Jang-Wan looked down at the quickly advancing Mangul troops below her. 𝘪𝘳.𝘤𝑜
It seemed that the Kobolds tended to fall behind with their smaller stature, and they were assigned to the back due to their speed even though they were the main force.
‘This is too slow. They need to move faster.’
Jang-Wan sent a revelation to the priests that were among the units. The priests then conveyed the will of their god to each unit commander, and the commanders began to pick up their pace.
However, there was a limit to how fast people could walk on two feet. They were advancing at a pace that was hardly different from a jog, but they couldn’t maintain the speed forever. A few soldiers couldn’t keep up and fell behind.
‘No. They can’t fall behind already.’
Jang-Wan was anxious, but there was nothing she could do.
At the rear end of each unit were knights, and they urged the soldiers who had fallen behind to catch up to their units. These knights would slow down and match the pace of those who moved slowly or were hindered by bad physical conditions, and the reason was self-evident.
Boom!
In an instant, the sky flashed and burst with light.
Jang-Wan turned around. It was too far for her to see clearly, but a number of creatures that had never been seen on the third continent before were grappling with one another. There was no way to tell who they belonged to.
And the apostle who had filled the sky with light was too distant to make out.
‘What kind of fight is happening?’
Jang-Wan could have used a Small Area with reconnaissance abilities if she wanted to, but she didn’t.
‘They’re here.’
And that was because Black Scale’s cavalry had almost caught up to them. Lightly-armed Cockatoo cavalry took vanguards; following them was a horse-riding rear unit consisting of several species.
‘If no measures are taken, they would literally get torn apart.’
With cavalry behind their backs, the infantry couldn’t just run away. Each attack would bring down the troops at the rear. Then the fallen troops would be found and annihilated by the enemy’s infantry that followed. And even if some soldiers survived, there was a high chance that they would become deserters rather than return to their units due to the fear of war and military discipline.
‘That’s why they shouldn’t keep running away with their backs to the enemies.’
As the Cockatoo cavalry became visible, the rear unit of Mangul’s army stopped. The soldiers who couldn’t keep up seemed pleased with the brief rest, but they turned pale at the commander’s orders.
“About-face!.”
Soldiers who couldn’t keep up with their units were likely to die, become deserters, or suffer injury that made it impossible for them to restore their combat capabilities in any way, so it was natural for them to be used as cannon fodder to preserve even a little combat power of the rest of the army.
As Black Scale’s cavalry charged, increasing their speed instead of slowing down, Mangul’s soldiers trembled violently in a poor excuse of a thin square formation. Some soldiers even tried to run away, but a knight went after them and cut them down with a sword.
The knight then shouted in fury, “Raise your spears high! Aim for the arms and chests of the riders!”
However, no cavalry of Black Scale would be struck by soldiers who were frozen in fear. Instead, the scared soldiers got their heads or arms ripped off by the spears of the cavalry, as well as the claws and beaks of the charging Cockatoos. Some soldiers did survive by crouching down, but their relief when seeing the Cackatoo cavalry passing by without turning back was short-lived; they eventually got trampled to death by the horses of the rear cavalry that followed.
‘…I knew this would happen.’
Still, those were soldiers who had fallen behind due to their lack of physical strength. And because there weren’t many of them, it would’ve been impossible for them to form a proper square and face the cavalry by raising their spears.
Black Scale’s cavalry remained hot on the tail of Mangul’s army. And again, the soldiers at the rear end stopped. Unlike the previous group of only about fifty soldiers, this time, there were over one hundred. However, that wouldn’t make much of a difference to Black Scale’s cavalry.
‘That’s how it’s meant to be though. They’re just bait.’
Jang-Wan was targeting something else.
‘Nebula is probably doing the best he can in the battle against Crampus and AR. And of course, the same goes for Lunda. I’m not sure about Eldar, but it doesn’t seem like the other players are paying attention to those troops.’
Jang-Wan would surely attract Sung-Woon’s attention if she put up a strong resistance here, so she planned to use a simple tactic.
‘They probably thought they were just chasing after an enemy that they have already defeated. I’ll make them regret that.’
In front of the square formed by the second rear unit was a shaded forest. To Black Scale’s cavalry, it was just a dead space. Jang-Wan had hid Mangul’s cavalry there.
‘The spearmen will be used as an anvil, and the cavalry as hammers. I’ll make this count.’
Even if it weren’t for that, it was necessary for her to somehow land a blow on the enemy’s cavalry considering the losses Mangul’s infantry had suffered.
‘They’re here.’
Right before Black Scale’s cavalry reached Mangul’s infantry, Mangul’s cavalry charged out of the forest and sharply cut through their side. There was no way for Black Scale’s advancing cavalry to avoid the attack.
“Yes!”
But Jang-Wan’s celebration was premature. She heard a strange command from the leader of Black Scale’s cavalry.
“Aim!”
‘Aim…?’
Only then did Jang-Wan notice the cavalry’s armament. All of Black Scale’s cavalry were holding a mass of iron with a long rod attached.
They aimed at the Mangul’s cavalry charging toward them. Jang-Wan belatedly realized what those objects were.
‘Hand cannons!’
“Fire!”
Click! Flames shot out from the end of the hand cannons. Fragments of stones fired from the barrel and pierced through the white smoke before raining down on Mangul’s cavalry. Then everything derailed into chaos—horses got hit and collapsed, and riders fell onto the ground. Some of them tripped over the horses that had fallen in front of them, and others rushed to turn their horses upright or stayed in place to calm their startled mounts. And then Black Scale’s cavalry rode through the white smoke covering them and killed the frightened infantry.
