Lord of Disease (JP-GL) 296

296: The Seventh Battle of Litalside

A large boulder flew through the blue sky of Litalside and was stopped by a barrier of light just before the city wall, and a roar echoed.

“Siege weapons… the ones from the warning.”

Bringit Finis, a dark elf female knight in crimson armor, her silver hair tied back in a high ponytail, clung to the rampart and glared at the catapults that were lined up in the wasteland before her.

The female archer who had been on watch on the rampart spoke, without even raising her bow.

“We should be grateful that we were able to prepare, even a little.”

“Yes.”

She was relieved that the defensive network had worked. And she gritted her teeth at the fact that the siege weapons, which she could barely see, were now able to launch an effective attack on the city wall from a safe distance.

A pigeon post had arrived from the Sixth Army’s field operative unit. A large-scale invasion was heading for Litalside…

She had forwarded the letter to the capital, but she didn’t even know if it had arrived. To think that they would attack in such a short time. Even if the decision had been made at the last minute, they must have been preparing for an attack for some time.

Without taking her eyes off the enemy army, she asked the archer behind her.

“Their range is on a different level from before. Can you hit them?”

“Impossible, Bringit-sama.” The female archer shook her head. She added, “They are visible because of their size, but they are out of range from the ramparts. Their accuracy seems to be poor, but we are at a disadvantage, as we must block all the stones that come over the wall.”

“I see. Continue to monitor.”

“Understood, Bringit-sama.”

She descended the ramparts with the messengers who had gathered and gave her orders.

“Have at least one of the Fifth Army’s demons relieved. I want to speak with them. Summon all the senior officers, except for the one currently in command. As soon as a certain number have gathered, we will begin a military council. Hurry.”

“Yes!”

“Understood.”

“Immediately.”

As she descended the ramparts, another roar, this time in succession. The archer, as if to not be outdone by the lingering roar, raised her voice, a rare occurrence.

“—Bringit-sama! This seems to be a test shot. A full-scale attack will begin soon… I believe.”

“Understood!” She waved her hand and, as she hurried to the conference room, she let out a small sigh.

“No declaration of war… I thought I knew.”

It was a battle, and it was not a battle. It was a war, and it was not a war.

They were coming to destroy them. Then surely. The necessary resolve was.

(—Objective, human extermination.)

Her friend’s voice echoed in her ears.

“That’s right. …There’s nothing else we can do.”

She could not expect the pride of a knight from her opponent. Then the job of a knight was to kill them all. All of them. Even if there were many times more of them, all of them.

“—We will form an attack force. The Second and Third Armies will be the core. The Fifth Army’s demons cannot be moved from the defense of the city walls. …But I would like to recruit a few volunteers for a diversion. And the Fourth Army will be extracted as much as possible.”

In the conference room, with a single long table, she, the commander of the Dark Knights, declared in a clear voice to the hastily gathered senior officers.

“Us? …So, a night raid?”

“That’s right.” She nodded at the wraith in the deep purple armor of the Fourth Army.

Night was not necessarily the demons’ forte… but the undead, in particular, had night vision. The dark elves and beastmen, while inferior, were far superior to humans.

“The Fifth Army. Can you hold out?”

“If it is your command. If it is just a matter of defense, we can hold out for a day or two.”

“As a good report, the size of the rocks is inconsistent. It seems they are being procured locally. And the interval between shots is also not uniform.”

A rare demon with two heads, one white and one black, spoke, opening each of its mouths in turn. Incidentally, it was said that it had a single personality, and it was a running joke that it didn’t know what would happen if one of its heads were to be cut off.

“The Third Army. Any opinions?”

“None. Is the top priority to destroy those damn catapults?” A wolf beastman with silver fur asked, his tone light.

“—Yes. I will say that your lives are precious, but at the same time, the destruction of those things is more important than our lives. It will be on a volunteer basis. Extract three-quarters of the Third Army.”

“They will all volunteer. I will handle the selection.”

“I leave it to you.”

“The entire Fourth Army will be just enough.”

“Do it. The Second Army, myself included, will extract two-thirds and launch a frontal attack. The Third and Fourth Armies will disperse and attack from the flanks.”

“…In this… open wasteland…?”

“It will be possible with a diversion…”

“We will do to them what was done to us. The Fifth Army. I want you to deploy an illusion in front of both armies. Can you do it?”

“…We can. Come to think of it, the construction of ‘that’ Fort Garnalk was concealed with an illusion, was it not?”

“There is no reason why we should not do the same. If the Dark Knights are approaching from the front, they will be less likely to notice any inconsistencies. And the night will be on our side.”

Both of its heads nodded in agreement.

“Bringit-neesan, I don’t mean to doubt you, but I think that’s a heavy burden for the Dark Knights.”

“It has to be.” She grinned, baring her teeth.

“I earned the title of the Blood Knight with my bloodstained armor. Let us begin the Seventh Battle of Litalside.”

Everyone nodded deeply. The seventh defensive battle was beginning in their time. And the older generation, who had experienced the previous battles of Litalside, felt a different atmosphere than before. As if, no matter how it ended, there would be no eighth.

“They are barbarians, who greet us by throwing stones at our doorstep, but we will welcome them with courtesy. We will dig their graves, and we will erect their tombstones. With the wreckage of those catapults.”

A rare joke from the commander, and a ripple of laughter spread through the room. They all trembled with excitement, and a fearless smile appeared on their faces.

“We are the protectors of Listrea. This is the southern defense, Litalside.”

Her words, the words of the supreme commander of the Second Army, the commander-in-chief of the Litalside garrison, sank into everyone’s hearts.

“All who threaten the peace of Listrea are our enemies.”

And ‘her’ words—the words of the supreme commander of the Sixth Army, who had once come here—overlapped with hers.

The complacency that had been born in the days when nothing had happened had disappeared on the day she had arrived, with her mad smile.

And today, everything would be tested.

Bringit Finis smiled. A smile that made everyone understand, deeply, that she was ‘her’ friend. A smile that bared her teeth, a smile that was so joyful, and yet so sad, a smile that made you want to see more, a smile that made you think you could trust this person. A smile that made you think that if you were to die for this person, then that would be fine.

And with that smile, she declared, in a clear, quiet voice.

“—Now, let us begin the war.”