Regressor Of The Fallen Family [EN]: Chapter 95

Clayton stared. “It actually worked!”

The warm sunlight shone brightly as the hours passed.

Clayton chuckled, hardly believing what he and his apprentices had done.

He looked down from the castle walls.

The moat was now more than five meters deep and wide. They had built it overnight, and it was filled with shimmering water.

Even a strong knight in heavy armor would find it hard to get out if they fell in.

This moat was just for now, not forever. So, they didn’t need to think about everything. But still, they dug a waterway from the Luther River to the moat in only six hours. This was amazing because of the land’s height and type of ground.

Even with all their experience, using magic and golems, and spending lots of magic stones, Clayton didn’t think it would be this fast.

“See? It can be done if you try.”

“……”

Of course, all his apprentices had collapsed from being so tired. He also felt like lying down right away. So, saying it was ‘easy’ wasn’t quite right.

But it was easier than he thought it would be.

“Lord Logan, even so, this was asking too much. Some things can be done by pushing people hard, but some things can’t…”

“But it was done, wasn’t it?”

“……”

If you push and squeeze hard enough, you can do anything. Clayton worried that if Logan thought this way, it would cause problems later.

Clayton thought that things should be done on time, not too early or too late. But this time was different.

Clayton was about to make another excuse, but then he thought, ‘Why am I thinking like this? Employer? Construction? I’m not just a worker.’

“Ah, anyway. Because of this, all the mages from the Magic Tower have left. Is it good to lose them when we will fight soon?”

“They aren’t much help in battle anyway, except for you, Clayton.”

“Oh……”

His heart hurt, and he couldn’t say anything.

Logan chuckled and said something that wasn’t very comforting.

“This alone has been a big help. So, Clayton, you can rest now.”

“……Thank you.”

“The battle will begin as early as today, or tomorrow, but what can we do? If you’re tired, you should rest.”

“……”

What was he supposed to do?

Clayton was tired from building all night and wanted to complain. But then…

“However, I have one last request.”

“Yes?”

“Do you have any Collapse Scrolls left? With those and your magic, Clayton…”

Logan’s voice was softer now, and he sounded very serious.

It was possible, but…

“Do you really have to go that far?”

“It’s the situation we’re in.”

Clayton looked at Logan’s face again.

Logan had been watching the moat and waterway being built all night. He told people what to do and made sure they had what they needed. This meant that the young Archduke hadn’t slept either.

Clayton stared at Logan for a long time, seeing him in a new light. Then, he slowly nodded.

“I will prepare it.”

“Thank you. And what I said earlier was a joke. Please, get some rest.”

Logan wanted to say more, something sad, but he didn’t. He watched Clayton turn away and then looked out at the castle.

‘The timing is just perfect.’

Logan gritted his teeth. He saw the army in the distance, as if they had been waiting for this moment.

“Enemy! Prepare for battle, everyone!”

The soldiers had been nervously dozing. The knights had been sharpening their swords, ready for a fight. Now, they all ran out of their rooms.

McLane’s army quickly started to get organized.

“Huh? Did Tomodo Castle have a moat?”

Roger Vifroth arrived quickly, even before setting up camp. He looked at Tomodo and couldn’t believe what he saw. He asked his helper in disbelief.

“……It didn’t.”

“They made something like this overnight…… Well, they have some talent, I suppose. But what difference does it make? Aslan!”

“Yes, my lord.”

Aslan, the Knight Commander of Vifroth, the Knight of Swiftness, stepped forward right away and answered.

“What is the enemy’s strength?”

“According to what we heard from the allies who ran away, there are fewer than 150 knights and fewer than 2,500 soldiers.”

“Anything else to worry about?”

“The lord seems to be a very strong knight. And there are about ten people who seem to be earth mages.”

“Ha…… So, they prepared secret weapons for their station? Heh heh. So, what do you think will happen?”

“We will win easily.”

Aslan answered right away.

Roger Vifroth agreed.

“Yes. No matter how much he tries, it won’t work. Rentor, what else besides soldiers could be a problem?”

“The harvest is finished. Most food is in the main castle. Tomodo Castle doesn’t have enough food for 3,000 soldiers. If we wait, they will run out of food. They will have to come out to fight, or starve.”

Roger Vifroth smiled more.

