novelzi Chapter 167 : Chapter 167
Chapter 167 : Chapter 167
Leonardo's words about coming to end this war.The moment they heard those words, the expressions of the surrounding knights and soldiers changed.
To hope and joy.
It was to the point that their faces, dirty with dust and sweat, seemed to become clean.
It was the same for Jereuth.
‘To think he came to end the war…!’
If someone else had said that, it would have felt arrogant. It would have felt that way even if he, who was called a ‘hero’ in his own right, had said it.
Because war was not something one person could end.
While one person might be able to start a war, it was impossible to end it alone.
‘But if my King says it, I can believe it.’
The King had never once failed. He had never once disappointed the expectations of the kingdom's people.
How could he not believe it when such a King said he would end the war?
Jereuth composed his trembling voice and asked carefully.
“Your Majesty, do you have a plan in mind?”
“Yes. In about two weeks, the Royal Guard Knight Order and soldiers will arrive. Until then, we will continue to defend, and once the reinforcements arrive, I will personally lead the army and attack.”
To leave the fortress and attack the enemy.
That was a strategy Jereuth had also considered. The only difference was that Jereuth had intended to launch the attack tonight.
‘I was planning to intercept the enemy before the soldiers’ morale dropped further… but since His Majesty has come, I must follow His Majesty’s words.’
As soon as the King appeared, the morale of the knights and soldiers changed. Hearing the King’s words that ‘reinforcements will arrive in two weeks,’ they all gained the will to somehow squeeze out their strength and hold on until then.
As the army’s morale had changed, Jereuth had no intention of leading the troops out of the fortress. It went without saying that defending from within the fortress was far easier and more advantageous than attacking the enemy. If possible, it was better to hold out in the fortress for a long time.
“I understand, Your Majesty. Then I will prepare to attack the enemy in about two weeks—.”
As Jereuth was speaking.
Thud, thud, thud, thud—!
A small vibration was felt from far away in the fortress. It was not the advance of monsters.
—Broooootheeeer!!
The only being in the kingdom who called the King ‘Brother.’
The Giant, Grondar.
Grondar had already reached the front of Jereuth and Leonardo.
“I heard you came, Brother! Are you okay?! You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?!”
As Grondar examined Leonardo’s body here and there, Leonardo nodded.
“I’m fine. You’re not hurt either, right?”
“Of course not! I’m full of energy! I can fight right now!”
Although he said he was full of energy, Grondar was also very tired. Just like the humans, the Giants had risked their lives to defend the fortress. For Leonardo, their king and friend.
Looking into the eyes of Grondar, who was forcing himself to speak energetically, Leonardo said.
“You’ve worked really hard. It’s almost over now, so let’s just hold on a little longer.”
“……Okay!”
Grondar was quite stern in front of other knights and soldiers. It was because he had his dignity as the next elder of the Giants.
But in front of Leonardo, nothing had changed from the past. Leonardo was still, and would continue to be, a ‘Brother’ he could trust and rely on.
Leonardo looked towards the other side of the fortress, where the monster army was gathered, and thought.
‘It was written in the
Along with that, it was written, 「There were some casualties, but this must have been my best effort.」
‘It’s not a 100% satisfactory outcome… but since the future me was satisfied with the result, it should be fine to follow it this time.’
The ‘correct answer’ from the
Leonardo intended to follow it.
Two weeks after Leonardo arrived at the southern fortress.
The monster army camp.
“Charge!! We will definitely conquer that fortress today!”
At the Orc commander’s order, the monsters charged at the fortress walls. Their momentum was by no means light, but upon closer inspection, it was a little different.
‘…How long do we have to fight this war.’
‘That fortress will not fall.’
‘Trolls, Ogres, Cyclops. Why are those strong ones in the back?’
‘Black Orcs. Where are they? Were the Gargoyles wiped out?’
Most of the monsters already held no expectation of victory. Everyone’s eyes were dead, and their bodies were tired.
The reason they still threw themselves at the fortress was simple. If they did not follow the commander’s orders, they would become ‘food.’
An Ogre quietly asked a Cyclops who was watching the battle from a safe camp.
“Can we conquer the fortress today? It’s been too long since we ran out of food. There’s a limit to eating corpses now.”
“……”
“What are you going to do?”
At the Ogre’s question, the Cyclops’s mind became complicated.
As he said, the monster army’s food supply had already run out, and even the Goblins, which they ate as ‘emergency rations,’ had been annihilated.
So now, they were eating the ‘corpses’ of the next weakest race after the Goblins, the Kobolds or Orcs. The corpses of Kobolds and Orcs who had died attacking the fortress.
‘But Kobolds and Orcs are one of the main forces of our army. So, by eating their corpses… our morale is actually dropping.’
The Cyclops was well aware of that fact.
The reason he had ordered them to eat the corpses of Kobolds and Orcs was simple.
There was nothing else to eat.
For reference, the Lamia race had already been eaten long ago.
‘What happened to Krokas, who went to attack the royal capital? It’s about time for some sort of contact.’
Krokas, who had taken the majority of the main forces to directly attack and conquer the royal capital. If that force had remained, they might have conquered the fortress long ago.
‘Why is there no contact at all. Annihilation… it couldn’t be, right? No, surely not. There’s no way that many troops could be annihilated. Besides, Krokas himself was leading them.’
While the Cyclops was briefly thinking, a fierce battle continued in front of the fortress.
