Chapter 1153: Covered Retreat

The battle had only just begun, yet Kranzel was already at a significant disadvantage. Our strategy had obviously been leaked to the enemy.

Perhaps they eavesdropped on the meetings or had a man on the inside. Either way, Raydoss was clearly well prepared. Continuing the operation like this will be pointless.

We heard a high-pitched whistle-like sound echoing from behind. I followed the source of the sound to see a signal arrow in the sky.

These arrows are used as signals on the battlefield to send various commands, based on the number of types of arrows.

However, we had only three types of signals this time due to the battlefield being so narrow: advance, pull back, and full retreat. A single arrow means “full retreat”.

The signal came from Jean, who was still standing on the rooftop of Fort Elent. It seems he recognized the dangers and signaled a retreat to avoid further casualties.

That said, retreating wasn’t going to be simple either.

Our front line was in chaos due to the red mist of the Blood Maiden, in addition to getting caught in the middle of a pincer attack.

While they seem to have recognized the signal arrow, they couldn’t just drop everything and run.

「Boss! What should we do!?」

「Everybody get back!」

「Roger! Okay boys, fall back! Don’t make any trouble for the boss!」

「「「 Roger! 」」」

The adventurers acted quickly, immediately retreating instead of arguing about the rescue of the front line.

With them out of the picture, Fran could now move freely without having to protect anyone from the arrow rain.

War in this world might be more complicated than I thought. Large armies are required to maintain forts and cover wide swaths of territory. Yet, such armies will easily fall in battle against foes boasting extraordinary power.

Ideally, our powerful allies will defeat the powerful enemies, then the ordinary soldiers handle the occupation of bases and territory.

That said, our enemies think the exact same way. After a series of plots and stratagems from both sides, nothing will go as planned. The battlefield will always have both the strong, and the weak.

Besides, both Kranzel and Raydoss are major nations with several powerhouses of Rank A or higher. Armies with sheer numbers would be much more effective in any other war.

『Alright, all the adventurers are behind us now!』

「Nn! Do it!」

The arrows from the Madder Rain Captain were still flying at both Fran and the retreating adventurers. No doubt they intend to pin Fran down and prevent her from supporting the front line.

A few casts of Great Wall should be enough to stop the arrows, but doing so would also cut off the knights’ escape route.

Besides, that only stops arrows launched in a straight line. This sniper could arc arrows if he needed to.

No wait, there’s another way. This should buy enough time from the adventurers to escape.

『Fran, let’s do it!』

「Okay!」

We cast Great Wall, with me creating three walls and Fran creating one.

In addition, I invoked land magic to morph the shape, forming a passage thin enough to allow people through.

Now we can protect our allies from arrows without blocking our escape route. In addition, the morphed earth broke through the formation of the skeletons, weakening the momentum of their pincer attack.

Now let’s see how the Madder Rain Captain reacts.

I thought he might arc the arrows to get past our walls, but he exceeded our expectations again. He simply kept firing arrows in a straight line in an attempt to destroy our walls out right.

He smashed through the first, second, and third wall in succession. Despite the thickness, it seems the Madder Rain Captain used some kind of art or a special ability of his relic.

The arrow he fired after ten seconds of charging blew a hole wide open.

I see why he insisted on destroying the walls now. The collapsed rubble was now blocking the escape route.

It seems the positioning of that explosion was calculated perfectly.

『So our walls won’t stop him at all.』

「These red arrows are really strong.」

Yeah, way stronger than expected.

However… this also opened up a perfect opportunity for us.

『Our turn again!』

「Nn.」

Fran and I stored all of the rubble, before teleporting above Fort Marth. Then, we dumped all of it on them.

『Hahaha! And that’s how you use Great Wall for offense! Recycling for the win!』

「Master, that’s so smart!」

『Hahaha, I know! Might as well dump all the boulders and poison we had lying around too!』

Even if Fort Marth has wards protecting it, they still have to worry about the sheer mass of the rocks. Some of the rubble chunks were like 15 meters wide.

Not to mention the acceleration from falling over a hundred meters. The additional kinetic energy only boosted the destructive power.

In other words, this was a threat the Red Knights could not ignore.

Red arrows and red spear-like blasts came flying into the air. It seems the compressed red mist of the Blood Maiden could take the form of spears.

『Take this as a bonus too!』

「Kanna Kamui!」

The ward blocked our spells, but that’s fine.

As was the case with the now defunct Fort Swaise, activating the physical and magical wards at the same time will increase the mana cost exponentially.

Our main goal is to support the retreat of our allies, but it also serves to harass and distract the enemy.

『Let’s keep at it and draw their attention!』

「Nn!」

『Ora ora! Just try and block this one!』

「Yeah!」