Chapter 68
Chapter 68
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 68
Chapter Title: Gatling-Type
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A single Death Knight was slaughtering the guards of the Bandit Alliance stationed there.
*It's not enough yet.*
Dale's Death Knight was by no means the crude creation of some common necromancer.
It was the 《Agent of the Sword》, projecting the very swordsmanship that had once felled even the Divine Sword, known as the Greatest Sword on the Continent. Therefore, Dale had two goals for his Death Knight.
To purely revive the hero's sword, allowing it to be reborn as a true 'Agent of the Sword'.
Furthermore, like the deep learning of an AI, he intended to have his Death Knight endlessly swing its sword, learning the entire process and accumulating data.
The development of an 「Automatic Formula」.
When the Death Knights could wield the 'hero's sword' on their own, free from Dale's control.
Ultimately, he would project the hero's swordsmanship—which required no direct control—onto the thousands of Death Orders sleeping in the ducal castle via the 「Automatic Formula」… superimposing the hero's sword upon thousands of black blades.
He envisioned the scene where thousands of Death Orders would be reborn into the 'ultimate combat form' by projecting the hero's sword onto their blades.
Death Knights armed in conceptual armor.
The army of the god of death… Anubis.
For that purpose, he was desperately refining the Death Knight's swordsmanship over and over, automating that information.
This was an act only possible for Dale, who was capable enough to bring even the Divine Sword to its knees.
Belatedly, the guards at the toll collection office began to arm themselves heavily and fight back.
But before the sword of the Death Knight controlled by Dale, they were nothing more than living sacrifices and lambs for accumulating data.
***
Hamburg City Hall.
“We have intelligence that the Bandit Alliance, led by Count Robert, has begun to move its troops.”
The mayor spoke cautiously, spreading a map of the area's topography on the table.
“Furthermore, it seems the mercenary company they've hired has also marched out with the Bandit Alliance...”
“Since we burned down the toll collection office and removed all the chains.”
Dale nodded as if he had expected as much.
“They must be feeling anxious and making their move.”
If the battle became a siege over the castle rather than a field battle, the defending side would have the advantage.
At least so far, things were proceeding just as Dale had planned.
Moreover, what was important to Dale now was not victory itself, but how cleanly that victory could be achieved.
The mercenaries and the Bandit Alliance have no mages. Needless to say, mages are a rare resource in this world, and such a rare resource would never pledge loyalty to mere mercenaries or low-ranking nobles.
The only one the enemy had to be wary of was Dale, and no matter how you looked at it, Dale was only a 3rd-Circle mage. No matter how absurd Dale's exploits had been, they must believe they could easily overwhelm him with numerical superiority.
“There's no need to worry.”
A conflict outside the realm of imperial law, fought without a shred of rules. It was time to test the results Dale had accumulated so far in combat between people.
Although he couldn't be compared to the likes of Lord Black, Lord Crimson, or the Holy Sword Master, he wondered to what extent he, as an 'extraordinary powerhouse,' could influence the tide of battle… and how much he could change the landscape of the battlefield with his individual strength.
How much of a hellscape could he create with the 'mass destruction magic' he was about to unleash?
He was simply so curious about it that he couldn't bear it.
***
Against the Black Armor Company, there was only one tactic the Bandit Alliance and the mercenary company could take.
To surround the Imperial Free City of Hamburg and force a swift surrender.
This was due to supply issues, a chronic problem in this world.
Therefore, looking at the enemies surrounding the walls of Hamburg, Dale thought calmly.
*Fighting a defensive battle using the city walls wouldn't be bad.*
Besides the Black Armor Company's troops, the city of Hamburg itself possessed a considerable number of soldiers.
However, the opposing side had no mages. The quality of their soldiers, including the mercenaries, was no better than that of minor lords.
*Pushing things a little wouldn't be a bad idea.*
Watching them, Dale thought calmly.
There was no harm in taking the spotlight, and more importantly, it was a decision he could make because he trusted his subordinates as the captain of the Black Armor Company.
“Lord Yones.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Dale spoke to the vice-captain, Lord Yones, who was standing by his side.
“Shall we take the boys out for a look around?”
Against a large enemy force of some 2,000 men surrounding the city. With just a hundred heavy infantrymen.
***
It was a suicide mission, plain and simple.
Count Robert, the leader of the Bandit Alliance and commander-in-chief of the three great mercenary companies… could think of it as nothing else.
To think that the enemy's greatest strength, the Black Armor Company's heavy infantry, whom he had been certain would hole up in the city for a defensive siege, would lower the drawbridge and seek a 'fair and square' fight!
They were a force of just over a hundred, with only the archers on the city walls to provide cover.
*Have they decided to die?*
No matter how invincible their defensive posture in a tight formation was, there was no strength against overwhelming numbers.
