Episode 61
The knight who had fallen into the trap and lost his warhorse drew his sword and shouted.
Some understood the meaning of those words, but most changed course and advanced, only aware of the trap before them.
The method of scouting with the wind spirit and responding by spreading out the carriage was common. However, digging the ground to create a trap was beyond common sense. It took considerable time, effort, and preparation to dig deep into the ground, insert a long spear into it, and then cleverly hide it so that it would not be noticed. In other words, this entire situation was meticulously planned.
WHEEEEEEEE! BUCK! BUCK! BUCK!
At the point where the bandits changed course, another trap was triggered. A sharp stake on the end of a long, curved pole rose up, kicking up dust, and stabbed and cut the horse’s legs and abdomen. Just in case, it had been set to the size of a person.
Heeeeeeeeeing!
The casualties on horseback were severe. Even if they were not seriously injured, if more horses were lost, they would not be able to return safely to Slane. Rapid transport by horseback was also impossible.
The bandits of Srein did not give up and approached the carriage. It was a bold move, as they were confident that soldiers armed with bows and crossbows would be no match for them.
In fact, about 30 bandits arrived at the carriage.
At that moment, the carriage doors opened. Instead of silver or gold ores pouring out of 25 carriages, it was 200 slave soldiers.
In time, a cloud of sand rose from the northern wasteland. Reinforcements were coming from Hebron, rushing forward in the morning dew.
“Attack!”
The slave soldiers attacked the enemies without sparing their lives. They charged in groups of five as if they were fighting large monsters. At first, the knights and soldiers of Srein ignored them and tried to swing their long swords, but their faces turned pale.
“Damage! It’s a net!”
When someone shouted, seven knights and eleven horses were trapped in a net. The net tightened as they moved, and the net was coated with a paralyzing poison.
Some knights who had allergic reactions to the poison experienced swelling of their skin.
The man leading the group looked around, took out a towel that was hanging on the saddle, and wrapped it around his lower body.
It was discovered later that all troops except the invaders had covered their mouths and noses with cloth.
“… … It’s poison! Cover your mouth and nose!”
The man’s judgment was wrong. The Hebron soldiers used spices, not poison. It was an herb that horses particularly disliked. As soon as they smelled this herb, the horses were terrified and raised their front legs as if they had encountered a natural enemy.
The cavalry lost their mobility. The cavalrymen tried to calm them down by patting their horses’ necks, but it was no use. They had advanced into the middle of the enemy lines, but since their horses had stopped, they had no choice but to dismount.
“Fire two rows!”
Meanwhile, the archers stationed on the wagons continued to fire arrows. They tried to avoid their allies, but when necessary, they pulled back their bowstrings without hesitation. Unlike the enemies who wore thin leather armor over their cloth clothes, the slave soldiers of the allied forces wore proper iron armor.
The iron was thin, but it was able to avoid fatal wounds even if an arrow struck it.
Despite the traps and hundreds of troops prepared, the bandits were relentless. 23 people were seriously injured and left the battlefield, and two died.
“Cowards! You deserve to be punished!”
The shoulder of the man leading the group was split. He instantly twisted his long sword to avoid my attack, and then displayed Srein’s swordsmanship as if he was in a hurry. Until then, he had only shown simple slashes and stabs.
“You came unarmed, what a shame. I thought I could make some money thanks to you guys… … By the way, if Lorenz de Srein saw that kind of thing called Srein swordsmanship, he would be seething with anger.”
Lorenz de Slein was the founder of Slein fencing. He laid the foundation for the art of fencing, and the details were laid down in later generations.
An aura formed around the man’s sword.
But he couldn’t show his skills.
Kuung!
The man didn’t notice me approaching him, stepping on his shin-gak. When my sword reached his neck, he tried to swing it reflexively, but his shoulder was already tattered from the attack.
The wound slowed down the enemy’s reaction a bit.
That little bit was enough time to cut off the neck with the aura-filled sword.
Meeeeeee!
A bleating sound came from the front of the flock, kicking up dust. It was a sheep. Three knights were hanging from its back.
“Fire first row!”
As a result, the enemy was unable to reduce the number of friendly archers. Archers who fired arrows while stacking them on one side of the wagon were a powerful siege weapon.
“Get back! Get in line! Gather your horses a little way back… … Hah!”
The one who was trying to command the soldiers became my target. He was also clearly a knight of Srein. Unlike the previous guy, the knight gave it his all from the beginning. He didn’t even mind exposing Srein’s swordsmanship. It was already spilled milk.
Kang! Kang! Kaang!
After three exchanges of swords, the knight’s face turned pale. He had a gut feeling that something was seriously wrong.
“You, who the hell are you?”
I had no idea that there would be an entity that would overwhelm the knights of the Countess in Hebron, who had just been promoted to the rank of Viscount.
“Welcome to Hebron.”
“Sir, surely Louis… … .”
Kwaaaaang!
The knight could not continue his words. The sage ran up and struck the knight with his strong horn. The knight flew with a roar and crashed into the carriage, where he was slashed by the sword of a nearby slave soldier.
Meeeeeeeee!
The atmosphere tilted significantly toward the allies with the appearance of a monster sheep that could even destroy the knights.
“Laurent!”
