Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Breaking the Encirclement
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Tunka i's stratagem had tightened the noose from all ten directions, then lit a fire in the center.
I sent heartfelt praise toward the enemy commander.
"Impressive."
This meant they had completely fooled our intelligence network.
No one who employed such a meticulous stratagem could be ignorant of military tactics.
"Als! No time to admire it!"
Fuji shouted desperately.
"We need to assume intercept positions right now!"
"No, intercepting now is impossible. We have to counter-charge."
"Counter-charge!?"
Intercepting meant holding position and striking back, while counter-charging meant advancing forward to strike back.
Both involved striking back, but the presence or absence of advance completely changed their tactical meaning.
"Conveniently, we're positioned at the rear of the formation. If we charge forward and counter, the retreat path will naturally open."
It wasn't coincidence.
I believed Dunan had deliberately placed our unit at the rear. Perhaps as insurance in case of his own failure.
"Anton, you head to the front and urge General Dunan to retreat, then escort him out. Ymir, you're on scout duty for the forces on our right flank. Report to me immediately if they show any signs of coming this way. And Eo, you take point with me."
"Right away."
"Yes, Young Master."
"Understood!"
My retainers moved with perfect discipline.
I stood at the vanguard with Eo, pointed at the approaching enemy, and shouted.
"We'll turn the tide of battle. Als Infantry! Advance!"
The soldiers hesitated in confusion, but as Eo at the front charged ferociously, they gritted their teeth and followed.
"Haaah!"
Slash! A pure white aura blade smoothly severed the necks of four enemy soldiers.
When with Als rather than Wade, Eo primarily wielded sword and shield instead of spear.
In the chaotic melee of close-quarters combat, sword and shield were more efficient than spear, so Eo rampaged wildly, cutting down enemy soldiers.
"Hah! Impressive. So that's Eonia Mirabel, the right arm of mercenary Wade. We can't fall behind. Felix Heavy Infantry! Crush and kill the enemy!"
Boom! As the heavy infantry raised shields and collided with the enemy, a shockwave like a falling boulder echoed out.
"What!?"
The enemy hadn't expected such a swift charge and showed clear signs of panic.
"Don't stop! Push forward no matter what!"
Such a voice rang out from the enemy formation.
"So the commander is around there..."
Whoever it was, they seemed to understand tactical principles.
Not holding and intercepting, but charging to counter.
Why counter-charge was the answer here: the enemy was approaching simultaneously from all ten directions.
If one force halted, discord was inevitable.
Of course, this left us protruding forward, vulnerable to pincer attacks from left and right, so there was risk. But for now, the enemy was focused on pushing in to encircle and annihilate, buying us time.
I planned to use that time to prepare against the pincer attacks from left and right.
"Fuji, brother. As I mentioned before, please command the engineer unit."
"Got it. Where to?"
"Topple that large tree in the lower diagonal direction. And for those trees over there, fell them in any direction—just take them all down. Once that's done, I'll give further orders. As fast as possible, please."
"Leave it to me."
Fuji called over the 200 pre-selected soldiers.
They gripped lumber axes with tense expressions.
Fuji led them to fell the trees on our formation's left and right flanks.
The Caliper army began chopping trees. Seeing this, Zagartan, the Tunka i commander, widened his eyes.
"They're narrowing the reinforcement paths on the flanks!"
Zagartan swallowed dryly at the swift, nimble unit movements.
"Who is it? Who the hell is commanding that forward unit...!"
He felt some unknown pressure.
"Scary bastard. Planning to trap even the flank reinforcements with this trick!"
The enemy was felling trees to block paths everywhere, shaping the terrain to their advantage.
'The boss Kraus, watching from afar, won't notice. He'll just hastily order reinforcements.'
The enemy knew that and used this scheme.
Zagartan responded relatively quickly.
"Galad! Unian!"
Worthy of being called the brains of the Kraus Bandits.
He planned to immediately deploy troops to deal with Fuji's engineer unit heading to the flanks.
But then.
"...Found you. So that's where you were?"
Als, having read the Tunka i command structure, finally pinpointed Zagartan's position and grinned slyly.
Pew! The arrow Als loosed flew toward Zagartan.
It carried aura but was shot from afar and not aimed at a vital spot, so it was easily deflected. But the goal wasn't to hit.
