Chapter 81: Chapter 81

News that the head of House Lorenz was calling for the knights reached the frontline base in an instant.

While the knights of House Lorenz hurriedly prepared to march, the Empire's Second Prince Gard, clutching the deployment permit for the 87th Independent Company, merely snorted in derision.

"What is Your Highness's decision?"

The messenger who was sizing up Gard's face after those words asked again as if to confirm, yet Gard's answer did not change.

"Hmph! If they had come back meekly as defeated soldiers, we might have salvaged the rest of the knights."

As he spat that out, the young officers around him chimed in unison.

"Your Highness is absolutely right. They don't even realize they've walked into a trap and are only increasing their losses."

"Our main force is ready to sortie. If we strike right after the Lorenz knights flee, our fame will soar even higher!"

Sycophants and sycophants-appointments Hiram had placed around Gard to blind his eyes.

While they catered to Gard's every whim, every move he made was being reported to Hiram in the capital.

Central-front headquarters, bustling with sortie preparations. Dandel turned at the voice calling him-Ren's-and looked into her face.

Fighting off goblins that sporadically raided from the rear defensive line. Having come through that place, Irene's face was deathly pale.

"First time seeing a corpse?"

"I can get used to it. Right now I just..."

Even as she spoke, perhaps recalling the grisly sight in the trenches, Irene's face turned as white as paper.

"Whoa, that bad? There's nobody else? The Rookie's in rough shape...!"

Ren caught Irene as she swayed and spoke to Dandel.

"Ah, Maintenance Squad Leader?"

"Yeah. I'm on rear standby. I'll take her."

Normally Irene would have shaken off Ren's hand and insisted on going too, but having seen the battlefield herself, she couldn't bring herself to say it.

Death she had only imagined in her head.

The shock of experiencing the horrors of war had shattered her sanity without mercy.

"Then I'll leave her to you. I have to take command."

Dandel gave Ren a light bow, adjusted his coat, and moved off toward where the soldiers waited.

Meanwhile Ren led the staggering Irene into the barracks and laid the pale-faced girl down.

"Eat. It doesn't taste good, but it's the best we've got."

By the time Irene had regained some composure in the barracks, Ren handed her a steaming cup of coffee.

"I heard the master held the frontier for ten years."

"He did. On a battlefield that makes this place look like a picnic."

Irene clenched her teeth as she watched Ren speak in that emotionless voice.

Hold out? Go into actual combat?

Ridiculous. Absolutely absurd.

The moment she saw a soldier being eaten alive by a goblin that had leapt the trench, the emotion she felt wasn't vengeance but terror.

What about the first time she shot an orc in the head, or when she saw a soldier clutching his severed limbs and weeping?

"I... really made a terrible fuss."

At Irene's self-mocking words, Ren simply stayed by her side in silence.

"House Lorenz Equites, forty units, have arrived as scheduled."

"Much obliged. Deliver the details yourself."

Cain flinched whenever the knights called him lord without hesitation, but tried not to show it.

"Massed defense using tower shields sacrifices mobility. To scatter the enemy firepower we'll have to advance at maximum speed while maintaining spacing."

"Armor will be limited to heat-treated small bucklers. After a rapid advance we'll storm the fortress."

"Considering the enemy's firepower and accuracy, expect about a twenty percent casualty rate."

"Haha, now I see why the lord summoned us. A plan impossible for rookies like Belkuth!"

At the hearty shout of the commanding knight, the gathered veterans burst into coarse laughter.

Yet Cain, forcing a smile, could not easily unclench his tightly clenched fist.

The single word felt as though it were crushing him.

"Good. The operation begins at dawn. We'll advance at night without flares. The main force under my command, the 87th Independent Company as a separate unit under Sir Verkut."

"I'm counting on you, Sir Verkut!"

The older knights addressed him, but Yaan merely nodded without much reaction.

While they shared details of the fortress and terrain, the sun that had lit the red wasteland now hung on the horizon, and the blue sky gradually took on the same crimson hue as the earth beneath their feet.

"Greyhounds, fully armed. Forty effectives."

As he inspected the Lorenz colossi before the mission, Cain's eyes grew heavy.

"We can break through the fire net and reach the fortress, but the cost will be high. Even if we arrive, breaching the wall is uncertain."

As dusk settled over the temporary base, Yaan asked in response to Cain's remark.

"You've prepared a contingency, haven't you?"

"I have. That's why I called you and the 87th. But..."

After finishing, Cain looked Yaan in the face.

"It'll be the most dangerous mission. How many will die..."

"We were formed for exactly that purpose from the start. Give the order."

