Switch Mode

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 145

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 145

The two armies began their confrontation.

Ars’ army, positioned on the southern slope, started construction work on a fortress.

As if building castle walls, they began erecting long walls and raising them higher.

Observing this, Zeck Wilter frowned.

“Mercenary Wade… I heard he wasn’t an ordinary general, but I didn’t expect him to be this peculiar.”

He had an inkling as to why they were building walls.

“They intend to completely surround us.”

Judging that a complete sweep was impossible, they aimed to establish an encirclement.

While it wasn’t difficult to build an encirclement on the north, east, and west sides due to the mountainous terrain, the southern slope was different.

The Western army could break through if they decided to.

So Ars decided to block the southern direction by building a massive wall.

For this purpose, the wall had no systematic structure. It wasn’t a uniform stone wall, nor was it a wooden palisade.

Instead, the proportion of simple soil and clay was much higher.

Ars was trying to build this structure as high as possible. It could be described as a thin mud wall with only height. As a result, soldiers had to climb ladders to work on it.

About 20,000 soldiers were deployed day and night for this construction work, and with the support of the Balas Kingdom, building materials were supplied almost infinitely, causing the mud wall to rise rapidly.

By the 9th day of the war and the 4th day of the confrontation, it had reached a height of nearly 20m.

“How high do they intend to build it…?”

It was too high. Zeck Wilter began to worry that he might be mistaken.

He wondered if there might be a purpose other than encircling them.

Then something flashed through his mind.

“That’s it, that’s what it was!”

Wilter immediately ran to Tetora.

“Your Highness! I’ve figured out the enemy’s intention!”

“…”

Tetora, wearing an unpleasant expression, answered quietly.

“Speak.”

“Yes! The enemy intends to topple that mud wall towards our position! They’re trying to neutralize the fortress we’ve built through this!”

If a mud wall of that size collapses towards the base, the first line of defense becomes meaningless at the point where the wall falls. The Balas army plans to exploit this gap to infiltrate the fortress.

“So they’re planning to create an artificial landslide.”

“Exactly! It’s truly an astonishing idea.”

Mercenary Wade’s strategy. But Zeck had figured it out.

It meant he wasn’t an incompetent general.

Zeck had been a promising general in Bülang too. He just couldn’t advance due to lack of family backing.

He didn’t despair in his current situation as a slave. Rather, he saw it as an opportunity.

He had the ambition to advance by impressing Tetora in this war.

“Your Highness, if you give the order, I will handle the countermeasures.”

“…What do you plan to do?”

Zeck chose his words carefully. Right now, Tetora is reluctant to attack the enemy. She thinks Wade is testing her.

‘I’d like to lead the soldiers to demolish that mud wall from its foundation… But the enemy will be prepared for that, so it’s risky, and this woman wouldn’t like it either.

If so, he should deal with the result the enemy is aiming for.

“I will reconstruct our fortress in preparation for that mud wall collapsing towards us. If we do this, the enemy will lose their momentum.”

“Not bad. We’ll be able to see them panic when they realize their intentions have been read. I’ll leave it to you, go ahead.”

“Yes, sir!”

As the Western army begins to reconstruct their fortress, judging that the Balas army will use the mud wall to cause a landslide, Ars, standing at the top of the mud wall, raises the corners of his mouth watching this scene.

“It’s a decent judgment in its own way. If only it wasn’t completely off the mark.”

Dorofei, standing guard beside him, speaks with an anxious face. “Ars, will this really be okay? If it doesn’t work…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take responsibility. More importantly, now that the opponent has responded like this, we can move on to the next phase.”

“Yeah, preparations are perfect.”

“Good, let’s start right away.”

Ars’ second motion.

It was a complete encirclement of the enemy.

* * *

Our army, having blocked the southern route with a mud wall, occupied the mountainous areas to the east, west, and north, erecting palisades and aiming for true fortification.

