Chapter 129 – The Decisive Battle for the Fate of the Empire (Finish)
The decisive battle that determines the fate of the empire (Finish)
Count Kashu and some of the soldiers of the capital corps who followed him were able to get some rest while preparing a late dinner after leaving the battlefield and marching until night.
“You damn traitors… I will definitely pay for this humiliation!!”
Count Kash grinded his teeth, thinking of the corps commanders and the troops under his command who had surrendered to Juno.
A thousand seal approached Count Kashu, urging him to leave as quickly as possible, and raised an objection.
“Count. The soldiers have been fighting all day today. They need rest.”
“… Then there’s nothing we can do. Are there any other problems?”
“There are many problems, but the biggest problem is food. Since we went out with only the battle in mind, we only have three days’ worth of food for each soldier for emergency purposes. Currently, it will take at least ten days to reach a territory that is friendly to our troops. .”
Count Kashu’s temper was such that he wanted to cut down the thousand seals, screaming that the soldiers could not endure starving for a few days, but since he was disappointed with the small number of troops at the moment, he held back his temper and gave instructions.
“Whew~ Find a nearby village. We will commandeer food.”
“B… But if we requisition food from the people now that the harvest season has passed, they will have to starve completely until we compensate them… And even if we try to compensate them, it will take time to return from the capital… “
“The people of the rebellion are all traitors. Is there any need to pay back to traitors like that? Take away all the food they have, and if they rebel, select a few people and kill them as an example!”
“Huh? Ah, no matter what, you can’t plunder the people of the empire!!”
No matter how much it was a rebellion, Count Kashu eventually drew his sword when the thousand seals, who were repulsed by the idea that the legions of the glorious empire were plundering the people, refused to follow his instructions.
“Wasn’t it you who said food was the problem? Bring the food right away!! If you don’t solve the supply problem by tonight, I’ll kill you!!”
One of the thousand seals who was very frightened by Count Kashu, who was shouting loudly, pointed to the place with his finger as if he had seen something.
“Ship, Count, look over there!! It looks like the chase army has arrived!!”
“What?”
“It was better. Looking at the dust clouds rising over there, the size of the enemy is estimated to be around 3,000 to 4,000. And since Windrage Castle is running from the opposite direction, it seems like they have requested a pursuit force from a nearby territory… I would rather have them. How about throwing it away?”
“Hmm… Are you confident?”
“Although we retreated because of betrayal, we are the most elite capital corps!! Besides, don’t we have Count Kashu?”
The flattery of the thousand seals saved his pride a little after losing against Eliza, and Count Kashu, who decided that it would definitely be better to return with a little achievement rather than returning like this, patted him on the shoulder.
“Good. I’m overly loyal… So I got angry at you for no reason. Anyway, let’s annihilate those guys to secure food and reduce that guy’s strength a little more.”
“Yes!!”
Count Kashu smiled as he saw the thousand seals answering energetically, and stared straight at the enemy running toward the capital corps.
“It will be difficult, but cheer up everyone!! We will subdue them and return to Adria!! And we will come back here and cut off the heads of the traitors who betrayed us!”
“Wow!!”
The legionnaires, who were finally preparing a meal after fighting all day, turned their eyes to the enemy who had interrupted their precious meal time.
But in the meantime, the sun had completely set, and instead of the footsteps of the infantry, the sound of horses’ hooves pounding the ground was heard, and their faces turned into contemplative thoughts.
The heavy cavalry led by Cordelia, who was at the forefront, attacked them through the darkness. The shock waves created by the huge horses and armor began to crush the defenses of the capital corps, lightly crushing the shield soldiers who had only thought about the infantry’s charge.
“Lord… Heavy cavalry? How are the Teseito forces here?”
‘Yuno you idiot!! Did you have an affair with Tesseito!!’
Due to the nature of the military system of the Balkan Empire, which does not operate separate heavy cavalry, the commanders mistook the cavalry led by Cordelia for the Tesseito army.
“It’s cavalry!! Start anti-cavalry tactics!!”
“Throw away your shield and sword to make it easier to move!! The charge will not last long!! Use the spear and hook to knock the enemy off his horse!!”
Indeed, being an elite, the soldiers of the Capital Corps, under orders from their commanders, quickly changed their weapons to dislodge Cordelia’s cavalry that had penetrated into the camp, resulting in fatal results.
The heavy infantry led by McMorin attacked the capital corps, which had abandoned its shield and sword.
“Kaaaaa!!”
“It’s the enemy!! The infantry has attacked!!”
Because the camp was completely collapsed by Cordelia’s cavalry, the battlefield turned into a melee.
The legionnaires of the Capital Corps had to engage in melee fighting with long spears, hooks, and other long-armed weapons against cavalry without properly receiving orders from their commanders, and the heavy infantry led by McMorin showed off their matchless skills against such enemy forces. 〈 Br〉
In addition, as the soldiers fought in a chaotic manner, the torches that had provided some light to the battlefield went out one by one, and as complete darkness came, the rangers’ arrows began to pierce the necks and heads of the imperial soldiers.
Shoo shoo shoo!!
“It’s an enemy archer!! Find out where they’re shooting from!!”
“I don’t know!! It’s too dark to determine the location!!”
“How on earth do they aim in the dark? Damn it!!”
Eventually, in the dark, the Capital Corps soldiers began to be massacred indiscriminately.
