Chapter 75
Chapter 75: Those Guys Are Quite Something (2)
Fwoosh!
Boom!
A small firework erupted from the eastern gate of the Fortress of Perdium.
“Let’s go!”
The cavalry unit waiting nearby confirmed the signal and galloped off at high speed.
That firework must have been seen by the Perdium army as well.
We had to capture the eastern gate and hold it before they arrived.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!
As the cavalry rushed forward, the infantry waiting behind them followed suit.
There was a significant speed difference, but as long as the cavalry got inside the fortress first, the infantry could join the fight later.
The commander of the cavalry unit, running hard towards the castle gate, suddenly recoiled at an odd sense of unease.
‘What’s going on? Why is it so quiet?’
The castle gate, visible from afar, was clearly wide open.
Yet, there was no indication that anyone was battling near the gate.
‘Have the traitors and knights subdued all the soldiers? Even though they’re just regular troops, it seems too quick?’
Given the lack of knights in Perdium, the soldiers would likely be on high alert.
So, it wouldn’t be surprising if the infiltrating knights quickly neutralized them. But…
‘Something feels off.’
The experience accumulated on the battlefield gnawed at his instincts.
‘Should I turn back the troops?’
The closer he got to the gate, the more cold sweat trickled down his back, and chills ran down his spine.
‘No, we must go.’
The signal had come, and the gate was open; there was no backing out now.
If he pulled back the troops out of his own fears, the knights inside would succeed in their operation only to perish.
He was a soldier, and even if it was dangerous, he needed to follow the plan.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!
The cavalry quickly approached the castle gate.
‘The infiltrators are few; it’s only natural to be quiet. Let’s go in. Let’s enter…’
He took a deep breath to steady himself but suddenly glanced back at the gate again.
A shiver ran down his spine.
The softly glowing red castle gate looked like the gaping mouth of a demon.
If he entered, he would surely die.
“Retreat! Retreat!”
The cavalry commander chose to trust his instinct.
The moment he turned his horse around—
Whoosh!
Crack!
An axe that had come from somewhere lodged itself into his neck.
The cavalry commander fell off his horse.
Neigh!
The horse, losing its rider, shifted direction and stopped, raising its front legs high.
Several who followed the commander couldn’t slow down in time and collided with him.
Thud! Bang! Bang!
“Something’s wrong! It’s a trap! A trap!”
“Aaaah! What’s happening!”
“Turn around! Retreat as seen!”
The front line fell into disarray, but those left began to turn and flee at the final command.
Inside the fortress, Ghislaine, who had thrown the axe, clicked her tongue in disappointment.
“Surely, they’re quite skilled. I had traps set up, but what a waste.”
She wanted to draw them all in and kill them, but in the rush to prepare, the traps weren’t perfect.
It seemed the enemy commander had sensed the opening.
But it didn’t matter. Even without the traps, we could easily catch them.
“Let’s go!”
Ghislaine shouted as she mounted her horse, followed by hundreds of cavalry.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!
The cavalry led by Ghislaine burst out from the gate and pierced through the fleeing enemy troops.
Boom!
“Uaaah!”
After swiftly dealing with the remaining cavalry, Ghislaine headed toward the foot soldiers rushing in from afar.
The infantry commander already sensed there was a problem up front and had begun to change direction.
If the enemy had caught wind of the ambush, they shouldn’t approach any further.
“Run! If you’re caught, you die! I said run!”
The commander urged his soldiers onward, sprinting with all his might.
But as the number of troops increased, changing direction became no simple task for the rushing soldiers.
“Quick thinkers, huh! Catch up to them!”
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!
Ghislaine ran with a cruel smile, and the mercenaries followed closely.
In the end, the infantry got caught in the trap.
Boom!
“Uaaah!”
“Block them! Block them!”
“Some of you stop them!”
Those who were already fleeing wouldn’t be able to form a proper defense.
Ghislaine and her mercenaries rampaged like wolves among a flock of sheep, slaughtering the enemy.
*
Meanwhile, Victor was moving his troops in the rear of the infantry, unaware of the massacre taking place.
