Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 98

Chapter 98

Blood splattered onto the cold, frozen lake.

Steam rose, a testament to the life that had been present just moments before.

“…Tch, one bolt to kill a single cavalryman. What a waste!”

“Then perhaps you should try hitting three or four at once.”

“Good point! Shall we enjoy a little shooting practice, then?”

Perre gripped the ballista, while the soldier assisting him readied a longbow.

“How about we make a bet? The loser buys the drinks and snacks.”

“Ha! Sounds good!”

“But you have to consider the difference between a bow and a ballista, okay?”

“Of course!”

The Nord soldiers were cheerfully enjoying the fight.

The battle continued for some time.

The Ronia army fought with all their might, struggling to repel the enemy and minimize their losses.

And after a while, the battle came to an end.

“The enemy… has retreated.”

The sun set, and the cold crept in.

As the blessing of the warm sunlight faded, the Ronia soldiers shivered.

Even during the day, they felt their body temperature plummeting due to the cold. How much worse would it be at night?

It was the first time in their lives they had missed the sunlight so much.

Marquis Farnham ordered the soldiers to set up camp and rest.

He tried to comfort them with some alcohol and food, but they only wore grim expressions.

Some of them huddled around the bonfires on the ice, weeping with their faces in their hands, while others stared blankly at the sky.

The morale of the central army was at rock bottom.

The northern cold, the Nord’s fighting spirit, and the unexpected attack of the ‘tanks’.

The soldiers who had experienced it were terrified of being ambushed by those horrible things again.

The casualties caused by the tanks….

“…About 400 militiamen and 100 cavalrymen have been killed. Furthermore, the enemy suffered… no losses.”

“……”

Marquis Farnham felt a deep sense of despair at the soldier’s report in the command tent.

The loss of 100 cavalrymen was too great, even if the militiamen were expendable.

Moreover, the reason the barbarian’s tanks retreated was simple.

It wasn’t because they were at a disadvantage in the fight… it seemed they retreated because they ran out of bolts.

Marquis Farnham’s face turned pale.

A chill ran down his spine.

Could it be that Count Tymon was defeated because of the same kind of ambush…?!?

‘…This is the worst!’

He was suddenly afraid that he might suffer the same fate as Count Tymon.

He was beginning to understand why Count Tymon’s forces had been so depleted.

‘If only I had known!’

He should have kept Count Tymon alive and sought his advice on how the barbarians attacked and how he had endured it.

He never dreamed that he would end up like this.

***

In the dark night, with even the moonlight obscured by clouds, only the torches illuminated the Ronia army’s camp.

“…They’re moving.”

At Perre’s words, the Nord soldiers wearing white masks moved.

Not far from the Ronia camp, the Nord soldiers began to build a defensive wall using sandbags loaded onto carts.

“Move as quietly as possible.”

The Nord soldiers nodded at Perre’s command.

They stacked the sandbags until they reached the Nord soldiers’ chests, and then they placed spears between them.

Then, they thoroughly watered the wall.

They soaked the defensive wall evenly and then secured the tanks behind it, aiming the ballista at the Ronia army’s camp.

In the distance, they even had catapults that they had struggled to drag along.

“Hey! Stir it well so it doesn’t freeze. It’s a gift for the Ronia bastards!”

On one side, they were boiling something in large pots to keep it from freezing.

“When morning comes… let’s start the battle.”

***

The next morning, Marquis Farnham was sleeping soundly, wrapped in warm fur.

That’s when it happened.

“Marquis! We have a problem!”

Marquis Farnham’s eyes snapped open, and he threw off the fur he had been covered with.

Afraid that the catastrophe of the previous day would happen again, he rushed to the soldier.

“What is it? Another ambush!?”

“W-well, that is….”

The soldier’s face was pale. Yet, he seemed reluctant to say something.

“…The enemy… has set up a camp in front of our camp.”

“……!”

Marquis Farnham quickly left the tent.

The Ronia soldiers were in great turmoil.

A formation that had appeared overnight, with ballista and catapults already aimed at them, resembled a small fortress.

Marquis Farnham was stunned.

‘They built another camp near our camp…!?’

His stiff lips trembled as he muttered softly.

“…Do those uncivilized barbarians think anything will change by building such a camp?”

…Or so he thought.

Building a fortress in front of an enemy force of over 25,000?

