Chapter 303 – Battle of Miliones (4) *Eliza Naval Uniform Standing Posture Illustration*
Battle of Miliones (4)
Count Leverkin, who had been commanding his command for a long time, looked at his burning fleet with blank eyes as his fire grew stronger.
“Teach. Did you know that things would turn out like this? This is why you kept insisting on retreating.”
“… I didn’t know that the enemy would use fire, but only one day a year. On the night of the full moon of a certain month. I heard that the ocean currents in the Miliones Strait change strangely around midnight. This phenomenon They say the people of Polygal Island call it the mermaids’ festival.”
“Then why…”
Count Leverkin looked at his adjutant with pity as Teach answered with his eyes tightly closed.
“It was difficult for me to explain it properly because it was a phenomenon I had only heard about through rumors a long time ago, and I was not sure when that particular month was, so I was convinced because I had the feeling that they were luring us in. And…”
Teach paused for a moment and glanced at his staff who stood by him to prevent his advice from being accepted.
“Ha… I should have believed you sooner, but I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”
“No.
Eliza, who had been watching them until now, opened her mouth when she saw Count Leverkin sighing as if his responsibility was great.
“Raise your head, Commander-in-Chief. Now is not the time to judge someone’s faults. No matter how good a commander is, he can be defeated by the enemy’s plans. So now, the priority is to somehow find a way out and keep the soldiers alive. Isn’t it?”
At Eliza’s words, Count Leverkin opened his eyes as if he had finally come to his senses.
“You are correct, Empress. I think I should save at least one more soldier who is dying due to my error in judgment.”
Count Leverkin looked around his battlefield and made up his mind, and Teach approached him and reported what he had secretly done in case of an emergency.
“Your Excellency. Actually, there’s something I didn’t tell you in advance…”
And Count Leverkin, who heard Teach’s report, strongly grabbed Teach’s shoulder.
“Well done!! Teach!! You saved our entire fleet!! Empress Mama!!”
Eliza, who was next to Count Leverkin, could also hear Teach’s words, and she drew her sword and threw herself over the highest mast of her ship.
“Soldiers of Balkan!! Listen carefully!! I am Eliza Leonhart von Balkan, Empress of Balkan! I deliver to you as the empress of the empire and a knight on the battlefield!!
Eliza’s voice, filled with so much mana, resonated so loudly even on the chaotic sea that her legionaries and sailors had no choice but to stop their digestion work and look at her.
“Phone… If it’s the Balkans, it’s the Hwang…”
“If it’s Eliza… Woe, Empress? Uh, how did you get here…”
Her presence on the battlefield did not leak beyond her flagship, and her soldiers expressed surprise that their empress was on these dangerous seas.
“As you all know, our fleet fell into a trap. The battleships were destroyed by fire and waves, and many of our comrades burned to death or were caught in the current and drowned in the sea. Even in this worst situation, you are holding up well and supporting the fleet! !”
Eliza’s calm but strong voice seemed to speak seriously to each of her soldiers, and they only looked at her as if they were fascinated by something about her.
“Soon, the enemy will rush in to annihilate us. At the forefront will be my older sister, Leon’s first princess Fiona.”
Roaring
When Eliza mentioned Fiona’s name, her soldiers began to become agitated. Although the legionnaires, who were mostly from the central and southern parts of the empire, did not know, the sailors who continued to live in the east knew Fiona’s name as a master very well.
“If we don’t stop the enemy here, we die. And we, Balkan, lose the opportunity to recapture Polygal Island and invade Leon, and Snellerda Port and the eastern part are always on edge, worried about when Leon will invade again. Do you want to go back to those days?”
“No!!”
Before King Karl III and Duke Windrage won a great victory in the war against Leon and took half of Polygal Island, the people of the eastern region always lived in fear of Leon’s invasion, so the navies responded well to Eliza’s speech. Br〉
“B-But our fleet is powerless to deal with the enemy!! The battleship was on the verge of burning and sinking, and most of the arrows were washed away by the rough waves…”
When an army soldier realistically expressed the difficulty in a weak voice, the soldiers bowed their heads again.
“I know very well. But there is no choice but to fight. So, will you sacrifice your heads to the approaching enemy? Or will you surrender to the enemy, abandoning your honor as legionnaires of His Majesty’s royal guard and the First Fleet?”
