Pressure, Compulsion, and a Hell of a Gamble (6)

The female knight sneered as she charged straight at me.

“Just a measly mage thinks he can stop a knight?”

“Warrior’s Valor!”

In that brief window, I cast the buff spell on the two soldiers standing at the front of the first rank.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Thud!

The chaotic ring of Bruno’s sword and Helmut’s tower shield colliding with the knight’s blade echoed loudly through the air.

While the female knight was occupied with the two of them, the remaining male knight tried to loop wide around the first rank and slip into our rear.

Not on my watch.

“Sir Rebenshtil! Fire!”

“Yes sir! Wind Blast!”

Whoosh! Boom!

The intense bullet of wind flew straight at the enemy and struck true. The moment it landed, the knight’s body was hurled backward like a ragdoll.

As expected of 4-circle magic—the tactical possibilities had clearly expanded. I could feel it in my bones.

‘The damage probably wasn’t that high.’

Still, just preventing him from reaching our rear was good enough.

After taking the spell, the male knight seemed to reassess the situation. He turned his head and broke into a run—straight toward Bruno and Helmut at the front line.

He was probably planning to collapse our vanguard with a coordinated assault and then push in step by step.

But if I let him do that, what was the point of even forming ranks in the first place?

“Hans! Elena!”

“Fire Ball!”

“Telekinesis!”

The simultaneous magical attacks from the pair, followed by thrusting spears, began to swarm the male knight.

He dodged the spears with light, almost annoyed steps and swung his sword to deflect the daggers flying at him via telekinesis.

Then—

Shuuuung! Bang!

He even perfectly evaded the final Fire Ball.

It seemed the physical gap was simply too wide to overcome without the support of buff magic.

But in that instant, my eyes caught the clear opening created while he was busy dodging their attacks.

“Fire Javelin!”

Whoosh! Boom!

The spear of flame shot forward like a bolt from a crossbow, slicing through the air and slamming straight into the knight’s helmet. The intense blaze that engulfed his entire figure soon produced thick smoke that swallowed the battlefield.

When the smoke finally cleared, the male knight was on one knee, barely holding himself up.

‘Couldn’t pierce the armor?’

It was a spell with considerable penetration power, but it looked like the impact point had been poor. The curved shape of the helmet must have prevented the full force from transferring through.

Even so, a direct hit to the head combined with that powerful flame would have rattled his entire body. The damage had to be significant.

“Hans, Elena! I’ll cast a buff on you two, so finish him off! Warrior’s Valor!”

‘With this, those two should be able to handle him just fine.’

Having made that judgment, I stopped paying attention to the male knight and turned my gaze back to the front line.

“These bastards are so damn persistent! Since when are mages this tough?! Get lost already!”

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Her swift blade sliced through the air, threatening Bruno and Helmut. However—

Thud! Thud! Thud!

It was helplessly deflected by Helmut’s massive tower shield.

The green aura rising along her sword clashed against the shield once more—

Thud!

And was once again knocked away.

“Huh?”

The female knight could only stare in confusion.

…Well, it was a perfectly natural reaction.

Until now, the only things her aura-clad blade couldn’t cut were another knight’s plate armor or weapons forged from solid steel.

But that tower shield? Both its front face and side frames were entirely made of steel.

It wasn’t some ordinary wooden shield. Even if the entire body wasn’t a single solid block of metal, it was still an absurdly heavy steel shield.

Of course it would bounce aura off.

When you thought about how knights wore full plate for essentially the same reason, it wasn’t strange at all.

‘Still, preparing that thing cost a ridiculous amount of money.’

I remembered pouring nearly a quarter of the unit’s operating budget into acquiring it.

“This can’t be real?”

“How does it feel to be toyed with by the ‘trash’ you looked down on, lady?”

Her head snapped around so fast I thought I heard it creak. Damn, I was worried she might break her own neck.

Her eyes were filled with murderous intent as they locked onto me.

“You piece of filth.”

“Now, now. Watch your language. I only spoke the truth, didn’t I?”

Her glare grew even more vicious. If a person’s eyes could actually kill, I would have died a hundred times over by now. Unfortunately, human eyes didn’t have that function.

…Probably. Honestly, after nearly ten years of being aware I’d reincarnated into this godforsaken medieval fantasy world, I still wasn’t entirely sure.

But since this female knight clearly couldn’t do it, I figured I was safe.

“Gahk!”

A short death cry rang out from Hans and Elena’s direction. It seemed they had finished the job cleanly.

The female knight heard it too, and her eyes changed.

She had probably switched ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from fighting to fleeing.

“Blink!”

I used short-range spatial teleportation to cut off her retreat in advance.

My mana was nearly drained, but it should be fine. I could still manage one or two more attack spells.

More importantly, I couldn’t let her escape.

“Lady, have you ever heard this saying? You can come in whenever you want, but leaving isn’t up to you.”

“Die!”

Swish!

The female knight closed the distance in an instant and swung at me. The strike came like a venomous snake—her green aura surged forward to swallow me whole.

