Chapter 164
Chapter 164
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 164
Chapter Title: 51. Roaring Lions of the North (3)
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I stared blankly at the front-line infantry.
The cylindrical weapons hooked onto the edges of their shields with grapples were ones I'd seen before.
In the ancient past, when orcs, giants, elves, and dwarves ruled the world, each mighty race had their elite representatives.
The dark green kin had the 'Furious Flame Legion',
the giants had the 'Thunder and Lightning Legion',
the elves had the 'Dance and Song of Death Legion',
and the dwarves had the 'Boiling Iron Legion'.
The cylinders gripped tightly in the hands of the royal infantry were undoubtedly the hand cannons (hakenbuchse) used by the elite gunners of the dwarves' 'Boiling Iron Legion'.
The differences were that the dwarven gunners' hand cannons had far greater power, and the props they used weren't massive square shields but enormous battle axes.
It was something I couldn't comprehend.
Dwarves treasured hand cannons more than any rifled gun. They weren't something to hand over in such massive quantities to another race.
But whether I understood it or not, the weapons in the royal soldiers' hands were genuine.
Though their crude appearance suggested they hadn't been touched by dwarven hands, and their power couldn't compare to the originals.
Boom!
While I stood there dazed, the heavy armored gunners fired their hand cannons once more.
The monsters beyond the shields collapsed in heaps.
Click.
As the monsters faltered momentarily, half the heavy armored gunners fell back to the rear ranks. The remaining gunners laid their shields horizontally and filled the gaps in the front line.
Clack.
The retreated gunners broke open their hand cannons.
They extracted something and reloaded with astonishing speed.
Having finished, the heavy armored gunners returned to the front line.
Boom! Boom!
The hand cannons of the freshly returned heavy armored gunners spat fire again.
As the monsters hesitated once more, half the gunners fell back to the rear.
From breaking open the hand cannons, reloading, and returning to the front—it took only a dozen seconds or so.
Those who had stepped aside fired in unison upon their return.
This scene repeated itself several times.
The heavy armored gunner unit wasn't just holding back the monsters—they were overwhelming them.
There were crises, too.
Large monsters charged on even after taking hand cannon hits.
That was when the Royal Knights stepped in.
The heavy armored gunners opened the shield wall, the Royal Knights felled the large monsters, then returned. The heavy armored gunners closed the wall again.
The entire process flowed so naturally.
Those from Winter Castle who had doubted how much the capital's support troops—virtually without real combat experience—could contribute now let out exclamations from all around.
But not everyone was just admiring.
"How long are you going to sit back and watch?!"
Vincent roared fiercely.
At that moment, the Winter Castle knights who had fallen back to gather their strength surged forward as one.
Click!
The heavy armored gunners parted the shield wall as if they had eyes in the back of their heads.
Rumble.
The Winter Castle knights poured through the gap in the shield wall.
And then they went berserk.
The sword auras, dimmed from near exhaustion, now shone vividly again. They seemed to have recovered a fair bit of their energy in that short time.
Valiant orcs were swept away by the knights' blades. Ferocious large monsters spewed blood from multiple wounds under the knights' combined assaults and toppled over.
The Winter Castle soldiers raised cheers. The heavy armored gunners slammed their shields down, emitting sharp metallic clangs.
Vmmm.
Sword cries echoed from all directions.
Toot! Toooooot! Toooooooooot!
Right then, horn blasts reverberated.
"Reinforcements have arrived!"
No sooner had the words left than from far behind the walls,
thud, thud, thud.
A group of troops appeared, their heavy footfalls shaking the ground.
Shadows cloaked head to toe in mantles—dwarves.
The lead dwarf flipped back his mantle's hood.
"It's been a while, Prince!"
"Meister Surka!"
He was Meister Surka, who had once visited Winter Castle with Prima Meister Turka.
"Here to lend a hand!"
At the unexpected dwarven reinforcements, I grinned broadly and welcomed them.
"Perfect timing! Any later, and there wouldn't have been any left for the dwarves!"
