Ch.555555. The Viscount’s Conclusion (2)

To break down a fortified enemy castle, you need forces that far exceed your opponent’s.

Siege engines and mages to batter the walls, knights to recapture and secure supply routes to the rear of the fortified territory, and soldiers to attack the gates. These numerous conditions are filthy difficult to fulfill, but when all preparations are perfectly in place, the defending side becomes disadvantaged.

Being confined inside a castle with limited resources, constantly having to fend off attacks from enemies who have gained the upper hand—this situation only takes you further away from victory.

‘The crops outside the castle walls have all been burned by them.’

Furthermore, even the most important roads in this trade center were being slowly destroyed by these vicious enemies.

Even if the rear supply routes and internal resources were still somewhat sufficient, to minimize the damage after this territorial war ended, we needed to make the enemy acknowledge their defeat.

Especially if we were to resolve these inexplicable events happening inside.

“We’re not far from where the assault team fired their signal flare! Everyone, increase your speed!”

We cannot miss this precious opportunity created by the assault team.

I opened a new mana potion and forced it down my throat while grabbing an arrow.

Under Elves’s blessing, the war horses had gained courage and strength that would allow ordinary soldiers without mana proficiency to trample right through, but…

“Regular soldiers, trust your horses and spirits and charge straight in! Attack the knights and mages who show openings! I’ll personally handle any knight with strong momentum!”

Just as the assault team’s signal flare indicated.

Beyond there, whether there truly was noble blood present or not, an unusually large number of knights and mages were displaying hostility toward us.

“Those are the Baron’s war horses!”

“Damn it, that soldier…!”

The assault team that had broken through them and advanced.

The soldiers who had lent their strength to the brave breakthrough of the main force and ultimately lost their lives.

The maliciously mutilated state of their war horses and cold bodies was an unforgivable atrocity.

“We must avenge them!”

Looking again, I could see their awkwardly maintained formation.

The remnants left behind after facing the main assault team showed how difficult they had been to deal with. I noticed their expensive armor covered in dirt and dents, and simultaneously—

Paang—!

I instantly shot and killed a soldier who had plunged his sword into a war horse and shouted:

“Break through!”

A fierce attack poured forth from our soldiers, their fighting spirit heightened after witnessing the gruesome deaths of their comrades.

Even for the assault team, famous as a unit of madmen who didn’t fear death, their deaths were not something we could accept as normal.

“With so many enemies along the path the assault team took, there’s a high possibility they’re already surrounded and caught in a chaotic battle!”

We needed Elves to break through the enemy and recapture the castle walls.

In the midst of chaos, attacking with fire carried on the wind at the right place and time required coordination with the battle-experienced Elves. That’s why I asked Elves to join the battle instead of scouting, and entrusted the enemy pursuit to Teia’s assault team. But what if it had been the opposite?

Which would have been the right choice? As this agonizing thought filled my mind…

I quickly clicked my tongue and discarded that useless thought.

‘If that’s the case—’

I just needed to create a result proving my previous choice was correct.

“Mourn the deaths of your comrades later!”

I turned my horse’s reins in the direction Elves was leading and charged forward.

“Focus only on the battle now!”

* * *

“Damn it all…!”

Teia spat out a curse.

As the commander of the assault team, she had lost her war horse.

“Seems you still have energy left to curse!”

“Just get lost, you disgusting thing!”

Tzzzzz…!

Teia instantly exchanged three strikes with an enemy knight wielding a spear.

The explosion and mana waves from their colliding mana vibrated through their bodies.

“To think they would pull such a trick…!”

Finding Baron Akion and two heads of other families beside her was fortunate.

But there was a problem.

“Cowards!”

While Baron Akion and the others were still pouring their forces into the baronial territory…

At this point, less than 24 hours since the siege began, they had secretly prepared to flee with a small number of elites, ensuring they could withdraw anytime if the numbers turned against them.

This meant that Baron Akion had been preparing to escape from the moment she arrived on this battlefield.

“After picking a fight with us first, now you’re running away!”

The Baron, quite blatantly in front of us, had not only released knights to tie us down as soon as we started searching for them across the battlefield, but also, as if everything was going according to plan, without the slightest hesitation, she hurriedly boarded a carriage and fled with her tail between her legs.

Whatever she might be thinking, even in this situation where her barony had already been occupied, did she have something she was counting on? She was heading toward the royal capital at full speed.

‘After all we went through to get this opportunity…!’

What did she think it cost us to break through this place, filled with even stronger soldiers than the battlefield where fierce fighting was taking place?

As the sacrifices of our comrades became increasingly meaningless, Teia gripped her sword handle tightly, emanating a thick killing intent.

“Shouldn’t you be more concerned about our Baron right now?”

A knight nearly equal to Hanelrn.

She just snorted and kept her spear pointed at Teia.

Soon their exchange of attacks and defenses continued.

‘She’s aiming for my left arm.’

The thrust spear was targeting her left arm, but…

It was hard to tell if it would come in deeper to strike the body, or suddenly change trajectory to target elsewhere.

Teia focused on the spear wielder’s attack.

‘Her posture isn’t right for a swing.’

The spear had already advanced too far to properly apply force.

‘Her wrist…!’

Instantly recognizing the movement of the knight’s left hand adjusting the spear’s direction, Teia twisted her sword.

Whiik—!

The spear shaft cut sharply through the air.

As the tip of her spear suddenly bent in a strange trajectory to aim for Teia’s neck…

Teia turned her body, preparing to deflect the shaft, but…

‘No…! This is—!’

The moment the knight realized her attack had been anticipated, she stepped half a pace forward.

She gripped the spear shaft more narrowly and brought the spear down diagonally.

“Ugh…!”

Teia twisted her sword to deflect the spear blade.

