Chapter 420: Last Man Standing Part II

Johan squeezed the trigger of his rifle, causing the needle to protrude through the paper cartridge, thus striking the percussion cap embedded within. This reaction ignited the gunpowder propelling the .451 caliber projectile down range and into the skull of an oncoming Crusader.

Crusader would be the most appropriate word, as these men were fighting a holy war against the Granadan Army and their reformist Austrian Allies. Despite being mere peasants who had picked up a weapon for the first time in the name of God, these fearless warriors of christ were genuinely deserving of the term.

The Colonel of the Austrian Regiment continued to fire upon the advancing enemy alongside his soldiers. However, no matter how many bullets were sent down or how many crusaders they killed in combat, the Catholics never seemed to run out of troops.

If not for the entrenched positions and their protective helmets, the volleys of arrows fired upon their location likely would have caused far more casualties than they currently had suffered. However, right as Johan thought about this, the crackle of gunfire and the smoke of gunpowder spewed into the air, as lead balls fell downrange and onto the Austrian positions.

From the other trench line roughly a hundred feet away, the Crusader Arkebusiers had begun to unleash a volley of fire. A single lead ball clanged against Johan's stahlhelm as he fell back from his position and hit the floor. He was heavily dazed as a nearby soldier checked on his condition.

Ultimately the steel helmet was removed from his head, where he gazed upon a massive dent on its surface with awe. If not for this standard-issue helmet, his life indeed would have been taken at that moment. After regaining his clarity of mind, Johan placed the dented helmet back upon his skull, where he shook off the soldier who was checking on his condition.

"I am alright! Don't worry about me; continue to fire on the enemy position!"

With this said, the soldier immediately saluted his commanding officer and returned to combat. Johan quickly unscrewed the lid to his canteen and took a sip of the purified water within before stowing it back on his belt. After doing so, he checked to see if his rifle was loaded once more and poked his head over the trench line.

By the time he was back in combat, another volley from the Arkebusiers was fired on his position. Though it was woefully inaccurate at this distance, it was in such a volume of fire that it was not uncommon for the Austrian defender to be hit by the projectiles.

Luckily, they wore advanced steel armor, which defended their vitals from the primitive weapons that their enemies used. With this in mind, Johan aimed down his iron sights onto the nearest arkebusier. He fired his shot, the .451 caliber cylindrical projectile propelled downrange and through the kettle helm of the arkebusier, splattering his brains across the nearby sandbags.

Unfortunately for the enemy, their medieval armor was no match for the advanced weapons of the Austrian Army. Having fired his shot, Johan immediately pulled back the bolt on his gun and reloaded another paper cartridge before firing once more on the advancing enemy.

Undercover of arkebuse fire, the Iberian infantry rushed towards the trench line; before long, Johan found himself engaging in melee combat with a peasant levy, armed with a spear as he ran into the Austrian trench.

Johan immediately lifted his rifle in the air where he deflected the oncoming spear before shifting his balance and thrusting his ten-inch steel blade bayonet into the peasant's gambeson armor, piercing directly through it and into his flesh. After doing so, he retrieved his bayonet and no longer paid attention to the corpse in front of him.

Instead, he loaded another shot and fired on the next wave of Crusaders who charged towards their deaths like madmen. Before long, the Peasant levies were spent, with only a few hundred of them remaining. However, just when the Austrians thought that victory had arrived, the Knights and Men at Arms of the Kingdom of Portugal as well as their Crusading Allies rushed across the no man's land and into the trench.

These men were heavily clad in iron and steel armor, and thus the bayonets would not be nearly as effective on them. The Iberian heavy infantry unleashed their swords and maces upon the defending Austrians without fear of death. Unfortunately for the average Landwehr, they were not as well trained in melee combat as those who had trained their entire lives in such arts.

Bodies of Austrian soldiers began to collapse around Johan as he struggled to fend off a Knight of Portugal. Before long, he felt the hot sting of steel penetrating through his flesh as a longsword stuck through his back. Luckily for him, it had missed all of his vitals. However, it was enough to cause him to drop his weapon.

In response to this, he quickly withdrew his revolver and fired a shot through the torso of the knight before him before turning around and firing another through the man who had backstabbed him. He had four shots remaining as he collapsed against the wall of the trench, firing off another shot at a nearby man at arms who was about to slay one of his soldiers.

The bullet pierced through the man's helmet and claimed his life, causing his iron-clad body to collapse on top of the wounded Austrian Landwehr. Johan struggled to his feet as he tried to rally his surviving men against the oncoming attackers.

"Hold your ground! Reinforcements are on their way! Hold your ground!"

As the Austrian defenders heard this, they began to fight with every fiber of their being, yet by now, only a few hundred of them remained. With this in mind, Johan reached onto his belt and pulled out his spade, which was sharpened for close-quarters combat. With a revolver in one hand and a blunt weapon in the other, he began to walk through the trench line while bleeding out his back.

Johan began to fire upon nearby Iberian soldiers with his revolver while striking others across the helm, concussing them in the process; he did not stop bashing their skulls in until their helmets had been completely cut through by the sharpened steel edge of the spade.

Upon seeing how effective the spade was, his remaining soldiers tossed away their needle rifles and unleashed their entrenching tools, which proved to be lethal within the tight confines of the trench line. The Iberian Knights were forced to half-sword their weapons as they struggled to kill the Austrian Defenders.

Steel clashed with steel as the Austrians fought with everything they had; Johan parried an oncoming blade with his entrenching stool as he fired his lash shot directly into the forehead of his attacker. After doing so, he tossed his revolver aside, where he began to batter away at the Crusaders. Outnumbered and overwhelmed, the Austrian Landwehrs fought on, desperate to defend their position until reinforcements arrived.

By now, Johan had lost a lot of blood from his back wound and began to slow down, the adrenaline and endorphins in his system began to fade, and he struggled to move his limbs as he engaged in combat with the enemy. Eventually, he collapsed into the mud, struggling to retain his consciousness.

The crusaders disregarded him as a corpse and continued to cut down the remaining Austrian soldiers. Eventually, only one soul remained alive within the Austrian Trench line; the Crusaders had killed all of its defenders, except for Johan, who was now struggling for breath as his body was kicked over to reveal a heavily armored Knight wearing the Royal Arms of Portugal on his tabard. This man was a member of the Portuguese Royal Family. The man gazed down upon Johan through his bascinet with a look of disdain on his face as he uttered his contempt.

"Fucking Heretic!"

Right, when the man was about to bring down his sword, the echo of gunfire resounded in the air, and his skull was blown apart. Johan could roughly make out the sound of Austrians screaming the battle cry "For King and Fatherland!" as a wave of ten thousand Germans opened fire upon the Crusaders contained within the trenches.

As the Colonel faded into unconsciousness, the last thing he saw the sight of muddied puttees belonging to an Austrian soldier who had climbed into the trench and rush into battle against the Iberian Forces. When he awoke a few days later, he would come to find that he was the lone survivor of his Regiment who successfully managed to defend the Granadan Border until reinforcements could arrive.

Roughly 2500 Austrian men died in the trenches, while the reinforcements successfully annihilated the Portugues and Crusader forces. Though, as they arrived, the Portuguese King had escaped the battlefield and fled back to his Home in Lisbon.

The aftermath of this battle would be considered a heroic last stand by a group of Austrian Landwehrs against overwhelming odds. King Berengar would later posthumously award every soldier who died in this battle some variant of the Iron Cross, as a symbol of bravery for the men who gave their lives to secure the Granadan Border.