Chapter 92

The chaotic flow of people crisscrossed the castle wall passage, which was suddenly illuminated. An unknown attack spell grabbed the soldiers along with the arrow slits, and the parapet they relied on turned into countless malicious forces, pouring down the corridor. Patres, a soldier of the Lagar Fort defense team, calmed his trembling body and crawled along the floor.

"Sh-shut up."

As if there were no one lying down, a porter with a basket on his back strode past. Even if one or two people groaned, no one stopped.

"Damn knights."

In the battlefield where all kinds of dangerous objects were present, identifying a specific attack spell amidst the noise was trivial. Given the numerous knocks on the corridor, counting them was absurd. Now, he could only search his surroundings. Severed metal, gray and pale pink flesh fragments blocked his path, and the mixed red and black liquid tempted him to fall.

After much effort, he reached a fallen comrade. It wasn't out of kindness. If the comrade remained unconscious, Patres's burden would increase. With words of affection, he cleared the rubble from the sleeping body.

"Hey, wake up. If you're fine, get up—uh."

Just as he removed a fragment from his helmet, Patres couldn't help but gasp. The face he should have seen was gone. From the chin to the eyelids, everything was torn off, leaving only a flat, red surface. Patres, looking down, took what the corpse was hugging and threw it down. The rock, about the size of an infant, made a satisfying sound and caused a Rehazian knight to stagger and collapse.

"Take that!!"

Even a magic user who twisted reason was equal before a stone thrown with mass. The joy was fleeting; a comrade who had leaned out of the damaged parapet to throw the stone was lifted and floated by an invisible hand. It was a gust of wind from a wind attribute spell. The familiar voice, screaming, slid down to the ground.

Patres, who had clung to the back of the parapet to avoid the strong wind, picked up a few pebbles from the pile and threw them. The uneven stones hit the ground and dented the raised shields, but that was all. Just as he reached out to expand his gains, he heard a call.

"Section leader!! Are you there?"

Reacting to the unfamiliar title was slow. It was a common drawback of unwanted promotions during wartime. Patres was now the leader of a newly formed section. It sounded good, but in reality, it was a hastily assembled unit of leftovers. There was no sense of camaraderie or honor.

"...What, at this busy time?"

"From the command post at the north wall, they asked if we could send reinforcements—"

Before the poor messenger could finish, anger swelled.

"Are you kidding? Where are there any extra people!!? It's all injured and dead. Even the supply soldiers and the cooks are fighting."

The elderly man and the young soldier guarding Patres's flanks were a toothless old man and a boy whose hair was barely growing. One might say they were longing for their coffins and cradles. If the command post saw this lineup, they would be speechless.

"Even if it's just a body, an old man or a woman will do."

The messenger pleaded half-heartedly.

"In this siege, we can't let go of even a half-trained soldier. Look elsewhere."

While arguing, the old man and the boy repeatedly threw stones. In the castle wall passage, where distance and height were guaranteed, even they could serve as soldiers. Patres barked at the messenger to leave. The south wall was in as much danger as the north. The wounded couldn't receive treatment and groaned, and the dead were left exposed. Some fought with arrows still in them. But there was value in fighting for this wall. The fall of the fort meant the fall of the Celta Peninsula.

Lagar Cape, located at the eastern end of the Celta Peninsula, was the main route to reach the military port city of Anchio from the Kingdom of Creist. A well-maintained road could also serve as an excellent invasion route. Although the forward positions were lost, the main defense was the Lagar Fort, spanning a narrow ridge. Surrounded by ridges on both sides and walls in front and back, the fort held back a large army with a small force, as expected.

The defense plan was to hold the peninsula at the Zerebes Six Passes, the outer mountain line, until reinforcements arrived. However, this plan was quickly shattered by a surprise attack from the ice road behind Lagar Cape. A single path that couldn't be bypassed. Simultaneous attacks on the north and south walls were never anticipated. The concentrated forces and supplies were divided, and the fort was being crushed by the army's vice.

"Nothing's happening in the inn town... What happened to the Haiselk unit?"

Patres's concerns extended beyond Lagar Cape. He searched the distance through the damaged arrow slits. He had relayed orders to the second line in the inn town. In summary, they were to buy time with their lives. It was a cruel order. As a messenger, he knew the terrain and had access to the command post. Thus, he understood the situation better than the soldiers. If the inn town fell, the deployment of a large army would be easy. This would break the defense relying on the Six Passes and the large lake, and the military port city, lacking proper defenses, would fall easily.

But that was old news. The situation had changed dramatically. The surprise attack from the ice road, the explosion and burning of the inn town, the forced landing from the lakeshore, and the severing of the ice road had left the inn town in an eerie silence. The situation was unpredictable, and the only certainty was that Patres was still fighting.