“Good. We can win just by waiting. But do we need to let those rude people who came onto my land live for a few more days?”

“……As you wish.”

Soon, the Vifroth army got organized and started to move.

“There are a little over 300 knights and well over 5,000 soldiers. And those guys over there seem to be mages?”

“……They are wearing sky-blue robes and have the storm symbol. So, they seem to be mages from the Tower of Wind. I heard that Roger Vifroth and his son are from there.”

Logan’s father said this, and the people around him looked worried.

Even if you just counted, the Vifroth army had almost twice as many soldiers.

And it wasn’t just the number of soldiers that made the Vifroth army strong.

“That silver-haired man must be the Knight of Moonlight you told us about. And that red armor… is that the Knight of Swiftness, the one who looks like a monkey?'”

“That would be Aslan Lyre, the Knight of Swiftness. And Roger Vifroth is also a powerful mage. People think he is a 4th Circle mage, but he is actually a 5th Circle mage. You must be careful.”

“Hmm……”

Two very strong knights and a powerful mage.

McLane’s side was also strong, but…

Padric McLane was clearly a very strong knight. Logan was only an Advanced-rank knight, but he was as strong and impressive as a very strong knight.

And there was Clayton from the Golem Magic Tower.

‘But honestly, I’m a little uneasy.’

Logan sighed quietly.

The Vifroth knights had been famous for at least ten years. His father had only recently become that strong.

Even though he was only an Advanced-rank knight, he knew he was stronger than that.

And Clayton was a 5th Circle mage who couldn’t use his best magic in battle.

It was true that they seemed a little weaker than the Vifroth side.

But he had done everything he could.

‘Still, I’ve done everything I can. I’ve followed the best options up to this point.’

He was worried because he hadn’t heard ‘that news’ yet, even though it was almost time.

He had hoped that this fight wouldn’t happen at all.

But it seemed like he had to give up on that hope.

“To the garbage who came onto my land! You don’t belong here!…”

Roger Vifroth’s voice was made louder by magic. It sounded like he wanted to kill them all.

“Since when have those bastards been lords……”

Logan calmly ignored his father’s angry voice and shouted to the people around him.

“Prepare to fire!”

“Ready!”

The soldiers on the castle walls raised their crossbows at the same time.

The crossbows hadn’t worked very well when they were being attacked. But now, they were aiming down from the castle walls, so it would be different.

More than 2,000 crossbows were aimed at the Vifroth army.

“……Now, I shall ask about that sin.”

“Shouldn’t we do something?”

“Why waste energy? Just let him rant alone.”

Logan had just answered Heinkel coldly when suddenly—

– I will destroy McLaine completely! All troops, charge!

With Roger Vifroth’s voice, the Vifroth army began their advance.

The first to charge were, of course, the knights.

The sight of some 300 cavalrymen, each with a burning rose emblem engraved on their shining silver armour, so polished it looked like mirrors in the sun, was enough to create psychological pressure.

However, Logan, who was staring at them, felt something was odd.

‘Just charging in? Without shields?’

If they had heard about the rapid-fire crossbow, they should have prepared for it, but they didn’t seem to have made any preparations.

“……Are they confident in their skills, perhaps?”

Heinkel, seemingly thinking along the same lines, blurted out in disbelief.

“Even if they are confident, it would have been easier to prepare. That’s just….”

As he spoke, Logan became certain.

“They’re just underestimating us. They didn’t investigate. Or they ignored it even after hearing about it.”

The relaxed attitude felt from the charging knights.

And the knights who didn’t lower their helmet visors and revealed their faces even after the battle had begun.

That feeling was clearly evident in the appearance of the charging Vifroth Knights.

In fact, they had heard about the rapid-fire crossbow from a fleeing soldier, but the soldier had only seen it bouncing off the castle walls without much power, so they hadn’t made any special preparations.

That fact made a cold smile appear on Logan’s face.

“This is good….”

Worries about the future disappeared for this moment.

“This is really good.”

It was an opportunity to inflict fatal damage on the Vifroth Knights.

An unexpected stroke of luck created by the enemy.

He didn’t even care about the 1,500 cavalrymen closely following behind.

“Target only the knights! Give them a taste of fire!”

“Yes!”

As soon as Logan finished speaking, the enemy knights entered the crossbow’s range.

And.

“Fire!”

Tap tap tap!

