episode_0261

End of the war [Battle of Lake Simenotra (3)]

yesternight. The Duke of Thiruen ordered his 13,000-strong cavalry to hand over most of its horses to the supply corps and arm themselves.

“Your Excellency! No matter how much you criticize me, it is difficult to understand this order!! Are you asking us to die? How can a cavalryman abandon his horse and fight?”

Of course, the cavalry soldiers resisted tremendously, but when Count Mula, the highest commander of the cavalry, stepped forward and shouted, they flinched.

“So you are saying that you can achieve maximum combat power in your current state? How can you fight while riding on warhorses that are on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion?”

Although they were supplied, most of the horses were exhausted and it took almost a week to fully recover. This meant that they could not fight properly against the Balkan army that had crossed the border, so the soldiers could only groan. That was all.

“Keu…. Ha, but…”

At that time, when Tiruen stepped next to Count Mula, all the soldiers’ eyes turned to him.

“I understand your concerns. It won’t be easy for you, who have only fought with horses so far, to fight head-on with the Balkan heavy infantry. But trust me this time. The last fight on the Enakan Plains was lost due to my lack, but this time is different. To protect our Tesseito territory!! This Tiruen will definitely lead you to victory!!”

Following Count Mula’s words, Tiruen himself came forward and gave an impassioned speech, and the soldiers who had been dissatisfied just a moment ago were moved and nodded.

“…Okay! Anyway, the only one we can trust is Your Excellency!”

“If you don’t trust His Excellency, the guardian deity of Tesseito, then who can you trust!! Even if you tell me to go to hell, I will follow you!!”

At Tiruen’s encouragement, the soldiers regained their morale and chanted Tiruen’s name and waved their national flag and military banner high in the sky.

Then, Tiruen also looked at the soldiers for a while with an emotional face, then calmed them down and began to give detailed orders.

“Esgran! After arming all 3,000 cavalrymen with heavy infantry equipment, join the remaining 2,000 heavy infantrymen and take charge of the defense of the main camp! Not a single enemy soldier can pass up this hill!”

“Yes! All right! I will stop the enemy even if it means sacrificing my life!”

“Count Mula! You lead the remaining 1,000 cavalry and ambush them in the forest in front of the enemy camp! As you approach the enemy at close range, you must wrap cloth around the horse’s hoof so that the enemy guard does not notice, and move when there is no moon!”

“Old! dismissal! If so… what is the signal…?”

“I will arm the remaining soldiers with light infantry equipment and attack them. When the trumpet sounds, attack the enemy from behind! You will be able to lead our cavalry and drive back the enemy even in the thick forest. And in this battle, the emphasis should be on pushing the enemy away rather than killing them! Even if your opponent’s master appears, you must avoid one-on-one duels!”

Count Mula tilted his head for a moment when Tiruen told him not to focus on killing the enemy, but thinking that there must be a reason for Tiruen’s orders, he pounded his chest and swore to follow Tiruen’s orders.

“Okay! This time, we will show the enemy the true nature of our Tesseito cavalry!!”

Although Count Mulla was a little disappointed that his opponent was not the adopted daughter of Count Redelmo, who brought shame to him last time on the Plains of Enacan, he entered the Plains of Zenon with a burning determination to bring victory to his country this time. He led the last cavalry unit of the expeditionary force and went into an ambush.

‘…Balkan Empire… I will show you what the price is for trespassing into our Tesseito territory! I will definitely avenge the shame of the Enakan Plains!!

Tiruen also ordered the remaining troops to wear only light weapons and led all of his troops into the forest along the lakeside road. As the night deepened, both armies prepared for an all-out war the next day.

next day. As Claudia followed behind the 5th Legion, which was advancing in pursuit of dozens of enemy javelin cavalry, she felt a little concerned about the deep, foggy forest next to her.

‘Oh my… this forest… it’s so dense and foggy that it’s a perfect formation for an ambush! Of course, an enemy whose main force is cavalry wouldn’t do something crazy like fight in the forest, but… hmm? that…’

What caught her eye was a dried leaf.

‘leaf? No… it’s not fall, and the leaves near a lake with plenty of water are this dry…? Is the fog this thick? Moreover, the direction of this wind… something is strange… the operation must be stopped!!’

