Chapter 552
You sure brought back a lot. (1)
The approaching Ritania forces numbered around a thousand.
In this time of war, the only military units that moved in such small numbers were reconnaissance squads.
“Fenris… the Mobile Corps.”
Leonard quickly identified them with his keen eyesight.
Each and every one of them was clad in proper full plate armor, with the emblem of a wolf engraved upon it.
There was no doubt they were the Fenris Mobile Corps.
Rather than approaching the village directly, they formed a wide perimeter at a significant distance.
At that range, it would be difficult to maintain a tight siege. Naturally, their encirclement appeared loose and scattered.
“Hm…”
As Leonard observed in silence, one of his subordinates spoke beside him.
“What should we do? We have far superior numbers. If we fight, we have the advantage.”
Even though only half of their forces had arrived, they still had a staggering five thousand troops. If they truly set their minds to it, breaking through would be entirely possible.
“If you take command, Commander, we could even annihilate them.”
If Leonard personally led the battle, their strength would increase significantly.
He despised revealing himself, but whenever he did, he had never once faced defeat.
Even so, Leonard remained cautious.
“Let’s observe a little longer.”
His reluctance to step forward was similar to Helgenik’s, but for a different reason.
Helgenik lacked fear his skill gave him that confidence. His battle style as a necromancer meant he rarely needed to exert himself directly.
But Leonard was different. He wasn’t deliberately trying to exhaust the enemy like Aiden.
He was a man who moved only when he was certain he could completely sever his enemy’s throat like a wolf waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
It was precisely this prudence and meticulousness that had allowed the Revolutionary Group to survive until now.
“Then why aren’t they moving?”
Leonard tilted his head in confusion.
The Mobile Corps had surrounded the village but showed no signs of advancing. The villagers had already spotted them and were growing restless.
The village was likely debating their next course of action as well. A force of this size approaching meant they had been discovered.
Leonard clenched and unclenched his fist, deep in thought.
‘If the Duke of Fenris is here…’
Gartros had warned him multiple times just how dangerous the Duke of Fenris was. His reputation for strength was well-known.
But Leonard himself was also a superhuman. He had always kept thirty percent of his true power hidden.
‘If I unleash my full strength… could I win?’
Even in Ghislain’s past life, opinions on Leonard’s true abilities had been divided. That was because Leonard had never fought head-on he had always chosen to flee.
That’s Why They Called Him the Eighth Strongest.
Even those among the Seven Strongest on the Continent had failed to capture him.
Because of that, there was even a joke that Leonard might secretly be the Eighth Strongest.
That was how much of an enigma Leonard was.
‘The odds are fifty-fifty… no, if I join the fight, our chances of winning are slightly higher.’
Their forces outnumbered the enemy five to one. If the villagers joined in, their numbers would grow even more.
If he launched a surprise attack on part of the Mobile Corps from the rear and managed to pin down the Duke of Fenris…
‘It’s worth a shot.’
No matter how strong the Mobile Corps was, not all of them were knights. They also had a fair number of knights on their side, many with extensive combat experience.
Leonard usually didn’t move unless his chances of winning were at least eighty percent. But the prey was too tempting to simply run away this time.
After double-checking his escape route just in case, Leonard slowly stood up.
“I’ve only heard rumors about their skills… I guess I’ll see for myself. We’ll hit them from behind.”
His subordinate grinned. Even to him, it seemed like a reasonable gamble.
“Understood. Once you attack from behind, everyone will move immediately.”
Even now, Revolutionary Group members hiding throughout the village were starting to emerge. They weren’t fools they knew they had been discovered.
Yet, even as the revolutionaries gathered and formed their ranks, the Mobile Corps simply held their siege and didn’t move.
To any observer, it looked like they were intimidated by the vastly superior numbers.
In this situation, the Revolutionary Group was more likely to try and annihilate the Mobile Corps rather than flee.
A heavy tension filled the air between both sides.
Just as Leonard was about to stand up, he felt a tremor beneath his feet and stopped.
“Wait.”
Dududududu!
More troops were approaching.
This time, it looked like another thousand or so. They also had a number of carts in tow.
“…Our chances just dropped.”
If the Mobile Corps had two thousand soldiers, they could match the Revolutionary Group’s five thousand.
