Chapter 377 - Episode 369: The Battle of Fioroviki Gorge — Opening Phase ③
"...If I recall, the Kingdom of Levrant had about ten mages capable of fighting. As expected, a country where demi-humans make up ten percent of the population is different."
Watching the simultaneous magical barrage from the fort, Cadne let out a wry smile. Beside him, Kaia's expression had grown grim.
"...It's strange. I heard that nearly half of that country's combat mages were Elven wind mages. But in that magical attack just now, there were only two wind spells. What are the rest doing?"
"Perhaps they're conserving their mana in the rear? The enemy likely anticipates a long battle."
"No, for that to be the case, something is..."
While the two spoke, several more spells were launched from the fort.
"Tch! ...There are several soldiers holding things like staves. Judging by their armor, they're soldiers of the Archduchy of Arqvist. It seems magic is being fired from those staves."
"What!? Those are magic tools for attack spells!"
Cadne gasped at Kaia's words. Due to his days spent buried in books during his youth, Cadne's eyesight was somewhat poor, and he could not clearly see every single soldier in the fort. However, if Kaia, who possessed the superior vision of a warrior, said so, there was no doubt.
"Magic tools for attack spells? From the ancient superpowers? I thought those were the stuff of fairy tales," Gaziev asked from the side.
Cadne replied with a bitter expression.
"No, that's true, but they should still exist in the Kingdom of Lordberg, albeit in small numbers. And in a usable state."
"But why does the Archduchy of Arqvist army have such things? And multiple ones at that. No matter how friendly their relationship with the Kingdom of Lordberg is, those aren't the kind of things you can just ask to borrow."
Cadne had heard that only a few dozen attack spell magic tools remained in the Kingdom of Lordberg. They possessed extraordinary value both as weapons and as antiques; a single one was said to be worth enough to buy a lower peerage and its lands.
Furthermore, their construction was shrouded in mystery, and it was said that even if they were to be deciphered in the future, a few decades would not be enough. He could not imagine how Noein Arqvist had obtained such things.
"There's no point in thinking about it now. From what I can see, the enemy is using about four or five of these attack spell magic tools. It's troublesome as it increases our losses, but it's not enough to decide the tide of the battle."
"...True. Once we take the fort and capture Noein or his subordinates, we can interrogate them."
Agreeing with Kaia's words, Cadne exhaled and watched the battlefield once more.
The situation was worse than expected. Of course, there was no worry about losing since they overwhelmed the enemy in military strength, but the enemy's resistance was fiercer than he had imagined.
Attack magic, explosive flame arrows, and arrows from archers were expected, but the stone-throwing was also troublesome. The fact that excessively large stones were frequently flying suggested they were likely having golems throw them.
Among them, logs were flying—things that would be impossible for a single golem to throw, regardless of being a golem. Every time one crashed into the allied forces, several soldiers were crushed, creating a carpet of flesh and blood. Most likely, the ones throwing those logs were Noein Arqvist's golems.
The soldiers clinging to the defensive walls were not faring any better. More than thirty ladders had already been placed, but from atop the walls, enemy soldiers were thrusting spears, dropping stones, or pouring what looked like boiling water. On top of that, several golems stood upon the walls, making the defensive line considerably formidable.
Most soldiers fell to such attacks while climbing the ladders, and the few who were lucky enough to reach the top were quickly finished off and pushed back down, overwhelmed by the numbers.
"The enemy is desperate. At this rate, we'll lose more soldiers and time than I anticipated."
"Cadne, shall we do it?"
"...Yeah. Ideally, it would have been better to exhaust the enemy more first, but if they're going to persist this much, I don't know when that will happen. Let's just do it, knowing there's some risk."
Looking over the chaotic battlefield, Cadne nodded at Kaia's words.
"Alright, Gaziev. I'm counting on you."
"Sir! Tell the main force scattered to the left and right! Bring the mages to the front and begin destroying the walls! Use the harassing fire arrows without hesitation!"
