Chapter 22 : Ambush and Promotion (2)

Chapter 22: Ambush and Promotion (2)

-Thud thud thud thud!

They were not in full armor, but the cavalry mounted up, formed ranks, and began their charge.

At that heavy tremor, his heart pounded on its own.

“D-Damn it!”

Miles’s shocked curse came from beside him, but Shatien had no room to pay attention.

“Do not scatter! Stay together. We live if we stay together!”

Shatien shouted.

To save even a single comrade. Fortunately, the Emperor’s cavalry of the Holy Empire could not build proper speed, blocked by their own soldiers who were fleeing.

-Neighhh

“Curse you! You wretches, clear the way at once!”

“Not this side, move that way! You cowards.”

They had swept in with momentum, but immediately tangled with their own side and ground to a halt.

“Form a square! Quickly! As Shatien said, if you scatter, you all die! Raise your shields!”

Jacri the Centurion did not miss the moment. He was already standing tall at the front, commanding the mercenaries.

Thanks to that, at least the Black Raven Mercenary Corps here managed to build a proper shield wall, even if he did not know about other places.

Of course, that did not mean the situation improved.

“Aaaagh!”

Crunch!

Crack!

The cavalry who had avoided tangling swept around the flanks.

Under their attacks while the mercenaries were exposed, their side began to collapse.

-Neighhhhh.

The cavalry that had been stuck regrouped again.

They leveled their lances, ready to charge.

‘Damn it.’

Clicking his tongue inwardly, Shatien snatched up a spear that lay nearby. He had to lift his side’s morale somehow.

‘Hmm… When we took the city gate last time, I was able to throw my weapon precisely.’

He remembered threading his sword through a tiny gap between broken iron chains.

He should be able to do it again.

Grip!

Shatien tightened his hand around the spear.

-Vmmm.

That mysterious sense guided him once more.

Soon after—

“Hup!”

-Flash!

His focus snapped into place, and the spear flew like an arrow, then skewered a charging imperial cavalryman.

Right where the neck was soft between helm and armor.

-Cruuunch!

-Neighh!

Without even a scream, one rider pitched to the ground mid-charge.

At the same time, the falling horse and rider became an obstacle, and the riders behind tumbled in a chain of collisions and fell.

“Wooaaaaahhh!”

“Shatien! Shatien!”

The mercenaries roared out in cheers.

The fear from moments before faded and their morale rose.

Of course, that did not mean this was over.

-Thud thud thud thud thud!

“Raise your shields! Brace for impact!”

Jacri the Centurion and Miles both bellowed, their voices ragged.

The impact followed.

----------------!

Long lances smashed against the mercenaries’ shields without mercy.

-Craaack!!! Thud!

-Neighhh!

“Aaaagh!”

A chilling steel rasp, horses crashing down, and human screams wove a scene of chaos.

It was gruesome, blood everywhere. Even so, they could not stand dazed.

“Damn it! Charge!”

“Do not give them time to reform! This is the only chance to strike!”

Cavalry were terrifying when they had speed to deliver all that force.

Stopped as they were now, they were only large targets.

“D-Damn it! Let’s go!”

“Kill them! Let’s kill all of these bastards!”

Of course, that did not make cavalry easy prey.

To ride a horse, you needed wealth, and only those with intense training could do it. Their combat skill would be that much greater.

“Dismount! Everyone dismount!”

“Show these insolent mercenaries our strength!”

The cavalrymen leaped down and drew their swords, then rampaged.

“Ghk!”

“Grk, grrk!”

At those savage cuts, mercenaries began to drop.

Knights’ swordsmanship, even dulled, was sharp and fearsome.

‘This is insane.’

Watching that overwhelming skill, Shatien swallowed.

The gap in ability was as vast as ever.

Even with that mysterious power helping, he could not imagine beating those knights.

But he could not stand idle.

“Aaagh!”

“My arm! Ghk.”

