Horses run through.
It tramples flesh, tears guts, and stains the earth with flowing blood, but it never slackens in its steps.
The white color of the human bones, intricately broken and protruding from the body, was painfully dazzling to eyes accustomed to the setting sun and fresh blood.
"Kill him!"
The roar of the advancing military officer in front of him drives the enemy soldiers away and opens a path leading to the target.
The Wilks Corps indiscriminately took the lives of all those in their path equally, whether they had failed to escape or were resisting.
"Knight Deonna! Prepare yourself!"
The military officer who was running in the lead seemed to have made contact with an enemy knight, and a shadow could be seen swinging a large spear.
"Oooooh!"
A sound that I can no longer describe as just a strong vibration, mixed with the various emotions around me, assaulted my ears.
A round shadow blows across the evening sky like blood dripping on a black veil. Is that the head of the knight Deonna?
"Strike them down! Come on, break away! Kill the men and proceed!"
When the young military officer announced the completion of the killing, the Spierzeig soldiers around the knight Deonna tried to flee in all directions as if they were spiders.
But it is the center of a dense enemy force, and enemy soldiers with long spears clash with each other, making it difficult for them to move.
"Get out of the way!"
The warrior swung his spear as if he wanted it to disperse quickly, and the upper and lower halves of his body separated as if he were cutting a radish with a knife.
Against a power gap that could never be reversed, the commoner soldiers simply crawled to the ground and begged forgiveness from no one. Even if it was the ground overflowing with the blood of their comrades.
"Knight Gatoren, are you still up for it?"
This time, my only role was to apply physical enhancement magic to the military officers. But even so, the strain of repeatedly assaulting enemy units was not small, and my breathing was a little erratic.
And it's a little sickening to see flesh and blood splattered in front of your eyes. It was a far cry from simply burning enemy soldiers with magic from afar.
"Ha. The enemy is more confused than we expected. The same is true of our ancestors' army. I think we can defeat a few more units."
"Good."
The street operation was in the midst of success.
The Spierzeig forces were helpless in the face of the blitzkrieg attack and had already lost commanders in six units. The Wilk Corps was able to destroy each unit with its high-speed maneuvers.
"Move it! That unit is next!"
I point out the troops located in the direction where the knight Gatoren points, and I shout out.
The horses, excited by the blood, paid no mind to the commoners crawling on the ground, and showed their full strength.
Some were bounced off the ground as if by an express train, while others were trampled over and over again by the four legs and turned into mincemeat. There were various forms of death.
The key to the street operation is to overcome the miscellaneous soldiers and take out the commander with the power of a divine breakthrough. There is no time to rest.
After running through the enemy troops, Wilk's unit immediately struck for its next target.
The follower soldiers here are three! Cut down surely, not hastily!"
This unit was led by a knight as commander, and the enemy commoner soldiers also received a small amount of body enhancement magic.
But that's not a big deal.
In addition to the fact that the physical strengthening magic at the level of a follower is not much, there are several hundred soldiers in the assault area alone, so the strengthening of each individual is naturally weakened. It is like a drink that has been diluted with too much water.
It is a world of difference from the Wilk Corps, which is composed of a small number of military officers who have received a level of reinforcement that surpasses that of the main ancestor.
As if to prove the point, first the head of the first squire is chopped off, and then, without a moment's delay, the torso of the second, a knight, is chopped off.
"Woah!!!!"
"Oh, I ain't from Spierzeig! Help me!"
The third follower, apparently from a commoner background, was about to turn his back on us and flee.
"You coward!"
Perhaps annoyed by his flighty attitude, the military officer raised two spears with an angry shout. The spears, held in both hands, resembled naginata swords.
A flash of fire from the crossed arms drew a cross on the back and turned the follower into four lumps of flesh.
"Hiiiiiiiii!"
"The knight! The knight, the knight, he's been killed!
"Help me!"
