Chapter 54: The Astonished Elves: The Land Battle, Part 2
The beastkin army continues their fierce charge without any fear or hesitation of any damage they might sustain.
“Hmph, those beasts… Same as always charging head first, huh?”
“Burn down them all, ‘O spirit of fire…'”
The elves are firing a continuous barrage of magical attacks, dealing blows to the beastkin.
Tens, hundreds, thousands, as the beastkin’s army casualties, increased and their battle formation fell into disarray. Among the beastkin, there are now those who fear death and have already started to flee.
However… It’s impossible to completely crush the onslaught.
A single shot of magic has enough firepower to defeat a beastkin, but it lacks the ability to fire in rapid succession. The thing about magic is, “O spirit of fire… ” You have to cast the spell to activate it.
A trained elf soldier can fire a magic every 30 seconds.
Not to mention, the beastkin army was twice the number of the elf army.
Even if they take a hit, the surviving soldiers can launch a desperate counterattack before the enemy’s next attack comes… It is not impossible to break through the barrage of magic.
……Of course, the only reason this feat was possible in the first place was because of the indomitable spirit of nationalism, the focus solely on speed and minimal equipment, with the exception of the homeguard pike.
If one is wearing heavy armor, their charging speed would decrease and they would end up being under fire for a longer period of time. Even if the rate of fire is slow, if you approach slowly, you’ll end up taking more hits.
Reduce the number of hits taken, even if it means giving up on defense. If you can reduce the number of causalities that way, it’s the better method.
It could be said to be a kind of devilish rationality.
“Whooah, I’ve got it!”
And then, a collision.
Finally, the spear of the beastkin who was in the forefront reaches the dark elf’s throat.
At this moment, the two armies clash and engage in close combat. However, at this point, the elves were still not in panic.
“What would you do just by getting close… Activate the Sword Creation Art――Magic Sword!”
Some draw their swords while others materialize blades using magic power from their staffs and move into melee combat.
The elves knew from the start that they couldn’t annihilate their enemies with a magic barrage.
The magic barrage is neither a machine gun nor a rapid-fire cannon. After all, it’s a medieval or early-modern level of attack at best. It’s impossible to annihilate a massive army using only long-range attacks.
However, if they can reduce the number of enemies and significantly disrupt their battle formations, that would be enough.
The enemy is exhausted, while their side is fully prepared.
If they fight in this situation, it’s logical that the elves would win even in a melee fight. That’s how it was until now… No matter how many they fight with beastkin, the elves have never lost.
……Furthermore.
“Alright, now. Aim for the enemy’s rear and deploy the Imperial Guard Cavalry.”
“Yes sir, as Your Excellency Chyornyj ordered.”
Consul Chyornyj is giving orders from the top of the palanquin.
He decided to deploy his elite heavy cavalry here.
This cavalry resembles medieval European knights. Heavily armed cavalry in full plate armor.
However, the armaments are different from those of a usual knight.
The weapon that the average knight typically carries is a “lance”, but what they carry is a weapon that is an integration of both a “staff” and a “lance”.
A versatile weapon that handles everything from cavalry charges to magic attacks.
Perhaps a magic knight would be an appropriate term.
The full mobility of a horse, the defensive power of full plate armor, and the firepower of magic.
With high-level offense, defense, and mobility, it truly is this world’s main battle tank.
Disrupt the enemy line with a barrage of magic from the magic infantry then crush the disorganized enemy in one fell swoop. This is the ideal tactic, a true winning pattern.
But, the beastkin also won’t just go down without a fight.
“Damn you, beastkin. You’re pretty good!”
“We can’t push them. No, the enemy’s offensive gets more intense over time. Damn it!”
The casualties of the elf infantry on the frontline began to increase rapidly.
The cause is―― the Homeguard Pike.
The main equipment of the elves this time is a staff. And their close-combat weapon was a sword or some other weapon that was easy to carry.
In contrast, long spears are advantageous in close combat. They can attack almost unilaterally by forming a line of spears and then stabbing the enemy with their spear.
At the beginning of the clash between the two armies, the battle was evenly matched due to the disruption of the battle formations, but as time went on, the beastkin army’s battle formation was organized and the spear line formed over time…
Being outnumbered, the situation for the elves gradually became more disadvantageous.
This has never happened before.
The reason is that the beastkin army’s equipment was miscellaneous and unorganized.
Each of them only had whatever weapons they could find, so they couldn’t do something like making a line of spears to fight.
In any battle, it eventually becomes a melee, falling into combat under nearly identical conditions with no weapon advantage.
It is exactly for this reason, that the elves who can deal a blow to their enemy through magic in advance are able to win.
It should have been.
