263rd Episode: Trust Me. I’ll Lead the Charge. (2)
The deputy wore a bewildered expression. Why on earth were they opening the castle wall? Unfortunately, he lacked the ability to assess the situation like Grant did.
“The skills of the ones down there are considerable. If they fight until their deaths, the number of monsters will significantly decrease.”
At the deputy’s cautious words, suggesting offering others’ lives, Grant’s lips twitched.
“If you don’t prepare to open the door and charge out right now, I will cut off your head.”
“…I will follow your orders.”
As the officers stationed everywhere conveyed Grant’s orders, the soldiers began to move.
After observing the battlefield a bit more, Grant shouted again.
“Archers concentrate fire on the flying monsters and the monsters on the outskirts! Attack while making sure our allies aren’t harmed!”
“The rest grab your shields and draw the monsters’ attention! Leave the attacks to the Hunters!”
“Hurry up! We need to go out now!”
Boom!
Waaaah!
The fortress doors swung wide open. Turian soldiers charged out, shields raised and shouting their battle cries.
The archers focused their fire on the monsters surging in from the outside.
These were also veteran soldiers who had fought against monsters for a long time. They had the capability to execute the commander’s orders with pinpoint accuracy.
As the soldiers exited through the open fortress gates, the Hunters atop the walls shouted.
“Grant! What are you doing? Are you crazy too?”
“Get a grip! The monsters are being pushed back because you attacked first!”
“Look at the number of monsters! They’ll eventually overwhelm us!”
Grant, who was grabbing his weapon while descending from the wall, looked at the Hunters and said.
“We fight while abandoning the fortress. If we die, you die too. If you don’t want to die, then follow and fight.”
“T…The profit…”
The Hunters were in a bind. The regular troops had all exited the fortress. Their only options left were to follow or flee.
But fleeing wasn’t easy either. The door on the opposite side of the fortress remained closed. Even if they somehow managed to escape, what awaited them behind was the real problem.
Grant knew this and smirked as he delivered his final words.
“Don’t forget that your Hunter certifications and agreements have been sent to the royal family.”
They didn’t keep an extra copy of all the Hunter certifications and agreements from the Turian Kingdom for nothing.
Hunters who wouldn’t fight monsters were of no use to the Turian Kingdom. If caught fleeing from here, they would be banned from every corner of the kingdom. If luck ran out, they might even end up captured and killed.
“Damn it! We were going to fight too!”
They had come all the way up to the walls because they had the will to fight. And they had fighting experience.
They really intended to give it their all, if that lunatic Ghislaine hadn’t shown up and changed their entire strategy.
“Let’s go, there’s no other way.”
At one Hunter’s words, the others nodded in agreement. After all, they had nowhere else to survive but this place.
No matter the reason, they wouldn’t have ventured into such a dangerous place unless they felt cornered.
“Ugh, damn it! It’s the same whether I die this way or that!”
“Those crazy bastards fight well, so they’ll manage somehow.”
“They fight well, so it should work out somehow.”
“Let’s go quickly! We need to form a formation!”
The hunters yelled as they rushed out. The soldiers were already in formation, shields raised.
As all the hunters inside the fortress joined in, the momentum of the monsters weakened. This was because Ghislaine was rampaging deep inside, and there were few monsters left near the fortress.
The hunters who had started fighting first laughed at the newly joined ones.
“Hey, you cowards! Is this all you can do after eating? Were you too scared to come out?”
“You idiot, talking big after forcing yourself out. From now on, I’ll do all the killing, so don’t wet your pants!”
Rough greetings were exchanged, but the hunters couldn’t stop smiling.
This was the first time they were engaged in such a large-scale battle. The heat of combat was wrapping around them more and more.
They could fight with such spirit thanks to Ghislaine. It was all possible because of his immense strength.
Ghislaine grinned as all the troops gathered.
“You should have come sooner. At least you’ve come to your senses now.”
Boom!
Swinging his greatsword, he sent surrounding monsters flying and turned to shout.
“Soldiers, focus on defense and draw the monsters’ attention! Hunters, follow me and fall back for now!”
As he said that, Ghislaine quickly retreated. With no target suddenly, the monsters surged forward ferociously.
“Quick, follow along!”
Shouts from the Penris Knights echoed everywhere. They knew they had to absolutely follow Ghislaine’s orders on the battlefield.
The hunters also regained their wits, falling back to follow Ghislaine. As a result, the Turian soldiers ended up blocking the front.
“What do we do?”
The soldiers panicked as the hunters fell back. They couldn’t retreat easily as they needed to hold the front line.