Moreover, since it was a fortress built overnight, its durability would undoubtedly be weak.

If they charged right now, that fortress wouldn’t last even a few hours before collapsing.

It was clear that this was the work of a commander with no battlefield experience.

However, these were the people who operated the tank unit on the ice and killed more than half of the vanguard.

They were an army that moved as if mocking the common sense and thoughts of ordinary people, so he couldn’t let his guard down and move rashly.

‘A defensive wall built overnight can be easily breached with a cavalry charge….’

Now was the weakest time.

It was right to take advantage of this opportunity to attack, but Marquis Farnham was seized by a strange fear and couldn’t easily issue an attack order.

“What should we do?”

“Let’s… observe the situation… a little longer.”

At his subordinate’s words, Farnham ordered them to wait.

***

In the Nord army’s camp, Perre, who had come out of his tent, yawned widely.

“Haaah~! I slept well. It seems they didn’t notice while it was being built.”

“They must be very tired.”

Perre, who was rubbing his eyes and looking dazed, looked at the Nord soldier and said one word.

“The preparations…?”

“Everything is finished.”

The Nord soldier chuckled, patting a leather bag.

“Is that so? Then….”

Perre curled up the corners of his lips and said.

“Let’s warm up.”

At his words, the Nord soldiers moved in unison.

They began to place the leather bags on the catapults.

“Fire!”

And when they launched the catapults, the leather bags spread out in all directions above the Ronia army and fell.

“They’re firing from that distance…!?”

The Ronia soldiers who looked at the catapults flinched, but after a while, the soldiers who were hit by the leather bags looked surprised.

“Ugh! It’s hot!”

“Water…?!”

“…It’s not a rock?”

The soldiers who were hit in the face with hot water as the bags burst screamed in burns.

However, it was an inexplicably weak attack.

The Ronia soldiers looked at their bodies, soaked in water, in bewilderment.

“…What are those guys doing?”

Marquis Farnham was dumbfounded.

Throwing hot water?

Of course, they would take damage, but at best, only minor injuries would result.

Perhaps they couldn’t find any materials to throw nearby, so they seemed to have thrown hot water instead.

But no matter how many leather bags they threw, they wouldn’t cause much damage to soldiers wearing helmets.

Marquis Farnham’s face gradually distorted as if he had realized something as he stared blankly at the soldiers.

His subordinate said mockingly.

“Aren’t those guys stupid? When they used the tanks, they seemed to have something up their sleeves, but now they’re throwing water. Are they making fun of us….”

“No, that won’t do.”

“Yes?”

The soldiers looked at Marquis Farnham.

It was just a simple water balloon.

Although the accuracy was poor, the attack range was quite wide because they put dozens of water balloons in one catapult and threw them.

The entrance of the water balloon was also tied loosely, so it often burst as soon as it reached the Ronia army.

As this was repeated continuously, the Ronia soldiers were bewildered.

Then, one of the soldiers reacted.

“Huh…?”

The arm that had been hit by the water gradually began to frost over and freeze.

Thick clothes were soaked and frozen stiff.

In addition, the body inside was also cooling down.

“……!”

This was a land with an extremely cold climate.

Pouring water on your body was tantamount to suicide.

“What…! Is this!”

“Avoid the bags!”

The soldiers moved, but the water bags that spread in all directions hit many soldiers.

Marquis Farnham gritted his teeth and shouted.

“Prepare the cavalry right now! We can’t just keep getting hit! Charge at full speed and wipe them out!”

“H-However, Marquis, there is a defensive wall. It’s hard to break through that with cavalry….”

Farnham kicked the soldier who was arguing.

“You idiot…! Then are you saying we should just keep getting hit? Besides, the camp they built was only built in half a day! Do you think it’s that strong? A single cavalry charge can easily break through it!”

“…….”

“Prepare the militia too. If we do it half-heartedly, we’ll get hit instead! If we can get our hands on that tank unit and those siege weapons, those barbarians are just strong and ignorant!”

At Marquis Farnham’s command, 400 cavalrymen and 3,000 soldiers lined up.

The Ronia army’s counterattack had begun.

***

The soldiers were tense and exhaled rough breaths.

The enemy was right in front of them.

“Maintain formation!”

“Don’t move!”

‘Don’t move? Are you telling us to die?’

The soldiers groaned.

How could they not move when they could clearly see the water bags flying at them?

