Chapter 119: Siegfried’s Intervention (4)

With Milton in the lead, the Knights began to crush the enemy.

“Guh!

“Ack!”

The Kobrook Republic had brought a lot of troops to conduct the night raid, but they couldn’t beat the Allied Forces in a direct confrontation. When Milton took the lead and led his Knights in a counterattack, the Kobrook Republic was unilaterally pushed back. In the end…

“The enemy’s counterattack is too strong! Retreat back to the castle!”

A retreat order was issued by the Kobrook Republic.

Milton’s eyes widened when he saw the person giving the order.

‘That person?’

He was someone Milton had regretfully missed last time.The commander-in-chief of the castle had personally come out to lead the night raid. This led Milton to realize all over again — the Kobrook Republic had decided to gamble with this night raid. 

The corner of Milton’s mouth rose.

‘The price will be heavy and burdensome when you gamble and you lose.’

“Attack the army! Follow the enemy!”

Milton ordered all of his Knights to follow the enemy.

There were no hesitations. Milton was convinced that this was the perfect opportunity, after all, the current night attack was different from before. Unlike the surprise attack where a small cavalry snuck out, attacked, then ran back into their castle, this night raid had mobilized quite a few troops. As a result, it took more time for them to retreat. Naturally, Milton couldn’t just let them go. 

“Kick their asses! Kick the ass of the Republic fanatics!”

“Charge! Charge!!”

“Wahhhh!!”

Milton pursued them and Jerome and his Knights followed after him and supported his momentum. When Milton and his men advanced, the Republican Army’s soldiers were soon carpeting the ground. Milton gripped the hilt of his sword tightly as he watched his allies advancing without hesitation and devastating power.

‘We can do this. We can finish it today.’

Right now, there were two outcomes that Milton was hoping for.

One of those two outcomes was if the enemies close their gates quickly, then he’ll destroy the troops that were in front of him. Not only would the surprise attack have failed, but they would have been abandoned by their allies. Killing those troops wouldn’t even be considered work. What’s more, Lieutenant General Bison, the commander-in-chief of the enemy, was a part of the blitz troops. This would be a great military achievement.

However, if the enemy didn’t close the gate quick enough, then there would be an even better result than the first. If the enemy hesitated and didn’t close the gates quickly enough, then Milton could end all of this today. 

‘If I could catch up to the rear of that group and hold the gates, then…’

No matter how strong the castle was, if the gate could be occupied, then everything else would be a breeze from thereon out. That would truly be the best result. The chances of that happening were quite big since the person leading this raid was Lieutenant General Bison. No matter how analytically you tried to think, it wasn’t an easy choice to abandon your commander-in-chief.

‘All I have to do is catch up to them before their commander-in-chief enters the castle.’

Milton spurred his horse to pursue them.

“Charge! Charge! Ignore the scattered troops and follow after the enemy’s main troops!”

At Milton’s order, Jerome spoke up from next to him.

“My Lord, the infantry is slowing down in the back.”

“The Knights and the cavalry will be entering first! The infantry can continue to come in after we capture the castle gates.”

“Yes, My Lord!”

Jerome quickly gave orders to his men. 

“The cavalry will follow right behind the Knights! Focus on breaking through rather than defeating the enemy! Follow our Lord!”

As soon as they received the order, the cavalry quickly followed after the Knights and formed a wedge-shaped assault formation. 

“Advance forward!”

“Ohhh!”

Milton was at the point of the wedge-shaped formation and led his entire army. With that formation, they showed tremendous potential in penetrating through anything.

“Kah!”

“Ugh!”

The assault showed an immense destructive power. Destroying and trampling whatever was in their way, Milton finally reached the Litinque Castle’s drawbridge.

“Close the gates! Don’t let the enemy enter the castle!”

The urgent command could be heard as Milton arrived at the drawbridge.

In turn, Milton spoke to his men.

“Take over the castle gates! Go after the windlass!”

“The Knight’s First Squad will follow me!”

Jerome led a small group of Knights to attack the soldiers operating the windlass.

“G…gah!”

“You… bastards…”

Jerome’s men quickly took over the windlass and Jerome extended the aura on his sword and struck the windlass.

Clang!

With that one strike, the castle gates’ windlass shattered. Now, it was impossible to close the castle gates even if they wanted to. 

“My Lord, we’ve taken over the castle gates!”

“Have the messengers report back to the entire army! We’re conquering the castle!”

“Yes, My Lord!”

Milton’s troops had finally struck Litinque Castle.

***

“What? The enemy conducted a night raid?! And we counterattacked and captured the castle gate?”

Viscount Sabian, who had been staying at the construction site, was surprised when he heard the report from the messenger.

“Yes, sir. Apparently, the enemy recklessly tried to attack during the night, and Marquis Forrest counterattacked. Now, the entire army is entering the enemy’s castle.”

“……”

Viscount Sabian was a bit rattled. This was good news. If this messenger wasn’t a spy bribed by the enemy, then the news he brought was certainly great news.  

‘But why does it feel so ominous?’

It was strange. Things were going too smoothly; much smoother than he had expected. 

The reason they were trying to divert the underground water stream was because Viscount Sabian had been convinced that the enemy wouldn’t leave Litinque Castle.

Litinque Castle was a solid and well-built castle, but above all, had suffered the least amount of damages recently. From the enemy’s point of view, having lost five strongholds and two great castles, Litinque Castle was the last bastion. So how come they were trying to turn things around and conduct a massive night raid in a situation like this? They even have the commander-in-chief directly lead the army?

