Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: The Purifiers
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A river is, by its very nature, a fortress.
If one were to force a crossing under fire to break through an enemy defending the opposite bank, large numbers of troops would be trapped in narrow shallows, creating a bottleneck. With the current swirling at their feet, breaking through a foe in a solid defensive posture becomes all the more difficult. Thus, Lord Black's main force solidified their strategy around defending several fords of the Sachsen River.
The enemy had already fought a fierce war of attrition against the defenders of the mountain fortress to reach this point. With their supply shortages at a critical level, they would have no choice but to bite the bullet and attempt a forced crossing.
With a thunderous roar that seemed to tear the heavens and earth apart, the orcs' charge began.
Orc Riders, the fiercest elites under the command of an Orc Warboss, galloped through the river.
“Never let those monsters reach the shore!”
“Archers, take aim!”
The knights of House Sachsen, holding the defense beyond the ford, raised their voices. Dismounted, they formed a defensive line to halt the impact of the Orc Riders.
Axes and shields, orcs on wolves, and heavily armored infantry loyal to House Sachsen clashed.
Steel met steel, and the sound of iron tearing through flesh and bone echoed.
At most fords, they succeeded in repelling the orc advance without much difficulty. However, at a few crossing points where the troops or their quality were lacking, some Orc Riders managed to make it across.
The strongest orc elites landed on the shore, and as they broke through, the crossing of the follow-up forces accelerated.
The tide of battle turned in an instant. The soldiers' morale plummeted, and the rapidly swelling horde of orcs began to overwhelm them.
It was then that the mobile strike force, commanded by House Sachsen's 'Black Prince,' appeared.
Not from behind their beleaguered allies, but from behind the orc horde across the river attempting the crossing—directly at the enemy's rear. As if sniping the rearguard of an enemy whose center of gravity was focused forward, desperately trying to cross the river.
“Charge.”
“By your command, my lord!”
At Dale's command, Lord Veil of Baskerville raised his voice.
“Charge!”
“For House Sachsen!”
“For Lord Dale!”
The six cavalry battalions under Dale's command, House Sachsen's famed 'Black Cavalry,' spurred their warhorses. The riders of House Sachsen, after an encircling maneuver, fell upon the defenselessly exposed rear of the orc force.
The slaughter began.
“It's Lord Dale!”
“The Black Prince has appeared!”
“House Sachsen's 'Black Cavalry' is striking the enemy's rear!”
They were with the son of Lord Black himself, the Black Prince!
He reigned as an object of endless terror to his enemies, but to his allies, that very infamy was the most reliable guarantee.
One could truly call it the positive function of fear.
“Lord Dale is fighting for us!”
“The Black Prince's cavalry is slaughtering the enemy!”
“The enemy here is isolated! Hold the line! Solidify the encirclement with the Prince's cavalry!”
His mere presence boosted the soldiers' morale, becoming the masterstroke that overturned the unfavorable tide of battle.
Six cavalry battalions.
They numbered only three hundred, but the enemy's center of gravity was fixed on the river.
Turning such a large force required an unimaginable cost, and Dale's cavalry, targeting that exact point, slammed their charge into the enemy's weakness.
Dale, leading the cavalry, was no exception. As Lord Veil's cavalry completed the first charge and withdrew, Dale appeared in the second wave, committed in succession.
Atop his horse, he brandished the shadow cloak mimicking his black surcoat.
“Shadow Bullet.”
As he galloped, a myriad of shadow bullets rained down upon the orc horde.
A hail of bullets writhing with living malice. Before firepower akin to a heavy machine gun, the orcs' leather-like hides were meaningless.
For a supreme commander to fight on the front lines was an act that carried considerable risk.
But the reward was certain.
“Lord Dale is with us!”
“Show the bastards no mercy!”
Unquestionable trust.
An act that ignited the loyalty of House Sachsen's knights.
The Night Raven Knights of House Sachsen, standing in the ranks with Dale, burned with a near-mad fighting spirit as they drove their lances home.
Furthermore, assisting the 'Black Prince,' Charlotte also swung a House Sachsen greatsword from horseback.
Black sword shadows scattered in all directions, and black blades wrapped around the orcs' bodies.
*Shhhwiiing!*
Arms, legs, necks, and shoulders were torn asunder.
“Leave it to me!”
shouted Charlotte, her face concealed by a black helmet.
“Dale, if we delay any longer, the orc forces will turn their formation.”
Sephia added calmly, and Dale nodded quietly.
“We'll pull out before the enemy begins their encircling maneuver.”
Across the shore, their allies, morale boosted by their performance, were driving back the enemy. Chanting Dale's name, praising the Black Cavalry of House Sachsen, they did not let go of the hope for victory.
At the other fords, where the defensive posture was relatively solid, the enemy's crossing was being successfully thwarted. There weren't many places Dale needed to worry about. Just a few fords, where weaker forces and lords were stationed.
“The Orc Riders are turning!”
