It wasn’t as bad as they had thought.
They thought the soldiers’ morale would have hit the bottom from the repeated defeats and the night a.s.saults that continued the entire night.
But when they actually finished setting up the legionary formation, their spirits instead jumped and boiled.
The KaLu Allied Army’s number was that powerful.
It was enough for the Lancephil Fief Regiment situated along the Parkes riverside to seem laughable.
“Are they charging at us with merely a five thousand?”
Kallum Rinse stood on the center army’s camp’s watchtower and gaze at Roan and the Amaranth Troop.
A ridiculing look overflowed on his face.
A feeling that the appallingly crumbled pride was slowly being restored.
At that moment, Greg Sinaiz who managed the chief commander position walked up.
“Your majesty, it’s a news that the Lancpehil Fief Regiment’s left and right wing have also moved.”
“Good. We will also counter back.”
Kallum gave the order without hesitation.
At that moment, Lukan Diez who was standing quietly asked with a worried expression.
“But would it be fine to heedlessly empty the camp? There may be the elves’ a.s.sault.”
“Hhm.”
Kallum leaked a quiet groan.
Elves’ surprise attack.
It was something easily attemptable if it was Roan.
‘Either way, our side’s number is much greater.’
Kallum quickly gave a new order.
“Leave a detached force and tighten the camp’s security.”
“Yes. Understood, your majesty!”
Greg quickly answered and the climbed down the watchtower.
Soon, messengers ran towards the left and right wing.
Simultaneously, the vanguard shock troop ran towards Roan and the Amaranth Troops from the center army’s formation.
Soon following, over ten thousand legionary soldiers followed their backs.
“Does it not seem like a small raft before a giant wave……”
Kallum looked down at the battlefield with a satisfied expression.
Finally, the Amaranth Troop with Roan in the lead and the center army’s Capenter Legion with the Mcurson Troop at the vanguard clashed.
Five thousand versus ten thousand.
From a glance, it seemed as if it would end with the KaLu allied Army’s one-sided victory.
However, the actual shape of the battle flowed completely different from the expectation.
Puuuuuck!
“Kuuhuk!”
A Mcursion Troop’s soldier hit by the Travias spear flew with a rough writhing.
The soldiers that were following him close behind were swept together and rolled on the ground.
“Kuuk!”
“Kuk!”
Soldiers rolling on the ground as a single clump.
Through the gap made from them falling, the Amaranth Troop’s taemusas flooded in.
“Don’t step ahead carelessly!”
“Maintain the formation!”
“Comrades protect the comrades’ backs!”
The five thousand taemusas moved organically and smoothly as if they were one person.
When one moved back, another filled the emptied s.p.a.ce.
Although they seemed to be each swinging their swords recklessly, there was not once when their arms tangled.
“Monstrous b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!”
The Mcurson Troop’s troop commander Baron Todd Mcurson brandished his dazzling longsword and spat out a curse.
He, as someone from the Tron Academy knight school and the Palace Knight Order, was a knight famous for his dazzling swordsmanship.
Although he wasn’t as expert as Elva Dionell, he was a quite well-known warrior.
Todd looked at his powerlessly falling soldiers and burst out in rage.
‘Roan Lancephil!’
His eyes headed towards Roan stirring the battlefield as he decimated his soldiers.
“Roan Lancephil! Take my sword!”
Todd spiritedly yelled out and ran towards Roan.
Neeeigh.
His warhorse roughly cried and kicked off the ground.
The spirit at least was enough to cut off Roan’s head and more.
“Foolish b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”
Roan looked at Todd racing towards him and twisted his wrist.
Fwoosh!
A flame soared up along the Travias spearhead.
Simultaneously, the handle moved as if flicked and the spearhead drew down from the sky towards the ground.
A speed slow enough for a yawn to come out.
Todd snorted.
“Hmph! This kind of a strike, I can block as many times as……”
But his loud shout could not continue to its end.
Zzzzzkk!
Together with a sound of metal and flesh burning, the Travias Spear split Todd’s left side from its right.
It was a smooth and clean strike as if cutting water with a sword.
