Chapter 71: The Despair of the Man Who Took the Fort
The Daltone Army’s desperate, suicidal attacks continued endlessly.
An onslaught that seemed to have no end.
However, Belfast’s battle results were terrifyingly high.
After all, they had already surpassed ten thousand kills with no casualties on their side.
Normally, it would have been over long ago. The proportion at which an army so unilaterally reduced would cease to function had been greatly exceeded.
Despite it being that time, the enemy was still clinging to the outside of the moat.
It wasn’t that their morale was high.
One could see them looking for a way to escape somehow.
That’s right, they couldn’t retreat. They knew if they went back, they’d be shot with magic by their own allies or blown up.
For them, there was no way to survive other than to end the battle at the closest point to the fort’s wall.
Just then, a soldier came running up from below again.
“We’re about to drop below thirty percent!”
“Understood! Thanks for the report. Alright, everyone withdraw! I’ll fly back, so you go on ahead!”
Voices from the surrounding nobles flew out, “Your Highness!? Can’t we hold out a little longer!?”
It’s true that with thirty percent, we could hold out somewhat, but aiming for the very limit isn’t good.
More importantly, we’re only holding on because I’m protecting us with Storage Magic. Without it, we’d fall immediately.
I had underestimated the situation of being desperately shot at with magic by several thousand enemies.
To support the general’s unit as well, I want them to retreat with some Magic Stones remaining.
“This is an order! I have something to do with the remaining thirty percent! Move quickly! Don’t forget to bring the gun bullets!?”
When I spoke strongly, they didn’t ask again. They immediately started moving and mixed in with the units forming ranks below.
“Rui, you can fly with me, right?”
“No. This is part of the operation. Besides, you know my personality, right? I’ll do it from a safe place. It’s fine.”
When I told Uncle Rudolf, who was implicitly asking me to take him, that it wasn’t necessary because it was a safe operation, he pressed, “You sure?” before going down.
While converting the guns back into Magical Power, I stuffed as much as I could into the two new model backpacks I had them make in a hurry.
Magical Power had been piling up ever since subjugation with laser guns was established in the Abyss.
I had been putting it in Storage Magic, but I can’t now. That’s why I had this new model made.
The amount that didn’t fit, I clad myself in.
I sprouted large wings from my sturdy armor and held a large staff in one hand.
And first, I went to retrieve the landmines in areas where they were surplus, other than those along the highway.
Precisely because they couldn’t be detonated, it was an enemy-free zone.
Despite that, my heart was pounding violently.
“Hurry up. The more I delay, the more dangerous it’ll get,” I slapped my cheeks to psych myself up and took off.
I could tell they were making a fuss because I flew down.
But I only glided. There are people who know about this sort of thing.
While being careful, assuming the enemy soldiers were making a fuss because someone flew in, I pulled out the landmines.
Fortunately, the locations of the unused landmines were consolidated, so there was no problem with retrieval.
Since these were places where they couldn’t be used, they were far from the enemy army.
The enemy soldiers also showed no signs of deliberately sending anyone after a single person.
Then, as for what to do, I ran towards the fort, threw landmines to create a defensive wall, and sent Magical Power into the landmines.
It was a simultaneous explosion of the remaining eight, but it probably only caught a little over a hundred at most.
It doesn’t matter since it’s not for offensive purposes.
This is support for the general and, at the same time, disposal of the landmines. I can’t have the enemy replicating them.
Then I flew up again, this time to the general’s position.
They were still in a circular formation, fighting back as if to protect the front of the raised bridge.
I entered their midst and called out.
“The reinforcements should be wary and unable to approach due to the explosion just now. I will now unleash a Firestorm with all my power, so please retreat during that opening.”
“Your Highness!? Does that mean you’ve abandoned the fort!?”
“Yes, because we’re about to run out of Magic Stones. I’ll fly back, so please don’t worry and run, okay?”