Flutter! A red cloth fluttering from the arrow's end.
"What is this?"
As Zagartan puzzled over it.
Eonia, confirming Als's signal, thud! shoved back the enemy soldier in front of her with her shield to create space, then drew the bow from her back.
"Hup...!"
Ping! An aura-charged arrow shot out.
Having infiltrated deep into the Tunka i forces, Eonia had ample range.
Even so, obstacles lay between her and Zagartan: dozens of tangled soldiers, dense trees, birds blocking sight, falling petals, and more.
Yet Eonia's arrow wove through them exquisitely, thunk! piercing Zagartan's head.
"Vice-leader Zagartan!"
"W-What!? Where did that arrow...!"
The Tunka i soldiers fell into chaos.
This was Kraus Faulkner's non-mistake mistake.
Worried the Caliper army might open a retreat path, Kraus had placed his strategist Zagartan at the rear.
Zagartan would cleverly block the enemy's retreat, or so he calculated.
But Als and Eonia turned that to nothing, cracking the ten-sided encirclement scheme.
Following Kraus's orders, the Tunka i flank forces moved to pincer Als's unit, but preparations were already in place.
"What? Why is the path blocked... Aack!"
"Ambush! Krgh!?"
The formation altered by fallen trees.
Spears thrust out from behind the trees, while ambushers hidden in them struck from the rear.
With reinforcements disrupted, a large retreat path finally opened at the formation's rear.
"Incredible..."
Fuji's lover Stina watched the scene, mouth agape.
"Just as Fuji and Yulia said."
They had spoken of Als like this.
─I have a little brother named Als. He'll be the jewel to glorify our family one day.
─Stina, you'll be shocked when you meet our baby brother. He's super cool and super smart. The only issue is he has no ambition.
Als avoided standing out when not as Wade, but "nangjungjichu" wasn't said lightly.
Those who watched him closely consistently rated him highly.
"Stina. From now on, many soldiers will pass through here to retreat. Stand at the retreat path entrance with Fuji and help the wounded withdraw."
"Y-Yeah. Got it. No, yes sir!"
Stina moved without argument.
*
*
*
With the retreat path fully open, Kraus's scheme could be considered foiled.
Because they had set fires.
This made sustained pursuit difficult once the battlefield stalemated.
'It's over...!'
If they had thinned the Caliper soldiers more, maybe, but the retreat opened too early for gains.
Somehow receiving a signal, Dunan swiftly ordered retreat.
"The retreat path is open! Everyone fall back! We exit here!"
The Caliper army began withdrawing.
Kraus bit his lip.
"Help us!"
He requested aid from Grandis.
Grandis, quietly observing, smirked and said.
"Position-wise, I can't intervene too flashily. How about taking out the commander guarding the retreat path, Kraus?"
"That'll suffice."
"Simple then. Lexit. Go deal with it."
A fierce-looking beastman man behind him stepped forward with a peculiar halberd—more like a glaive.
Mounting his horse, he eyed Als's position and charged at monstrous speed.
Under Dunan's orders, the Caliper army began retreating.
I maintained formation, defending the retreat path.
'This minimizes casualties.'
At least it wouldn't lead to decisive defeat.
I watched soldiers exit.
I just needed to hold until the main force ahead came to relieve us.
But then.
"...!?"
Thump! A chill gripped my heart.
Instinctively, I looked one direction.
A cavalryman radiating overwhelming killing intent suddenly approached from 11 o'clock.
Ymir and Eo, separated, reacted first.
"Young Master Als!"
"Young Master!"
Pew pew! They targeted the horse with arrows and daggers to unhorse him first.
Same as with Kallehan, but circumstances differed.
The foe rolled like a beast upon falling, whoosh! sweeping surrounding soldiers like leaves with his glaive-like halberd.
With them, clang!! I urgently raised my aura-charged spear vertically to block but couldn't withstand the force, bouncing back into a tree.
"Urk! What the hell is this guy...!"
Intelligence said Kraus's army had two fierce generals.
Right arm Kallehan and left arm Galton. Kallehan died by me, Galton was fighting Dunan, so this was a complete irregular.
"Hmph, you blocked my strike."
Unimpressed, he moved to finish.
"Young Master!"
"Get away from him!"
