Chapter 258: 261

Chapter 261 - A... Battle... on Water

"I say to the Fontana forces, and especially to the Barca forces, 'Turn back from here on.' This is the land that we, the Arbalest family, have ruled for many years. If you do not leave, you will sink to the bottom of this great river called the Midway."

　The Midway River is a very large river.

　The Arbalest Territory is made up of multiple rivers, some of which merge to form even larger rivers.

　Midway River is the largest of these rivers.

　It is necessary to cross this river to get to the capital of the Arbalest Territory.

　However, it is difficult for the enemy forces of Barca to do so.

　This is because our army has already destroyed the bridge over the River.

　Without the Midway Bridge, the Barcan army would have to make a major detour or use ships to cross the river in order to reach the capital.

　However, the detour option would be difficult to take.

　It would be inefficient to move a large army because it would have to travel a considerable distance.

　And, as expected, the Fontana forces, including the Barca forces, were to take up position by the Midway River.

　They would definitely use their boats to cross this river.

　That is where we will intercept them.

　The Arbalest army definitely had better ship-maneuvering skills using the flow of water.

　And above all, Barca's leader, Ars von Barca, is able to be attacked while on the water.

　Even if he can protect himself against [Distant Thunder], he is still able to get physically attacked.

　The fleet is lined up on Midway River.

　Then, from one of those ships, our Head stepped forward to issue a large and dignified preamble.

　In response, Ars' voice also came out from a ship on Fontana's side.

　Those people are telling us of some cause for why they have invaded Arbalest.

　According to them, they had asked the House of Arbalest to prepare ships to transport the King, who is staying in Fontana, to the royal domain.

　However, they claim that the refusal of the Arbalests to do so was disloyal to the King and led to the current battle.

　That was not, however, a request that could be accepted.

　Fontana demanded that all of Arbalest's riverboats be provided.

　There was no way we would accept such a request.

　It was clearly a demand prepared solely for the purpose of attacking us.

　It could be said that it was a spiteful demand that took advantage of the King's existence.

　The Head points this out and rejected the request.

　Well, the other party must know that there is no way we could have accepted it anyway.

　Both sides argue their respective points, and after a pause, the ship with the Head on board turns back to the center of our fleet.

　Thus, the Arbalest and Fontana forces clashed on the Midway River.

 

　※　※　※

 

"Show the Barcan Army the horror of the Arbalest Army. We will surely defeat Ars von Barca!"

　The master gave the order, and a number of Arbalest riverboats floating on Midway River began to move.

　Most of the riverboats are large enough to accommodate 10 to 20 people each.

　It is truly a spectacular sight to see approximately 500 riverboats begin to move at the sound of the Lord's voice.

　In contrast, Fontana's boats are all small ones that they must have collected from the villages near the river.

　There was no way they could be a serious opponent.

　The Arbalest army, having caught the flow of the river, is approaching Fontana's army at a rapid pace.

　Seeing our opponents with their unfamiliar maneuvering movements, we were convinced.

　This battle was definitely winnable. Those bastards on the boats have no skill when it comes to handling the river and ship.

"[Ice Spirit Summoning.]"

　At that moment, the wind carried a voice to our ears.

　It was not a particularly loud voice.

　But it was definitely audible.

　My mind recognized the words as if they were flowing naturally into my ears.

　Ice Spirit Summoning.

　It was definitely the Head-level magic of Fontana.

　And there is only one person here who can use it.

　Ars von Barca, the new head knight of the Fontana Family.

　He was the one who activated the higher level magic.

　I looked at the fleet of Fontana's army with a start.

　To my surprise, he was in the first ship of the fleet.

　Ars von Barca, the guy who had made that speech against my Lord was still at the front of the fleet.

　Why?

　Normally, once the preface was over, the leader of the fleet would have pulled back for safety.

　Yet, from our vantage point, we could see him standing comfortably at the front of the enemy fleet.

　Something strange began to happen around the Ars von Barca.

　Blue balls of light appeared one after another.

　Could those be the ice spirits that he is able to summon?

　It is said he can only summon the weakest ones, those that cannot attack at all.

　What in the world is he going to do with those things?

　Riding the current of the river, we were getting closer and closer to our opponent.

　All the while, the guy was surrounded by ice spirits.

　No, that was an understatement.

　The number of them kept increasing.

　Not only around the boat he was on, but everything around it was covered in blue balls of light.

　What is he trying to do?

　Wouldn't that just let us know where he was and invite danger to himself?

"Freeze."

""""What the hell!?"""

　The situation changed much faster than I could react.

　He said one word.

　That was all it took for the current situation to change drastically.

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　It froze.

　I felt like I was being shown something impossible.

