Chapter 12 – The End of Childhood, Battle of Aristapo (3)


    The vanguard of the demons, the main force of the uruk army, finally broke through the Inferno Line of the old empire.


    Haltene (the imperial local militia forces) positioned in the fortresses either copsed after receiving a crushing blow or retreated to a nearby city.


    “The most strategic points for the old empire were divided into two cities at the left and right ends of the Inferno Line, respectively.”


    Of course, the two points were the southeastern capital, Terbenople, and the port city in the southwest, Aristapo.


    “These ces are extremely important bases for both humanity and the uruks.”


    If both were to be taken, the uruks would be able to open supply routes deep ind from the sea along the southern coast, thus securing control of the sea itself.


    After that, the central strategic point, Aurelinople, would be targeted, and if even thest of the seven great cities, Aurelinople, fell, the old empire wouldpletely copse.


    “The uruk army units, after being scattered by the ns, were brought together and sent out in each direction, culminating in the ‘Terbenople’ attack force led by the Balkrush n and the ‘Aristapo’ attack force led by Kiral n.”


    The war had dragged on sporadically for four years, finally turning into an all-out war as the demons gathered together.


    1st Seat, Kam Alter Aradamantel, and 2nd Seat, Sharon Alter Tas Alfo…


    Back then, the two most senior Fake Warriors were quickly dispatched to the port city of ‘Aristapo’.


    “As you all know, Kaisen Alter Aradamantel was also present. Our history lesson today begins there.”


    * * *


    “The Inferno Line…” Kam mumbled.


    All the fortresses they passed on the way down to Aristapo had tragically copsed, and the bloody stains and juices left behind seemed to testify to the cruelty of the struggle.


    “Mdy, are you saying we have to walk from here?”


    “You bastard, the railroad is all destroyed. What else could we do?”


    “Ugh.”


    The railroads connecting the Inferno Line fortresses werepletely destroyed, so theirfortable travel by train was extremely short.


    “This is the problem with the dwarven railroad—it’s only useful in times of peace, and it’spletely useless in times like this,” Kammented.


    Sharon looked over at her. “That’s why they should have raised cavalry. Kam, look at my guys. They don’tin at all. Look how good they are.”


    Sharon’s ck Rose Corps was an elite cavalry unitposed of 988 men. They wielded pistols that could be freely used on horseback, and long guns were also mounted on the saddle, allowing them to sometimes perform the role of infantry.


    Perhaps it was because ten imperial knights (it was said that they were originally the family’s attendant knights) yed the role of the vanguard, but their ability to prate the enemy’s lines was at a phenomenal level.


    ‘It must be quite efficient since they can act as both cavalry and infantry,’ Kaisen thought to himself.


    Kam just snorted and raised her middle finger. “Fuck cavalry. When fighting demons, the important thing is stopping power, not the ability to break through their lines. You have to fight from fixed positions.”


    “I wonder if we’re being pushed back in the war because our superiors are afraid of change like you, Kam,” Sharon retorted.


    In reality, each Fake Warrior formed a corps that suited their personalities and acted ordingly.


    For example, 7th Seat, Runelle Alter Gaurmis,manded an armored corps mainlyposed of giant soldiers riding on golems.


    Kam was the one who advocated for the theory of line infantry being the best, thanks to the countless victories she had achieved under Raminea’s reign.


    “What kind of army do you n on forming in the future, Kaisen?” Lia asked.


    “Me? You want to know what kind of army I’d form?”


    “You are Lady Kam’s disciple. There is no precedent for a man bing Fake Warrior, but even so, the influence thates from being Lady Kam’s disciple is absolute. Enormous amounts of troops will gather to be under yourmand.”


    “I’m not a disciple,” Kaisen argued, shaking his head in frustration.


    Lia looked at him with iprehension. “You really don’t know what it means to be taught swordsmanship under a Fake Warrior? Seriously?”


    “I’m just a useful errand boy for Kam. We do business with each other.”


    “Kaisen, Kam is the best Fake Warrior! She doesn’t need an errand boy. You don’t really think that she needs an errand boy like you or me because she has nothing to do, do you?” Lia appeared so serious that Kaisen was taken aback.


    Kam’s idleness… ? It certainly didn’t seem like Kam’s skills would require an errand boy, but wasn’t it true that he helped in one way or another?


    “There were people who even begged to learn swordsmanship from her, but they were all kicked out. What about you, Kaisen? You were chosen by an incredibly great person.”


    He often wished he could have been more polite to Kam when he heard those words, but humans only ever knew the value of their treasures after they were gone.


    The closer they got to the front line of ‘Aristapo’, the more intense the heat became, and the volcanic ash and sulfur in the air stung his nose.


    ‘Summer…’ The sun’s heat refracted strangely in the volcanic ash and was amplified by it, making the heat even worse. In the midst of the great heat, beads of sweat gathered on the soldiers’ foreheads, and… the cicadas mournfully cried out.


    He could tell that they had arrived at the front line because the cicadas’ screams werepletely drowned out.


