The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 58
The 70,000-strong armies of Tunkai and Calliper began their confrontation in the Galarn Mountains.
The next day, with the Chimera Alliance’s declaration of war on Bülang, eight fronts simultaneously entered into conflict.
There was a characteristic to these eight fronts that made up this battle.
The eight fronts were arranged almost in a single line.
Therefore, there were two absolute rules to be followed, two adjacent fronts must not collapse at the same time, and the front located at the very end must not collapse. These were the two rules.
If two adjacent fronts collapsed simultaneously, a large hole would be created, making it impossible to maintain the battle line, and if the front at either end collapsed, the neighboring front would be subjected to a one-sided pincer attack.
The Calliper army was positioned on the right edge of the Galarn Mountains.
In the neighboring front, the Elon Plains, a combined force of 90,000 from Alvard and Beckavia faced off against Svenner’s 100,000.
If Tunkai were to take this area, they could use the mountains to flank the Elon Plains from the side, making it strategically very important.
“General! Tunkai’s army has formed their battle formation. But their condition seems a bit strange.”
“Report in detail.”
“The position of the enemy’s main camp…”
Commander-in-Chief Dunan was extremely wary of the enemy.
King of thieves, Klaus Forkner.
He is a general who wasn’t listed among the 20 Heroes due to his cruelty, but his skills were said to be easily comparable to the Ten Heroes, making him an anomalous commander.
‘According to intelligence, he’s skilled in psychological warfare. But that’s nothing if we don’t fall for it!’
In any case, the Calliper side only needed to defend and hold out. It was the other side that had come to attack and take territory.
Dunan intended to make full use of this advantage.
However, due to Klaus Forkner’s eccentric action at the start of the war, Dunan’s mind became complicated.
Klaus Forkner’s eccentric action at the start of the war.
It was building a watchtower on high ground in the neutral zone.
When the watchtower surpassed the height of the surrounding trees and reached six stories, it became visible from the Calliper camp.
They built it even higher, hastily constructing a crude wooden watchtower about ten stories tall.
‘The speed is quite impressive.’
As expected of someone with a thief background. There must be quite a few former bandits in the unit, as their skill in building wooden structures was considerable.
Other officers who received the news also came out of their tents to look up at the watchtower.
“What could be the intention behind this?” Eo tilted her head and asked me.
“This area is forested anyway, so building a watchtower won’t allow them to see much, right?”
She was right.
It was now spring, and the leaves were spreading their wings lushly, so even looking down from above, the ground was not clearly visible due to the trees.
There might be some information to be gained, but it wasn’t of much significance.
“Isn’t this actually giving us a good target?”
“Yes… We can see it much better from our side.”
While we weren’t easily visible from the watchtower, we could see the watchtower relatively well.
At that moment, I felt a chill run down my spine.
“…No way.”
Just then.
Ding ding ding ding! Suddenly, an emergency alert sounded in the camp.
“Enemy raid! It’s a surprise attack by the enemy’s guerilla unit! Everyone, prepare for interception!”
Brother Ferge, who received the news of the attack, was startled and formed the soldiers into formation.
“A surprise attack out of nowhere!?”
As Brother Ferge said, it was an unexpected attack. To launch a surprise attack on the very first day of the war.
“Archers, quickly take your positions…”
“No, Brother Ferge! The enemy is cavalry! Archers are meaningless now. Quickly form an infantry defense formation!”
“…Infantry, form into formation!”
Even though the mountainous terrain was conducive to hiding, they couldn’t have approached this quickly.
In other words, they must have used something to increase their mobility.
Thud thud thud thud! Sure enough, the enemy launched an attack on our camp with a guerilla cavalry unit of about 500.
“Using cavalry in mountainous terrain… They’re mad!” Brother Ferge grimaced, saying he was shocked.
He was right, it wasn’t a good strategy.
Cavalrymen were tripping over tree roots, getting tangled up with each other while avoiding trees, and cavalry soldiers were dying meaninglessly.
However, a few skilled riders among them were infiltrating alone and achieving results.
“To use horses so skillfully, is this the famous Tunkai guerilla cavalry…!”
“They’re certainly good. They’re also making full use of the mountainous terrain’s advantages.”
The point was that our infantry couldn’t form a proper encirclement due to the trees. Moreover, most of our archers’ supporting fire was blocked by trees, failing to keep the cavalry in check.
As a result, cavalry soldiers who had infiltrated alone were wreaking havoc in our camp.
“Giddyup!”
“Die!”
Finally, three cavalry soldiers approached our unit.
“Eo, Anton, take care of the other two. I’ll catch the remaining one.”
“Yes.”
“I obey your command.”
I grabbed my spear in a throwing position, then.
“Hup!”
Whoosh! I launched it at the charging cavalry soldier.
“Huh…? Kuheck!”
The enemy cavalry soldier, his heart pierced by this thrown spear, coughed up blood and fell from his horse.
On Eo and Anton’s side, it was even simpler.
“Hah!”
