The True Meaning of Lance Charging
Which side posed the greater threat? Geographically, the Flauros Dungeon was closer, but considering the nature of the enemies, Las Vegas was far more dangerous. 'Human adventurers are more dangerous than demon or human armies.' The demons could be covered by Galahad’s holy power. Human armies could be crushed by a combination of various monsters. In fact, that was exactly how I had conquered Las Vegas.
But human adventurers were specialists in monster warfare, possessing experience fighting all sorts of beasts. As bastards obsessed with money, they were like hyenas—if they thought there was a chance to risk their lives for a payout, they would swarm in.
"Master, I apologize. It is my inadequacy."
"No, it’s not that you’re lacking. I’m just preventing potential problems before they arise."
I stood on the watchtower with Eila. Andras was keeping a close watch from the sky, out of reach of enemy attacks, and the enemy had already built watchtowers and set up tents, as if they knew we had attacked the human troops.
Beep-beep-beep-beep! An alarm rang out the moment one of the Harpy Angels under Andras’s command lowered her altitude. Her talons sizzled in silver flames against a shimmering barrier of holy power. The Harpy Angel recoiled in terror.
"Their air defense is thorough."
"Since they knew we had flying monsters, it would be stranger if they hadn't prepared for it."
"If they hadn't prepared, it would have been an easy win, though."
The human adventurers were dealing with the Harpy Angels perfectly. In particular, the barriers erected by the priests completely blocked any monsters or monster remains—like slime mucus—from falling onto them.
"Ryun, is an attack via the river possible?"
"They failed. They said they don't drink the river water directly; they boil it first."
"Tch."
I dissolved more Slahole mucus into the river. A massive amount of aphrodisiac flowed down the stream, but the adventurers drank water they had brought themselves or boiled the river water in large pots.
"I didn't know it would change like that when heat was applied."
"It doesn't disappear entirely, but the potency definitely decreases."
The more it was boiled, the more the aphrodisiac components within gradually vanished. "Air raids don't work, and drugging the river doesn't work. There’s an experienced veteran among them. That’s my conclusion."
"Perhaps some of the knights from that time have joined them."
"They must have been pressured to retrieve Guinevere. 'If you cannot bring back Guinevere, you are not knights! Your titles are revoked!' Something like that."
Even if it wasn't exactly that, a Count’s son had been kidnapped by the Demon King’s army, so they had sufficient cause for revenge.
"500 adventurers. Eila, what are the odds of victory?"
"What kind of victory are you envisioning, Master?"
"Annihilation."
There was no reason to keep those who had challenged our legion alive. Those who realized Las could be made to repent through Las, but those who could not Las would all have to go through the two stages of ghoulification and demon-stone conversion.
"Are you killing them all? If so... it is 100%."
Eila was perfectly confident in our victory. I couldn't fathom where her confidence, guaranteeing a 100% win rate, came from.
"Not even 99%?"
"You ordered me to protect this city, Master. I will use any means necessary. Master, how much of the force will you grant me?"
"Use everyone except Galahad and the Flare Panther, who will face Belial’s army, and Lime’s slime unit, which will guard our main base. It would be better to use the Slime Dragons as well."
"Then, Master, I dare to make a proposal."
Eila pointed outside with a face full of conviction. There, the adventurer soldiers were crossing the bridge, forming ranks as they approached our North Gate.
"The moment they approach the walls, a frontal breakthrough with the cavalry."
"Crush them with brute force?"
"Exactly."
"A good choice. I’m tired of twisting my body to block them."
It was perfect timing, as I had been feeling restless anyway. I discussed with Eila how to crush the enemy adventurers, adding my plan to her tactical insight.
"...Is that possible?"
"It has to be. Look at what they’ve done so far. So, is it tactically feasible?"
"If it succeeds, it is certainly a viable operation. ...Still, since it’s a tactic I’ve never verified, I ask for a demonstration."
"Of course."
I summoned the necessary beings for the operation. The riders, the mounts, and the lances.
