Chapter 253: 239

【209th day】

Morning came.

It was the day of the decisive battle.

The sky was clear.

According to King Lemuria's messenger, the First Hero and his army had arrived at the nearby port just before dawn. After disembarking, they had taken stock of the situation quickly and were currently heading our way.

The big day has finally arrived.

I'll give it everything I've got.

In the end, I decided to forgo cosplaying as a knight and instead dressed as usual.

I put on Neomia's traditional adventuring garb, which looked like gentleman's clothes, and slung sword belts around my waist and back.

Strapped to the sword belts on my back were the magic sword Agathion and Zamonglass' sword.

Naturally, my beloved katana went on my hip.

Alongside my katana, I strapped on another sword.

It was a double-edged knight's sword, which was thicker and longer than an adventurer's longsword.

It was Irvin's memento.

It had been discreetly mixed in with the cargo.

It must have been Bel, no, Lys. I'll use it gratefully. This sword has already slain a hero. I hope it can do so again.

After double-checking my armor, I threw on my black cloak and secured it with the clasps. As I was doing so, I felt something in the pocket of the cloak.

When I pulled out the contents, I realized that they were fangs.

Large fangs.

They were the fangs I had been given in the nightmare world.

I had assumed that I had lost them, but I hadn't expected to find them here.

「………………」

They’re too ominous to be good luck charms. But if I throw them away, it feels like there would be retribution of some kind.

Reluctantly, I put them into my pocket.

I put on my pointy hat and donned the glasses-type device, which doubled as a pair of glasses and an information device.

I ran a function check, and it was all green. As a test, I tried to get the footage from the drone in the sky. It let me see far across the plain.

There was still no sign of the enemy.

I turned it off, leaving the aerial surveillance to Makina.

「That's a lot of stuff」

「Your Majesty, you're pretty lightly equipped」

While I was fully geared up, His Majesty had only a single great-sword on his back. The rest of his equipment consisted of his limbs, black leather armor, and a fur cloak.

The other weapons had been strewn all about the wagon and the surrounding area.

「I'll prepare accordingly after seeing the enemy and as I fight」

「I see」

How truly reliable.

「Victory in battle is the outcome of an accumulation of events. Panicking the day before or on the day of the battle will not change anything」

「………………」

I didn't agree with that, so I replied with silence.

A small fry like me is even now in a state of panic.

「Souya, did you say any last words to your wife?」

When His Majesty suddenly brought that up, I was a little surprised.

「No, not at all」

I could have gone home if I wanted to.

I didn't because it would have dulled my resolve. That was all it was.

「Are you sure that's alright?」

「It's because she's that kind of woman that I fell in love with her」

「It was a foolish question, huh?」

「She's too good for me. ………Your Majesty, did you say anything to Regure?」

「Raise the children to be healthy. That's all」

I want to be able to say something like that one day.

It's probably impossible for me, I guess.

We had breakfast.

We both ate while standing.

This was already a battlefield. There was no time to waste cooking.

Hard dried meat and cheese. Soft bread. I drank up the bean tea slowly.

And that was it.

「Souya, myself will head out first to check things out」

「We've got a drone in the sky though?」

「There's no better way to obtain information than in person」

「Do as you like. So long as you don't get in our way, it shouldn't be a problem」

「Myself won't. Don't worry」

The black knight walked off.

He looked like he was taking a stroll, which made me want to retort, "At least go at a brisk pace or something!”

「That one reminds me of Maria's father. No, they're similar but not the same, I suppose」

「I think they're the same. They're exactly alike in that they don't think about other people's circumstances at all」

「………Hmm」

His Majesty mulled over that for a while, and then, perhaps having lost interest, returned his attention to the plain in front of us.

『Souya-san, Makina has something to report』

「Go ahead」

I sent His Majesty a look to tell him that information had come in.

『Makina has caught sight of the enemy at maximum zoom』

「Sent it to me」

The enemy's battle formation was displayed on my glasses.

As Makina had initially projected, there were about five hundred of them.

I saw no cavalry.

The men marching towards us were all knights, unmounted and in full plate armor complete with helmet, which was unusual for knights from Elysium. The armor they wore was rounded, and the helmets had an odd design of a woman's hand across the face.

They were in a neat, rectangular, and tight formation.