For a moment, the section leader's thoughts drifted from reality, but the ground trembled, bringing him back. The tremors grew stronger, and someone shouted loudly.

"The side tower is collapsing!!?"

"Run, run!!"

With an unbelievable warning, a scream rose from the neighboring section. One of the side towers, a crucial point for defense, was collapsing like a fragile sand pile.

"Is it a tunneling tactic by the magic soldiers?"

The division of the fort's internal forces had reduced both quantity and quality. This directly affected surveillance and prevention. The intense fire from the valuable magic soldiers was to divert attention from the tunneling by the tunnel soldiers, Patres realized belatedly. The tower crumbled, scattering dust and screams, and spewed debris like a mudslide.

Some Creist soldiers were buried alive, but there were no cheers from the corridor side. For the Creist soldiers trying to breach the damaged walls and gates, it provided a valuable slope.

"I'm going to the side tower for support."

With the section reduced to three due to attrition, Patres and his men moved down the corridor. If Patres died, the old man or the boy would become the temporary section leader. It was a sign of the times.

The site of the side tower, now a breach, was obscured by dust, acting as a smoke screen. Broken spears, silent corpses, and dirty buckets were scattered on the ground. At the end of the collapsed corridor, something was crawling out of the gray haze. Heavy breathing, and the sound of metal and debris rubbing together like breathing. Creist soldiers swarmed the unstable footing, climbing the debris. Without being told, they threw stones at the invisible enemy.

Each throw was met with short screams or dull thuds. About twenty soldiers had gathered. They were the dregs, the last remnants of the manpower. The sound of the slope was getting closer. They threw stones like they were competing for them. Hands overlapped on a single pebble.

"Get out of the way!!"

Desperate comrades snatched the throwing stones from Patres's hands. Arguing was a waste of time. Just as he picked up another pebble from the ground, a strange sound echoed.

"Bu, ugh—ge, a"

The strange sound came from the mouth of the soldier whose hand had just overlapped with his. A wind attribute spell had shot a spear through his chest plate. Looking down, a shadow leaped out of the dust. A Rehazian knight approached with a light step, unaffected by the weight of the armor or the poor footing.

"Here they come."

"Push them back!!—Gyah—"

A comrade tried to block the knight with a weapon. In a moment, a hand and a head flew off. The streamlined helmet tilted, and a sticky malice pierced through the dark slit. Patres threw a pebble and drew his sword. The protection of the wall had allowed him to fight, but he was not prepared for a close combat with a master of melee. Regret was fleeting as the sword edges clashed.

The pressure of the sword was immense. His sword was knocked upward, and an unguarded chest was threatened by a counterattack. The blood-soaked blade gleamed dully.

"Uwaa,!"

A liquid dripped onto Patres's body. It was not warm blood but a cold, shivering touch. The knight, who had been spreading death, lost his balance and rolled down the slope with a bucket. Turning around, he saw the toothless old man.

"Hehe, the knight rolled down."

"Huh, hah, we're saved."

It was a smile mingled with fear and excitement. Patres laughed along with his section member.

The old man had thrown the abandoned bucket. The cold could disguise the leaking liquid at the moment of death. The situation was worsening, and it was unclear how long the fort would hold. Still, they could at least slow them down. The section leader, helped up by the young soldier, rejoined the battle.

The dust slowly settled. In the closed vision, the inn town, which had been silent, began to stir, but Patres had not yet noticed.

◆

"The Haiselk Empire forces made a strong landing from the rear and took over the inn town."

"Yuto-sama was killed, and it seems Renato-sama and Efsey-sama were also killed."

"...The north and south walls of Lagar Fort have not fallen yet."

"The remaining soldiers are being gathered by Johanna-sama and are retreating."

"Reconstructing the ice road is difficult, and even the movement of a few soldiers is uncertain."

In the main camp without even a chair, Gran received the successive bad news without a change in expression. He calmly gave orders and waited silently for the results.

"Johanna, you're back."

In the military camp formed by the wall of retainers and knights, the female knight, who had been given a command, rushed in. Her elegant appearance was covered in mud and blood, and her armor was damaged in many places.

"I apologize. I lost more than half of the soldiers entrusted to me. And Yuto, how can I tell Makoto—"

Johanna clenched her teeth in shame. A love-struck girl. What would she do if her beloved was dead? Seek revenge or become a lifeless shell? Even Gran couldn't predict.

"The Haiselk forces have also been thrown into chaos... To put it simply, the situation is the worst."

"I will open the way through Lagar Cape. I am prepared to use my life for this."

Johanna expressed her resolve. The formidable Zerebes Six Passes would fall under pressure from both inside and out. It would take only half a moment to open the path. That's why Gran understood the situation correctly.

"It's a waste. We are already cornered."

Thinking it was a rejection, the female knight tried to rally herself.

