Ch.142Explain It to Me.

Leopold, his face beaming with joy, was the one who greeted us after our successful breakthrough.

Gone was his usual dignified and splendid appearance befitting royalty, replaced by dark circles under his eyes, disheveled hair, and a torn and dirty uniform that made him look quite haggard.

“I had my suspicions, but it really is the Aishan-Gioro Princess! Have you come to help us?”

His voice was elevated with gratitude, as if thankful for unexpected good fortune. The bandage wrapped around his right shoulder was particularly noticeable.

Even though his arm wasn’t severed, seeing him like that without proper treatment… I guess he’s poured all the potions and healing arts into his soldiers?

“Haa… Haa… For now, yes.”

I nodded while sitting on the ground, catching my breath.

The priests’ blessings had restored some of my stamina, but I’d used it all up again during the final breakthrough.

The stench of rotten blood covering my entire body made me dizzy.

Help them, he asks? Well, I had no choice.

If you collapse now, I’ll get dragged down with you.

Anyone who needs to know already knows I’m supporting the First Prince’s faction.

“I’m truly grateful. Having a powerful ally like the Princess is like gaining an army of thousands.”

Leopold smiled as if reassured by my presence.

From my perspective, seeing him in that state only irritated me.

Considering the number of soldiers who died because of the Prince’s gamble, I wanted to hurl a barrage of curses at him.

Really, if it weren’t for the Prince…

“But I don’t believe I’ve seen this knight before? Though his valor rivals yours, Princess.”

“This is Asha of the Red Copper Clan. You must have seen him at the medal ceremony.”

Though we hadn’t spoken directly, he had been standing behind the platform, so he should recognize his face.

“Ah! The dwarf knight who received the honorary medal that day! You’ve grown impressively tall. Thank you for coming, Sir Asha.”

Leopold finally seemed to remember and greeted Asha.

“Heck, yes. Heeck…”

Asha was too exhausted to respond properly, having removed his helmet and continuing to pant heavily.

His exposed face was drenched in sweat as if water had been poured over it.

Well, that’s understandable.

After losing the propulsion of his jetpack, he had to run desperately.

Thanks to his sturdy armor, he was uninjured.

“Both you and the Princess look quite exhausted. You’ve done well. Please rest until you recover your strength.”

“…I don’t think we have that luxury right now.”

I sighed and pointed to the center of the fortress.

Two giant monsters were roaring and rampaging, surrounded by five people engaged in fierce combat.

Explosions and monstrous howls echoed through the air, with piles of broken rocks and fierce flames filling the sky.

“Grooooar!”

Long forelegs with sharp claws repeatedly swung at them.

The ground touched by those claws was deeply gouged as if excavated by machinery.

Medium-sized undead creatures over 20 meters in size.

Their whale-like heads were completely rotten, showing exposed skulls with only scraps of skin hanging on them. Their long spinal bones, unable to support the weight of their heads, were arched with only the middle protruding.

Inside their thick ivory-like ribs, blackened flesh filled their chests and pulsated, while their intestines bulged through the rotten skin, writhing like tentacles.

Grave Eaters.

Monsters that devoured human corpses and reinforced themselves with the bones and flesh.

Two such creatures, difficult for even a Master to face alone, were rampaging inside the fortress.

Yet strangely, the surrounding soldiers were busy fighting enemies beyond the walls, showing no concern for these monsters.

Do they trust those five that much?

Well, looking at them fight, they all seem to be Master-level.

One Paladin, two men who looked like knights.

Plus one female mage and one female knight… ah, that’s Nigel.

Indeed, with five Master-level fighters battling together, the Grave Eaters, despite their loud roars, were no more than hunted beasts.

Their skeletons were deeply gouged and torn all over, looking ready to collapse at any moment, and they screamed and thrashed whenever the female mage’s flames burned their flesh.

“It’s fine. Those monsters have been successfully contained and will soon be eliminated. Thanks to you, many other monsters have been destroyed as well. They will likely retreat soon.”