‘If it was me, I wouldn’t have done that. No… unless you’re an idiot, nobody would make that choice.’

An operation had to take into consideration the consequences of both success and failure. But there was too much to lose if this operation failed. That gamble was risky even if they were winning, so how could they do this when things were already difficult for them?

Viscount Sabian really couldn’t understand.

‘To do something that unexpected… no, that’s ridiculous.’

It was the ideal result but the reason for it was too grim. Feeling uneasy, Viscount Sabian ended up giving an order to the messenger. 

“Strabus…no, they’ve probably already gone ahead. Delivery a message to Florence Principality, they’re waiting in the back. Tell them to immediately…”

As soon as Viscount Sabian finished giving him instructions, the messenger immediately mounted his horse and rode away. 

Viscount Sabian stood up with an anxious expression.

“All soldiers on the construction site will gather their weapons and follow me! We’re moving out immediately!”

There were only about 3,000 men at the construction site, but that was better than none. 

***

After capturing the gates, Milton quickly entered the center of the castle. In order for him to take full control of the castle, Milton either had to cut off Lieutenant General Bison’s head or have him surrender. But…

“Marquis Forrest. Did you find Lieutenant General Bison?”

Milton shook his head at Marquis Bologna’s question. Marquis Bologna had followed Milton with the Strabus Kingdom’s army. 

“I haven’t found him. I was chasing him, but then he suddenly disappeared.”

“How strange. Even if he hid within the castle, he’d still be like a caged rat.”

Milton agreed with Marquis Bologna’s words.

The castle gates had been taken over by Milton and the Allied Forces. Now that their troops had the upper hand, there was no way Bison could escape even if he hid inside the castle…

“Wait a minute!”

Milton felt a sense of dread. A caged rat. Nowhere to escape.

“Can’t be.”

At that very moment. 

“Milton Forrest! Luke Bologna!”

The person they thought had been hiding, Bison himself, appeared before their eyes leading a group of men.

“Are you ready to die, Bison?”

Lieutenant General Bison laughed loudly at Marquis Bologna’s words.

“Hahahaha… that’s right. However!”

Lieutenant General Bison raised his hand.

“I have no intention of dying alone.”

Lieutenant General Bison’s aide blew on a longhorn. 

Puuuuuh!

At that signal, soldiers who had been hiding appeared from all directions. The archers had been hiding on top of the roofs of buildings and on the castle walls.

“An ambush? But isn’t this…”

Marquis Bologna’s eyes widened. He had seen the archers setting their arrows on fire.  At that, Milton immediately shouted to his army.

“They’re attacking with fire! Retreat!”

“It’s too late. Fire!”

The moment Bison commanded, fiery arrows flew from all sides. As soon as the arrows fell, things caught on fire and spread at the blink of an eye.

“Neeighh!”

“Ac…ack!”

The Allied Forces were thrown into a panic. The flaming arrows fell from all sides and the fire spread rapidly. Milton couldn’t see because of the dark night sky, but oil had been poured into every nook and cranny of the castle. 

‘Using the Empty Fort Strategy’ and ‘Fire’ together? How could he have thought up such a great plan?’

Milton was greatly flustered. He had completely lost. He had been lured by the enemy’s bait and had led his entire army into a trap. 

“Guh… Retreat! All forces retreat! All of you, retreat through the open gate!”

The army began to turn back and retreat at Milton’s command. However, Lieutenant General Bison couldn’t let that happen.

“Do you think we’ll just let you leave? Attack their entire army!”

“Attack! Defeat the invaders!”

“Long live the Republic!!”

Through the flames, Milton gritted his teeth as he watched Lieutenant General and his men attacking them. 

‘Those crazy fanatic bastards…’

Fighting in Litinque Castle wasn’t possible in the current situation.

The fire was spreading out, burning everything in sight. It wouldn’t differentiate between enemy and ally, so why were the Republicans attacking them now? This wasn’t to win. Milton realized their intention - it was a suicidal attack plan. The problem was, even knowing their intention, Milton couldn’t ignore it. How could Milton ignore them when they were chasing after Milton and his men?

‘I can’t help it.’

Milton quickly made a judgement.

“The Knights will follow me! We are destroying the enemy!”

“Yes, Sir!”

They had to quickly put out the fire first. Milton let his knights stop the enemy from the back. He knew it wasn’t a smart decision, but right now, there weren’t any good options, let alone a smart decision.

‘We have to deal with them as quickly as possible before escaping.’

Milton made up his mind and charged at the enemy. But…

“Die, Milton Forrest!”

“At the very least, I must kill you!! Gaugh…”

The enemies were also desperate. The young Republican officers were ready to die. They were prepared to throw away their lives and rushed at Milton.It was understandable from their point of view. To them, Milton was an invader who was leading Lieutenant General Bison, their teacher, to death. Since they were prepared to die anyway, they were desperate to take Milton with them to hell. 

“Damn…”

The situation wasn’t great to begin with, but as the enemies rushed towards him desperately, Milton suffered more damages than he had expected. Their skills weren’t enough to threaten Milton’s life, but he also couldn’t ignore them. On top of that, they were also attacking him frantically. Even as he was cutting down his enemies, Milton was still anxious.

‘I don’t have time for this…’

In the end, it was a matter of time. He didn’t have the time to fight them, not when he was fighting in the middle of the fire. But then…

“My Lord, I’m here to support you.”

A horse bravely approached Milton.

It was Jerome who had been leading the allies from the back.

“Jerome!”

Milton welcomed him warmly. As soon as Jerome joined, Milton was able to quickly defeat the enemies he had been struggling with before.