Chapter 309: From Marching to Battle (1)
Chapter 309: From Marching to Battle (1)
Proofreader: Xemul
It took about two days on foot to reach the border from the town where Loren and his party had left.
If the cavalry had been dispatched, they would have been able to reach the border sooner. But since the troop consisted mainly of adventurers, who were not provided with horses and some could not even ride, they had to travel to the border on foot.
Loren wondered if they could have used wagons or something similar to transport them, but he heard from the soldiers walking with them that all such transport had been mobilized for the main group and there were none left for a guerrilla unit.
“I still think we’re lucky though.”
Said the young soldier, who talked with Loren along the way said.
When asked what was so lucky, the soldier replied that some of the Kingdom army’s troops had already broken through the stalemate and entered the Empire side, wreaking havoc and attacking units like theirs, inflicting a fair amount of damage on the Empire.
“We’re on foot and so far, we haven’t encountered any such obstacles. We are blessed to have such peace and quiet on the road, don’t you think?”
The young soldier laughed, and Loren could only manage a vague, ambiguous smile.
In fact, the young soldier’s fears about the Kingdom’s ability to infiltrate the Empire’s side of the border had already been on display here and there around Loren’s unit.
Except Loren’s group, most of the adventurers were unaware of this, let alone the Empire’s soldiers, but there were reasons for this.
One reason was that the Kingdom’s forces were extremely small. There were not more than ten people in their group, and because of their stealthy activities, no one in Loren’s platoon, which consisted of several dozen people, noticed them joining, or if they did, they did not recognize them as the kingdom’s forces.
Another reason was that before anyone could confirm the identity of the small force, they had suddenly and unexpectedly disappeared.
This led some of the Empire soldiers and a small number of adventurers to suspect that the Kingdom’s soldiers, who were very well-trained, had invaded the territory of the Empire and were gathering information, but this was a completely off-the-wall guess.
“When a small group of people move through enemy territory and are discovered, it’s like they’re begging to be hunted, isn’t it?”
A shiver ran down Loren’s spine as he watched Luxuria lick his own lips, probably believing that he was being seductive, and Lapis took up a fighting stance.
Next to her, Gula was licking her own lips and murmuring in dissatisfaction.
“The taste’s not very good. You haven’t eaten much good food, have you?”
Those words were quite innocent, but when Loren heard them, he felt another shiver go down his spine, a different kind of shiver than the one he had when he heard Luxuria’s words.
Apparently sensing this, Lapis let down her guard against Luxuria and rubbed Loren’s left shoulder. Nig, who had stationed on Loren’s right shoulder as always, was also tapping his shoulder with its forelegs in a regular tempo, as if it was concerned about Loren.
The right shoulder was occupied by Nig, who was tapping Loren’s shoulder with his forelegs in a regular tempo, as if he too was concerned about Loren’s well-being.
“You gluttonous girl. I had my eyes on that child!
“Shut up, you pervert. He’d be much happier in my stomach than in your hands.”
Here was what Luxuria and Gula were arguing about: As soon as they sensed the presence of the mysterious group, Luxuria immediately used some kind of magical tool, while Gula exercised her own power to capture and eat them.
“It’s a girl! There’s a girl! Come join my love nest~”
“Oh, come on! Such a rare thing should be eaten by me!”
“No! I’ll let her taste a supreme pleasure that will melt her into a puddle.”
“That’s the worst. You’ll be caught as a sex offender.”
The people around them who didn’t know what was going on looked on in confusion, wondering what the two were talking about. But Loren, who knew what was going on, was so sickened and horrified that he wanted to cover his ears. He was barely able to feel the touch of Lapis’ hand on his left shoulder and Nig’s paw on his right shoulder for comfort and healing.
To make it short, the would-be obstacles had been taken care of by the ravenous fangs of either Gula or Luxuria before they could be recognized as obstacles and made into a state where they could no longer be a hindrance.
And so, after two days of walking, Loren and his group arrived at the border where the main body of the Empire army and the main body of the Kingdom were facing each other.
It was a large plain surrounded by forests, small hills and hollows, and the two armies were engaged in a standoff across the borderline that had been set up just halfway across the plain.
Around them, troops of about the same size as Loren’s were blending in with the surrounding terrain and invading the other side’s territory, and Loren and his group soon found themselves in the middle of these small-scale skirmishes without a moment’s rest.
“Our main mission will be to destroy the enemy’s guerrilla forces. Be on your guard.”
The commander of their unit instructed them.
Loren thought that Gula and Luxuria would be able to hunt their opponents unilaterally without having to encounter them, just as they had done on the road so far. However, this was denied by the two Evil Gods.
“I can handle about ten people, but not dozens in an instant.”
“Me too. I can’t take in that many people at once.”
Luxuria said and showed Loren something that looked like a small box. He said that he could use it to drag the object he had his eyes on into an isolated space, but there was a limit to the number of times he could do so.
