Volume 1, Chapter 3 – Awakening Part 3
“Are you sure it was the right way to say goodbye like that?”
Tris asked in a gentle voice.
“Yes, it’s going to be a tough fight. There’s no need to involve Hiro in it, either.”
The boy was a goody-two-shoes no matter how far he went, and if Liz had told him, he would have fought to the end. That’s why she wants him to live. That kindness is not something that can be scattered here.
“They’re coming!”
When Liz shouted at the black mass floating in the sky, it dyed the sky like a haze of clouds. The way it falls with force while drawing a parabolic line is like a torrential downpour.
“Stay low and raise your shield!”
“Yeaahh!”
Instantly, thousands of arrows fell to the ground―a roaring sound dominated the battlefield as if a large number of ice blocks had fallen. When the sound left, a large number of arrows pierced the shields of the heavily armed infantry.
“Build a wall!”
Liz flies in with instructions. It’s wide enough for six adults to pass shoulder-to-shoulder―the heavily armed infantry thrust their shields and prepare for the enemy charging from the front.
The place Liz and the others chose for the battle was a narrow strip of land between the cliffs on either side.
――The first thing to do is to use the advantages of the ground to overcome the disadvantage of numbers. Even though there are 3,000 of them, they are not able to defeat the cliffs to advance.
Therefore, it will naturally become a battle between a small number of people. Liz threw a spear at the approaching enemy.
“Goaaahh!”
Although it hit the target admirably, a new enemy is approaching over the corpse.
“Archers! Fire!”
As soon as the Flame Emperor was immediately swung vertically, many arrows passed over her head from behind. The arrows fired at close range hit every single one of them.
The enemy’s front line had turned into the wreckage, impeding their progress and causing the enemy soldiers in the rear line to fall down. However, by stomping on them, the enemy soldiers didn’t lose their momentum as they pushed forward.
“Woooooooo!”
An air-shaking yell shook her eardrums.
“Princess! Get back!”
The heavily armed infantrymen gritted their teeth as they strained their arms. A change in the direction of the wind caused the dust to envelop the heavily armed infantry. A moment later, a thump―the sound of a collision could be heard, and at the same time, the sound of metal striking each other could be heard as well.
“Haahh!”
Pushing the dust away from the wind pressure, Liz thrusts out the Flame Emperor. Feeling the response, Liz pulls it out and swings it to the side. While sensing the presence of the enemy, Liz attacks without pause.
When the gust of wind blows through the walls and clears the vision, Liz’s surroundings are filled with dead bodies. A short distance away, there is Tris, who cleaves the enemy with his spear.
“Princess! You’re too far out! Come back!”
“Not yet! I’ll take care of the enemy here as best I can!”
The enemy reaches Liz as they push each other down the narrow passage.
“Uraaaaahhh!”
“There’s no way that attack could hit me.”
“Gobuuuhh!”
She cut down the attacking soldiers with her single sword.
“Guraaaahhh!”
“Gugaaaaah!”
Cerberus jumped out and cut out the necks of the enemy soldiers with his fangs. He jumped on enemy soldiers one after another, hunting for their lives. Cerberus’ white fur turned red in a flash.
Liz used her right leg as an axis to swing the Flame Emperor down to the left.
“Phew!”
She slashes off one of the enemy’s arms that were trying to get behind her.
“Agaaaaaaaahh!”
Ignoring the small fry that screamed out, she stabbed the enemy at the edge of her vision and killed him. She took advantage of the momentum and twisted her body, dropping the enemy’s head to her left.
“Agouuuhh!”
Finally, she cut off the head of the small fry that had lost one arm.
“I’m gonna buy us some time.”
A mass of flame was spat out from the Red Blade and exploded as if it were engulfing the area.
“Uggaaaahh!”
“Hyii, retreat!”
The momentum that had been pushing through the narrows in a long line was not going to be easily stopped. The majority of the decapitated enemies were burned to death, and the smell of burning began to waft across the battlefield.
Liz ran out and slashed and discarded the divided enemies that were between her and her allies. By the time she joins Tris, the corpse’s pathway has been created.
“Princess! Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. There’s still plenty of enemies out there. We need to be ready for the next one.”
With a little more time to think, Liz can’t help but think about Hiro. It was a terrible goodbye. When she thinks of Hiro’s agonized face, she is filled with regret. If she could see him again, she would bow to him sincerely and ask him to forgive her. But there’s no point in pondering about that before the battle is over.
(The battle has only just begun…)
Liz chuckled and patted Cerberus’ head. She decided to worry about it if she could survive properly.
“The enemy is coming!”
“Let’s kick their asses! Archers, fire! Heavily armed infantry, advance!”