He focused intently on the eastern gate from afar, saw the signal, and let out a shout of triumph.
“We did it! Half of you follow me, and the other half attack the Fortress of Perdium!”
The main force of their allies was attacking the southern gate of Perdium.
Victor led half of the troops he had separated through the open eastern gate.
The other half moved to contain the Perdium forces clustered in the southern gate.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The response from the Perdium army was quite swift. Zvalter and Randolf led their troops back to the castle walls.
However, it took them some time to notice that half of Victor’s army was flanking them due to the night.
“My Lord! Enemy troops are moving towards the eastern gate!”
“What? Randolf! Take your troops and head to support them right away!”
Randolf quickly moved half of their troops in accordance with Zvalter’s order towards the eastern gate.
This was a movement Victor had already anticipated.
“Hehehe, it’s useless. You are finished now.”
By now, the eastern gate must have already been thrown into chaos by the troops he’d sent ahead.
If Victor’s forces joined in, the Fortress of Perdium would fall completely.
They could resist in street battles, but considering the numbers, they wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.
Victor was confident.
“Come! Hurry and run! I will sleep inside the castle tonight!”
Following him were the remaining thousand cavalrymen galloping with all their might. The infantry followed closely behind.
Even if the fortress was smaller and more shabby than others, it was still a fortress.
Leading a large army to flank would naturally take some time.
“There isn’t much left! Hurry… huh?”
Victor, moving earnestly, was faced with a ridiculous sight.
“Our main force! We lived!”
“Help! Quick!”
“Over here! Here! Hurry up!”
From afar, his ally’s soldiers came rushing in with their formation completely broken.
Victor stared at them in shock, unable to comprehend what was happening and unable to issue any counter orders.
“Everyone retreat! Fall back!”
As Ghislaine was slaughtering the rear of the infantry, she spotted Victor’s main force from a distance and immediately turned her horse around, shouting loudly.
“Hahaha!”
“You guys kept me from sleeping!”
“But it was fun!”
The mercenaries laughed heartily as they followed Ghislaine’s lead, swiftly fleeing.
Victor, regaining his senses, shouted out with rage.
“Chase them! Get those bastards!”
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
The cavalry galloped hard, chasing after Ghislaine.
However, they were hindered by the scattered ally infantry that was fleeing, which prevented them from gaining the proper speed.
When they finally caught up, Ghislaine and the mercenaries were already entering the fortress.
The commander of the cavalry shouted loudly.
“Charge! We can catch up!”
If they collided before the gate fully closed, it seemed they could make it inside.
With the main force following behind, they just needed to buy a little more time.
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!
The cavalry put all their might into the charge as the mercenaries hurriedly entered the fortress.
“Hey, pisspants! Move aside!”
“Get in quickly! They’re catching up!”
“I’m going in first!”
All flustered, they bumped into each other as fear overtook them.
Screech!
Just in time, the mercenaries made it in, and the castle gate began to close.
Victor’s cavalry lowered their bodies and lifted their spears.
‘Just a bit more!’
It was a close call, but it seemed they might reach it before the portcullis came down.
‘We’ll break through!’
As the leading cavalry reached near the gate—
Fwoosh!
A torrential rain of arrows began to pour down from atop the castle walls.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Uaaah!”
The cavalry began to fall as they were hit by the rain of arrows.
Boom! Boom!
The soldiers following behind couldn’t slow down either and stumbled, falling among the bodies.
From atop the walls, Skoban shouted enthusiastically.
“Fire! Keep firing! Just shoot! Shoot to kill!”
The guardsman at the eastern gate and the sentinels led by Skoban rained arrows without rest.
Thanks to Ghislaine having called and prepared them quickly, they could respond promptly.
“Let’s help too! Fire!”
The troops led by Randolf, who arrived shortly after, also began providing covering fire upon seeing the situation.
Boom!
In the meantime, the gate had fully closed, and the portcullis fell.
At this point, unless the knights who could handle mana intervened, it couldn’t be easily breached.
The remaining cavalry had no choice but to turn back and return the way they came.
Seeing the shabby state of the returning cavalry, Victor exploded in anger.