With the knight killed, the reinforcing magic that had been applied to the enemy soldiers in this unit dissipates into the clouds.
The resistance that had been felt during the raid was completely gone, and the breakaway was able to move on as if it were going through an uninhabited field.
The number of units crushed is now seven, the number of knights killed is four, and the number of retinue soldiers and military officers is eleven. At this point, it was already a spectacular battle.
If you look to the left, you can see the knight Gatoren giving orders to the commanders of the Quardenze army.
A wooden stick with a cloth wrapped around the tip is struck against a gong to make a sound, and the sound conveys a rough intention by its condition.
The stick resembles a kiritanpo, and the gong resembles a wok, both of which are commonly used sound instruments on the Eruo continent.
Goin, goin, goin
As the sound echoes, the various units of the Quardenze army change their direction and attack the enemy troops. They blocked the enemy's rendezvous and supported the assault of the Wilk forces.
Not wanting to let the help of my friends go to waste, I took aim at an isolated enemy unit and gave the following instructions.
"Don't stop! Keep moving! That's next!"
The military officers, who are also eager to take advantage of this opportunity, begin to run in the direction I have indicated.
I follow behind them, careful not to be swept away by the horse's acceleration.
I suddenly looked at the situation of the main ancestral army, but they were still in the rear.
There must be many excellent knights and military officers in the Spierzeig family, I don't understand why they are so slow to respond.
I looked at the military officer riding right next to me, as I could see that the knight Gatoren had his hands full controlling the horses and beating gongs.
I wanted to ask what the military officers' expectations were as to what
reasons Spierzeig Verret would not move.
With not much time left until my next contact with the target, I ask a few
quick questions.
"They must think the General has arrived."
The young military officer replied without much trouble.
"Your grandfather?"
"Yes. The Spierzeig side would think that only General Galfis would ...... be willing to make such an assault."
After stating his reasons, the military officer readied his spear and prepared to make contact with the enemy. To keep him focused on the fight, I signal the end of our conversation with a hand gesture.
As I focused my attention on my hearing to confirm the military officer's words, I heard the words "red devil" and "Galfis" all over the enemy unit.
I felt that the military officer was not quite wrong.
In fact, I am running a street operation without a military flag, so the enemy can't immediately determine who the captain of Wilk's unit is.
For Spierzeig's army, Grandfather Galfis is the nobleman who fights the most. His valiant and daring leadership may be best understood by the enemy soldiers.
Since I was going to the trouble, I shot a red flame toward the sky in an attempt to incite their fear. I was imitating my grandfather.
"Oh, oh, oh, it's the Red Devil!"
"Help me! I don't want to die!"
"No! I don't want to!"
"Giyaaah!"
The performance was so effective that the enemy soldiers fell into a state of panic, frightened by the shadow of their grandfather, who was not supposed to be there.
Watching their frightened appearance, I couldn't help but be aware of the existence of demons.
It is believed that on the continent of Eruo, there are monsters that have mutated into humans and possess vicious powers.
They say that its skin turns an inhuman color, its fangs grow out of its mouth, its claws grow sharp and black, and its eyes shine in the dark night.
Then, a total of three black horns, two from either side of the back of the head and one from the forehead, like those of the Atlas longhorned beetle, sprout from the back of the head.
The Quardenze family has a painting that depicts the monster devouring a human child. The monster in the painting was bathed in the blood of the child and its skin was dyed red, somewhat reminiscent of Japanese demons.
Since then, I have translated that monster in my brain as "ogre."
Red devil. That was my grandfather's nickname.
The sharp eyes, fiery red hair, muscular body still over 80 years old, and the magical power and spectacular prowess of the main ancestor. Perhaps it is inevitable that people exposed to these threats would see glimpses of the "monster" in their grandfather's figure.
With a thinner force, the followers of that unit were also easily defeated.
I point to the next target and pull the reins.
"After all, my grandfather is used to this level of assault." I thought to myself, "Not the generation that knows the turbulent times in the western part of the continent," but the military officer quickly dismissed my words.