The crossbow bolts flew out when he gave the order, like a rain of death, hitting the silver knights and staining them dark.

The enemies’ eyes widening in shock were clearly visible even from a distance.

Tap tap tap!

“Ugh!”

“What, what is this!”

“Block it!”

Unfortunately, they didn’t get much fun from the ones running at the very front.

Although many were injured, they seemed to have avoided fatal wounds by hastily raising their magical power and deflecting most of the attacks with their swords.

But the ordinary knights following behind were different.

“Aaargh!”

“Ugh!”

“Wh, what is this!”

Thud thud thud!

Nearly thirty knights fell from their horses in the first volley, tumbling to the ground.

Those who even screamed were in relatively good condition.

There were also many who couldn’t even scream and lost their lives to fatal attacks that pierced their heads, eyes, or hearts in one go.

‘Good!’

Logan, wearing a cold smile, shouted loudly once again.

“Concentrate on targeting the rear of the knights!”

With those words, crossbow bolts once again filled the sky and poured down in succession.

Tap tap tap!

“Aaaargh!”

“Ugh!”

As the screams of the Vifroth knights echoed in succession.

A silver curtain rose into the air from the very front.

“Knights, scatter! Left and right! Aim for the other side of the castle walls!”

The face shouting from the centre was very familiar to Logan.

‘Flanz.’

Flanz, the Knight of Moonlight, was emitting a whip of silver light from the sword he raised, forming a barrier in front.

At that moment, a considerable number of crossbow bolts were blocked by the barrier and bounced off, but even that was not perfect.

‘Not a chance.’

There was a limit to the range, and that whip-like Force Blade would also be a waste of Force.

‘Now, use your strength to the fullest. Top-tier knight.’

The battlefield was unfolding much better than expected.

There were already more than 50 Vifroth knights lying on the ground.

“North and South castle walls! The knights are moving! Follow them! Keep firing!”

As Logan gave instructions, watching the dispersing enemy forces, the McLaine troops moved as planned in advance.

His father led some of the troops towards the north castle wall, and the chief knights such as Henderson and Nadal, led by Heinkel, also raced towards the south castle wall with some troops.

But in that gap, the moment the rain of arrows from the west castle wall weakened somewhat.

A figure in red armour was seen soaring towards the castle wall from the front of their formation.

Unusually long arms compared to his small stature, a face with long features and wide eyes, making him look less human and more like a monkey.

Although it was their first meeting, he could recognize him at once thanks to his very unique appearance.

Aslan Lyre. Another top-tier knight that Vifroth possessed.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Logan rushed towards the direction the fellow was coming from.

“I’ll tear you all apart!”

Aslan spat out the anger boiling within his chest.

The knight order, which had charged in high spirits, had suffered absurd damage.

He was the one who had scoffed at the talk of McLaine’s new weapon and whatnot.

– Arrows? Crossbows? Are you kidding me? If you’re going to get hurt by something like that, you shouldn’t be a knight.

Aslan had worked hard due to his complex about his appearance and had reached his current position.

To him, the very existence of a weapon for soldiers that threatened knights was just ridiculous nonsense.

Moreover, his lord had understood his confidence, and the vice-commander, Flanz, had also respected his decision.

But this was the result.

However, Aslan was not one to admit responsibility himself.

A top-tier knight who had risen to his current position by believing only in his own will and thoughts.

That stubbornness had a direct impact on the bad side as well.

His judgment was correct, and the enemy was wrong to use cowardly weapons.

So he would ask the enemy for that responsibility.

He poured that anger into throwing himself.

The slippery castle wall, covered in mud and oil, was not an obstacle to him….

Slip.

Wham!

“Heh. Hee hee. You son of a….”

His face flushed with a mixture of anger and shame.

The castle wall mixed with mud and oil was much more slippery than he had thought, and he barely managed to stick his hand into the castle wall and hang in the middle.

Dozens of crossbow bolts poured down before his eyes.

“Damn it!”

Tap tap tap!

As if he would be hit by a mere crossbow.

Aslan, befitting the name of the Knight of Swiftness, deflected the arrows in an instant with only one hand and gave strength to the arm that had dug into the castle wall.

And soared upwards again.

“Kill them all….”

The moment the face of a frightened enemy soldier came into view.

A golden sword fell from above his soaring head.

Kwaaaang!