The land created through the reclamation project, which can be called the pride and symbol of Lorend,
was literally farming on the ground that emerged after building a dam and blocking the river flow.
Given its nature, if the dam were to burst, the entire area would inevitably be submerged.
In relation to this, Moritz and Friedrich devised a plan to deal a decisive blow to the enemy, based on the information provided by Santana, and the results were hitting the mark precisely.
“W-water!!!”
“Uwoooaah!!!!”
“Sa-save me.. Kuooorrrk!!!”
The tremendous flow of water pouring in as the dam was blown up.
The forces of General Spinola, swept away by it, quickly began to crumble.
“What.. what the hell is this!”
“G-General! You need to get out of here! If we stay like this, we’ll all die!”
“This.. this can’t be happening.. how.. how can this be happening..”
“General!!!”
Even the usually calm and composed General Spinola was caught off guard by this unexpected situation.
Of course, given his capabilities as a 10th Grade Mage, he could have survived easily even in such a strong current.
He could have lined up barriers or flown into the sky to avoid significant damage.
However, even if he could save his own life, there was no way to prevent massive losses among his army.
In that regard, even the High Mage Spinola found himself helpless.
Feeling despair over that fact..
General Spinola fell into a deep panic that he hadn’t experienced much in his life, unable to make any decisions on how to act.
As a result, the raging waters that swallowed countless soldiers rushed right towards where General Spinola was.
And then..
-Bam!!
Before the shock from the fire attack even faded, General Spinola’s forces were once again hit hard by the overwhelming water attack.
With nature being used instead of human armies for the strike, General Spinola’s unit began to lose order and collapse.
Even though there were still over ten thousand troops left, most of them were exhausted and in chaos, with their formation a complete mess.
And in this gap.. Duke Moritz and Lord Friedrich didn’t let the opportunity slip by.
“Advance! We’ll sweep away the Emperor’s dogs!”
“Revenge for the Palatinate! For the Heretic Alliance!”
According to their orders, the soldiers of Lorend and remnants of the Palatinate began pouring forth towards the exhausted and weakened enemies.
Though the enemy forces numbered less than ten thousand, it was already more than sufficient given the current situation.
“Th-they’re coming!”
“Wh-what do we do? W-we can’t fight like this…”
“Le-let’s run! This war is already over! There’s no way we can win like this!”
From lowly soldiers to mid-ranking commanders, everyone had lost their will to fight.
Even General Spinola, who should have been managing and controlling, was now swept away and knocked out by the current, leaving the Emperor’s Army unable to mount an effective defense against the approaching adversaries.
Just hours ago, they had thought they could easily stomp the forces of Lorend, but at this moment, they appeared like reapers from hell to the weakened Imperial Army.
Unlike the ragtag army of Palatinate, the soldiers of Lorend, though fewer in number, were elite troops, especially trained in firepower projection called linear formations.
Instead of a simple charge, they used gunfire and artillery as primary weapons to deliver high firepower from afar.
This began to literally grind down the disorganized Imperial Army in real-time.
“Kwaaah!!”
“Kuuhuh!”
“Retreat! Fall back! Everyone run! We can’t fight the enemies like this.. Kuuh!!”
With bullets, cannon fire, and attack magic coming from all sides.
The forces of General Spinola, who had boasted they would conquer Lorend, were being shattered miserably.
Among the survivors, more than half attempted to flee, while the few who tried to regroup and stop the enemies were few.
The rest simply chose to give up everything, dropping their weapons and surrendering to the enemies in front of them.
“We’ve.. lost! Pl-please spare my life.. just spare my life!”
“W-we surrender! I have a wife and children at home.. I don’t want to die like this. Just let me live!”
The desperate voices of the soldiers in the Emperor’s Army.
In response to this, Friedrich spoke to General Moritz, deciding to show mercy.
“Though they belong to the Emperor’s Army, most of these men were conscripted from the Palatinate. Let’s spare the lives of those who have surrendered.”
“Very well. After all, we wouldn’t have achieved such victory without Your Highness Friedrich’s help.”
Friedrich, providing accurate information to help devise a rough strategy.
Of course, this was all possible thanks to Moritz being well aware that Santana was the true leader of the Heretic Alliance and a genius strategist who provided this information and advice.
However, Friedrich’s status as the face of the Heretic Alliance and the respect Santana held for him made this feasible.
In that light, Moritz was willing to make concessions on the prisoner issue and acknowledge Friedrich’s authority to a degree, despite his being a mere puppet lord.
‘Though I viewed him merely as a simple leech.. he is still a lord, after all. I had no idea I would come to receive such great help.’
Feeling that his decision to accept this impoverished lord might have been the right one, Duke Moritz continued to move his troops.
The enemies in front of them were in disarray, and there were almost no casualties among their allies.
In a sense, this was an opportunity that was like fresh meat laid out before them; Moritz had no intention of passing it up.
“Damn it! Could it really end like this?!”
“G-General, hold on!”
“We must fall back for now! We don’t know when the enemies will come!”
Soldiers were leading the injured, elderly General Spinola through the forest path.
At that moment, General Spinola, dragging his feet in agony, was boiling with unbearable frustration.
“How can this happen to me.. to Spinola, the 10th Grade Mage, without even using my strength properly?!”
“General!”
“This cannot be! I can’t go back like this! I’d rather die by the enemies’ swords! I can’t face His Majesty like this! Not like this!!!!! Kuuh!”
“! G-General!”
“General!”
The next moment, overwhelmed by his furious emotions, General Spinola began to cough up blood.
Though the fact that he wasn’t well was somewhat exaggerated, the truth was his body had already been ravaged by illness.
Moreover, despite being a Mage, out of personal beliefs, he had chosen not to pursue immortality, and as a result, his health had slowly declined due to age.
Such circumstances led to an explosion of his pent-up anger and frustration inflicting a fatal blow on his own body.
“G-General!”
“General! Stay with us! General!”
Soldiers wept as they looked at their fallen commander’s state.
Amidst them, General Spinola began weakly speaking to his distant master.
“Your.. Majesty.. please.. please forgive my incompetence..”
With those final words, he breathed his last.
Thus, the war between General Spinola and the Moritz-Friedrich alliance in Lorend ended in a crushing victory for Lorend.
The Imperial Army, numbering nearly 20,000, was literally shattered, and General Spinola met his demise in the Emperor’s Army’s great defeat.
Seizing this opportunity, Lorend not only achieved victory but also gained parts of the Sacred Empire’s territory.
News of this unexpected victory and the defeat sent shockwaves across the entire continent.
And among those shaken was the Emperor, who had boasted that he would surely win this war.
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