"No, I don't think even the generals would have made an assault of this magnitude."
"Is that so?"
"Even in the case of rapid maneuvering, we have at least 1,000 men at our disposal. What I said earlier was only a matter of impression."
If the main ancestral army of the Kuordenze family came as reinforcements, the Spiaseik army would assume that the head of the family, Quardenze Luke, or his legitimate son, Quardenze Wilk, was the general-in-chief.
However, the main ancestral army, with less than 50 men, launched an assault and killed the knights one after another. What would the military officers of Spierzeig's army assume when they saw this scene?
How could Luke, the head of the family, who had never shown much in the way of military prowess, and Wilk, his heir, who had just completed his first campaign in the city of Nambonan, be capable of such an assault operation?
"...... No, that is not possible. If so, by no means, is it Galfis returning from the front? How is that possible? But it wouldn't be too surprising if he was the only one who thought that he was the main ancestor of the Quardenze who could make that kind of assault,......"
And if my grandfather were here, that would be the worst situation for Spierzeig's army.
It is not a simple question of force, for it means that the separate Spierzeig forces surrounding the outpost have either retreated or been destroyed.
If things go badly, it is even conceivable that the Quardenze forces returning from the frontline base could show up after this and be pinched. The main ancestral army of the Spierzeik family is probably in retreat in order to retreat quickly in case of an emergency.
"I see."
It is a very gratifying thing that the Spierzeig side is able to increase the war results of the Wilk team thanks to the image of their grandfather, which they have inflated on their own.
I'll keep the military flag I brought with me hidden like this, instead of flying it for a while.
"Contact. Beware."
"I understand," he said. "There are two follower soldiers here. Make sure you kill them."
"Hah!"
Perhaps because they had already seen how many units had been crushed, the commoners immediately began to panic as soon as we charged in.
The weapon wielded by the military officer dug into the body of the commander, who was struggling to hold together the soldiers who were trying to flee in pieces, and tore into them. It was a scene that had already been repeated many times, as if we were watching a repeat replay.
The young men who lead the group in rotation are covered in the blood and guts of many people, and by all accounts are dangerous.
It is no wonder that the commoners were horrified when these men charged at them, wielding spears and yelling.
"That's next."
As he says this, pointing his finger at the next candidate for demolition, the knight Gatoren interjects.
"Aiming is good, but the front is not. Let's go around and bite through the side."
Looking at the troops spread out on both sides, a frontal breakthrough seemed the best course of action, no matter how one looked at it.
The commander seems to have difficulty in arranging the disorder of his troops, and the front is the thinnest defended.
"......Why? That area is densely populated with soldiers and looks hard to break through. Wouldn't it be better to cut through as we have done so far, targeting areas where the troops are thin?"
I couldn't help but hear back a slightly annoyed tone of voice.
Commoner soldiers can be easily crushed, but too much of them could stop a horse in its tracks.
It is not only soft Yakuza flesh that is in enemy units, but also hard metal armor and weapons.
"The front is a trap. This unit's ability to break through is tremendous, but there is nothing we can do to stop them."
Knight Gatoren speaks with conviction and gives several examples of how to stop the Wilk forces.
It was less like a sermon and more like the narrative of a teacher with access to quality teaching materials.
"The commander of that unit is the knight Zannaholus. He is a brilliant adversary who can make the best moves in such a short period of time. If we rush in as they invite us, we may be entangled."
"Tell me more."
Knight Gatoren nodded briefly and continued his story.
The enemy has made its best move, but it is only the best move in an inferior position. They are leading us into a frontal attack for one reason: their forces, which are less mobile, will not be able to deal with us in time if we don't narrow down our aim.
The horses of the Wilk team are very mobile because they are strengthened by my magic, and they can easily change direction because they are small in number.
This is like a pitcher who throws a variety of breaking pitches in addition to his fastball. To get a hit, you need to focus on the target.