Ting! Eo killed one with a single arrow through the forehead, and then Ting! She even took the cavalry soldier Anton was aiming at.
Then she gave Anton a rotten smile, going ‘Beat that!’.
“…Is that how it’s going to be?”
Anton shrugged and acted nonchalant, but it seemed his competitive spirit had been ignited.
Perhaps wanting to make up for his fourth-place achievement in the last war, his enthusiasm was remarkable.
He literally cut in half the three cavalry that rushed in succession, not allowing even a single step closer to the regular soldiers.
Then he shows three fingers to Eo, appealing that he had caught one more.
“This…! You think I’m going to lose?” Eo, getting riled up, lights a fire in her eyes and starts looking for enemy cavalry.
“Wow, they’re really amazing…. Truly warriors worthy of making a name for themselves across the continent.”
Brother Ferge kept expressing admiration, then suddenly came to his senses and said to me, “Ars, since we have some leeway, I think we should go support other units.”
“Since it’s mountainous terrain, moving all of us might cause confusion in the formation. It would be better if only about 100 people go.”
“Alright. I’ll go myself. Please guard the formation.”
Brother Ferge personally led 100 soldiers to provide support. Just in case, I assigned Anton as Ferge’s escort.
The situation is gradually being sorted out.
In the end, it was 500 cavalry charging into 70,000.
The enemy began to retreat after losing more than half of their forces.
Eo says, “They’re really stupid. Using precious cavalry like this.”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Pardon?”
“This attack has considerably lowered the morale of our army.”
Many soldiers didn’t actually think there would be a real battle.
In that sense, this attack made them feel the reality of full-scale war on their skin.
“Are you saying they sent 500 cavalry just for that?”
“No, that’s just an additional effect. Of course, there’s a separate real purpose.”
“The real purpose being…?”
“It’s just a guess, but this is probably it.”
If my thoughts are correct, Klaus Forkner.
That guy was deserving of the nickname ‘Demon’.
* * *
The Calliper army effectively repelled the first day’s surprise attack.
General Dunan framed this as a victory and began working to raise the army’s morale.
They dismembered the dead or captured horses, distributed meat to the soldiers, and held a small feast.
While this could boost morale, the enemy’s true malice was revealed from that point on.
It happened on the night when the Calliper army’s small feast was in full swing.
“Wait! I’m not yet…!”
A scream echoes from the mountainous area.
The direction was towards the watchtower.
A fire was lit at the top of the tower, making it clearly visible even at night.
There, a soldier who appeared to be a Calliper prisoner was kneeling, and behind him stood a large, rotund figure the size of a house.[1]
Seeing this, an officer mutters, “Klaus Forkner…!”
King of thieves, Klaus.
He shouted in a gruff voice.
“Calliper darlings! The fun execution time has come!”
Fwoosh! At his voice, mountain birds startle and take to the sky.
Klaus tortured the prisoner alive and then promptly killed him.
“No, no! Save me! General Dunan! Arghh! Please! Arghhhh!”
Screams echoing through the quiet mountainous area.
The Calliper soldiers were looking up at this helplessly.
There was no particular way to deal with it.
They couldn’t launch an attack in the dead of night, as there was a high possibility of falling into an ambush if they went to attack that watchtower.
“Eo, can you hit that guy?”
“It seems difficult from this distance, sir.”
“…Then there’s nothing we can do.”
This was the enemy’s real intention.
To show the execution of prisoners. For that alone, they built a watchtower and sacrificed a cavalry unit of 500.
Convinced that this would lead to victory in the war.
“Yumir, could you prepare some earplugs for me?”
“Yes, young master. I’ll prepare them right away.”
Having lost my appetite, I returned to the tent and tried to sleep with earplugs in.
The next day.
It was at dawn when the sun had risen.
Rattle rattle! A cart delivered to our camp.
There, the bodies they had executed were crudely stitched together, standing like scarecrows.
The body parts seemed randomly matched, not fitting together at all. Pieces from different people’s bodies had been joined into one.
Moreover, the head parts of the corpses had their eyes wide open as if holding a grudge, giving a creepy feeling.
“Damn bastards!”
“Bleuurgh!”
At this, General Dunan took measures to prevent ordinary soldiers from approaching this cart and entrusted its disposal to seasoned officers.
And just before the sun set.
Ding ding ding ding! Once again, a surprise attack by the cavalry guerrilla unit descended upon the army.
“Kill them all!”
“Don’t let a single one escape alive!”
The enraged Calliper soldiers intercepted and repelled them, but our side couldn’t avoid casualties either.
This time too, there were about twenty missing persons.
It was obvious what fate awaited them.
Klaus Forkner’s execution time began again.
I was about to try to sleep with earplugs in, but Brother Ferge urgently appeared, lifting the flap of my tent.
“Ars, there’s a summons from the highest command tent. Orders have come down to hurry over.”
General Dunan had called me to an emergency military council meeting.
Footnotes:
1] Roturd here means large and plump.
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