The aura didn’t just coat the blade; it exploded outward violently. She must have poured every last drop of power she could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠muster into that one blow.

But why on earth would I just stand there and take it?

“Flash!”

Fizz!

“Ugh!”

She had poured everything into killing me. Her focus had been entirely on me. Therefore, there was no way she could have avoided it.

Her face, twisted into a deep scowl as if she’d taken the blast head-on, proved it.

The moment the flash went off, I threw myself backward, practically lying down to dodge the blade.

You know the bridge pose? It was something like that. The wound on my thigh burned like hell.

‘Ugh… Still better than dying!’

Whoosh!

The sword sliced through the air right above my head. If I had been even a fraction slower, it would have hit me dead on.

“Bruno!”

“Hup!”

With a short shout, Bruno’s blade stabbed into the female knight.

Her posture had been thrown completely off balance by the strike she’d aimed at me, and her vision was still useless from the flash. There was no way she could block it.

Stab!

“Kgh!”

A short death cry escaped her as Bruno’s sword sank in.

Shluk! Shluk!

The blade bit into her neck where the armor couldn’t protect her. Blood sprayed violently from the artery in time with her heartbeat.

Given how wildly she had been moving just moments before, it was inevitable.

The blood flowed downward with gravity, soaking her armor and me as I lay beneath her.

Even then, she kept struggling.

I could feel her fierce determination—she was going to take me with her even if she died.

But her vision still hadn’t recovered, and the blood rapidly draining from her body slowly robbed her of strength. Eventually, she went limp and met her end.

“Hah… It’s finally over.”

“What will you do now, sir? Shall we link up with the knights?”

I shook my head and pointed toward the far side of the forest.

“Waaaaaaaah!”

The sound of many voices shouting in the distance. It was probably the enemy infantry’s battle cry.

Something good must have happened on their side—something that boosted their morale.

“Our knights… have probably been wiped out.”

“I… see.”

Hans lowered his head, clearly devastated. It almost looked like he was holding back tears.

Regardless of the operation’s success or failure, they had been comrades who shared the same meals back in Weistenfel. They must have grown quite close.

Hans had always been warm-hearted and polite; he got along well with the knights. There were probably some he had genuinely considered friends, regardless of status or position.

…There was nothing to be done. This was war.

“We’re pulling out. Prepare the horses.”

“Yes, sir.”

His reply sounded drained of energy.

Soon after, I heard Hans and the rest of the unit moving to fetch the horses.

Since my injury made it difficult to move, I leaned against a tree trunk and waited while they went ahead.

As I sat there quietly staring up at the sky, reflections on this operation came to mind.

…In the end, the plan to hold out for six hours while whittling down the enemy could only be called a partial success.

It had been an incredibly risky gamble from the start. There were too many variables.

The early stages had gone quite well, but once the enemy launched a proper counterattack, everything collapsed.

‘Mage units are excellent at devouring infantry, but they still have far too many weaknesses when facing knights.’

We had no means of building field fortifications while moving that could stop a mounted knight’s charge.

It wasn’t like we could carry excavators around with us.

Using magic to dig was possible, but it consumed far more mana than expected and was terribly inefficient.

‘Erasing earth entirely is high-level magic and out of the question. Digging and moving it? Digging already eats a lot of mana, and moving it consumes power proportional to mass. And this isn’t even sand—it’s heavy, moisture-laden soil.’

In the end, the only real answer was manual labor. But for that, we needed proper tools, and we didn’t have any.

In this rotten medieval fantasy world where even iron tools weren’t properly supplied to civilians, there was no way proper entrenching tools would be available.

‘Well, knights can’t just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠charge blindly into a large army either. In the end, it’s all rock-paper-scissors.’

Knights could indeed slaughter infantry, but knights themselves were closer to strategic assets. No matter how many foot soldiers they killed, losing even one knight caused their overall combat power to plummet. They couldn’t afford to charge recklessly.

So the dynamic became: we devoured the enemy infantry, the knights devoured us, and then our infantry had to build positions to stop those knights.

‘Still, it wasn’t a complete failure. I just hope this leads to the successful execution of the Empty Fort Strategy.’

Even though the 1st Prince had the support of many knights, now that even the Eastern Knight Order had joined the 2nd Prince, our advantage in knightly strength felt as distant as walking through thick fog.

In that situation, while we had certainly thinned out the enemy troops, we had also lost far too many of our own knights.

If that was a mistake, it was a bitterly painful one.

“Damn it. We clearly won… but it doesn’t feel like we won at all.”

The endless string of trials left me feeling exhausted.

The tactics and preparations I had made over the past months had indeed shone through, allowing us to survive tonight’s operation. Yet the result still tasted only of bitterness and regret.

Clop! Clop!

The sound of approaching horses reached my ears, and at the same time, the sky began to brighten.

The long night was finally over, and dawn was breaking.

“Commander!”

Hearing Hans’s call, I pushed myself up from the tree trunk with great effort.

…Well, what choice did I have?

I had to keep running until the very end.

The appetizer of this war was over. The main course was about to begin.

I still had a lot more work to do.