“No!!”
The soldiers shouted loudly at Eliza’s provocation.
“Then fight!! Even if the enemy’s arrows rain down, hold out until the end as if you were legionnaires under His Majesty’s direct command!! Sailors, somehow bring your ship to the enemy ship so that your comrades can fight!! If you fight, I will also be at the head of the flagship. I will stand and be with you until the end!!”
“Woe, Empress!! No matter what, on a burning ship…”
The guard knights, surprised by her words, tried to dissuade her, but Eliza continued her speech regardless.
“Now the 2nd Fleet is rushing to save us. So just hold on until then!! If we all fight to the death, we will all be able to survive together!!”
Sssss!!
As Eliza finished her speech, like her miracle, rain began to pour from the sky.
“It’s raining!! It’s raining!!”
Naturally, the fighting spirit of the soldiers was revived.
The hands of the exhausted soldiers gained strength, and as the hands of the soldiers and the rain that fell at the right time added to the fire, the fire that was consuming the fleet began to be extinguished at a rapid pace.
Meanwhile, the Leon Kingdom camp.
Princess Fiona and Count Gisco were looking at the burning sea.
“The Vulcan gophers are struggling to survive the mermaid’s festival. The rain is calming the fire, but it won’t help. That dull battleship will have a hard time just holding on in the crazy ocean currents. In the end, they are. “If you give up your strength until you die, the moment the ocean current stops, the arrows of our incoming naval forces will sink you into the sea and turn you into meat.”
“Hmm… But wouldn’t it be better to quickly clear out the mermaid’s festival before sunrise? Even though the Balkan 1st Fleet has been annihilated, the 2nd Fleet, led by a girl named Alvida, remains.”
After hearing Princess Fiona’s words, Count Gisco thought for a moment and then opened his mouth.
“The 2nd Fleet led by that woman will still be at the entrance to the Miliones Strait. It will probably arrive here around noon tomorrow, and by then we will be able to annihilate those guys who have been suffering from the fire and current all night without any damage. No matter how much we do, Even if the soldiers are accustomed to riding the ocean currents, they may incur damage at the Mermaid Festival. Is there any need to take on such risks?”
“Your words make sense, but… Something doesn’t feel right. I don’t know why, but my intuition is telling me to attack them now. Maybe their reinforcements will come sooner than we think. And… “I also want to compete while my sister is in good condition.”
“Hmm… I understand if you really want to. The sun will rise in about an hour anyway, so let’s do a sortie as the princess said. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to show those guys what a real navy is like.”
Fiona had a point, so Count Gisco launched the ship a little faster than he expected.
Floating, Floating
With the sound of a loud drum, the Royal Navy of Leon began its advance, and a fierce battle that felt like hell to the Balkan 1st Fleet began.
Shhh profit
“Raise your shield up!! Cover each other’s blind spots!!”
“Archers who have used up all their arrows, go below deck and help the attackers!! We need speed to reach them!”
It was the 1st Fleet fighting as one under the command of Count Leverkin, but it had its limits.
Because they did not have many arrows, the archers were unable to fire arrows indiscriminately, and the ships, exhausted from fighting fires and rapids all night, were unable to keep up with the speed of Leon’s battleships, which moved quickly even in the rapids, and had to allow a unilateral attack.
Haha, those guys are the target! Let’s take this opportunity to practice shooting on board!!”
As the Royal Navy of Leon rushed in at high speed and began raining down arrows, the Balkan army was barely able to withstand the rain of arrows falling on their heads with their shields.
“Kaaaaa!!”
“Aaaaah!!”
The heavy infantry tried to block it with their shields as much as possible, but the formation was disrupted due to the swaying ocean currents, and casualties continued to occur.
“Keuuuuu she of her she heri hers their aura
Count Leverkin let out a low groan, guessing that no matter how much Eliza’s morale was boosted, her morale would plummet again if she continued to suffer.
“This cannot go on, Commander-in-Chief. We must use another method.”
“… What kind of solution do you have?”
Eliza whispered something to Count Leverkin.
Count Leverkin, who heard her whisper, opened his eyes wide, but when he saw Eliza’s expression, he could only nod her head.
*Eliza’s naval uniform stepping posture illustration
