Chapter 168

As I watched in slight disgust, the ceremony finally ended.
Everyone was cheering loudly, so it must have been a success. I suppose.

By the way, the place we were currently standing was the final defense base that had been made into a fortress.
If it turned out that we had to fight here, it would mean that General Miralda was already dead. That was the kind of place that it was.

Yes. In other words, the General was going to fight.
The entirety of Miralda’s army would be involved.

“Halm and Minish, take your soldiers and get in position.”
“Yes.”
“As you wish.”

The Crystal Dragons Halm and Minish were not only General Miralda’s Adjutants, but they were both, in fact, Lesser Demon Kings as well.

Their names were written on the Tablet of Control. And it was these two, along with the General, who would lead the army.
Being led by Lesser Demons Kings…what a luxury that was.

“They outnumber us. Just take down any who are in reach.”
“Understood!”
“Understood!”

Halm and Minish took their Corps Commanders and left the main camp.

“Golan. You will be staying with me. I want you to witness how a Demon King’s country battles.”
“I understand. I will be sure to avoid getting in your way.”

“You should stay in the back of the camp. However, it’s not guaranteed to be safe either. But if something happens, Dyle will know what to do. You will obey him.”
“Yes. Of course.”

We were to stay behind General Miralda and her soldiers.
Usually, that position was left to soldiers who were capable of communicating with and understanding the others.

You had to be able to read the tide of battle. You didn’t want to get in their way during a retreat, or to slow down reinforcements coming from the back.
However, a retreat was not even being considered for this battle. And so the fighting force would be concentrated towards the front.

Once Halm and Minish’s armies were out of sight, it was our turn.

“There is a river to the left and a forest to the right. You must stay on your guard and watch the forest at all times.”
Dyle explained the battle formations to me.

First, there was a river that ran from the north to the south. A great river. It was very wide, and would be difficult to cross on foot.

The battlefield would be on the riverside, and the closer you got to the water, the more gravel covered the ground.
And it was on the left side of this river that Miralda’s army was placed, in the echelon formation.

Halm’s army took the position that was the closest to the bank, and Minish’s army settled behind him to the side.
And likewise, Miralda’s army was behind her and to the side.

The enemy’s goal was to destroy Miralda. That meant they would have to bring their great army to the far back.

However, they could not ignore the two armies on the way, which meant splitting up.
The good thing about this echelon formation was that if Minish’s army won, they could immediately attack the rear of the enemy army.

It would be the same if Halm’s army won.
He and Minish would be able to launch a pincer attack. So if the enemy wasn’t careful about how they split up, it could easily turn into a disaster for them.

In other words, Fonval would have to allocate a decent number of soldiers towards Halm and Minish.

And even if both Halm and Minish were defeated, this echelon formation ensured that the enemy could not attack Miralda from behind.
The only way the enemy could move their soldiers was to have them follow each other.

“The problem is the forest to the right.”
I had sent Flying Eagles to search the forest from above.

For the past few days, soldiers who could fly had been sent from both sides in order to scout out the area.
There had already been some aerial battles, and some had died.

Still, as both sides had flying soldiers, the sky above our heads was at least safe, and there was a wide perimeter where they could scout freely.

On the other hand, there were many flying races circling the sky near the enemy camp.
If our men went too close to them, they would quickly be surrounded and knocked out of the air.

“There are five groups of one hundred to two hundred soldiers hiding in the center and outer rim of the forest.”
Came the report from one of the Flying Eagles.

So, there were soldiers in the forest. One to two thousand in all.
Well, it wasn’t unexpected.

However, we did not have extra soldiers that we could allocate towards such ‘distractions.’
And so there was nothing we could do to stop the forest becoming the enemy’s domain entirely.

“Here they come.”

The enemy showed themselves at the area where the forest ended.
They were split into three groups and outnumbered us. However…

“Where is the main army?”
Dyle said in a suspicious voice.
I too squinted my eyes. A Rahab was not someone you could miss, and yet he was nowhere to be seen.

General Fonval, the Dragon Eater was not there.
In other words, the main army was being held back. Saved for later.

And so the battle between the enemy army and Halm began.
We could hear shouts and clashing from our position, but could not tell how the tide of battle was moving.

But at this point, the other army was likely moving towards us.

“The next battle has begun.”
I nodded at Dyle’s words.
The sounds were a lot louder than the ones that had reached us earlier.
So Minish’s army was fighting.

Now it was just the main army led by Miralda.
Of course, this would be where the enemy would throw their greatest fighting force.

“Show me your power!”
“AAAAYYYEE!”

The ground shook, and then the battle with the main army began.

“I doubt the front will crumble, but the enemy might still claw at us to try and disturb the rear. So stay on your guard.”
“Of course.”

We were Dyle’s independent corps.
In this battle, Dyle was given the authority to act in any way that he saw fit.

That meant we would be allowed to flee if necessary. However, I doubted any one of us would even consider it.

“Now that I think about it, Fonval has still not shown his face.”
“I’m sure he’ll appear when it matters most. So the leader of this army is…a Pain Serpent, huh?”

A giant snake was going berserk, crushing both friend and foe alike.
So that was the chief of the enemy army.

I had never seen anything move so wildly. Soldiers on both sides were flying into the air.

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Makai Hongi