The Failure Marquis Is A Genius [EN]: Chapter 87

12. Subjugation: The Confirmed Failure

Two hours before the operation began.

Amelia divided the two thousand soldiers she received from High Elder Richard, placing one thousand on each side of the Twin Tail Gorge cliffs.

Furthermore, she stockpiled logs, rocks, and fire arrows, preparing to unleash a rain of destruction should the human army attempt to pass through the gorge.

Amelia took every precaution.

She had no doubt.

She was absolutely certain she would win.

The enemy’s forces, facing the Twin Tail Gorge, predictably halted their advance and set up camp at the entrance.

Their twitching movements clearly indicated hesitation.

Seeing the enemy’s reluctance, likely due to the thorough beating they received from Baron Lloyd before reaching the gorge, filled her with satisfaction.

‘No matter what you try, you can’t pass through here unscathed. And you can’t even throw spears all the way up to the cliffs.’

Amelia wore a triumphant smile.

And it didn’t take long for that smile to vanish.

“Lady Amelia! The human army is entering the gorge!”

“What?”

It was a report she could hardly believe.

Amelia widened her eyes and focused her mana to scan the area below.

Indeed, the massive human army was slowly moving forward.

The sheer number of people moving created a thick cloud of dust around them.

“Are they really advancing?”

“Well…”

“Speak clearly!”

“It appears so.”

How could she trust such a vague answer? They were either moving or they weren’t.

“What do the scouts say?”

“We recalled them all to the headquarters to avoid spear attacks. We can’t confirm the situation.”

“Are you just going to stand there? Send them out right now!”

“Understood!”

The adjutant hurried away.

Meanwhile, the enemy had already moved more than half of their forces into the gorge.

Amelia chewed her fingernails as she watched.

‘This can’t happen.’

She was too anxious.

The gorge wasn’t particularly long.

They could march through it in about three hours.

By the time the scouts assessed the situation and returned, more than eighty percent of the enemy would have passed through the gorge.

Attacking the tail end of the formation after the main force had escaped would be like locking the barn door after the horse was gone.

‘And to top it off, the weather is awful.’

It was a foggy day.

She could see the human army moving, but the fog made it difficult to get a clear view.

Normally, she would just rain fire down on the gnats that were foolishly walking to their deaths.

Why did she feel this nagging sense of unease?

‘The Baron Lloyd I know would never make such a foolish choice.’

Did the enemy really not know that they were ambushing them here?

That insane commander who had somehow detected and perfectly countered every trap and ambush they had set up before?

She pondered and pondered.

Even so, the human army was moving cautiously but steadily.

All of their troops had already entered the gorge, and the vanguard would soon be emerging from the other side.

At this point, a thought suddenly occurred to her.

‘Are they bluffing?’

From failed assassinations to trap detection and the annihilation of ambushes.

The elves had suffered defeat after defeat.

Were they openly walking into a trap, underestimating the demoralized commander, and trying to see who had the bigger balls? [Testing their resolve and courage]

The thought made her blood boil.

‘What am I even doing?’

High Elder Richard was a shrewd man.

The reason she had risen to become the second-in-command of the elves was her powerful strength, sharp mind, and quick adaptability.

But ever since she refused the High Elder’s blessing, things had been going wrong.

Scott, who had been competing with her for the second-in-command position, had received the blessing and become clearly stronger than her.

Moreover, the strength of the enhanced warriors who had received the blessing after him was gradually reaching a level that threatened her.

If she couldn’t compete in terms of strength, she would have to overcome it with her judgment and leadership, but if she failed at that as well, her position in the elven race would shrink to the size of a pinhole.

Amelia imagined reporting her failure to High Elder Richard, and her head spun.

“Lady Amelia! Make a decision! The enemies will be out of the gorge soon!”

The adjutant’s urging touched a nerve in her mind.

The thread of her patience snapped.

Finally, she shouted.

“Attack everyone! Send them all to hell!”

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

The drums echoed.

The elves, who had been waiting for this moment, unleashed a mighty roar.

“Waaaaaaa!!!!”

Fire arrows were fired all at once.

The rain of fire turned the narrow gorge into a sea of flames in an instant.

At the same time, the axemen cut the ropes holding the rocks and logs in place.

The tumbling trees and stones, driven by gravity, completely crushed the area below.

“Kuaaaaack!!”

“Save me!”

The screams of humans could be heard from below.

Only then did Amelia feel relieved, and the elven soldiers were filled with elation.

“Waaaaaaa!!!”

Nothing could stop the rising momentum of the elves.

They relentlessly poured down all the arrows, rocks, and logs they had.