For them, the only way to avoid this water bomb attack was to annihilate the enemy.

400 cavalrymen, 3,000 militiamen.

In comparison, the enemy’s formation was hidden by the defensive wall, so it was difficult to see.

The Ronia army was confident that they could win with an overwhelming advantage if they fought head-on.

But… the attack order was continuously delayed for some reason.

In the freezing cold, Marquis Farnham was nervous.

Was the opponent really an ignorant barbarian?… He was caught in a question.

Tactics using the climate and terrain, equipment to operate it, and a training system that could perfectly execute it.

It was unreasonable to think that simple barbarians had learned those things.

What if even this attack was as they had planned?

‘…They must have set a trap.’

Marquis Farnham formulated a strategy and issued instructions.

“The cavalry will circle to the left and right to attack. The infantry will advance as is, run with all your might!”

It was a race against time.

The faster they reached the enemy camp, the fewer casualties they would suffer.

“Everyone… charge!”

The attack signal was given.

The standard-bearer waved the flag and blew the horn.

Boo-booooooo-!!

The knights delivered the order in unison.

“Charge forward!”

“Full speed-! Advance-!!”

“Ugh, uaaaaa-!”

At the knights’ command, the militiamen gritted their teeth.

They awkwardly grabbed their spears and ran.

The cavalrymen split to the left and right and ran on the icy road.

As the Ronia army moved, the ice shook as if there was an earthquake, and shouts echoed in all directions.

Perre flinched and stepped back.

“There are too many after all!?”

“…That’s what I’m saying.”

The Nord soldier next to him also looked discouraged, with a look of disgust on his face.

“Should we go with water?”

“No, it’s oil. They’re coming in a bunch like that, so we should warm them up nicely.”

The contents of the catapults changed.

Leather bags filled with oil were loaded, and they were aimed at the militiamen who were running with gritted teeth.

They had lost their formation because they were only charging at full speed, but they were still clustered together.

“Oil loaded!”

“Fire!”

The catapult’s pulley was quickly released, and the elastic head bent and pointed vertically.

Numerous oil bags floated into the sky.

They were scattered on the militiamen who were charging straight ahead and on the ground.

“Another water balloon…!?”

“Water? No, this is….”

The militiamen looked at the enemy formation, seemingly embarrassed by the smell of oil even as they ran.

“It’s oil!!”

“Fire the fire bolts!”

The ballista recoiled and fired a bolt with fire attached.

The bolt that flew without hesitation pierced through the center of the militiamen.

Bang-!

On the frozen ice, the flames from the explosion were reminiscent of a sea of fire.

“Uaaaaaaack-!”

The fire that was attached to their bodies charred their limbs black.

The militiamen’s faces turned pale.

“W-What are you doing! Charge! If you run away, you’ll become a target instead!”

“Ugh, uaaaaaa!!”

If they ran away, they would be attacked from behind.

“The cavalry will arrive soon and wipe out the enemy camp! Trust your allies! Charge forward-!!”

The cavalrymen charging towards the enemy camp on both sides can be seen as the commander said.

“Cavalry charge!”

The cavalrymen who raised their spears pointed their sharp spear tips at the enemy.

They lowered their waists and ran with all their might.

A charge in a wedge formation!

Even the monstrous Nord would not be able to stop it.

“The left cavalry unit is charging!”

“The right cavalry unit is charging!”

At the Nord soldiers’ reports, Perre shouted urgently.

“Everyone, prepare long spears! Prioritize responding to the cavalry!”

They took out their long spears, widened their eyes, and glared at the charging cavalrymen.

The ballista also changed its trajectory and shot at the cavalry.

Some of the cavalrymen who couldn’t withstand the ballista’s attack fell from their horses, but most of them showed a firm will to repel the enemy and ran without hesitation.

‘…They’re quite an excellent cavalry unit.’

Perhaps they were running without hesitation because they had the will to save their allies.

The faster they engaged the enemy, the faster they entered, the more troops would be preserved.

“But… they’re too soft.”

The cavalrymen with wedge formations on the left and right breathed out rough breaths with their horses and raised their spears.

Their horses’ hooves reached the seemingly flimsy sand barrier.

It was a barrier built in just one night.

Such a flimsy barrier, it would collapse if trampled by hooves-!

Crack-!

Snap-!

In an instant, the horse’s leg bones were bent and broken.

“……!”