"All."
Arthur successfully completed the operation. With the plan approved even by Eila, I quickly organized the soldiers and climbed the watchtower to take up the drumsticks.
"Eila, I leave it to you."
"Yes, Master. ...After this battle ends, that."
"Let’s Las all night long."
"Yes!"
Eila left in her armor, and I waited for the cavalry to charge, gently scraping the drumsticks against the drum. Gogogogo. With a vibration that seemed to shake the earth, a group of cavalry exited through the East Gate. I drew out my body's vitality to activate my tattoos and let the drumsticks hang loose.
"Beat. Hot longing."
Kugugugu Kugu Ku Gugugugu. A red energy began to ripple across all of Las Vegas.
* * *
With a resonance that made their bodies tremble, the enemies who had occupied Zabiaba tried to break the adventurers' momentum in the north. "Speed isn't everything..." Gei felt a sense of déjà vu from the Orc drumbeats that repeated a specific rhythm. The tempo, flowing with a moderate, repeating beat, quickly became familiar, and Gei began to follow it with his mouth.
"Pa-ba-ba-ba Pa-ba Pa-ba-ba-ba...?"
It felt like the intro was just repeating over and over. Was it a song, or just a rhythm being repeated randomly? "Everyone, prepare for battle!!" Either way, it wasn't just a simple drumbeat. Gei raised his sword, and the adventurers all raised their respective weapons. As mercenaries seasoned in battle, there was no real command structure, but their experience could not be ignored.
"They’re coming."
"Looks like they’re running?"
"It’s a charge. The mages can just counter it."
The adventurers quickly devised tactics based on their collective experience. The mages took the center of the defensive formation, rangers covered the perimeter, and close-combat warriors prepared to defend with round shields or swords.
"Is this okay?"
"Hehe, of course. Sir Knight, no matter how much the Orcs charge, it’s like throwing an egg at a rock."
"...The egg is coming on horseback?"
"Pardon?"
Gugugugu Gugu Gugugugu. A massive cloud of dust began to rise from the east. And the figures visible through the dust were quite different from those of humans or Orcs.
"Cavalry...?"
Clip-clop, clip-clop. The numbers were few, but the sound of horse hooves was unmistakable. The adventurers naturally grew tense, and Gei, recalling his experience with the opponent's bizarre tactics, shouted.
"Cavalry charge!!"
Waaaaaaaah!! Piercing through the dust, the Demon King’s cavalry appeared. Orcs were riding on the backs of pure white unicorns and dire wolves. And in front of them were the crow-headed monsters—the Andras.
"When did they—"
"Las-!"
As the Orcs let out a bestial cry, the Andras riding in front quickly changed their posture. As the unicorns lowered their heads, the Andras lay horizontally behind the unicorns' necks. The dire wolves did the same, and the Andras thrust their heads forward. The Orcs held onto the reins tightly, fixing their posture so the Andras wouldn't fall.
The sight of the Andras, their beaks glistening in front of the unicorns and dire wolves, was like a lance.
"A, a lance charge?!"
As a knight, Gei couldn't fail to recognize the tactic, now being implemented by Orcs in an absurd way. The hardness of the Andras's beaks. The mobility of the unicorn-dire wolf mounts. The strength of the Orcs supporting them. And the loud drumbeats that filled them with madness and guaranteed victory.
"F, fire magic!"
The mages, who had been casting in a hurry, hastily fired magic at the cavalry. But the cavalry scattered in three directions, dodging the magic fired straight at them. Even though their mounts weren't facing forward, they dodged the attacks perfectly.
"What is this—"
The moment Gei was gripped by an ominous premonition—Thwack!! The Andras's black beak pierced an adventurer's stomach. The adventurer, his abdomen run through, rolled his eyes back and died instantly. This wasn't happening in just one place.
Thwack, thud, thwack!! Each Andras accurately skewered one human. Blood fountains sprayed, staining the fur of the unicorns and dire wolves crimson, but they didn't care at all, breaking out of formation simultaneously with their attacks.