To the general who continued, “Your Highness! If it’s just escaping, we can manage on our own!” I said strongly, “There’s no more time! Please understand that this pointless exchange puts us both in danger!” and he consented.
“Three seconds after I finish saying this, I will fire without further questions. Once you’ve taken a breath and held it, activate all magic tools that protect your face and such, and run towards the forest on my signal! Here I go! Three, two, one!”
I raised my staff and spread a giant magic circle in the sky above with all my might.
I intended to blast it downwards from above.
I really wanted to shoot it at the enemy, but since we’re completely surrounded, the only way to break out is to fire it centered on ourselves.
The signal to start would be when the enemy was engulfed in flames.
For now, I had to activate it first, so I sent Magical Power with all my strength.
It was so large it was the first time I’d made one like it. Was it about thirty meters?
Will it activate properly… Despite such anxieties, a raging inferno spread over a wide area from the sky to the ground.
“Runnnn!!”
The epicenter of the raging flames was here.
The flames, slammed into the ground centered on us, lost their direction and spread out like ripples.
Those without fire-resistant equipment couldn’t possibly resist, and the general and his men slipped through the enemy encirclement.
As expected of the strongest staff made with the cooperation of the Third Faction guys. Perhaps because I put out too much power, it broke in one shot, but it incinerated enemies over an unbelievably wide area.
But even so, it only caught a few hundred. The odds of many against few didn’t change.
I immediately stopped the magic and started running too.
After a running start, I spread my wings and took to the sky. Receiving a little propulsion from a wind magic tool, I re-entered the fort.
When I made a large circle with my arm towards the concerned general and his men, they didn’t look back afterwards and ran off into the forest.
The fort, which had been under constant attack during that time, finally began to collapse.
Thinking, “This is bad, there’s no time,” I detonated the landmines near the highway.
I wanted to use them on the enemy army because it seemed like the most effective spot, but it couldn’t be helped.
Having finished cleaning up, I flew up as I was and headed for Oldol Fort.
The Daltone Army had finally managed to take Fort Fondale, but despite having advanced a step, the Duke was dazed, as if all life had been drained from him.
And no wonder; his army, which had numbered seventeen thousand, was now below five thousand.
Nearly thirty percent of those were wounded soldiers. The Ryuki army, their lifeline, was already gone.
Considering the strength of the Belfast soldiers, his own army no longer had the strength to fight Belfast alone.
Even though Mildrad had committed all the forces he could muster.
“This… perhaps we should consider retreating,” Marquis Ignat said to Count Estoc.
“How many times do you intend to make me say that I said I wouldn’t interfere?”
“Have you forgotten? I also said, ‘as long as the tide of battle doesn’t turn’.”
The two Imperial nobles glared at each other, neither willing to back down an inch.
“It’s not your fault, but are you saying this hasn’t turned?” he said calmly, emitting a slightly cold air, but it wasn’t Count Estoc who replied.
“W-we cannot retreat!” the Duke’s voice echoed.
“We must not retreat! Why do you think I let my soldiers die!?”
“”For self-preservation, of course,”” the two replied to the Duke in unison.
“I-if you gentlemen are also reinforcements, then I ask for your strength! To end this without doing anything is surely an injustice, isn’t it!!”
With no way out, he even raised his voice at Count Estoc, whom he feared.
“There’s some truth to that… but I cannot tell my soldiers to die in vain. In the first place, I came here to keep an eye on Lestall after Belfast’s occupation.”
“How could you… after telling us to die!!”
Being told that, Marquis Ignat couldn’t utter a second word.
However, Count Estoc showed a relieved expression at his words. The reinforcements, which had seemed utterly useless before the war began. It was because he could understand the reason for them.
Honestly, Count Estoc felt that they alone were sufficient to keep an eye on Lestall, who had completely abandoned Belfast, but he was convinced it was plausible as a show of force from the central government.
He understood that he hadn’t been caught up in an Imperial conspiracy and relaxed his shoulders.
“That’s right. I’ll give up too.”