The pace of their march was terribly slow, but their steps were in perfect unison.

All of them had the same knight's sword as Irvin's strapped to their hips. Their shields were at their backs, and in their hands, they carried―――――――

「That damned baldy」

They had spear-like "long rifles".

They were the dwarven flintlocks I had seen in the merchant company in the past.

Fortunately, not all 500 knights were armed with those. The front 200 of their formation had the firearms while the 300 behind them had the long spears typically used against cavalry.

They must be what Melm was referring to by "a certain item".

What's more, the formation they’re in………they're using line infantry tactics, aren't they? There's someone on the enemy's side who knows a lot about firearms.

「Your Majesty, they've got firearms. And quite a number of them at that」

「That's the thing that killed Verxina, isn't it? Can't we get close by dodging?」

「That's impossible. The terrain here is too flat. Even if they aren't accurate, if they fire all at once, we'll be riddled with holes before we can even get close」

「Well played, First Hero. Doesn't this mean that we've already lost before the battle has begun?」

The look on His Majesty's face was not one of defeat.

Well, that's only natural. Because I'm by his side.

「Well, no need to worry, Your Majesty」

「I knew it. You have a plan, don't you? I'll leave it to you」

「Leave it to me」

The enemy troops are armed with firearms.

This is the worst that could happen, but it's a worst-case scenario that we had anticipated.

「Makina, plan B」

『Roger, we'll get ready to put it into action』

「Your Majesty, what are you doing?」

「Hmm, I'm preparing the weapons I'll need」

His Majesty was thrusting spears and swords into the ground. I helped, and we got all the weapons I had brought stuck into the ground.

This looks like something out of a classic movie, but this isn't the end of it.

「Souya」

His Majesty handed me a large bow. I tested its draw. It was quite heavy, so it had pretty good range.

I don't know why, but I don't feel like I'd miss when I'm next to His Majesty.

「How far away are they?」

『They will come into view shortly』

「Makina, the range of those firearms………it's about 50 meters, right?」

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『They have a maximum range of 80 meters. However, taking accuracy and power into consideration, it's less than 50 meters』

I see, our side has the advantage in range.

There was some static and the footage suddenly died.

「Makina, is the drone experiencing mechanical trouble?」

『No, it has been shot down』

That drone is a state-of-the-art stealth drone brought here by Yukikaze's Makina. I hadn't expected it to be shot down that easily.

But that’s not a problem. I have eyes and ears of my own.

I turned my attention to the wind.

The softness in which it caressed my cheeks and how it lightly ruffled the plain.

It felt as if my consciousness was soaring through the sky on the wind.

I picked up the rumble of heavy footfalls.

If they keep going like this, they'll be right in front of us.

If our side is able to see them, I guess there's a good chance they're able to see us too.

I heard the sounds of something cutting through the air next to me.

His Majesty was twirling his lance around.

After a short wait,

At the other end of the verdant landscape, a dull-silver army came into view.

They were still in the same line infantry formation I had seen on the drone's footage.

The standard tactic of line infantry is to get as close as possible to the enemy while in that formation, and then fire in unison to kill them. To anyone familiar with modern firearms and tactics, it looks like an incredibly moronic way of fighting, but in the past, this tactic was an amazing way to compensate for the weakness of the troops and the low performance of the firearms.

We have to wait.

If they can close the distance between us, we will be at their mercy.

But if they close the distance, they will be playing right into our hands.

Keep coming closer.

I'll show you how to take advantage of the terrain.

The army advanced slowly but steadily.

I started to hear the clanking of armor faintly in the distance.

And then………………they entered firing range.

「Your Majesty, please start things off」

「Hmm」

As the distance between us shrank to about 100 meters, His Majesty sprang into action.

With excellent form, His Majesty took a short run-up and then threw a projectile that exploded through the air.

The lance was launched forward with an almost straight trajectory.

The high-pitched sound of its impact reached us.

The lance had skewered two knights and then stuck into the ground, becoming a macabre grave marker. In the face of His Majesty's physical strength, armor was no better than scrap paper.

「Alright, let's do this」

「Understood」

His Majesty grabbed another lance and threw it.

I nocked a great-sword to the bow and held my breath, then released it. It had been a while since I had used a bow, but the weight of the weapon smashed through armor.