While he faltered, his comrades kept falling.

Clang!

Shatien drew his sword and sprinted at the rampaging knights.

Fighting one on one would be hard. Even so—

‘I have comrades.’

Jacri said it as well. You are not alone. We are one team. We must fight together.

“Centurion Jacri! Please have them cluster with shields and focus on defense!”

“What?”

“Miles and I will attack!”

He wondered if he needed to explain in more detail, but fortunately Jacri understood at once.

“Yes! That’s it! Good idea! I will help. Everyone, form ranks again! Do not rush to attack! Lift your shields. Cover the openings for Shatien and Miles!”

It was their first time trying it, but it didn’t matter. If they did not, they would die anyway.

“Urgh, urraaah!”

The mercenaries followed orders, rebuilt the formation, and stood against the knights.

In sheer numbers, the mercenaries outnumbered the knights by far.

Bunched up like this, the knights’ movements could not help but be constrained.

“W-What?!”

“You honorless dogs!”

The Holy Empire’s imperial knights realized the shift and raged, but it did no good.

Before they knew it, the mercenaries had stacked a tight wall of shields and were hemming in the knights.

And then—

Flash!

Shatien did not miss those slowed motions.

Clang!

Every tiny gap that appeared, his blade reached for a knight.

“?!”

“H-How?!”

The Holy Empire’s imperial knights flinched at the strikes.

He was targeting their weak points, and every cut came in razor sharp.

“A mere mercenary is—!”

“A mercenary?”

“Yeah, die, you knights! We have Shatien on our side.”

On a normal day, these men would have been less than nothing…

Now, mercenaries with shields dazzled their eyes and narrowed their space.

Clang!

Clang!

Crack!

With Shatien and Miles attacking with true sharpness, the knights could not gather themselves.

Before long—

“Gugh!”

“I, I… am dying to a mere mercenary…!”

The knights, thrashing in desperation, toppled one by one and became cold corpses.

* * *

“Huff. Huff. Huff...”

Shatien panted hard.

Even in a bad position, knights were knights, and several times their sharp counters had nearly killed him.

He had used too much of that mysterious power and now his stamina was dropping again.

‘Good grief, I feel like I’m going to die. I need stamina training no matter what. I cannot go on like this.’

Looking over the fallen knights, he thought so.

If the fight had gone on a little longer, he and his comrades would have been the ones to die.

‘I wish it would just end like this, but…’

It did not look like that was going to happen.

-Bwooooooo!

“Waaaaah—!”

They had thrown out some units as bait and even fielded cavalry. There was no reason to end it at this level.

Right on cue, the Emperor’s ambush force emerged again from beyond the brush.

Twtwtwtwip!

Clang!

Pwoosh!  

“Aaagh! Crossbows!”

The Holy Empire’s imperial troops aimed their brutal specialty, the heavy crossbow, and fired indiscriminately. In an instant, Count Bellua’s soldiers far ahead bristled like hedgehogs and dropped.

But their lines were spread out, scattered in pursuit of the fleeing imperial troops.

The ambush failed to land a heavy blow.

Instead, their front lay exposed, far too openly and at close range.

Neighhhh!

“Follow my lead!”

Count Bellua wasn’t the person to miss an opening like that.He bravely drew his spear on the spot, moved to the front, and charged with the cavalry toward the ambushers.

Crash!

Crunch!

As if to pay them back for the previous strike, the cavalry led by Count Bellua were rough and ruthless.

The imperial troops collapsed miserably under the assault, as if the ambush had been meaningless.

‘Huff… huff… something feels wrong. Strange.’

Catching his breath, Shatien knit his brows.

Watching it, a sense of wrongness struck him. They had blocked the cavalry’s charge, and then blocked the imperial ambush again. Why did dread prick at him?

Was it because he could not imagine Count Heinrich leaving it so sloppy? He wondered if he was overestimating Count Heinrich.

