Dungeon Defense (WN)

Chapter 82: Watchdog of Humanity (8)

* * *

It was 2 in the morning when Kurz received the report about the night attack.

“D-Deputy Commander. We received urgent news.”

“Yeah. Considering the state in which you ran here, it must be huge.”

Contrary to when he was with his superior, Kurz was now talking in a casual tone. This is Kurz Schleiermacher’s usual demeanor.

Although he earnestly said ingenuine words when talking to his aristocrat superior, when he was only with the members of his unit, he acted like some uncle. This was a characteristic that formed as a soldier defending the fortresses. He couldn’t act like they were simple soldiers when they’ve been living together for over a decade.

The sergeant felt frustrated. Certainly, his attire was a mess since he had run here immediately after he received the message, but wasn’t Kurz more disorderly than he was? Kurz was sitting with his feet on the table and he was loudly chewing on dried meat. It was like he was experimenting with how far a human could go to look like a delinquent.

However, he must have been handling military affairs as he was looking at some documents with furrowed brows. A candle was lit this late at night. The sergeant felt confused about whether his superior was a diligent person or not as he gave his report.

“The enemy is attacking. A signal fire has been lit at the blue fortress.”

“A night raid!?”

Kurz shot up and fixed his posture in an instant. He straightened his military uniform and put on some chainmail armor. Kurz tried to figure out the reason behind the enemy’s night raid as he diligently put his equipment on.

“Wake up the rest of our kids. Even the fellows from the gold fortress.”

“Understood.”

“Tell them that they do not have to visit the barracks. Move with haste!”

The soldiers moved so quickly that it didn’t take more than 5 minutes for them to all be lined up and ready despite this being an order to dispatch in the middle of the night. This isn’t because they’re elite soldiers. It’s because Kurz had informed the sergeants beforehand of the possibility of an attack by the enemy at night. The slowest person to finish their preparations and arrive was none other than the aristocrat officer.

“Deputy Commander Schleiermacher! What is the meaning of all this fuss in the middle of the night?”

“A night raid, Your Excellency. The Demon Lords intend to conquer the blue fortress before we can arrive on time.”

“W-What!? That’s bad!”

The noble’s eyes opened wide. There was still gunk around his eyes. Normally, Kurz would’ve pointed it out, but there wasn’t enough time for that right now. Kurz spoke clearly so that his superior and the soldiers around him could hear him.

“There is nothing to worry about. The enemy has noticed our plan to leave the fortress and attack them directly. They are under the mindset that they must attack the blue fortress before they are done in by us. They are being impatient!”

With torches burning around them, Kurz’s voice rang clearly throughout the open space. His words were logical and contained confidence. There were enough rational facts used as the foundation of his words to persuade others. The soldiers burned with anticipation as they engraved into themselves the reason why they must fight and why they must risk their lives in this battle.

“This does not alter our plan. The two enemy units must be currently pressuring the blue fortress. Among those two units, one of them is right before us, in the darkness ahead. They are showing us their rears. Let us go forth and lash their backsides!”

Kurz felt a renewed sensation of pride towards the imperial army.

‘Politics will always be a mess, but we protect the empire from outside threats. If we keep this up, then the inner workings of the country will one day change. The rigorous battles we carry out will lead the empire, no, all of humanity, to a brighter future!’

He cried out.

“Tonight, we will be heading out without packing up any supplies from the quarters. The key point of this battle is carrying out an all-out surprise offensive. We will crush our enemies to death while the blue fortress is blocking the enemy’s feint attack. We will not be bringing provisions with us for the sake of advancing as hastily as possible. We have no other choice but to wipe out the monsters and receive supplies from the blue fortress!”

The nobleman could feel Kurz’s passion.

“……Schleiermacher.”

“There will be no second chances in this battle! If we succeed, then we will wipe out the enemy. If we fail, then our bones will be buried here. Archers must accurately pierce our enemies’ eyes, and I will not forgive a single spearman if they leave the line of battle. We shall seize victory! Your Excellency! Please order our men to march!”

The noble nodded. The panic he felt after being awoken late at night vanished as a dignified expression replaced it. It’s good to know that this person hasn’t forgotten what his role is. Kurz smiled. The boy in front of him may be a dunce, but he’s a good dunce.

The noble shouted.

“Advance! Sieg Kaiser Habsburg!”

The soldiers roared.

“Sieg Kaiser Habsburg!”

“Sieg Habsburg⎯⎯!”

For the glory of His Majesty the Emperor, for the glory of Habsburg! The soldiers all shouted together. No one had to even take the lead as everyone began to sing the traditional anthem of the fortresses in unison. Just as they had been trained to do so for the past 10 years, the troops quickly got into formation and began to march quickly. The darkness didn’t slow their advance even slightly. This is the Black Mountains. They are the owners of this land and this land is practically like their front yard. ⎯⎯We’d rather be buried here than lose!

“Deputy Commander Schleiermacher, what happens if the blue fortress is captured before we arrive……?”