"The knight Zannaholus wanted a straight down the middle, and he blatantly struck out ...... to entice me, the pitcher, to make his soldiers look thin. I was about to fall for it."
"The enemy is preparing to intercept in case of a frontal attack. Then ......"
"So you want me to miss the target."
"That's right."
It is a good idea to focus on the target, but at worst, it is a strategy with a strong element of gamble, as it is left up to the opponent and if it misses, the game is over.
The goal of Operation Street Devil is to defeat the followers of Spierzeig's army, and my thinking is not so muscular as to want to ignore that and challenge them to a head-to-head power game.
I accepted the knight Gatoren's advice and tried to modify the assault point.
After all, a rice cake is a rice cake shop.
If we can take him down here, it will have a big impact.
"...... knight Zannaholus?"
The Zannaholus are undoubtedly the first of the many knightly families that serve the Spierzeig family. If we were to compare it to the Quardenze family, it is similar to the position of the Gatoren family.
If the first knight could be defeated, the impact would be very great. So much so that the nobles in the vicinity would be convinced that the Spierzeig family's operation had failed.
I give instructions to my allies as advised by the knight Gatoren.
The Wilk squad, which had been running toward the front, forcefully changed direction at my signal and charged into the flank of the enemy unit.
The Wilk squad, pierced like a river blow, knocked down a thick wall of soldiers.
"GWAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Hi! Stop it!"
The morale of the commoners had collapsed. However, the morale of the commoners was irrelevant in terms of blocking the progress of the Wilkes team.
When the leading military officer slowed down, it was the knight Gatoren who stepped forward as a replacement.
Beyond it, the knight Zannaholus can be seen.
The knight Gatoren spread his arms wide in search of my body enhancement magic and held up a large sword with a very long sword blade.
From my position, I cannot see the expression on the face of the knight Gatoren running in front of me. But a moment later, I realized that they had exchanged glances.
I will speak no more.
"Gatooooooorennnnnnnnnnnnnn !!!!"
Knight Gatoren and knight Zannaholus, if their positions were similar, their ages were also about the same.
The assault of the Wilkes team resembles a tsunami. It swallows up everything in its path, without regard to the traces of life and the history of the people.
Their fate, which would have lasted for decades, was decided in just a few seconds.
Looking back, there is nothing but blood-soaked earth.
Without looking back at all, the knight Gatoren kicks away the soldiers in front of him and makes his way out.
As he exits the unit led by knight Zannaholus, knight Gatoren speaks to him.
"May I?"
"Is it time to pull the plug?"
I look at Gatoren, who says shortly, "Yes," and I confirm the position of the main army.
He still seemed to be mulling around in the back of the room, and there seemed to be plenty of room for more.
"The enemy has nothing to do with it."
Then he continues with a sincerely apologetic look on his face.
"This is Young Master's strengthening magic, but if we terminate it now, we may not be able to do more than kneel on the battlefield. ...... since it has been going on for quite a while."
"I didn't notice that. Has it been that long?"
The knight Gatoren answered yes without hesitation. Apparently, he was so intoxicated by the excitement of the battlefield that he had lost his sense of time.
This time, while knights are being reinforced as needed, the military officers are being reinforced at all times. This is because we judged that it is more efficient to continue strengthening military officers, who are combatants, from the beginning to the end of the process.
If the reinforcement is continued over a long period of time, the repercussions when it is terminated are great. Knight Gatoren estimates that the military officers may faint if they are not properly trained.
We have already had more than enough success," he said. We have more knights in service than we can count on two hands, including the knight Zannaholus.
Spierzeig's army had placed many knights in the northern part of the city of Nambonan.
This is because if the main ancestral army of the Quardenze family is coming, it will most likely come from the northeast of the city.
The mainland army is fast on its feet, if not as fast as the Wilk forces this time around.
It is safer to have a commander in place who is competent enough to make decisions and act quickly, assuming that the Quardenze forces will appear from the northeast.
