Chapter 105: Lestall’s Secret Weapon
The Imperial Army, having suffered a near-annihilating blow in an instant, had gathered all its generals and commanders to regroup.
Among the pale-faced commanders standing in a row, one general, leaning back arrogantly in his chair, raised his voice.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey!! What the hell is this! I didn’t hear it was going to be this bad!!”
Vincent raised his voice, lashing out at the other generals.
“Indeed. However, it makes sense if you consider it the result of the total amount of Magical Power available skyrocketing due to Lestall and Belfast teaming up. With this, it’s understandable that Count Estoc and Marquis Ignat, even together, would lose to a force of around two thousand.”
Lloyd calmly and matter-of-factly stated his analysis, but Vincent and Ein fumed that this was no time to be nonchalant.
“We certainly underestimated them. We should have taken Marquis Ignat’s words – to never let our guard down when facing them at long range – more seriously.
I get that. But the problem is what to do from here, right?”
Everyone nodded in agreement at Misha-san’s voice.
“How many troops do each of you generals have left?”
“My unit was on the outskirts, so we’re unscathed, but we only had five hundred to begin with.”
“I have fifteen hundred. Half are dead or useless.”
“Mine’s the same. We’d be lucky to have two thousand soldiers who can move properly.”
“I see. I have five thousand. Since our attack order was last, our defenses held, and we’re unscathed.”
Roughly nine thousand. The Lestall Army and Belfast Army were unscathed with over twenty-five thousand.
This was a gap that even the Imperial Army, confident in its strength, couldn’t laugh off.
“You’re not going to say we’re just going to run home like this, are you?”
“Like hell I’m going to live with that shame!! At the very least, I’m not pulling back until after I’ve made a suicide charge and smashed them!”
Lloyd frowned at the voices of the two hot-headed individuals.
“It’s certainly a disgrace, but let’s assume we fight hard here and win.
How many troops would we have left then? This is a situation that will also affect the war with the North.”
“Well, it’s natural to assume not all of them are small fry.”
“Yes. At the very least, the Belfast Army annihilated two thousand of Estoc’s troops in close combat.”
And it was impossible that the entire Lestall Army was weak. They had at least investigated enough to know that Marquis Randall’s forces were elite.
“But… what if they end this without a scratch and then attack us?”
“Exactly, right? We can’t end this without showing them our strength!?”
Their words also carried weight.
If they didn’t inflict at least some damage, there was a risk their own country would be carved up.
If that happened, all the generals present would be held responsible.
“If only we could call for Marquis Ignat’s army…
No, they wouldn’t make it in time. We have no choice but to do it, do we?”
“Yeah! We’ve got no other choice!”
“Right. In that case, the key is how to force it into close combat.”
They were clearly outmatched in magical skill.
It wasn’t just the powerful explosion magic. The Light Magic that instantly drained Magical Power was also a major threat.
How to evade that and drag them into a melee was crucial.
“What else can we do but a suicide charge?”
“That’s right. Our only option here is to rely on the information Marquis Ignat left behind, divide our troops, and make a suicide charge.”
“Ah, we’ll be perfect targets for their magic. This is the worst…”
“You just gotta dodge it! If you have a small, elite force like mine, it’s easy enough!”
Just when their general policy was decided, one commander stepped forward and spoke up.
“U-um, I have a report! Regarding the matter where we had secured a promise of defection through the schemes of the Count Dinbarra family, the Marquis Hestia family had promised to send out a detachment of three thousand to perform a pincer attack.
Arrangements were made to establish contact beyond the eastern forest.
I don’t know what the current situation is, but I wanted to bring this to your attention!”
He was a Knight of the Count’s family, someone who had coincidentally survived because he was delivering a message.
His rank was low, but he was present because there were no other proper survivors.
“Hoh… we might be able to use that, huh?”
“Yes. Right now, whether we have disposable pawns or not makes a big difference.”
They could serve as shields not only against Greater Magic but also against regular magic attacks. In terms of the sheer strength of their soldiers, the Empire was superior.
Therefore, Hestia’s army was a very attractive option to use as disposable shields until they clashed.
“Then, first, we must rendezvous with them. I don’t know how compliant they will be, but…”
“If we’re to skillfully persuade them and bring them along, it’ll be me or Lloyd, right? In this case, probably me?”
“Could I ask you to do that?
In the current situation, they probably think my unit is the main force. If I move even a little, it’ll be immediately obvious.”
Lloyd looked at Vincent and Ein and said, “For Misha-san to go, we’ll have to put on a flashy show. Is that alright?”
“Of course. My motto is to do anything for a winning strategy.”
“It’s just a diversion, right? If you want someone to charge in, I’ll go.”
“No, if we’re going to clash anyway, let’s inflict some damage as well.
The three of us will go, each taking the five hundred most elite soldiers from our units.
With that, returning alive should be easy enough.
The diversion will officially last until Misha-san’s unit is out of sight, but after that, I’ll leave it to you.