Kurz quickly looked around. He was the only one to have heard what his superior had just said. The sergeants were busy dispatching the scouts and getting everyone in line. Kurz let out a mental sigh of relief. This idiot! Why is the commanding officer saying something so pessimistic?

Even if he’s only a figurehead commanding officer, he’s still the commanding officer. You can’t let the soldiers know that even the commanding officer is uncertain of their victory. Even if defeat is right before their eyes, you must remain firm. Fortunately, the noble had lowered his voice before speaking……. He isn’t completely careless, Kurz thought.

“That will not happen. We have been sending out scouts periodically to check our enemy’s movements. Just an hour ago, it was confirmed that the monsters were still in their encampment. Therefore, at most, an hour has passed since they began to carry out their strategy. With only an hour, they should not have arrived at the blue fortress yet.”

Kurz was thorough. As long as the advisor on the side of the Demon Lords isn’t a fool, they should understand what will happen if we come out with the intent to divide and conquer them. What choice will they make?

They only have two options. They can either make a sudden retreat or attack the blue fortress before we can make our move to strike them. ……They chose to not retreat. Even though they’ve already lost in terms of strategy, they decided to fight until the very end.

Kurz sneered. War is something you fight after you’ve already won. In spite of having already lost, the opposition is trying to turn this situation around. In other words, they’re being stubborn. Are they feeling confident because they have 5 ogres? In any case, their advisor is a fool.

Of course, he also acknowledges the fact that the outcome of war is unpredictable, so strategic defeat and victory can be overturned. However, that’s like a gamble. It isn’t just a normal gamble, it’s an utterly cruel and selfish gamble that uses the lives of your soldiers as betting chips.

The Demon Lord armies are only on that level. They don’t treat the monsters as subordinates but as disposable tools. It’s good if they win, and they don’t lose anything if they lose. They might be treating the situation like this. Kurz was certain that there’s no way the imperial army of Habsburg would lose to such individuals. It wasn’t a question of strength. They were on completely different levels as armies.

“Believe in our allies, Your Excellency. The men of the blue fortress are also elite soldiers like us. They should be able to endure the enemy’s series of attacks for at least six hours.”

“Six hours. Six hours, is it?”

The noble murmured. He was trying to convince himself. Kurz was satisfied with this. This was the noble’s first large-scale battle. It isn’t weird for him to feel nervous. He did his role of showing his dignity when he should as the commanding officer of 2,500 elite soldiers. That was more than enough. No one expected any strategic ability from this boy.

“Monsters discovered ahead of us!”

A scout came back and reported. It hasn’t been more than 2 hours since we started our march.

“The monsters are attacking the blue fortress!”

Kurz clenched his fist. The fortress is still holding up! It’s as expected, but things not going as expected is a norm on battlefields. With this, everything he had been nervous about has been wiped clean.

“Did you confirm it with your naked eyes?”

“It was dark, so I could not confirm it. Nevertheless, I could clearly hear the sound of shouting and metal clashing.”

Good, Kurz nodded as he proceeded to give orders. His aristocrat superior had officially given him the authority to command the troops. Currently, the one leading 2,500 imperial soldiers was Kurz Schleiermacher, a man who used to be a common soldier. The leading officers of each fortress gathered and began a discussion.

“Shouldn’t we ambush them?”

“The monsters have better vision than us during the night. They will most likely notice us before we arrive.”

“We should be able to make the Demon Lord leading the monsters panic. If we do not give them the time to think, then…….”

“I will make a signal fire and notify the fortress that we have arrived.”

Be it the noble commanding officers from the red or gold fortresses, they all remained silent. The deputy commanders who had been defending the Black Mountains with blood and sweat for decades were the only ones talking. Kurz, who was in essence the supreme commander, spoke.

“There are 500 monsters in front of us. While we are pressuring both of their flanks, a unit will cut through the center of the enemy’s formation. We will split them into two groups. Both flanks will then increase their pressure and wipe each side out.”

“The strength of the center unit is the key factor of this operation. Who will take this position?”

“I, as the major general, will lead the cavalry and break through the center. As you can tell, the effort of our soldiers is more important than commanding them elaborately. We will join up with the blue fortress as soon as we have wiped out the foes immediately before us.”

That’s all there is to this operation. The blue fortress is playing the role of the anvil for us. We simply have to act as a powerful hammer and strike at our enemies. They will undoubtedly get wiped out helplessly.

“Attack!”

The commanding officers turned their horses and stood at the lead. There was a need for commanding officers to be positioned at the lead during night battles. This is because it’s difficult to give commands. With the commander at the lead, morale increased among the soldiers. It wasn’t long before the soldiers were giving a battle cry and charging forward. This will lower the effect of our ambush, but it’ll increase our battle power.

“Your Excellency, I will take command! Please retreat to the rear!”

“I am also a soldier of the empire! I cannot leave everything to my adjutant! Despite how I may appear, I am a rank 4 warrior! I can protect myself!”

The noble shouted as he steered his horse forward. Kurz let out a loud laugh. His superior officer went beyond being an okay fool and was a brave fool! Not bad. Although he was a noble who was dispatched to the fortresses because of his political connections, the fact that he wasn’t a coward was enough for Kurz to give him a passing score. 

