Chapter 151
Chapter 151
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 151
Chapter Title: Battle of Jungfrau Plains (8)
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Anastasia Kerzhit had lived her entire life as a warrior of the White Wolf Tribe, which gave her a wild instinct and mindset unlike those of the Empire's officers.
That allowed her, unlike other Imperial commanders, to freely employ tactics in real combat that resembled herding beasts for a hunt.
Leveraging that strength, she had led her warriors in the Hatin Forest to victory by herding and toying with far more numerous enemy knights.
And now, as always, she devised the optimal method to hunt the enemy's crossbowmen and mages, then shouted it out.
"The Reich Empire and His Imperial Majesty the Emperor gave us a chance to serve by saving our tribe from being trampled by Ludwig and securing a land where we could live with pride! I believe there isn't a single one of you here who would want to run away out of fear of death!"
The horse archers chuckled as if repeating themselves would only tire their mouths, then fixed her with resolute expressions.
"Moreover, the one commanding us in this battle is Major General Jaeger, who spared no effort to give us a place to live and avenged our tribe with his own blade. Even if I die here, I'll have no regrets—so what about you?"
In response, the horse archers raised their bows high as a sign of agreement, steeling Anastasia's determination to accomplish her mission no matter what and aid the Major General once more.
"From this moment, our horse archer unit will herd and hunt those Switchland mages and crossbow whelps like bears driving prey. Follow my orders to the letter and move like a sharpened blade! Everyone, advance!"
With that, though she was now an Imperial noble and officer, she upheld the tribal tradition that the chieftain must lead the hunt from the front and charged ahead.
The rest of the horse archers spurred their mounts swiftly after her back.
After galloping for about three minutes, the horse archers under Anastasia spotted the Switchland crossbowmen and mages.
The crossbowmen and mages at the Switchland army's rear were startled by the sudden appearance of the horse archers and tried to hurriedly reform their lines to respond.
"Ready volley fire! After shooting, break left at full speed and loose one more shot!"
But the horse archers loosed their arrow storm at them faster than the enemy could turn their crossbows and staves toward Major Anastasia.
The Switchland ranged unit, struck by the sudden hail of arrows, completely lost their chance to counterattack. Seizing the gap, Anastasia's horse archers swiftly withdrew while firing one more volley and vanished like the wind.
As a result, the arrows and spells only struck the ground where the horse archers had passed, dealing no real damage.
The Switchland soldiers, thoroughly thrashed by the abrupt horse archer raid, vented their fury at the absurd situation.
"Have those Reich pig bastards allied with barbarians worse than dogs or jackals now?"
"Looking at that performance, did they sell their souls to the devil?"
"I don't know who's commanding that lot, but they must be some orphan without a mother or father. Filial piety's lost on scum like that!"
Anastasia might have been expected to rage at those words, but Major General Jaeger had taught her that the enemy's insults were proof she was fighting well.
Satisfied that everything was going smoothly, she scanned her surroundings once more.
The Switchland crossbowmen and mages had suffered heavy losses from the unanticipated rear strike by the mounted archers—no one could have predicted it.
Yet they now agonized over whether to continue supporting the Switchland infantry as per Viscount Tishino's orders or shift to dealing with the horse archers targeting their rear, now that they themselves were under attack.
"Captain, sir, our crossbowmen are getting slaughtered like this. We'll all die."
"I know that, but our orders are to support the front from the rear."
"If we collapse, we can't support the front anyway."
With their formation in such disarray, Anastasia even considered charging in with her sword.
"Normally, we'd circle wide in formation here and keep shooting arrows, but our foes are mages and crossbowmen. Instead of spinning in place from fixed positions, we'll adjust speed and circle them erratically. Everyone! Nock arrows and charge!"
The horse archers' assigned role was to completely divert the attention of the Switchland ranged attackers who were providing rear support fire.
She judged that irregular movements to harry their rear would be the most effective way to torment the Switchland soldiers.
Having so decided, just as the Switchland troops refocused and abandoned infantry support to concentrate their ranged fire on the mere 400 horse archers...
"Send the signal to Lieutenant Colonel Werner! We win only if the knight unit charges when all their attention is on us!"
She issued the order and loosed another volley at the Switchland crossbowmen and mages.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Werner was a man who, though now leading 400 knights under the title of senior battalion commander, harbored ambitions of soon donning a colonel's epaulets.
Thus, he thirsted for achievements that would unmistakably catch the eye.
And now, an unmissable opportunity to rack up merits had arrived for him.
"For the great Empire and Major General Jaeger, who will become the Empire's youngest field marshal! For our honor and glory—are you ready to stake your lives!"
The knights roared their genuine assent.
After all, among them were more than a few who had been aided by Peter Jaeger himself when he was on leave—visiting their homes during times of injury, medical bills, or other troubles.
The knights of the 7th Division, who had heard such tales directly from those colleagues, were resolved to leap into fire itself for their commander, whom they rightly revered.
"Good. Then take up your lances and follow me! As always, leading the charge is the senior commander's privilege! If you're jealous, promote yourselves!"
It was a somewhat boyish jest unbecoming a senior knight commander, but the vanguard of a charge was an exceedingly perilous post with the highest chance of death.
Among the Empire's noble officers, only those with the fiercest ambition for advancement would take it; the rest shunned it.
Yet Werner, the highest-ranking knight, always placing himself at the forefront kept the 7th Division knights' morale at its peak.
This time too, with vows to utterly smash Switchland, they slowly advanced toward the Switchland ranged unit.
When the Reich Empire knights closed to roughly 300 meters of the Switchland infantry, the horse archers fired their final volley and yielded the field.
Only then did the Switchland mages and archers realize the Imperial knights were bearing down on them.
"Call up the reserves to form a square and hold—get support!"
"You idiot, they'll hit us in less than two or three minutes—what support? Just keep blasting magic to slow them down!"
"Loose every arrow you've got! Then draw swords or whatever and hold the line!"
True to Switchland's wealth of veteran soldiers and officers, even in this plight they scrambled for the best countermeasures to resist somehow.
But soldiers without melee capability or gear couldn't withstand an assault from 0.5-ton warhorses and armored knights.
Witnessing this, Lieutenant Colonel Werner judged the Switchland crossbowmen and mages were finished.
"Not a wedge—hit them in a line formation to maximize casualties!"
He ordered a wide line to trample and impale the helpless foes with horseflesh and lance.
Now capable of no resistance, they awaited only trampling hooves, piercing spears, or being hurled to their deaths by chargers—as the Imperial knights closed in.
"Brace for impact, everyone!"
With that cry, the Imperial knights clamped thighs tight to bond mount and rider, surging forward to crush the Switchlanders under lance and horse.
Mangled into ground meat. Skewered two or three to a lance like kebabs. Launched airborne by impacts, experiencing flight for the first—and last—time.
A panorama of hellish carnage unfolded on a grand scale, the worst horrors human eyes could witness—and these screams, naturally, reached the Switchland infantry.
Viscount Tishino, who had hoped to commit reserves and seize victory in the infantry clash, stared in dazed horror.
Yet he did not surrender.
Because he still had a thousand ambushers in reserve.
He had lost his ranged attackers, but...
"Battles are won or lost 90% in the infantry fight anyway. We've still got a chance. We can win. Pull the 1st Regiment back to defend the rear."