As a result, the Wilk forces succeeded in taking out knight Zannaholus and other knights and young military officers who would lead the next generation one after another. From Spierzeig's point of view, everything backfired.
Although defeating the current knight does not immediately destroy the knight's family, the death of the head of the family will probably disrupt the family for a while. It would be difficult to launch a large-scale military action.
"Then we'll pull back. Give the order."
"Ha!"
Knight Gatoren's expression softened a bit when I gave the order to retreat. I guess they were relieved that I decided to pull out as originally planned.
"Raise the flag! This battle, we have won!"
The military flag is raised with shouts of victory from the excited warriors. It fluttered strongly as if boasting of victory.
Snakes entwined in crossed spears and the splashing of a great river. It is also called the Quardenze crest.
The flag I brought this time had a simplified Quardenze crest design. It was painted on green cloth with blue threads, and was a banner for householders with no special status.
When we raised the flag, the surrounding Quardenze soldiers cheered.
"WOW!"
"We won! We won! We won! We won! We won!"
"YEAH!!!!"
Are they drafted citizen soldiers who continue to raise their voices even when their voices are half withered?
The way everyone was praising me as if they were exclaiming, it was like a baby who was relieved to have a protector rather than rejoicing in victory.
Before long, a number of citizens were climbing the city walls, jumping up and down and rejoicing in their victory.
The voice of Hail Nambonan eventually changed to Hail Quardenze, and then to Hail Mayor.
Perhaps someone with knowledge of the aristocratic community saw the military flag we were flying and told them who the general was.
There are no longer any Spierzeig soldiers trying to stop us from joining up with our friends.
The enemy soldiers open the street as if they were rejoicing that the calamity is leaving.
He made his triumphant return on an empty street, leisurely, receiving applause from the soldiers and citizens. The scene was that of a leading actor basking in the spotlight at the center of the theater.
All that was left was to wait for the curtain to come down on the stage and the play to end.
However, someone had an objection to the script.
"Young Master ......!"
If I were to enter a sauna with a body that does not feel heat, I might feel this way. It is suffocating and oppressive, and your whole body complains that you do not want to stay here.
It was clearly a wave of killing intent directed at me personally.
"Yeah, I'm aware."
This was the first time I had ever been directly threatened by the main ancestor, and I cringed for a moment at the concentrated discomfort. But that doesn't matter once you get used to it, and in a way it is refreshing because I have never lived a life where I have been the target of ill will.
"You seem very angry."
I understood the wavering menace radiating from Spierzeig Verret.
In a sense, the emotional release of magic has an effect similar to telepathy.
It is possible to sense the other person's emotional disturbance.
It is no longer killing intent that is contained in Verret's threats. It is rage.
"They are coming this way! Young Master!"
When I visually checked the main ancestral army, it was just beginning its vigorous descent from a small hill southwest of the city.
The surrounding Quardenze forces are shifting their formation like shields to protect the Wilk forces and are trying to prepare for that assault.
The knights and military officers verbally advised them to retreat and join the others. They probably do not want to clash with Verret with a small force.
The main ancestral army led by Verret has only about 5,000 soldiers at most, and the number of soldiers in the Quardenze army that will greet them is several times as large.
Many of the troops who had been disintegrated by Wilk's assault were scattered, and many of them did not join the enemy forces and watched the situation unfold.
Spierzeig's troops deployed in the southern and western parts of the city are also approaching, but either way, there is no doubt that our numbers are superior.
If I attack while surrounding Verret and looking for an opening, I might be able to take its head off.
"My name is Spierzeig Verret! You coward, come forward fair and square!"
"You're a coward!"
Verrett said this out loud as he descended the hill and confronted the
Quardenze forces.
Because of the magic to magnify the voice, even I can hear it well from far
away.
"You're young. You're so angry you can't see what's going on around you."
"It would be a knight to admonish them."
"That's exactly right."