The man holding the longsword looked down at his feet. There was the corpse of a man who had just died. The corpse was holding his comrade’s ankle with trembling hands. It was a zombie resurrected by Iredem.
“Ugh!”
The man whose ankles were caught by his comrades was struck by the swords of the slave soldiers who attacked from all sides.
At that moment, darkness descended upon the knight’s vision. He tried to shake off the darkness by rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand or by slapping his head.
But all that was in vain. The dark spirit Dimes had completely blinded the knight.
“Use Aura! Cut the darkness with the sword imbued with Aura!”
Someone found a solution, but not before nearly half of them had already fallen to the swords of slavers and arrows of archers.
The number of bandits who had been rushing forward with interest quickly decreased. Those who had fallen into the trap and lost their lives were killed without exception. Instead, the horses they rode on were spared as much as possible.
“We have secured 11 war horses and 17 mounted horses.”
When Solon, the knight who had come riding on a horse, reported to me, El, who had been taking a step back, approached me.
“About 300 infantrymen are approaching from the northeast. They are heavy infantry armed with armor, spears, and heavy swords.”
It was a considerable number. In order for that many troops to penetrate Hebron’s guard, they had to go quite a distance around.
It was also a number that could not be hidden without the support of the surrounding lords.
‘I’ve got a good excuse. I have to tell Amy.’
The Count of Srein was not a man to be trifled with. He had prepared not only 40 cavalrymen, but also 300 heavy infantrymen. If they had advanced into Hebron instead of the wasteland, Hebron would have suffered irreparable damage.
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“I wondered where the heavy infantry of Srein had gone, and they were hiding there. They probably didn’t know the situation would come to this. They probably only thought about stealing the gold ore and returning to their homeland.”
Even so, it was a force of 300 regular soldiers. It was impossible to deal with them without any special traps or preparations.
No, we could have fought as many battles as we wanted, but we would have suffered losses.
“Operation Fog.”
“I will do it.”
The participation of the Heavy Infantry Division was unexpected.
However, Amy and I planned our operation assuming that the enemy would mobilize a large army.
Operation Fog was one of them.
This operation was intended to send enemies back by damaging them, and also to use them as poison in enemy lines.
A slave soldier floated a flag.
The small falcon flew across the sky with a cylinder tied to its ankle. It flew straight towards the castle of Hebron.
“Just wait a minute, Elle.”
“insect!”
El summoned a lesser wind spirit. The spirit created a sandstorm in the middle of the wasteland, which soon transformed into a whirlwind and collided with Srein’s heavily armored infantry.
I casted the aura. The magical power released by the knights and soldiers as they died gathered into me.
They filled my danjeon, probably because of the high ratio of articles.
“Dimes, bring darkness to this area.”
It was a vague order. Dimes sucked in all of my aura and released a black fog. It was just a regular fog that had no other effect than obscuring vision.
The fog spread out in all directions and covered the heads of the people. When El called upon the wind spirit to control the fog so that it would not spread far, 600 soldiers were trapped inside.
Unlike the enemy, our forces did not panic. The enemy had to advance towards us, but we simply leaned on our wagons and formed a defensive line.
However, not all allies focused on defense.
Thanks to Demes’ consideration, I was able to see clearly into the darkness. When everyone else became blind, I was able to act alone.
The 300 heavy infantrymen ran straight ahead without dispersing. They were nervous, but they trusted their commander. The commander’s sword was imbued with light magic, and the light that spread from his sword was like a lighthouse in the harbor leading the 300 men.
Kaang!
The knight’s sword flashed. The impact caused the sword to lose its light momentarily, but the knight did not panic and waited for the next attack.
I stepped out of his sight and threw the dagger. It was a Vinos Throwing Sword.
‘Indeed, the article is different.’
The knight reacted quickly and even knocked back the dagger I threw. However, he could not maintain the light of his sword. The dagger kept flying towards the flashing light.
“Inferno.”
Inferno was a fire spirit, but he didn’t always exist in the form of a blazing firebird. He would become a small bird and hover in the sky, raising the temperature of the area.
The heavy infantry’s armor was burning. There was no way to escape the midday heat in the treeless wasteland.
It was best to just not set foot on this land.
Burning your enemies wasn’t the only way to attack them. Making them suffocate to death was also a pretty good tactic.
“Ugh!”
In fact, several people were definitely killed.
They were the ones who had strayed from the foggy terrain, and they were revived with my soft humming.
“Iredem, in the name of Louis de Hebron, I command you. Primordial Death, Blessing of the Dead, do your duty. Raise the dead and reverse the course of nature. Arunasdapiradiem.”
My voice was blocked by the wind spirit. Elle’s spirit power was depleted, but she squeezed out the last of her strength to protect me.
“Oh, it’s undead!”
The dead were resurrected as zombies and attacked the allies. Their movements were extremely slow, but to the people of Zenon, the undead were a foreign and fearsome presence. The mere fact that the undead had appeared was enough to seal off the area.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Inferno has taken hold of my sword.
As the red flame rose up like a giant torch, everyone’s eyes were focused on me.
I shouted out the lines I had prepared in advance, word for word.
“Damn you Sreiners! I thought you were bandits blinded by gold, but you were actually black magicians in league with the Demons! In the name of Zeno, I will punish you! Soldiers of Hebron, advance!”
Even though it was a situation that tarnished Sreen’s name, no one could refute it.
