Reader’S Regeneration Life [EN]: Chapter 270

270―――――

Requiem

The cavalry of Hispania.

No, the blades of the northern warriors were sharp, and their horsemanship was near divine.

Evading the attacks from the Numidians, they thrust their curved swords into the joints or gaps in the armor, or slashed fiercely, or used maces or axes to shatter the armor altogether.

If the opponent was a formidable expert, they avoided direct confrontation, clinging to the side of the horse to attack the enemy’s mount, slicing through its torso or even severing its legs.

The northern nobles of Hispania were well aware of their tactics, but for Numidia, it was not only unfamiliar but something they had never experienced before.

It was a cruel and terrible assault, like the biting north wind itself.

“Kkeueok!”

“Commander!

This is too much!

We must retreat now!

We are outnumbered… Keok!”

As an arrow flew from somewhere and pierced the adjutant’s neck, the nobles leading the cavalry and knights were at a loss, forced to focus solely on fighting while being protected.

They had roamed many battlefields, but they had never encountered archers who shot with such ghostly skill, except for the elves.

“They’re no different from the knights of Hispania after all.”

Zane crushed a cavalryman who fearlessly charged at him, muttering to himself.

The tribes had learned through generations of facing Hispania that they could never win against regular troops in a charge.

Therefore, they researched the knights’ armor, accurately identified their weaknesses, and honed their archery skills to target those areas specifically, a true art of weakness destruction.

Even more impressively, they did this not while standing on the ground, but while riding on horseback!

“Slowly drive them in and hunt them all down.

No survivors, no prisoners needed.”

“Yes, Temujin!”

The northern warriors drove Numidia to their death like prey.

They deliberately feigned weakness on one side, creating the illusion that escape was possible, and the Numidian cavalry were the first to abandon the battle and flee in that direction.

Some nobles also gave up and ran, leaving the knights and other nobles who thought it better to die fighting to defend the battlefield.

“Yoi yoi!”

“Yoi yoi yoi!”

At the signal from the opposite side, Zane frowned.

He was in the middle of enjoying a good hunt, but it seemed like a disturber had appeared.

“Situation.”

“It’s the main force of the enemy.

The cavalry that didn’t chase us are still there, and more importantly, well-trained infantry have formed ranks and approached close by.”

“Can we cut them off?”

“We’ve tried a few times, but it doesn’t seem easy.”

At those words, Zane clicked his tongue.

If they had brought all the warriors from their homeland, they could have formed an even larger and thicker encirclement around the enemy’s main force and devoured them whole.

However, they had to leave warriors behind to protect their homeland and tribes, so joining the battle with slightly less than half their full strength was proving to be a disadvantage.

“Release the encirclement, but chase the enemies who have broken away from the ranks.

We must take the prey that has strayed from the pack.”

“Yes!

Temujin!”

Pee-ik!―

As soon as the signal was given, the northern warriors, who had been engrossed in battle, quickly created distance.

Of course, they kept the enemies in check with arrows to prevent them from recklessly approaching, strongly warning them not to follow.

“Kkeoeok!”

Meanwhile, others turned their horses and chased after the prey that had broken away from the battlefield.

They might have been able to escape somehow in the early stages of the battle, but horses are living creatures, so they were bound to tire and slow down over time.

In that regard, the northern horses, though they looked humble and shabby, did not tire easily.

Thanks to this, the northern warriors rode like madmen, finally catching up with the fleeing enemies.

What followed was the Numidian cavalry, unable to put up proper resistance, collapsing and spewing blood.

“Damn it!”

It was quite agonizing for the survivors to watch their allies being killed one by one in the distance, like prey being caught by hunters.

Even though they were the ones who had abandoned them and fled, they could still return to the unit and be used as forces again if they survived.

It was never pleasant to see them being driven here and there, getting hit by arrows and falling from their horses, or having their tails grabbed and blades thrust into their torsos, or having maces slammed down on their heads.

“Commander!

Our main force has arrived behind us!”

“Chief!

Our allies have come!”

Was this what it felt like to gasp for breath in hell and finally have a lifeline lowered?

Those who had barely held on smiled with relief and glared with tense eyes at the cavalry of Hispania, who might do something strange again—no, at those who could never be called the cavalry of Hispania, those with such cruelty.

“Let’s withdraw for now.

I want to enjoy the hunt more, but many of the warriors seem to be injured.”

“Understood, Temujin!”

The one who was next to Zane waved his hand a few times, and the many cavalrymen moved in perfect order.