—Climb!!
—Build a mound! Pour the dirt! Bring the stones!!
—Gather the rotten corpses and pile them up too! Just a little more and we can climb the fortress!!
That was the current strategy of the monster army.
They were building a ‘mound’ with anything on the battlefield—corpses of humans and monsters, mud, and stones. A 'mound that could overcome the fortress'.
“If we pile it up for another half a day, the mound will be complete.”
“Hmm. When that time comes, it will be our turn to step up.”
Conquering the fortress with a mound made by sacrificing other races. It might be a cowardly act in a way, but war is only the history of the survivors and victors.
‘If I conquer that fortress with this strategy, my position will also grow. If Krokas fails to conquer the royal capital, I could become the number one in the monster army.’
The Cyclops had such a hope.
Just like humans, monsters also had a desire for success.
‘To do that, I must be the first to set foot in that fortress. I should tell the warriors of my race in advance—.’
Just as the Cyclops was getting ahead of himself.
Bang—!
The fortress gate, which had been firmly shut and showed no sign of being breached, suddenly opened.
And it was not opened cautiously and secretly. It was just thrown open. The massive fortress gate, made of a lump of iron that could not be pierced.
“…What is it?”
The Cyclops’s surprise at the opening of the fortress gate was brief.
Enemies began to pour out of the opened gate.
—It’s, it’s Giants!
—Retreat! Retreat!!
—Chwi, chwiiiiiik—!
Giants. A race smaller than large monsters but with strength that matched them.
On top of that, their combat skills were as outstanding as humans, a strong race that could handle large monsters without much difficulty.
They, who had been helping the humans defend the fortress, suddenly came out.
—Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!
—Warriors of the Giants! Go wild for the sake of friendship! Unleash everything that was frustrating from crouching in the fortress!
—Hwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!
The Giants charged at the monster army, letting out monstrous roars.
Giants whose bodies were weapons in themselves, and on top of that, all of them were wearing full-body armor.
Orcs or Kobolds were no match for them.
Lizardmen or Trolls could not be their opponents either.
Even in such chaos, there was one Giant who stood out.
“Come at me, all of you!! Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!! I am the next elder, Grondar!!!”
His voice was certainly young.
But his strength was immense. His combat skills were also formidable. As if confident in his own abilities, he showed no hesitation in jumping into the midst of the monsters.
His coordination with human soldiers in between also looked natural.
“C, Cyclops! What do we do? Should we go too?!”
“……”
“Cyclops!!”
As the Ogre urged him again.
The Cyclops made a decision.
“L, let’s go! If we get rid of all the Giants, only humans will be left in the fortress, so it will be easy to conq—.”
Again, while the Cyclops was speaking.
Another change occurred.
—Charge!
—Follow His Majesty!
—The Devil of the Ness Plains! The hero of the kingdom!
—Don’t fall behind!
—Soldiers, do not fear! The Devil of the battlefield is with us!!
—Even the goddess of fortune cannot predict war! But our King has come to end it!!
The path cleared by the Giants’ physical charge.
Through that path, human knight orders and soldiers poured out again.
‘…Do they no longer intend to defend the fortress? Why are they making such a decision?!’
There could only be two reasons.
One was that they had judged they could no longer defend the fortress.
But looking at the Giants and the human army, that did not seem to be the case. Everyone’s morale was very high.
‘Then the other reason is… are they confident of victory? That they can attack and annihilate us without needing to defend from the fortress?!’
Grind!
The Cyclops’s pride was hurt. Giants were one thing, but for mere humans to be confident in an all-out battle?
“Let’s go! I will kill those arrogant humans!! We will sweep away the bastards who were hiding like rats behind the fortress!!”
Although he was enraged, the Cyclops thought it was a good thing in a way.
Not only him, but all the monsters were specialized in melees rather than siege warfare.
The general consensus was that monsters had the advantage in a melee.
Just as the Cyclops picked up his weapon and was about to finally march out to the battlefield.
Piyooooooo…!
Piyooo!!
Piyooooooo—!
The grating sound of an eagle.
But a sound that was clearly more powerful than an eagle’s.
The existence that had troubled the monster army attacking the southern fortress the most.
The cry of the traitor, the griffon, was heard.
—Uh, uh uh…? Huh?!
—It’s the exploding stones! The exploding stones!!
—Again, again, it’s coming again! It’s coming again!!
—D, dodge! Dodge!!
—U, uwaaaaaaahk!!!
—Weren’t they all used up?! You Ogre bastards!! You guaranteed there were no more of those!!
—Gargoyles! The Gargoyles must intercept…!
The entire monster army fell into terror looking at the griffons in the sky.
It was inevitable.
The griffons’ ‘exploding stones,’ which had been quiet for a while, were falling.
And not just one or two.
They fell in countless numbers, as if they had been saved up until now.
It would be better if it were griffon droppings. You wouldn't die if you were hit by that, and you could even eat it.
—Such a foolish thought even came to mind.
In the front, the Giant and human allied forces were pushing forward like a tidal wave.
In the rear, ‘exploding stones’ were falling.
Even the Cyclops could not respond to this.
“…Damn it.”
With a single curse that rose from his gut.
The area around the Cyclops, where the strongest monsters were gathered, was engulfed in explosions.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang—!!
Just as Leonardo had guaranteed.
And just as the
It was a spectacular firework display that seemed to mark the end of the war with the monster army.