Chapter 112: A Temporary Retreat

After returning back through the gate, I along with Mossan, once again attacked the enemy with our crossfire.

Quite a lot of them had come close to the gate but after the crossfiring restarted, we were able to push them back away once again.

I once again realized the astounding killing ability of the crossfire once again but, if the machinegun stopped again, we’ll have to leave through the gate once more.

This time we had returned without losing a single person but the on the second time, casualties will definitely arise.

On top of that, even I can’t continue to fire bullet arts infinitely either.

Although we still had margin, if we kept on continuing like this and the enemy continues to advance in the same pace, it’s doubtful whether we’ll be able to hold them off for even today.

But that thought ended up as a needless anxiety.

“…….the enemy is falling back.”

After we started the crossfire for the second time, we pushed back the enemy soldiers that had come close to the protective wall, and then soon after that, the enemies started to retreat one by one.

“Oi Kurono, they’re escaping but is it fine to not pursue them?”

Vulcan had thrown away his bow and was ready to jump out of the gate.

Well it is basic to go after the escaping enemy but…….

“We won’t pursue.”

“Alright, leave it to—–wait what!?!”

Calm down Vulcan and remove your hand from the handle of your sword.

“The enemy doesn’t have a machinegun but they have enough magicians to compensate for that on the other side of the shore. If we attacked, they’ll use that chance to use wide range attacks to kill us even if that meant that they’ll drag their own allies into it as well.”

“You can’t call yourself an Adventurer if you get scared of everything!”

“If their attack party tried to assault us continuously, we would not hold for even half the day. Even if that didn’t happen, if we decide to pursue them right now, there will definitely be casualties. We barely have enough people here right now already. We can’t lose more of our men anymore.”

“Tch, can’t help it then. If the leader says it I guess I’ll have to listen to it.

Oi, you bastards, return to your positions, don’t think of throwing away your bows already! I’m bearing with it as well!!”

Other adventurers who wanted to pursue like Vulcan scattered away with unpleased expressions.

“But, Kurono?”

“Hm?”

“Will the enemy come again?”

The Crusaders retreated back to the other shore, and the Pegasus Knights in the air have also seem to be disappeared.

The battle has completely stopped right now but this isn’t a simple battle where this could be considered as a victory.

This is a defensive battle. We need to keep on protecting as long as the enemy keeps charging.

The enemy has only retreated for a short while.

“I don’t know when they’ll come again but I’m sure that they have definitely not given up.”

“I see, well our objective is to buy time. It is good for us if they decide to stay idle, right?”

“Yeah, but don’t let your guard down, they might attack again soon as well. There’s also a chance that they might plan a surprise attack or a night attack as well. Be prepared at all times.”

Just what kinds of plan will the Crusaders come up with; I have no way of knowing.

So that we aren’t taken by surprise, we’ll have to keep watch 24/7.

We’ll have to continue this situation where we won’t know when the enemy will come attacking, for a whole week. Fatigue will definitely start piling up even if we don’t enter into a direct battle.

“From here on out, it’s a war of attrition——“

.

Just as the sun had begun t9o set, Norz who had been hit by the Ballista’s attack finally woke up.

Seeing his surroundings, he quickly realized where he was.

This was the Crusader’s encampment in the Vato village and currently he was inside one of the hurriedly constructed field hospitals.

Since most of the buildings had been destroyed by the scorched earth tactics used by the demons, they had used a comparatively large house in its place.

Norz was the only one on a bed, since he was the commander of the troops. The rest of the injured soldiers had been laid down on the floor directly with just a sheet.

“Urmu…….”

As he raised his still paining body, one of the medics who realized it quickly came here.

While the medic and Norz exchanged info with each other, Sister Sylvia who had received the report also came here.

“How is your condition?”

“No problem, I can fight again soon enough.”

If the demons tried a surprise attack right now, he had healed enough to have picked his mace and gone back to the battlefield again.

Conversely speaking, if it wasn’t an emergency situation, he wouldn’t try and move his body right now though.

“It’ll be troublesome if you died o easily. Please try to act a bit more prudently from now onwards.”

“Guh…….Rather than that, what happened to the battle? We have occupied Alsace already, right?”

Hearing that, Sylvia gave a sigh and told him otherwise.

“No, the attack has been stopped and the troops have retreated from Alsace for the time being.”

“Wh, What did you say!? What is that supposed to mean!?!”

Norz raised his voice due to the unexpected reply but Sylvia was still calm since she had expected that reaction.

“The enemy defence line was much more solid than we had thought. If they had continued like that, there would have been only an increase in our damages and so the decision to retreat was made.”

“Fuck that! Just how strong can that meagre protective wall be!? Do you know how many soldiers we—-“

“Let us talk about the details after we leave this place. You’ll have to listen to the reports made by the commanders of every squad as well.”

After saying just that, Sylvia left the room.

“Impossible. Even though so many soldiers and even the Pegasus Knights had been mobilised, and we couldn’t topple a single small village?…………”

Norz without even realizing that Sylvia had already left, held his head in his arms as he tried to accept this incredible fact.

It was a battle in which he had absolute confidence but first, the complete heavy armoured knight squad was killed by the enemy, he himself had fallen to an enemy ballista attack, and to top it off, they had been unable to capture Alsace in the end.

This was completely unexpected. To have retreated from a small demon force while leading a large army, it was a massive failure both as a commander as well as a believer of the cross.

It was so bad that it might have been better to have been killed in action.

But Norz quickly rid himself of that thought. The ones he needed to curse were those despicable demons who used evil underhanded tactics.

He will definitely consign each and every demon in Alsace to oblivion.

Even if he has to face some kind of punishment after this battle, he will definitely deal with those demons before that happened.

Especially that black dressed magician called as the ‘Devil’ by the army, he would make sure to crucify that bastard till his body rotted to the core otherwise Norz wouldn’t feel satisfied.

“Damned demons……although I had no intention to let any of you live in the first place, but don’t think you will die peacefully now…….”