Episode 74 – Gust from the North (4)
“Say! Aim for the horse!”
“Fall!”
That intense moment when they attacked Luhan’s troops who had fallen into a trap before the battle was over.
Liena hurriedly rode her horse and left her position to deal with the enemy leader and strongest warrior. The main forces led by Luhan also fought on that side, but bloody battles continued to take place on the other side as well.
“Ugh.”
A huge hammer fell from the sky and landed on the heads of Luhan’s warriors, who resisted even after falling from their horses. Some people reflexively succeeded in dodging, but warriors who were not very skilled were unable to dodge and were hit with blood clots, killing them instantly.
The shock wave was enough to make Shura, who was running towards them, flinch.
‘You can’t be late.’
But she quickly came to her senses and rushed forward. This is because one of the enemy warriors, who had fallen from his horse but still had the will to fight, pulled down his horse and brandished his sword to kill our new warrior who had just awakened.
“What are you…”
The enemy hesitated, as if he didn’t know that she, wrapped in a swirling shadow, would rush at such a fast speed. Without missing the opportunity, she hit the ground and immediately swung the dagger in her hand and cut off the head of an opponent much larger than herself.
Riena’s skills, as well as Shura’s skills that she has been continuously training until now, are no longer light. Rather, perhaps because she had been accustomed to combat using skills from the beginning, she was better than Riena when it came to applying skills.
“Thank you.”
“When using a technique, don’t hesitate and use it right away to avoid any gaps.”
A melee is still unfolding on all sides. She gave short, concise advice to the rookie warrior who was looking up at her with a confused expression.
He nodded without realizing it with a blank face. In the village, she was already considered a veteran warrior and was like her senior.
“are you okay?”
“I don’t mind. Rather, why are you here?”
At that time, Larsen, who was riding a horse, approached her with a slightly pale face due to constant mana consumption from firing magic.
Shura then questioned Larsen’s presence here. This is because Larsen was originally in the opposite formation.
“I think the fight is over.”
Larsen smiled and pointed to the surroundings. Only then did they look around.
Horrible corpses and traces of battle. Suddenly, the shouting and screaming died down and only the enemies who had abandoned their weapons and surrendered were visible.
‘finished.’
Shura looked down at the dagger made of pure white bone, which absorbed and released mana much better. He saw the golden light exploding in front of him and sensed Riena’s victory.
“Those who can afford it, hurry up and get on the horse! “We must chase those who escaped!”
But then. Rakum gathered his soldiers and rode away with an urgent cry. Then Larsen and Shura reflexively looked at each other and simultaneously stretched out their hands towards each other.
So they rode horses together and, together with other soldiers, chased after the fleeing enemies.
“It seems like they are planning to get out of here instead of going as they expected. Are you chasing them?”
“The most important thing is to secure a main unit that has their base…”
Lakum, who was leading the troops, lamented as he saw them scattering in despair as they chased them away, abandoning their main unit where their families and property were supposed to be and running away.
In the current situation where you cannot receive help from your guardian spirit because you are with your enemies, it is impossible to chase them down and catch them one by one. However, it was also difficult to completely leave it alone.
“We will go.”
“Just chase after them moderately, and if they keep running away without even looking back, just come back. We just need to buy time to take control of their main force.”
Rakum was taken aback when they heard that they were going, and thought there was no other way, so he assigned soldiers to his younger brothers Larsen and Shura.
Even if you drive out the enemies, I urge you not to go too deep.
‘He will be watching. So it’s okay… right?’
As soon as Shura was injured in the underground dungeon, he rushed to save them. Rakum prayed to God that there would be no problem with those children and charged towards the enemy main unit, which was his target.
“Hi! captain! “They are after me!”
Meanwhile, Shura and Larsen, along with other soldiers, chased those who were running away until the end.
Having already lost their will to fight, they only run away more violently without even looking back. The chase continued until the excellent horses on the grassland, which had good endurance, stumbled from exhaustion.
“Let’s go now. “If you go any further, it gets too far.”
“It’s a good decision. “We did our duty.”
Led by Larsen, they stopped the pursuit there.
Shura looked a little dissatisfied, but Larsen and the adults around him were in the mood to go this far, so he didn’t object.
They took a breath while looking at the plain where the fleeing enemy remnants were moving away, then turned their horses’ heads again.
“Ugh, now even words are limited.”
“stop! stop! “They don’t chase me anymore!”
The remnants of Luhan’s defeat belatedly realized that the Arin tribe’s chase team was giving up the chase and returning to their base. They stopped to catch their breath and looked around.
“Where am I?”
“Oh, I guess it’s towards the northwest. “I just ran and did well…”
“damn!”
The man who seemed to have the highest status among them gritted his teeth after asking for their location.
‘I feel like surrendering too. but!’