I let the dead body of the knight embrace the weapon that claimed his life.

We took more lives. At the same time, we laid down our battle line.

But the enemy troops advanced undeterred.

Stepping over the corpses, they silently marched towards their killing distance.

That's the basic tactic of line infantry, but something feels off about this. How are they able to ignore the deaths of their comrades like this? It's as if they can't see anything―――――――No way.

In order to turn my suspicion into certainty, I nocked a sword to the bow and aimed at the head of a knight.

The distance between us was 75 meters.

The sword I released took him out with an accurate headshot.

The knight's helmet shattered, exposing what was inside.

「Yikes」

It made sense then why they were blind to their comrades' deaths.

His eyes and mouth had been sewn shut. Even his ears had been covered with metal parts.

What are these guys?

Are they knights?

Soldiers?

Human?

Or maybe it's as I thought, and they’re―――――――

『Souya-san, the enemy troops are getting ready to fire』

The distance between us was 60 meters.

The muzzles of the firearms were pointed at us all at once.

「Your Majesty?」

「I'm all set」

Right now, His Majesty has his beloved great-sword in one hand and a lance in the other.

All the other weapons now lay within enemy troops.

「Okay. Makina, begin!」

『Roger』

Right before the triggers were pulled,

The ground rumbled and a plume of dirt erupted into the sky. With their firearms held at the ready, the enemy troops stumbled and fell, sending bullets flying in all the wrong directions.

When the cloud of dirt and dust had cleared, it became clear that the area in a 50-meter radius around the enemy troops had been altered.

From the sunken plain, a complex labyrinth had emerged. The enemy troops had all fallen into it.

The passageways were narrow, making the long rifles very unwieldy.

If there were three of them gathered together, they would struggle to move as they wanted.

The only way to get to the surface was to climb the 2-meter walls, but even then, the labyrinth would continue to plague them. With the unstable foothold they would have on top of the walls, the accuracy of their firearms would drop considerably. Moreover, reloading the next round would be next to impossible.

Most importantly, the advantage of having superior numbers was greatly diminished.

Line infantry tactics would no longer work.

When fighting in close quarters, a musket-type firearm is no better than an awkward spear. Even a shovel would be more effective in this situation.

In short, from here on out, it's trench warfare and the bloody close-quarters fighting that favors our side.

「Souya, this is perfect」

「It's my humble pleasure」

I was awarded a perfect score by His Majesty.

A massive dungeon of unknown origin exists beneath the plain.

While the Demon King's domain, the Goblin Empire, lies on a part of its deepest floors, most of the sections closer to the surface aren’t too far below ground.

So, the plan we came up with involves collapsing part of this dungeon from the inside, dropping the entire area into it to create an improvised battlefield.

『Souya-san, this is all the help Makina can provide. And Makina has a message for you from the Demon King. "Leave the cleanup to us. We'll make sure that no trace of this remains," she said』

「Give her my thanks」

『Understood. Good luck』

「I want to thank you too, Makina. And pass that along to the other one」

『It's Makina's pleasure to be of service. ………Please don't die, alright?』

「Of course」

There were gunshots.

Clear clinks of metal rang out next to me. The discharged bullets were effortlessly deflected away by His Majesty's lance.

The knights in the labyrinth had gotten up and were firing sporadically.

They had recovered faster than I had expected.

But the barrage of gunfire was so light and easy to see through that even I could have deflected them. Moreover, they would need a lot of time to reload.

Now, let's go, shall we?

「Souya, don't fall behind」

A spirited His Majesty smiled.

It was the smile of a predator.

I drew Zamonglass' sword and gave him an equally gleeful and devilish smile.

「Yes, Your Majesty. Let's give them hell」

「No, we are hell itself」

We charged.

Two beasts, against 500 knights.

We'll bathe them in their own blood.

The battle has finally started! That was a great way to counter them, huh? It’s been said several times that the ruined dungeon is below the plain after all.

This is what a line infantry is. (courtesy of quora.com)

I’m sure you’ve seen these in movies and such. But isn’t it interesting that Elysium troops would know such tactics? Who’s supplying them with that knowledge, I wonder?

Be that as it may, stay tuned! We’ve got a long and exciting battle ahead of us!

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