“Kkdun”
Even the warhorse was split into two pieces.
Sizzle!
A thick smoke curled up from the sliced sides together with a horrible sound.
A single strike.
Merely a single strike was what Roan needed to cut down Todd, “the slightly famous knight” (p/n: or “… down the rather famous knight Todd”?)
“Huhph! T, troop commander!”
“Sir Baron Mcurson!”
The Mcurson Troop’s adjutants hurriedly ran up and formed devastated expressions.
However, they too became the Travias Spear’s prey before moving more than two steps.
Ssskuk!
The flame swallowed the enemy army’s adjutants.
“Uaak! Sa, save me!”
“Hot! Pu, put out the fire!”
Horrible sounds of screams filled the battlefield.
“d.a.m.n it! Die you monstrous b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
“Die!”
“Rush them!”
The Mcurson Troop was a powerful force that could take the role of the vanguard shock troop even amongst over fifty thousand of KaLu Allied Army.
They did not become discouraged nor afraid even before Roan and the Amaranth Troop’s overwhelming might.
The troop’s knights raised their longswords and dashed.
‘They’re responding more troublesome than we thought.’
Roan slightly creased his forehead.
However much the Amaranth Troop was powerful, it couldn’t ignore the numbers of soldiers.
They would ultimately win if they fight with death in mind, but it was obvious that the Amaranth Troop too will receive a large loss.
‘We could win in the battle and lose in the war.’
Roan pulled his reins and moved back.
“Retreat.”
A quiet order fell.
Dum. Dum. Dum. Dum.
With the sound of drums signalling retreat, the Amaranth Troop’s troop members that were fiercely cornering the enemy army began to retreat back.
Even in the middle of that, they did not carelessly crumble their formation.
“Uwaaaah! The b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are running away! Chase them!”
“Die! Don’t miss this chance!”
The Mcurson Troop’s knights and soldiers looked at the reatring Roan and the Amaranth Troop and increased their vigor.
They thought that they have grasp victory for sure this time.
Dududududu!
The retreat and the chase began with the sound of horse hooves.
“d.a.m.n it! Just a little more! Run just a little faster!”
“This is the chance to wipe out the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!”
The Mcurson Troop’s knights spat out curses as they looked at Roan and the Amaranth Troop that almost, but couldn’t quite be caught.
During that time, the troop’s vanguard neared the Lancephil Fief Regiment’s main camp located on the Parkes riverside.
Suddenly, a faint smile hung on retreating Roan’s mouth.
He abruptly and quickly raised his right and dropped it towards the ground.
Suddenly.
Ssweaaaaaaak!
With a sharp sound of air shattering, unknown objects flew towards the sky from the Lancephil Fief Regiment’s main camp.
Their shapes definitely weren’t arrows.
At that moment, Roan’s voice echoed through the battlefield.
“Equip the plate helmets!”
At the same time, the retreating Amaranth Troop’s soldiers covered their eyes with the plate helmets and turned their horses.
Instantly, the faces of Mcurson Troop’s knights and soldiers bleached white.
“I, it’s that d.a.m.ned clumps of light!”
“It’s the magic weapon!”
Urgent expressions and voices.
They had realized the unknown weapons crossing through the sky and flying towards them were the lumasas a day before had played the large role in the vanguard troop’s annihilation.
‘d.a.m.n it! But the Allied Army’s magicians said that there won’t be any more magic weapons……’
From collecting and closely a.n.a.lysing the lumasas, it was judged that it was a significantly complicated object to produce en ma.s.s.
“Close your eyes!”
“Turn your heads away!”
The instant the orders fell, all of them raised their shields above their heads and tightly closed their eyes.
Ssweaaaak!
The screaming sound of the air turned even more violent.
At the same time.
Pbubububububuck!
The lumasas finally fell with heavy sounds.
No, they thought the lumasas had fallen.
But the light did not burst out from anywhere.
“Hm?”
Kaitlin Siegel, who amongst the knights was an officer rank, cautiously opened his eyes and inspected the ground.
Instantly, his face comically twisted.