He was outraged by this situation. In fact, those who were desperately trying to escape, including him, had a problem that made it impossible for them to surrender to the Arin tribe: their families were being held hostage by Garhan.
It was a measure taken to prevent the warriors of the tribes absorbed and unified by Garhan, who had no way of knowing whether this person’s true intentions were neutral, friendly, or hostile, from betraying him.
“First, let’s set a direction and return to the warchief. “If you tell them how evil and strange the power they use is, your life will be saved.”
He worked hard to calm his mind, lead his troops again, and devise a plan to return to Garhan.
“…What do you mean?”
However, at that moment, variables began to arise in this small forest they were in.
The first person to hear the sound was a soldier in the back line.
“Ugh, wow!!”
“Demon beast! “It’s a demonic beast!!”
It was literally a giant centipede that appeared, fumbling with its huge antennae and breaking the shrub. This monster, which was as big as a house with only part of its body, covered its entire body with a black carapace and cut a frightened soldier in half with its large, black fangs.
“Do, run away!!”
He reflexively shouted with a shocked face. Any decent demon beast would have fought against it, but the black monster I was facing now gave me an ominous feeling that I couldn’t feel from other demon beasts.
“Kuheook…”
“It’s poison. poison!”
In fact, when they tried to run away with their horses, the centipede moved quickly and spewed thick poisonous gas from its mouth towards them, filling the entire area with a thick poison.
The miasma swept over them with the wind, and the thick miasma was so thick that even warriors whose bodies were trained with mana struggled to hold on and stumbled.
‘What on earth is this monster? Did a monster like this live in this land?!’
He pulled up all his mana, gritted his teeth, and withstood the poison, but when the sword he swung couldn’t even cut off the centipede’s hard shell, let alone its antennae, and bounced off, he collapsed with a miserable look in his eyes.
To catch a bug of this level, you need special strength beyond a steel sword, but as he was already exhausted and poisoned, he did not have the strength to catch this huge monster on his own.
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“aaahhh!”
In the end, he was eaten alive by the jaws of a centipede. The last thing he saw was a small number of soldiers barely escaping alive.
However, as his breath stopped, he could not tell that the centipede, which was wriggling its antennae, had turned its head towards those desperately running away.
***
‘Is the damage within the expected range?’
Using a spreadsheet program, I can check the status of tribe members and see at a glance how many have died and how many have been injured.
Thanks to this, while Varun was managing the prisoners and checking the damage, I quickly finished assessing the situation and looked at the screen with a distraught face.
Several of our troops were also killed or injured. Although it was a very small number compared to the hundreds of people killed by the enemy tripping over their own feet during a fierce battle that ended fairly quickly, losses were losses anyway.
The feeling that I should be happy because I won with small losses was conflicting with the feeling that there were still people who died.
“Well, I’m glad it’s over.”
But then he smiled bitterly and shook his head to shake off the random thoughts.
This is a fight where our troops are clearly at a disadvantage. The enemies, who were from the powerful forces, had many elite soldiers and their number was several times that of our allies. If we had stuck with nothing, we would have been exterminated.
The reason we were able to achieve an overwhelming victory with this level of damage was because we gained a power that the enemy was completely unaware of and utilized it appropriately.
This proved why he took his time before the battle began.
“—, —.”
And while Varun was doing this, he was saying something to the prisoners he had surrendered. One by one, the hostile relationships among the prisoners are changing to neutrality or allies. The work began by persuading them and making them allies.
Things were going as I had originally hoped. They were enemies who tried to attack us, but now that the leader and other hardliners have been killed, if we can appease them and absorb them as allies.
Based on that, we can leap forward once again. Even the number of people who will join this time is more than double the number of existing residents.
I didn’t really care about traitors or anything like that. It didn’t mean much anyway and I had the power to know who was truly following us or not.
As shown so far, Varun and other seniors will use their abilities to help new immigrants naturally assimilate.
‘Is it over since we captured all of the main force?’
I slowly relaxed and took my hand off the mouse completely when I saw the troops sent by Varun leading the enemy’s main force waiting behind them and leading them back.
The battle is over. Looking at the scale alone, it can be said to be the biggest crisis we have ever faced, but we succeeded in overcoming it rather smoothly through good response and thorough preparation.
‘How many people are there?’
There are still many neutrals, so it is not possible to determine the tendencies and talents of the new members, but as the number is large, new talents will continue to be supplied.
The thought of awakening them and deploying them makes me excited.
The effectiveness has already been fully proven through this battle, so I just need to continue as I have done so far.
“How long have you been starving?”
I got up to prepare food. I couldn’t eat or sleep properly because I was concentrating on this battle. Even though the body itself has become stronger compared to the past, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be taken care of.
When I had some free time, I ordered a meal and checked my computer to do some homework.