In a situation where only the screams of our troops could be heard from all directions, even fleeing soldiers began to appear, but not a single one of those fleeing soldiers succeeded in escaping as the light infantry led by Gerard blocked the rear of the battlefield.
“Surrender!! I will not kill anyone who puts down their weapons and kneels!!”
“I will allow those who surrender to retain their status as legionnaires!! Anyone who runs away cowardly will be executed unconditionally, so surrender honorably!!”
Only the voice of Yuno’s army could be heard on the battlefield, and when they felt that the war was completely tilted, the imperial army knelt one by one, and among them were the hundreds of thousands of commanders and the thousands of commanders.
However, there was one man who could not tolerate them.
“Kaaaaa!!”
“How dare you surrender? These bastards who are members of the corps under the direct command of His Majesty the Honorable Emperor!! How can they surrender? If you don’t want to die by my hands, get up right now!!”
Count Kashu, who set fire to the command barracks and illuminated the battlefield, swung his sword with a terrifying sword and slaughtered the legionnaires who were kneeling.
But his sword had to stop not long after.
Cooung cooung cooung cooung
The sound of footsteps echoing through the battlefield had a weight that was incomparable to that of a war horse, and in the darkness, only bright red eyes were staring at Count Kashu, so he fired his sword energy towards the eyes glaring at him.
Kaang!!
However, the sword he threw bounced away too easily.
“Crrrrm… A commander kills his own soldiers… You are not qualified to lead the soldiers or to be a knight who protects the weak.”
“T… T… Troll?”
Count Kashu widened his eyes in surprise that it was a troll that had deflected his sword energy.
“Wow… This is ridiculous… How could a troll use my sword…”
“Why? Is there a law that says our Ajin can’t block your sword?”
Mac Morin attacked from the front, but Count Cassu was unable to move his body carelessly. This was because his enormous, life-like force was suppressing his body.
‘Damn… I can’t believe that a troll is a master… But that guy is clearly at the level of a master… Moreover, his level is similar to mine…’
Ajin and Count Kashu glared at each other for a moment, then swung their weapons at each other without even thinking about who would go first.
Kwaaaaang!! Kaaang!! Kang!!
Axes and swords clashed, and a huge explosion shook the air.
The ax and the sword, both filled with mana, were swung sharply towards each other’s necks, and as the distance increased for a moment due to the impact, the sword and the sword quickly flew away, aiming for each other’s lives.
The two soldiers, who were watching the battle between Master and Master, completely stopped the fight and just watched.
They couldn’t see the duel during the day because they were quite far away from the battlefield, but this time, since the fight took place in the middle of the battlefield, they watched the duel between Ajin and Count Kashu with fascination.
‘Damn, I’m being pushed… The level is similar…’
The duel was boiling at first, but Ah-jin’s superiority gradually became more evident. Count Kashu had not yet recovered from the duel with Eliza during the day, and had not yet recovered from the shock of being betrayed, so he felt himself being pushed back by the opposing Troll Master both physically and mentally.
‘But… I can’t back out of here either!! What kind of defeat is this? Following Tesseito’s Duke Tiruen, I was defeated by that damned girl named Eliza… But before the duel with the Third Prince, I turned up my tail and ran away before I could fight… If I run away from here, I can no longer be considered a master. I can’t even do it!!’
Count Kishu closed his eyes for a moment and held her sword tightly, gathering all the remaining mana in her body and preparing for the final blow.
Ajin, who saw this, also felt that the other person was preparing for the final attack and tensed her body to prepare to receive his attack.
And as soon as Count Quiche’s eyes finally opened, he quickly flew towards Ajin.
Cheaeng!!
In an instant, Count Kashu’s body and Ajin’s body overlapped, and light burst out at the same time as his sword and Ajin’s ax collided.
And after a while, red blood began to gush out from the nape of Ajin’s neck.
“Hey troll. You seem to know how to speak human language… What’s your name?”
“Crumbling! Ajin. The chieftain of the deep forest clan who follows Yuno, the wife of the great Miri. He is called Ajin.”
“Good. Ajin. How did my sword feel with that neck?”
“Crrrrm… If it had been just a little deeper, you could have cut my head off. You are not qualified to be a commander or a knight… But your sword was quite good.”
At Ajin’s words, Count Kashu smiled and grabbed his stomach, and red blood began to flow out of his stomach.
“Cough… Your ax was pretty good too. Damn… I never imagined I’d die here… Hey Ajin”
“Tell me. I will listen to your last will.”
“Ugh… Tell your master, the Third Prince, congratulations on your victory. And… I ask you not to mess with my family…”
In the end, Count Kashu’s upper body fell to the floor before he could finish speaking, and at the same time, his breath stopped.
“Crrr… I will definitely pass on your will. If you were my lord, I wouldn’t even harm your family just because you were an enemy, so don’t worry. Count Kashu.”
When Count Kashu expired, all the soldiers of the Capital Corps surrendered.
Meyer instructed McMorin and Gerard to disarm the legionnaires and headed to Windrage Castle with 3,000 prisoners and the body of Count Cassou.
As Juno’s army annihilated the remnants of Count Kashu, Henry’s invasion targeting the allied forces of Prinz and Juno ended in vain.
Now, the only troops left to Henry were the 8th and 9th corps to keep the Kent rebels in check, and Prinz became convinced of Juno’s ascension to the emperor.
*Ajin defeated Count Kashu
