386. Crowning (3)
386. Crowning (3)
- 1 -
"Seize that heretic at once!! Charge!!"
At the throat-tearing shout, the battlefield instantly seethed.
"Uh, uh...?"
"Is this right?"
Everyone was bewildered.
The Holy Kingdom forces and the Rugnisah army left behind, all of them alike.
Only a few minutes earlier, the commander had given the order to strike camp and prepare bivouac after hitting the enemy lines. But now, their allied Holy Kingdom army was ignoring every part of that plan and charging straight at the enemy lines.
The confusion did not last long.
"What are you panicking for!"
The Rugnisah commander drew his sword and raised his voice.
"There is the witch Philia Elskopf! The woman beloved by the king, the very heart of the Allied Nations!"
The tip of his sword pointed toward the enemy lines.
The blade quivered slightly, lacking deep discipline. But it was enough to show his will.
"If we cut off that woman's head, this tiresome war ends! Do not hesitate! Advance!"
The commander's cry carried power.
Instead of hesitation, frenzy began to settle into the soldiers' eyes. Instead of fear, hope.
'Yes, if we just kill that witch...!'
'We can end this war and go back to our children...'
There were not many who wanted to drag out the war itself for long. Unless they were politicians or merchants using the war as an opportunity. They simply believed this war was 'right.'
"Yes, that's right! The commander's words are true!"
"Let us go end this war!"
The voices siding with the commander grew steadily louder.
The vanguard swept up in Anselm's frenzy advanced. The main army began to follow behind, moving to support them.
Seeing that, a quiet smile rose to Libertas's lips.
"Yes. Try it, then."
A low, beautiful woman's voice rode the wind and drifted over.
A small whisper. A single phrase that brought a new phase to the battlefield.
That moment.
Hwareuk —
Pachut — !
Hundreds of magic circles floating into the void dyed the sky blood-red.
Countless spells summoned overhead.
But the commander gave his orders calmly.
"It's magic! Raise your shields!"
Hwoouk —
And right at that moment, the world was plunged into darkness.
A gigantic shadow expanded in an instant. Libertas's shadow covered the entire battlefield. As if night had suddenly fallen, everything ahead was swallowed into darkness.
"Wh-what is this...?"
"What's, what's happening?"
Dung — Dung — Dung — Dung —
The sound of drums echoing from within the shadow.
The color drained from the faces of the soldiers who heard that sound. They had felt something instinctively.
It was a sound as regular as a heartbeat, yet as heavy as something heralding death.
"That's...!"
"They weren't few in number..."
As the darkness lifted and the scene gradually revealed itself, everyone held their breath.
An army of tens of thousands, armed in black armor, stood in formation.
There was no wavering, no waste in their movements. They merely stood breathing quietly, glaring at them.
Seureureung.
The head of that army.
There stood a woman with a long blade hanging at her side.
Black hair, crimson eyes.
In those softly colored eyes, hostility and contempt overflowed.
"So these are the ones who dared to threaten the Countess."
Her voice rang out across the battlefield.
"Let them. Let us make them pay the price for their folly."
Cheok!
The black army began to move, and the vanguard beside Anselm moved to meet them as well.
'This is...!'
The Rugnisah commander only then realized his mistake. He should have kept urging the army forward, but the distance from the vanguard had widened during that brief moment they had halted, cowed by the enemy's pressure.
"Advance immediately! Support the front line...!"
It was precisely then, as the commander tried to rectify his error.
Peoeok!!
A single black arrow grazed before his eyes.
"Keueok...!"
An arrow laden with black mana.
It pierced obliquely through the helmet and head of the adjutant beside him.
"Commander! Are you alright!"
"I am fine! Detach the left wing and secure the flank! A new enemy has appeared!!"
An arrow unmistakably aimed at him.
The commander swallowed his furious breath and immediately reined in the soldiers' confusion.
"Men of Rugnisah! Do not panic! Repel that heretical army and aid the Holy Kingdom!"
There was not a trace of wavering in his voice.
The Rugnisah army had long waged war against the magical beasts of Astaroth, the Archduke of the Demon Realm. He was a seasoned veteran who had claimed his current position through countless battles. Only moments ago he had been overwhelmed by Libertas's momentum; his ability to respond to rapidly changing situations was more than outstanding.
'Banners of Haisen and Verno... Daniel Eskaf.'
His gaze fixed on the cavalry emerging from beyond the hill to the left.
Thousands of cavalry moving in perfect unison. Every one of them held a bow in hand.
'They'll switch to spears and swords once they get close.'
Having judged that, he immediately revised his tactics. Anselm's army charging out front still outnumbered the enemy. In that case, clearing the rear and then advancing was surely the most certain course.
"Left wing, hold with the shield wall maintained! Guard against the enemy cavalry's flanking breakthrough! Archers, prepare return fire!"
The formation was reorganized in an instant.
At the front, shield-bearers raised their shields high, and mages layered defensive magic over them to begin stopping the rain of incoming arrows.
Dugudugudugu — !
But contrary to the commander's expectations, Daniel's army did not approach beyond a certain point. The moment they were judged to have come close enough, the thousands of cavalry split simultaneously to left and right and began to circle.
'Could it be... nomadic tactics!'
An army whose vanguard and rearguard had been split apart. Upon that rearguard, an unceasing rain of arrows poured down. Kwang!!
And in between, the excessively destructive magic arrows that flew in from time to time made it utterly impossible to ignore the attacks of those skirmishers. Daniel's arrows were more powerful than those of any archer the commander had ever faced.
'They mean to pin us down!'
