Episode 69
* * *
It wasn’t a fear that it might be my turn next. No, it wasn’t even a fear in the first place.
Death is scattered everywhere, literally and metaphorically, inescapable.
“Gatling-type”, “20mm”.
The essence of slaughter, carried out by Dale while concentrating his consciousness on the magic chant under the protection of his subordinates.
Gatling gun. The first weapon of mass destruction (WMD).
In a sense, it was more than the ‘mass destruction magic’ imagined by the people of this world.
Numerous black barrels endlessly scattering dark bullets. Shadow Bullets. There was no need to even care about the number of bullets. Following Dale’s feet, endlessly swirling shadows were endlessly falling, carved out by hundreds of bullets.
A baptism of 20mm caliber shadow bullets.
“Ahhhhh!”
“It hurts, it hurts!”
Gunshots rang out, screams echoed. Skulls shattered, brains splattered, bones shattered, armor shattered. Intestines spilled out, blood poured out.
It would be better to die instantly without even being able to scream.
There was someone who was crawling on the floor with both legs gone, someone who had bullet holes in his armor and was forcibly holding back his spilling intestines. There was also someone who was crying and calling out his mother’s name.
Bloody river.
The wedge formation in which the cavalry was deployed, in order to ensure a clear breakthrough of the Black Armor Company’s dense formation, presented itself as a clear target for Dale.
And by the time the shooting stopped, not one of the 2,000 enemy soldiers facing the Black Armor Company dared approach.
It was a moment.
In the instant that the cavalry’s horses closed the distance to a few hundred meters, the entire unit was annihilated.
How else can this be described if not as ‘magic of mass destruction’?
“How can you do mass destruction magic… … .”
“I, I said so in the Imperial Court! The eldest son of the House of Saxony has three, three circles… … .”
“Don’t make me laugh! How can you say that he’s a 3rd circle wizard!”
It should have been so. But what they now saw before them was the very mass destruction magic unleashed by high-circle wizards on the battlefield.
The silence has settled. However, the activities of the leader of the Black Armor Company and the ‘Black Prince’ are not over yet. No, they have not even begun yet.
Dale snapped his fingers at the shadow cloak fluttering along his feet.
“Rise up, my children.”
Moving on, it becomes a 20mm caliber bullet and heads towards the ‘shadow bullets’ scattered in all directions.
“Keeeeeek!”
At Dale’s command, the ‘Shadow Bullets’ embedded in the bodies of the cavalrymen began to glow. They were not just bullets. They were a horde of living shadows with terrible malice.
Bullets of living darkness began to fly through the bodies of the cavalrymen.
The second form of the Shadow Cloak. Shadow Parasite.
Those who were dead were lucky, because those who were still alive had to writhe in agony as their internal organs were eaten away.
“I’m hungry, I’m hungry, I’m hungry!”
“I’m so hungry!”
The corpses of the cavalrymen who should have been lying dead rose up, letting out screams that were beyond the realm of this world.
Shadows were parasitizing and taking root in the darkness, using the corpses of the cavalrymen who should have died as beehives of Shadow Bullets as their hosts. They became dead people who danced like puppets to endless hunger and darkness.
Dale’s cloak of shadows flutters in the absence of even a breeze.
‘Even though there is quite a distance, it is somehow controlled.’
I thought as I watched the hosts of the shadow parasites rising up everywhere.
Without even a shred of emotion, Dale is assessing his own capabilities.
‘Can we add a formula here too?’
A bias in consciousness to induce ‘magical individuality and form’ that suits one’s own purposes.
There was quite a distance between them, and there were at least a hundred hosts for the shadow parasites. And Dale focused his consciousness on them again.
Kwajik! Kwajik! Kwajik!
The bodies of the dead were twisted in strange ways, like something out of a horror movie. The dead have no need to protect their internal organs, so they moved some of their ribs on the spot.
Kwajik!
A chilling bone sword rose up along the arms of the dead.
By building up bone armor over various parts of the body and promoting rigor mortis in parts of the body that do not need to be moved smoothly, a ‘biological armor’ was formed that could be used on the spot.
And there was no need to give orders to those dead people one by one, because there was already a ‘living shadow’ dwelling in their throats and even in their hearts.
Shadow Parasites. The dead began to move, becoming hosts to these very parasites.
“I’m hungry, I’m hungry, I’m hungry!”
The army of the dead. The dead who starve and thirst for prey in an endless famine.
Even if the other person was a comrade who had just been joking around, there could be no exception.
Dale’s ‘weapon of mass destruction’ wipes out the cavalrymen… … The shadow bullets that rained down on the cavalrymen’s bodies are being reborn as parasites and controlling the bodies of the dead.
‘To what extent is it possible?’
Dale looked at the sight and thought calmly.
‘How much influence can we exert on the situation through these?’
In the dense formation of the Black Armor Company, the ability to focus only on magic. Furthermore, the level of necromancy comparable to that of the elders of the Black Tower.
Dale knew it too. And the enemies here were just sacrificial offerings to test Dale’s abilities.
