Chapter 81 : Elf Knights and the Power of the Pike Phalanx (3)
Chapter 81: Elf Knights and the Power of the Pike Phalanx (3)
-Dududududududu!
The warhorses galloped across the plains without hesitation. The fully armed Order of the Black Rain raised their lances high into the sky and charged straight toward the center of the Count’s army.
“Kiyooooooot! An honorable death calls to us!”
“I shall offer your blood before God!!”
Whether they were truly converts or not, the members of the Order of the Black Rain were in high spirits, shouting things that sounded quite like the rhetoric of heathens.
None among them thought their charge would be blocked. This sentiment was shared by the frontline officers as well.
“Uniiiiit—!”
They shouted their battle cries.
“Laaaances-!”
Following the command, the members of the Order of the Black Rain tucked their lances under their arms in unison.
-Neighhhh!
The horses let out powerful whinnies. If they collided at this speed, they seemed poised to bring down even a fortress wall, to speak with some exaggeration.
However, a strange sight appeared in the middle of the enemy formation.
‘What is that?’
When viewed from afar, they had thought it was nothing special, but seeing it up close, it looked a bit different. The knights furrowed their brows at the bizarre sight visible through their helmets.
There were mercenaries holding long spears up toward the sky like a forest of porcupine quills. Of course, they didn't think this would be a threat.
The spears looked longer than lances, but they wondered what those mercenaries could possibly do against such sturdy armor.
A frontline commander raised his voice.
“Order of the Black Rain! Increase speed further!”
“Kiyoooooooot! Sounds good!!”
“Full chaaaarge!”
Heavy cavalry were invincible on the plains.
The Order of the Black Rain had performed hundreds of lance charges, and they'd never been defeated. These killing machines, raised from childhood in a monastery for the sole purpose of slaying heathens, couldn't be stopped by the crude spears of mercenaries, no matter how long they were.
Their arrogance pierced the heavens.
-Neighhh!
-Dududududududugugugugugu!
Thus, when the Order of the Black Rain finally almost reached them.
“Pikes forward!”
“Forward!”
Suddenly, the shape of the phalanx changed. The pikes that had been soaring high into the sky were leveled in a thrusting posture toward the front.
The moment they saw that, the Order of the Black Rain realized something was wrong.
‘I-It’s... long!!’
The pikes were much longer than they'd anticipated.
Those damned pikes.
And that judgment was accurate.
-Craaaak!
-Crack!
“Aaaaaaaagh!”
-Gah, urgh.
The heavy bodies of the Order of the Black Rain were instantly sent flying through the air and began to roll across the ground.
“AaaaaAgh!”
-Thud!
-Snap.
The knights of the Order of the Black Rain fell mercilessly all around. Most of them caught on the spearheads held by the rear ranks and couldn't even fall gracefully.
It was utter bedlam.
Shatien, who was watching this, roared at the top of his lungs.
“It worked! Kill them! Kill them all!!!”
-Waaaaaaa!
-You bastards! Die!
The enraged mercenaries attacked the fallen knights with their respective weapons. Since the phalanx was tightly packed, most used daggers or small blunt weapons like war hammers that were good for striking downward.
Shatien had prepared a heavy war hammer for this very moment.
“Hup-!”
-Crunch!
A helmet with horns on both sides was crushed in a single blow. There was no need to swing multiple times. The flailing elf knight ended his life with a choking sound.
-Bang!
-Kwoooong!
-Crack! Smash!
Shatien didn't stop there and continued to strike the heads of the knights like a madman. From the perspective of those being hit, it was nothing short of a disaster.
“T-That’s! Crazy bastard.”
“Get up immediately! If you’re going to die, die fighting rather than perishing so pathetically!”
“AaaaaaaAgh! Death calls to me!!”
“Kiyoooooooot!”
There was a brief moment of panic, but the elf knights of the Order of the Black Rain were indeed lunatics.
They rushed in like moths to a flame, claiming that death was honorable.
