CH 291

Chapter 291 – Puppet War(8)

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The Imperial Army of Habsburg with an alliance with the Republic of Batavia and the free cities sprinkled on top.

The alliance gave off a strong impression. However, if you looked inside, it was actually an army of 30,000 soldiers from the Demon Lord army. Orcs were the main fighting power within the army. This race, which was commonly referred to as the ‘pig race’, was born with a lot of vigor and naturally strong arms, so it was much easier for them to hold meter-long spears compared to humans.

This fact was crucial in offsetting the enemy’s cavalry charge to a certain degree.

“Do not back down! Maintain your positions!”

Demon Lord Zepar shouted.

“Become a wall and block the waves!”

He was the ex-rank 16 and the best within the Plains Faction and of all the Demon Lord army when it came to defensive battles. The commander who managed to block the terrifying assault of knights during the battle of Austerlitz was showing off his skills once more.

– Kuhula, kuhurb!

The orcs responded loudly.

The battle was becoming more intense.

To their right, Demon Lord Agares and three other Demon Lords were carrying out a battle on a mythical scale. It was literally a battle where hills were getting destroyed and the earth was being sliced. Both enemies and allies didn’t dare to approach that fight. The explosions were so rampant and dreadful that even Zepar decided to stop watching them.

“Beleth, Sitri, and Vassago……. We can only trust them.”

If their right flank somehow gets breached, then their plan would completely fail. The plan that Deputy Commander Laura de Farnese had planned out was delicate like a line of dominos. Their right side had to endure if they wanted to succeed.

– Clop, clop, clop!

The sound of hooves started to approach. The knights were charging again. An adjutant general spoke up.

“Your Excellency! The sixth charge is approaching!”

“I also have eyes and ears. How much time has passed since the last one……?”

Zepar let out an annoyed groan.

“Are you telling me that Brittany’s knights are actually monsters?”

This was already the sixth assault. Only an hour had passed since the start of the battle. Their movement went against logic and was unnaturally fast.

It was also the dead of night. It was around this time that demons had an overwhelming advantage over humans. Despite this, Brittany’s cavalrymen were able to perform charge after charge while relying on the light balls they had cast earlier.

They couldn’t lose either. Zepar pulled himself together as he swung his baton.

“Mages, cast your water spells! Spear throwers, throw your spears and stones without reserve!”

“Yes, General!”

The mages made the earth wet right before the knights collided with their side. They couldn’t turn the entire region into a swamp because they had to conserve their mana, but making the ground soft was enough to slow the horses down. In the end, the enemy’s sixth attempt at a charge bore no fruit as well.

– Keruruk! Keruk!

The goblins ran out of the trenches and set up more wooden spikes as soon as the knights retreated. Installing spikes was an easy task since the earth had become soft. Now when the human mages cast a drying spell over the land to help their cavalrymen, it also had the reverse effect of fixing the spikes firmly in place.

Queen Henrietta was in awe once she saw this.

“How impressive. If we leave the earth alone, then our assault becomes weaker. But if we use magic to counter this, we end up setting up their wooden spikes for them……. Hmm.”

Queen Henrietta wound up in a situation where she couldn’t do this or that. She was in a rock and a hard place. A general responded to the Queen’s groan.

“Your Highness, our men are doing their utmost and we have barely suffered…….”

“Any losses. I know. But the same goes for the enemy as well. Do you understand what this means? Time is going by with both sides suffering no losses whatsoever. That is exactly what they want.”

Not suffering any losses didn’t mean they were winning the battle. Even if one side is beaten to a bloody pulp, they would still win if they manage to accomplish their goal. In this regard, the Demon Lord army was splendidly stalling for time so that the rest of their troops could cross the river…….

A mediocre commander would probably stall for time here.

However, Queen Henrietta de Brittany was not mediocre by any means.

“Milianne.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I await your command.”

“I trust in the potential of the Green Rose Knights.”