"Commander! What are you saying!? I can still do it, I must do it!! It's true, the vanguard has been destroyed, and the rear communication lines have been cut off. But the number of our allies still exceeds two thousand."

"There is a little time left. Let's give the final instructions."

There was no desk to write on or a map to show. Gran drew the current situation on the ground with the tip of his sword.

"The undead who rushed into the ice road did not aim for my head but ravaged the rear and took over the inn town. Their goal is confusion and the demarcation when Lagar Cape falls. Maintaining the defense line is their minimum objective."

Gran drew lines to emphasize Lagar Cape and the inn town.

"When the situation improves, their goal is to block. Together with Lagar Fort, it is no longer a defense line but a plug to seal us in the lakeshore. If the two plugs are not removed and time passes, you know what will happen."

Speaking as if he were on a lectern, Gran continued.

"We seem to be a formidable force. The Haiselk forces are so busy maintaining the defense line that they might mistake us for abandoning Lagar Cape. But we are only two thousand wounded. We have failed in our last gamble. We are a qualitative main force isolated in the enemy's base. They have abandoned the forward positions and are advancing, abandoning the depth of the defense line. Even the supply soldiers and militia are irrelevant. They will sweep us into the lake with a human sea."

Johanna, though inexperienced, was not foolish. Reassessing the situation, she asked Gran with a trembling voice.

"Why now?"

"Because it's necessary. I will serve as the rearguard. Gather the best remaining soldiers and retreat from the shattered ice road... What's your answer? Johanna."

The pale face of the female knight quickly turned red with anger.

"Are you serious? The rearguard!!? It's a roundabout way of committing suicide!! You have the duty and responsibility to return with the soldiers and rebuild from the defeat. You should return even if it means showing your shame. A defeated general should not choose how to die!!"

Gran, who had expected some resistance, was taken aback by the sharp words. She had grown. In this gloomy situation, it was refreshing.

"Haha, would I, Gran, choose to die out of shame and pessimism about the situation? Don't make me laugh!! If we could retreat, I would have already abandoned you. They would have taken my head immediately if they didn't care about the damage. A mutual kill is what Liberato would want. Their timing is simple. When I retreat, and the number of troops swells to a point where the damage and the results balance out. It will be soon."

"Commander, you are indispensable to Creist."

"Is that really true? Weigh everything on the scale. Which is heavier, my life or yours? For ten elite soldiers, it would be me. What about a hundred? A thousand? There is no such value. I can no longer move from here. It has come to this. I have been made to stay."

Johanna, who had fallen silent, received Gran's order without room for discussion.

"Move. The shattered ice road is narrow, even with emergency repairs by the magic soldiers. It's like a spider's thread. If a large army crosses, it will break and fall into the lake. Reorganize the troops on the opposite shore. If you show even a slight gap, Creist will follow the same path as Ferius. As your commander, I order you to cross Lake Celta with your troops. What are you waiting for? Go, you're in the way."

"I will... I understand."

Watching Johanna leave, Gran looked at the gathered knights and retainers.

"She's gone."

"So, we are the bait for them."

"Gran-sama is kind to Johanna."

"I wish that kindness could be extended to us."

Gran laughed at the unhidden dissatisfaction.

"Are you dissatisfied? Self-sacrifice is the true calling of a knight."

"Oh, I didn't expect to hear such words from Gran-sama."

The knights and retainers, perhaps influenced by the mood, made Gran, usually taciturn, more talkative.

"Hmph, say what you will. It's a free-for-all."

"You say it's a free-for-all, but where's the alcohol?"

"There is none."

"Haha, I'll hold a grudge."

"Such righteous words. That's why you don't understand women and are disliked by ladies."

"The civil servants call the empire's soldiers war fools, but they are artists in battle."

"Even without the war gods, the next one will crawl out. How hateful. The scar-faced foreign minister would be obsessed with it. That—"

Gran sighed and gave up on the unfinished words.

"Here they come. What a motley crew."

The tone of the retainer was more awe than contempt. Soldiers poured out of the shadows of the road. The road, higher than the lakeshore, gave the descending enemy a sense of pressure. Even from the erosion-formed rain gullies along the cliff, foot soldiers emerged. It was a feat impossible from a landing on the lakeshore. The slope, eroded by rain, had become natural ditches and moats. Gran had wasted valuable time just getting his troops to climb the road. In contrast, if they didn't consider retreating, the enemy could simply slide down.

"Wouldn't a circular formation buy more time?"

"We won't break the line. If we let them through, the ice road will be completely destroyed."

A human wave, like a muddy torrent, surged at the three rows of the line. The front lines of both sides were obliterated by the intense fire of the magic soldiers, but it didn't change the overall situation.

"Here they come, stand your ground!!"

The two armies entangled like a single organism. A chaotic