Of course, Shatien made them exactly that: moths to a flame.
“Knight Killer! Shati... Gack!”
-Thud!
“I am the great of the East... Urgh!”
-Crunch!
Neither armor nor sturdy helmets meant anything. Shatien swung his war hammer diligently, avoiding obstacles even in that complex battlefield.
The elf knights who managed to hold out for a few moments initially couldn't endure for long and simply collapsed to the ground.
“AaaaaAgh!”
“That filthy bastard!”
“How about you use a sword instea-!”
-Gack!
‘They are so damned noisy.’
Shatien learned a very easy way to shut the mouths of those elf knights.
It is said that the dead tell no tales.
He simply had to send them all to the afterlife together with their hands folded. To the side of the God they so desired.
By this point, no matter how much they were knights or how bellicose the elves were, their momentum couldn't help but break.
“Ugh, uuuuh!”
“What kind of human is that!”
“That is insane weapon skill. A monster! A monster wearing the mask of a human!!”
However, contrary to their wishes, the elf knights of the Order of the Black Rain couldn't retreat easily.
-Close in!!
-You must not let them go!!
The heavy infantry of Count Bellua, who had been waiting in the rear, rushed in immediately.
-Kill all the elves-!
-A gold coin for every head! Let us repay the grace shown by His Excellency the Count!
The sound of clashing blades was everywhere. Angry curses and screams rang out.
This area was a living hell brought to the world, with hundreds of people entangled together. The hundred or so elf knights were thus completely pinned down.
“Ptui!”
Shatien spat on the ground. Because he'd been moving so much, hot steam was rising from his entire body. Nevertheless, his stamina was still sufficient. Enough to repel them many more times.
“They are coming again!! Centurion!”
-Dudududududugugugugugu!
Shatien shouted as he saw the knights coming in for another lance charge from afar.
“Raise pikes! And retreat ten paces!”
“Move quickly!”
“You bastards. Ignore the fallen knights! Leave them to the Count’s army!”
“We build our lines first!”
-Thud!
“Urgh.”
Shatien shouted while striking down a member of the Order of the Black Rain who was rushing in. The warhorses and knights fallen in front of the line became literal obstacles. They were desperately clinging on to stop the phalanx by any means necessary.
-Clang. Clang! Clang!
-Ughhhh.
“One! Ha! One! Ha!”
Even in the chaotic situation, the unit led by Shatien maintained its square formation until the end. Even as they witnessed their comrades dying beside them, they didn't flee. They knew well that the moment they showed their backs, the hell before them would consume them.
-Neighhhhhh!
The sound of horse whinnies grew close enough to be heard. The heavy vibration of hooves was unsettling the mercenaries. They thought they'd struck down quite a few knights during the first engagement, but the knights of the Order of the Black Rain were still numerous.
Even though they saw their comrades who had become obstacles before them, they continued to increase their speed.
They intended to pierce through everything.
“Lances!”
“Kiyooooooongot!”
“Revenge for our comrades! An honorable death!! Honor calls to us!”
With fierce shouts, the knights of the Order of the Black Rain lowered their lances in unison. The tips of the spears, carrying heavy mass, were aimed at the heavy infantry.
“Urghhhh?!?!”
The heavy infantry of the Count’s army finally noticed them. Because they'd been fighting frantically, their vision and hearing had been blocked.
“I-It’s a knight charge!!”
“It’s the elves. Run! We must retreat!! Quickly!”
They began to run toward the wall of pikes.
Colliding, tangling, and trampling over one another.
When that was too difficult, they even crawled away desperately.
The lance charge of the Order of the Black Rain was simply not something that unarmored infantry could stop.
The mercenaries turned pale as they watched the heavy infantry scatter like grains of sand.
The tips of the pikes were trembling from the vibration of the hooves.
-We shall pierce them just like this!
“Kiyaaaaaaat!”
“Gasp!”
One mercenary, unable to withstand the massive pressure, lowered his pike. Or rather, he tried to lower it.