    “Kke一!” an uruk chief shouted, and the counterweights of the uruks’ crudely-made catapults suddenly tilted. Many different types of objects arced through the air—megaliths, me barrels, and human corpses.


    A scream mixed with shouts came from the castle gate, where the uruk warriors were charging forward with their battering ram, but the sound was drowned out by drumbeats.


    “Look at them.” Kam crossed her arms and looked down at the battlefield as if she were bored. “They’ve created quite a wall, huh?”


    They were at the old empire watchtower. Built on a ridge, the ce was originally supposed to be the city’s primary defensive outpost, but by the time the corps arrived, it was upied by troops from the uruks’ outlying units.


    “Hehe, what should we do?” Sharon asked.


    There were seven Fake Warriors on active duty. The full strength of each Fake Warrior was needed on every battlefield, so the fact that two Fake Warriors were deployed at the same time meant that the battle was that important.


    “Kam, wouldn’t it be okay if we hunted a thousand each?”


    “You’re bluffing, you crazy bitch.”


    The mage from Sharon’s corps, Ludien, spoke up. “I figured things out to some extent.”


    Wolf was once again amazed at the sight of her and the butterflies of light flocking and dancing around her. She was a mage of the Mana/Energy Schools, which was very rare among the countless mages in the empire.


    Humanity, unable to handle light and miracles, tried to imitate them through magic, and the result was energy. The school’s founder was Dragon Sage Rain Ludwig.


    ‘That’s why some say they are the descendants of the 3rd sage, the Dragon Sage…’


    Such magic was famous for being difficult to acquire and use, and practitioners were all masters of information warfare.


    “ording to what I’ve gathered, the Kiral n and their chief lead the battlefield.”


    * * *


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    * * *


    “Hmph, damn bastards. Zukan… is that old geezer still the chief?” Kam asked.


    “Yes.”


    A smirk appeared on Kam’s lips. Her master should have killed that old uruk bastard in the previous summer, but he’d returned alive.


    The mage continued, “Not only Kiral, but also the Oxy Gar and the Holdrim ns of the Hai-tark.”


    “The top three Hai-tark ns?”


    “Yes. The outlying units are under the Kiral n’s young chief, Kishun. He leads the cavalry riding the che wolves.”


    “Hehe. Is it only Kishun? Of course, the Kiranzuki unit is also there, right?”


    The Kiranzuki were the six strongest warriors of the Kiral n. The title was not specifically attributed to an individual and changed frequently depending on the situation.


    Naturally, the unit’s members changed if a member died in battle or if another member made great achievementspared to others.


    “The corpses of human soldiers were scattered everywhere in the forests and fields. It looks like they came as reinforcements and were annihted by the cavalry.”


    Wolf stroked his chin and sighed. “The scattered Haltene troops are gathering, but there are nomunications with the city’smand center…”


    “All 100,000 elite troops from the west have entered the city. The Band Kingdom’s relief army is alsoing.”


    Ludien let out a sigh that was almost like a scream. “Oh, my God…”


    “What is it?” Wolf asked.


    “A t-troll! A troll wearing full armor…”


    Trolls were a race of giant species that were 15 feet tall. Although it was onlyter that trolls in armor were taken as a matter of course, the psychological shock at the time was inexplicable.


    “Trolls? Do you mean they’re using trolls as siege weapons?”


    “I’ve never seen a troll with armor like that. A battering ram… Ah, the south gate of the city!” Ludien’s words fell off there, but what happened next was easy to predict.


    Intense vibrations, roars, and battle cries rose from the uruk siegers.


    Kaisen trembled unconsciously when he saw Kam’s Aradamantel crying. ‘Aradamantel, do you also smell the blood that’s about toe…?’


    The battle elerated. There was no time to wait for the militia to gather—the handful of troops they already had was humanity’sst hope. In a battle against close to a million enemies, it was a pitiful number.


    “Our odds of victory are too low. Marshal, we must retreat!” a soldier eximed.


    “That’s right. If we lose these troops as well, there will be nothing we can do about the central front!” someone else agreed.


    Marshal Krauzan was a 62-year-old veteran, but the aura from his body was enormous. As a militarymander of the Dunos Dynasty and a general in the Human Alliance Army, he was a master who led one of the five great battles to victory during the ‘ck Summer’.


    It was already widely known that anti-uruk formations were also his work. It would be no exaggeration to say that all of the infantry tactics used by Raminea Alter Aradamantel were derived from him.


    “Hmm, I wish to retreat, but there is an urgent letter from the Imperial Court,” the marshal said.


    “What do you mean?”


    “‘Aristapo’ has a tactical weapon that can turn the tide of war, and our instructions are to secure it at all costs.”


    The officers just nkly listened. Their thoughts were obvious, but nobody dared voice them—since there was a tactical weapon, why hadn’t they used it sooner? Never before had such encouraging rhetoric been used in an official document from the Imperial Court.


    “Fake Warriors…”


    Kam and Sharon raised their heads at the marshal’s call.


    “Now, it would be no exaggeration to say that the oue of this battle depends on your performance.”