“Ro, rocks?”
The things rolling below the horsehooves weren’t the magic weapon lumasas but ordinary rocks.
Kaitlin goggled his eyes.
“Da, d.a.m.n it! We got tr……”
The desperately following shout was cut short in the middle.
Ssskuk!
A sharp spearhead pierced his chest.
Sssguk! Pububububuck! Ssskuk!
Simultaneously, thousands of Amaranth Troop’s members swept through the Mcurson Troop’s soldiers on left and right.
Roan and the Amaranth Troop’s counterattack had once again begun.
“Kuk!’
“Kuuk!”
The Mcurson Troop’s soldiers who were tightly closing their eyes to avoid the lumasas’ light attack became cold corpses and fell without even reacting properly.
Worse, a secondary force marched from the Lancephil Fief Regiment’s camp matching the timing and backed up the Amaranth Troop’s rear.
“T, they’re rocks! Open your eyes!”
“Counter! Counter!”
The Mcurson Troop’s soldiers that had came to themselves a moment later raised their weapons and tried to counterattack, but the balance of the battle had already tilted as far as it could.
The number of soldiers that had reached ten thousands too had already fallen to nearly a half.
Kwakakakang!
The Mcurson Troop’s soldiers were flung away with a boom.
The black spear spat out dark-red flames and split the battlefield.
Roan was a giant tiger and the Mcurson Troop’s soldiers were lambs.
“Uuuuh.”
“Mo, monster……”
The Mcurson Troop’s soldiers falteringly pulled back and trembled.
They had finally realized that the numbers weren’t everything.
Vvuuuuu!
A moment later, reinforcements marched from the KaLu Allied Army’s center camp together with a sound of horn.
Their number once again reached ten thousand.
Roan longly swung his Travias Spear and turned his horse around without a pause.
“Retreat.”
A situation where the number of soldiers in the Lancephil Fief Regiment’s main camp didn’t reach ten thousand even including all the sentries and garrison troops.
Even so, they couldn’t freely pull in soldiers from the left and right wing either.
In the end, they had to face the enemy army with only the main camp’s strength.
‘We must hold.’
At least until the porter moved, they had to hold.
No, they had to make the porter move.
That was Roan and the Count Lancephil House retainers’ strategy.
‘It’ll be a long day.’
A bitter smile hanged on the mouth of Roan retreating back to the main camp.
Behind, he could feel the vigor of the enemy army ferociously chasing them.
As soon as the troop that had finished the first battle with the Amaranth Troop at the vanguard entered inside the camp, a new troop appeared.
It was the secondary shock troop with Austin and Brian at the head.
Roan pulled his horse’s reins and slowly reduced his speed.
“My lord. Will you really be alright?”
Austin who ran up in an instant asked with a worried voice.
A situation where Roan had partic.i.p.ated in everything from the night attack that continued the entire night to the battle just now without resting even once.
“I’m fine. Now is not the time to rest.”
He plan to push rest back to after the war ended.
Austin and Brian tightly bit their lips.
‘We have to end the battle quickly.’
‘Our lord is suffering because we aren’t good enough!’
They spurred themselves and strongly resolved their hearts.
Roan inferred Austin and Brian’s such hearts and formed a faint smile.
“Then should we begin once more?”
At the lightly asked question, Austin and Brian slightly lowered their heads.
“Yes, sir. Please leave it to us!”
“We will defeat the enemy, sir!”
Simultaneously, the grand battle began with Roan, Austin, and Brian at the vanguard.
With the newly marched KaLu Allied Army’s ten thousand strong army as their opponent, they had begun the second counterattack.
Boom!
The battle once again unfolded with a boom.
“Uahk!”
“Kuk!”
Horrible throes of death fully filled the battlefield.
The battle repeated advances and retreats and endlessly continued.
Roan and the Lancephil Fief Regiment, dividing their numbers that did not quite reach ten thousand into two troops, carried out battle and rest in turn.
Contrarily, the KaLu Allied Army resolutely poured down the soldiers that reached as many as thirty thousand.
A sloppy attack that blindly trusted numbers.