Queen Henrietta took out her strongest card after about only an hour since the start of the battle. She was dispatching the knights that were commonly acknowledged as the strongest on the continent. The order of knights, which possessed two swordmasters, received their queen’s command and departed.

“Descendants of Brittany! Charge!”

“For our Queen!”

Their mages cast wind cutters in order to let the knights charge freely. The blades of wind flew over the surface of the earth and sliced the spikes in half. It was a supporting attack that didn’t reserve their mana. Demon Lord Zepar gnashed his teeth once he saw that.

“It’s the Green Rose Knights……! Spear throwers!”

It was the order of knights that Zepar has had an ill-fated relationship with for many, many years. He had lost all of his ogres to those very knights. He was finally going to be able to get his revenge here.

“Do not preserve your mana! Attack!”

“But Your Excellency. If we do that now, then we will not have enough mana for the final clash…….”

“If you have eyes, then look!”

Zepar was unusually worked up as he shouted.

“The final clash is now!”

Thus, the Demon Lord army cast their spells at the Green Rose Knights that were charging at them. The earth became moist and balls of fire rained down on the cavalrymen. It was just as Zepar had said. It became clear that this was going to be the decisive battle as even the human army had begun to use their magic without reserve.

Forty balls of fire flew through the sky and went from this side to that side and from that side to this side. A transparent barrier appeared and blocked the balls of fire right when the orcs were about to run away in fear.

The demon officers unsheathed their swords and roared,

“Do not back down! Death will be granted to those who retreat!”

The veteran knights within the order gripped their lances tightly and shouted.

“Break through! Crush them—Bestow death upon them!”

There was a massive impact.

Spears against swords, metal against metal. A deafening sound erupted as soon as they clashed together. Red blood was scattered everywhere. Hooves stepped on the faces of orcs. Their armor was crushed along with their skulls. Spears pierced through the chests of knights and came out the other side.

“Kuaaagh! Khuaaa!”

“Kuhul, kuhuprb!”

The sounds of screams and groans mixed together like a cocktail as they burst into the sky. There was no language there. Only the cries of beasts covered in blood were present. Warhorses bit into the shoulders of orcs while the orcs ripped the innards out of the knights that fell off their horses.

“Die! Kuaaagh, die already!”

“Kupurahala!”

Be it humans or demons, it didn’t matter who was tearing flesh off with their teeth.

Weapons were tossed to the ground. The high-pitched ringing of metal falling to the ground numbed the ears of those who could hear it. Under the orders of a queen, a Demon Lord, and most importantly, the desire to preserve their own lives, every last soldier fought desperately.

In this realm where people were becoming blind and deaf—.

“Maintain your positions! Kuh, do not break away from formation!”

“Do not rest and keep advancing! Charge! For the glory of Brittany!”

The knights ended up breaking through the spearmen formation.

At the lead was Milianne de Nazaire, a swordmaster. The blonde female knight spun her glaive like a windmill. An orc’s head would fly into the air every time the golden aura from her weapon cut through the air.

“Men, follow me!”

Fifteen knights followed through the path the swordmaster had opened up. The path which had seemed like it would let only one or two people through at a time instantly became wider. Once the fifteen knights got through, dozens of more troops poured their way through, eventually increasing to hundreds.

The Demon Lord army’s line of defense had been breached.

The feelings of joy and sorrow mixed together.

“Yes, that’s it! Royal knights! Keep up the charge!”

“Damn it! We must recover by any means necessary!”

Coincidentally, Henrietta and Zepar shouted at the same time. The Queen and Demon Lord stood up and swung their batons roughly. However, at this moment when the strongest spear and strongest shield collided, the Goddess had clearly taken the side of the spear.

The line of defense was split down the middle. For a moment, the spearmen at one section were slaughtered. The horses easily leaped over the deep trenches that had been dug. Hundreds of cavalrymen came pouring in like a dam that had burst.

It happened right when Queen Henrietta felt as if her victory was imminent.

“Second and third lines of defense.”