Leonard hesitated again. If the odds were fifty-fifty, his rule was to never gamble.
Yet, he couldn’t quite shake his reluctance.
As he debated, the enemy suddenly started behaving strangely.
“Huh? What are they doing?”
The Mobile Corps, which had been maintaining the siege, began clustering in groups, assembling something.
They were connecting the shafts of their spears together, working quickly and efficiently.
Even the revolutionaries inside the village watched in confusion, curious about what they were doing.
In the blink of an eye, the Mobile Corps had assembled a number of strange contraptions from their spear shafts.
The soldiers pulling the carts began unloading massive stones beside them.
Leonard, who had been tilting his head in confusion, suddenly widened his eyes.
“…No way.”
That siege weapon he’d only heard about in rumors?
Was it actually real?
Before anyone could come to their senses, stones began to rain down relentlessly toward the village.
Boom! Boom! Booooom!
“Uwaaah! What the hell is that?!”
The Revolutionary Group, which had been neatly gathered in the center of the village, suddenly found itself under a barrage of stones.
Being clustered together made it all the easier to crush them to death with the rocks.
The Mobile Corps said nothing. No call for surrender, no declaration of war nothing at all.
They simply bombarded the village, launching stones as soon as they were ready, turning the entire place into rubble.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Stonebrook Village was being utterly destroyed people and buildings alike.
It must have been satisfying for the attackers, but for those on the receiving end, it was a nightmare.
“Scatter!”
“Run!”
“Get out of here, now!”
There was no way to withstand a siege weapons’ attack in an unfortified village.
There was nowhere to hide, either. Those strange siege weapons were so powerful that they demolished the buildings with ease.
The Mobile Corps hadn't spread out their forces for no reason. They had deliberately maintained their distance to launch their barrage.
Standing still meant getting crushed by the falling rocks. The Revolutionary Group scattered and ran.
But there was nowhere for them to escape. The village had already been completely surrounded.
One by one, they were caught and slaughtered by the Mobile Corps as they fled.
“Gaaah!”
“Please, spare me!”
“I surrender! I surrender!”
The Mobile Corps showed no mercy. Even those who surrendered were not spared.
They simply cut down anyone who came near, killing them all without hesitation.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
And still, the catapult bombardment did not cease. It was as if they intended to completely wipe this place off the map.
Leonard was left speechless at the absurd sight before him.
“……”
What kind of army started by hurling rocks and obliterating everything in sight?
Yet here it was, a reality. The Duke of Fenris was even more brutal than the rumors had suggested.
Leonard lowered his body once more. The dense trees and undergrowth concealed him well.
His subordinate, looking flustered, whispered urgently.
“W-what should we do?”
“……”
The battle was already as good as over. If they had planned to break through, they should have attacked before the wagons arrived.
Instead, everyone had hesitated, wasting time forming their ranks, and now the moment had passed.
Of course, no one could have imagined such a ruthless assault.
Leonard bit his lip a few times before finally speaking.
“We retreat.”
There was no chance of victory. He wasn’t foolish enough to let pride cloud his judgment.
The two of them slowly withdrew from their position.
They were on the mountainside at a fair distance, so getting caught was unlikely. Still, they moved cautiously as they slipped away.
After covering a significant distance toward the opposite side of the village—
“There they are!”
A crow suddenly appeared and let out a cry. Looking around, Leonard noticed several more crows scattered about birds that didn’t quite belong in this mountain.
With a baffled expression, he muttered,
“A crow… can talk?”
One of the Dark’s clones, No. 3, who had been closely watching the area, shouted,
“You think you can escape my sight—”
Boom!
Before he could finish, Leonard drew his sword and flashed forward, cutting Dark No. 3 down in an instant.
It was a shocking turn of events, but there was no time to dwell on it.
Leonard could feel it an overwhelming presence approaching from a distance.
“Run. If you get caught, you’ll die.”
“Huh?”
His subordinate looked confused, but Leonard ignored him and bolted forward. He was so fast that his subordinate could barely keep up.
“C-Captain! Captain! What are you even talking about…?!”
The panicked subordinate struggled to chase after him, but Leonard was already out of sight.
