Chapter 101: Field Battle part 1
The interception point we chose lay between Gantz and Ares, slightly closer to Ares. On foot, the highway between Gantz and Ares takes about five days—roughly a hundred kilometers. On horseback, you can cover a little over fifty kilometers a day, so a two-day ride with margin. The midpoint sits a day’s ride out, so we set off in the morning and reached our mark by late afternoon.
「Selena, Sharon—are you in position?」
「Yes, no issues.」
「Battle starts tomorrow, right? We’ll use today to rest.」
「Rest is fine, but you’ve got the better vantage. Post lookouts. Knowing when the enemy arrives will keep everyone calm.」
「「Roger.」」
I confirmed Selena and Sharon’s arrival by comms. At this stretch, the highway runs between sheer cliffs. Those fault cliffs were our ace in the hole. This time, Selena and Sharon’s squads would support us by striking down from high ground.
Even with detection magic, waiting without sentries saps morale. And for us deployed at the base of the cliffs, knowing there were eyes above keeping watch was reassuring.
Everyone up top had bows, and most of them were soldiers capable of using magic. Selena and Sharon also carried pulse rifles. A massed strike from high ground would crush the enemy vanguard. Used precisely, the pulse rifles alone could wipe them out—but the ammo drain would be brutal, so that wasn’t the plan. If we use them at all, it would be to snipe priority targets.
The only place where things could get dicey was the place where I was stationed, the front line. Apart from me and Elna, we had elite knights like Dalshim and Walter alongside us, but if the enemy surged straight at us, we might not hold. We’d thrown up fences we’d hauled by wagon, but they didn’t inspire much confidence. They were meant less to stop horses than to block wagons. Cavalry and infantry could slip around, but without wagons you can’t haul rations. Even so, they should delay the advance a little. Hitting them from above right there would double the effect.
If the enemy tried to flee toward Ares, I’d ordered we let them go and instead take down Count Jurgen of Gantz. We couldn’t realistically slaughter every last soldier. The plan for now was to fell the commander and see what followed. With enough mobility, a mounted force could always run for Ares.
「The earliest they’ll arrive is tomorrow. Rest up today.」
We posted lookouts and rested off the road. No one felt like hunting and cooking, so we kept it simple with canned food. Even so, stew warmed in hot water was divine. The rich flavor sank into travel-tired bodies. Passing out bread we’d hauled by wagon drew cheers. All told, a pretty luxurious supper. That said, we’d be eating cans tomorrow too; before long we’d better develop something new besides ham and stew or the troops would get sick of it.
Normally we’d have had to spend time hunting and cooking at every camp. Cutting that time after reaching camp and using it to march instead proved its worth. The speed we deployed at—another small revolution courtesy of canned rations. Since we only had to touch up a waystation we’d already used while moving the settlers, it was nothing like building a camp from scratch in the Great Demon Forest.
The next day, though, the enemy still didn’t appear. With time on our hands, we improved the cavalry fences blocking the highway. We also used earth magic to dig ditches along the shoulders and piled the spoil into earthen walls. Even beyond the cliffs the road now ran through a bit of a kill box. That would make the high-ground fire even more effective. Walls also help when you’re the one waiting. Smiles spread as preparations clicked into place. We were eager to make contact.
That night, I pulled Selena and Sharon into the virtual space to review.
「Iris, show us the enemy.」
Less than a day’s march from our interception point, three thousand troops had crammed shoulder-to-shoulder into a roadside rest area on the highway. No—there weren’t three thousand anymore.
「Current count: 2,463. About six hundred deserted or became monster feed.」
One fifth gone before even reaching Ares. Impressive.
「Per your orders, Captain, we used drones to drive nearby monsters toward Count Gantz’s army. The scent of blood seems to have drawn more in after that.」
「From a monster’s point of view, it’s a banquet rushing right at them. This could affect trade later—should we clear the area?」
「They may come again anyway. For the time being, leaving it as is may be best.」
「We can use them as part of the overall defense network.」Selena sided with Sharon.
If we could make them think attacking the monster-swarmed Sea of Trees was pointless, that was a win.
「Either way, their morale looks low. Iris, tomorrow herd the monsters toward our interception point and run the enemy right at us. I want to finish Count Gantz here. Selena, Sharon—good with that?」
「No problem.」
「Leave it to us.」
「Understood, Captain. We’ll drive them your way tomorrow. Do be careful.」
Morning broke clear. Visibility was perfect; we’d see them coming. By late morning, Count Gantz’s host would be driven our way. The forest is our home ground, and compared to Gantz’s men being mauled by monsters, our camp almost felt leisurely—more like a hunting trip than a war.
But what’s coming is a real fight—a lethal one. We need to go in keyed up. I gave Dalshim a nudge, and he kept everyone’s edge nice and sharp. As expected of a former captain of the Royal Guard, he has a perfect feel for keeping the troops ready and confident.
「Message from the cliff tops: enemy approaching.」
We’d set up a primitive message system—notes tied to arrows shot down onto a designated wagon roof. Crude, but effective. No one was to go near that wagon except to retrieve arrows, so there was little risk.
「So they’re here.」
「All hands, to positions.」
I could track the enemy on a virtual display with Selena and Sharon, but that was that—seeing them with your own eyes, close enough to count faces, carried an overwhelming immediacy.
「Elna, ready?」
「Yes.」
Elna gave a firm nod. She and I would step up onto the earthwork first and call for them to halt. It would be easy to open with a kill-on-sight volley, but apparently even a private war between nobles has its forms. The opening address matters.
