Chapter 262 – End of the War [Battle of Lake Simenotra (4)] *5 Corps Commander Arnim Illustration*
Battle of Lake Simenotra (4)
As Claudia was desperately running toward her lake to keep her men alive, her 5th Legion commander, Arnim, made the exact opposite choice for her.
His choice was to charge into the opponent’s formation, and taking advantage of the quick mobility of the 5th Legion, whose main force was light infantry, he and his 5th Legion soldiers quickly broke through the burning forest and charged towards the Teseito garrison. Br〉
“Move quickly!! The enemy will use all their might to ambush! So, we must catch the enemy off guard, occupy their camp, and use it as a defensive position!! And we must help the 7th Corps retreat here. !!”
‘It’s because I was greedy that our military ended up like this… Damn it!! Claudia, hold on!! We will somehow capture the enemy’s camp, at least until then…’
Although she bickered with her every time she came across her face, Arnim, who cared for her deep down, felt her guilt and at the same time prayed for her safety and urged her subordinates to help her.
She didn’t stop her steps toward the enemy’s base.
Although his troops were damaged by the ambushes that kept coming out, he believed that the way to overcome this difficulty was to occupy the enemy camp, so he gritted his teeth and continued to advance, swinging his sword.
“Corps Commander!! I can see the enemy’s position on the hill!! It was located closer than I thought!!”
Finally, the news that the enemy camp had been discovered brought a slight smile to Arnim’s face, and he quickly ran to the lead and gave orders to his commanders.
“Good!! The enemy’s camp will be completely empty, so the entire army will quickly rush in and occupy it, then set up defenses… What, what?!”
However, as soon as he entered Tesseito’s formation on the hill, what he saw was Tesseito’s heavy infantry forming a wide defensive position, so he could not help but be taken aback.
“Uh, how… There are troops here…”
“Hmph! Our Duke of Tiruen knew you would come here! You guys were playing in the palm of the Duke’s hand.”
Because the slope of the hill was quite high, the Tesseito army was completely invisible to the imperial army until they reached the top. The Tesseito heavy infantry, which was fully prepared and waiting for the Balkan army to arrive, slowly followed Esgran’s command. It started to put pressure on me.
‘Damn it… I never thought they’d deploy troops all the way here… We’re at a disadvantage in terms of armament, morale, and physical strength… But we can’t back down after coming this far!! We have to break through somehow!!’
In the end, Arnim gritted his teeth, stood at the forefront, swung his sword, boosted the soldiers’ morale, and gave the order to charge.
“Punch through!! Those guys are the ones who were fighting on horseback not long ago anyway! They don’t even know how our infantry fights!! Charge!!”
The soldiers of the 5th Corps rushed at his command, but Tesseito’s army’s infantry square was stronger than expected.
‘Ugh… The fence built by the garrison wall on the hilly terrain is in the way, so our light infantry doesn’t have a good corner to dig into! Moreover, the heavy infantry at the front are made up of quite experienced guys… If they can dig in to the rear, they can open a gap, but in terrain like this…’
More than 5,000 troops attacked intensively, but the Teseito army risked their lives to maintain a square formation.
Even in a situation where numerous casualties were occurring, Tiruen’s adjutant Esgran’s skillful command supported the clumsy support of the rear heavy infantry and gave them time to hold on.
“Don’t fight too hard! Soon, His Excellency will come here after clearing out the enemy’s rear troops!! If we hold out until then, we will win!!”
‘Damn it!! It’s just like that guy said… If time drags on, it won’t be to our advantage. In the end, you have to make a choice!!’
Even in this situation, the soldiers’ screams could be heard in his ears, so Arnim couldn’t bear his nervousness and bit his lip.
And as if to force him to make a quicker decision, an ambush force led by Tiruen was attacking them from the rear of the 5th Corps.
“Esgran!! You held out well!! All troops! Drive out the invaders!! Make them regret ever entering this land!!”
The morale of Tiruen’s soldiers who returned to the garrison after crushing the 7th Corps and brutally trampling the rear troops of the 5th Corps was sky-high, and the soldiers of the 5th Corps began to be attacked from both the rear and the front. He began to collapse, screaming desperately.
Suddenly!! Suddenly!!
In addition, Tiruen, burning with revenge on Yuno, charged in, spewing out bloody sword energy and cutting down his soldiers at random.
In the end, Arnim had to admit defeat.
“Retreat!! Our 5th Corps is also fleeing towards the northern lakeshore where the 7th Corps is located!! Each of us forms our ranks… Ugh!!”
Kaang!!
Arnim, who barely managed to block the sword energy emitted by Tiruen, grabbed the 5th Legion’s flag and announced a retreat.
But even as he announced his retreat, he moved his steps towards the south, which was his exact opposite.
“5th Corps!! Everyone retreats!! I will block this place!!”
“Commander!! Hurry and avoid!! If the corps commander is killed, it is no different from the fact that our entire corps was killed!!”
“No! It’s me who led you into a trap with my greed!! So, I’ll stay until the end to buy time, so you guys get out of the way quickly!!”