Surka burst into laughter at my words.
"What a stroke of luck! Dwarves prefer live orcs to dead ones, after all!"
With that, Surka led the dwarves up onto the walls.
"Raise your shields!"
Was that brief exchange below all the greeting they needed? The dwarves drew their axes and shouted immediately.
Click!
The gunner unit reflexively hoisted their shields high.
Thud-thud-thud.
Two hundred dwarves rolled across the ground in unison. Their stocky bodies squeezed through the space opened by the heavy armored gunners.
Slash!
Having pierced the front line, the dwarves swung their axes.
Kraaaagh!
Kaaak!
Legless monsters screamed and fell.
The dwarves sprang up and cleaved the heads of the downed monsters.
That was the beginning.
Two hundred dwarves began hacking at the monsters like madmen.
Chop, split, chop again.
Defense was nowhere in their minds. The orcs' crude blades couldn't even scratch their armor and helms.
Clang!
A sturdy orc's thrust bounced right off.
"You damned bastard!"
"Get lost, you stinking scum!"
The enraged dwarves struck back immediately.
Kraaaagh!
Monster screams filled the air everywhere.
"Winter Castle!"
Right then, Vincent bellowed fiercely.
"All but the minimum needed to hold the walls—switch to offense!"
The gates groaned open.
The black-plated spearmen, fully armored and lined up, charged out en masse.
Leading them was the Knight of Advance,
descendant of Blood Lion Gallerhad, famed for godlike horsemanship where none could match him mounted,
Gallerhan Gallerhad.
Whoosh!
As Gallerhan passed through the gates, winds whipped up.
It was the Gallerhad house's battle poem, Poem of the Gale.
Man and horse as one, Gallerhan thrust his spear. He cleaved through the densely packed monsters like the wind itself, without pause to set foot.
"Don't lag behind the newbie!"
The one-eyed cavalry captain roared savagely, supporting from behind.
Arwen and that Ilai bastard were with him too, having descended the walls unnoticed.
Seeing them slice through the dark green wave, the dwarves rolled over the piled monster corpses in front of the walls.
"Hyah!"
"Hup!"
The dwarves, clad head to toe in iron, rolled like massive iron balls. Wherever they passed, monsters screamed and tumbled into the corpse piles below.
Winter Castle knights followed, slashing down monsters the dwarves had missed.
"We can't be outdone! Brothers of the North! Join me!"
The knights and soldiers sent by northern nobles gripped swords and spears and charged out from the walls through the gates.
The dark green wave crashing against Winter Castle split and shattered.
The monsters began hesitating and falling back.
Winter Castle's army plunged blades and spears into the backs of the retreating monsters.
"Pursue them!"
The excited knights were pushing farther from the castle.
"Come back!"
I poured all my mana into shouting at them.
Right then.
Dong-dong-dong.
Drums echoed from afar.
Parting the fleeing monster herds, the orcs' elite war legion appeared.
At their fore was a massive orc clutching the banner of the 'Furious Flame Legion'.
"Smash them flat!"
"Don't retreat!"
The knights, spotting the sudden elite legion, roared fiercely and charged.
Grrrooooar!
Orc guards and orc warriors charged back at the knights.
"Kill them!"
"End this!"
The knights unleashed torrents of sword auras.
Grrrooo!
Kraaaagh!
The orcs gathered red battle spirit on spears, axes, and such.
And then—boom.
Hundreds of radiant sword auras clashed with thousands of red battle spirits.
"Kaaaagh!"
Dozens of knights flew through the air as bloody messes.
Thud!
Hundreds of orcs bounced away, limbs severed.
"Don't fall back!"
"I'll lead the charge!"
Arwen and Ilai scattered sword auras everywhere, smashing the orc war legion's front lines.
Winter Castle knights and soldiers trampled orcs as they advanced.
"Vincent!"
I turned to where Vincent had been and shouted.
"The troops have gone too far! It's time to withdraw!"
