The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations

Chapter 403

As soon as the sluice gates opened, Claude shouted.

“Alfoy! Begin!”

Alfoy, who had been holding the enemy knights at bay by recklessly casting spells, nodded sharply.

“Fog Cloud!”

A dense fog began to settle in front of the fortress, gradually spreading and blanketing the area. While the sheer size of the battlefield caused the fog to thin slightly, it was more than enough to obscure the vision of the advancing Rodrick forces.

“It’s magic! The fog is everywhere!”

Shouts erupted among the soldiers, echoing across the field.

Having visibility hindered in battle was a severe disadvantage. Even if the defending side couldn’t see either, they could simply rain arrows down blindly. The attacking side, however, found dodging and counterattacking nearly impossible.

“Damn it! What are our mages doing?”

The frustrated cries of the soldiers filled the air. To them, it seemed absurd that their highly-touted mages were doing little more than conjuring a few flashy fireballs in the sky.

Trickling Water and Taunting Voices

Amid the confusion, water began seeping out from small sluices, pooling around the soldiers’ feet. However, no one paid it much mind. Despite the limited visibility, the Rodrick troops were confident they would soon place siege towers and ladders against the fortress walls.

They were distracted for another reason.

“Hey! Marquis Rodrick! You ugly bastard, you’re worse than your own reflection!”

A barrage of insults bellowed from the fortress walls. The voice, amplified by magic, boomed thunderously, even above the chaotic sounds of the battlefield.

Marquis Rodrick himself flew into a rage, ordering his commanders to hurry their soldiers along.

“Push forward faster!”
“Catch that bastard and kill him!”
“Stop being cowards and move! The fog will be lifted by our mages soon enough!”

The Marquis’s temper spread like wildfire among his officers, who were too focused on berating their troops to notice their surroundings.

The Muddy Trap

Squelching sounds grew louder as time passed. Soldiers began to realize that something was wrong.

“What the hell? The ground is wet!”
“When did this happen?”
“Ugh… It’s getting harder to walk!”

The ground beneath their feet had turned into a soggy mess, though they couldn’t determine why. The fortress’s hidden sluices had been releasing water steadily, but the thick fog obscured any chance of detection.

The Rodrick army’s massive force of 60,000 found their pace slowing drastically. Impatience grew among the commanders as they barked orders.

“Clear the fog already! Archers, lay down suppressive fire!”

The archers rushed forward, blindly loosing arrows at the fortress walls.

The Fenris soldiers remained calm, shields raised and unmoving. With no intention of attacking, they suffered no damage from the hail of arrows.

In the meantime, Rodrick’s mages worked to dispel the fog. Slowly but surely, visibility improved.

“Ssss…” The fog thinned, and Claude’s voice rang out again.

“Open the second sluices!”

Larger sluices opened beneath the Silverlight fortress. Water poured out in torrents from countless hidden openings at the base of the walls.

“Whooshhhh!”

As the fog dissipated, the Rodrick forces were greeted with the sight of massive amounts of water surging toward them.

“What’s this now?”
“Why are they dumping water on us?”
“It’s just water! Keep advancing!”

Though the water was voluminous, it posed no direct threat to the soldiers. It drenched their bodies as it flowed downhill, saturating the already muddy ground.

“Damn it! The siege towers won’t budge!”
“My feet are stuck in the mud!”
“Push harder!”

The soldiers struggled to move as their legs sank into the mire. The once-solid ground had transformed into a swampy quagmire, rendering the siege engines nearly immobile.

“They’re doing this to stop us from reaching the walls!”

It finally dawned on the Rodrick soldiers what the Fenris defenders had planned. The modified sluices had turned the battlefield into a muddy death trap.

“This was deliberate! They altered the sluices for this purpose!”

Chained Chaos

“Pull!” Claude shouted.

Hidden beneath the mud, chains were yanked upward by Fenris soldiers stationed within the fortress.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Hundreds of chains erupted from the ground, snagging the soldiers’ legs and tripping them.

“Ugh!”
“What the hell is this?”
“It’s a trap! We’ve fallen into a trap!”

The chains themselves didn’t cause serious harm but were enough to disrupt the advancing formation. Those who fell pulled others down with them, and the thick mud made it impossible to regain their footing.

“Keep moving!”
“Get up, now!”
“Cut through the chains!”

The commanders’ furious shouts barely registered over the din. But before they could regain order, Claude gave another command.

“Alfoy! Hit them now!”

A Fiery Assault

“Got it!” Alfoy responded, a rare sight of cooperation between him and Claude.

“Fire Burst!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions erupted across the battlefield, fire consuming the vanguard of the Rodrick army. Screams filled the air as soldiers scrambled to shield themselves. The chaos spread as their tightly-packed formation broke apart.

“Arghhh!”
“They’re attacking!”
“Defend yourselves!”

While the flames didn’t cause massive casualties, they further disrupted the already disorganized army.

But that disruption was all Fenris needed. Claude’s voice roared once more.

“Fire!”

With Claude’s thunderous command, the Fenris army finally launched their offensive.

Swoosh!

A barrage of arrows flew toward the Rodrick army. But instead of targeting the vanguard, the arrows rained down on the mid and rear lines.

“Arghhh!”
“Take cover! Retreat to the rear!”
“Shields! Protect our forces!”

Behind the heavy infantry were lightly armored soldiers, followed closely by archers who had moved closer to the fortress walls for suppressive fire. The sudden hail of arrows threw the formation into chaos.

The Rodrick soldiers tried to regroup, but the mud made every step a struggle. Chains and fallen comrades turned the knee-deep sludge into an obstacle course.

