Chapter 334
Chapter 334
Iron Emperor — Chapter 334
"No choice. We have to use them now. Once I tear these, lead the men out and destroy those battering rams."
"Understood."
The battering rams—the very things that had brought down the still-standing barricades—were priority number one.
"All troops, prepare to charge!"
The moment Muhyul's shout rang out, the thick scrolls from Buru's chest were torn all at once. At the same time, a thunderous roar exploded.
KABOOM!
The blast was followed by a roar like a mountain collapsing, shaking heaven and earth.
"Aaaagh!"
"S-save me!"
It sounded like the world falling apart. No—to the Holy Empire soldiers crushed to death beneath the crumbling walls, it truly was the sky caving in.
The path Buru had chosen was to bring down the fortress walls with his own hands. Moments later, the collapsed ramparts became an enormous mass grave for the Holy Empire soldiers who'd been scaling them.
"Destroy the battering rams!"
"Waaaaah!"
Through the billowing dust, Muhyul and the Gauri soldiers let out their battle cries. The night before, they had pulled foundation stones from beneath the walls, braced the gaps with timber, and had the wizards enchant the wood with explosive magic. The Gauri signal wizard might have been low-Circle, but the enchantments still carried enough force to shatter logs. On top of that, they had poured water into the cavities left by the removed stones and repeatedly frozen and thawed it, widening the cracks. That was how they had been able to collapse it all in a single blow.
Without that, it could never have been brought down. In truth, even with all that, they hadn't been certain it would work.
"Once it's finished, fall back fast!"
Perhaps because of the shock from the explosion, the Holy Empire's battering-ram crews offered little resistance. More precisely, the Gauri soldiers killed the men guarding the rams and carried the rams away intact. There was no time to smash them one by one, and with supplies scarce, the rams themselves could serve as excellent obstacles.
"Heh-heh-heh, now you're scrounging everything you can get your hands on."
Watching the soldiers diligently retreating with the battering rams in tow, Buru let out a pleased laugh.
Rumble...
Perhaps he could see the Holy Empire soldiers pouring through the shattered barricades and figured the fighting was nearly over?
"Th-that's impossible!"
When the walls of Gaemun Mountain Fortress collapsed as if swallowed by the earth in an instant, Earl Pelloman nearly fell from his horse. The sight—as though the fortress had been struck by a massive-scale attack spell—left him speechless, mouth agape, staring at the Gauri camp.
"What are you doing?"
"M-my apologies, Your Grace."
Only when Marquis Luchia's furious voice lashed his ears was Earl Pelloman able to collect himself.
"Even if the wall has collapsed, it does not appear to be blast-type magic, so the actual damage should not be catastrophic. Regroup the troops at once!"
"Understood!"
After Marquis Luchia's sharp rebuke, Earl Pelloman spurred his horse forward, but he could not help glancing back at the marquis. Though Luchia had shouted the reprimand, he had not completely lost his composure, yet almost none of his usual restraint seemed to remain.
Earl Pelloman gazed at the Gauri camp—the enemy that seemed always on the verge of collapse yet never fell, tormenting them endlessly—and felt a tangled knot in his chest.
When Earl Pelloman and his escort knights galloped up to the collapsed wall, the first thing that greeted him was an unbearable fit of coughing and blinding clouds of dust.
"Cough!"
Dust clogged his throat, and he coughed violently.
"Cough! My lord, there's something mixed in with it!"
The escort knights shouted through cloaks pressed over their mouths. Something like ash powder was mixed into the dust. Perhaps it was ash accumulated from countless fire attacks over the long battle, blown up by the collapse—or mixed in deliberately.
"M-my leg!"
"Cough! Cough! I c-can't see!"
"Somebody save me!"
As their senses adjusted, the wounded were everywhere. At the already-breached first defensive line, intact troops milled about in confusion—unable to advance, unable to fall back.
'It's not intentional!'
He could tell that the acrid sting in the eyes, nose, and throat—whatever it was—had not been intended by the Gauri army either. The fact that the enemy had survived it was proof enough, wasn't it?
"Everyone pull back outside the wall! Quickly!"
At Earl Pelloman's command, the soldiers who'd crossed the barricades began retreating rapidly. Arrows began flying after them in droves. The Gauri troops had realized what was happening only now.
"Run!"
Earl Pelloman's frantic voice rang out again.
The archer drew and loosed without hesitation.
"Keep firing without pause!"
Twang! Twang-twang-twang!
Bowstrings thrummed in rapid succession, and arrows buried themselves in the backs of the retreating Holy Empire soldiers' heads. Despite the unexpected success, Geom Muhyul looked regretful.
"If we had anticipated this result, we wouldn't have pulled the troops back this far."
"Don’t say that. They’re only small fry. If they’d charged in while accepting some losses, we might have taken even more damage. We should be satisfied that we bought time."
"Understood."
He answered, but still watched the Holy Empire soldiers retreating in haste with a trace of regret. Then Buru’s next order pulled his attention back.
"Everybody sit down where you are and rest!"
"G-General?"