"What are the knights who were stationed in the camp doing?"
The knights and military officers around me spoke bitterly of those under their command who did not admonish them rather than the individual Verret who had suddenly descended the hill.
Aristocrats...... find it difficult to educate the Lord's ancestors. It is said that if the discipline is not right, the ancestors, who boast overwhelming magical power, often grow up to be haughty, and it is not unusual for them to run amok when they are young because of their all-powerful nature.
Knights and military officers are also expected to rebuke such young nobles for running amok and show them the right path.
Verrett was making a lot of noise and throwing scornful words at Quardenze, but he did not launch a strong attack.
I don't know if the knights under his command are holding back or if Verret just doesn't have the guts to do it.
"Do you remember how old Spierzeig Verret was?"
"I believe it was ......18 or 19."
Knight Gatoren, who was listening to the exchange between me and the military officer, adds a few words.
"He is 19 years old. He will have a hard time remonstrating if he is the next head of ...... the kingdom, but he is not qualified to be a knight if he cannot get the young lord to back down here."
For a knight, being the next head of a noble family is a delicate existence. It is because he or she has one foot in the realm of the lord.
When he eventually becomes the head of the family, he will not be able to talk if he is only looking at the knight's face. That is why he must have the capacity to make risky decisions, sometimes overcoming the opinions of the knights.
When the next head of the family makes decisions in strong terms, it is very difficult for the knight to reject them. This is because it may narrow the degree of the future lord.
If you look at Verrett, who has now jumped to the front lines, you can imagine that he has been angrily shouting at the knights to go out to battle.
After all, as the knight Gatoren said, this is a scene that should be admonished at all costs. The victory has already been decided, and as a knight, the safety of the next head of the family must come first.
This would never have happened if the knight Zannaholus had lived, the knight Gatoren, the one who had slaughtered him, let slip a little.
"What's the matter, Quardenze? Are you afraid to step forward! What happened to all that energy you had earlier?"
Verrett continues to be a sore loser who can't stand to hear it.
Perhaps they must have planned to use this counter-offensive operation to make the military name of Spierzeig Verret a household name and a foil to their own.
The attack on Nambonan City, with a number of heavy knights as assistants, at least, they must not have thought they would be beaten to a pulp.
No matter how strong the words are, there is no anger in hearing them, considering the fact that he has lost a number of knights under his command.
In fact, it is even pathetic.
"I want to ask you one question: do you think the angry magic he's been sending out since a few minutes ago is full force?"
One of the military officers answers my question.
"Perhaps. Would it be difficult to control so much angry intimidation?"
From the pressure of the magic mixed with rage, I think of Verret's strength.
I have no doubt that he is a member of the main ancestors and holds a vast amount of magical power that cannot be compared to that of knights and the like.
But as to whether I am really afraid of it, the answer is no. I felt that I could defeat it without difficulty if I fought it single-handedly.
And I haven't even told the knights this, but I've been secretly working on a plan since I arrived on the battlefield.
"Quardenze's miasma! Are you afraid of me! Can't you even talk to me?
As I listened to Verrett's blustering words, I wondered why Verrett had come to the front lines now.
I can think of only one answer to that question. I came forward because I was convinced that my grandfather Galfis was not here.
If Grandfather had been here, the knights would have decided to hold Verrett back and retreat at all costs.
There is absolutely no way that he would allow a young, inexperienced lord to stand in front of his grandfather, who is a veteran of a hundred battles.
Even if it was the order of the next head of the family.
So I dared them to raise the military flag at the end.
The Spierzeig family is naturally aware of the family structure of the rival noble families. Verret, the knights under his command, and the military officers must have seen the green and blue Quardenze crest and understood who was leading the Wilk forces.
This gives Verret no reason to hesitate.
If it is not Galfis, the red devil, but a legitimate son of the Quardenze family who has just recently made his first battle, there is no need to be afraid.
The general of the enemy force is just a little boy, and the r
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