A victim of the experiment. The darkness of the Black and Red Prisoners came to mind without me realizing it.
“… … .”
I shake my head as soon as I think about it. This is a battlefield. Kill and be killed, kill or be killed.
It is absurd to go into war without being prepared to die.
That’s why the dead of Dale began to rush in without a care. Although it was nothing compared to that of the ‘Death Knight’, how many infantrymen would have to stick together to deal with one of those dead?
“Stop it, don’t ever break the formation!”
“Ahhhhh, it bit my neck! My neck! Aahhhh!”
——————
faqwiki.us
Join our Discord for new chapter updates!
https://discord.com/invite/xr7SxG5T6V
——————
As I gazed at the scene where the lion and the living were clashing, I calmly considered the tactical value of Dale’s dead.
‘For every dead man armed with heavy armor, seven infantrymen.’
‘For one dead man without armor, three infantrymen.’
‘It is still impossible to pierce armor with a bone sword.’
Without even a shred of emotion, with an expression as if he was obtaining data for an experiment, he thought repeatedly about how to understand and refine his abilities as a wizard and reach the next level.
It was just then.
“Lord, I don’t want to die… … .”
“I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!”
“Hey, we can’t win! Everyone has to run away!”
“Get out of my way!”
Among the endless stream of dead, another plague began to spread, the same one that Dale’s sniper rifle had once spread.
Fear. The fear of not wanting to die was spreading like a plague. In front of only a hundred or so dead men, and despite having the same number of troops, the soldiers all turned their backs and started to run away.
“Don’t run away!”
“Keep your formation! Don’t show your back!”
“Summary execution awaits those who escape!”
The morale of the unit was dropping, discipline was disrupted, and then there was only one thing waiting.
escape.
Even though the Dokjeondae (督戰隊) belatedly swung their swords to cut off their necks, their morale that had begun to crumble could not be restored. Furthermore, even the mercenary corps that had resolved to flatten the noses of the Black Armor Company were no exception.
Everyone is turning their backs and running away, desperately trying to survive.
However, for the unit to turn its back and move at the same time requires more expenditure than expected… … and in the process, it is no different from exposing the rear to the enemy.
The center of gravity of the unit was tilted, and the dead poured in on them as they were left in disarray due to overcrowding.
Before we knew it, it wasn’t even a fight. It was a one-sided massacre.
The Viper Mercenaries, the Golden Lion Mercenaries, the Brotherhood Mercenaries. Their names and reputations are meaningless, and they are busy just running away.
‘In the first place, it’s not like someone would feel threatened by this level of threat to their rice bowl.’
The two organizations that currently form the two major mountain ranges of the Empire’s top mercenary forces… … .
The silence of the ‘Landsknecht’ and the ‘Reisläufer’ is proof of this.
A symbol of trust that never backs down until the last one dies.
They too will be keeping a close eye on the Black Armor Company’s actions, but at least what Dale is facing now cannot be called a threat.
“We won.”
Dale muttered softly. But even with those words, no one could easily raise their voice.
All I can do is swallow my shock and remain silent in the face of the overwhelming pressure of an out-of-the-ordinary being.
Dale snapped his fingers again, and the shadow parasites stopped pursuing the enemy soldiers, who turned their backs and fled.
Just turn your head this way.
Towards the city walls of Hamburg and the heavily armored infantry of the Black Armor Company.
Everyone is holding their breath and remaining silent as they look at the dead people who are silently looking this way.
“Even if we win, it’s like that.”
Dale muttered as if it were someone else’s business, and the dead all knelt down. At that voice, the fear finally disappeared.
“We won!”
A cheer rang out belatedly.
“Black Armor Company wins!”
“The captain has swept away the enemies!”
“As expected, it’s Prince Dale!”
An ear-piercing roar. The people of the city all raised their voices in unison, praising Dale’s victory.
A mere 100 heavily armored infantrymen defeated an enemy force nearly 20 times their size. And they did so with an extraordinary force that could single-handedly control the flow of the battle.
Victory was there.
It was an undoubted victory for Dale and the Black Armor Company, and furthermore, the notoriety and brutality of the ‘Black Prince’ would be heard by people’s mouths.
* * *
Around that time, the Britannian independence army also began to recover the kingdom’s former territories at a rapid pace.
Under the command of the national savior, ‘Saint Aurelia’, they overcame several times the difference in power and achieved countless great victories.
The morale of the independence army against the empire was truly indescribable.
Immediately after, the Virgin Aurelia proclaimed Charles VII, the legitimate heir to the Britannian royal family, as king. Along with the restoration of the monarchy, she began a battle to drive out the imperial forces within the island of Britannia.
They reclaimed their fortresses, cities and fiefdoms from the Empire and the Kingdom of Britannia officially drew its ‘territories’ on the map.
Since the unification of the empire, it was the first territorial recovery that no one had dared to succeed in.
After the crushing defeat, word spread that the Empire was once again preparing to deploy troops on an unprecedented scale.
Because they know better than anyone else the aftershocks that will follow if independence succeeds.