At the sudden rest order, Muhyul cried out in surprise. The soldiers too, unable to grasp Buru's meaning, simply looked back and forth between Buru and Muhyul with bewildered eyes. At their helpless confusion, Buru clicked his tongue and spoke.
"Tch, tch. So you were planning to just stand there gawking until that dust settles and those Holy Empire bastards come charging back in?"
"Still..."
To Muhyul, who was half-agreeing yet hesitating, Buru added a few more words.
"Once this stretch ends, it's a battle where you won't know when you'll rest again. Think about it. The only moment you can rest might be right now."
As Buru continued his calm explanation, Muhyul’s expression settled. When even the soldiers began to grow solemn, Avilrun hurriedly cut in and started running his mouth.
"So let's just damn well rest! Look at those sorry bastards—they won't be getting any rest, just lining up in formation. We gotta rest so we can fight like hell again, right?"
As Avilrun plopped down with a sly grin, Buru let out a roaring laugh and dropped to the ground.
"Puhahaha! Right! That’s exactly it! Sit down and let’s watch those bastards form ranks!"
"Pfft-heh-heh."
One by one, the soldiers eased themselves down, chuckling at their easygoing banter. Of course, the soldiers' smiles meant something different from the grins worn by Avilrun and Buru. Muhyul sat down on the ground and watched the two of them. A faint smile lingered on his lips as well.
'Avilrun and General Buru... their acting is painfully obvious.'
They were smiling, but their eyes were not.
The soldiers smiled because they understood what the two men were feeling.
Even just pulling the troops back behind the collapsed wall and extracting the wounded who could be saved took Earl Pelloman a considerable amount of time. Re-forming the scattered soldiers into proper ranks was bound to take far longer still.
The reason was, absurdly enough, the death and wounding of the frontline lower commanders. True, no high-ranking nobles or core commanders had been lost, but the men who actually executed their orders were now in critically short supply.
The reason was simple.
Their job was to drive the soldiers forward and cut down any who tried to retreat, enforcing military discipline. They were the ones who directly led the men according to the orders handed down from above.
When the enemy vanished from the wall, many of those same commanders had charged up alongside the men to seize the gap and boost morale. They essentially doubled as shock troops.
It was the position that took the heaviest casualties—and offered the fastest social advancement. So the brave ones never lingered at the rear of their men. In truth, their judgment hadn't been wrong.
Their judgment had remained correct through blocking the arrow rain, seizing the wall, and descending the stairs. The real blame lay less in any error of theirs and more in the sheer unexpectedness of the Gauri army's actions. No one had imagined for a moment that walls so stout, walls that had withstood so much magical bombardment, could be brought down in a single stroke.
If the enemy had possessed substantial magical power, perhaps—but to their knowledge, Gauri had virtually no magic forces to speak of. And that assessment had not been wrong. It was simply the fact that Gauri had used magic merely as a catalyst to collapse the fortress that had produced such slaughter.
"Pelloman!"
"Your Grace! What brings you all the way..."
"They still haven’t re-formed the ranks?!"
"My apologies."
When Earl Pelloman bowed his head in shame, Marquis Luchia leveled no further reproach at him. He had already surveyed the overall situation while bringing the rest of the main army forward.
"Rotate the main-force troops in to relieve these exhausted men. Have the lower commanders prepare to resume the attack immediately."
With Marquis Luchia personally taking direct command of the battlefield, the soldiers' movements quickened—though it would be more accurate to say that the arrival of frontline commanders from the main body swiftly brought order to the chaos.
"No further effort is to be spent rescuing troops."
"Understood."
Earl Pelloman answered with a pained expression. His heart wanted to save just one more, but if they kept pulling out one more and then one more, they would burn through this night and the next day without ever finishing.
Even managing to recover the lightly wounded and those only partially trapped was already the best they could do in this situation. The battle had already dragged far past the expected occupation time; it was now the middle of the night. And the Gauri army had fully established its second defensive line and settled in behind it.
At a glance, the line looked less thoroughly fortified than deliberately troublesome to assault. They had saved time by weaving defensive positions between the buildings inside the fortress. Archers clustered on every visible rooftop; the elevation was low, but the effect was almost that of another fortress. Their remaining magical strength, however, was negligible. The Magic Corps commander was present, but using him without supporting wizards would be too risky. After all, this battle was not the end of the war for them.
'Hah... is the gap really that great?'
Suddenly feeling the difference between themselves and the Gauri army on the other side, he let out a small sigh. Their own side still had another battle to fight after this one, so there was much to consider, much to conserve. But for the enemy, this battle was their last.
At least, judging by everything the enemy had shown so far, they clearly meant to die here rather than show any sign of retreat.
The difference between a man who fights while husbanding his strength and a man who fights holding nothing back.
"What are you doing?"
A voice jolted Earl Pelloman from his thoughts.
"Nothing. I was only reflecting on how this battle has dragged on longer than expected."
Marquis Luchia, who had ridden up without his noticing, looked at Earl Pelloman—still not fully emerged from his reverie—then turned his gaze toward the Gauri camp and spoke in a cold voice.
"The desperate thrashing of men who stake everything... it is always a sight to behold."