Chapter 153
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 153
Sturman addressed everyone in the meeting, but for several long minutes, silence was the only reply, broken by the occasional groan of pain.
No one spoke.
Not the captains of the Yusu Subjugation Squad.
Not the remaining generals of the Imperial Army.
Not the commander of the Imperial Knights, the ‘Red Spear of Roa.’
And not the surviving members of the Edelbreas Black Wolf Knights.
None of them had an answer.
In truth, there was no clear answer to give. Even Riaze had failed to propose any viable countermeasures. The capital itself was likely in utter chaos. After all, the Imperial Prince was dead.
Forget appointing a new commander; the nobles who had backed the prince would be too busy scrambling to save their own necks.
Since no one else would speak, Sturman broke the silence. "If there are no suggestions, then I will summarize the situation."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over them. "Our absolute priority is to raise the soldiers' morale."
The chain of command wouldn't collapse completely just because the prince was dead. If it came down to it, the remaining leaders could divide the sectors and take charge of the defense.
The real problem was the soldiers' will to fight. Their spirits had hit rock bottom. With Ar fallen and the prince dead, whispers that ‘the Empire is finished’ were spreading like a disease. Deserters had already begun to trickle away.
In a desperate bid to rally them, Sturman had gathered the soldiers and delivered a speech.
It was, by all accounts, an excellent speech. The soldiers had even responded with applause. Yet, he knew with absolute certainty—their cheers were hollow.
They were still mired in despair.
Their commander had died just hours ago; no amount of words could erase that reality.
"Our casualties aren't that high. If we grit our teeth, we can hold this line. But neither speeches nor rewards are working."
"We need a visible hope," the captain of the Yusu Subjugation Squad said. "We have to show them proof that we can win. Not something abstract, but a hope they can see with their own eyes."
"A visible hope… What is Sir Uin's condition?"
"She's set to arrive tomorrow. Uin wanted to join the battle immediately, but Garot stopped her, probably worried she'd lose control."
"Soft-hearted fools," Sian interjected. "I don't understand how they expect to protect anything when they break so easily."
"Easy for you to say, considering you're usually nowhere to be found," another subjugation squad captain retorted.
"It's not that Uin's spirit broke," Sturman mediated. "Those who care for her simply asked for a day's reprieve."
Sian leaned back in his chair, a crooked slant to his posture, and slowly closed his eyes.
Sturman turned his attention to him. "Sir Sian, how is your condition?"
"...I can fight, but don't expect a repeat of last time."
Sian, who had fired the opening salvo of the last battle, had pushed himself to the absolute limit to seize the initiative. If he used weaker magic on the battlefield now, it would be a dead giveaway to the orcs that he was exhausted.
"If you're planning to use me to boost morale," Sian added, "I should warn you, it will have the opposite effect."
"This is bleak."
Silence fell once more. With time running out, no one had the luxury of deep contemplation.
Into that heavy silence, Rainmay’s voice cut through.
"We do have a visible hope."
All eyes turned to her.
"We take the enemy commander's head. If Kurak is too difficult, we take the chieftains' heads. We do to them exactly what they did to us. Cut off their heads and hang them from our banners."
Her voice was impossibly cold. Rainmay had been unstable ever since Kart's death. She wasn't the only one; most of the Nixir Red Dragon Subjugation Squad was the same. Every one of them had a chilling gleam in their eyes.
"That's easier said than done. The orc chieftains are not weak. If we could kill them just by deciding to…"
"Our captain did it," Rainmay snapped. "He decided to, and he killed Gorgo of the Tazak tribe."
"..."
"Let me ask the captains here. Did you climb to your positions by only clearing easy dungeons?"
"To take the enemy commander's head, we'd have to charge deep into their army. Breaking through is a problem, defeating the commander is a problem, and getting back out alive is a problem."
"Then do you have a better idea?"
"That's enough, Rainmay," another captain cut her off. Everyone was on edge. "...You're not the only one who's hurting."
The captain seemed about to say more but trailed off with a heavy sigh.
Rainmay scanned their faces, her lips parting to speak again when—
"I will personally take the gatekeeper's head—"
"General! General!"
An Imperial soldier burst into the barracks. Sturman recognized him as one of the frontline soldiers he had tried to comfort earlier.
As Sturman called out the soldier’s name, the man cried out, breathless.
"Enemy attack! The orcs—a massive army is marching on us!"
*
"This is the worst possible timing."
Like a surging black tide, a massive army advanced through the darkness.
Sturman gripped his hammer, his head throbbing. To face them now, before they had even found a solution to their crisis… For the first time, a true sense of despair began to creep in.
What about reinforcements?
Uin was scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning, but he had sent an emergency request to Riaze. At night, however, the chances of reinforcements arriving were slim to none.
And the soldiers…
He could see the terror on their faces, hear it in their voices, feel it in the trembling of their bodies. Seeing the massive army looming in the darkness must have multiplied their fear tenfold. The giant, moving shapes of the phantom beasts in the distance were a constant reminder that their lines could collapse at any moment.
"Archers, draw your bows!"
Even as he shouted, the response was sluggish. The soldiers knew all too well that blind volleys in the dark would never find their marks.
Flash!
Just as fear threatened to overwhelm them, Sian soared into the sky and cast a spell.
Dozens of magical spheres of `<Brilliance>` rose into the air and merged into a single, blinding globe. It floated high above, shining like an artificial sun, and suddenly, the approaching orc army was thrown into sharp relief.
"...We have to stop them."
The enemy drew closer and closer.
Sturman bit his lip so hard he could taste blood.
With despair spreading through the army like a plague, they stood no chance in a direct confrontation. What could he do? What in the world…
"Sir Sturman."
