I Became The King Of Crusaders [EN]: Chapter 193

< 193. Masyaf and Alamut (3) >

“Quickly, escort me!”

Masoud shouted, pulling on the reins. Soldiers were tangled together, and the formation had already dissolved into chaos.

“What on earth are they doing….”

At first, everything went according to his plan.

The Frankish [European Christian] knights who encountered them abandoned their camel train and fled.

The Aleppo soldiers rushed to the camels, and that’s when the unimaginable happened.

The camels began to spew fire.

Round jars broke, and flames erupted everywhere.

The soldiers were terrified and ran backward from the relentless attacks.

Then, the Frankish knights who had disappeared reappeared.

“What trickery is this? Camels spewing fire?!”

“Protect yourself, Your Excellency. If we stay like this, we’ll be surrounded.”

The head of the guard said.

“Regain control of the soldiers and retreat….”

“No, there’s no time for that now! Can’t you see those guys?!”

Masoud shouted, waving his finger. A cloud of dust billowed up where he pointed.

The Frankish knights.

They were rushing towards him at a much faster pace than usual.

“Shaitan (Devil)! Shaitan is chasing us!”

“Everyone, run away!”

The man at the front waved a shield with a unique pattern.

A yellow lion on a red background.

Every time he swung his axe, more than half a dozen Muslim soldiers fell.

“What are you doing! Stop those guys quickly!”

“Ye, yes!”

The escort knights rushed out to buy time, but they couldn’t hold out for long.

They too were hit by the axe and fell under the saddle.

“Buy time for the Atabeg [governor] to escape! Everyone, charge at once!”

“Stop that Shaitan! Protect me at all costs!”

As cavalry and soldiers crowded together, Shaitan finally stopped.

“Good! Now, order the archers!”

Masoud shouted, waving his hand.

There was still a chance.

‘If I return to Aleppo, I can gather the army again. If only I can avenge the humiliation I suffered today….’

The screams and shouts erupted at that moment. Another Frankish knight charged, clearing Shaitan’s path.

The sound of iron clashing and armor crumpling shook the battlefield.

“Ah, no…!”

The two Frankish knights rushed straight towards Masoud. Soon, even the head of the guard fell to the ground.

Masoud, who had fallen from his saddle, crawled on the dirt.

Shaitan approached him, dripping with blood.

The face, blackened with soot, was the devil himself.

“Aaaah….”

“You must be the leader of these guys. They called you Masoud or something, right?”

He spoke in Frankish, which he couldn’t understand. Masoud opened his mouth to say something, but only a groan came out.

Shaitan spat on the ground and said.

“You’ll have to come with me.”

Masoud lost consciousness as he watched the man approaching him.

“Sh, Shaitan!”

* * *

“I feel like I’ve become Napoleon.”

“Napoleon? What is that?”

“It’s… complicated.”

I said with a smile.

Operating camel artillery so aggressively.

Kahn is absurdly bold.

Should I say his idea is innovative?

There was a similar situation in history.

Napoleon’s French artillery faced off against the Russian army.

They suddenly charged towards the enemy infantry during the battle of Friedland.

‘Action Front (Charge Forward)!’

While half of the cannons were escorting, the other half charged at the enemy.

‘And then they fired grapeshot at close range.’

The Russian Imperial Guard was literally massacred by this reckless charge.

To recreate that in the 12th century.

I’m glad I put Kahn in command.

“If it were me, I would have run away without thinking.”

Eig scratched his head and said.

“How can you stay still when the enemy is chasing you while spewing fire?”

I shrugged instead of answering.

Unlike a siege, they wouldn’t have been able to prepare fermented urine [used to counter Greek fire].

If you see Greek fire [Byzantine incendiary weapon], you have no choice but to run away. Then the knights who had finished the chase returned one by one.

Richard and William Marshal at the front.

The yellow lion on the shield was blackened by fire.

Both of them felt relief, joy, and excitement.

It felt like they had just finished a workout, not a life-or-death battle.

They swept through very excitedly.

The sight of them breaking through the enemy lines was spectacular in itself.

It was incomparable to what I had seen in the jousting matches before.

“How was the hunt, Duke Richard?”

“It wasn’t bad. The Saracens [Muslims] were weaker than I thought.”

He smiled at Marshal.

“Marshal, you were lured by these guys and lost your horse? You’ve lost your touch.”

“Most of the enemies were horse archers at that time. And they weren’t ambushing like now.”

Marshal said firmly.

“If there were this many infantry among the enemies, we would have won easily back then too.”

“The loser always has a lot to say. Do you have any excuses left?”

Richard laughed and turned to look at me.

“By the way, their leader was really where you said he would be. What method are you using?”

He took out a telescope from his arms. It was something I gave him as a gift before I left Europe.

“Even if I use this angel’s eye, I can’t see properly because of the dust.”

“You’ll have to ask the sky to know the answer.”

I said with a smile.

Then Richard shrugged.

“I pray hard, but there’s no answer. The Lord is still very biased.”

Someone was being dragged from behind him.

Masoud Atabeg.

