Chapter 289.
It was slowly growing dark.
A radio transmission arrived from the divisions that were sent to sneak attack the right flank while the battle was still ongoing.
- 302nd Division notifying command headquarters. The flanking surprise attack failed.
- 811th Division notifying command headquarters. Likewise, we have failed.
As soon as I received the report, I checked the casualties first.
- This is command headquarters; what is the damage to each division?
- The 302nd Division has 49 deaths, 32 seriously injured, and a large number of minor injuries.
- The 811th Division has 60 deaths, 23 seriously injured, and a large number of minor injuries.
Nevertheless, considering the size of the divisions, the losses were not significant. Even so, I was forced to order a retreat. "Set up a position after retreating and rest until dawn. Commence the attack once again at 06:00 the next day."
- Understood. We will retreat.
On the side of the fortress walls where the fighting was occurring, the surroundings were lit up with torches. However, if it became too dark, the troops’ movements would inevitably have to become passive for their safety. The Magic Division’s mana was not infinite either, so there was a limit to using magic for illuminating the surroundings.
I sighed as I finished the treatment of my unconscious sister, Leisha. "Well, that’s not bad."
"What do you mean?” Uncle Bloody asked as he took off his helmet, having just failed to break through the wall at the front line.
"Oh, it’s nothing, but I think Fourth Sister is halfway over the wall of the Magic Way."
Although she did not completely overcome it, she would become a madosa within a couple of months if she fully repaired her mana circuit and contemplated. Despite having the ability to overcome the wall of the Magic Way, she was unable to. So, I sent her into battle to create an opportunity for her advancement. But in the end, rather than finding the key, she broke the lock.
"Oh! Isn’t that a good thing?"
"It’s positive in the long run, but at the moment, she’ll have to lie still for about 15 days.” If I were to use my Holy Tribe magic, I would be able to have her up and about tomorrow. Alas, since I had to save mana as much as I could, I gave her an elixir instead.
"It’d be nice if Hillis were here.”
No matter how beneficial my treatments were, it didn’t come close to what the saintess, Hillis, could provide. I smacked my lips and asked my uncle, "What do you think? Do you think you can break through the gates?”
Uncle Bloody shook his head. "No. They’re all defending as if they know where we’re going to attack. Well, I did expect that this wouldn’t be easy since the Mercenary King is guarding the fortress."
"Uncle, have you ever had a match with the Mercenary King?"
Uncle Bloody shrugged. "I’ve never clashed swords with him myself. But once upon a time, before Glont hyung retired, I did fight against a unit led by the Mercenary King."
"Really? So did you win?”
Uncle Bloody smiled ambiguously when I asked in anticipation. "Well, I lost."
"You lost?"
"The Black Water Buffalo knights, including me, were lured to a remote place, and our base camp was ambushed by a detached force. At that time, Glont hyung remained in the base camp and fought against the Mercenary King. He emerged as the winner, but we had already lost the battle."
Now that I think about it, I believe I’ve seen information on that battle in the staff office data. The Black Water Buffalo knights’ defeat left the overall situation at a disadvantage, but the Mercenary King was seriously injured in the battle, lost an eye, and fled the war. And soon after, I heard that the war ended with the empire coming out on top thanks to the disappearance of the prominent commander, Malecia.
"If we can just smash the gates completely, we’ll be able to charge in right now." Uncle Bloody disliked the rounds of small attacks and expressed his dissatisfaction by pouting his lips.
"No, if we smash the gates, how are we going to deal with the main force when it hits us later? That’ll be at least a few times the size of our vanguard."
The entire fort was going to be used later, so we had to capture it as intact as possible. In addition, it would not be easy to smash the gates, as they were protected by all kinds of magic.
"That’s true." My uncle nodded as if he couldn’t help it.
That’s how the first day of the attack went.
* * *
It’s been a day since the imperial army attacked the fortress. The dawn sun rose, and the surroundings gradually began to brighten. The soldiers were limping around to stop the imperial army from attacking, even in the middle of the night. Nevertheless, no soldier had collapsed yet because Malecia divided the troops into four and allowed them to rest in turns.
"The imperial army, which withdrew yesterday, has begun to raid the side of the cliff again!"
At the urgent report, Malecia was unable to clean himself, and he wiped the sticky grease around his face. "For god’s sake, they really won’t let us take a break!"
When Malecia took his sword and got up from his seat, Iota forced him to sit down again and stopped him. "I’ll go. You get some rest. Didn’t you command without a wink of sleep? If you fall, there’s no one here that can command."
Lambda agreed. "Sleep even if it’s just for an hour. When the sun rises completely, the offensive will get stronger again, so you can take command then."
Malecia sighed tiredly at their dissuasion. "Yeah, I should take a rest, too. They will probably come looking for a breakthrough at the side."
As Malecia spoke, Iota and Lambda nodded and listened. Malecia continued, "The right will probably come here or here, and the left here, here, or here. And be on guard against that archer who came up the wall yesterday; he may appear on either side."
Iota and Lambda’s faces crumpled.
"Okay, I’ll be careful."
They acquainted themselves with the spots on the map and moved quickly.
"Beta, can you summon the cerberus that you summoned yesterday again?" Malecia asked.
Beta was resting his back against the wall with his shoulders and arms set with splints, and he smiled. "It’s possible."
"I’m sorry to ask someone who’s wounded, but let it loose at the imperial army before the sun rises completely.”
