the soldiers on that side would be emboldened to push back the enemy. Meanwhile, the soldiers farther down would naturally fall back, establishing a formation where they would fight from above.
This could hold.
At least, in theory.
However, the count could not put his mind at ease. As he observed the enemy's formation, he let out a troubled sigh.
Unlike the noisy commotion on their side, there were soldiers quietly awaiting battle within the enemy ranks. The raindrops bounced off their armor, made with expensive iron, in a white spray.
These were the 12,000 heavily armored infantrymen that the Lognum royal family prided themselves on. Though slow-moving, it was said that a single squad could take on two average squads.
'Once we tire out, they’ll come out to finish us off. The knights still mixed in with the second line are also a big problem. This really looks like it’s going to be a long and grueling fight.'
‘I’ve done everything I can. Now, it’s up to the heavens.’
Count Ogleton concealed his worries as he continued to encourage the centurions.
Meanwhile, at the command post of the Right Kingdom, shouts were ringing out.
“This is an absurd strategy!”
It was the commander of the Second Knights of the Right Kingdom. He was refusing to follow Count Geogis Germain’s orders.
“Capture the Swordmaster? That’s preposterous.”
“Why do you say that? You have two hundred knights, and you can't capture a single person?”
“It’s possible to capture one Swordmaster. But he’s not alone right now, is he? Even if several knights surround him, the casualties will be significant... It’s better to leave things as they are. We should only try to capture him once the enemy soldiers are all dead and have no one left to back him up.”
“Oh, I see. So, there’s no knightly honor left in you. Planning to attack him from behind, are you? I’m quite surprised.”
The knight commander gritted his teeth.
“Reckless actions do not equate to honor.”
“Then is it honorable to defy the orders of your commander?”
“…The command of the knights is entrusted to the knight commander. I’m sure there’s a reason Duke Elzeor placed us at the front.”
“That was to intimidate them into surrendering. Well, since you’re so set on exercising your independent command, I suppose I have nothing more to say...”
Clicking his tongue, the count sneered.
“Surely you’re not doing this because you’re afraid of the Swordmaster?”
“What... What did you say?!”
“I believe we need to silence that Swordmaster as quickly as possible. As long as he’s there, the enemy won’t collapse. Am I wrong?”
“That depends on what you prioritize...”
The count waved his hand to cut off the knight commander.
“It’s the commander’s role to determine what to prioritize. But you’re rejecting a reasonable strategy just because it’s difficult. So, your knights are going to wait until the second line is slaughtered, and the third line has dealt with the enemy, before they act? If that’s the case, why do we even have knights? We might as well mix them with the soldiers.”
The knight commander’s face flushed as red as it could get.
There’s a limit to how much insult one can take.
How dare he view knights so lowly... Unable to contain his anger, the knight commander shouted.
“Damn it! Fine! The knights will go and capture the Swordmaster for you. But if the battle goes poorly, I won’t let you off!”
“That won’t happen.”
The knight commander glared at the count, who didn’t back down even a single step, then turned his back on him, which turned out to be a great stroke of luck for Rev’s soldiers.
As a result, Leo Dexter was not captured. Just as the knight commander had feared, Leo did not stray far from his own lines and instead took down every knight that came charging at him.
As the casualties mounted, the knight commander, growing anxious, ordered his knights to charge. He intended to quickly clear out the soldiers surrounding the Swordmaster, but...
“What are you doing? Do you think we don’t have any knights?”
The plan was thrown into disarray when fifty knights from the Marquis Guidan, Count Ogleton, and the Marquis of Drazhin joined the fray.
The knight commander, who had gone in too deep, was killed by Leo, and the knight order of two hundred was halved and forced to retreat. Although Leo’s side also suffered heavy losses, their morale soared.
“Hooray for the knights! Hooray for the Swordmaster! We’re almost there! Just a bit more strength...”
- Clank.
The soldiers’ faces, which had brightened, suddenly turned grim. The third line, the elite troops of the Right Kingdom, fully armored from their greaves to their helmets, began to march heavily forward.
Clank, clank. Their solid armor clashed against each other, and the soldiers of the Marquis Guidan and Count Ogleton, who were already exhausted, panted heavily. Their original number of 15,000 had dwindled to 6,000.
Considering they had annihilated 7,000 pirates, 10,000 of the noble’s mixed forces, and two knight orders, it was a cheap price to pay. It was a great victory.
But the reality that the battle wasn’t over yet began to weigh on the soldiers. Their bodies, chilled by the rain, shivered, and their mud-covered legs ached from the fatigue, now turning into pain.
Even Count Ogleton, their commander, let out a heavy sigh. At that moment, hope appeared from behind the heavily armored infantry in the distance.
“Damn it, I almost drowned in the river!”
“Shut your mouth.”
It was the 2,000 barbarian warriors that Rev had sent downstream in the river. They blew their horns as they launched a surprise attack on the sluggish heavily armored infantry, and Count Ogleton seized the opportunity.
The enemy was surely panicked, and a pincer attack from front and rear was a significant tactical advantage. However, Count Ogleton’s expression didn’t brighten much, as he still didn’t believe they could overcome the elite troops.
The 12,000 soldiers who hadn’t even begun to tire. Their knights still outnumbered theirs five to one. Now, all they could hope for was...
‘Lord Rev, what’s happening in the forest?’
Count Ogleton turned to look at the forest on the right. The forest where Rev had taken 10,000 soldiers was eerily silent.
Whoever emerged from there would greatly influence the outcome, and soon, the result became clear. A figure emerged, pushing through the underbrush...
“Waaaahhhhh!!”
He was holding an axe.
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