Thanks to that, the Lancephil Fief Regiment were able to form a balanced struggle using their small numbers against the enemies larger numbers.
It was the result of aggressively using the hills, forests, rivers, and such topography of the battlefield.
Of course, the KaLu Allied Army transfering a part of their forces to garrison their camp’s defense due to the elves’ a.s.sault on the first day also resulted in a large effect.
Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum! Dum!
Finally, the sound of drums signalling retreat echoed from both the Lancephil Fief Regiment and the KaLu Allied Army’s sides.
For darkness had settled as the burning sun dipped beyond the western mountains.
The soldiers who rushed towards each other as if there was no tomorrow parted as if the fighting was only a lie and retreated back to their own camps.
“Huu. Huu. Huu.”
‘Huff. Huff. Huff.”
Rough breaths. .h.i.t the ground.
The Lancephil Fief Regiment’s soldiers and the KaLu Allied Army’s soldiers, everyone was all same.
They breathed out rough breaths and moved their exhausted feet.
There simply wasn’t something as relief from surviving.
They merely looked tired.
“d.a.m.n it!”
Kallum Rinse looked at the soldiers returning to the camp and spat out a curse.
‘To think we still can’t reach an end despite our numbers being this overwhelming!’
No, something like the conclusion wasn’t the problem.
The KaLu Allied Army’s center army didn’t even obtain a small edge against the Lancephil Fief Regiment’s center army.
‘Our face can’t stand like this.’
The army’s morale that had been boiling could now snap.
At that moment, Greg approached with rapid steps and lowered his head.
“Reporting, your majesty.”
Kallum silently nodded his head.
Lukan and the numerous n.o.bles who were at his side also quietly stood and leaned their ears.
“Yes sir. First, the center army……”
Greg gave a short report of the center army’s casualties and the battle that continued during the day.
The number of casualty was quite big.
Amongst the thirty thousand strong soldiers, nearly seven thousand soldiers had become incapacitated.
Even so, Kallum, Lukan, and the many n.o.bles who had already watched the center army’s battle the entire day within the camp did not show any large reaction or unrest.
Rather, a reaction that they had expected it to some degree.
“Following that is the left wing, your majesty.”
Greg, following the center army, gave report of the left wing formed out of the Diez Kingdom Army.
Thankfully, the left wing achieved a minute edge in its battle against the Lancephil Fief Regiment’s right wing.
Likewise, they captured two of enemy army’s advanced camps and made such notably outstanding achievements in the battle that continued the entire day.
“As expected, the Diez Kingdom Army is a powerful force.”
“You flatter us too much, your majesty”
Kallum and Lukan exchanged praise and modesty with one another.
Thanks to the news of the left wing’s victory, the depressed mood revived a little.
But for some reason, Greg’s expression looked much worse than at the start.
Even after giving the report on the left wing, he faltered a while with a troubled expression.
Kallum creased his brows.
“Give the report on the right wing.”
“Hhm. Tha, that is……”
Greg let out a cough and formed an awkward smile.
The hesitating look still overflowed.
At that moment, a heavy and deep voice was heard from behind his back.
“Your majesty. Would it be alright if I gave the right wing’s report?”
“Hm?”
Kallum turned his head with a puzzled expression towards the direction the voice was heard from.
Lukan and the other n.o.bles were also the same.
Soon, a handsome middle-aged man appeared to Greg’s side.
The man was someone Kallum as well as even the Diez Kingdom’s crowned prince Kallum knew well of.
He deeply lowered his head and gave the report with a composed voice.
“Our right wing could not fight even a single battle today, your majesty.”
Instantly, Kallum’s face comically twisted.
His sharp gaze headed towards the man.
“What does that mean? There wasn’t even a single battle?”
His voice slowly turned loud.
“Explain your story in detail. Viscount Potter.”
At those words, the man once again lowered his head.
“Yes, your majesty. I will report minutely.”
A bold air exuded out from his entire body.
The man’s ident.i.ty was Viscount Higgs Potter who managed the Rinse Kingdom’s Southern Region.
< Amaranth (35) > End.