The defense was starting to hit its limit since Mac destroyed all the siege defense weapons in his sight yesterday. If they didn’t turn it around and take the offensive, the wall might be breached before the end of the day.
"We’re going to have to turn our defense into an offense somehow."
Beta poured mana into her magic wand and drew a summoning magic circle in the air.
"Kyaaaaaaaa!" Cerberus jumped out of the summoning magic circle, leaped off the wall, and rushed at the imperial army.
"Delta and Mu, I’ll leave the left and right troops to you two. There won’t be any more attacks until cerberus is eliminated and the battle lines are straightened out again,” Malecia instructed.
"Okay, get some rest."
Malecia stood up and waved his hands without saying a word, heading to the barracks set up inside the fortress. After waking from the nap, he would have to fight fiercely again.
* * *
I was sleeping well, leaving the overnight command to Caradoc, when I suddenly felt a strong mana source inside the fortress walls and woke up. I left the barracks while wearing the overcoat from my uniform that was hanging by my bedside. I approached Caradoc and asked, "What’s going on?"
"Enemy madosa summoned a cerberus."
I clicked my tongue. "Tch, a cerberus while I was sleeping?”
The size of the cerberus in the distance was much larger than the mutts we raised in my hometown. Its head alone was more than twice the size of our cerberus and several times the size overall if you compared their bodies.
"The Black Water Buffalo knights rushed in and are blocking it, but it doesn’t seem to be enough."
"What? What about my uncle?"
If my uncle were there, there was no way we would be struggling. Caradoc smiled bitterly at my question. "He’s fast asleep now."
Well, yesterday we fought all day and night without a break, so even my uncle would be tired. The Mercenary King probably knew when Uncle Bloody would take a rest and specifically chose to release that cerberus at this time.
"What about Mac hyung?"
"While you were sleeping, I sent him to reinforce the flanking ambushes."
Did he also take into consideration Mac hyung’s movements?
"Good job. You should have sent Tristan to the other side." Tristan also had a style of combat specialized for mountainous terrain.
Caradoc nodded and smiled as if he knew I’d say that. "Yes, that’s why I already sent him. I also thought about waking General Bloody up, but what would you like to do?"
I flicked my finger to summon a green deer and climbed up, answering, "No. Let him rest. I’ll go."
He looked at me in surprise. "I didn’t expect you to come out until the end."
"Ahh, that was my initial plan, but that cerberus smells of familiar mana. Besides, I should gradually check how tired our enemies are."
Then, I rode the deer toward the cerberus.
"Command headquarters speaking! Pull the battle lines back together and withdraw! The commanders of each unit, be ready to attack as soon as that cerberus is dealt with!"
At my command, the commanders began to pull their troops back, fixing the crumbling battle lines. Going against the flow of retreating troops, I quickly ran towards the mutt.
I lightly shot a magic bullet instead of a greeting and shouted, "I’ll deal with the cerberus! Black Water Buffalo knights, please be prepared for an enemy attack!"
To be honest, they’d get in the way if they were too close while I was dealing with the mutt.
The Black Water Buffalo knights withdrew the chain that was wrapped around the cerberus’s body and stepped back.
"Krrrrrrrrrrr!"
"Hi, mutt! We meet again."
The dog shuddered at my greeting. As expected, it was the mutt that I was thinking of. I’m certain that the beast’s contractor was the skeleton that was the master of the Red Magic Tower, so why would it be here? There were many possibilities, but the most plausible was that the Red Magic Tower Master was a spy and the magician who summoned the mutt had the same background as the skeleton.
"But didn’t I say that if you crawled out again, I’d put a tear gas grenade up your nose and blow it up?"
I took out a tear gas grenade filled with CS particles from my pocket space. Seeing the familiar object, the mutt backed away from me and cried.
"Kyaaaaaa!" The three snouts all howled. The volume was extremely loud; it was as if one were listening to surround sound.
"Since you crawled out like this, you must have missed my tear gas?”
I may already have a reputation as a prominent tear gas restaurant in hell. In order to create regular customers, visitors must be treated well.
"Krrrrrrrrrrr!"
See? Look at how his mouth is watering.
"Don’t worry, even if you don’t urge me like that, I’ll put my special tear gas in your nose and blow it up."
The mutt came at me while drooling, and I also ran at the three-headed mutt, infusing mana into my holy sword. I controlled the green deer and jumped high, lightly stepping on the front foot of the mutt. Simultaneously, I cut the mutt’s leftmost neck with my holy sword.
"Kkaaaang!!”
I tried to cut the neck completely, but the muscles were tougher than I thought, and I only ended up leaving a deep wound. This was certainly capable of making the Black Water Buffalo ahjussis struggle.
The head of the wounded mutt grew enraged, and it turned around and tried to bite me despite the blood flowing from its neck. I controlled the green deer to jump up, and I trampled the dog’s left head.
"Sit!"
"Kkack!"
As the weight on one head increased, the dog’s body tilted. At that moment, I pulled the tear gas grenade’s safety and threw it into the nose of the head in the middle.
Boom!
There was the sound of tear gas exploding inside its nose, and soon there was smoke mixed alongside the tear gas. The mutt began struggling due to the tear gas, and I controlled the deer to back away.
"It’s nice to see that you like it. Spread rumors that this is a famous tear gas restaurant."
I don’t know if it was listening to me or not, but the mutt rolled on the ground, savoring the taste of the tear gas with its whole body.
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