Some followed Zane, some went to the flanks, and the rest patrolled the surroundings, threatening the rear as if they would pounce and tear apart anyone who did anything foolish.

“Ibe.”

“…Go and take care of the surviving knights and cavalrymen.

Exclude the ones whose horses can no longer move, and recover the rest if possible.”

Watching the movements of the cavalry from afar, Ibe realized that they were not people from Hispania after all.

If there were such people, they would never have failed to show themselves during the battles with Numidia in the past.

But the fact that they appeared in this war meant that someone had brought someone else from another place and released a beast of prey into this vast hunting ground.

After clearing the battlefield, Ibe sought out the commander of the 1st Army to convey his thoughts.

But when he went to him, there was an unexpected guest.

“Commander, this person is…”

“Ah, please greet him.

He is a precious guest who has just come to our formation.”

A precious guest?

As Ibe muttered to himself and turned his head,

She couldn’t help but stare at that person, no.

‘Elf’ with an expression of bewilderment and ‘why?’

The elf, Silienne, who suddenly visited the Numidian camp, gave a light greeting and opened her mouth with a rather haughty gesture.

“Because you have established the will of light and followed the hearts of the descendants of the great light to this filthy land, we, who claim to be the seeds of those people, have come to help you poor things.”

“…Is that so?”

There are elves in Numidia too.

And they are all the same in that they are obnoxious and pretend to be noble, just like the ones in Hispania.

Ibe knew this well, and because he had just suffered a terrible defeat, he felt annoyed when he saw them, but this was enemy territory.

If he could get even a little help, he had to bow his head, so she tried to hide her feelings.

“We have confirmed that the main force of Hispania is approaching this way.

You know that too, right?”

“We know from your intelligence.”

“Then what about the fact that they have reached this area much faster than expected?”

“…I didn’t know that.”

“Humans are like that after all.

Too slow.

Do you think you can properly carry out the will of the great ones with such slowness?”

‘Why are you coming now when you are so fast?’ Ibe and the commander of the 1st Army had those words rising to the bottom of their throats, but they clenched their lips and endured it.

The side that was in need had to bow first, and the help of these elves, who knew more about the situation in Hispania than they did, was essential for the 1st Army.

“The enemies will be preparing to cross the river soon.”

“Crossing the river?

Why would they bother…”

“Because they would have to go around for four days to use the bridge as usual.

The main force of Hispania is planning to encircle you secretly, taking advantage of the gap when you are temporarily sitting down due to the damage.”

“…!”

At those words, the commander of the 1st Army and Ibe wore quite surprised expressions.

Currently, the 1st Army’s damage was most severe in the cavalry, which was the center of mobility.

Still, the knights fought to some extent and endured, while they were either killed while running away or attacked all at once from the flanks, unable to resist properly and melting away.

In that situation, if the main force of Hispania crossed the river to take advantage of the gap to recover from the damage and attacked this side after shortening the time by four days, then they would have to face the regular army of Hispania in the front and those terrifying unidentified cavalry in the back and sides.

“I saw them already fighting when I looked around just before arriving.

Do you know who they are?”

“They certainly didn’t seem to be soldiers from Hispania.”

“That’s right.

Hispania has brought in humans from the north.

They have called even the dirty and disgusting ones who do not know the will of light at all, who have no interest in it, to the war.”

“…”

“You are those who move for the will of light.

Do not have doubts and act.

Our elves will help you, so you just have to fight with all your might.”

‘We have to fight while watching the situation, so what more can we do here?’

As Ibe looked at Silienne with a slightly hardened expression as if saying that, he smiled and continued, telling her not to worry.

“My comrades are already hiding at the point where the enemies are crossing the river.

A number of 100 people.

If they launch a surprise attack when the advance party and the main force are separated for the crossing, they can inflict considerable damage.”

Originally, the army becomes most vulnerable when it starts crossing the river and the advance party has just finished crossing.

This is because a part of the main force is crossing the river, so the army is in a state of being divided into three without being able to properly form a formation, and they cannot support each other.

‘Although the elves are a race whose intentions cannot be known, they said that they would go to any hell for the will of light.

And since humans cannot follow their archery skills, they will surely be able to inflict damage if they aim for the time when the main force of Hispania is crossing the river.’

Ibe quickly finished calculating and turned to the commander of the 1st Army.

“Commander.

We must mobilize all the remaining cavalrymen and knights.”

“What… They have just barely returned from the battle and are taking a rest.

Many have been damaged, but you want to deploy them again right away?”

“It’s an opportunity.

We have excellent guides, so we can move secretly, quickly, and accurately at night.