It was at that moment. At his subordinate's warning, Dale nodded.
“Let's retreat.”
Hit and run.
There was no need to win the battle overwhelmingly. No need to annihilate every last enemy. Therefore, Dale's mobile strike force, having achieved its objective, turned their horses without a hint of hesitation.
Leaving behind the endless sea of orc corpses and blood that lay before them.
***
A pursuit squad of Orc Riders followed, but that was within expectations.
They had no reason to refuse an opportunity to scatter the enemy's cavalry, and they were confident they could easily repel them even if pursued.
Dale continued to increase the distance, observing the Orc Riders chasing them.
His plan was to lure the enemy to a point where reinforcements couldn't reach them, then immediately turn the cavalry around and wipe them out.
However, an 'unexpected ambush' revealed itself right there.
“Horses…?”
Not giant wolves.
After a quick glance at the pursuers, Dale doubted his own eyes for a moment.
Orcs rarely ride horses. But among the 'Orc Riders' chasing him, a few demonic beings were riding horses. And they were wrapped in suspicious robes.
The term 'demonic being' was a general term for monsters with a certain level of intelligence, not exclusive to orcs. Even if the majority of their force consisted of orcs, it wouldn't be strange for a few other demonic beings to be mixed in.
But from atop their galloping horses, the unidentified, robed figures stretched out their arms.
The 'crimson mana' flickering from their arms was by no means that of a monster.
It was human.
“Dale! Be careful!”
“...!”
Sephia, who had remained calm throughout, finally broke her composure and cried out. Dale knew what it meant.
From the fingertips of the 6th-circle elven mage, Sephia, blue mana swirled. Magic was heavily influenced by the surrounding climate, and in that respect, the frozen lands of House Sachsen provided a great blessing to Sephia's magic.
*Kwoong!*
But even considering that fact, the wall of ice Sephia erected was far beyond imagination.
A barrier of ice rose up, separating Dale's cavalry from the enemy.
However, what came next—the 'result of the crimson mana' that slammed into Sephia's ice wall—was even more shocking.
Flames raged. It was no ordinary fire. A joint incantation, not by one but by several mages, had been performed.
It was the flame of hell.
Firepower so intense that it melted the ice wall of a 6th-circle water-attribute mage like ice cream, with enough residual heat left to rain down upon them.
“Aaaargh!”
In the swirling remnants of the flames, several of House Sachsen's famed Night Raven Knights were instantly incinerated. So intense that even the chill of Sachsen's frozen lands felt meaningless. Before anyone could react, not even a corpse, not even a bone fragment, remained.
Only a few handfuls of ash scattered fleetingly.
Annihilation.
“It can't be…”
Dale's expression turned frigid.
“Turn the horses, scatter immediately! Do not stop moving, and do not bunch up!”
And without a moment's hesitation, he issued precise orders.
“—We are now facing pyromancers!”
Just as mages from the Black Tower are called necromancers. And just as mages from the White Tower are called clerics.
The name for mages of the Red Tower.
There was no time to wonder why mages of the Red Magic Tower were here. Or why they were with demonic beings.
Nevertheless, if his prediction was correct, those who could wield fire magic so precisely from horseback were no 'ordinary mages' among the pyromancers.
Mages do not train with the premise of fighting on the battlefield.
Even high-ranking mages are often defeated by ordinary knights if they close the distance.
But the horsemanship they displayed, the precise mounted casting like what Dale had shown earlier—that was not the skill of a practitioner who simply hones the path of magic.
They were beings who thoroughly honed their magic with the premise of standing on the battlefield from the very beginning.
“Be careful. They are the 'Purifiers' of the Red Tower.”
Sephia answered as if reading Dale's thoughts. Her title as a 6th-circle elven mage and an elder of the Blue Magic Tower was not just for show.
Purifiers.
Battle mages raised solely to incinerate the enemies of the Empire and the Red Magic Tower, and to execute their zeitgeist.
Those very Purifiers were mixed in with the demonic beings, targeting Dale's cavalry.
Dale's cavalry? Duke Sachsen's main force?
—No. Thinking that far, Dale realized.
“Their target is you, Lord Dale!”
Lord Veil of Baskerville cried out urgently.
“I won't let them.”
Charlotte refined the aura blade of her black sword and readjusted her grip on the hilt.
“Do not worry, Dale.”
said Sephia, the 6th-circle water-attribute elven mage and elder of the Blue Magic Tower.
“Allow me to fulfill my duty as your master.”
She began to emit 'blue mana,' rotating the six circles centered on her heart.
Dale was not fighting alone. And so, the shadow cloak mimicking a black surcoat began to flutter wildly. Forging countless shadow bullets from the shadows at his feet.
Nothing had changed. There was an enemy, and he would defeat that enemy. Even if that opponent was the Red Magic Tower, it would be no different. No, rather, could he ask for anything more?
Now, Dale was facing 'his enemy' in the truest sense.
His unforgettable enemy, the one named the Empire.