Saliva dripped from his limp mouth. His condition looks a bit serious.

“I didn’t kill him, so you don’t have to worry. He mumbled something when he saw me and then fainted. To think that such a person is a commander.”

Richard said.

“They kept calling me Shaitan. Do you know what it means?”

“Well, I don’t think it’s a good meaning.”

I said with a smile.

Some things don’t change from history.

Richard attacking at the front, wielding an axe. That’s enough to be called Shaitan (Devil).

“Now that we’ve caught the Atabeg of Aleppo, I think the big problems are mostly sorted out.”

Richard said.

“Wouldn’t it be better to just cut off this guy’s head right now? Then Aleppo will fall into chaos, and we can take advantage of that gap….”

“Even if Masoud dies, his son or relative will immediately take the Atabeg’s seat.”

I shook my head.

Richard’s only problem was this.

Unstoppable momentum.

That’s why he massacred over 3,000 prisoners in Acre.

‘Of course, the superficial reason was that Saladin was dragging out the negotiations….’

Many Muslims vowed revenge and joined the army after hearing that news.

There’s no need to recreate that.

“In the worst case, Saladin might put someone on his side in the position. Then the problem becomes complicated.”

“Well, it would be difficult to occupy Aleppo when Saladin is right in front of us. I know what you’re trying to say.”

Richard said.

“Then what should we do?”

“We’ll release him after receiving a ransom.”

“But if we do that, he’ll return to Aleppo and….”

“He’ll gather the army again.”

But I don’t intend to let that happen.

I had something else in mind.

“I didn’t say we’d receive the ransom right away. We’ll drag out the negotiations appropriately. Then Aleppo won’t be able to participate in the Third Crusade.”

I turned my head.

“The hunt isn’t over yet. Let’s go to Masyaf now.”

The Assassins were still there.

* * *

It was two days after the battle that we arrived in Masyaf. We had already occupied the walls, and all that remained was the inner citadel.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help in this battle, Your Majesty.”

Count Joscelin sighed and said.

“If I had occupied Masyaf a little faster….”

“You don’t need to apologize.”

Richard and I looked at the citadel together.

The enemies inside were still occasionally shooting arrows.

“It certainly looks like a sturdy fortress. We have no choice but to lay siege.”

Richard asked Joscelin.

“Didn’t the other Assassins say they would help?”

“There was no problem getting over the walls. But it seems all the Alamut spies inside were caught by Sinan.”

Joscelin looked at me and added.

“Now that Your Majesty has brought reinforcements, Sinan must have realized that he has no chance of winning….”

At that moment, a shout rang out from the citadel.

“Everyone, be careful! It’s smoke!”

“The Assassins released a smokescreen!”

White smoke poured out of the citadel. The panicked soldiers looked around and shouted.

“Suddenly a smokescreen, what on earth….”

“They’re trying to escape.”

I put on my helmet and got on Balt [his horse]. I didn’t expect them to detonate a smokescreen inside the citadel.

What are they thinking?

‘The smoke will disappear soon anyway.’

Smoke released outside like this was bound to dissipate, unlike inside the citadel.

The effect would only last a few minutes at most.

It was at that moment that figures poured out of the citadel.

“They’re coming out of the citadel!”

“They’re trying to escape! Catch them all!”

The soldiers besieging the citadel shouted, waving their swords and spears.

The siege turned into chaos in an instant.

Some soldiers attacked each other without recognizing each other.

“Seal the gates! Prevent them from escaping!”

I rushed forward and found the Assassins in the crowd.

Their minds were hazy from the drugs.

They were in no condition to fight properly.

‘If we close the gates, they can’t escape anyway.’

The gates were under our control anyway.

No matter how much chaos they caused, it was meaningless if they couldn’t escape through the gates.

Sinan wouldn’t be unaware of that.

Then why did he do this?

“It’s a diversion! They’re trying to distract us!”

I shouted loudly.

Eig, Garnier, Count Joscelin, and others gathered.

“Sinan must be hiding inside. We’ll go in ourselves!”

“No, Sinan wouldn’t have set up such a simple plan.”

I focused my mind.

If I used my sixth sense now, I could identify all the Assassin members in the smoke.

But my goal was Sinan.

He wouldn’t be drugged, would he?

When I closed my eyes, the surrounding emotions poured in.

Confusion and panic.

Faint calmness was felt in between. The emotion I felt when I first met Sinan.

He was moving from the lower part of the citadel to the outside.

“···A secret passage. He’s using the smoke to draw attention while escaping through the secret passage.”

As expected of the leader of the Assassins.

He’s abandoning his subordinates as bait and trying to save himself.

Joscelin frowned and said.

“But we’ve already checked the entire mountain. There are no secret passages anywhere….”

“If it were that easy to find, it wouldn’t have been a secret passage in the first place. Everyone, follow me.”

I said, taking the lead.

Fortunately, Sinan wasn’t moving very fast.

My sixth sense is indeed a specialized ability against Assassins.

“Let’s go to the exit first and welcome him.”

Gustave Doré – Richard I at the Battle of Arsuf (Public Domain)