You enjoy it, don’t you? Competing for spoils of war.”
The two of them smirked at Lloyd’s challenging words.
With their respective tasks decided, they each dispersed to their own forces.
And so, the Empire’s first move was now made.
“The Imperial Soldiers are making a move!”
A voice rang out from the Lestall Army’s Commander-in-Chief’s headquarters right next to me, and I stopped my mass production of anti-tank rifles, turning my gaze towards the Imperial Army.
They were raising a cloud of sand with magic, probably intending it as a smokescreen, but I could see them faintly.
It was a fairly small-scale advance.
However, judging by their speed, they were considerably skilled. They were spread out quite wide, an advance that sacrificed the strength of coordination.
It was hard to see due to the magical dust cloud, but it looked like none of the Lestall Army’s magic attacks were hitting them.
They had definitely sent out their elite of the elite.
However, the messenger who came to us said, “If it’s only to that extent, there’s no need for you to deploy.”
“As expected, they probably can’t just end things without doing anything.”
I agreed with the general’s murmur, but at the same time, a bitter feeling surfaced.
Are they going to let soldiers die needlessly for something like that?
However, if the balance of power between nations or the internal balance is greatly disrupted, wars will break out, and many people will die.
Is this some difficult aspect that I don’t understand?
And so, I accepted the order to stand by and continued creating guns.
“Just in case, load the magazines so we can deploy at any time,” I instructed a soldier, and had him load bullets into them.
This time, I prepared larger bullets than last time.
Ones with enough power to penetrate standard Maso. This too was a lesson from the previous failure.
Creating large guns takes a lot of Magical Power and reduces the number, but if they’re just going to be deflected by armor, then power should be prioritized over quantity.
Last time, against twenty thousand, ten or twenty felt far too unreliable, so my feelings leaned towards increasing the quantity.
However, this time, I’ve packed a large amount of Magical Power into the new model Backpack.
Even with the larger size, I was able to prepare a hundred of them.
With these, if I can snipe leisurely from a safe zone, they should bring about considerable destructive power.
While I was thinking about that, four thousand Lestall soldiers and fifteen hundred Imperial soldiers clashed.
As expected, Lestall’s forces were being pushed back considerably.
Among the Imperials, the three individuals leading each unit were exceptionally strong.
“Isn’t that… bad?” I asked, looking over. Everyone was dumbfounded.
Yuri-san was also wide-eyed and frozen.
That’s right. Even though all three of them had charged deep into the Lestall Army, soldiers were being cut down as if they were scattering Goblins.
“If the three of us were to face one of them, we might be able to win…”
“Even using the Empire’s secret arts, that would be the limit to ensure a kill. If that’s them at full power, that is.”
“Yeah. Those guys are trouble.”
They were indeed overwhelmingly strong.
In terms of ability scores, they were about the same as our top members or slightly above, but they had more experience in using movement magic, creating a significant difference.
I asked the General, the Knights Commander, and Genzou-san, “What should we do?” but they replied, “As reinforcements, if we’re told to stand by, we stand by.”
Just then, one of the three, presumably an enemy general, pulled back significantly and stopped. Facing him were Mr. Owen and Shinzou-san.
Facing such strong opponents, even I worried about Mr. Owen, but he had Elixirs, so he should be fine, I thought, as I watched the fight.
For now, the other two formidable enemies showed no signs of moving to support, and just as I breathed a sigh of relief, Shinzou-san launched an attack.
He stuck close to the enemy, and they exchanged blows at tremendous speed.
That guy is amazing. If it comes to that, movement magic can only be used for escape. Did he understand the enemy’s strengths at a glance and move to crush them?
But he could only do that because his strength rivaled his opponent’s.
“Amazing. Shinzou-san is super strong, isn’t he?”
“It means Lestall has finally brought out its secret weapon, doesn’t it?”
While they were saying that, Sensei used an Imperial secret art and attacked.
Because he was in the middle of an all-out exchange with Shinzou-san, the man who seemed to be the enemy general was cut down and sent flying.
“Oh! As expected of Sensei!”
“Amazing! That was perfect timing!”
Yuri also cheered excitedly at Sensei’s success.
However, with that, the other two powerful individuals naturally rushed to his aid.
Just as Genzou-san cried out, “Hmph, this is bad!”, Marquis Randall’s forces blocked the path of the two who were moving.
“Did they make it in time?”
“They’ll buy some time, but they won’t be able to stop them completely, I suppose.”
“If only the Marquis himself could go…”
“Having the commander-in-chief taken down is a bigger problem than being pushed back here, after all.”
It was then that a messenger soldier finally called out to us.
Asking if we could take on one of them.
“Understood,” I agreed. Genzou-san, the General, Roosevelt-san, and Viscount Dora formed the vanguard, while Yuri and I took the rear guard. We had the Phoenix Unit and the veteran old-timers secure the surroundings.
