Chapter 261 – End of the War [Battle of Lake Simenotra (3)] *Illustration of Claudia Fighting Against the Tomb*
End of the war [Battle of Lake Simenotra (3)]
Yesternight. The Duke of Thiruen ordered his cavalry of 13,000 men to hand over most of their horses to his supply corps and equip them with only their horses.
“Your Excellency! No matter how much you say to me, it is difficult to understand this order!! Are you telling us to die? How can the cavalry fight if they abandon their horses?”
Of course, the cavalry soldiers resisted tremendously, but when Count Mula, the highest commander of the cavalry, stepped forward and shouted, they flinched.
“So, are you saying that you can produce maximum combat power in your current state? How can you fight while riding on battle horses that are on the verge of collapse from exhaustion?”
Although they were supplied, most of the horses were exhausted, and it took almost a week to fully recover. This meant that they could not fight properly against the Balkan army that had crossed the border, so the soldiers could only groan. It was just that.
“Ugh… Ha, but…”
At that time, when Tiruen stepped next to Count Mula, all the soldiers’ eyes turned to him.
“I know very well what you are worried about. It will not be easy for you, who have only fought with horses so far, to fight head-on with the Balkan heavy infantry. But trust me this time. Last time on the Enakan Plain, The battle was lost due to my tribe, but this time it is different. This Tiruen will definitely lead you to victory!!”
Following Count Mula’s words, Tiruen himself came forward and gave an impassioned speech, and the soldiers who had been dissatisfied just a moment ago were moved and nodded.
“… Okay! Anyway, the only one we can trust is Your Excellency!”
“If you don’t trust His Excellency, the guardian deity of Tesseito, then who can you trust? Even if you tell me to go to hell, I will follow you!!”
At Tiruen’s encouragement, the soldiers regained their morale and chanted Tiruen’s name, raising the national flag and military banner high in the sky.
Then, Ti Luen also looked at his soldiers for a while with an emotional face, then calmed them down and began giving detailed orders.
“Esgran! Arm all 3,000 cavalrymen with heavy infantry equipment, then join the remaining 2,000 heavy infantrymen and take charge of the defense of the main camp! Not a single enemy soldier must pass up this hill!”
“Yes! I understand! I will stop the enemy even if it means sacrificing my life!”
“Count Mula! You lead the remaining 1,000 cavalry and lie in ambush in the forest in front of the enemy garrison! As you get closer to the enemy, you must wrap cloth around your horse’s hooves so that the enemy guard does not notice, and move when there is no moon!”〈 Br〉
“Old! Excellency! Then… What is the signal…?”
“I will arm the remaining soldiers with light infantry equipment and attack them. When the trumpet sounds, attack the enemy from behind! You will be able to lead our cavalry and drive the enemy back even in the thick forest. And in this battle, you will be able to kill the enemy. You should focus on pushing away rather than attacking! Even if the opponent’s master appears, you should avoid one-on-one duels!”
Count Mula tilted his head for a moment when Tiruen told him not to focus on killing the enemy, but thinking that there must be a reason for Tiruen’s order, he pounded his chest and pledged to follow Tiruen’s orders. 〈 Br〉
“I understand! This time, I will show the enemy the true nature of our Teseito cavalry!!”
Although Count Mulla was a little disappointed that his opponent was not the adopted daughter of Count Redelmo, who brought shame to him last time on the Plains of Enacan, he entered the Plains of Zenon with a burning determination to bring victory to his country this time. He led the last cavalry unit of the expeditionary force and went into an ambush.
‘… Balkan Empire… I will show you what the price is for trespassing into our Tesseito territory! I will definitely avenge the shame of Enakan Plains!!’
Thiruen also ordered his remaining troops to wear only light weapons and then led all of his troops into the forest along the lakeside road. As the night deepened, both armies prepared for an all-out war the next day.
Next day. As Claudia followed behind the 5th Legion, which was advancing in pursuit of dozens of enemy javelin cavalry, she felt a little concerned about the deep, foggy forest next to her.
‘Oh… This forest… It’s so dense and foggy that it’s a perfect formation for an ambush! Of course, an enemy whose main force is cavalry wouldn’t do something crazy like fight in the forest, but… Hmm? That is…’
What caught her eye was a dried leaf.
‘Leaf? No… It’s not fallen, and the leaves near a lake with plenty of water are this dry…? Is the fog this thick? Moreover, the direction of this wind… Something is strange… The operation must be stopped!!’
