Chapter 212: Child of God

***Arc 9 One Who Sent Off, Chapter 212 Child of God***

In the plains southwest of Wulfenite, a battle unfolded between the Holy Empires cavalry archer and the Central General, Elzard Gokhals.

At the fortress tower, with a scar over one eye, a blade wound, and a bristly beard.

"Soldiers, don't think of it as a battle. Shoot when they come. This is a simple task. Turn those fools who dare to come out into a hedgehog."

The well-built general spoke calmly but with a resonant voice as he gave instructions to the soldiers.

It was indeed a simple battle.

It had been anticipated that the archer cavalry would head towards the central part of the kingdom.

In the center of the kingdom, they had temporarily housed the villagers there, taking all food from the village, and just needed to wait for the enemy to self-destruct.

After the cavalry archers came through, they spread out the countless screens they had prepared across the plains, stretched ropes, and prepared to defend against the enemy's bows and breakthroughs, using these as the axis for a thorough defensive battle.

Not only the archers, but the infantry were also equipped with crossbows lent to them by Arna.

"With the situation set up like this, it's a child's play."

"That's right, I even pitied them."

The adjutant nodded at Elzard's words and looked at the enemy.

They had caused a lot of damage in the first assault and the enemy probably thought that it would be difficult to break through.

The enemies fired arrows from a distance that was barely within their range, but that distance was also within their archers range.

The enemy's attacks became sporadic, and the enemy cavalry archers were twiddling their thumbs half a ri away.

When it comes to fighting on the plains, there was nothing in this world that rivaled cavalry archers.

The terrifying aspect of archer cavalry lay in their mobility.

They could freely choose their battlefield and attack with an advantage――their attacks were essentially always surprise attacks.

And without falling into a disadvantageous position, cavalry archers would never be taken by surprise.

Because they could just run away from a battle they couldn't win.

They only need to engage in battles that they can win, and if they cannot fight head-on, they can cut off the enemy's supply routes or attack while marching, reducing the enemy's strength and gaining an advantage.

But now they had no freedom.

The issue of dwindling provisions had deprived them of choices.

Now they were just archers on horseback.

Their strength was only supported by strategic factors.

Since they were on horses, they were a large target, so they couldn't fight head-on against archers and win, they also didn't have the ability to take over defensive bases on their own.

Since the start, the central army that came to Wulfenite had a significant number of archers.

In anticipation of this.

The losses were greater on the enemy side, who numbered 20,000, rather than them.

The victory was already decided.

The enemy lost the moment they entered the royal capital.

"...The truly terrifying one is Alberinea, huh"

The defensive battle against the three major powers ended as planned in a little over a month.

A force of nearly 400,000 were defeated effortlessly.

This 'shooting target competition' that Elzard was holding was already planned two months ago.

At the beginning of the war, he had thought that she had taken the situation too lightly, but everything turned out as planned, and Alberinea defeated the two countries in half a month.

Honestly, Elzard couldn't imagine what kind of magic he used.

10,000 cavalry archers――a formidable opponent.

Originally, it was not an opponent that could be dealt with a force that was only 20,000 at most, but Alberinea was able to suppress the enemy.

With just one strategy, Alberinea lured them out into the open.

It was an easy battle, but it wasn't Elzard's achievement.

What they were doing was not annihilation, but a defensive battle――even if Elzard was not the one defending this place, the situation would not have changed.

"There's no room to use my brain, and it's not an interesting battle, but... I should be grateful that there were few deaths among the soldiers. We'll be able to return many of them to their families."

Elzard Gokhals said this while closely observing the state of the enemies and his soldiers.

Reduces the troops losses and increases the enemies losses.

The tactics were simply that.

Not using any schemes or trying to win by brute force.

Simply wore down the opponent, exhausted them, and secured victory. This General's battle lacked brilliance but was backed by a stable calculation.

The condition of his allies and enemy, and the enemies' movement.