“Retreat? The monsters?”

My eyes widened in shock.

Undead creatures, which hate the living, retreating when humans are right in front of them?

An act that directly contradicts their instincts. In other words, someone was controlling these monsters, making them obey their will.

“I see disbelief in your face. I understand. I too was shocked when I first witnessed it… But it’s true. They have a command tower. One with enough intelligence to understand tactics.”

To my knowledge, there were only three types of intelligent beings that could control lower monsters.

It couldn’t be a high-level monster.

If such a creature had appeared at this point, they wouldn’t have lasted even a day.

Then it must be either demon worshippers… or cultists.

Neither of which should be active at this point in time.

Do I have to worry about them already?

“…I understand for now. Let’s catch our breath then.”

With enemies numbering in the thousands, I needed to recover my strength to avoid collapsing at a crucial moment.

I’ve already killed four hundred monsters, so they should be able to handle the rest somehow.

“Ah. Over there, in that building being used as a temporary command post, Lord Landenburg is present if you wish to meet him.”

“I’ll do that.”

“Good. Then I must go back to encourage the soldiers. Again, thank you very much for coming.”

Before I could respond, Leopold rushed back toward the front lines.

His skill at best would only match that of a junior knight… but the fact that a prince fights alongside them seems to boost the morale of soldiers and knights.

I’m not sure if that’s an advantage or disadvantage of the class system.

When you think about it, the very cause of their desperate battle here is that prince.

“Knights! And soldiers! Hold on just a little longer! They have suffered great losses as well and will retreat soon! Today will be our victory again!”

In the distance, Leopold’s voice boomed loudly.

He has a good voice, even if his words are half lies.

I extinguished the match I’d used to light my cigarette, got up from the ground, and headed toward the building he had called the command post.

I should meet with Ludwig first.

—-

Lord Ludwig was alone inside the building, puffing smoke.

He was staring intently at what looked like a map on the table.

“Relaxing all by yourself? Nice life. Contemplating ways to retreat?”

The lord raised his head at the sound of my voice.

He seemed surprised, as if he hadn’t expected to encounter me in such a place.

“…This is an unexpected meeting. I didn’t think you would come all the way here. Weren’t you heading to the Kamain Forest? That’s what I heard from Sir Nigel.”

“I finished there a while ago. When I returned, I heard Leopold Prince had walked into death’s jaws, so I rushed here without even resting.”

“Death’s jaws, is it… Yes, I suppose that’s accurate.”

Lord Ludwig nodded with a grave expression.

As if he too agreed with the description.

I sat down in the chair across from him and blew smoke toward the table.

“So, how’s the battle situation so far?”

“…Not good.”

As if I didn’t know that already.

One wall of the fortress was completely gone, there were thousands of undead creatures, and the number of soldiers seemed fewer than I’d heard.

“Of course it’s not. Fighting thousands of undead with the 3rd Corps’ 8,000 men is insane. You should have stopped him. The Prince was gambling with his life, and you just let him?”

“According to the plan, victory wasn’t impossible.”

The lord offered what sounded like an excuse.

So they did have some strategy to win?

“It doesn’t look winnable now. Whatever the plan was, it seems to have gone terribly wrong.”

“You’re right about that…”

Lord Ludwig began explaining the battle situation so far.

I listened to his story silently.

—-

The initial battle wasn’t bad, he said.

After Leopold’s speech—though I didn’t hear its content—the Imperial Army’s morale was quite high, and the Holy Corps was always in high spirits anyway.

The formation seemed fine too.

The Holy Corps and Paladins held the front while the Imperial Army and Imperial Knights positioned in the center and flanks to block enemies trying to flank them.

In the rear, the Saint and Battle Priests provided support.

A typical formation, one could say.

And it worked well, according to him.

They held out until the Masters assigned to the reserve forces managed to defeat the Bone Serpents.

The problem arose afterward.

At the point when they needed to retreat to the fortress for a defensive battle.

“…That’s when the plan began to unravel.”

Lord Ludwig sighed.