‘Damn it!’
***
This time, Lakrak’s golden spear blade cut through the player AR1026, who was also known as Concealed Text God.
Concealed Text God was about to shout something, but Lakrak was faster.
With their body split in half, Concealed Text God’s head dangled from the left half of the body, and Lakrak stabbed through it. A significant amount of electric current poured down, sputtering sparks above the ground. The god had stopped moving.
Lakrak then examined the stab wounds Concealed Text God had left on him. Rotating his shoulders, he clenched and unclenched his fists to check if his body was okay. It wasn’t really necessary for him to do so, but it was a habit he had held onto from when he was alive.
Lakrak looked up at the sky and nodded before walking toward the Renard lying prone on the ground. He held out his hand.
“Are you alright?”
“Oh, thanks.”
Lunda, who was still inside her priest’s body with Divine Control, grabbed Lakrak’s hand and stood up.
Lakrak then said, “Night Sky said that Concealed Text God is dead.”
“Oh, I checked that too.”
There was a reason Lunda had been lying down and blankly staring at the sky for a moment. She was checking the status window in front of her.
[Player AR1026 has become a vassal.]
[The greatest contributor to player AR1026’s defeat…]
[…Player Nebula (64.3%)]
Lunda thought that was expected. Although she was the one who actually destroyed the main troops with her betrayal, Sung-Woon’s apostle, Lakrak, was the one who killed AR1026 after she manifested with Hierophany.
‘At least it’s not over 70%. That means I was somewhat useful.’
Lunda decided to take comfort in that for now.
For a moment, she got caught up in the lingering feelings of betrayal and the subsequent victory, but a voice suddenly interrupted those feelings.
“What are you doing? Move.” 𝘪.𝑐ℴ𝘮
“Huh?”
“I said, move. Are you going to keep using Divine Control when your Faith points are flying away? You already checked that AR is dead. The war isn’t over.”
Danyum’s rebels and Golden Eye’s army had suffered a crushing defeat, Mangul’s army was retreating, and AR1026 had become a vassal, which was no different than her being dead.
“…Isn’t it over?”
“Over? It’s only over when the count is over.”
To Lunda’s knowledge, at the end of a game of Go, players would count the territory the other player had made with black or white stones.
‘He doesn’t even ask how the betrayal went.’
It was dry and clean.
Lunda then said through the Renard, “I should go.”
Lakrak silently nodded. For some reason, it seemed as if Lakrak was giving her a commiserating look as a kindred spirit, and Lunda was bewildered that it somewhat comforted her.
Lunda began to move.
***
A month and a half passed. It became clear that the war had taken a completely new turn after Lunda’s betrayal and AR1026’s death.
Jang-Wan tried to make up for her mistakes and achieved the results she had hoped for. During retreat, although her attacks against Black Scale were lacking, she had gained the important benefit of saving two thirds of her Mangul soldiers, and additionally, she had protected some of Golden Eye’s soldiers. A total of 3000 soldiers, to be more precise. Of course, some Faith points were used to achieve this outcome, but it was worthwhile. Not all of that was thanks to Jang-Wan’s own abilities though.
After AR1026’s death, the main battlefield was moved to Red Fruit instead of Danyum because Wisdom’s first expeditionary force had carried out a revenge match. Wisdom never went overboard by attacking the central part of Red Fruit’s territory, but he took over or destroyed large farm lands, lode villages, and major trading routes instead. And despite the support from Sung-Woon and Lakrak, it was difficult to inflict significant damage on Wisdom’s first expeditionary force.
Wisdom’s first expeditionary force did eventually retreat, but the damage that Red Fruit suffered was not to be dismissed. Although Lunda was relieved that she didn’t lose many soldiers, Sung-Woon believed that Wisdom had made a clever move.
When Lunda asked why, Sung-Woon replied, “He interfered with your resource production. It means that he wants to make the war last longer.”
“Was he not just taking his anger out on me? Maybe he didn’t want to run into my main force.”
“Maybe.”
Sung-Woon wasn’t certain about that, but he would soon know the answer.
After the first expeditionary army of Mangul, Golden Eye, and Asbestos withdrew, Jang-Wan requested a Whisper Conversation.
***
As soon as Sung-Woon’s face appeared, Jang-Wan began to talk.
“We’re making an offer to surrender.”
“Surrender?”
Jang-Wan intended to finish things before Sung-Woon could provoke her, so she quickly replied, “We’ll give you Danyum. And I mean we’ll give it to you and not take any measure to reclaim it. Crampus has agreed to the condition already. On top of that, we’ll also give you one third of Golden Eye.”
If he considered Lunda’s Red Fruit an ally and part of Black Scale, by accepting Jang-Wan’s offer, Black Scale would become four times bigger than its original size before the war. And with that, it would become the most powerful country on the third continent.
“Additionally, we’ll return the land we took from Red Fruit.”
Sung-Woon raised his hand and cut Jang-Wan off.
“You have a lot to offer, but what is it you want in return?”
“A truce.”
“And?”
“Prohibition of revenge.”
“And?”
“AR’s vassal statue. Anyway, Nebula. That’s not everything. There’s also war reparations…”
A vassal statue was a small bronze statue that was created as an item when a player became a vassal. It resembled the player’s appearance and could be stored in another player’s inventory.
Sung-Woon’s response was concise.
“I decline.”
1. A military command that means to turn around and face the opposite direction
2. An area within the maximum range of a weapon, radar, or observer, but cannot be covered by fire or observation from a particular position because of intervening obstacles, the nature of the ground, the characteristics of the trajectory, or a weapon’s limitations.
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