Gaziev relayed Kaia's order to the messengers, who then raced back into the battlefield.
A few minutes later, the operation for destroying the walls that Cadne had planned in advance was put into motion.
...
"I am Rotuen, Knight of the Kingdom of Durei! Is there any warrior worthy of fighting—"
"Get lost, you piece of shit!"
An enemy knight, who had dodged the onslaught to climb the ladder, reached the top of the wall and drew his sword while delivering a battle cry, only to be punched away by Alain's golem.
No matter how daring a general he might be, there was no way he could defeat a golem alone. The knight fell pathetically over the side of the wall.
"Tch! They keep swarming like insects. There's no end to it."
Alain cursed, but without stopping his golem manipulation, he pushed down another enemy soldier who had climbed the ladder, while scanning the enemy lines.
A difference in military strength of about four times. It was easy to put into words, but facing that reality at the front lines was far too harsh. As far as he could see, enemy soldiers were trying to scale the walls one after another, and arrows and magic were flying from their rear.
The allies standing on the wall's ledge and clashing blades directly with the enemy numbered just under two hundred, even including the four puppet mages like Alain. Physically, no more could fit.
The remaining soldiers performed stone-throwing or indirect fire with arrows from behind the ledge, or rotated with those at the very front who were casualties or severely fatigued to take their place and face the climbing enemy. For now, there was still room in the rotation, but they were overwhelmingly outnumbered. As casualties increased, the front line would inevitably wither.
"Mage-dono! Are you alright without a break!"
"I'm still fine! I've got guts!"
Asked by a young knight of the Kingdom of Levrant who commanded the soldiers in this sector, Alain answered energetically. It wasn't that he wasn't tired, but compared to the Betumia War where he had to keep swinging his arms against an inexhaustible enemy, this was nothing.
The moment he looked around, thinking about his next target—a loud sound, like something bursting, echoed from above and to his right.
Turning to look up, he saw that an enemy attack spell had hit a support pillar of the watchtower, snapping it.
The hastily constructed wooden watchtower began to sway unstabley because one of its pillars had broken.
"There! It's dangerous! Jump!"
As the knight next to Alain shouted the order, several archers of the Levrant army and a soldier of the Archduchy army holding a magic tool jumped from the watchtower. Immediately after, another spell struck the position where they had been until a moment ago, causing a massive explosion. The watchtower then collapsed sideways.
The soldiers nearby seemed to have evacuated in time, and fortunately, no one was crushed. However, the jumping Archduchy soldier seemed to have landed on his feet to protect the magic tool, and as blood poured from an open fracture in his leg, he was carried away by the surrounding Kingdom soldiers.
Another Archduchy soldier took over the attack spell magic tool and joined the battle atop the wall.
Noein watched this from the stone-throwing position, slightly behind the wall.
"That's one high-ground attack point gone..."
"It couldn't be helped. That watchtower was far too conspicuous. It would have been destroyed sooner or later," Pence replied, holding a shield by Noein's side.
"Fire arrows! Fire arrows are coming!"
At that moment, a Kingdom soldier from the remaining watchtower shouted to the entire fort. At those words, Matilda, the Guard, and the great-shield soldiers protecting the puppet mages entered a posture to shield their respective charges.
"Your Excellency! Assault shields for the golems!"
"I'm fine. There are only four here. You guys use them."
While answering Gustav, Noein sent his two golems diving into a tent at the corner of the stone-throwing position. If fire arrows hit, the tent would burn regardless, but it was slightly better than leaving the golems exposed under the open sky in the middle of the position.
The golems operated by Gustav and the other three held assault shields—L-shaped shields made experimentally from jet-black steel, consisting of only one bottom plane and one side plane of metal plating—in both hands and pointed them toward the sky. While these shields were originally intended for swinging attacks, they also served as a countermeasure against fire attacks, which were a weakness for golems.