The first row of heavily armed infantry moved forward with their shields at the ready with no gaps between them, under the covering fire of the archers. The faces of the enemy soldiers in front of them all had looks of astonishment on their faces, but they were not allowed to stop. Because if they stopped, they would be trampled by their allies behind them.
Soon the two sides clashed, the heavily armed infantry held on, but the enemy forces were blown away with the following. The spear tips flew out of the gap between the shields, and the heavily armed infantry stopped the breathing of the fallen enemy soldiers.
When the heavy infantry saw that the ranks had collapsed, they opened the walls. Liz, Tris, and the lightly armed infantry charged in between. They finish off the wounded and battle-depleted enemy.
In the meantime, the second line of heavily armed infantry that was waiting in the rear joined them.
“Let’s keep pushing back!”
There is no greater inspiration than a commander fighting on the front line. In fact, there is no fear on the soldier’s face, only a willingness to defend their Lord.
In spite of the numerical disadvantage, enthusiasm precedes fear. From the enemy’s point of view, there is nothing more troublesome than this, and the enemy soldiers are easily dying off.
However, the scary thing about riding the momentum is that they can’t recognize their surroundings.
“…No way.”
Liz noticed and muttered as she looked up at the sky. Her face was pale. Perhaps because of the momentum, the light infantry started to move forward, leaving their Lord behind.
Tris, who sensed Liz’s change, turns around with a suspicious face.
“Princess, are you hurt somewhere!”
“Tris! Above!”
The voice was a disquieting shout that resembled a scream.
“Hurry up, shield! Cerberus, come here!”
She hugged Cerberus with her left hand and waved her right arm at her allies to signal them, but it was already too late. The light infantry stared up at the sky in a daze; their thoughts stopped.
A few moments later, a group of arrowheads filled the sky and flew in a heap. The enemy’s attacks, which even involved their allies, made the battlefield chaotic. The arrows that filled the ground and the small needle mounts that dotted the ground in places were so small that it was barely discernible that they were people, and it was impossible to tell whether they were friend or foe.
The fact that not a single person moved means that the light infantry unit could be assumed to have been wiped out.
“Princess, are you all right?!”
A few arrows are stuck in Tris’s back, but from the movement, it doesn’t seem to have reached a fatal wound. The battle situation has changed completely, and the heavily armed infantry who have grasped the current situation is in a heavy-hearted state.
Tris opened his big mouth as if he was trying to get some life into them.
“The heavily armed infantry must immediately regroup! Fortify the entrance and hold off the enemy’s advance!”
“Haa!”
He forgot about the pain of his own wounds as he skipped the instructions and ran up to Liz.
“That caught us off guard a bit…”
Liz’s face contorts in pain, and she pulls out the arrow that sticks in her left arm with her right hand and throws it away. As Cerberus looks anxiously at the overflowing blood, Liz pats him on the head to reassure him. A number of heavily armed infantry passed next to them and quickly built up an iron wall on the front line.
“We have to treat them immediately…”
“Just tie him up, and he’ll be fine. I’d rather look at the damage…”
“I’ll leave that to others.”
“Captain Tris!”
One of the heavily armed infantry interrupted the old soldier who was about to scold Liz. Tris turned around in the form of anger at being approached in such an emergency.
“What is it?!”
“There’s a change in the enemy’s movement!”
A vein appeared on Tris’s forehead at the off-target report.
“You need to make a proper report!”
“B-but…. look at that!”
The soldier pointed to an incomprehensible scene. Two hundred or so Imperial soldiers were lined up in a line, their arms tied around their backs.
A man from among the enemy forces stepped forward through the gap.
“My name is Vile Narmel Lichtine, and I have something interesting to show you.”
“What is he going to do…”
The man drew the scimitar that he held at his waist and placed his foot on the Imperial soldier’s shoulder, forcing him to bow his head with all his strength. Immediately, a deadly blade was swung down, and the Imperial soldier’s head flew off.
The man kicked the blood splattering corpse and then flicked his gaze to Liz with a smile on his mouth.
“O, sixth princess! If you are willing to surrender quietly, I will stop executing them. If you still continue to resist, I will cut off the heads of all the Imperial soldiers here!”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Tris’s face flushed with anger. Liz listens in silence, looking as if she’s about to cry.
“I don’t care either way. Either way, you’re going to be captured, you know. And you will be a slave. You won’t live a lonely day! I’ll look after you every day! Every day!”
Like a sorting operation, the heads of the Imperial soldiers were sliced off indifferently. It was a show of force to make them lose our will to fight.
“Come on, make your decision! The Sixth Princess, Celia Estreya!”
The bloody sword gleamed in the sunlight.
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