Chapter 77 - Northernmost Territory Monster II_010_Results of Getting Serious
Happy New Year.
May this year be better than last year!
This story is a work of fiction.
The characters, organizations, and names that appear are fictional and have no relation to real entities.
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010_Results of Getting Serious
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Supporting his heavy body with his sword like a cane. The air is insufficient. Violent breathing makes his chest heave.
"Prince Salvana has been captured! Jabaru Kingdom soldiers, throw down your weapons and surrender!"
Lieutenant Sadam's voice resounded across the battlefield. Through the desperate charge of the Kuodo Kingdom Tunnel Sector Defense Force's 1,700 soldiers, Prince Salvana, the supreme commander of the Jabaru Kingdom Army, had been captured.
"Prince Salvana has been captured! Jabaru Kingdom soldiers, throw down your weapons and surrender!"
"Prince Salvana has been captured! Jabaru Kingdom soldiers, throw down your weapons and surrender!"
Surrender demands repeated over and over. Among the Jabaru Kingdom Army soldiers who lost their will to fight, some fled, but most surrendered.
While Colonel Strebas was charging at the vanguard, Sora was fighting against 12,000 soldiers total deployed in three directions—left, right, and rear. This side had greater numbers and was more difficult, but he scattered the left and right armies with Sonic Wave. Meanwhile, he engaged in fierce combat with the rear unit that had infiltrated the defensive positions.
There is a tendency to focus on magic, but Sora studied under his grandmother Sophia (the wife of former Marquis Rodney). Sophia is usually very gentle, but once she takes up a sword, she is a wielder of such powerful swordsmanship that even a headless knight would flee barefoot.
Originally a retainer of the Forvas House, Sophia entered the Labyrinth with Rodney and defeated Cerveau. Though she is overshadowed by Rodney, her combat ability was among the best in the kingdom. Sora also inherited Sophia's talent for the sword, and his skills improved rapidly.
"Ha!"
When Sora swept the White True Steel Sword sideways, the torsos of three soldiers were split in half. It wasn't cutting through brute force like Knight Elbert, but a movement like cutting paper with a knife.
"You bastard!"
He dodges the charging enemy soldier's sword by a hair's breadth. What even Sophia acknowledges is Sora's ability to read and anticipate. He takes the optimal evasive action with minimal movement. Even in a chaotic battle, as if manipulating space, enemy attacks never reach Sora.
The attacks of soldiers with Source Power also fail to hit at all. He evades as if dancing, thrusts sharply, and cuts. The enemy soldiers are baffled by Sora's elusive movements, and by the time they notice, they have already been cut.
Sora also nimbly dodges attacks of emission-type Source Power. At times it seems as if he is flying through the air, plunging the Jabaru Kingdom Army soldiers into terror.
Sora, who displayed overwhelming martial prowess in this battle, would come to be feared by prisoners more for his swordsmanship than for his magic.
The left and right units hit by magic were almost annihilated. The surviving soldiers lost their will to attack and scattered in flight.
Many of those taken prisoner witnessed Sora's extraordinary sword skills. For this reason, among the prisoners, Sora came to be called the "Sword God of Kuodo."
When the prisoners were returned to Jabaru Kingdom, that rumor spread through the Jabaru Kingdom Army, and eventually spread throughout all of Jabaru Kingdom.
The battle ended in an extremely short time of three hours. This battle would leave its name for posterity as an extremely rare one where a force of only 1,700 defeated an army of 20,000. The kingdom would call this battle the "Battle of Garda" after the place name, but that is a story for a little later.
Though Colonel Strebas and his men won at the land of Garda, they were exhausted by it. Colonel Strebas and the soldiers were completely worn out and could not pursue the retreating Jabaru Kingdom Army.
Moreover, they could not abandon Sora and the others fighting an isolated battle. Dozens of Amania Territory soldiers were fighting against as many as 4,000 troops. To let that go would mean leaving the heroes of this victory to die.
Colonel Strebas and his men saved Sora and the others who were fighting a desperate battle in the defensive positions, but there they reached their limit of action.
Because it was a situation of "winning but heaps of corpses," the tunnel was still secured by the Jabaru Kingdom Army. Defeated soldiers might gather at those defensive positions, but in this matter, their bodies simply would not obey.
The enemy that had taken position in the front and first taken the brunt of Sora's magic had lost two-thirds of its number from that attack. The remaining one-third, though in confusion, still held more soldiers than their own side. They charged into that and captured the supreme commander Prince Salvana.