This time it’s a melee, so I can’t carelessly use my Gun.
As for Light Magic, I’ll probably only be able to fire it from the ground towards the sky.
It’s difficult in many ways, but there are still things I can do, so I followed behind the four of them.
Then, we reached the man who was closest, and the General lunged at him, stopping his advance.
He looked like he might be old, but his appearance was youthful.
A man whose appearance, in a way, resembled Marquis Randall.
“I see. So you’ve finally brought out a general-class opponent.
It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Lloyd the Swift, second in rank in the Berkut Empire.”
“I am Randolph von Razbel, tasked with the defense of Belfast.
However, ‘Lightspeed’ is quite the grand title.”
He continued with a faint smile, “If I don’t have such a grand epithet, I’m often underestimated due to my appearance.”
“But is that so? I see, General Razbel. That’s quite a big name.
Being the Belfast Army, it seems Louis von Belfast might be here as well…”
Ugh, so I’m being marked after all, huh.
I’m not actually that strong, though.
Being attacked because they overestimate my abilities is the worst…
No, more importantly, I need to give Yuri a firm directive to protect her.
“Yuri, don’t leave my side and protect me.
Our usual coordination will change a bit, but don’t stray from me, okay?”
“Of course. I am your sword and your shield…”
Yuri stared at Lloyd with a cold, sharp gaze.
I was a little overwhelmed by her completely different aura than usual, but I felt relieved that she would stay put, so I floated four Magic Circles above the enemy.
This time, it’s lightning. Lightning whose landing point I can manipulate is best suited for this situation.
I instantly moved Magical Power above his head, but he dodged it smoothly even before I fired.
Oh dear, is this guy also using magic that lets him see Magical Power?
The Empire has Magic Circles that allow one to see even unvisualized Magical Power.
We learned it from Ignat so we can use it too, but I hadn’t used it because it didn’t seem very meaningful. Realizing it could be useful in times like these, I made a Magic Circle appear in my eyes in a way that would appeal to a chuunibyou, and he looked at me and smirked, the corner of his mouth lifting.
“Found you. It’s you, isn’t it?” he said, locking his gaze on me.
At that moment, Viscount Dora and the General lunged at him.
“You’re in the way,” he said, kicking the General away and cutting down the Viscount, then turned towards me and made a movement magic circle shine at his feet.
“Yuri! Come!” I yelled, pulling her close, and extended thorns in all directions with my usual sea urchin tactic.
Ignat was stopped by this. I thought it would probably work this time too, but he properly stopped and began to slash through the Maso thorns at high speed.
Roosevelt-san was also trying to support me, but the thorns made him stop in his tracks.
However, if he stopped this close, there were plenty of ways to deal with him. I instantly performed Mana Manipulation and activated the lightning magic I had on standby, but he easily dodged it.
It’s quite difficult to land a hit when the movement of my Magical Power is exposed.
However, his speed is within my expectations.
I kept it activated and sent Lightning Strikes chasing after Lloyd, cornering him.
I sent Magical Power from the four Magic Circles floating above, and lightning continued to race across the ground, but there was no sign of it hitting.
“As expected of Lightspeed. So fast. Well then, how about this? Heave-ho!”
I increased the lightning Magic Circles from four to fifty, covering his entire surroundings with my Magical Power. In the moment he hesitated, looking for an escape route, I created a cage of Lightning Strikes and trapped him.
“Hahaha, what is this number? In an instant like this… Is this even possible?”
I’m using the gauntlets I got from the old man with the Staff, so it’s always a double activation.
Well, conversely, since it’s a twofold increase for me, whose only boast is magic, I’d be troubled if he wasn’t surprised.
“Of course it’s possible. What are you saying when you’re using magic too?”
With that, I rapidly narrowed the cage of Lightning Strikes, but he utilized barriers and movement Magic Circles to narrowly escape a direct hit.
However, it seems he couldn’t completely offset it. Steam was rising from his body.
“It’s been a while since I felt pain… Now, this is where the real fight begins.
Or so I’d like to say, but has Ein fallen? It seems it’s time to withdraw.”
Lloyd, sensing that the man facing Sensei and Shinzou-san’s pair had been completely defeated, began to distance himself.
The General and Viscount Dora, who had finished recovering, chased after him. Roosevelt-san and Yuri also moved into a diagonal line between me and Lloyd, closing the distance, so I followed suit.
“As if we’d let you retreat so easily!”
“We cannot let you, who targets His Highness, escape!”
Both of them used movement magic, attacking at a speed that would normally be impossible to react to, but he parried their attacks and retreated.
It was two against one, and their attacks were half-desperate. Even he couldn’t completely defend against them.
That said, he was deflecting most of the force by letting the attacks hit his Maso.
As expected of the Empire’s second-in-command. A formidable master.
And so, although it was a battle with no small number of sacrifices, we managed to take down one of the Empire’s generals and nearly all of their fifteen hundred soldiers, leading to a reset of the situation.