“Then let’s just fight here until we fight!! Wouldn’t it be enough to just kill a hundred soldiers per person? Isn’t that right, Corps Commander?”
Because Arnim was well-liked by his subordinates, dozens of troops gathered around him, and they drew their swords, determined to fight with Arnim until the end.
And their appearance seemed to have impressed Tiruen quite deeply, so he stopped slaughtering the imperial army and reorganized his troops and approached Arnim.
“Huh~ You fell into my trap… But you seem to be getting along quite well with your subordinates? Balkan corps commander. What is your name?”
“… Joachim Joshua Arnim!! He is the eldest son of Count Arnim and the commander of the 5th Corps of the Great Balkan Empire appointed by His Majesty the Emperor!!”
Tiruen must have been quite satisfied with the sight of Arnim standing in front of him with his eyes lit up and fighting proudly, so he wiped away the sword energy from his sword and approached him.
“Yes. Count Arnim’s son. Do you have any intention of formally surrendering to us Tesseito? It seems that you still have quite a few shortcomings, but even in this unfavorable situation, you will not give up hope until the end and will try to exploit the enemy’s weaknesses. And you face death. I really like the reputation of my subordinates. If you surrender, do you think so in Teseito?
“Shut up! As the commander of a corps in the Great Balkan Empire, I cannot surrender to the enemy!! I cannot betray the trust His Majesty gave me when I was still young like that!!”
Tiruen sighed in disappointment at the sight of Arnim rejecting his offer even before he finished speaking.
“Okay… Then there’s nothing we can do. Still, since I like this talent, I’ll let him go without pain.”
Tiruen again injected a lot of mana into his sword, and his sword was filled with a dark and deadly sword energy, and he made magical sword moves.
‘Damn it… It’s on a different level from the sword technique I blocked earlier… There’s no way I could have blocked it… I wonder if I’m going to die like this… I don’t regret dying, but… Furthermore, I should confess to Claudia that it happened like this… ‘
Ar, who closed his eyes tightly and waited for the sword to fly to his neck, realized that his neck was still intact even though a considerable amount of time had passed.
‘What? His head was already cut, and I didn’t know? Oh, isn’t it? That Tiruen guy over there has a stupid face… Huh?’
“Crrrr… Arnim, Commander of the 5th Corps. Step back. I will keep you in check, so lead your troops and join the 7th corps!!”
“Ajin!”
Arnim cheered when Troll Master Ajin, whose existence was kept in strict secrecy only at the level of a corps commander or higher, appeared leading his clan.
“If Ajin keeps Tiruen in check, we can drive them out of here! Aren’t the trolls the most powerful in the forest?”
“Crumbling… No! It is true that our clan is strong in the forest, but not in the burning forest! Our regenerative ability is vulnerable to heat, so our combat power is lowered. Moreover, your 5th Legion is currently suffering severe damage and needs maintenance! So hurry up and take over the military!!”
“Oh, I understand…”
If Ajin could capture Tiruen, it would not be impossible to wipe out Tesseito’s base with his troll clan, so Arnim sighed with regret and led the remaining troops toward the north. 〈 Br〉
Meanwhile, Tiruen had no choice but to sit back and watch as Arnim led his troops to defeat the army.
This was because the shocking reality that the troll master who had been harassing his army so much in the mountains of the Zenon Plain was a member of the Balkan Empire and that trolls could talk struck him.
And it wasn’t just him, it was the same for other Tesseito soldiers, who instinctively took a step backwards, oppressed by the intimidating feeling emanating from the giant troll.
“Ugh… Damn the Vulcan Emperor… I don’t know how you tamed such a monstrous monster… But you will regret this fact being revealed… For now, get out of here!!”
When Tiruen withdrew, Ajin, who was keeping him in check, also headed north with his clan.
There was no need for him to risk his life since his goal of rescuing the commander of the 5th Corps had been accomplished anyway.
“Oh my god… Such severe damage…”
“… I didn’t know the damage would be this much… I’m sorry, Claudia. My greed got you involved too.”
As soon as the two young corps commanders reached the lakeside, they checked the troops by cooling their heated skin and equipment, and the results left them in great shock.
“7th Corps… Out of a total of 8,000 troops before the start of the battle, about 5,000 died, about 5,000 were missing, about 2,000 were injured… About 1,000 remaining troops…”
“5th Corps… Out of a total of 7,000 troops before the start of the battle, about 3,000 died, about 3,000 were missing, about 2,500 were injured… About 1,500 remaining troops…”
Claudia and Arnim almost collapsed due to the disastrous result of having only 2,500 healthy troops out of 15,000, but since they did not know when the enemy’s pursuing army would attack, they collected the wounded and fled to the Plain of Zenon as quickly as possible. I was on my way back to
And after receiving the reports from the two corps commanders, Mayer had to burst out in anger, hurling all the non-cussive insults at them.
*Illustration of 5th Corps Commander Joachim Joshua Arnim angry at the outcome of the battle*