　The Midway is a wide river so the water does not flow that fast.

　Nevertheless, the water was indeed flowing fast.

　However, the river was beginning to freeze.

　Starting from Ars von Barca.

　From the location of the guy in the boat at the front of Fontana's boats, the water of the river had begun to freeze outwards.

"This is ridiculous. This is bullshit. There is no way they could have done that. It is impossible to freeze an area large enough to stop the movement of our fleet. It must be an illusion. Even if such a spell was able to do this, it would require tremendous mana."

"Wait, my lord. Look at him again. He, Ars von Barca, has something in his hand."

"... In his hand...? ... It's a magic stone... and it's large, too..."

"Maybe that is the magic stone he got from defeating the undead dragon? If he is using the mana contained in that magic stone to freeze his surroundings, then... This is not good, my lord! He may be trying to freeze this Midway River and march on the ice to get at us! We thought he was going to be fighting us on water... but he wants to freeze us!"

"... he will use those ice spirits that have no offensive capabilities in that way? All hands, be on alert. They will quickly run on this ice, board our ships, and engage us in hand-to-hand combat."

　What a frightening man.

　He does things I never thought possible.

　I had no idea that he would try to overturn our disadvantageous situation with such forceful tactics.

　In a panic, I predicted what he might do and told the master.

　Hearing this, the master immediately responded.

　The Arbalest soldiers seemed to have realized the gravity of the situation when they saw that the ice had spread to such an extent that our ships could no longer proceed.

　Not only the water in the river but even the ships we were on was frozen over.

　Everyone hurriedly put down their oars and grabbed their weapons.

　We had no choice but to do it.

　A decisive battle on a river frozen in motion by ice.

　However, depending on how you look at it, our situation was not getting any worse.

　After all, this place has not changed from the water to the earth.

　The magic that Barca possesses, such as [Wall Construction], cannot be used on this ice.

　If that is the case, it is no different for us, who have more soldiers, to have the advantage.

"Frostfire Sword, Frostflame!"

　However, the voice of Ars von Barca, which I heard next, prevented me, my Lord, and the other troops from reacting.

　I had heard it.

　I could clearly hear the words he uttered.

　I just didn't know what it meant.

　No one could react immediately.

　I could not either.

　All I could do was to watch with both eyes what that Barca was going to do next.

　He came out from the end of the ship and pulled out a sword from his waist.

　What is that?

　I don't know of any sword like that.

　It is a light purple sword.

　Could it be a magic sword?

　This cannot be one of the magic swords in Barca's possession, such as the Hard-fang Sword, the Nine-tailed Sword, and the Sacred Sword.

　It was a sword that even I, who had been investigating Barca, did not know.

　He thrust that light purple sword onto the ice.

　Seeing this, I became aware of it for the first time.

　He summoned ice spirits and froze the area around him.

　Seeing this, I had thought that he was planning to approach our fleet through the ice.

　But I was wrong.

　The ice was only extending from in front of Barca, i.e., toward our Arbalest Army.

　The water around Fontana's ships was not frozen at all.

　That would mean that they had no intention of moving on the ice from the beginning, wouldn't it?

"..... The ice is on fire. It's coming this way!"

"No! That is a lie! How does ice burn?!"

"Pull back! Pull back quickly! Make a quick turn!"

"We cannot do that... All the ships in our fleet are restricted by the ice. They cannot turn or even move."

　It was an atrocity.

　The Arbalest fleet had been frozen in its tracks by the countless spirits summoned by Barca. He had completely stopped us.

　And it did not end there.

　The magic sword he possessed, a sword I had never seen before — this was the deciding factor in the defeat of the Arbalest Army.

　The ice that had frozen our entire fleet turned into flames.

　At first it seemed as if the ice was burning, but perhaps it was not.

　The ice itself turned into flames.

　The ice that surrounded our ships turned into flames.

　In other words, all of the ships on which Arbalest's army boarded were set on fire.

　It was my fault.

　If I hadn't suggested water warfare to my master and the others, none of this would have happened.

　The Barcan Army had never experienced water warfare before.

　There is no doubt about that.

　If they had fought against us on the water, the Arbalest Army would have had the advantage.

　There was no doubt about that.

　Nevertheless... it was different.

　This wasn't like Ars von Barca couldn't fight on water due to his inexperience.

　It was on the contrary.

　The [Ice Spirit Summoning] that he uses and the unknown magic sword, the Frostfire Sword.

　When these two are combined, what was my previous conclusion was becomes completely different.

　Never fight Ars von Barca on the water.

　As I see everything in my surroundings bursting into flames, I wait for my insurmountable demise.

　We, the Arbalest army, started to burn down without even having engaged our opponents in a single fight.

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