Even the lightly armored soldiers carrying shields couldn’t hold their ground under the relentless volley. Arrows pierced their defenses, and soldiers collapsed one by one.

“Hold the line! Fight back! Suppressive fire!”

Rodrick’s archers tried to retaliate, but their efforts were in vain. The Fenris troops were clad in full galvanium armor, rendering them impervious to the incoming arrows.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

“Arghhh!”

The Rodrick army descended further into disarray. Each time a soldier fell, they dragged others down into the mire, creating a domino effect. The knights rushed forward to cut the chains, but the damage was already done.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Meanwhile, Alfoy’s spells continued to explode across the battlefield, adding to the chaos. The battlefield had turned into utter pandemonium.

The Rodrick soldiers began to realize the grim reality: in this muddy quagmire, they could do little but endure the Fenris onslaught.

A Desperate Call for Retreat

Watching the devastation from the rear, Rodrick’s advisors cautiously approached the Marquis.

“We need to retreat immediately.”
“Our soldiers can’t move properly, and the siege towers won’t make it through.”
“We must pull our mages back and dry out the mud before we can advance again.”

Staying in their current state meant inevitable annihilation. A retreat to regroup was the only viable option.

“Ughhh…”

Marquis Rodrick’s face flushed red with rage as he trembled.

His 60,000-strong army, incapable of even reaching the fortress walls, was floundering in a literal mud trap. While battles had been won in open fields through similar tactics, he had never seen such a strategy employed in a siege.

“Who came up with this? The Count of Fenris is in the west! Who could’ve planned and executed this?”

His rage boiled over, but even his advisors had no answers.

“Order the retreat! We’ll regroup and devise a new strategy!”

At last, the horns of retreat sounded.

The Rodrick soldiers, weary and demoralized, began pulling back. But even retreating was no simple task.

A Relentless Assault

Squelch! Squelch!

Dragging their feet through the mud, surrounded by corpses, the soldiers moved painfully slowly. Many stumbled and fell, fearing a rain of arrows on their exposed backs.

Claude, however, was far from done. His voice rang out decisively.

“Begin.”

At his command, the Fenris trebuchets, which had remained idle until now, sprang to life.

Thwack! Thwack!

Massive stones hurtled through the air, descending upon the beleaguered Rodrick troops trapped in the mud.

Fenris had seized many trebuchets in previous battles, and the dwarves had upgraded them to devastating effect.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

“Arghhh!”
“They’re firing trebuchets!”
“Take cover! Move!”

The giant stones were unstoppable, crushing shields and soldiers alike. Those in the front lines were relatively safe due to the trebuchets’ range, but the mid and rear ranks bore the brunt of the devastation. Soldiers fell in droves, unable to escape the relentless assault.

Unrelenting Chaos

“Move faster! Abandon the siege engines!”

The Rodrick commanders shouted desperately, knowing there was no other way. With their mages neutralized and their forces bogged down, retreating with the siege engines was impossible.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The battlefield was a cacophony of screams and explosions. Claude watched the chaos unfold with a smug expression.

“See? It all works. First, piss off the enemy. Then, let them march straight into their own grave.”

“…”

The Fenris officers around him remained silent, unable to deny the results.

Fenris had prepared for this strategy meticulously. With ample resources from their construction efforts and the dwarves’ expertise, the preparations had been completed swiftly. The true genius of the plan, however, lay in its execution: drawing the enemy into the perfect trap.

Claude smirked arrogantly.

“War’s easier than gambling. This will be over in no time. They’re practically begging to be hit.”

The officers, including the seasoned Gillian, nodded in agreement. There was little for them to do; the enemy was crumbling on its own.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Rodrick’s forces continued to flounder. Soldiers, weighed down by mud and exhaustion, crawled on all fours in a desperate attempt to escape.

Rodrick’s Failure

Watching the utter collapse of his army, Marquis Rodrick seethed with rage. The humiliation of losing so thoroughly to such a strategy was unbearable.

Finally, his knight-commander Tenant shouted, “Retreat! Fall back now! Abandon the siege engines!”

The order sent shockwaves through the troops. The realization that their siege engines—essential for any hope of success—had to be left behind crushed morale further.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Fenris trebuchets continued their merciless bombardment. Each projectile landed with devastating precision, and the retreating Rodrick troops were slaughtered by both arrows and stones.

“This… This is madness…”

Even Tenant, a seasoned knight, ground his teeth in frustration. From the beginning, the Fenris army had manipulated Rodrick into making all the wrong moves.

The Breaking Point

Eventually, Rodrick’s army managed to escape the muddy battlefield. The contrast between the swampy death trap and solid ground felt surreal.

“Pull the troops further back! Now!” Tenant ordered.

The battered soldiers obeyed, retreating to safety. At last, the mages ceased their countermeasures and withdrew as well.

“Victory!”

The triumphant cries of the Fenris army rang out, reverberating across the battlefield.

Rodrick’s surviving soldiers could only watch in bitter silence, their faces etched with defeat.

Shocking News

As the situation settled, Marquis Rodrick, his face contorted with fury, demanded a report.

“Casualties?”

“…Approximately half, my lord,” Tenant answered grimly.

The room fell silent as the weight of the loss sank in. Half their forces had been decimated by an unexpected and brutal strategy.

“Ughhhh…”

Rodrick trembled with rage, ready to erupt again, when a dust-covered knight burst into the room.

“Linderstein has fallen! The Count of Fenris has taken it!”

Gasps of disbelief rippled through the room. Everyone affiliated with the Marquis stared in shock, struggling to comprehend the devastating news.