Grant quickly regained composure and shouted. He had come out trusting Ghislaine. It was better to follow his command until the end.
“Extend the defense line! We’ll draw the attention of the monsters!”
Clank! Clank! Clank!
Uooooooh!
The line of shields extended long. The monsters attacked the soldiers blocking the front with ferocity.
“Ugh!”
Various monsters had gathered. Naturally, there were many that easily jumped over just shields.
“Spear fighters!”
Thwock! Thwock! Thwock!
Grant faced the monsters in the most straightforward manner.
However, the opponents weren’t human. Many had bizarre body structures and strength beyond human limits.
Especially the flying monsters ignored the formation and attacked from the air, making it even harder to block.
Some archers from the rear and those on the castle walls were diligently trying to intercept, but there were limits.
The soldiers couldn’t hold the line and began to get pushed back.
Kaaak!
“Ugh!”
“Step back slowly!”
“What are the hunters doing!”
As the soldiers were gradually pushed back, the center of the defense line began to dip.
Seeing this, Ghislaine spoke again.
“Alright, you’re holding up well. We’re going to counterattack.”
Kaor shouted from the side.
“The soldiers are being pushed back! We need to go in! Now!”
Ghislaine nodded and replied.
“Right, let’s go.”
“Where to?”
“We’ll break through on one side from now on.”
Boom!
Ghislaine darted forward, splitting monsters with his greatsword as he shouted.
“Everyone follow me! Break through the left flank! Ignore the monsters charging forward! The soldiers will hold them back!”
Ziiing!
The red gleam in Ghislaine’s eyes deepened. His massive greatsword was also enveloped in a red glow.
A clear light different from before.
Ghislaine was currently activating the third stage of the core, extracting all of his mana.
Boom!
With a single strike, dozens of monsters burst apart, flying in all directions. Ghislaine continued to charge through the left of the monsters.
“Hurry up and follow! That guy’s so fast it’s hard to catch up!”
Kaor shouted as he dashed forward, and the knights gritted their teeth and followed behind.
“Waaaaaah!”
The hunters, inspired by Ghislaine’s incredible strength, charged forward with loud cheers.
Kwaaaaang! Kwaang!
Kaaaak!
The sides of the monsters began to crumble. As Ghislaine forged ahead, creating openings, the knights and hunters rushed in to attack the monsters through those gaps.
Even the flying monsters couldn’t stop their assault.
Pook!
Dozens of spears materialized again and pierced through the approaching flying monsters.
With so many monsters, they couldn’t intercept every one of them with spears. However, the flying monsters that descended were torn apart by the knights and hunters’ attacks.
They were skilled enough to take down a few monsters with ease.
Kwaang!
Ghislaine’s greatsword showed no signs of stopping. The monsters burst under its relentless strikes.
But that wasn’t all.
Zing―!
At some point, several spears began to circle around Ghislaine.
Pook! Pook! Pook!
The spears attacked the surrounding monsters before returning to Ghislaine’s side.
Ghislaine dashed forward in a straight line, sweeping away monsters that were just a bit further away. Thanks to that, the knights and hunters found it increasingly easier to engage in battle.
Kaaaak!
The screams of the monsters echoed endlessly. A group of monsters gathered at the back completely crumbled.
This was Ghislaine’s favored lateral rotation tactic. Originally, it was a cavalry strategy attacking heavy infantry vulnerable to rear side assaults.
For this tactic to succeed, the entire army had to be trained to move precisely.
The enemy could counter with their own cavalry depending on the situation, or break through the front line with central infantry to create a reverse encirclement.
But monsters didn’t understand tactics. They were too busy fighting the enemy right in front of them. That’s why human strategies worked better against them.
As long as there were strong individuals who could break through the monsters.
“Run faster! We’ll strike from behind before the defense crumbles!”
Ghislaine shouted loudly as she stomped one foot down.
Kwaang!
The ground shook, causing the surrounding monsters to stagger. Though the bystanders were astonished by the tremendous force, they had no time to be shocked.
Ghislaine moved too quickly for them to keep up.
Chiiiiiiing!
Red steam rose constantly from Ghislaine’s body, splattered with monster blood.
Dududud!
The sound of bones twisting echoed.
In truth, his body wasn’t in a comfortable state. He had already activated his third-stage core and was overexerting himself.
Though he had amplified his mana stronger than before and could sustain the amplified mana longer, he couldn’t maintain that state indefinitely.
‘I need to push harder—faster.’
Normally, he would distribute his strength reasonably while fighting. But now, there was no time for that.