Eo and Ymir charged in simultaneously, engaging the man.
Ymir at 93 personal strength, Eo with sword and shield around 88.
Top-tier fighters both, yet they couldn't handle this monster.
"Fun!"
He grinned, enjoying the fight.
'No good. At this rate...'
They'd be overwhelmed.
With Caliper not fully retreated, we needed time, so I joined the trio.
"Don't come here! We'll handle him!"
"No, Young Master! Get to safety!"
They pleaded, but I was already braced.
"Haat!"
Kakakakang! My spear's best attack: Rapid Chain Thrust.
But he parried Ymir and Eo's strikes while retreating, deftly deflecting my spear thrusts with his armored elbows and iron greaves.
Movements like the incarnation of martial arts.
"What... Huh!?"
Clang! He repelled all three with a heavy blow.
Each block bent the iron spear Master gifted me.
'Even three-on-one isn't improving...!'
No choice but to gamble.
"Eo, let's do that thing from training! Ymir, follow our lead!"
"But Young Master Als, that's...!"
"No arguments!"
"Urk!"
Eo's concern: this tactic used me as bait.
I thrust spear-first in charge.
"Hmph!"
Whoosh! He swatted like a fly.
Gritting teeth, shing! I drew left-hand sword, crossing spear and sword.
'Chester Style Secret: Sun-Moon Union!'
Boom! Not deflecting with spear, but crossing sword and spear to catch the attack and seize his weapon.
One of Chester Style's secrets: Sun-Moon Union.
"Hm!?"
His eyes flashed as his weapon stuck.
Then.
"Hraaah!"
Eo charged, aura surging in her shield.
He gripped glaive one-handed, drawing back-sword to block, but target wasn't that.
Crack! Eo smashed shield edge into glaive midsection. Aura shield as supreme bludgeon snapped the weapon.
Ymir covered, blocking his sword so Eo took no counter.
'Success!'
A joint technique with Eo, once used on Master.
Training move to destroy weapon without direct harm.
Judging instant kill hard, we chose weapon destruction.
It landed effectively.
"You bastards...!!"
He showed anger first. He lunged again with sword.
Swordsmanship too much to handle.
'Even this doesn't improve things!'
Battlefield turned worse.
Our rearguard and midguard retreated swiftly, enemy soldiers swarming here.
Prolonging meant encirclement death even if we killed him.
'Another way...!'
Then.
He targeted me, the weakest of three.
I tried deflecting and escaping, but ting! Sword snapped unable to endure, spear fully bent.
Aura level gap exposed.
'Damn...!'
Weaponless, the monster charged me.
To eliminate one, he endured: shoulder stab from Eo, blocked Ymir's attack with forearm, still striking me.
That strike.
"Get lost."
Boom! Intruding Anton roughly deflected it.
"Urk!?"
He was repelled far, yielding in power first.
"Anton!"
"My lord, sorry I'm late."
Anton, who went to Dunan upfront.
Raising his glaive, he declared.
"Crime of harming my lord: ten thousand deaths insufficient!"
Crimson-black aura rippled with rage.
His hardened aura filled foe's face with crisis.
"Hraaah!"
"Krk!?"
Clang! Anton repelled him strongly, preventing me-targeting.
Thin sword struggled fully blocking Anton's attacks; he began yielding.
Their duel near even.
I wanted group attack to finish, but Anton's arrival meant time limit over.
Vanguard retreating here meant enemy forces close.
'This way, we all die.'
Retreat, caught by him; group kill, time insufficient.
He fought head-on till now, but four-on-one, he'd evade desperately.
Impossible quick finish.
Anton knew, telling me.
"My lord, I'll hold here. Escape the field."
"...!!"
No other choice. Sacrifice one to escape: sole answer now.
And he took it.
"No, handling defeat is the loser's duty."
Battered Dunan appeared.
"No need for you to clean up the defeat, Als Ilrain. Join the retreating army."
"General Dunan..."
"Go now."
Foolish to show pointless bravado.
I immediately ordered Anton to withdraw and escape the field.
To me, Dunan quietly said.
"...Sorry, Wade. Shameless, I know, but I entrust the army to you."
Dunan and his aides stayed as bait.
Facing the monster directly, Dunan, resolved to die, shed half-destroyed armor and charged.