Including the southern mud wall, we created enclosures on all four directions to surround the enemy.

As construction commanders, Olaf was in charge of the north, Dorofei the east, and I was in charge of the western fortification construction.

“There must not be even the slightest gap! Proceed with construction according to the provided blueprints! Report any discrepancies between the blueprints and the terrain to an officer immediately!”

As I was proceeding with the construction like this, Sophia approached me with an uncomfortable face. “Elaine, what is this all about?”

“What do you mean? We’re building an encirclement.”

“Then you should have done this from day one!” Sophia shouted angrily. Her complaint was why we started building the encirclement on the 5th day of confrontation.

If we had built the encirclement earlier, we could have started the civilian rescue operation even a day sooner.

The number of civilians who died while I was building the mud wall instead of encircling early reached 150,000.

To Sophia, going to rescue civilians now must have seemed like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

“To prepare for any possible enemy attacks, we only have about 2,000 spare troops. Sophia, I want you to lead those troops and proceed with the civilian rescue operation. You should focus only on evacuating while avoiding engagement with the enemy.”

“…”

Sophia closed her mouth. Then she asked with deep eyes. “What exactly is this operation? At first, I thought you were planning to collapse the mud wall to attack the enemy’s position, but that’s not it, is it?”

“As if I’d use such an obvious method.”

“So what is it then!”

“It’s not time to explain yet. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but understand that this requires that level of security.”

“Kuk…!”

“I know you might have complaints. But just remember this one thing. General Mainz Armstrong of Balas has agreed to support my strategy.”

“…!”

Sophia’s eyes widened.

“Come to think of it, that’s strange. Why is General Armstrong…?”

Sophia was suddenly surprised that Armstrong, who had strongly advocated for civilian rescue, was now silent about the current situation.

She seemed even more curious about the true intentions of my strategy, but the civilian rescue operation was imminent.

I assigned Sophia and Landon Crow as commanders, deploying all the armed forces including Ash, Lysithea, Gunther, Anton, and others for the rescue operation.

The only exception was Eonia.

Eo seems to understand that I must have some plan, but she’s sulking. For some reason, she’s been seeming desperate to earn military merits lately.

That behavior looked precarious, which was partly why I didn’t assign her to the civilian rescue operation, but more importantly, I had another role I wanted to entrust to her.

“Eo, I have a mission for you. A very important mission.”

“An important mission…! How much military merit would that be worth!?”

“Well, I’m not sure about the extent of military merit, but it’s very important because if this mission fails, it could disrupt the entire operation.”

“Such an important mission for me…! Please tell me anything!”

“Alright, then I’ll ask you this. Eo, from now on, I want you to carefully observe the sky.”

“…?”

Why is observing the sky an important mission?

Eo was tilting her head in confusion.

***

After giving orders to most of the officers and having some free time, I decided to talk to that man.

It was General Jurgen Dresden of Europe, who was working on building palisades with Olaf in the northern position.

I wanted to know what he thought about his son who had defected.

When I brought up the topic, Jurgen smiled bitterly.

“Isn’t it good?”

“Good… You say?”

“It was when you demanded my son in exchange for the prince’s prisoner exchange. The ministers came and earnestly begged me. They said it was for the future of the kingdom and asked me to accept it.”

“Hmm, so you’re saying you sent your son away with tears in your eyes for the future of the kingdom?”

“No, it wasn’t like that. Rather, I was the one who asked. I told them to take my son away.”

“What?”

“Well, isn’t it obvious? That boy had been holed up in his room for years, writing erotic novels, saying he was waiting for a lord who would understand his thoughts. When Wade suddenly wanted him in exchange for prisoners, I had a feeling. That there must have been some conversation between the two of them. I already knew that you and my son had met.”

Well, the place where I first met Olaf was the Count Dresden’s  mansion. There’s no way the servants wouldn’t have reported that to Jurgen.

