Royal Road of the Extra Scribe

Chapter 61

Tunkai set fire in the center, cutting off the enemy’s air supply from ten directions.

I silently praised the enemy commander.

“Remarkable.”

It meant they perfectly deceived our intelligence network.

One who uses such intricate tactics can’t be ignorant in military strategy.

“Als! There’s no time to be amazed!”

Fergus urgently exclaimed.

“We must take a defensive position immediately!”

“No, if we defend now, it’s over. We must counterattack.”

“Counterattack!?”

Defense is sitting in place and repelling, while counterattack is pushing forward to repel.

Although both involve repelling, the strategic implications are entirely different due to the presence or absence of advancement.

“Coincidentally, we are positioned in the rear of their formation. If we push forward and repel, the escape route will naturally open.”

It couldn’t be a mere coincidence.

I thought Dunan intentionally placed our unit in the rear, as a contingency plan in case of failure.

“Anton, go to the front and urge General Dunan to retreat and escort him to safety. Yumir, I entrust you with the defense on the right flank. If you spot any movement, inform me immediately. And Eo, stand at the vanguard with me.”

“Right away.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Understood!”

The divine warriors moved swiftly and decisively.

Standing at the vanguard with Eo, I pointed at the approaching enemy and shouted,

“We will change the situation. Als Infantry. Forward!”

The soldiers were confused and hesitant, but as Eo, leading the vanguard, charged in aggressively, they followed suit, gritting their teeth.

“Haah!”

Swish! The pure white blade of Orea smoothly swept the throats of four enemy soldiers.

When with Als instead of Wade, Eo primarily used a sword and shield rather than a spear.

In the chaotic battlefield, swords and shields were more effective than spears, so Eo was slashing through enemy soldiers wildly.

“Hah! Impressive. Is that Eonia Mirabel, the right arm of the mercenary Wade? We can’t afford to lose. Felix Heavy Infantry! Crush the enemies!”

Clang! The heavy infantry raised their shields and clashed with the enemies, creating a thunderous impact like a falling rock.

“What!?”

The opponent seemed surprised, not expecting such a swift and aggressive attack.

“Don’t stop moving! Push forward, no matter how tough it gets!”

A voice resounded from the enemy formation.

‘There must be a commander nearby…’

They might not know who exactly, but they seemed to understand the basics of military strategy.

It wasn’t a sitting defense but a charging counterattack.

Why is flanking the right answer in this situation? It’s because the enemy is advancing from ten directions at once.

So, if one side’s forces stop moving, dissonance is bound to occur.

Of course, there’s a risk in taking the lead and exposing ourselves to flanking attacks from both sides, but for now, as the enemies push forward and focus on surrounding and eliminating us, we have time.

I decided to use that time to prepare for the flanking attacks on our left and right.

“Master Furzi, please command the engineering unit as I instructed.”

“Alright. Where should we go?”

“Please clear out the trees in that direction diagonally downwards. And regardless of the direction, fell all the trees on the other side. I’ll give further instructions once that’s done. Please do it as quickly as possible.”

“Understood. Leave it to me.”

Furzi called upon 200 pre-selected soldiers.

They held axes for felling trees with tense expressions.

Furzi led them to start cutting down the trees on the left and right of our formation.

The army of Calipha, who began felling trees. Seeing this, the commander of Tonkai, Jaggartan, widened his eyes.

“Are they planning to narrow the reinforcements on the left and right!”

Jaggartan swallowed a dry spit at the agile and swift movements of the enemy forces.

“Who is it? Who is in front of this unit…!”

He was under some kind of pressure.

“A formidable opponent. Planning to devour even the reinforcements on the left and right with this strategy!”

He was cutting down the trees to block various paths and create a formation advantageous to himself.

“Kraus, the leader watching the battlefield from afar, won’t be able to notice this. He will simply order for urgent reinforcements.”

The enemy knew this and used such a tactic.

Jaggartan responded relatively quickly.

“Gallard! Unian!”

Indeed, it was a strategic move worthy of being called the brain of the Kraus band of thieves.

He immediately deployed troops to deal with Furzi’s engineering unit heading left and right.

But then.

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“…Found you. There you are?”

Alz, who had been reading the Tonkai army’s command structure, finally found Jaggartan’s position and smirked ominously.

Whizz! An arrow shot by Alz headed towards Jaggartan.

Although it hit the armor, being shot from a distance and not aimed at a vital spot allowed him to easily deflect it, but the intention was not to hit him in the first place.

Flutter! A red cloth fluttering at the end of the arrow.

“What’s this?”

While Jaggartan pondered over this question,

Confirming Alz’s signal, Eonia pushed away an enemy soldier in front of her with a shield, creating distance, then pulled out a bow she had on her back.

“Ugh…!”

Ping! An arrow laden with poison was shot.

Eonia had penetrated into the Tonkai forces, so the distance was sufficient.