However, in this battle, the beastkin army that has been equipped with a unified set of weapons is different. There was no chaotic melee brawl, facing the line of spears, the elf army was almost unilaterally torn apart.
Moreover, the predicament of the elven armies continues.
There was another advantage to the spear.
“Lion tribe troops in the back row! Enemy cavalry is incoming! Get in the square formation and take a defensive stance!”
The rear of the beastkin army.
The elven magic heavy cavalry attempted to swiftly reinforce their comrades in the frontline by doing a surprise attack from behind, but… In the rear line of the Beastkin army――King Leon’s elite force of lion tribe soldiers, quickly formed a square formation at the king’s command and took up a defensive position against the cavalry.
“O spirit of fire… ――Darn it, we can’t get close like this!”
The elven cavalry trying to disrupt the solid battle formation by releasing flame magic…
The soldiers in the first and second rows of the beastkin army become a wall of flesh to prevent it. The soldiers in the rear are fine, they thrust out their spears, glaring at the elf cavalry.
As expected of the so-called King of Beasts.
“It’s like a needle mountain. If we charge into something like this, we’ll be the ones who suffer.”
“Tch… For a mere beast, with a mere spear, against this great elf…”
A magical attack is not enough to determine the winner.
However, they are not reckless enough to charge into a line of spears.
Thinking it would be better than doing nothing, they launched magic attacks from a safe distance, but it wasn’t enough to change the course of the battle.
It’s ‘only’ a spear, yet still a spear.
They all charge in with their spears without wearing armor.
With this alone, the elves’ winning pattern is being sealed, and if anything, the frontline elven infantry battle formations are being pushed back.
And finally…
“No, it’s no good. We are retreating!”
“What, a retreat? Do you think we elves would retreat in front of lowly beast!? Don’t you have pride as an elf?”
“No! This is a tactical retreat for our next attack! Keep your distance and fire your magic!”
One of the frontline commanders of the elf army, unable to bear the losses to his own forces, gives an order to his unit to retreat.
Despite all the justifications, it is actually a simple retreat.
And then, that trend spreads throughout the entire elf army.
“Those bastards! They ran away!”
“It seems they are retreating to launch magic attacks.”
“I see, that’s a brilliant idea! This is not a retreat, it’s a strategic repositioning!”
The elves rushed to disrupt the battle formation and then began to retreat. They are calling it a strategic repositioning, but the situation looks more like a retreat.
They say they’re going to launch a magic attack, but there’s no way to do it without any control.
“Y, Your Excellency Chyornyj! The soldiers are beginning to retreat! We must escape immediately… No, let’s change our course!”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s right. Bring out the palanquin! Have the imperial guard cavalry be my personal guard. Turn back, we’re returning back!”
The battle has been decided.
Putting aside their true feelings, they do not feel they are losing. They are trying to convince themselves that this is not a retreat.
However, such a thing is now completely meaningless.
No, had they acknowledged their defeat, their elven pride might have been triggered, leading them to mount an all-out defense, refusing to accept defeat.
However, according to them, this is a ‘strategic retreat’, and not a ‘defeat’, so they can not stay out of stubbornness.
As a result, they fled in disarray.
“Oooh! The elves have started to run away! It’s a victory for us beastkin!”
“Uoooh! Praise King Leon! Young King! The great Beastkin King!”
The dark elves are running away.
The beastkin celebrating their victory let out a roar of victory.
In this way, with twice as many troops, the beastkin army was able to use their numerical advantage to defeat the elves.
Of course, the price they pay is not cheap.
While the elven army suffered losses of around 5,000 casualties, the beastkin army suffered losses of 8,000 casualties. Because of the amount of damage taken from magic attacks, the damage suffered by the beastkin side was greater than the other side.
As a result, it prevents them from being able to pursue the elves.
But at the very least, they should be allowed to rejoice in their momentary victory.
The problem is with the Dark Elves.
The Black Elven Empire is a country surrounded on three sides by enemies: Beastvania to the west, Albatross to the east, and the Moruro Empire to the north.
Despite being surrounded by enemies on all sides, the elves have continued to thrive and prosper, due solely to their superior magical abilities.
Because the elves were strong, they were able to stand against enemies from three different fronts and successfully protect their territory.
But, what about it?
Losing to the Yamato warships at sea, then to the beastkin on land.
Losing to the beastkin in particular is fatal. After all, the head of state, Governor Chyornyj, had gone to the battlefield.
“Our army is vulnerable to close combat. We need to improve this.”
“The human’s ship was made of steel. Our military will also build a similar ship to combat them!”
These two defeats would be received as a major crisis by the dark elves.
In order to survive, they will have to carry out large-scale military reforms.
All for the next war.
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