-Thwack!
“You bastard? How dare you try to lower that. Do not move without orders! We live by the order and die by the order!!”
Miles quickly struck the mercenary on the head and shouted.
“Agh-!”
“Yes, scream! Use your spite!”
“Understood. Agh!”
Watching this, Shatien scanned the battlefield coldly. He couldn't level the pikes yet. If he did, wouldn't the retreating heavy infantry all be skewered?
“Kiyooooooooot!”
“Kill them all!”
“R-Run!”
The Order of the Black Rain was now right in front of them. To speak with exaggeration, he could even see their nostrils. The distance was so close that even the pike unit led by Shatien and the Black Raven Mercenary Company might be swept away.
“Pikes forward!!”
“Forward!”
“Agh!”
Shatien, having timed it to the last possible second, roared his command.
“Clench your teeth and hold!! Once this offensive is over, it’s practically all over! Wait for our allies! Trust our allies!”
“Agh!”
“Yes, good! Spite! Spite!”
And the Order of the Black Rain crashed into the pike phalanx once again.
-Craack.
-Neighhh.
-Crack.
“Aaaaaaaagh!”
“You filthy mercenaries!!”
The warhorses skewered by pikes fell to their knees. The knights who were thrown from their horses rolled under the feet of the mercenaries.
The heavy mass swept through some of the front ranks, but the damage was not significant. The line remained firm, and the Order of the Black Rain couldn't break through the phalanx.
-Kill the knights!
-Catch the pointy ears!!
-Urgh!
Once the charge of the Order of the Black Rain was halted, the time for the heavy infantry arrived once more. They rushed out frantically with the single thought of seeking revenge for what happened a moment ago.
-Open their lids and kill them!
-You bastards! Kill them! We don’t need ransoms or anything!
-Clang! Clang!
-Crunch! Smash!
However, this time the battle didn't flow as expected. Because the heavy infantry had moved so much, their stamina was depleted, and the elf knights of the Order of the Black Rain, having seen the earlier disaster, had prepared for when their charge stopped.
-You vermin! Come at us!
-Today I shall record a feat of one against ten! Uhahahaha!
They became dismounted knights, sometimes using their warhorses as shields and sometimes using their superior armor as shields, as they engaged in a bloody struggle with the heavy infantry.
Thanks to this, the heavy infantry gradually began to be pushed back.
The panicked mercenaries looked for Shatien.
“Commander! We must help immediately.”
“Before the heavy infantry collapses!!”
“I will make the decisions!”
Shatien silenced those shouts at once. He couldn't rashly break the pike phalanx yet. The knights of the Order of the Black Rain were still more than plentiful.
Furthermore, their behavior didn't quite make sense.
He wondered if there was a reason they repeated the charge despite having confirmed the power of the pikemen. The Order of the Black Rain was brave, but they weren't stupid, were they?
‘What on earth is...’
There was nothing else visible other than the fact that the knights were pushing the Count’s army to an excessive degree.
Except for one thing.
‘Hmm? I feel like... we are gradually protruding alone in the front?’
They were already out front, but as the Count’s army on both sides was pushed back, they were exposed alone once more.
Of course, he'd formed the phalanx in a square facing all four cardinal directions to prevent this, but he felt uneasy.
Didn't they have an intention?
‘My vision is too obscured.’
Because of the high rising pikes, his vision was poor. Shatien leaped onto a riderless warhorse.
-Neighhhh.
“Stay still! Bastard!”
Shatien held the reins of the warhorse to calm it and looked out over the plains from atop the horse.
-Dugugugugugugugu.
-Waaaaaaa!
Then, he saw the elf knights of the Order of the Black Rain, who were pushing back the Count’s army, join up with more knights following behind and turn their line at a strange angle.
“......?!”
The flank of the pikemen.
It was not just the flank, but the only gap where there was no protection from pikes, they were charging toward the corner of the flank.
“Fucking hell!!”