However, there were dozens of obstacles between Jaggartan and her.

Entangled soldiers, dense trees, birds obstructing the view, falling petals, and so on.

Yet, Eonia’s arrow skillfully passed through them and pierced Jaggartan’s head with a thud!

“Jaggartan, the leader!”

“What, what’s this! Where did the arrows come from?!”

The Tuncai soldiers were in confusion.

This was not just an error, but a mistake of Kraus Forkner.

Kraus, fearing any movement from the Calipher army to open a passage, strategically placed Jaggartan, the military’s bookkeeper, in the rear.

It was calculated that Jaggartan, with his sharp command, would block the enemy’s passage.

However, due to the presence of Als and Eonia, the plan of a ten-sided ambush completely backfired.

Following Kraus’s orders, the Tuncai forces on the left and right went to flank Als’ troops, but they were already prepared.

“Why is the path blocked… Argh!”

“It’s an ambush! Urgh!?”

The formation changed due to fallen trees. As spears suddenly protruded from behind the trees, piercing them, the hidden troops behind the trees also attacked from the rear.

With even the reinforcements being disrupted, a sizable passage was eventually opened at the rear of the formation.

“Incredible…”

Stina, Perugia’s lover, couldn’t close her mouth as she watched the scene.

“Perugia and Yulia were right.”

They often spoke of Als in this manner.

─Als has a younger brother. He will become a treasure that will bring glory to our family.

─Stina, wouldn’t you be surprised if you saw our youngest brother? He’s incredibly cool and smart. The only problem is his lack of ambition for success.

Even when not Wade, Als tried not to stand out, but the saying “a talented person stands out” wasn’t for nothing.

At least those who observed him closely consistently rated Als highly.

“Miss Stina, many soldiers will start retreating through here from now on. Please stand at the entrance of the passage and help Perugia and the medics with the wounded soldiers’ retreat.”

“Uh, yes. I will do that. No, I mean, I’ll do as you say!”

Stina started moving without hesitation.

* * *

At the moment when the passage was perfectly opened, it could be considered that Kraus’s plan had been foiled.

It was because of the fire that had been set.

As a result, once the battlefield fell into a stalemate, it became difficult for the Tuncai soldiers to engage in a proper pursuit.

“We’re done for…!”

If they had managed to reduce the number of Calipher soldiers significantly, they might have gained some advantage due to the early opening of the passage.

However, Dune was swiftly ordering a retreat, having received some signal.

“The passage is open! Retreat! Get out of here!”

The Calipher army began to retreat.

Kraus bit his lip tightly.

“Please help me!”

He requested assistance from Grandis.

Grandis, who had been quietly observing the situation, chuckled and said, “I can’t intervene too disruptively at this point. Would it suffice if I take care of the commander in charge of the passage, Kraus?”

“That will be enough.”

“Then it’s simple. Lecksite. Go and come back.”

At that, a rugged-looking man standing behind him stepped forward with a peculiar halberd-like weapon in hand, more resembling a crescent moon than a halberd.

He glanced towards where Alsga was, mounted his horse, and began to charge in at an immense speed.

Under Dünan’s command, the Caliper Army started to retreat.

I maintained formation, defending the retreat route.

“We’ve minimized the damage with this.”

At least it wouldn’t lead to a decisive defeat.

I watched as the soldiers made their escape.

It was enough to hold the line and wait until the main force ahead arrived here to defend the retreat route.

But then.

“···!?”

Thump! A shiver that gripped my heart like a vice.

Instinctively, I looked in one direction.

A cavalry with overwhelming vigor had suddenly started approaching me from the 11 o’clock direction.

The first to react were Yumir and Eo, who were standing apart.

“Lord Alsga!”

“Master Dünan!”

The two aimed to intercept the approaching cavalry, armed with arrows and daggers.

The method was the same as when dealing with Kalehan, but this time, the situation was different.

The opponent who fell like a beast to the ground rolled in, then, whoosh! Swinging a halberd resembling a crescent moon, he swept away the surrounding soldiers like fallen leaves.

Among those soldiers, I, with a clang!! desperately raised the spear to block but couldn’t overpower the force, getting bounced back and impaled on a tree.

“Argh! What is this…!”

In Crow’s army of spies, there exist two stalwarts.

Kalehan on the right arm and Galtan on the left. Kalehan was dead by my hand, and Galtan must be battling Dünan, so the one before me was a perfect irregular.

“Hmph, managed to block my strike, huh.”

Seemingly unimpressed, he tried to finish me off.

“Master Dünan!”

“You, stay back!”

At that, Eo and Yumir both charged in simultaneously to engage the man in combat.

Yumir with a personal force of 93, wielding a sword and shield, and Eo with a force of around 88, armed with a spear instead of a sword.

Despite being formidable opponents individually, they couldn’t bring down this monster.

“How intriguing!”

He chuckled contentedly, enjoying the battle.