Laura de Farnese smiled.

“—Let them through.”

The Deputy Commander’s order was immediately passed down to the other commanders.

Different from the first line of defense that Zepar was in charge of, the second and third lines didn’t have trenches. They simply consisted of several layers of spearmen. The two commanders in charge of these two respective lines raised their batons.

“Men, open a path.”

“Step aside for the knights.”

Paimon and Marbas.

These two commanders weren’t exceptionally skilled at giving commands. When it came to offense, they were worse than Beleth and Sitri, and when it came to defense, they were worse than Zepar. Nonetheless, Paimon and Marbas possessed two absolute advantages that most other Demon Lords didn’t have.

– Kuhurub!

– Keruru, keruk!

The fact that they were high-ranking Demon Lords. The former rank 5 and rank 9.

At most, Dantalian was able to transmit his will to a few dozen demons at a time. However, these two Demon Lords were able to freely command thousands. Without the need for an envoy or any special command, they could make large groups move with only a single sentence.

The second advantage was the fact that they had the absolute trust of their soldiers.

Paimon and Marbas have never abandoned their troops before. Even when their supply lines were cut off and their armies were starving, and even when they were isolated in enemy territory and had to continue marching at any cost, the two commanders experienced these hardships together with their soldiers.

True leaders prove themselves through actions and not only words. In this regard, Paimon and Marbas may not be exceptionally talented in tactics—but they were undoubtedly trustworthy leaders of demonkind.

An absolute trust where the soldiers obeyed any orders given to them without even the slightest bit of doubt.

By utilizing these two factors, the legion commanders were able to splendidly pull off the orders given to them.

“……!”

The second and third lines of defense split open like the Red Sea.

The knight order maintained their momentum as they continued forward. If they stopped there, then the enemy spearmen would surround them. The Green Rose Knights advanced straight to the enemy’s headquarters.

“No! It’s a trap!”

Henrietta shouted urgently as she watched them advance. The generals around her tilted their heads. To them, it looked like the enemy’s formation was naturally breaking apart because they were intimidated by the knights.

“Your Highness, their charge was successful. Are their remaining lines of defense not running away? If we massacre their headquarters and attack their bridgehead, then…….”

“How does their movement look like they are ‘running away’!? Give Nazaire the order to retreat immediately! They must retreat even if they incur some losses!”

Queen Henrietta could see through the enemy’s movements even though she was watching them from a distance. Adding to this, even if she didn’t know the enemy’s plan, she knew instinctively that they had to retreat.

“Your Highness, I apologize, but…….”

However, realizing something didn’t give you victory.

“An anti-magic spell is preventing us from communicating with them.”

“What? What are you talking about? There are spells being shot all throughout the air.”

“I apologize. It seems that only the communication spells have been blocked.”

Henrietta furrowed her brows.

“They cast an anti-magic spell powerful enough to cover an entire area……but they chose to only block our means of communication?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Who would do something so inefficient?”

Henrietta’s mouth slowly fell open.

She quickly turned back to look at the battlefield.

“From the very beginning……?”

Henrietta gripped her baton tightly. If you were going to use an anti-magic spell, then you might as well block a various number of spells and not only things related to communication. If they were going to block spells anyway and devote a portion of their magic power to it, then would blocking more spells not be more efficient?

Regardless, the enemy chose to only block communication.

Like they were trying to lure in an appetizing-looking prey deep into their clutches.

“Death knights.”

On the other side, a blonde girl and a tall man were standing at the Demon Lord base’s headquarters. Among the two, the human called Laura de Farnese raised her right hand.

“Block their charge.”

At that moment, four-hundred broadswords surged up from the ground.

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TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Not much to say in this chapter. My nights have been pretty stressful lately ever since the wedding. I keep thinking about better answers I could’ve given during the interview and that’s been keeping me up longer than usual. Would’ve been really cool if they gave me the questions beforehand and more time to think. I’ll forget about it eventually… until the episode airs and then I suffer more.

I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.