Ch.163163. The Final War (1)

# The 4th Legion of the Empire

The 4th Legion, a special military unit that received its name directly from the Emperor when the Roman Imperial Army was reorganized into the legion system, deemed the fourth most important.

Originally from the western part of the Empire, they were particularly famous for their excellent medium cavalry, earning the name “Legion of Emperor’s Lance”—a force of 5,000 soldiers composed entirely of medium cavalry.

“Prrrr, prrrk.”

“Easy, Pipi. Just be patient. The battle will begin soon.”

Rex Deltaran, a member and decurion of the legion, a veteran soldier, was advancing at a leisurely pace.

His mount, a warhorse named Pipi, was a thoroughbred imperial warhorse with bloodlines mixed with those of a Magical Beast in horse form.

Thanks to this, the horse could carry him wrapped in metal armor and run for hours without tiring, transcending half the limitations of ordinary horses. As Rex stroked its mane…

“…Haa. Those motherless bastards… I’ll definitely destroy them.”

He ground his teeth as he recalled the sabotage attempts that tested the limits of human endurance during their journey to the vicinity of the capital.

Truly, so many things had happened.

The enemy had blocked the only path through difficult terrain, contaminated every water source, and burned their food supplies.

Among all the troubles they faced, what particularly tormented the imperial army was…

‘Those damned rats, I’ll kill every one I see…!!’

It was the attacks by ratmen—Rat Beastmen—that had instilled an intense hatred of rats in every member of the imperial army.

In truth, the race known as ratmen or rat beastmen were, in terms of combat ability, no different from goblins.

Their average height was about 1 meter, with the larger ones reaching only about 1.2 meters. With a build similar to goblins, their physical abilities matched their size.

They were somewhat better than goblins in physical ability, with explosive agility, sharp claws, and rat teeth that gave them an edge in close combat…

But rats were still rats. They couldn’t overcome the basic difference in weight class, and their small bodies meant high metabolic rates.

Despite weighing less than 20kg on average, they needed to consume about the same calories as a human daily to avoid starvation.

In other words, they weren’t particularly strong and had terrible efficiency, so one might wonder if their attacks would be no better than goblin raids…

But that wasn’t the case at all.

The attacks by ratmen, the rat beastmen, were on a completely different level from goblin raids.

First, the ratmen attacked the imperial army relentlessly and without warning.

Their small, light bodies allowed them to move easily through rough terrain, and their size made them adept at hiding and stealth operations.

The ratmen were particularly specialized in stealth as a racial instinct, enabling them to squeeze into supply boxes to hide.

Because of this, the soldiers had to maintain an almost paranoid level of vigilance, and even then, they often fell victim to unexpected attacks.

The true horror of the rat-men’s attacks began here.

They compensated for their lack of strength and attack power by using various plagues in their vile tactics.

Water sources were constantly contaminated, causing soldiers to contract waterborne diseases en masse; food would mysteriously rot from spreading plagues, forcing them to starve.

Even the bodily fluids of these creatures contained diseases, so a wrong move could result in black spots suddenly appearing on one’s body, leading to death.

All manner of hardships had plagued them, but today would be the end of it.

“Finally, FINALLY!!”

In the distance, the red army blocking their path came faintly into view.

Giants, dragons, various beasts, and what looked like structures undulated in the distance, but Rex, who had fought against orcs for seven years of service, was unimpressed.

Considering the strength of the orcs, those savage and vicious creatures, this force of less than 50,000 would surely be inadequate.

Only some elites might be extremely strong, but the army itself would be hastily assembled troops.

With this thought, shared by most imperial soldiers, Rex tensed the muscles in his hand holding the spear and prepared his body—

“…Huh?”

At that moment, Rex’s eyes caught sight of a massive sword beginning to fall from the sky.

Completely red, or perhaps blood-colored, the sword formed above the red army’s head and began to fall toward them.

If it hit directly, it could wipe out at least thousands of soldiers in a single blow…

Yet the soldiers continued to advance steadily forward, paying it no mind.

Of course, it wasn’t that they weren’t afraid of such a terrifying attack.

They were simply accustomed to not panicking and fleeing.

They were used to such powerful tactical-level magic or techniques, and also—

Woooooong—CLANG!!!

—to the great sage, the apostle of Anat, master of magical warfare, who easily calculated and shattered the orcs’ miracles and great magics.

“”””””””””””””WAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!””””””””””””””

As the blood-colored sword’s magical power disintegrated into powder and scattered, the imperial legionnaires shouted battle cries and advanced forward.

They moved at just the right pace—not so fast that they would tire before reaching their target, but not too slow either.

A meticulously calculated speed gained through long experience. As they advanced, magical battles continued to rage in the sky.

Various elemental spells, blood-colored weapons, and sacred magics fired by the enemy were blocked one after another by the mages and priests at the rear of the imperial main force.

Knowing that even a single hit could cause dozens or hundreds of casualties, the empire’s magic users were mobilizing all their capabilities to block the incoming spells.

‘As expected, the imperial army is the strongest!!’

Through continuous patriotic education from the military chaplains—not brainwashing at all—Rex had been instilled with patriotism and viewed this scene with reverence.

And at that very moment.

“…Huh?”

Suddenly hearing something like the sound of wind being cut, Rex looked up at the sky in confusion—and simultaneously caught sight of other things.

“R-rocks?”

They were rocks. Massive, majestic rocks.

“Special” rocks that had been loaded into the enemy’s rear catapults.

And completely hidden by the impact of the giant rocks, hundreds of ballista-sized arrow-spears flying alongside them.

Various weapons that until now had been considered exclusive to the imperial army were being fired from the enemy lines, momentarily freezing the soldiers in place—

CRASH!! CRAAASH!!!

With the grand sound of falling rocks echoing in all directions, Bjorn’s fury rained down on the heads of the advancing imperial army.

The effect of the attack, which targeted their heads precisely from twice the effective range of normal catapults and ballistae, was devastating.

In an instant, hundreds of soldiers were crushed under rocks, and dozens of cavalrymen were skewered by ballista bolts and unhorsed.

These sequential attacks, while moderate in terms of total casualties, were significant because they allowed the enemy to inflict one-sided damage.

Through the Niagawa tactics, boasting a long history and tradition.

The Niagawa tactics—taking position and unleashing ranged fire—had two major counter-strategies.

One was to respond with ranged firepower as well, but this was impossible given that the enemy’s firepower was several times stronger.

Therefore, the imperial army chose the second approach: accepting casualties and charging as quickly as possible to crash into the enemy lines.

“Charge! Charge!”

“Forward! FORWARD!!”

Following orders from headquarters relayed by the centurions, the heavy medium cavalry at the imperial army’s front line began to gallop at a fairly rapid pace.

At this distance, they would surely be able to ram straight into the enemy’s front line after enduring perhaps one more direct hit from that barrage.

So Rex gently tapped his beloved mount Pipi’s belly to signal it, and began galloping toward the battle line at quite a speed—

“Ugh, UGH!!”

“W-what?!”

Suddenly, a green flash blazed before their eyes, temporarily blinding the cavalrymen who squinted and then reopened their eyes…

“Wha…?”

What entered these cavalrymen’s vision was an enormous number of corpses that suddenly appeared—filling their field of view.

Half-decayed, rotting, and discolored green, yet still moving despite their horrific appearance.

Plague-zombies—infected by the Plague God’s zombie-plague, neither living nor dead—manifested in the material realm through a contract formed between their gods.