“That’s why I accepted. Not only did that useless boy become the price for the prince’s prisoner exchange, but I thought it would be fine if he could break free from the shackles of the kingdom and meet the lord he so desired. Well, when rumors spread that you had killed him, I was furious, but now that I’ve confirmed that’s not the case, I have no reason to be angry, do I?”

“Haha… I suppose you could think that way.”

“From what I’ve heard from him, it seems you’re putting him to good use. It’s a bit late, but please take care of my son. He’s a fool, but he’ll be helpful.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Just then, Olaf came running.

“Wait a minute, Ars! What are you talking about with my father!”

Thinking we were talking about his embarrassing past, he hurriedly came over and nervously pulled his father away.

“Father, stop talking nonsense and help with the work!”

“Oh my. I haven’t even told the story about how you got beaten up trying to reform the criminal ruffians.”

“You just did!”

“I also haven’t told him about when I caught you writing those erotic novels.”

“You’re telling it right now!”

They seemed to be a close father and son pair, one way or another.

* * *

The encirclement was built layer upon layer. Along with that, the mud wall kept getting higher.

Finally, when its height exceeded 30m, Ars gave the signal to start the full-scale operation.

It was the 11th day of the war.

“All troops! Move according to instructions! Don’t be afraid! War is for protection! It’s to protect your lives and the lives of your families! So be brave!”

“Uoooh!”

The soldiers shouted in response to Ars’ command.

***

Zeck Wilter was watching this scene with a frown.

“They’re attacking!?”

Then why did they build the encirclement?

The encirclement built by the Balas army looked excellent even to him.

Not only was the fortress they had built good, but the palisade Ars had made was also amazing. Trying to break through this palisade would result in heavy losses.

It meant that now the Western army was also in a position where they couldn’t attack the enemy.

In this situation where neither side could attack, the disadvantage was naturally on Balas’ side.

While the troop situation might be similar here, it was different outside.

The number of separate units plundering civilians outside alone reaches 20,000. If they were called back to the main camp, the encirclement could be easily destroyed.

However, Tetora didn’t bother to do that. Rather, she instructed the external detachment to continue plundering thoroughly without worrying about the main force’s situation.

This was because if the detachment became overly concerned about the main force, they might be swayed by the enemy’s false information.

So she made the detachment move completely independently.

The only exception was when reinforcements were coming to the enemy, but there was no sign of that happening.

Europe, which could send support, was engaged in a fierce battle with Svenner, and the Balas Kingdom was also concentrating all its remaining troops in the capital to prevent a coup.

There were no reinforcements that could come to Ars.

So the West just needed to hold out until their stored provisions ran out.

In this situation, Ars’ preparation for an attack was unexpected.

Ars deployed troops in all directions – north, south, east, and west – maintaining the encirclement they had established.

As many as 40,000 infantry approached the fortress built by the West, holding up their shields.

‘Are they attempting an all-out attack?’

But that would be suicidal. It would only result in widespread losses. If they really wanted to capture this fortress, it would be more efficient to make a breakthrough at a single point.

‘I don’t know what hidden intention they have, but…’

Wilter made eye contact with Tetora, who was up on the watchtower. Tetora nodded in response.

Having received permission, Wilter stepped forward and shouted. “You dare to charge in without knowing fear! All troops, prepare for battle! Show those fools the terror of our army!”

Chuk! Chuk! The soldiers took up defensive positions in perfect unison.

Wilter was confident of victory.

The tactical advantage was clear, and above all, there was a big difference in the training of the soldiers.

While the advancing Balas soldiers looked frightened, the Western soldiers wore confident expressions as if saying ‘come if you dare’.

‘There’s nothing to see here. This is Wade’s mistake!’

As the Balas forces approached closer, Wilter raised his command staff.

“Fire!”

Pipipipiping! Arrows flew.

Faced with these arrows, the Balas infantry raised their shields with terrified faces.