The soldiers of Turian and the hunters hadn’t received proper training. Because they weren’t a unified army, it was difficult for them to keep up with Ghislaine’s tactics. There was a limit, even with Ghislaine in command.
The hastily made defense line couldn’t effectively block those monsters. They had to decisively push forward while the line was still holding.
Udddeuk.
So Ghislaine gritted his teeth and attacked the monsters. If the offensive weakened here, the monsters would attack even more fiercely.
Kwaang! Kwaang!
Drip.
At some point, blood began to flow from Ghislaine’s nose. His hand holding the greatsword trembled slightly.
But he didn’t stop; he kept pushing against the monsters.
Only then did the knights and hunters following Ghislaine start to grasp what was happening.
“Are we… attacking from behind?”
“What the heck is going on?”
“I don’t know! Just push for now!”
Kaaaak!
The monsters, which had only been charging forward, were now being attacked from behind as well.
Grant clenched his fist in amazement at the astonishing turnaround in the situation.
‘Incredible! To break through all those monsters and hit from behind! How is he pulling off such tactics here!’
Monsters might seem easy to deal with due to their lack of intelligence, but the reality was quite different. The problem was their physically strong bodies. The weak ones were weak, but there were many of them.
The problem is the strong physique of humans. The weaklings are numerous in their own way.
Even though it wasn’t a cavalry charge, they broke through that vast army and took control from behind.
It was disappointing. If only Grant had trusted Ghislaine from the start and moved out quickly to form a battle line, they would have suffered much less damage and fought more easily.
But Grant shook his head right away. No use regretting what had already happened. Right now, he had to focus on the battle.
“Advance a little more! Just hold on a little longer! Our allies are coming from behind!”
This tactic would only be effective if those in front held their ground properly. That way, they could apply pressure from both sides.
At Grant’s shout, the soldiers grit their teeth and began to move forward again.
Kaaaar!
The monsters had no idea how the situation had changed. Simply following their instincts, they turned to attack the nearest enemies when they sensed foes behind them.
The advancing monsters began to dwindle. As the remaining half turned, the defense line started to recover.
Kwaaaang!
Ghislaine was squeezing out her last bit of strength, continuing to exterminate monsters at the front. As time went on, the number of monsters was steadily decreasing.
Seeing Ghislaine’s state, a hunter shouted loudly.
“Let’s push harder! We only need to hold out a little longer!”
Thanks to Ghislaine, the knights and hunters who still had energy left became a great help.
They rushed in, slaughtering monsters indiscriminately.
And that spectacle caught the attention of the strongest monster in the area.
“Grrrr.”
Among the monsters, there was one noticeably larger creature with two heads.
It was the Twin Head Ogre.
In every monster wave, there’s always a leader who leads the horde of monsters. For this wave, the leader was undoubtedly the Twin Head Ogre.
The beast at the rear, unable to withstand its own ferocity, was rushing forward, trampling even its fellow monsters.
“Graaargh!”
The Twin Head Ogre turned back, letting out a fearsome roar. The monsters around it stumbled back from the shock.
Being a two-headed monster, the Twin Head Ogre possessed higher intelligence than the other monsters. While it might not know exactly what had happened, it recognized the situation it was in.
The Twin Head Ogre was wielding a massive club that matched its size. Even though it was called a club, it was simply a thick tree trunk picked up and fashioned to fit in its hand.
Kuwung! Kuwung! Kuwung!
As the Twin Head Ogre charged back, the knights and hunters who were attacking flinched and halted.
Just the approach of the Twin Head Ogre was sending surrounding monsters flying. It was clearing its path by smashing any monster that got in its way with its club.
“Fall back!”
“Let the monster handle the monster!”
“Take out the smaller ones around us first!”
The hunters looked to Ghislaine and began to clear the area. No one wanted to directly confront such a formidable beast.
In this place, there was only one person capable of dealing with that monster.
The knights of Penris also looked to Ghislaine and shouted.
“Lord, please!”
“That’s nothing for our Lord!”
“Come on, let’s create a space for you to fight comfortably!”
Ghislaine had pierced through thousands of monsters alone. Taking down a Twin Head Ogre would be easy for her.
Hadn’t she slain even scarier creatures like the Blood Python when she was weaker than now?
Everyone smiled, their faces devoid of worry. After all, fighting was less intimidating with such a monster on their side.
Ghislaine glanced around at the others. Everyone’s faces were filled with expectation.
Seeing their expressions of confidence, Ghislaine smiled back.
And then…
“Cough!”
She immediately coughed up blood and knelt on one knee.
“……”
At that sight, the faces of the people turned pale as they watched.
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