“Uaaah! You bastards!”
He had fallen victim to his own scheme. The few traitors remaining couldn’t get in touch anymore.
Adding the casualties of the guard cavalry and infantry he had been holding back, they totaled over three hundred.
Like the gentle rain that gradually soaked through clothes, the damage was accumulating bit by bit.
“Let’s head back!”
In the end, he withdrew back to the stronghold.
Cheers of victory echoed once more from Perdium. Victor gritted his teeth as he heard the sound.
Randolf, panting, moved through the ecstatic soldiers of Perdium to reach Ghislaine.
“Grand Duke! What happened? How did you manage to hold them off!”
He had rushed over after hearing urgency from the eastern gate, but found only a pile of enemy corpses instead.
Moreover, the advancing enemy troops had all retreated.
Randolf couldn’t fathom what kind of magic had been worked by such a small number of enemies.
“It’s nothing special. It seems the enemy got a bit clever and ended up falling for my trick.”
Ghislaine briefly explained about the captured knights and Victor’s scheme.
Randolf appeared dazed.
“Wow, again this time…”
Once could be chalked up to luck. But could there really be two such coincidences?
Randolf knew Ghislaine as someone who would never spot the enemy’s tactics.
If anything, he was likely denser than he was, and certainly not one to use his head.
“Ahem, it seems the Grand Duke has changed a bit.”
Not long before, Randolf had genuinely disliked Ghislaine.
He had wanted to smack him a few times, he had been so irritating.
Yet, every time Perdium faced a crisis, Ghislaine had risen to the occasion, and those thoughts gradually faded.
Feeling awkward, Randolf took his leave and reported the situation to Zvalter.
“Hehe, Ghislaine managed to hold them off with that small number?’
No wonder Ghislaine and the mercenaries hadn’t been seen; they must have moved ahead to the eastern gate first.
“What a relief. Truly a relief.”
If the fight with the supply troops had stemmed from instinctive reflexes, this incident surely required some knowledge of strategy and tactics.
Randolf shuddered at the thought of how the war would have turned out without Ghislaine.
It could have easily ended in one fell swoop when they clashed.
Filled with deep emotion at the thought that his once-troublesome son had matured through war, Zvalter felt overwhelmed.
Now, Ghislaine was the indispensable commander of their territory.
“Uncovering and countering the enemy’s scheme… Did he study strategy at some point? Hehe, I really did well to have Belinda educate him…”
Randolf interrupted Zvalter’s words with a serious expression.
“There’s no way he would have studied something like that. The Grand Duke is clearly dense. He’s probably denser than I am.”
Zvalter pouted his lips.
No matter how troublesome he was, it never felt good to hear one’s child insulted.
Especially when being compared to Randolf.
Seeing his expression, Randolf belatedly scratched his head, embarrassed.
Zvalter chuckled and waved his hand.
“Well, he’s always been someone who does things his own way, so he probably had his own approach. Let him rest. Make sure the soldiers rest well too.”
He decided to ask his questions later and first set about organizing the troops.
They needed at least a little rest to endure the battles awaiting them the next day.
*
While Randolf was reporting to Zvalter, Ghislaine dispersed the mercenaries and headed somewhere alone.
A cruel smile danced at the corner of his mouth.
‘Victor! You’ve come, haven’t you!’
Thanks to the captured knights, he discovered who the enemy commander was.
Count Harold Desmond’s sword, Swordmaster Viktor.
He had met that guy during the war with the Ruthania Kingdom.
He was quite the remarkable opponent, having withstood dozens of blows from Ghislaine’s sword, ranked among the top seven on the continent.
In the end, Ghislaine had split him in half, but he remembered him well enough to recall his name.
‘This is an opportunity.’
It was a splendid chance to behead someone who might hinder his future plans.
Before he could truly grow stronger, he would lose his life here.
‘Sending in a cherished pawn of his like this.’
He must have wanted him to gain real battle experience and earn some achievements.
If Ghislaine hadn’t shown up, it might have gone the way Count Desmond had envisioned…
‘You made a mistake, Harold.’
Ghislaine radiated a murderous aura with a devilish smile.