And yet, the one being protected by the hundred heavy infantrymen in their tight formation—the infamous 'Black Prince'—was right there.
The captain of the Black Armor Company, the heir to the Master of the Black Magic Tower. A monster hailed as the empire's greatest genius in swordsmanship, magic, and even military strategy.
He surely knew the significance of having a mage within an unbreakable defensive formation.
Nevertheless, for a mere 3rd-Circle mage to cast the 'mass destruction magic' permissible only in conflicts between high-ranking lords was next to impossible.
In fact, among the feats Dale had shown as the captain of the Black Armor Company, mass destruction magic was not included. Although they couldn't comprehend the principle behind the 'sniper rifle' Dale had demonstrated, in their eyes, his achievements were nothing more than 'bolt magic with powerful killing potential.'
Not mass destruction magic, just simple bolt magic.
They didn't know it was purely due to legal restrictions, and they couldn't even imagine the feats Dale would display in a battle where the law had no say.
*In the end, was he just a naive child who knows nothing of the world?*
Believing it to be nothing more than a child's recklessness, Count Robert shouted.
“The enemy is only a hundred heavy infantrymen!”
“Break through their tight formation!”
“How foolish of them to walk to their own deaths!”
The mercenaries also raised their voices in a chorus of mockery and encouragement. As if trying to forget the presence of the Black Armor Company's captain, the 'Black Prince', within that tight formation.
It wasn't as if they had any other brilliant ideas. The battle had been initiated under the calculation that they could handle the feats of a single 3rd-Circle mage.
“Charge!”
“Crush those Black Armor Company bastards!”
“For the Golden Lion Mercenaries!”
The charge of the Bandit Alliance and the mercenary forces began.
***
“We die where we stand!”
“For the Black Armor Company!”
Shouting their slogan, the hundred heavy infantrymen solidified their defensive posture amidst the enemy charge.
An unbreakable formation.
Protected by that very formation, the captain of the Black Armor Company raised his head. He wasn't engaging in melee combat, clashing with the enemy as usual.
He was being protected by the heavy infantry, just like a textbook mage, calmly calculating the distance.
“Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD).”
Dale muttered softly, paying no heed to the empire's laws.
But it wasn't mass destruction 'magic'. It was a weapon. It was a process of self-suggestion to clearly conjure an image in his mind. In other words, that itself was a mage's 「incantation」.
An act of self-suggestion to construct a clear image and, based on an understanding of the mechanism, amplify the magic's destructive power.
Weapon of Mass Destruction. The term usually refers to nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, along with radiation. But going back a little further, the archetype of the term held another form.
The history of man is the history of war. The history of man turns solely on the wheels of war.
And in that history of war, the first weapon of mass destruction they ever obtained.
“「Gatling-type」, 「20mm」.”
An otherworldly formula, incomprehensible to the people of this world, was chanted.
Before long, a mass of shadows shimmered behind Dale, taking the form of a gun barrel. A black barrel. And the number of barrels was by no means 'one'.
Those very black barrels opened their maws toward the charging enemy forces.
“You men in front of me.”
Dale muttered softly.
“Split to the left and right, now.”
“Captain's orders! First and second ranks! Part to the sides!”
“Part to the sides!”
Simultaneously with the captain's command, the heavy infantry in the front ranks of the tight formation shouted in unison.
Dale's men. The meaning of that was largely that they were private soldiers who could move according to his will… But more than that, it referred to 'custom-fit soldiers' who operated on the premise of supporting Dale's actions.
An organization structured to match Dale's combat style from top to bottom.
Following Dale's command, the heavy infantry in the front rank began to part swiftly.
***
*Are those bastards crazy?*
They parted their first rank of heavy infantry in the face of a cavalry charge?
The enemy commander in the formation was exposed, and Count Robert couldn't hide his bewilderment.
He knew that the Black Armor Company's captain, Dale Sachsen, used 'projectile magic with high killing power'.
But in the face of this overwhelming cavalry charge, the deaths of a few cavalrymen were an acceptable loss.
What they truly had to fear was the terror of death spreading like a plague, and as long as they were prepared for that, there was no need to fear the Black Armor Company's captain.
Before the battle, Count Robert had endlessly drilled this fact into his soldiers, which was why the mercenary cavalry was charging, ready to face death with desperate resolve.
“So, in the end, the great 'Black Prince' was nothing but a greenhorn who knows nothing of the world.”
This was a winnable fight. Moreover, with the enemy's self-defeating move, he had no doubt it would be a landslide victory.
As a person of this world, he had no way of knowing the meaning behind Dale's muttered 「Gatling-type」 and 「20mm」.
Behind Dale, the black barrels opened their maws.
And understanding the meaning of the 'mass destruction' that spewed forth from them was not a particularly difficult task in any world.