In that moment when mana clashed with mana, she felt irritation as the enemy’s stronger mana began to erode her own power.

The knight instantly rotated her spear and thrust the shaft toward Teia’s solar plexus, which she barely avoided.

“You dodge attacks quite well. You seem more composed than I expected. Have you faced spear wielders often?”

“Mounted spears too…! They’re still spears!”

Teia pushed away the spear shaft and created distance.

There was nothing more foolish than trying to slide along the shaft to get inside, as one might do against other swordsmen. The blade would instantly be turned back by the opponent’s redirected force, cutting or stabbing you.

“Can you even call that dull, stupid thing a spear? Without elegant and delicate spear techniques. Is it just about mounting a horse and thrusting?”

“Stop flapping your mouth and let’s see who’s better!”

The serious clash between Teia and the spear wielder began.

They inflicted shallow wounds on each other, measured distances, and exchanged countless tactical moves.

It was a duel where neither ally nor enemy could intervene. But the one gaining the upper hand was not Teia but the spear wielder.

‘What am I supposed to do…!’

In a situation where neither could land a decisive blow and only minor wounds accumulated…

In terms of both stamina and the number of successful attacks landed, Teia was inferior to her opponent.

Kwang—!

Teia barely blocked a thrust with her blade and pushed the spear away, spitting blood-mixed saliva onto the ground.

‘My sword’s condition isn’t good either.’

To make matters worse, after being repeatedly struck by that powerful mana, her sword was beginning to crack.

As cold sweat dripped down in this increasingly dire situation…

From the battlefield she had momentarily forgotten while focusing on fighting just one opponent, she heard the sound of a new wind blowing.

“…Tch.”

The spear wielder’s irritated voice.

But nothing could have been more welcome to Teia.

“Finally…!”

The moment the Baron’s reinforcements arrived.

Feeling her depleted strength returning, Teia focused on keeping the knight in front of her engaged, regardless of whether her sword cracked or not.

Tang—!

With a dull yet clear sound, the blade that had reached the end of its life soared into the sky before her eyes.

“Ah—”

As she was thinking that she had held out quite well…

“I’ll curse you even in death, you bastard.”

Contrary to her expectation of being torn apart by the enemy’s spear that had seized the opportunity…

Kwang—!

“Kugh…!”

Instead of her own death cry, she heard the spear wielder’s groan.

Teia raised the corner of her mouth at the scene unfolding before her.

“Instead of wasting time on pathetic last words, why don’t you just take my sword?”

“Hanelrn.”

None other than the commander of the Baron’s knights.

Hanelrn was firmly blocking the spear wielder’s attack.

That’s why Teia unhesitatingly drew the spare sword from Hanelrn’s sword belt and said:

“You don’t mind if it breaks like mine?”

“…Shut up and get on the war horse I rode here.”

Annoyed at Teia’s joke, Hanelrn…

Her pupils were filled with the image of the tense spear wielder.

Having instantly gauged the opponent’s level from the strength felt through the spear blade, she was confident.

“The lord has gone separately to capture Baron Akion. We need someone to block the wind.”

With this spear wielder… it might take some time, but she could defeat her alone.

* * *

The allied forces surrounding and binding the assault team.

And our Baron Akion slipping away in the meantime.

After hearing a general overview of the situation, I sent Hanelrn and half the soldiers to the assault team, while hurrying forward with the remaining few to catch the leader.

‘After causing all this trouble. Where do you think you’re running to?’

Baron Akion heading toward the royal capital.

To prevent any more disgusting antics, I poured in mana and moved at a speed as if folding the ground beneath me.

Finally, I was able to catch up with the rear of the allied forces heading toward the royal capital. I couldn’t help but wonder why, despite their urgent need to flee, they had stopped in this place quite far from the territory.

I heard about their situation from Elves.

—Those people are fighting among themselves.

‘Among themselves?’

—It seems there’s a traitor inside. One woman is extremely angry about it.

A traitor within the allied forces.

Baron Akion, held back by them.

Whatever the case, it was clearly the best situation for us.

“Tania.”

I poured another mana potion into my mouth and said:

“Burn everyone who tries to block us.”

We made contact with those who were fleeing.

As Elves had said, a small internal skirmish was taking place.

Even in the midst of that, those who threw themselves at us to find us were consumed by Tania’s flames.

Those who got in our way all fell, pierced by my arrows.

“We have surrounded them!”

“Attack magic ready! Awaiting your command!”

Having successfully taken control of the situation…

As I, the master, emanated killing intent and our knights and mages pointed their weapons at them, they realized their internal division had already doomed them and surrendered.

As I walked through their silent ranks with my soldiers toward where the high-ranking individuals were said to be…

A woman’s sharp scream was heard.

“Why! Fuck, why are you interfering! We already finished our discussion!”

A shriek filled with pure rage.

“You bastard! I…! I think I’m going to die alone!”

“I have to… spit it out…! Absolutely…!”

“Kuugh…! What kind of dirty trick did you…!”

As I pondered the sounds coming from the open door of the military carriage Baron Akion had been riding in…

I climbed onto the carriage covered in magical residue and saw Baron Akion desperately trying to empty her stomach, jabbing at her uvula and drooling profusely.

Looking down at her as she frantically tried to insert her finger into her mouth again…

“Kuegh…!”

If she wanted to vomit that badly, I gave her a solid kick to the abdomen.

Bang!

“Kuuuh…”

The Baron, defenseless and floating in the air, flew back and hit the wall with her back.

She placed her hands on her abdomen and struggled to breathe…

I grabbed her by the hair, lifted her head, and spoke.

“Baron Akion.”

The Baron’s pupils trembled violently.

I simply maintained firm eye contact with her.

“I have so many things I want to ask you.”

After all, since she was going to die anyway, she might as well divulge some information before dying.