No change showed on Yaan's face as he answered, but hearing it, Cain's own twisted as if in pain.

"I'll have to keep doing this. For the house, for the Empire. I'll keep forcing death on my men. I..."

Cain hurriedly tried to compose his face at Yaan's voice.

Head of House Lorenz, the Empire's strongest knight, the Empire's second power. The Empire's second duke.

Yet before Yaan's eyes, the one wearing that agonized expression was only a youth just come of age.

"Let me say one thing."

At Cain's dark question, Yaan replied.

"Neither I nor my soldiers were dragged here against our will."

Cain chewed on those words for a moment, then let out a heavy sigh.

Moments later, when he raised his head and met Yaan's eyes, his face was filled with resolve.

"You're the key. Good luck."

When he heard those words, Yaan snorted and lit the cigarette in his mouth.

"Kiiiiik! Enemy assault!"

Midnight. Alfraia Central Army Fortress One was placed on high alert.

Before the exhaustion from repelling the humans' morning attack had even faded, a second assault began.

"Until the mages get into position, we hold the line! Prepare to defend!"

The Colossus Fours driven by the orcs advanced in unison toward the wall, pursuing their targets.

"Kiik! Four hundred meters ahead! Colossus!"

One of the goblins' traits is excellent night vision.

Some of the more intelligent goblins, who excel at night guerrilla warfare, are assigned to fortress artillery and serve as night bombardment spotters, relaying targeting information to the orcs' colossi.

With the goblins' support having locked on, the colossus assault guns and fortress cannons belched fire in unison.

The booming cannonade was loud enough to roll across the entire area.

Flaming shells drew arcs as they flew, but even with the goblins' help it was still night.

Most of the shells missed their targets and tore up the surrounding land instead.

But there were places where that wasn't the case.

A shell loosed by the veteran orc pilot Gar-Maush struck an enemy colossus square in the torso.

Yet the orc's face, having confirmed the hit, was grim.

A shield. A colossus had angled a buckler-barely large enough to cover its elbow-so that the incoming shell ricocheted away.

-Trample those human bastards without mercy!

Meanwhile, the elves who had formed up were gathering at the spires installed throughout the fortress.

"Position complete! Prepare to fire the mana cannon!"

The spire, open on all sides. Inscribed on the floor was a magic circle crammed with every sort of emblem.

When three elves took their designated spots and reached out their hands, the circle engraved on the floor began to glow red.

Seeing the fireballs rising in unison from the spires of the Alfraian Army fortress, the knights shouted that. Google seaʀᴄh novel·fıre·net

-Knights disperse! Charge while maintaining spacing!

The instant Cain's order rang out, a barrage of mana cannon shots came crashing down.

More than ten fireballs at once surged toward the wall, threatening the Lorenz knights as they charged.

Yet the force committed to this assault was the Lorenz, called the Empire's finest knightly order.

Some placed heat-treated bucklers precisely at the point of impact; two colossi overlapped their bucklers to block the shot-moving with acrobatic skill.

Yet there could be no avoiding sacrifice.

While veteran gunners deliberately aimed for the bucklers to upset their balance, mana cannon blasts poured in and began mercilessly burning a number of knights.

-My lord! Ben is down!

-...Confirmed! Alex takes command! Commence charge!

The death of a subordinate. One by one, the deaths of comrade knights who were like family. Cain feigned ignorance and dashed at full strength toward the fortress before his eyes.

The orcs, wincing at the panicked shrieks of the goblins, swallowed curses as they watched the colossi pressing up to the dead zone beneath the wall.

-Lord Rael! The enemy colossi have reached the wall!

Maush grinned as he turned to speak.

-Knights of Alfraia! Drive the vile humans out!

-Glory to the Saint King!

Waiting inside the fortress were fifty Colossus Sixes. They began firing their assault guns in unison below the wall.

-Hold fast! We have to take the brunt of their firepower!

-Two more destroyed! Ten casualties!

-We can still hold! Just a little longer!

They had escaped the most dangerous firing arc of the mana cannon, but the colossus assault-gun barrage still remained.

Lorenz knights interlocked bucklers to fashion tower shields and held them up to barely endure the storm of shells, yet the frames positioned on the shield's outer ring fell one by one, unable to endure.

Then, a vibration from afar made Cain's eyes flash open.

A sound etched in memory.

The instant Cain recognized it and lifted his head, smoke rose from inside the Alfraian fortress.

-It's a smoke grenade! Which means-

With those words, a streak of light rose from the fortress, trailing its tail.

A flare glowing in many colors.

The message it carried was "Operation successful."