Running on a mountainside was no easy feat. There were too many obstacles. Something was clearly wrong, but he couldn’t understand what was happening.
They were in a position overlooking the Fenris Forces. Even if the Fenris Forces spotted them, it would be difficult for them to give chase.
The subordinate kept running, convinced they would be able to escape.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
That was until he saw the figure tearing through trees and rocks like a mad beast.
“H-Hiiiiiik…!”
He turned around and gasped in terror.
Something was chasing him something impossibly fast.
He clenched his teeth and forced his body to move faster, but there was no way to shake it off.
Thud!
“Guhhh…!”
Leonard’s subordinate was caught by the scruff of his neck and thrown to the ground.
Ghislain looked down at the fallen man and grinned.
“Well, look at this. He already ran off?”
“P-Please, spare me!”
“And who are you?”
“I-I’m Leonard’s adjutant!”
“Oh, yeah?”
Ghislain pulled out a hand axe and slammed it into the adjutant’s shoulder.
Crunch!
“Gaaahhh!”
“Where did that bastard go?”
“I-I don’t know! I swear, I don’t know!”
Crunch!
“Aaaagh! I’m telling the truth!”
Ghislain licked his lips as he watched the adjutant scream in pain.
He was probably telling the truth.
Leonard had been the same in his past life.
Whenever battles broke out, he would always lurk nearby, watching from the shadows. Given that he had gathered this many troops, he was bound to be somewhere close.
From the very start, Ghislain had sent Dark members to search the area, but they had failed to find Leonard. The man was careful so cautious that they only managed to catch him when he revealed himself while fleeing.
“Have you decided where to regroup if you retreat from here?”
When Tarim was asked, he confirmed that no such plan existed. Whether they would join forces with the Atrode Forces or retreat was to be decided only after ambushing the Allied Forces from behind.
Still, since the man was an adjutant, Ghislain figured he might know something more and decided to ask.
“N-no, there’s nothing! But…”
“But what?”
“There was an order to retreat to the Kingdom of Grimwell in case of defeat.”
“Hmmm…”
That was something Tarim had also mentioned. Those men were hardened by pillaging, so even if they scattered, regrouping wouldn’t be an issue.
“Alright, if that’s all you have to say, just die.”
“P-please, spare me!”
Crunch!
Without another word, Ghislain swung his hand axe.
There was no more useful information to be gained from this man.
It was a bit disappointing to have lost Leonard, but annihilating the Revolutionary Group's ambush unit was enough for now.
“Well, I never expected to catch him in one go anyway.”
That was always the problem when dealing with Leonard. He never fought directly. If he had just shown himself properly, they would’ve been able to capture him somehow.
At least Amelia had the guts to face armies head-on. Unlike this coward, she didn’t just watch from the sidelines before running away.
“I’ll have to set a trap soon.”
Once the Kingdom of Atrode was crushed, there would be no avoiding another confrontation with Leonard. He would likely stay on the sidelines again, so a way to capture him had to be devised.
Clicking his tongue, Ghislain descended the mountain while Dark chattered noisily beside him.
“Damn it! My No. 3 got blown to bits! That guy was crazy fast! Definitely a Transcendent!”
Dark had fought plenty of Transcendents before. They could at least gauge their opponent’s skill level.
Ghislain chuckled and asked,
“How did it feel getting hit?”
“He was stronger than the Salvation Church Priests. The priests were more like ‘PaaAAACK!’ but that guy was just ‘PaACK!’ You get it?”
“Hmmm, I figured as much.”
Having never clashed with Leonard directly, Ghislain wasn’t certain of his strength. He only knew the man was incredibly powerful.
As Ghislain casually chatted with Dark while descending, knights came running toward them, dragging a bound man along.
Even as they ran, the knights made a commotion.
“My lord! Look at this bastard!”
“He’s a big deal! A big one!”
“And he fights pretty damn well too!”
Judging by their tattered state, the knights had struggled quite a bit.
Of course, their opponent was in no better condition. He was beaten to a bloody pulp. The Fenris Knights never fought one-on-one.
The bloodied man, covered in wounds, was so battered that he could barely stand.
Ghislain grabbed his face to take a better look and was immediately taken aback.
“This guy is…”
His face was too swollen to recognize.
He had really been beaten to hell and back.