As soon as she saw the leaf, Claudia sensed something strange was going on and made a quick decision.

“All troops! Stop!! Communication wizard!! Call the 5th Corps Commander!!”

“Gu, Corps Commander? Why are you stopping the military?”

“There are still 10km left to reach the area expected to be the enemy camp! Now, what happens when you encounter an enemy scout…”

Despite cries of opposition from her staff, Claudia ordered the military to stop.

“Ugh! There is no time to explain!! Quickly, the commander of the 5th Corps…”

“Corps Commander! The 5th Corps Commander has been connected!”

When the wizard in charge of communication brought a crystal ball, Claudia quickly took it out and spoke to Arnim.

‘Uh~ What’s going on? Claudia? The advance here is going very smoothly…’

“5 Corps Commander! Cut to the chase now! It’s an enemy trap!!”

‘Eh? trap? How much distance is left between us and the enemy? What nonsense? Moreover, there is a thick forest on the left side of the road we are on, and a deep lake on the right! An area where large-scale cavalry cannot be operated…’

But even before Arnim finished speaking, Claudia heard a sound that signified despair.

“It’s fire!! The enemy has set fire!!”

“The light does not go out!! It looks like the fire was started by an enemy wizard!! Flames spread through the parched forest in an instant… Wow!!”

‘Is this sound…?’

“Holy shit!! Still not sure? It’s a painter!! Commander of the 5th Corps! Retreat now! We also took over the army and returned to the garrison…”

Claudia tried to quickly retreat her 7th corps along with the 5th corps, but when she felt a javelin thrown by an enemy soldier pass her head and shatter the communication bead in her hand, she had to throw herself backwards.

Puuu~~~

“Wow~!!! Kill the Balkan guys!!”

“Make me regret crossing over to our land of Tesseito!!”

Seeing countless Teseito soldiers attacking the side of the legion with loud trumpet sounds, Claudia gave instructions on how to deal with them.

“Everyone, stay calm!! The enemy’s armament is extremely poor!! Build a formation and block the enemy like you normally fight…”

But only then did she realize.

‘Damn it!! The road is too narrow to form a dense formation, which is our military’s specialty!! Moreover, you can’t attack them carelessly due to the enemy’s fire attack! If we’re not careful, we could all burn to death!!’

As she saw so many soldiers being engulfed in flames, she had no choice but to make a decision.

“Dismantle the dustproof!! Retreat to avoid the flames! Retreat and form again…”

Cheaeng!!

Even before Claudia’s instructions were finished, she was astonished to see Viscount Amin block a powerful javelin that flew in front of her.

“Well, what is this….”

“Tesseito Cavalry!! Strike down the enemy at once!! Please make Symenotra the home of the Balkans!!”

When Claudia was startled by the man at the vanguard of the cavalry coming from the rear of her army, charging at her with great force, Viscount Armin tapped her shoulder to bring her to her senses and then drove his horse and rode out to confront him.

“Master. Looks like he’s the one who had a fight with Lord Cordelia. I will take charge of that person, so Commander Claudia can only focus on commanding the troops!! In my opinion, getting out of here seems to be the top priority!”

Watching Viscount Armin begin to fight the enemy master, Claudia bit her lip out of guilt for letting her guard down, and continued to lead with all her might to save the troops under her command.

“Retreat!! Retreat to the lakeside where the flames cannot reach and rebuild the formation!!”

However, her voice did not reach the legionnaires, who were completely disfigured and distorted, and the 7th legionnaires just wandered around in the burning forest and died of suffocation or being impaled by Tesseito’s army’s spears.

As the formation completely collapsed, enemy soldiers began to flock to her, the corps commander.

Suddenly! Suddenly!!

“Holy shit!! Retreat!! First of all, you have to save your life!! Full army! Retreat towards the north!!”

Claudia ran around the battlefield to save every single one of her soldiers, randomly cutting down enemy soldiers who were attacking her.

With the war situation rapidly tilting, Viscount Amin went overboard and tried to turn the situation around by killing the enemy master, but when Count Mula avoided the duel, his attempt was in vain, and the 7th Legion led by Claudia was instantly cut in half. We had to retreat to the lakeside where the flames could not reach.

*Illustration of Claudia, commander of the 7th Corps, fighting the tombs*