‘I’m probably overthinking it. Yeah, I must be.’

But as soon as he had that thought,

Rumble.

Rumble.

Rumble.

The ground shuddered from somewhere.

Crackle!

Thudthudthud!

“Chaaarge!”

The brush shook, and the Holy Empire’s imperial knights who had lain in ambush there showed themselves.

“?!”

Only then did Shatien grasp the ambush’s true target.

Count Bellua.

All of this had been bait to deal with Count Bellua.

“S-Stop them!”

“The Count is in danger! Run quickly towards them!”

Knights and nobles who understood the situation shouted in panic, but Count Bellua had ridden too far ahead alone.

He had charged once already, and his formation was far separated from the main body.

Only a few knights stood near him. It was a crisis of life and death.

“Damn it!”

Shatien cursed and sprang onto a riderless horse.

Neighhhh!

Feeling a stranger mount, the horse reared.

Shatien kicked its flank and yanked the reins. The horse settled and began to obey.

“Shatien!”

Miles, who had been reforming the unit, shouted in shock.

“Why are you suddenly on a horse?”

“The Count! Count Bellua is in danger! We must help immediately!”

“W-What?”

“Tell Centurion Jacri to follow quickly. I will go first. Hyah!”

Smack.

Shatien rattled off his words like a rapid-fire shot, then flicked the reins and dug in his heels.

Neighhhh!

The horse bolted in a panic and sprinted madly.

Watching Shatien’s back, Miles thought to himself.

‘...? …He is going to support? And he knows how to ride a horse too?’

He was only able to stand still with his jaw dropped, unable to understand the situation.

* * *

-Rumble—!i

“Take Count Bellua alive!”

Allen, one of the Holy Empire Emperor’s knights, saw victory before his eyes. The enemy’s overall commander was within close reach with only a few guards.

‘As expected of Count Heinrich.’

To be honest, when the night raid failed, he had thought it was over.

But now, with such a bold ambush plan, they could seize Count Bellua, one of His Imperial Majesty’s greatest foes. It was a brilliant stratagem.

Many soldiers and retainers had fallen, but it was worth the cost.

‘If they capture Count Bellua, the conflict in the western Holy Empire will pause for a time.’

Count Bellua was a ringleader of the anti-imperial faction in the western Holy Empire and in the Kingdom of Ellang.

If they captured him now and negotiated a truce, the west might need no attention for a while.

“B-Block them!”

“We must protect the Count.”

The knights around Count Bellua knew how vital he was.

They lunged forward as if to block with their own bodies.

If the encirclement began, there would be no hope. Before that, they aimed to stave off the assault and flee somehow.

Clang!

Clack.

Crunch!

But it did not help much.

The knights participating in this capture were veterans among veterans in the imperial camp.

The knights of Count Bellua who tried to block them toppled at once.

The troops could not stop the imperial charge and quickly broke.

“No! Knight Balud!”

At the sight, Count Bellua cried out in lament, but Allen snorted and jeered.

“Ha! Count Bellua. Is this the time to worry about others? Worry about your own life!”

Fury surged, but there was nothing Count Bellua could do.

Only a swift retreat would save him.

Neighhhh!

But even that did not go his way.

“Haha! Where do you think you are going! You look like a dog running away with its tail curled!”

Allen’s knights had already closed and were pressing Count Bellua’s rear.

“Tch!”

There was no answer if he kept going like this.

Count Bellua decided.

They would stand and fight, take them one by one, and buy as much time as they could.

“This will not do. Men, we fight! Protect me! Drive them back bravely. Our allies will be here soon!”

“Yes, my lord!”

With that, Count Bellua formed up his soldiers and knights.

Compared to the charging imperial knights, the number was paltry, but they were elite personal guards. Shoulder to shoulder, they would not fall easily.

As the imperial knights under Allen drew near—

Neighhhh!

A horse whinnied nearby.

Swhiiiik!

Something flashed in like lightning.

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