Ch.256Towards the Benes Domain

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance.

When faced with an unbearable truth, people typically go through five stages of reaction. The tens of thousands of conscripts were no different.

The truth that their families had already become worm food, or worse.

It was too horrific for them to accept.

At first, they denied the truth itself. That’s why they charged at me.

Deceiving themselves that if they could defeat Leopold’s army, they could save their families.

After becoming prisoners and waking up, they hurled curses at us.

“You killed tens of thousands of lives,” or “What kind of crusade arrives so late?” – such irrational accusations.

Some became frenzied and tried to riot, so soldiers and knights had to subdue them.

If we hadn’t tied them up beforehand, a rebellion might have broken out within the camp.

After their anger somewhat subsided—or rather, was suppressed—they began pleading with the knights.

Please, go save their families right now. Or at least let them go themselves.

It was a plea we couldn’t grant.

We needed time to heal the wounded troops and secure supplies to attack the Benes territory.

And we couldn’t release the conscript prisoners.

Eventually, the tens of thousands of prisoners sank into frustration and despair as if giving up on life.

Some stared blankly at the sky, cursing the gods. Others refused to touch their rations, trying to die.

Some even laughed or cried all day as if they’d lost their minds.

The priests were caring for these prisoners, but… whether they could ever rise again was anyone’s guess.

It was too cruel a fate for mere farmers to bear.

Among them were some who requested to join Leopold’s army to seek revenge. Not many though. About three thousand.

Leopold must have agonized over this.

They were in better shape than those who had given up on life, but incorporating them was still burdensome.

Considering their skills, they’d be lucky not to become monster food if organized as infantry.

They couldn’t ride horses or shoot arrows, so other formations were impossible from the start.

Entrusting them with supply route management was also concerning, as they couldn’t be fully trusted.

Yet completely refusing them was risky too. These people, bitter enough to swear revenge, might take unpredictable actions if denied their only goal.

So Leopold eventually accepted their request.

I heard they’re currently training them in suppressive fire archery… though I’m not sure if it will yield results.

Four days after the Battle of Zeren Plains.

Once the damage control and supply replenishment were reasonably complete, a military council was held in Leopold’s tent to plan future operations.

According to Lacy, the plan was to march on Benes territory, surround the entire domain, and burn it all down.

That wouldn’t kill Isabella, but… it would at least damage the monsters. Not a bad judgment.

====[Leopold’s Army Encampment]====

“Monster ambush! Alert status! Report to the knights!”

“Again? How many times is this now?!”

The march toward Benes territory was nothing short of a grueling expedition.

As suspected from the moment she openly showed us the video, Isabella no longer seemed interested in hiding that she was a witch, repeatedly sending monsters to ambush us.

They weren’t particularly strong monsters, but… they came almost every two hours.

Each time, Leopold’s forces had to halt their advance and engage in battle.

“That bitch…!”

Everyone was on edge and mentally exhausted from the repeated ambushes, day and night.

Given the forces gathered here, extermination itself wasn’t difficult, but…

No matter how quickly they responded, casualties were inevitable.

—-

“Tunneling worms!”

“Scatter! You’ll get sucked in!”

The cracked ground split open with a cracking sound.

Soldiers who spotted this familiar phenomenon shouted urgent warnings, but… it was somewhat too late.

Soldiers on the outer edges of the danger zone could quickly throw themselves clear, but those gathered inside couldn’t.

Their expressions twisted in horror as death reached beneath their feet.

– CRASH!

With a thunderous roar from underground, a massive hole opened in the middle of the camp.

The split earth turned to rock fragments and disappeared as if being sucked into the black hole. Along with the unfortunate soldiers standing on it.

“AAAAAAHHH!”

“SAVE MEEEEE!”

The screams of more than a dozen men echoed before being cut off with a thud.

All that remained was the sound of something chewing wetly.

Then, something enormous shot up through the hole.

“GRWOOOOOAR!”

A worm with a diameter of two to three meters. Its length exceeded ten meters.

Its funnel-shaped circular mouth glistened red, and hundreds of teeth from its mouth to its throat were embedded with torn chunks of flesh.

It had no eyes, but instead, long tentacles—either hair or feelers—writhed around its lips.

Countless legs resembling Grimma lined its segmented body, and its front pair of legs had huge, sharp claws like a mole’s.

Tunneling worm.

A monster that digs holes with its front legs and devours prey that falls in.

Since it was difficult to detect while hidden underground, they had to accept soldier casualties whenever one appeared.

And there were three more monsters besides this one.

“Magic battalion, open fire! Roast those worm bastards!”

“Faelrun knights, prepare for battle! Charge as soon as the barrage ends!”

Lightning cast by mages cut through the air and struck the monster’s body.

Even creatures that could somewhat resist fire couldn’t withstand the nerve-piercing electrical energy.

The giant worms writhed and let out agonized roars.

Taking advantage of the opening, knights’ spears and swords penetrated the gaps in the exoskeletons, causing black bodily fluids to flow from the split flesh.

Only those who had reached the level of Master could break through the hard exoskeleton head-on.

“HAAAAAAH!”

The serrated blade of Rihart, Faelrun’s Master, scraped and tore away the exoskeleton. Like peeling bark from an old tree.

Inside the torn carapace, the monster’s flesh stretched and came away in long strands.

“Now! Everyone attack! Target the exposed areas!”

“Carve out all its innards!”

The knights’ swords ripped through the creature’s organs.

Unlike the steel-hard carapace, the insides of the worm monsters were ordinary flesh.

The Faelrun knights coordinated with Rihart to dismantle the monster piece by piece.

The monster on the opposite side was being handled by the Landenburg knights.

Or more precisely, by one Landenburg knight.

“Let’s get some sleep, you worm bastards!”

The twin swords of Heiden, Landenburg’s Seventh Sword, danced like a storm.

His relentless slashes broke through carapaces, severed legs, and chopped the monster into pieces.

No knight could intervene in the whirlwind of blades.

One misstep and they might get sliced themselves.

The paladins weren’t just standing around either. In fact, they were arguably fighting the hardest.

While the knights and mages faced the monsters that charged head-on, the paladins were capturing and dismantling the tunneling worms that attacked from underground.

“Deploy the holy barrier! Elpinel’s light shall protect us!”

“Astraea! Grant me the power to destroy this evil!”

A barrier made of Elpinel’s holy light firmly sealed the hole, fixing the tunneling worm’s body in place.

The sacred light that negated mana. The tunneling worm, suddenly trapped in the ground, twisted its body with irritated shrieks, but the holy light barrier only showed slight cracks without breaking.

Astraea’s paladins bestowed blessing miracles upon themselves and charged at the now-immobilized worm.

Swords filled with holy radiance cut through the monster’s shell like tofu, and spears made of holy light pierced it like thorns.

The battle wasn’t long.

Despite their fierce initial assault, the four monsters ended up as tattered corpses strewn about.

===============

“…It seems to be over.”

Nigel, who had been watching outside the tent, turned her head.

As my nominal bodyguard, she had been guarding my tent for the past few days without participating in battle.

“That makes eleven times already? If it’s going to end in five minutes anyway, don’t they get tired of this… Attacking without even giving us time to sleep—are they trying to wear the soldiers down to death?”

Renault clicked his tongue and complained.

Having just been woken from sleep, his tone was quite irritable.

[They’re obviously stalling for time. When sorcerers stall for time… doesn’t that mean they’re plotting something tremendously dangerous?]

…I think so too.

Isabella wouldn’t repeat these meaningless ambushes without reason.