“By the way, what happened to all the people you’ve dragged in so far?”
“You want to know? I can show you how it works through real practice.”
Luxuria, who said this with a meaningful smile, was silently kicked in the groin by Lapis before Loren could back away. He crouched down on the spot without a single sound.
“Loren! My toes felt something strange! Something really strange!!”
“O-oh. Thank you, Lapis.”
Loren patted the head of Lapis, who clung to him with teary eyes, and once again felt that Luxuria really should not be left unchecked.
With such occasional disturbances, Loren’s platoon continued to move about the border to search for enemy units. And on the first night after arriving at the battlefield, they encountered a force that appeared to be an enemy guerrilla unit.
The location was in a forest, small but very dense.
Neither unit noticed the other until they stepped into the forest, and the next thing they knew, the other was right in front of them, and they suddenly found themselves in the middle of a battle.
“Damn it! You can’t even have some starlight in the woods.”
“That doesn’t mean we can turn on the light! We’ll become a target!”
“Shut up and turn on the damn light! We will fight each other! It’s absurd to die at the hands of your comrades!”
In the darkness of the night, with the leaves growing thickly overhead and blocking the light of the moon and stars, the battle quickly became a confused affair, whether they wanted it to be or not. It was a mistake to fight in a situation where you were not sure if the person next to you or in front of you was your friend or foe, but once you had crossed swords, you could not overlook your opponent.
In the darkness where swords clashed with swords and shouts and screams flew about, Loren calmly drew his greatsword, seeing with his eyes a view that he would not normally be able to see.
The few lights that were lit in response to the shouts were not enough to provide visibility, but Loren’s eyes clearly saw the situation around him. With the power of the King of Death, Loren had an absolute advantage against his opponents, even in the current situation.
The Empire soldiers and the Kingdom soldiers were equipped differently, and there were no adventurers on the Kingdom side. Knowing this, there was no way Loren could have accidentally harmed his allies. He ran through the forest, even though the place was thick with trees, there was still enough space to wield his greatsword depending on how he handled it.
Even if you sensed that something was moving with force, there was no way to respond effectively if you did not know what it was or what it was trying to do. Loren moved with little resistance, and in his impact left Kingdom soldiers’ bodies on the ground with their heads split open, organs spilled out, or arms and legs cut off.
“What the hell? What’s coming through? How many down?”
“It’s a monster! There’s a monster!”
“I don’t understand! How the fuck can it move?”
“I’m on your side! I’m on your side!”
Hearing the screams of the slain and the still-breathing, the Kingdom side was in chaos.
Part of that chaos seemed to be transmitted to the Empire side, and Loren couldn’t help but smile wryly, even though no one was watching.
From Loren’s point of view, he could see his opponent, and it was nothing to cut them down. But from the point of view of the person being attacked, it was completely incomprehensible that they were being cut down unilaterally and precisely in a place where they could not see at all. The fact that they could not understand the situation further added to the confusion.
“How many people did they kill?! What the hell did the Empire bring out?!”
“Platoon commander? Where’s the platoon commander… Uuhhwaaaah platoon commander!”
“What do we do?! Retreat? Advance?”
Every time the blade of Loren’s greatsword flashed in the dim light, one or more of the kingdom’s soldiers fell to the ground, losing life or something equivalent. Each time this happened, the confusion on the Kingdom side grew worse, while the Empire side gradually regained control of the situation and composure.
“No damage has been done! Calm down! Our allies are defeating the Kingdom army!”
“Turn on the lights and get a clear view! Don’t worry! Our superiority is unassailable!”
“What? Are those adventurers? The adventurers participating this time are lower than the silver class, right? Isn’t it strange that they’re all such monsters?”
“These guys taste pretty nice. Their food was probably different?”
“I’m on fire! Really on fire! It’s a buffet of young, lively kids!”
Some of the shouts made Loren want to cover his ears, but Loren calmly and quickly cut down the Kingdom soldiers one after another.
Occasionally, there were Kingdom soldiers who showed some resistance by swinging their swords around feverishly even though they could not see, but the swords they were swinging without proper aim did not catch Loren’s body, and those soldiers also turned into corpses under the force of a single blow.
If things continued as they were, the battle would be settled without so much trouble – that was what Loren, who had cut down who-knew-how-many Kingdom soldiers, were thinking when a change occurred on the Kingdom side.
“It’s a waste of time! If we don’t do something, we’ll lose everything!”
“Fire the signal! Let them know where we are!”
Loren could not understand what soldiers on the Kingdom side did or what happened in response to that shout. All he knew was that someone had done something, and that something white and shiny had pierced through the layers of foliage and launched high into the sky. As it flew up to a certain height, it emitted an even stronger light, and then slowly disappeared.
It was not an attack, but merely a signal to let something know where it had been launched.
Seeing that, for some unexplained reason, Loren felt so anxious that he tightened his grip on his greatsword.