"Y, you bastards—!!"
One adventurer overcame his pain and raised his sword high to behead an Andras, but—
"Las-!"
Thwack. He was struck in the back of the head by a club swung by an Orc and dropped his sword. There were many such cases, and the 50-man cavalry unit skewered exactly 50 people—not a single one missing—on the Andras's beaks.
"Ah, listen well!! You little humans!!!" The Orc drumming on the watchtower roared. "This is what you call a true lance charge!!!!"
10% of the adventurers' combat power had been shaved off.
* * *
"Phew."
As I threw off my robe, the heat felt as if my longing was boiling at 3,000 degrees. My whole body was drenched in sweat, and my hands, which had been gripping the drumsticks, were so worn that wooden splinters were embedded in my skin.
"Master, are you alright?"
"I am nothing. I’m fine."
Ryun took my sweat-soaked robe and checked my condition. All I had done was channel my vitality through the tattoos and the drums to cheer them on.
Splash, splash!! The cavalry threw themselves into the river to the west and moved downstream. At the same time as washing away the heat of their bodies, the Andras began to lay down the humans stuck to their beaks at the West Gate in the middle of the river.
"The adventurers, they’re all dead, right?"
"Indeed. The shock of the impact will be greater than the blood loss. The unicorns and dire wolves ran at full power. Since that momentum was poured into a single human, they couldn't possibly survive."
Orcs and Andras. Although the weight might have been considerable with two people riding, the Andras acted as lances and were firmly fixed, allowing the mounts to charge with ease.
"Because the double-charging also mitigated the shock to the mounts."
The Orcs supported the Andras with their own spears. All the Andras selected for this cavalry unit were female.
"It’s literally a Las charge. Hehehe. This is all thanks to you, Ryun."
"Me?"
"You provided the inspiration for my idea."
"...Oh my."
Ryun smiled bashfully and blinked. Back when we were doing it in a place where others couldn't see, inserting objects and firing arrows. I had helped Ryun’s rapid-fire by absorbing the recoil of the arrows with my whole body from behind her.
"Then, will you support me this time too?"
"I’d love to say... as much as you want, but I don't want to show you to others, so please hold back."
"If it’s that, then as much as you want. Heehee."
I exchanged trivial jokes with Ryun and kept a close eye on the battle situation. Although they had skewered exactly 50 people, it wasn't just those 50 who suffered damage due to the cavalry's breakthrough. Many were injured by being bumped into or trampled by the passing cavalry's legs, and at least 20 more must have been wounded.
"Compared to that, our casualties are zero. Hehe."
"Legion Commander, the cavalry has returned."
"You worked hard, Eila."
I brushed the dust off Eila’s body. To ensure the cavalry could advance smoothly, Eila had led them from underground, riding a Slime Dragon. Splitting into three branches midway had also been Eila’s improvisation.
"Thanks to you, the cavalry returned without any damage. Send the corpses to Rastuzard to be turned into demon stones, and tell the cavalry to enter the second round after a short rest."
"...Th, that is impossible."
Eila dropped her head with a flushed face. My heart sank at the unexpected thought.
"...Are there any casualties?"
"No. Not even minor injuries. However... Master, your drumbeats were so intense that everyone is in heat. They need at least 30 minutes of rest. The Orcs, Andras, unicorns, and dire wolves alike."
"......."
Casualties: 0. Serious injuries: 0. 'In heat': 100 people and 50 beasts.
"...Well, they can charge again in 30 minutes, so I should take comfort in that. It must have been too intense. Right?"
"Master, how about we do it while racing across the fields on Amducias later?"
"Lately, your thoughts are becoming increasingly filled with Las. Good, I accept. However, that is only if we lead this battle to victory."
Since the battle wasn't only happening here, I could only pray that they would protect the dungeon well in my stead.
"Meari needs to use her tentacles well."
Currently, Meari had merged with the Tentacle Drasil.