When they arrived at Prince Salvana's location while cutting down enemies along the way, their spirits were high and they felt no fatigue. After capturing Prince Salvana, they headed to reinforce Sora and the others, scattered the enemy, and slept like mud.
The captured Prince Salvana was more energetic, and had been shouting the whole time.
The day after sleeping like mud, Colonel Strebas gathered the leadership including Sora.
"How is everyone feeling?"
"I slept like never before. I'm glad I wasn't dead when I woke up."
Major Gersang, the battalion commander, said this with a half-smile as a joke (?) but it didn't get much of a reaction.
Seeing Colonel Strebas's wry smile, Major Gersang tilted his head wondering what was strange—a man with no talent for jokes.
"Now, today I want to attack the tunnel. After such a crushing defeat, I don't think they're ready, but we should assume the defeated soldiers outnumber us."
"If we had even 1,000—no, even 500 more troops, we could have launched a surprise attack on the tunnel after that..."
Major Gersang almost said "if the nobles hadn't fled" and swallowed his words.
If they had the 300 troops from the nobles who withdrew, perhaps they could have launched a surprise attack on the tunnel. He does regret not having forcibly stopped them knowing this would happen, but dwelling on what's done is pointless. He tries to switch his mindset to positive thinking.
"Forstay-dono. Can that Source Power from yesterday destroy the tunnel's defensive positions?"
That "Source Power" probably refers to Sonic Wave. It's not just Colonel Strebas who mistakes magic for Source Power—everyone in the leadership does.
Sora answered Colonel Strebas's question saying it was no problem.
"Then we head for the tunnel's defensive positions. This time it's our turn to issue a surrender demand."
Everyone nodded, stood up, and returned to their respective units. Their backs were full of confidence.
The remaining Colonel Strebas and his adjutant Lieutenant Sadam watched their retreating figures, thinking how things could change so much from the funeral-like atmosphere yesterday morning.
The Amania Territory force led by Sora had not lost a single man, but the current Tunnel Sector force had decreased to about 1,400 soldiers. It should be said they defeated an army of 20,000 with only 300 casualties, but Sora felt bitter that he should have been able to do a bit more.
The Jabaru Kingdom Army suffered over 14,000 dead. Most of those were due to Sora's magic. Prisoners numbered 2,000. From that, the soldiers who fled would be 4,000.
If they holed up in the tunnel's defensive positions it would be troublesome, but there would also be wounded, so they are thought not to have that much fighting strength.
From the defensive positions where yesterday's fierce battle had been fought and Sora's martial might had been fully displayed, two platoons set out. They were to advance into the forest and conduct reconnaissance of the tunnel's defensive positions.
About an hour later, the main unit also began moving, and the Amania Territory force accompanied them.
They had sent a messenger to the main army yesterday to report their situation. The main army was still engaged in battle with the Jabaru Kingdom Army and had no forces to spare for this front. So they had to do it with these forces.
They thought it would take time to reorganize after taking that much damage, but the enemy numbers were still large. The defensive positions were also intact, so fierce resistance was expected. Nevertheless, the morale of the Tunnel Sector Defense Force was high, believing they could manage with Sora there.
It was past noon when the Tunnel Sector Defense Force deployed in front of the tunnel's defensive positions. According to reports from the reconnaissance unit, there was no sign of people.
"They fled. Good timing for a withdrawal."
"Having witnessed the power of Forstay-dono's Source Power, these defensive positions were as good as non-existent. They must have understood that."
Worried something might be there, they decided to have a small number explore inside the defensive positions. As a result, there was not a single Jabaru Kingdom soldier. It seemed everyone had withdrawn through the tunnel last night.
"The problem is the tunnel. If we leave that as is, enemy soldiers could come out anytime. Attacking from here is an option, but this force is insufficient."
Though his jokes are not funny, following Major Gersang's extremely sound proposal, they decided to send a unit into the tunnel to check.
"It was blocked partway through, we could not get through."
Upon receiving the report from the reconnaissance unit leader, Colonel Strebas decided to leave a small alert unit and rejoin the main army.
※Note (I'm writing this because it's a bit confusing)
・Main Army = Posandalk Front Army
・Main Unit = Tunnel Sector Defense Force belonging to the Posandalk Front Army
・Sophia = Yulin (wife of former Marquis Rodney). Her name has been changed.
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