    “Hey, perverted old man. Why are you acting like it’s not always like that?” Kam asked. “Hahaha, you know. I want to stop losing now. I want to beat those fucking demons.”


    “I agree. Hehe,” Sharon voiced.


    “If ‘Aristapo’ falls, the southern regions will surely fall with it. If we can obtain the ‘ultimate weapon’ that the dragons of the Imperial Court spoke of…”


    It was a ray of hope they had to cling to. Was the Imperial Court’s ‘ultimate weapon’ a measure to unite the Allied Forces on that dark battlefield?


    Krauzan, who always had a smile on his face, turned serious. “Can you go into that city and get it?”


    ck volcanic ash fluttered in the air, and urukbat troops poured into the copsed castle gate in the distance.


    ‘Impossible.’


    ‘Irrational.’


    Everyone looked at the two heroines with bated breaths. Kaisen also watched Kam in silence and engraved the scene in his heart.


    A Warrior did not discuss the impossible; a Warrior never died; a Warrior never failed—even though they were Fake Warriors, they had to adhere to those principles.


    That’s simply what they were. Therefore, pledging and promising the world, the two warriors raised solemn salutes. “What are you asking? Just give orders as usual.”


    * * *


    Tooo-too-too-toooom—!


    The harsh sound of the iron trumpet and the drums led the soldiers.


    120 golems advanced, leavingrge footprints and serving as the primary breakwater of the assault formation. Following them were the 2-meter-long parzenon spears. They would be the next line of defense.


    “The recapture of Aristapo is not our goal. We are to buy time for the Fake Warriors to enter the city.”


    Four years, it was four years. Over the course of four years, humanity had been repeatedly trampled, again and again, by demons. The Yellow Dragons said that the key to turning the whole war around was in that city.


    “We must retake it to mark the beginning of humanity’s counterattack. Everyone, prepare for battle!”


    In the distance, red gs spread across the horizon. The gs were made of human skin and stained with the blood of parents, friends, and children.


    The enemy’s outlying units rushed in, apanied by eardrum-shaking battle cries.


    “First line, artillery, ready to fire.”


    “First line, ready to fire!”


    “Artillery, ready to fire! Load shells!”


    Every step of the way…


    The gunmen lined up behind the spearmen and raised their guns in unison.


    Kaisen caught his breath on his horse. ‘This feeling of exhration just before battle…’ The feeling sharply awakened the whole body’s senses. The cold metallic smell from his sword entered deep into his lungs, and the blood in his body cooled.


    “As soon as the shells are fired, we will turn right and march. Everyone, get ready.”


    The vanguard of the breakthrough force was Sharon Alter Tas Alfo’s ck Rose Corps.


    Because the members of Kam’s corpscked experience in horsebackbat, they were organized into a reserve unit and excluded from the breakthrough unit.


    One person was the exception—Kaisen.


    “It seems you have to do some homework,” Kam said.


    “?”


    “Follow Sharon. It’s an important mission. You know what you have to do, right? Bring out that special weapon or whatever it is, even if it’s just you.”


    Lia couldn’t believe her ears. He was being entrusted with such an important and impossible task? What was more unbelievable was Kaisen’s answer.


    “I’m having a bit of trouble. You taught me two forms this time,” the boy said.


    “There’s nothing left to teach you now, you idiot. There’s only one thing left: the so-called final move.”


    “Aha, was it like this?”


    Sharonughed as if she found the situation funny. Kam trusted the boy quite a bit.


    “You’re telling the truth, right?” Kaisen asked, giving his mentor a suspicious look.


    “Do I look like a lying bitch?”


    Kaisen eventually changed his attitude and straightened up. ‘The final secret of the Cross Sword Style…’ Did that mean he’d learned everything he could? Once the operation ended, would he be able to go kill Balkarro…?


    “Okay then, everyone?” Sharon looked back at her subordinates and smiled sincerely, different from the smile she usually wore as a mask. “May there be victory on the path I walk with you today.”


    No more words were needed. The sincerity expressed by one of the best Fake Warriors to her subordinates just before battle couldn’t be refuted. All of her subordinates felt her sincerity, so they were neither surprised nor embarrassed.


    “Lady, please say a great line like that at least once.” Rifle Jin rolled his eyes slyly.


    Kam straightened her middle finger. “Fuck you.”


    As usual, it seemed like Jin’s mouth would get him beaten, but Kam suddenly turned to look at the corps members. “The corps’ rules have not changed—any pathetic and useless people are left behind.”


    “Yes, of course.”


    “I personally selected each and every one of you, so none of you should be pathetic or useless.”


    “…?”


    “This time, it’s the same as usual: no one is left behind.”


    They likely found it hard to believe their ears for a moment. Lady Kam, who was always violent, fierce, and cold…


    The mercenaries’ morale rose, starting with the beastmen’s shouts.


    “Artillery fire!”


    Pheeeee—!


    Following the sound of therge steam core mounted on the cannon heating up, the dull ring of gunfire split through the volcanic ash drifting in the air.


    Boom boom boom boom—


    “Advance!” Sharon spurred her horse ahead. “Forward!”


    ____