The merciless bombardment continued until all their weapons were exhausted.

After a while.

The gorge was a mess.

If there were any survivors in the burning gorge covered with trees, stones, and logs, it would be a miracle.

Even if there were, it didn’t matter.

They would go down and exterminate the remaining vermin.

“Everyone, descend. The battle is over.”

“Descend!!”

The leading elven soldiers, repeating the order and preparing to descend the cliff in an orderly manner, stared at something and froze in place.

“What? Why are you standing still?”

The soldiers grumbling from behind soon had no choice but to stand still like the soldiers in front.

The human army, in top condition, was surrounding them.

It was the Liang Guardian Army and the Blue Hawk Mercenary Corps, which Henon had prepared in advance.

“No!”

“How?”

“!!”

Unlike the bewildered elven army, the morale of the Guardian Army and the Mercenary Corps soared.

Campbell and Aiden from the Guardian Army, and Zion and Rakan from the Mercenary Corps, drew their swords and pointed them at the elven army.

“Soldiers! The time has come to punish the pointy-ears! Don’t let a single one survive!”

“Waaaaaaa!!!!”

The human army surged forward like a tidal wave.

The panicked elves were thrown into chaos.

Eventually, cornered, they looked for their leader, Amelia.

“Lady Amelia! It seems the troops passing through the gorge were fake. What do we do now?”

In fact, the one who felt the most cornered in this situation was Amelia.

What could she do when all the weapons were used up?

“Shoot arrows.”

“We don’t have any arrows.”

“Damn it! Then draw your swords! We have to fight!”

A dark cloud hung over the faces of the elves as they looked at the approaching six thousand human soldiers.

Soon, the clash between the two forces began.

Clang! Clang! Clachang!

Blood splattered and flesh was cut.

A helmet containing a head rolled on the ground, and a soldier with a hole in his neck coughed and collapsed.

The number of deaths was overwhelmingly higher on the elven side.

They had the geographical advantage of occupying the high ground, but the humans had three times as many soldiers and plenty of arrows.

They couldn’t engage in ranged combat because of the arrows, and they didn’t have enough numbers to engage in close combat.

No matter which option they chose, the result would be defeat.

Realizing the reality, fear gripped the faces of the elves, and it quickly spread into a collective panic.

“Uwaaaaa!!!”

Eventually, some elves couldn’t stand it and jumped off the cliff.

Although it was a considerable height, it was better to jump into the fire with a sliver of hope than to stay on the cliff and be skewered by human spears and swords.

The first one or two were difficult.

As the number of those who showed the way increased, other elves jumped down like sheep following the herd.

The number of elves holding out on the summit decreased exponentially, and the human offensive pushing up from below became even more intense.

“Damn it.”

Amelia muttered.

The target of her curse was, of course, Henon.

It was all his fault from beginning to end.

All the series of disasters were caused by underestimating that nasty human.

“Lady Amelia! You must escape! We’ll all die if we stay here.”

“Where to? Do we have anywhere to run?”

“I’ll try to break through the escape route.”

The adjutant took out his sword and steeled his will, but it was impossible.

“Stop it. If you want to live, you can’t go there.”

The only way out in this situation was, ironically, the very gorge where they had just poured all their arrows.

She drew her sword from her waist and prepared to jump.

“Let’s meet again alive.”

Then she jumped.

Even as she fell, she cursed Henon.

He was a truly wretched human.

* * *

Below the Twin Tail Gorge.

As soon as the elven army’s all-out attack began, I ordered the soldiers.

“Hide around the golems!”

There was so much falling debris that they would be skewered or crushed by rocks if they just hid haphazardly.

The sturdy Wood Golems and Stone Golems acted as umbrellas for the soldiers, smashing the falling logs and rocks with their fists.

Some clever soldiers dug holes in advance and hid inside.

Everyone knew that an attack was coming and was well prepared, so everyone responded calmly, and there were few deaths and injuries.

“Uwaaaaaack!!!”

“Aaaack!”

“Damn it!!!”

After securing their safety, they screamed as loudly as they could, as promised in advance.

This was the reason why they entered the gorge with soldiers who had good voices.

The screams they made would surely be conveyed to the elven army above the gorge, and the excited enemies would waste their projectiles more quickly and surely.

How long had it been?

The attack, which seemed like an eternity, stopped.

The Twin Tail Gorge was a mess.

The original path could not be found, and the smoky fumes rising from the flames mixed with the fog, inducing a suffocating feeling.

[Self-purification activated]

Fortunately, the druid’s passive skill was activated, preventing carbon monoxide poisoning.