The infantry in front knelt down and planted their shields in the ground, while those behind pressed close and overlapped their shields diagonally on top of the planted shields, forming a wall.

Kugugugung! Arrows struck the shields.

Wilter didn’t spare arrows in order to seize the initiative.

As arrows continued to rain down, the Balas infantry couldn’t even think of approaching and had to stand still as if rooted to the spot.

“Hahaha! They can’t move at all!”

Wilter sneered.

It was then that the Balas soldiers began to show strange behavior.

As soon as the arrow shower stopped, the officers shouted as if they had been waiting for this moment.

“Now’s the time! Take out what you’ve prepared!”

At that signal, the soldiers began to unpack things they had brought with them.

They were miscellaneous items. All sorts of household goods, as well as dry firewood and hay for kindling.

In other words, trash.

The soldiers spread this trash on the ground and began pouring liquid on it.

After finishing this task, the soldiers began to retreat.

“That liquid is…?”

Wilter narrowed his eyes.

His guess wasn’t wrong.

The soldiers remaining at the very back set fire to the piles of trash, and whoosh! Flames began to rise.

Fire attack.

Wilter was speechless.

“What on earth are they doing…?”

They weren’t setting fire to the fortress, but to the ground outside the fortress before running away? What meaning could this possibly have?

It was spectacular. As they had set fires while surrounding in a circle, the Western position was trapped in a ring of fire.

However, there was no possibility of this developing into a large fire.

The place where they had built their position was where slash-and-burn Agriculture had been carried out last year. It was a place that had already been thoroughly burned.

There were no trees, and not even much grass grew on the barren land.

All there was were flower petals or leaves that had blown in from the mountains. Even if these acted as kindling, there was no chance of it turning into a big fire.

‘Come to think of it, Wade did something similar during the Chimera War.’

Back then too, he pretended to use fire tactics, using smoke to carry out his strategy.

“Smoke!?”

Only then did Wilter pay attention to the smoke rising high into the sky. The murky smoke was completely obscuring visibility.

That’s when Tetora shouted.

“Garbage! Here they come!”

“…!”

Pipipipiping! Fire arrows rained down from the high ground onto the Western position.

Due to the smoke, they couldn’t properly see the incoming arrows, resulting in visible losses.

Several tents caught fire, and small fires broke out here and there.

But that was all.

Unless the enemy’s main force took advantage of this confusion to infiltrate the fortress, but that wasn’t the case.

It was impossible from the start. They had set fires all around, so they couldn’t approach either.

So what was the true purpose of this action? Wilter, having figured out the answer, clapped his hands without realizing it.

“So that’s what it was! It was to make us use up our arrows!”

Generally, arrows can be reused. Even the arrows they had just fired at the Balas army could be partially recovered once night fell.

But what about now?

Because the enemy had set fires, the arrows that had been stuck in the ground were burning up and becoming useless.

“The real attack will come after we’ve used up all our arrows. Hahahahaha! You’ve used your head quite well, Wade!”

But he hadn’t escaped his keen eye, he thought.

An unexpected situation unfolded for the smugly laughing Wilter.

That night, the Balas army repeated the same action once more.

This time, they set fire to the ground and shot fire arrows at the fortress, even though they had barely fired any arrows for containment.


TL NOTE:

Schedule: Everyday

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you would like to support me or read up to 30 chapters ahead, you can do so via patreon.com/ChibiGiant. OR by unlocking chapters.

You can also Rate this series in your free time @NovelUpdate.

Hi guys, please check out the new novel I picked "The 163,417,413th Soulslike Hero."


To Buy Coins, please Register and Login before purchasing any chapter! Please join our Discord to get updates on normal and locked chapters! Also, Illustrations are available for some novels!
The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road

The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road

Score 9.2
Status: Completed Type: Author: Released: 2022 Native Language: Korean
I ended up possessing Ars Elaine, a supporting character in the game. Struggling to prevent my death, I pave my way.

Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Options

not work with dark mode
Reset