By keeping the battlefield undisturbed, he simply focused on his thoughts in a calm and collected manner.

"The horse's stamina won't last long. They'll pull out soon, but they'll probably come once again at night. The enemy will be targeting the right wing――prepare some ambush with that in mind."

The enemy commander kept glancing in that direction.

The left wing――the mountain side was being stretched thin, but the enemy would be wary of this blatant weakness and thought there was an ambush in the forest at the foot of the mountain, and wouldn't touch it.

However, there were no ambush soldiers on that side.

It was a bluff to make with the assumption that the opponent would become wary on their own.

There was no reason to uselessly prepare soldiers there when the plain they were defending was more than vast enough already.

The right-wing side was somewhat hilly, making it quite difficult for horses to pass.

Therefore, they reduced the number of troops on that side――or at least made it look like it.

The enemy was light cavalry who were skilled at handling horses, they would probably cross there.

So he had hidden an ambush there.

The enemy was frightened of the rain of arrows.

Right from the start they suffered heavy damage and their morale was low――but they were starving and had no time to recover.

There was no doubt that they would try to break through from the right wing, even if they needed to suffer some damage.

The key to winning in psychological warfare was to make your opponent predict.

Make your opponent believe they've figured out your intentions.

The enemy thought they had seen through the blatant setup on the left wing.

Then, they discovered that there was a hole in the right wing.

They were superior and the opponents were inferior.

That kind of thinking was enticing.

Especially in dire situations.

The ability a general needed was the ability to create an appearance of 'incompetence that the enemy just barely understands'.

Elzard didn't think highly of his own abilities.

He was far from achieving a glorious victory with his own strength——yet, there was a reason why he had achieved numerous victories.

War was not only a battle between soldiers, but also a psychological battle between generals.

And a loss in psychological warfare was a loss in battle.

There was no need to force himself to succeed.

The result would be the same if he just lured the enemy to fail.

He admired the brilliance of Alberinea, who made the impossible possible, but he was not of that caliber.

"I'll take a nap in preparation for later. I'll leave the rest to you."

"Yes sir, leave it to me."

Elzard Gokhals' virtue lay in his calm self-reflection on his abilities more sincerely than anyone else.

——As night approached, panic spread among the Holy Empire army.

The commanders raised their voices to rearrange the battle lines, but that was the best they could do.

They were exhausted, both psychologically and physically.

For the past few days, they had buried the 'slaughtered corpse' of their comrades and today watched as their allies were killed while climbing the city walls.

Since that Alberinea showed up, they have had no joy of victory or sense of accomplishment.

Morale may have improved somewhat thanks to the night attack that was to be carried out tonight.

But it was never conducted, and they were pinched from the front and back.

The soldiers, who had finally been released from their "labor" yesterday and were working in the encampment behind the camp, were dazed and prettified seeing an army of 20,000 appear from behind them.

They understood.

The reason why they were released so easily was simple.

Alberinea released them in order to once again kill the 'missed' one in the northern army.

They couldn't imagine any other reason.

Every one of them understands the mad killer known as Alberinea.

The devil who smiled and looked down at them calmly as they were dissecting the corpses.

The army behind them begins to prepare their battle lines, raising the kingdom flag and the thunder and eagle emblem.

Krische Alberinea Christand

What was there was Alberinea's――Christand's main army.

Many people know the old thunder and falcon, the emblem of Bogan Christand.

A hero of the kingdom who has defeated Elsren Holy Empire many times.

They knew that that emblem was that of the strongest army in the kingdom.

Even the army of Nozan Verreich, who was the commander of one of Christand's corps, was already that strong.

If that's the case, just how strong was the Christand's main army?

Once one understood the overwhelming strength of the leader, Alberinea, the 20,000 troops approaching from the rear seemed like a 100,000-strong army.

They are unaware that except for Black Flag Special Force, there was little difference in the pure combat power between the Verreich army and the Alberinea army.

