One day after Zu Ved fulfilled his promise to the king, the hero’s army crossed the mountains between old Elfa and old Altigand’s border. When the exhausted Gi Zu saw the enemy appraoching from a distance, he bellowed out a howl like a mad god.
It had been pouring until yesterday, yet the dry river showed no signs of that as the two armiss faced each other across it.
Arlodena deployed its entire army of 45,000 and had its front line soldiers stand ready with their large shields. The flying warships and the ryuus have already started exchanging fire up in the sky. They somehow managed to bring the aerial battle to an equal fight thanks to Gi Za Zakuend’s druids intercepting the wyvern knights and compensating for the ryuus’ disadvantage in close combat.
As the flying warships and the ryuus fought, the battle on the ground too began.
“In the name of the gods!”
At the behest of the zealots, the army of 300,000 began to cross the shallow river. With the weapons they wielded, even the weak could inflict a fatal wound on the goblins.
But the armor they wore were just too poor. Most of them did not even wear leather armor. They just wore their usual clothes along with their weapon, but the army of Alrodena was not one to hold back.
“Stones──”
Gu Naga Ferun, who was in charge of the frontmost line, calmly gave that command.
“──Fire!”
In the next moment, stones came shooting from behind the line of shields. Slinging fist-sized stones was a tactic Felduk was known for, but while that succeeded in disrupting the enemy, they did not stop. With disheveled hair and their weapons in hand, the enemy yelled out their battle cry as they came charging for Alrodena.
But Alrodena never believed that they would be able to stop them with just that.
“Spears──”
After Gu Naga (Long) fed them with a stone buffet, what came next was an attack meant for a closer opponent.
“──Fire!”
Though not perfectly coordinated, countless spears came shooting for the approaching enemy. And without any time to evade, the only fate that awaited them was to be shot through, pinned to the ground.
Despite that they refused to relent and did not stop.
“Hmph, I would have jumped in already if not for my orders──”
Gu Naga (Long) quietly muttered in complaint before raising his voice once again.
“All forces defend!”
Felduk was stretched thinly on both flanks as they waited for the enemy in the frontmost lines. At the leftmost wing was Gu Naga Ferun, at the center was Gu Big, and at the rightmost wing was Gu Tough. Behind were Gi Gu Verbena’s soldiers in a length and width formation.
But that still wasn’t enough to take on an army 300,000 soldiers strong.
From an overhead view, to the left of Felduk was Gi Gi Orudo’s Zeilduk arranged in a multi-layered length and width formation that would not allow the enemy to approach. Gi Gi’s current roster of monster beasts was full of rare monster beasts from the west.
They barely managed to stop the enemy by positioning the attack specialists at the back and the defense specialists in front. Though Zeilduk specialized in attacking, they struggled with defense.
“…The monster beasts are angry.”
Gi Ji Arsil said, and Gi Gi folded his arms.
“I wouldn’t blame them. There’s food right in front of them, but they’re not allowed to touch. Anyone would get mad having to endure that.”
Gi Gi was positioned where the powerful carnivorous monster beasts were. At the frontmost lines, the beast tamers were handling dragon turtles and two-horned mud bulls to hold off the enemy forces.
“Gi Zu is among the reserves this time.”
“Only a few can maintain their calm even while their subordinates are being killed. I have experience with that too…”
Gi Ji looked behind and told Gi Gi that. Gi Gi chose his words carefully out of sympathy for Gi Zu.
“He’s just compassionate.”
“Hopefully he doesn’t do anything stupid.”
Even in the casual conversation between close friends, there was concern for Gi Zu’s mental state. But that also spoke volumes of how relatively calm the battle was.
Arlodena had their entire army on the defense to take on the 300,000 strong enemy of Altigand. They succeeded at slowing down the enemy’s forces, and by the time they clashed with their first line, the enemies have already lost most of their momentum.
Alrodena’s forces were confident that they would be able to stop them, and they even had energy to spare.
Pale specifically chose a location too narrow for the enemy’s 300,000 soldiers to deploy. After all, there was no need to choose a wide open plain or some other land form just to intercept them as they gradually descended from the mountains. The best scenario for them was to minimize their capabilities while maximizing theirs.
A general might send out scouts, move his army, and pick his battlefield to avoid falling into such disadvantageous conditions, but the enemy this time had nothing going for them but their great number. A number that could put even the monster beasts at a disadvantage. Not only was there no one to give them orders. Their assault, which should have been unstoppable once started, has been dampened by the relentless, long-range attacks from across the river.
Meanwhile, Alrodena picked a location that allowed them to deploy their whole army, and the enemy just foolishly charged straight for that. With such conditions, even an amateur could tell which side was advantageous.
“Give the signal.”
Pale overlooked the battle from the top of a hill. When she saw that most of the enemy army was about to cross the river, she gave the order for the signal to be given. There was even an expression that resembled pity on her.