He turned at the voice beside him. Rainmay was standing on a low wall, quietly pulling her red hood over her head.
"I was serious."
Her eyes were fixed on a single point deep within the enemy lines. Sturman followed her gaze.
He saw a conspicuous splash of red.
Kart's armor.
An orc, wearing that very armor like a trophy, was visible amidst the massive army.
"Even if I die… I will kill them."
The sound of her grinding teeth was audible. Hearing it, Sturman’s resolve hardened.
They would lose if they fought like this anyway. They would die. If that was the case…
"Listen up, all defense and attack squad members under my command!" Sturman roared. "This may sound like a madman's plan, but my mind has never been clearer. Those who are with me, gather! I, Sturman, am going to rip the enemy gatekeeper's head off right now!"
The subjugation squad members stared at him.
"From this moment, we charge the heart of the enemy lines."
"Are you sure about this, Sir Sturman?"
Sian's mode of address was inconsistent. He only used such honorifics for those he truly respected. And now, he was using one for Sturman.
Sturman let out a short, dry laugh. "About what?"
"What you're about to do."
What he was about to do. An operation to charge the center of the enemy army.
With Sturman's power, breaking through their lines wasn't impossible. If he could locate the gatekeeper and charge, confronting him wouldn't be that difficult either. Winning that fight would come down to his own strength.
"Can you make it back?" Sian asked, cutting to the heart of the matter.
Could he return after fighting the gatekeeper deep within enemy territory?
That was the real problem. Succeeding in that final step was the hardest part, which was why such a plan was almost always considered suicide.
But Sturman’s thoughts were different.
"If breaking through, fighting, winning, and returning alive is too difficult…"
The prince's death. It had happened after the fighting had settled, laid bare for the entire Imperial Army to witness. Since they had gained nothing in exchange for his life, his death had brought them nothing but pure despair.
But a death with a purpose was different.
A noble sacrifice. A glorious death in battle. If it could be framed that way, if the soldiers perceived it as such—it wouldn't be a blow to their morale. It would be the spark that ignited their fury.
In other words, if doing everything, including returning alive, was too difficult…
"Wouldn't it be much easier if we just left out the last part?"
A broad smile spread across Sturman's face. To Sian, the way the wrinkles creased around his eyes made him look as though his youthful vigor had returned.
"Focus your efforts on scattering the enemy, not annihilating them. The subjugation squads and I will handle the rest."
Sturman gripped the scroll in his breast pocket, channeling as much enhancement magic as he could. Sian cast several spells on the warhorse Sturman was riding. Its silver barding, along with Sturman's armor, began to glow even more brilliantly.
Drawing the eyes of every soldier around him, Sturman slowly advanced to the very front of the Imperial Army.
"Hear me, all soldiers!"
His shout echoed across the entire formation, reaching the ears of the subjugation squad members at the vanguard.
He had so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to do to raise their morale. But this was no time for a speech.
'I, too, started as a mere soldier…'
No.
'If we can just hold out until sunrise…'
No.
Simpler. Even simpler.
"Do not be afraid."
He threw that single sentence, a distillation of a thousand words, at his men.
Without waiting for a reaction, he prepared to charge.
Sian had stacked multiple casts of `<Light Feathers>` on the warhorse. It would take only seconds to cross the three hundred meters to the enemy lines.
His heart pounded in his chest.
Ever since he had grown old, the battlefield had become a distant memory. He’d spent his days as a mentor, a sparring partner. Whenever he joined the Edelbreas Black Wolf Knights on a subjugation, Uin and Barisik would always rampage on the front lines, ending the battle before he even had a chance to exert himself. He had recently fought the 'Blade Maid', but that was a duel, not the chaos of a battlefield.
How long had it been since he had stepped onto a field like this, with his life on the line?
"Sir Sturman."
A quiet voice called out from beside him. It was Rainmay, her voice cold, her preparations complete. Only then did Sturman realize he was gripping his hammer with unnecessary force. He relaxed his hold.
"Let's meet again alive, if we can."
"...I need an amplification spell," he requested instead of answering.
Rainmay silently complied.
With the magic active, Sturman left one final message for the soldiers at his back.
"I will forge the path."
With those words, his warhorse took its first explosive step toward the enemy.
The wind roared past his ears. The world became a blur at the uncontrollable speed, dizzying him. Yet through it all, the orc horde remained perfectly, terrifyingly clear.
"Snort! Snort!"
The frontline orcs grunted in panic. Charging forward, hammer poised, Sturman swung it without slowing his momentum.
Whoosh!
The first blow slammed into the flank of the foremost orc.
Crack, craaaack.
The sound of shattering bone was followed by—
Boom!
The wind-attribute magic imbued in the hammer erupted like an explosion. A gale-force wind blasted outward from the point of impact. Unable to withstand the shockwave, more than five orcs were sent flying from that single strike.
Immediately adjusting his grip, he swung the hammer again. This time, the orc he struck was slammed into the ground. A dozen others, unable to dodge the flying corpse, tumbled into the dirt.
With every swing, orcs were sent scattering.
Belatedly, the orcs who had braced for the charge swung their weapons. It was futile. The magically enhanced warhorse trampled them underfoot without mercy. Some aimed for the horse’s legs, but Sian’s protective spells held firm.
After dozens of swings, a small path had opened before him. The orcs, having witnessed their kin slaughtered so helplessly, had taken a step back.
At the end of that cleared path, an orc officer came into view. It was a Thousand-Man Commander, second in rank only to the chieftains. The beast held a massive hammer, much like Sturman's own.
"Come, human!" the Thousand-Man Commander roared. Ducking low, he swung his hammer toward the warhorse's legs.