Chapter 222
Chapter 222
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 222
Chapter Title: The Great Battle of the Osby Plains (7)
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Commanders under the Stockholm Kingdom Army did their utmost to calm their troops, shouting that there was no need to panic since the enemy was just a small force.
It was the best measure they could take in the current situation, but the soldiers' ears were deaf to the words of reassurance from their superiors.
With ambushers suddenly bursting out of nowhere and throwing everyone into disarray, the officers' voices lacked any authority or gravity—instead, they were laced with panic.
In truth, while the officers shouted "Stay calm!" their minds were racing with thoughts like this:
'What the fuck? Why are enemy troops pouring out of the forest all of a sudden? And with that many knights and horse archers... Are we just fucked?'
Even the officers, the heads of the army, were floundering. So despite seeing the Reich Empire Army swarming in from the rear with their own eyes,
the soldiers couldn't even properly form the dense spear formation they'd drilled hundreds or thousands of times.
"1st Platoon! 1st Platoon, form up! Hurry, if you don't want to die!"
"The company commander said battalion formation!"
"You crazy bastard! The battalion commander said company formation right now, not some frozen-ass battalion formation!! Fuck, these staff officer dumbfucks."
However, as the saying goes—one man's despair is another's hope. The blunders of the Stockholm Kingdom Army and Warsaw Grand Duchy Army officers were giving the Empire's soldiers a huge morale boost.
"Can you believe they're reacting this hilariously to just a tap on the back of the head? I'm starting to feel bad for them, Sergeant Max."
"They look like life's been rough, so we should send them to Deus's side quick."
"We rack up merits and change our fates, while those guys get to skip the rest of this hellish battlefield and die fast to join Deus. Everyone wins."
They were even cracking jokes like that among themselves, casually pressuring the enemy while holding their dense formation.
At the same time, the horse archers and knights on the far right flank of the unit striking the enemy's rear grabbed their weapons and charged at maximum speed, barely maintaining formation.
The knights and horse archers, moving at nearly double—nay, two and a half times—the infantry's speed, slammed into the Stockholm Kingdom Army infantry who hadn't even formed a proper line.
"If you want to live, huddle up somehow—didn't your mommy, daddy, or company commander teach you that?"
"You brainless fucks, no time for regrets—off to heaven with you."
"I grant you the honor of being the stepping stone for my promotion in death!"
Crunch—the sound of bones and bodies being crushed, blood and flesh scattering under hooves, soldiers flying through the air for the first and last time in their lives after being struck by galloping horses.
All of it combined turned the Stockholm Kingdom Army's infantry unit into a hellish mess in an instant, and the officers completely lost control over their men.
"You mad bastards! Grab spears—no, swords or maces, anything, and fight! Horse archers and knights are only scary when they're charging on horseback. They're not scary now, got it?"
"Spare me, I surrender! Surrender!!"
"You sons of bitches, I dropped my weapon and raised my hands—why...?"
Thanks to that, the chaos from the horse archers and knights colliding head-on with the kingdom army infantry snowballed out of control.
Just like a massive forest fire—even if you pour water and spray every extinguisher in the book, it does nothing as the blaze grows wildly in scale and intensity.
The shock of being charged by the suddenly emerging knights and horse archers plunged the kingdom army into mental chaos and collapse.
But the Reich Empire Army infantry that followed weren't satisfied with that—they charged with fervent zeal to slaughter the panicked, terrified enemy.
"Advance slowly but steadily in dense formation—push them hard!"
"If combat stalls, polearm and two-handers move in and kill the enemy! Not a single one escapes!"
"Forget the rest—just kill one more! This is your chance to change your fate!"
The situation was chaotic enough that the Empire's soldiers could have gone berserk.
After all, it was common knowledge among troops that disordered soldiers had effectively lost their combat ability, and killing them was as easy as pulling something from your pocket.
Even those blinded by merit might've broken ranks, but the Empire's rigorously disciplined soldiers didn't deviate—not a single one.
As a result, the rear of the Stockholm-Warsaw allied forces was already in shambles beyond the commanders' control, being butchered by the Empire infantry.
And this ripple effect naturally spread quickly to the front lines clashing directly with the Reich Empire Army.
"What the fuck? Hey, what's that weird noise from behind?"
"No idea, Sergeant Alexei. And we can't just leisurely listen to..."
"Makárov, Makárov!!!"
Allied supreme commander Field Marshal Bwadisław had suppressed information flow, so frontline commanders below brigade level didn't know the rear had been ambushed.
But cover your eyes all you want—if a fire's raging nearby, the searing heat tells you it's right in front of you.
Frontline soldiers could already sense a massive problem had erupted in the rear.
And at that moment, a shout rose from the Reich Empire soldiers:
"Lieutenant General Jaeger's stratagem worked! The enemy rear's getting torn to shreds by our knights, horse archers, and infantry!"
"The Stockholm bastards are surrounded—we've won!"
"The northern dumb bears have no way out now—no path, nothing!"
With those words, Lieutenant General Jaeger issued a full-army assault order.
"Lieutenant General's command: Kill every last Stockholm bear bastard! Don't let a single one escape alive!"
"We'll take an officer's head—no, our unit will snag at least a brigade commander's head! Chance to change your fate!"
"Life's short—might as well live bold. You only live once, so snag a head and get rich!"
The order stimulated the soldiers' primal urges. Battalion commanders, regimental commanders, and below all dismounted, drew their swords from their waists.
Then, mimicking what Peter Jaeger had done before, commanders whose bodies could keep up took the vanguard and pushed the enemy.
"Regimental commander's at the front! Protect the regimental commander! Follow him!"
"Follow me, Major Mainz! 4th Battalion, annihilate the enemy behind me!"
"Because of you lot, I had to whittle down my colonel insignia— you dog-tier bastards! I'd gladly gouge out your eyes for a game of fivesies, you scum!"
With battalion and regimental commanders—who never usually led from the front—now charging ahead, the Stockholm soldiers plunged deeper into chaos amid their already desperate situation.
In the confusion, troops near the forest began sneaking away as deserters, and the allies couldn't control it.
Watching this, Field Marshal Bwadisław sighed and slammed his marshal's baton to the ground.
"Fuck, you bastards! We can't just take this lying down."
He said that, but all signs pointed to two choices: slit his own throat to leave intact titles and lands for his children, or survive and face every punishment imaginable.
Feeling it unjust to die by suicide, the marshal decided to play his last card—the one he hadn't used because he didn't know if it was good or bad.
No, with fears of "internal betrayal" after that damned Empire Lieutenant General Jaeger raided the main camp, he'd kept this force far from the 200,000-strong main army, twiddling thumbs. Now he had to deploy them in this dire mess.
"Mobilize all 4,000 horse archers under Ishtaven and strike the Reich Empire bastards! Hit the Empire scum attacking our rear from behind!"
It was a drowning-man-grabbing-at-straws order, but from the kingdom army's perspective, it was spot on.
Because the Empire soldiers hitting the Stockholm rear never imagined they'd be ambushed themselves.
A blow to their backs would surely shatter their momentum.
The order quickly reached Ishtaven, whose chest swelled with ambition to earn merits here and gain a Stockholm noble title.
"Countrymen, here's our chance to settle in Stockholm with wealth and honor! Fight with resolve to die!"