Rebirth in a Ruined Nation! The Life of a New Strategist Starting From Now - Chapter 101
Zetta Great War (16) – One Attack
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Translator & Editor: Nisarah
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“Zegabain-sama, the west gate is opening,” Zegabain squinted his eyes at his aide’s words.
“Well, we’ll see…” Zegabain said, almost certain of his victory.
Whether Wickharlt had truly betrayed Rudek or not, the west gate was opening.
Then, all he had to do was overwhelm the Rudek army with numbers.
“Soldiers are coming out of the west gate. It seems like it was a trap.”
“It’s fine. What we must do hasn’t changed. But more importantly, do you see the flag with a hare*?”
(T/N: I translated Lapilia’s flag as ‘rabbit’ before because Roa just said ‘???’which can both mean rabbit and hare but in this chapter, the flag was specifically referred to as ‘????’ which was a type of hare in Japan
)
“No, but I can see an unfamiliar flag. Moon and…swallow? What an unusual combination”
“If there’s no flag with hare, then it’s good for us. Even if it was a trap, the fact that he informed us about the War Princess’s movement is a good thing. Tell the soldiers that we will surround them from both sides as planned. We won’t let any single one of them escape.”
“Yes, sir!”
The total number of Rudek soldiers that came out of the fortress seemed to be around 4000. His side has 12000 soldiers. They weren’t a match for his army.
“We managed to make it in time…”
Zegabain muttered as he looked up to the sky, gazing at the snowfall that gradually became heavy.
“All are ready, sir.”
“Good. Let’s get started!”
The fourth day of the battle began as Zegabain pointed toward the Rudek soldiers.
As instructed by Zegabain, the Gorber soldiers moved slowly yet surely to surround the Rudek soldiers.
The aide, who had been checking on the movement of both armies, tilted his head slightly in confusion and reported, “The enemy is dividing their troops? Even though they had fewer soldiers than us.”
“They are probably planning to suppress our soldiers that will be attacking from the sides with their heavily armed soldiers, then aim at the center of our formation with their cavalry. All of their soldiers in the center should be cavalry.”
“I see.”
“They probably thought it’s better to die with honor on the battlefield, rather than being holed up in their fortress. It will be impossible for just that number of soldiers to pierce through our formation and for them to reach me.”
Zegabain’s words were not an overconfidence. It was an extremely objective judgment. The aide also looked at the Rudek soldiers with some pity and said, “That’s true.”
Yet, just a moment after, Zegabain’s ‘judgment’ was overturned.
Zegabain and his aides were confronted with a truly unbelievable sight.
Of the 4000 soldiers of his army, more than 1000 soldiers fell in an instant, akin to melting snow.
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A moment before, the Rudek army’s side
“Then, good luck. Yuimei, I’ll be counting on you two.”
Leaving these words, Boltras-sama led 900 cavalry to engage the enemy soldiers on our right side.
Another 900 cavalry that was made up of the Yuimei Unit and another heavy cavalry unit took up their position to engage the enemy soldiers on our left side.
What remained in the center was a cavalry of 2200 soldiers, including the Roa Brigade and the rest of the Yuimei Unit. This would be our assault force.
For the sake of Boltras-sama and the others who were stalling for time, we couldn’t afford to take too long.
“Roa-dono, please give the order to attack,” I nodded silently at Wickhalrt’s words.
Amidst the falling snow, I pointed at the enemy camp and shouted, “CHARGE!!”
The cavalry moved at once. The ground, once covered in pure white snow, turned dark due to the horses’ trampling.
Zegabain’s army approached us in the blink of an eye.
Naturally, the opponent was also waiting for our attack. They must plan to first slow our cavalry down, then surround and kill us. It was a common tactic against cavalry.
But, they didn’t know about the ‘souvenir’ that the Lapilia Brigade had brought us.
“Ready the crossbows!”
At my order, The Roa Brigade took out their crossbows and aimed them.
“Wickharlt!”
“Yes, sir!”
To maximize the effect of the crossbows, I put Wickharlt in charge of determining the timing.
Then, at a distance close enough for us to see the enemy soldiers’ expression pass the snow….
“THE FIRST ROUND! FIRE!”
At Wickharlt’s command, the cavalry at the front row fired their crossbows.
An accurate barrage of arrows from an unexpected distance caused Zegabain’s soldiers to fall one after another. But this wasn’t the end of our attack.
When the front cavalry charged into the area where the crossbows had caused the most damage, the cavalry behind them shifted their aim.
“THE SECOND ROUND! FIRE!”
The confused Zegabain’s soldiers whose attention was focused in the direction the first round of arrows were released, were hit by the second round of arrows and fell in a flurry.
Our attack continued four times, causing heavy damage and chaos to Zegabain’s army.
“Good! It worked! Now continue toward Zegabain!”
Frein encouraged the soldiers, and Luzel was cutting through Zegabain’s army with his spear.
“ORAA! THOSE WHO WANT TO BE PIERCED BY MY SPEAR, STEP FORWARD!”
Luzel’s fierce voice resounded as he proceeded to cut through the enemy’s rank with tremendous force.
On the other hand, the confused enemy soldiers that approached were flying through the air. Diku’s club blew them away.
The sight of their comrades being crushed and blown to pieces incited even more chaos in Zegabain’s army.
The Roa Brigade managed to cut through deep into Zegabain’s army. But then, our momentum was stopped by the elite heavily armed cavalry of Zegabain’s army. Behind the cavalry, the sight of Zegabain riding on horseback to escape was clear.
Two figures leaped to the front just as I thought this would be bad.
“DORYAAAA”
“URYAAA!”
It was Yuimei! The two of them swung their morningstars and attacked the enemy soldiers. Even the heavily armed cavalry couldn’t survive after taking morningstars directly on their faces.
One after another, the enemy’s heavily armored cavalry were slaughtered by Yuimei.
“Roa!”
“Go!”
They cleared the way!
“Thank you!”
Using the path that Yuimei had created, I chased Zegabain.
“Roa-dono, I’ll clear the way.”
Wickharlt fired his bow, killing Zegabain’s aide who was trying to block our path.
Likely realizing that turning his back would put him in more danger, Zegabain turned to us and brandished his spear.
“Wickharlt! You coward! I’ll have your head displayed on the fortress!”
Shouting, Zegabain rushed toward us, but his eyes were focused only at Wickharlt and his bow.
He didn’t put me in his eyes.
I held up the crossbow that I had yet used, aimed it at Zegabain, and pulled the trigger.
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T/N: This is why you never underestimate your opponent, folks. But well, if your opponent is a MC then you’re screwed no matter what you do.
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