But the lord's position was empty.
"The lord went off with the Winter Knights over there!"
One ranger pointed.
Following his finger, I saw Winter Knights slicing through the war legion alongside their knight order, far off.
And at their head was Vincent, sword drawn, madly cleaving orcs.
I frowned.
Vincent's judgment wasn't bad.
The royal heavy armored gunners' prowess and the dwarves' joining.
The enemy's momentum had broken, our allies' soared to the heavens.
Pressing the advantage to maximize monster losses was entirely rational.
Plus, charging out when the chance came was already a given.
And indeed, our side was dominating the battle.
Dwarves dropped like cannonballs into the orc ranks turned their formations into chaos with castle-like resilience. Knights led by Arwen and Ilai battered the orcs from outside like fiends.
The elite war legion was crumbling fast, failing even to live up to its name.
Everything was going smoothly.
This way, we could surely break the enemy's spirit and scatter the monsters before day's end.
But something felt off.
"Ah...!"
I realized the reason belatedly.
"Damn it all!"
I spat a curse and stomped the ground.
"Everyone, fall back!"
I poured all my mana into yelling the retreat.
But it was too late.
"Argh!"
"Ugh!"
Screams erupted from spots across the northern coalition forces who had charged out the gates.
Orcs burst up from underground.
And those emerging orcs rampaged wildly from within the ranks.
Soldiers died everywhere.
The front-line dwarves and knights, unaware of the chaos behind, kept slashing orcs.
"Fall back!"
I shouted with mana again.
But the dwarves and knights remained focused on the foes before them.
Even with mana enough to reach the mountains, they acted as if they couldn't hear me.
Perhaps they judged it too late to turn back now. Better to shatter the enemy completely than yield the rear and retreat recklessly.
"They want to, but the northern coalition is blocking their retreat!"
"Idiots!"
The rangers shouted in unison.
The northern coalition knights and soldiers, hyped on Winter Castle's banners, were in total chaos from the orcs surging from the snow.
For Winter Castle knights to return, they'd have to push through the northern coalition's disorganized ranks. No easy feat.
"Better to smash the enemy's core and rally the north on the way back!"
The rangers were right.
That was far smarter. And the fired-up knights and dwarves had the power to do it.
Unless the Overlord appeared suddenly, nothing could stop them.
But our side wasn't the only one biding its time.
In the battlefield's center, thick with battle spirit spilled by orc warriors,
beneath the snow where Vincent and the Winter Knights were about to step.
Something enormous lurked.
Stealthy yet savage, immensely threatening.
The Overlord's presence I'd been seeking so desperately.
"Damn!"
Judgment could wait.
I launched myself forward.
Sword drawn in hand.
Slashing aside orcs blocking my path without a word.
I ran and ran.
The Old Knight, Royal Knight Order, and heavy armored gunners followed me at first, then stayed to rally the panicked northern troops.
Hearing them ceaselessly shouting orders to regroup, I kept sprinting ahead.
"Vincent!"
Finally, I barely caught up behind Vincent just as they passed over that hidden presence.
"You're late!"
Only now hearing me, Vincent turned with a gleeful cackle.
"Hah!"
Suppressing a curse at his nonchalant response, I kicked off the ground.
Boom!
The ground exploded, launching me high.
I leaped over the obstructing knights, closing the gap in one bound.
Vincent looked up at me plummeting from the sky, eyes wide.
Grrrumble.
The snow mound below stirred.
Thud.
A dark green hand burst from the snow, reaching for Vincent.
Vincent belatedly assessed and unleashed a sword aura slash. But the radiant aura scattered all too easily before the clotted battle spirit.
This happened before I hit the ground, before I could even draw on my mana.
In the slow-flowing time, I glared wide-eyed.
Shing.
Right then, a golden flash erupted from amid the knights.
Adelia. My beloved woman shoved Vincent aside and scattered her sword.
Golden sword energy clashed with red battle spirit.
And atop that, the Dragon Subduing Strike fell.