They closed the gap between them and the monsters in an instant. They were able to confirm the location of the monsters despite being under the cover of night. The monsters must have known they were coming as shield-bearing orcs were standing in a line.

In a moment, the thrill of battle filled Kurz. His eyes were ablaze. How foolish! Do you think you can block the imperial army’s advance with that!? His horse must have felt his rider’s rage as it ran forward more powerfully. Kurz held up his spear and let out a cry.

“Tear them apart!”

The soldiers roared like a pack of wolves. 200 cavalry soldiers collided against the shield of orcs. No matter how well trained shield-bearers are, it’s impossible to block the charge of a horse. As Kurz crushed an orc along with its shield under his horse, he felt an explosion of emotion wash over him. It was the rush of war. He kept releasing a beastly cry.

Kurz wrapped an aura around his spear. He then charged into the 2nd line of orc shield-bearers that were trying to line up to stop the cavalry. The steel spear wrapped in an aura sliced a shield in half and penetrated through an orc’s chest. His horse stepped on the monster’s corpse as it fell over. In the blink of an eye, the line of shield-bearers was breached. The rest of the cavalry poured into the newly formed gap like a tsunami. Kurz was aware that he had penetrated the enemy’s formation by himself.

“Kuhahahaha!”

Commanding Officer Kurz had vanished and rank 3 warrior of the imperial army, Kurz, appeared on the battlefield. Every time he swung his steel spear, the limbs of orcs flew into the night sky. There was no need for him to even deal with goblins. His horse crushed them under its hooves on its own.

Ogres, where are the ogres!? Kurz instinctively sought out his foes. It may have been because of his limited vision in the dark, but he couldn’t see any ogres. If so, then this meant that the flanks had to deal with the ogres. This wasn’t an issue. In terms of manpower, they had an overwhelming advantage. Sure enough, the two groups of 1,100 soldiers respectively charged into the monsters that had been split into two sides.

Kurz instinctively knew that they had won. The Demon Lord army had tried to conquer the fortress as fast as possible, but they failed. Rather, their unit of 500 soldiers ended up getting breached helplessly. This meant that the only soldiers they had left were the 500 monsters on the other side of the fortress that were currently carrying out a siege. To make matters worse for them, they have no high-tier monsters like ogres on that side. It’s over! They have no possible way of blocking an army of 2,500 imperial soldiers!

Right when Kurz was about to go with his fellow cavalry to wipe out the rest of the monsters, the noble approached him and shouted. His sword was drenched in blood. For the first time ever, Kurz saw his superior in a good light. There was nothing in the world that invoked comradery more than fighting together.

“Kuhuhu, you are quite impressive yourself, commander!”

“Adjutant! This is clearly weird! Were these monsters truly in the middle of sieging the fortress!?”

What is he talking about? Kurz furrowed his brows. The goodwill he felt had vanished. He slew another orc before shouting.

“Are there not ladders placed upon the fortress!? It is obvious!”

“And yet none of them are even near the fortress!”

“They must have backed away after they noticed our approach from behind! Damn it!”

Kurz inadvertently let out a swear. However, it was impressive enough that he didn’t shout at the noble and call him a fool. This was different from usual. The thrill of battle was currently coursing through him. His ability to be formal with his superior was long gone.

“But look! None of our allies are on top of the fortress! If they know that we have arrived, the least they could do is let out a cheer!”

“Our allies?”

Kurz looked at the ramparts. He couldn’t see clearly, but there was definitely no sign of life around the torches on top of the ramparts. No, there were way too little torches lit. They were being sieged in the middle of the night. Naturally, they should’ve lit as many torches as possible……. The wrinkles on Kurz’ forehead thickened. It didn’t make sense. It was as his rookie superior had said, they should have cheered when they saw us in order to raise morale……but why? Why was there no response?

The cry of monsters echoed all around us. Kurz was startled. This wasn’t a cry that could’ve been made by only a few hundred monsters! This needed at least a thousand! More than a thousand monsters were roaring at the same time!

“Adjutant!”

The noble looked at Kurz with a pale face. A chill went down Kurz’s spine. He didn’t know what had happened, but there was one thing he was certain of. Kurz’s instincts were screaming at him. This place is going to become Hell soon!

“Your Excellency! It’s a trap! We’ve fallen into a trap! We must retreat immediately!”

It was at that moment. The gates of the fortress that had been completely silent opened. Kurz quickly turned his head. He saw a group of soldiers pour out from the gate. They weren’t humans. They were monsters.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I accidentally lowered my guard. I thought there wouldn’t be any online classes because of the 5 day holiday, but I was wrong. I found out yesterday that my professors all put classes up, so now I have to quickly work on those assignments. I hate this.

Putting my suffering aside, I hope you guys have been enjoying the chapters. I still haven’t decided which series to resume translating due to my recent busy schedule, but I’ll let you guys know when I’ve decided. 

I’ll see you guys on the next release.