Ch.290290. Frank Front Line (1)

# Kingdom of the Franks, West.

The Flanders domain, situated along the strait right next to the Isle of Albion.

Ruled by the Duke of Flanders and known for its wool industry as its main economic pillar, this domain was now under invasion by endless demons pouring in from the Isle of Albion.

These demons, transported directly by massive ocean demons serving Leviathan of ‘Envy,’ formed a vast coalition of all kinds of demonic forces.

“…That concludes my report.”

“I-I see. Understood! Spread the word immediately!”

Upon confirming this information from High Elf refugees fleeing to the colonies, the Duke of Flanders immediately sent word to the other domains of the Frankish Kingdom. As a result, a massive army dispatched from 88 domains and thousands of manors had now gathered in the Flanders domain.

Normally, they would have been using their tongues as blades, engaging in all sorts of political maneuvering… but demons, demons were the exception.

The lords, who knew better than anyone that political games could result in their entire domain being offered as sacrifice, agreed to join forces this once and requested support from neighboring countries, but…

“Word from the Dawn Empire! A massive undead army has appeared in the Eastern Great Desert! They have sufficient food supplies, but cannot spare troops until their situation is resolved!”

“The Empire of Humanity reports that internal demon worshippers have summoned demons and started an uprising! They cannot provide support until the situation is resolved…”

With reports that similar situations were occurring simultaneously in neighboring countries, they ultimately faced the reality of having to stop the demonic army with their own strength alone.

Thus, the total number of troops gathered in the Duke of Flanders’ domain reached 2 million.

The lords, determined to invest everything down to the roots in defense, conscripted everyone except the bare minimum workforce needed, and furthermore joined the army themselves, leading their knightly orders.

Thanks to this, not only were there over 4,000 mid-tier combatants, but also an impressive seven high-tier forces had joined. If they lost, the Frankish Kingdom would simply perish, so they were prepared for total war.

“”””Build! Build!””””

“A-Are you alright, sir? How could I possibly allow a knight such as yourself to do such menial work…”

“Stop talking and keep moving!! We have no time left!”

And with this enormous free workforce now available, while knights engaged in guerrilla warfare at the front lines, massive civil engineering projects began in the rear.

They dug earth to build earthen fortifications, excavated moats, baked clay into bricks. Trees, rocks, whatever was available in the surroundings was mobilized to hastily construct barriers.

Of course, these hastily built barriers were merely improvised earthworks. It was clear they would be completely swept away by even a single mid-tier demon in a serious confrontation—

“《Create Seed》! 《Create Seed》! 《Create Seed》!”

“《Bless of Nature》! 《Bless of Nature》! 《Bless of Nature》!”

The Frankish Kingdom mobilized numerous druids residing within their country to reinforce the barriers with magic.

The name of the plant they created from seeds and grew was Steel Vine.

Originally, these vines were one of the lords’ headaches, as they would deeply root into walls, envelop them, and harden, causing all sorts of fortresses to crumble.

But those troublesome characteristics would clearly be of great help in this situation—because, naturally, these growing vines could be used directly to reinforce the barriers.

When the vines firmly bound and hardened around the crudely built barriers made of logs, lumber, bricks, or rocks and soil, they became sturdy enough to surpass even mediocre metals and resistant to deformation from impacts.

Of course, no matter how densely they grew the vines to reinforce the walls, this alone had its limitations, so the druids cast special magic over them to enhance the durability of the walls.

“《Mudthrower》!! 《Mudthrower》!! 《Mudthrower》!!”

“《Petrification Beam》!! 《Petrification Beam》!! 《Petrification Beam》!!”

A simple method was sufficient: splashing mud over the vine-bound improvised barriers, then using petrification magic to harden it.

Petrifying non-magical materials in this way was essentially permanent, and since the entire wall and surrounding ground transformed into a single rock-like structure, its durability was quite remarkable.

Thus, as the Frankish Kingdom’s soldiers, having formed this improvised defensive line in the Duke of Flanders’ domain, were preparing for battle…

—Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!!!

The bells in the watchtowers rising high across the walls began ringing simultaneously, signaling the approach of demons.

The knights who had been conducting guerrilla warfare and resisting as long as possible must have finally been unable to hold any longer.

“Prepare for battle! Retreat means death for your families!!”

“Gods of the Pantheon! Protect us!”

“Call for the priests! Recite the prayers!”

“Load arrows! Anyone who shoots before the signal dies!!”

As soldiers prepared their weapons and priests rushed to sprinkle holy water and perform blessings, while everyone hurriedly prepared for battle against the demons—

“Th-They’re coming!!!”

From beyond the horizon, an endless army of countless mixed demons marched forward relentlessly.

※ ※ ※

Those demons invading the Frankish Kingdom were by no means easy opponents.

The demon beasts of the demon realm—recognized as having combat power of levels 7-8 with just their physical abilities alone, without any equipment—all possessed at least one magical ability.

The humanoid demons commonly called demon folk not only trained different powers and carried equipment like humans, but also possessed the basic abilities inherent to demons.

Demons, being magical entities, had strong resistance to magic, and their somewhat ambiguous physical form meant they took relatively less damage from physical attacks.

As a result, to land effective hits with arrows and such, one needed to be able to at least infuse ranged weapons with magical power (level 7), but demons were tougher than expected and well-equipped, easily withstanding a few arrows.

Moreover, outsiders like demons left their souls in the demon realm and came over with merely virtually created bodies, meaning that even if they died, they didn’t truly die but rather their consciousness returned to the demon realm where their souls resided, allowing them to resurrect.

Therefore, even if these demons simply charged in disorderly fashion, they would naturally be considered formidable enemies by the Frankish Kingdom’s conscripts…

“Fire!”

Fwish-fwish-fwish-fwish!!!

“Thrust, thrust! There, push the ladder!”

Crash!!

“Imps incoming! Prepare to fire! Ready!”

Surprisingly, the Frankish Kingdom’s serfs were holding their ground relatively well against the demonic army.

There were three main reasons for this.

First, the widespread activities of chaplains dispatched from the Pantheon played a significant role across the front lines.

“Aaaaargh!! N-No—”

“《Heart of Brave》!! Calm yourself, soldier!”

“Th-Thank you!!”

Whenever the militia, who inevitably had low morale, were about to break, the chaplains calmed them with magic and sermons, while also setting an example by fighting at the forefront in heavy armor.

“《Holy Judgement: Holy》!!!”

They even occasionally provided supporting fire with wide-area holy magic, sweeping away concentrated groups of demons in one go. In this hellish battlefield, these chaplains served as reliable pillars of support.

The second reason was that, thanks to the careful consideration of these chaplains and various other factors, the militia fought better than expected.

It was obvious that fleeing would ultimately result in death by demons if they were defeated, and the rallying cause of directly protecting their own families with their own hands gave them great motivation.

Additionally, because so many demons were swarming in, even low-skilled archers could hit something when they fired, and the catapults hastily constructed by the druids were also proving their worth.

And the final, most important reason was—

“They’re coming! They’re coming!!”

“””””Waaaaaaaaaah—!!”””””

The knights of the Frankish Kingdom—normally cursed as tax thieves and robbers, but at times like these, more reliable than anyone else.

“For glory!!!!”

“”””For glory—!!!!!””””

Screeeeeech!!!

With shouts that seemed to tear the sky apart, flying beasts descended from the high heavens with knights mounted on them, lances in hand, grinding down the kingdom’s enemies.

The Frankish Kingdom’s ordeal had only just begun.