On the other hand, those barbarians from the north will not be able to move recklessly at night because they do not yet know the geography of this area accurately.”

Ibe had grasped a certain limit from their movements just now.

Certainly, the way they moved in perfect order and the skill with which they handled their horses seemed certain to be at a level that would allow them to chew up even a decent knight with horsemanship.

‘But those people have never ambushed at night even once.

They move in the evening and at dawn, but they don’t move when there is no sun at all.’

Night combat is a completely different battlefield from day combat.

And for those who move as if they are one body, night combat, where even a slight situation can go wrong, is a battlefield they want to avoid as much as possible.

If even a little bit goes wrong and the support from one side is delayed when the other side is rushing in, even those who are skilled in horsemanship will lose their speed and become fixed targets.

“There are also reserve cavalrymen who did not participate in the battle.

And I heard that the damage to the knights is not as great as I thought.”

“But…”

“It’s an opportunity.

We must move secretly at night and somehow inflict damage on the enemy’s main force.

If we continue like this, our entire 1st Army may be surrounded from the front and back.

If we collapse before the main force can capture Klausen, the main force will no longer be able to maintain the siege!”

At Ibe’s strong argument, the commander of the 1st Army groaned and fell into thought.

As she said, there were still reserves left, and the knights resisted strongly and minimized the damage.

It would be a lie to say that they were not tired, but it was not as if they could not fight if asked.

The tip of their 1st Army was still sharp, and they could stab anywhere if they wanted to.

“Decide quickly.

The sun will set soon.

If you are going to do it the way you want, now is the chance.

Looking at it, it seemed that the ones who attacked you also retreated temporarily to recover.”

As time passed, the northern warriors would come and go around again and grab their ankles.

This was the opportunity, right now, when they had created distance to recover their forces.

They might not have thought that they would make the best counterattack on the very day they suffered the worst defeat.

‘If the elves watch over the surroundings, it is a story that is possible enough.’

The commander of the 1st Army also made a decision and nodded.

He was planning to send a separate unit as quickly as possible to surprise the main force of Hispania, while their main force would roam around this area and keep the attention of the northern warriors on this side.

“Then prepare immediately.

Honestly, I didn’t want to stay here for a long time because there were too many human smells, but it worked out well.”

Silienne put on his bow and left the barracks first.

The commander of the 1st Army was wondering who to entrust this important mission to.

“Commander.

I want to go this time.”

“Ibe?

This is a separate unit.

There is no formation of infantry, so it can be really dangerous.”

“I want to go and see the site directly and make a decision.

Please send me.

My father didn’t send me just to watch the battlefield in a safe place.”

“Kkeueung…”

At Ibe’s words, the commander showed a sign of hesitation for a moment.

She was the only daughter and successor of Ethermo Gi Lestion, who was the Minister of Numidia and could be said to be a completely different person from the nobles who foolishly shouted only the will of light.

If she was injured or captured as a prisoner, it would be one of the worst things that could happen, but Ibe was clearly an outstanding person.

She would be a benefit, not a burden.

He himself had benefited from Ibe several times within Numidia.

“…I understand.

Then go together.

But you have to be careful.

Now that Ibe’s identity has been revealed to our army, someone may leak it if you are caught.”

“I will keep that in mind.

I will inflict as much damage as possible on the main force of Hispania, so please focus the attention of the enemies on this place with the main force in the meantime.”

After the story of Ibe and the commander was over, a group of Numidian troops began to move in the middle of the night to the place where the Hispania main force was preparing to cross the river.

It was something that should not be done to move troops of this size in the middle of the night, especially in enemy territory where they did not know the geography accurately, but it was possible because the elves who lived in Hispania volunteered to be guides, and above all, it was possible because they took action immediately after suffering a great defeat.

‘…And maybe.’

Ibe, who strongly insisted on this operation, thought of one in a million cases.

If Sion Klausen, whom she knew, was surely in the main force, and even in the front of that main force.

If they could injure that hero of Hispania in this surprise attack, or if God really helped them and they could kill him, they could completely break the morale of Hispania.

‘We’ve already been hit hard, so we have to hit harder and more painfully to win.

It’s also a good way to hurt their morale or pride rather than giving the troops a big wound.’

It was something that the Numidian soldiers alone could not have dreamed of, but the elves were helping them.

If Sion Klausen was there in the midst of the chaos and they could confirm his location, it would not be difficult for them to snipe the hero of that kingdom.

Ibe bit her lip and decided to bet her life on this operation, which could turn the tide of the war.