And if you could stall their feet, your aim improves. That makes sense. No harm in trying. If it shaves their fighting spirit even a little, all the better.
「Now, Captain.」
At Iris’s cue, we stood.
「Elna.」
「Understood.」
We climbed onto the wall. With a hand up, Elna hauled something heavy and stood beside me.
「I am Baron Alan Corinth.」
「His Excellency the Lord Protector is present—stand down!」
Elna raised the Lord Protector’s shield and shouted with all her might. The enemy column ground to a halt.
Their leader was right there—just out of arm’s reach, close enough that a thrown stone would hit easily. Iris, you placed them a little too near for comfort.
They clearly hadn’t expected the enemy commander to appear before them in this place. They glanced about, wary—there had to be more of us.
Not that you can do much about fire raining from far above—from the cliff tops, well outside their field of view.
「Turn back at once. Leave now and your lives will be spared. Resist, and we will show no mercy.」
I raised my left hand—the one gripping a magic stone—high over my head. The moment I brought it down would be the signal to start. The enemy didn’t answer at once—more like they couldn’t decide. A few men sprinted to the rear ranks to confirm orders.
「Iris—where’s Count Gantz?」
「Center-front, slightly forward. The stout man in a blue cloak and ornate armor.」
Iris highlighted Count Gantz.
「Iris, set the cut-point for the enemy column just behind Count Gantz. Send it to everyone.」
「Acknowledged.」
A marker popped up on the virtual display. Good, this will do. While we waited for their move, I spoke to Elna under my breath.
「Didn’t expect you to bring the Lord Protector’s shield.」
「I thought it might sap their will to fight.」
「Smart. Well done.」
The Lord Protector holds authority to command nobles of the realm. It might not sway Count Gantz himself, but it could peel away the small fry he conscripted.
In fact, several units slid to the side at the sight of my face and the Lord Protector’s shield. A small fraction overall, but the gesture clearly said they had no wish to oppose the Lord Protector openly. I locked eyes with a noble who looked like a small-unit commander and gave a slight nod. Hopefully he would catch the message: ‘So long as you don’t oppose us, we won’t destroy you.’
「Iris, Selena, Sharon—see the small unit that just edged off the road? About two hundred.」
「「Yes.」」
「They appear unwilling to oppose the Lord Protector. Exclude them from your target list—unless they turn on us. Treat any other defectors the same.」
「「Understood.」」
Apparently their confirmation came back, because a knight—likely one of Count Gantz’s household men—spurred toward us.
「What are you waiting for!? Now’s your chance to strike down the enemy commander! Name your reward—have at them!」
The word ‘reward’ lit the soldiers’ eyes. I was right there, almost within touching distance. If they lunged, they could reach me.
I didn’t hesitate. I slashed my raised hand down.
Three Fire Grenades—one each prepared by me, Selena, and Sharon—slammed into the packed ranks with no delay between them. The blasts literally blew the heart out of the column. Heat and thunder shocked the troops into a defensive crouch. Their opening rush died on the vine.
We’d left Count Gantz’s position alone, but the column marching in file was neatly severed fore and aft. When the shockwave finished erasing bodies, one long, connected crater remained.
「Gloria!」
With a roar, Gloria plunged into the blast zone. Her job was to keep the severed halves from linking back up. She flashed through the crater, neatly cutting off the men trying to sprint to their count. From above, Selena and Sharon’s squads were already reaching out with arrows and spells. All around me, Dalshim’s ambushers burst from cover and slammed into the enemy front.
「Let’s go, Elna! Count Gantz is the one in the blue cloak!」
Elna slid down the wall and vanished. Supporting her movement had left me surrounded by a flood of enemy soldiers. With the opposing general practically under their noses, they weren’t about to let me be. Well, that’s fine—this is part of the plan. While I used the wall as a shield and pulled their front line in tight to batter it, Elna, Selena, and Sharon would take Count Gantz.
Outnumbered as we were, we needed to create the moment the enemy overcommitted. That was my role.
The press of bodies dimmed my vision. I fired Light Arrows at anything that moved in my eye-line. I brought a bag full of Greyhound magic stones just for today.
The enemy surged at me—but I overwhelmed them with power many times greater.
「Iris—Count Gantz?」
I had no escape. But Count Gantz shouldn’t have one either.
「Our vanguard will be on him any moment.」
I looked up at Iris’s voice. Elna, leading Walter’s squad, was closing on Count Gantz, with support from above.
Seeing her bear down, Count Gantz stood in the stirrups and drew his sword to meet her. He raised it high—and the next instant his head sailed free. Elna had kept her Wind Cutter hidden to the last second and loosed it clean. The headless body belched blood and toppled like a felled log. That was the end of Count Jurgen of Gantz.
I cleaved the man before me with a magic-charged blade and bellowed at the top of my lungs:
「Count Gantz is down!」
「Count Gantz is dead!」
「We did it! Victory is ours!」
In the roar of the field my voice carried only so far, but the shudder of realization spread all the same.
「Gloria, that’s enough. Open them a retreat. Then shift to us and block any movement toward Ares.」
With another roar, Gloria leapt skyward and repositioned. Their commander slain, a dragon’s shadow opening a lane—once the troops grasped that, their line finally broke.
The tide receded. A few brave souls still came on, but fewer than our number posed no obstacle. We cut them down without trouble.
「We’ve won.」
「Congratulations, Captain.」
Iris’ voice rang in my head.
Comment (0)