Almost exactly as the golems finished preparing their defense, a swarm of fire arrows flew in from beyond the wall.
Most of the Levrant Kingdom soldiers did not have shields. Some hid behind cover, but in a situation where falling to an arrow depended on luck, many continued to attack or transport the wounded with all their might.
Even so, with the golems unable to move and manpower being taken up by extinguishing fires caused by the fire arrows, the momentum of the counterattack inevitably slowed. The enemy was likely firing fire arrows with that goal in mind. It was undoubtedly Cadne's idea.
"They're being quite generous all of a sudden... I'm sure it's to distract us, but I wonder what they're plotting."
Behind the wall created by Matilda, Pence, and the Guard soldiers lining up their shields without a gap, Noein muttered while looking around. This was likely the safest position in the battlefield.
He had heard that oil was even more precious in the north of the continent than in the south. To begin with, arrows were not cheap. They couldn't just use fire arrows indefinitely. To fire them so lavishly at this timing meant there was a reason they wanted to weaken the defense, even temporarily.
While Noein was pondering, Alain was hiding in the shadow of the wall at the very front.
By having the golem dive under the ledge for the time being and crouching as if clinging to the back of the wall, he would not be directly affected by the fire arrows flying in via indirect fire. In the first place, most of the fire arrows were fired to fly far over the wall and rain down inside the fort. The targets were clearly the archers and the stone-throwing team.
"Fire arrows cost money. Why suddenly be so lavish... ! Enemy mages approaching!"
The knight next to Alain peered into the enemy lines and shouted in a panicked tone.
Alain also poked half his head over a log to look at the enemy lines, and indeed, the enemy mages had come to the front. He couldn't see them directly, but since several great-shield guards were clustered together forming a sturdy defensive formation, there was no mistake. It seemed the method of utilizing mages was the same regardless of the country or region.
"Tch. So the fire arrows were a distraction to bring the mages to the front... but why bring them this far forward?"
Looking down below the wall, he noticed the enemy soldiers had stopped climbing the ladders. Alain shook the shoulder of the knight next to him and shouted, pointing straight down.
"Hey! The enemy is retreating!"
"What? ...Which means, the target is the wall!"
The next moment, several impacts echoed through the entire wall. It was a simultaneous magical barrage. Alain and the others hurriedly pulled their heads back.
Most of them seemed to hit the wall surface directly, and the vibrations reached Alain and the others on the ledge touching the wall.
Although the number of attack spells hitting the wall was high, the power was not as much as Alain had thought. Perhaps because the base population was too different, it seemed that if this were the Kingdom of Lordberg, many of them would be "soldiers who can use a bit of magic" rather than mages.
"Do they plan to keep this up until the wall breaks? The enemy's mana won't hold out..."
"Yeah, at this level, there won't be a hole in the wall for a while. The hardened earth on the surface will peel off, though..."
The knight next to him answered Alain's voiced doubt, and in that instant, the two looked at each other.
""Fire magic!""
Alain hesitated for a moment on who to tell, then shouted to the closest superior from his perspective—Yuri on the roof of the checkpoint.
"Granat-kakka—!! The enemy intends to peel off the earth from the wall and burn it down with fire magic!!"
His booming natural voice successfully conveyed the information to Yuri even amidst the din of the battlefield. Yuri raised one hand to signal understanding and connected to Noein via 'Far-Talk'.
"Arqvist-kakka! It appears the enemy intends to break down the surface earth of the wall with attack magic and then use fire magic to burn the wall!"
Regarding the "Assault Shield," please imagine something like a spike-less version of the Spark Shield from Z〇Ⅱ.
Unlike armor, which requires fine-tuning for each individual, these have a simple construction of just layering metal plates, so although there are few of them, this kind of armament was hastily prepared before the deployment.
Actually, Damian wanted to add spikes to the surface to increase lethality, but there wasn't enough time, so Noein rejected it.