However, the rumors they knew, the presence of Alberinea, and the psychology of the situation deprived them of the ability to make a sound judgment.

Naturally, the Alberan side had to leave troops on the fortress walls, and they also had no choice but to allocate their forces to deal with the army attacking the south side.

15,000 on the front, 20,000 on the back.

Even there it was reduced from 40,000 and was sandwiched between the front and back, the number of troops was almost the same as Lukazan's main army.

If the 35,000 troops on the south side was included, it can be said that Elsren has an advantage in military strength.

If they all maintained their morale and carried out their command perfectly, there is a possibility that they could have fought a proper battle.

But, of course, Alberinea had no intention of fighting a 'proper battle'.

The first thing they saw was a giant soldier with blue eyes over eight shaku tall, and a griffin cavalry soaring into the sky from behind.

As the griffin cavalry passed through the empire army's battle lines, something was scattered and a blue flash of light appeared.

Sounds are explosions and screams.

It was aimed to create confusion in the middle of forming the formation, not too many in number, and the damage was at most a few hundred.

But the soldiers had no way of knowing that.

The blue light inside the north wall――they were stunned to see what it was up close and personal.

Just by flying in the sky and scattering it from the sky.

That alone gives the enemy the means to kill them.

There was no way they could fight against such an opponent.

"Don't be afraid! The damage is small. Get in line!!"

The commander shouted.

But even the commander couldn't hide his trembling.

Baszler Lukazan told them that the enemy didn't have much of it left, but――even if that were the case, morale would not be maintained if they continued to act like this.

The presence of the Griffin Cavalry that appeared in this situation was a threat comparable to a large army of ten thousand.

Following the giant soldiers, the Verreich army also gradually appears.

They were beginning to form a battle line.

From atop the castle wall, Alberinea was seen with the sunset behind her, her purple eyes shining.

She treats a Suiko, who no average human could even stand up to, like a pet.

Sitting on it and looking down on the battlefield.

Beside her, a griffin cavalry descended carrying a soldier in black armor.

Despite its petite stature, it looked gigantic.

Graceful silver hair shone like gold in the light of the sunset.

Despite her small stature, they felt she was gigantic.

Or perhaps, a God.

Alberan――The land where the Child of God descended.

This anecdote was deeply passed down even to the Elsren Holy Empire――which was one of its half in the past.

A baby who didn't cry was born into a small tribe.

Children of God who were once called Children of Oracles.

They were given wisdom from birth, and they shared their power with others, guided them, and swallowed up the surrounding tribes――and thus, the Founding King Bazariche was born.

From the very beginning, the history of Alberan had been one with the Baby Who didn't Cry.

And after the loss of the last righteous Child of God――Elsleine, it was believed that the Child of God was lost in Alberan as well.

But what they saw in front of them was exactly that.

The Semi-mythical tales of Baby Who didn't Cry.

The Child of God of today, who was said to have won the Mana (true name) of the ancient dragon, was here to show her ability to live up to these anecdotes.

She destroyed trebuchet with a single throw of her spear, slaughtered soldiers like ants using weapons that were beyond their comprehension.

An evil being reminiscent of the Child of Evil God――Grabaraine, who once swept the continent and plunged it into fear.

That was indeed Alberan's Cursed Child.

Those who know history lose their thoughts and just stare at her figure in disbelief.

They shouldn't have challenged such an existence.

Elsleine had no children.

Therefore, the righteous Son of God did not exist in Elsren.

Grabaraine, who conceived many.

The evil bloodline was still deeply rooted in Alberan.

Again, the griffin cavalry rose to the sky.

Alberinea riding a Suiko――the heavenly sword, pointing the licentious curve of the blade toward the sky.

The fourteen black giant soldiers shined with their blue monocular eyes.

Explosive sounds and screams engulf them once again.

It was not a battle.

――Victory and defeat was already decided.