At Count Estoc’s voice, who stopped pretending and shrugged, Duke Daltone was steeped in despair. But the words that followed were contrary to his expectations.
“Yeah. I’ll give up on the great achievement. Lord Ignat, let’s fight together now. Of course, I’ll share the credit properly. Since you said you were reinforcements, you’ll come out with me, right?”
“Estoc, you… did you not see that last thing?”
That last thing was a series of massive explosions that could clearly be called wasteful.
Not only that. An unbelievably large magic circle.
Normally, something like that shouldn’t be able to activate.
Because magic circles cannot be created jointly with others.
It’s precisely because Magical Power needs to be supplied evenly all at once that Magic Tools cannot be created without Mithril, which transmits Magical Power instantaneously. When using magic, this is also why one first draws a thin formation and sets it to standby for activation.
At that scale, even a renowned Knight specializing in magic would find their Magical Power, control, and output all insufficient.
Even if, hypothetically, one were to accumulate Magical Power in a Backpack and forcibly augment the output with an auxiliary tool, they still wouldn’t possess the control to make Magical Power, spread over that distance, permeate evenly and instantaneously; it should have resulted in a power level far too low for its sheer scale.
This was clear evidence that an obviously abnormal entity was present.
“I saw it. Well, it’s dangerous, but I don’t think it’s something we can’t kill,” Count Estoc said.
“That would be if we could force it into a one-on-one close combat situation. If they still have those black orbs they were throwing, there’s no reason for them to come out.”
In fact, despite being able to use such powerful magic, they had prioritized retreating over reducing our forces, he explained, as if trying to persuade.
“No, they’ll come out. The next fort is the last one. We can’t just set traps there and say, ‘Here you go.’ They’ll definitely move to stop us. So, how about our unit forcibly breaks through there?”
Marquis Ignat fell into deep thought at his words. After observing him in that state, Count Estoc continued to speak.
“If they still don’t come out even then, we’ll be able to take Belfast Castle, won’t we?” Count Estoc smirked.
“That may be so, but the road to that point is too arduous. The decline in morale is also severe. If we pit them against the enemy as they are, they won’t be able to exert their full strength… –?! Don’t tell me you intend to wear down even your own troops, Estoc-kun?”
“Isn’t that obvious? What do you think our objective is?” Count Estoc replied, looking pleased, as if glad Marquis Ignat had finally understood.
“Indeed, the fall of Belfast is His Majesty’s earnest wish, dedicated to his late predecessor. I understand. I, too, shall steel my resolve. However, I will not be placed under anyone’s command, Ignat-kou.”
“Yes, you decide, Ignat-kou. You’re better at strategy than I am, aren’t you? At this point, as long as we can win, anything goes.”
“I won’t obey any orders that would deliberately send us into a deathtrap, though,” Marquis Ignat said nonchalantly.
“I wouldn’t do such a thing. It’s just that, this is a battlefield where we don’t know where the deathtraps lie, which is problematic… Hmm, in that case, shall we split the army? A delay of that extent shouldn’t pose a significant problem.”
“Ah! So that’s an option! I see. In the current situation, that could work too. I’d completely forgotten about that. Yes, I’m definitely more suited for combat after all.”
The two of them began to formulate a strategy, as if their earlier discord had been a lie.
Duke Daltone, who had somehow managed to hang on by the skin of his teeth, felt his strength drain away and nearly slid off his chair, yet he continued to listen intently to the two’s strategy.
And so, three armies began to move.
Duke Daltone’s army: five thousand.
Count Estoc’s army: two thousand.
Marquis Ignat’s army: five thousand.
A grand total of twelve thousand troops.
Moreover, seven thousand of them were the Empire’s elite.
Marquis Ignat’s army, which took care to avoid sacrificing its soldiers, consisted of elites who surpassed even Count Estoc’s army not only in numbers but also in the quality of its troops.
The war, in which victory over Belfast had seemed almost entirely assured, was about to take yet another turn.