“It won’t work out like this. If we continue like this…”

They would end up on the losing side.

Since the Caliper Army hadn’t completed its retreat, needing time, I intervened in the battle that the three were in.

“Do not come this way! We’ll deal with this one!”

“No, Master! Please go to safety quickly!”

Despite their pleas, I was already in motion.

“Ha!”

Clang clang clang! My fastest attack with the spear, the Swift Barrage.

One of them skillfully dodged my spear strike, deflecting it masterfully with the elbow guards and iron shin guards on both arms as he pulled back.

A marvelous movement akin to a martial arts deity.

“What…!?”

Kaang! The guy sent all three of us flying with a heavy blow.

Every time I blocked his attacks, the iron bars my master had gifted me were getting bent.

‘Even with the three of us fighting, the situation isn’t improving…!’

If that was the case, there was no choice but to take a gamble.

“Hey, let’s use what we practiced during training! Yumir, you handle it on your own!”

“But, Sir Als, that’s…”

“No more talk!”

“Ugh!”

The concern Yumir voiced was because this tactic made me the bait.

I first rushed forward, thrusting my spear.

“Hmph!”

Boom! Like swatting a fly, he struck with a blow.

I gritted my teeth and swiftly drew out the sword from my left hand, crossing it with the spear.

‘Chester-style tactic…! Ilwolhap!’

Thud! Instead of deflecting with the spear, Ilwolhap involved intercepting the opponent’s weapon by crossing the sword and spear, disarming the opponent.

“Hm!?”

As the weapon didn’t come loose, a flicker of panic passed through his eyes.

And then.

“Uwaaah!”

Yumir charged at him with the shield heavily loaded with spikes.

Though the guy had prepared to block the attack with one hand holding a shield and the other drawing the sword on his back, unfortunately, the target was not where he expected.

Crack! Yumir struck the middle of the sword with the edge of the shield loaded with spikes. The shield, with spikes embedded, turned into a formidable mace, shattering the weapon.

In the meantime, Yumir skillfully blocked the guy’s counterattack to prevent him from retaliating.

‘Success!’

This was a joint technique with Yumir that I had used against my master in the past.

As it was training, the goal was to destroy the opponent’s weapon rather than causing direct harm.

This tactic proved effective.

“You scoundrels…!!”

For the first time, the guy showed his anger. He came at us again with his sword.

The level of his swordsmanship was challenging to withstand.

‘Even like this, the situation isn’t getting any better!’

The battlefield conditions also worked against us.

Our army’s rear guard and center were rapidly retreating, with enemy soldiers converging on us.

If we delayed any longer, even if we managed to defeat this guy, we would be surrounded and killed by enemy soldiers.

‘There must be another way…!’

That was the moment.

He targeted me, the weakest of the three in terms of strength.

I tried to dodge his attack, but the blade that couldn’t withstand the impact cracked, and the spear bent completely.

He revealed the gap in our levels.

“Damn it…!”

A monster-like creature, attacking me after I lost my weapon.

He relentlessly attacked me, even willing to endure some damage to eliminate one of us, stabbing Eoe’s shoulder and blocking Yumir’s attack with his forearm before assaulting me.

That attack.

“Back off.”

With a loud bang, Anton, who had rushed in, struck him fiercely.

“Argh!?”

For the first time, he was pushed back by force and bounced away.

“Anton!”

“Apologies for being late, my lord.”

Anton, who had turned towards Duan in front of him, raised his sword, Moon Blade, and directed it at him.

“The crime of attempting to harm my lord. You deserve to die a thousand deaths!”

The anger-flushed crimson Ora.

The sense of crisis spread across his face as he faced the powerful Ora of Anton.

“Aargh!”

“Ugh!?”

Clang! Anton struck him forcefully to prevent him from targeting me.

Struggling to fully withstand Anton’s attacks with his thin blade, he began to be pushed back gradually.

Their confrontation was nearing its end.

I wanted to defeat him with a coordinated attack, but the fact that Anton had come this far meant that the time limit was up.

The fact that the vanguard had retreated this far meant that the enemy forces were right at our doorstep.

“At this rate, we’ll all die.”

But escaping was not an option. If we tried to defeat him through a coordinated attack, time would not be on our side.

So far, we could face him because he fought alone, but if four of us launched a coordinated attack, he would feel the imminent threat to his life and would definitely try to evade while fighting.

In that case, we wouldn’t be able to finish him off quickly.

Anton seemed to understand this and told me,

“My lord, I will take care of this. Please retreat from the battlefield.”

“···!!”

Clearly, there was no other choice. Sacrificing one to escape was the only solution in this situation.

And he took charge of it.

“No, handling the aftermath of defeat is the duty of the defeated one.”

It was Duan, appearing battered and worn out.

“You don’t need to handle the aftermath of defeat, Als Ilaine. Withdraw and join the retreating army.”

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“General Duan….”

“Hurry, go.”