Even though I was fine, the soldiers who came with me were having a hard time enduring it, so I arranged for them to leave the gorge under the guidance of the golems.

Soon, I was left alone in the gorge.

There was a reason why I stayed in this hell.

I could clearly predict where the elves, driven into a corner, would escape if the Blue Hawk Mercenary Corps and the Liang Guardian Army attacked both cliffs.

“Uwaaaa!!!”

Thud!

As expected.

An elf fell from the cliff.

The one who fell headfirst had his neck twisted at a bizarre angle and soon stopped moving.

Starting with him, the number of falling elves gradually increased.

Most of them suffered serious injuries and lost their lives in the process of hitting the ground, but some skilled elves survived by landing properly.

The ones who barely survived.

They were my prey.

The elves, who had been showing expressions of relief at being alive, looked at me with a desperate expression as I grinned with the Cheonma Sword [Heavenly Demon Sword] slung over my shoulder.

“Death God…”

Swish!!

Death God, huh.

It’s a pretty good nickname.

While I was harvesting the necks of elves in this unexpected harvest season, I suddenly felt a tingling sensation in the back of my head.

-Hoho…

The Cheonma’s [Heavenly Demon] exclamation.

It was the same feeling I had felt before.

I quickly lowered my body and rolled on the ground.

My clothes were covered in dirt, but I didn’t care.

A sharp blade, scattering sharp energy, was drawn widely across the space above my lowered body.

“I’ve been watching you since last time, and your skill in suppressing your presence is truly outstanding.”

The elven commander, who had almost assassinated me last time, glared at me, panting.

“If it weren’t for you…”

“Well, even if it wasn’t me, the elven race wouldn’t have been able to swallow the Lloyd Barony. You guys messed up from the start.”

“Shut up!!”

The elven assassin, with her eyes flipped, blindly swung her sword at me.

However, she was only threatening when she hid her presence and ambushed, but when she openly engaged in a one-on-one battle, the difference in skill quickly became apparent, and the attacker was put on the defensive.

Both were experts and wielded mana swords, but the concentration of mana contained in the swords was different, and the level of swordsmanship used was also vastly different.

Eventually, after about 30 moves, the elven commander dropped her sword. The dropped sword spun in the air and landed on the ground far away.

“Surrender.”

“Eat shit.”

I guess I would have reacted like that if I were the commander.

Normally, I would just kill her, but this woman was worth keeping alive.

“I have a question. Don’t you find this situation strange? This situation where the elves have infinite animosity towards humans and kill them like people possessed by something.”

“Kill me quickly if you’re going to talk nonsense.”

“I’m serious. Among the soldiers I just killed, there was one who had received what you call the ‘Blessing’.”

Even as they talked, sparks flew from the burning trees.

At the word ‘Blessing,’ the commander, who had been ignoring me, flinched for the first time.

“I want to ask if those who have received the Blessing have ever shown any strange behavior. Do you also think that humans are inferior and should be dominated by elves?”

“I don’t know either. If the High Elder says so, then that’s probably it.”

Looking at the elven commander’s reaction, it seemed that the hypothesis I had in mind was correct.

This woman is not very interested in the conflict between the elven race and the human race and is just following orders.

The reason she can do that is that the assassin in front of her is the only one among the executive-level elves who has not received the Blessing.

It is presumed that the Blessing performed by High Elder Richard and the elven race’s infinite animosity towards humans are related.

“Go.”

“What?”

“I said go.”

I shrugged, looking at her narrowing eyes.

“It seems that you also didn’t receive the Blessing because you’re somewhat untrustworthy, but go back and think carefully about whether the direction the elven race is currently heading is correct.”

“It’s no use trying to drive a wedge between me and the High Elder.”

“That’s not my intention. I’m just telling you to look back.”

She glared at me for a long time, then turned around and ran away. She would probably head to the Eastern Great Forest to report to High Elder Richard. As I watched her retreating figure, I slipped out the sub-dimensional gourd.

“Kyu! Cough!”

Coco, who had been hiding in the gourd throughout the battle, was restless and coughed after breathing in the smoky fumes as soon as she came out.

“Kyukyu!”

“Okay. I got it.”

I calmed down the grumbling Coco and pointed to the elven assassin who was getting farther and farther away.

“Coco, do you see that woman?”

“Kyu?”

“Secretly follow her and find out her base.”

It would be a shame to just let her go, so I decided to find out the location of the elven race’s main base in the Eastern Great Forest.

“Kyu!”

Coco flapped her wings and flew far into the sky. She would bring back delicious information when she returned. The war with the elves was already as good as won.