"The left wing and center will engage the Haisen army! The right wing is to go aid the Holy Kingdom immediately...!"
Having confirmed that, the commander attempted to split the rearguard in half again.
And then.
Kung! Kung! Kung!
"Commander! Another army has appeared from behind!"
"What!"
What met his eyes as he urgently turned around was a third army.
There was no refined air, no unified atmosphere. But the banner they raised bore the emblem of 'a dragon entwined with a black narcissus' — the symbol of King Yurena of Haisen.
'Where did so many troops come from...!'
For the first time, the commander was truly appalled.
It was a strange thing. The Allied Nations had clearly dispatched their armies in all directions. Yet amidst that, they still had the leeway to set aside separate forces to face the newly reinforced Holy Kingdom and Rugnisah armies.
He bit his lip and looked around, about to ponder how to handle the situation.
That was when.
"I shall go to Her Excellency. You hold them off."
The commander's face brightened the moment he saw the man who stepped forward. For it was Rodricks Arendel, the monarch-grade adventurer known as the 'Red-eyed Spirit Mage.' Beside him were gathered the main fighting strength of his guild, the 'Rainbow Song,' as well.
"I leave it to you, Count Rodrick."
While the commander himself guarded the Rugnisah army's rear, his guild, the 'Rainbow Song,' would surely reverse the deadlock at the front. The commander believed so, and before him, Rodrick twisted his lips into a grin.
"Leave it to me."
In his red eyes flickered a blazing crimson light.
- 2 -
My army at the front, Daniel on the right, Harai on the left.
While I pinned down the elite Holy Kingdom forces, Daniel kept the Rugnisah army in disorder with long-range mobile warfare, and Harai conquered the divided forces one by one. The reverse was equally true. Even if I tied up the Archbishop while the two held the rearguard, the battle would end. A flexible strategy that worked no matter which of the enemies proved stronger.
Our superiority was settled.
- Kuuaaaa —— !!
Even if a spirit mage who commanded multiple high-ranking spirits suddenly appeared from the opponent's side, it was the same.
"So that one is Rodricks Arendel."
A spirit mage, his red eyes flashing as he glared straight at me. Monarch-grade power emanated distinctly from him. Mana so formidable that even I could not help but pay attention. There was only one spirit mage on the continent with such strength.
"I will go, Master."
"Do so."
At Saya's volunteering, I nodded and gave permission.
- Kureureung...!
Saya's back as she struck the ground and soared, her wings formed from that familiar crimson-gold lightning.
'It should be enough.'
I lowered my gaze from her and looked upon those standing before me.
"Kill her!!!"
"Let us burn the witch!!"
The Holy Kingdom soldiers still intoxicated by Astaroth's power, rampaging madly. The holy power mixed with the Archduke's power was profoundly influencing their souls and reason. If left like this, some among them would likely have their souls, minds, and bodies completely altered.
'I don't particularly care if they're left that way, but...'
What I had to protect were my own people. The enemy soldiers did not need to be spared. But now, this situation...
"「Come to your senses.」"
Rather, helping them would bring a greater strategic gain.
I took a single step forward.
Tung — !
A wave of pure 'Essence' swept across the battlefield.
"...!"
An excruciating fatigue, as if it were shaving away my soul, pressed down on my entire body. Because I had used a rather large amount of power all at once to peel away the Archduke of the Demon Realm's power over a wide area.
Seuseuseuseu...!
But in exchange, all the 'impurities' drifting across the battlefield began to be drawn into my heart. The remnants of Astaroth. All of it, without a trace.
'My head aches a little.'
To describe its color, a pinkish power. It swelled beside my soul and breathed a twisted will into me.
「Make those fools kneel. Make them all lick your feet. Possess them. Take everything...」
A voice sweetly whispering as it touched what I was 'obsessed' with.
But.
"...Heh."
With a single small laugh, all those temptations shattered to pieces. There was no way that dreg, not even the main body, could influence my mind.
"...Huh?"
"What is this? My body... suddenly feels lighter."
Around me, the effects of Astaroth's power having vanished before anyone knew it began to show. Knights and soldiers who lost their frenzy and faltered in bewilderment, only to be subdued by the Allied forces.
"...No way."
Among them, those who were sensitive or powerful were already directing sharp eyes at the 'culprit.' Anselm's blessing, mixed with Astaroth's power, had not been a spell that functioned as 'mental armament' of holy magic. The true nature of that altered holy magic was merely 'mental magic.'
And the greatest side effect of mental magic was precisely this.
"Your Excellency! What on earth have you done to me...!"
"You manipulated us?!"
The moment the magic was released, the caster became the target of unprecedented hostility. It was the intense enmity born from the instinct of self-preservation, which any being with an ego would naturally feel.
If this had been inside the Holy Kingdom, there would have been no problem at all. It would have sufficed to calmly persuade them that he himself had not known, that he had only just learned of it. But this was the battlefield.
"Keep pushing them."
"Yes!!"
The Holy Kingdom army was collapsing on its own. And the Rugnisah army was held by the ankles by Daniel and Harai.
There was nothing Anselm could do. For now, even his own subordinates had become figures who suspected him.
"Come to your senses!! Everyone, get a grip!! The enemy is over there!!"
I began to walk. Toward Anselm, who was still spewing madness from the center of the Holy Kingdom forces. The noose Astaroth had placed around the Archbishop's neck had fulfilled its role.
'Though the one holding the end of the rope has changed.'
I held a faint smile at the corner of my lips. The holy war was over. Moreover, with the victory of the 'heretics,' something unprecedented in history.