As soon as she saw the leaf, Claudia sensed something strange was going on and made a quick decision.
“All troops! Stop!! Communication wizard!! Call the 5th Corps commander!!”
“Gu, Corps Commander? Why are you stopping the military?”
“There are still 10 km left to reach the area expected to be the enemy’s camp! Now, what if we encounter an enemy scout…”
Despite cries of opposition from her advisors, Claudia ordered her troops to stop.
“Ugh! There’s no time to explain!! Quickly, the 5th Corps Commander…”
“Corps Commander! The 5th Corps Commander has connected!”
When the wizard in charge of communication brought a crystal ball, Claudia quickly took it out and spoke to Arnim.
‘Uh~ what’s going on? Claudia? The advance here is going very smoothly…’
“5th Corps Commander! Stop the pursuit right now! It’s an enemy trap!!”
‘Eh? Trap? There’s still a lot of distance between us and the enemy. What kind of nonsense is this? Moreover, there is a thick forest on the left side of the road we are on, and a deep lake on the right! An area where large-scale cavalry cannot be operated…’
But even before Arnim finished speaking, Claudia heard a sound that signified despair.
“Fire!! The enemy has set fire!!”
“The fire won’t go out!! It looks like it was started by an enemy wizard!! The flames spread through the parched forest in an instant… Ugh!!”
‘This, this sound…?’
“Holy shit!! Don’t you still understand? It’s a fire attack!! Commander of the 5th Corps! Retreat right now! We’ll take over the army and go back to the garrison…”
Claudia tried to quickly retreat her 7th Legion along with the 5th Legion, but was forced to throw herself backwards when she felt a javelin thrown by an enemy soldier grazing her head and shattering the communication orb in her hand.
Puuuuu~~~
“Waaaaa~!!! Kill the Vulcan guys!!”
“Make me regret crossing over to our Tesseito land!!”
Seeing countless Teseito soldiers attacking the side of the legion with loud trumpet sounds, Claudia gave instructions on how to deal with them.
“Everyone, stay calm!! The enemy’s armament is extremely poor!! Form a formation like you normally fight and block the enemy…”
But it was only then that she realized.
‘Damn it!! The road is too narrow to form a compact formation, which is our military’s specialty!! Plus, you can’t attack them carelessly due to the enemy’s fire! If we’re not careful, we could all burn to death!!’
As she saw so many soldiers being engulfed in flames, she had no choice but to make a decision.
“Disband the square!! Retreat to avoid the flames! Retreat and form again…”
Cheaeng!!
Even before Claudia’s instructions were finished, she was shocked to see her Viscount Armin blocking her powerful javelin that flew in front of her.
“W-what is this…”
“Tesseito Cavalry!! Drive back the enemy at once!! Make Simenotra the home of the Balkans!!”
When Claudia was startled by the sight of a man at the head of a cavalry swarm coming from the rear of her army with great force, Viscount Amin tapped her on the shoulder to come to her senses and then rode his horse to confront him. I ran out for
“It’s Master. It looks like he’s the one that Lord Cordelia had a fight with. I’ll take charge of that guy, so Commander Claudia can focus on commanding the troops!! From what I see, getting out of here seems to be the top priority!”
Watching Viscount Armin begin to fight the enemy master, Claudia bit her lip out of guilt for letting her guard down and continued her command with all her might to save the troops under her command.
“Retreat!! Retreat to the lakeside where the flames cannot reach and rebuild your formation!!”
However, her voice did not reach the completely disfigured legionnaires, and the 7th legionary soldiers wandered around in the burning forest and died of suffocation or being impaled by the spears of Tesseito’s army.
As the formation completely collapsed, enemy soldiers began to flock to her, the corps commander.
Suddenly! Suddenly!!
“Damn it!! Retreat!! We must save our lives first!! All troops! Retreat towards the north!!”
Claudia ran around the battlefield to save every single one of her troops, cutting down enemy soldiers at random.
With the war situation quickly tilting, Viscount Amin went overboard and tried to turn the situation around by killing the enemy master, but when Count Mula avoided the duel, his attempt was in vain, and the 7th Legion led by Claudia was instantly cut in half. We had to retreat to the lakeside where the flames could not reach.
*Illustration of Claudia, commander of the 7th Corps, surrendering the tomb*
