Chapter 137: (Self Edited) Those who Chase, Those who Escape
When the command to light, the volunteering chivalric order at the front began to form a line.
“Jack, Gillinan! Send a messenger to both wings, go through the forest with all their might, and join the attack to enclose around the barrier! Go!” (Angelica)
Angie gave orders to the personnel under her command, who remained at the spot as the messengers.
“Understood!” (Jack)
“I’ll go right away!” (Gilinan)
Jack and Gilinan ran like flies, disappearing into the forest on both flanks. In the meantime, the volunteering chivalric order, who lined up in a blink of an eye, proceeded to follow the command of each leader. When the formation began to move forward, leaving Angie, and when it reached the end of the army, Angie finally started to advance her horse.
‘The speed of the army is slower than I expected. It’s not bad at all, but I can feel it since I’m using unknown soldiers who don’t fit my senses.’
It was natural because Angie wasn’t the one who trained them.
‘I can’t move them as if they were my limbs. However, if I order them to move forward, they will move forward, and if I say withdraw, they will withdraw. It may be good if I think that they are at the level of a good mercenary.’
She waited for a while, and when the volunteering chivalric order advanced about fifty steps, a gunshot rang again. One soldier on the front line collapsed.It seemed that he was shot in the belly, but at this distance, the armor alone couldn’t stop the bullets. The volunteering chivalric order didn’t seem to be scared at all. They mechanically filled the holes and moved forward. In the meantime, firing continued at a fairly fast pace.
But even if it was fast, it seemed that there was only one gun, and it couldn’t overturn many people.
Then, when the soldiers took another twenty steps…
“All units, charge!!” (Angelica)
…and Angie shouted.
“For God and his son, Isus!!” (??)
The commanding officer shouted.
“I’ll be putting my life on the line as a warrior!!!” (??)
The soldier responded.
She had heard the story, but it was the first time she heard it. It was a characteristic command issued by the volunteering Knights at the time of the assault.
“Ooooh!!!” (??)
Along with the war cry, the volunteering chivalric order rushed out all at once.
In a blink of an eye, the distance was shortened, and when they were closing to the barrier, they put their feet on the logs immediately and tried to get over it. The barrier was only as high as the chest, and it was easy to get over it.
However, the moment they got over it, they leaned back so that the others could push them up from the below. In the shadow of the barrier, the enemy was crouching down and waiting, and the spear was probably thrust in as if the whole body jumped up.
After breaking through the front row, the enemy soldier got on the barrier and began to pierce the spear from top to bottom.
“Keep attacking!” (??)
As she could see when she got close to this point, the enemy wasn’t a lot in number. There were probably around fifty people.
Most of them have tightened the sides of the barrier and were dedicated to preventing detours. There were even fewer people guarding the barrier. Even if the defense with the barrier was successful, they wouldn’t be able to face if attack was made from the left and right flanks.
However, the enemy started doing something strange. When one of the soldiers in the line was replaced by the man who came out from behind, he shook something like a pot and let the liquid fall over the Knight’s head.
“Aargghhhhh–!!” (??)
She heard a scream that she could hear so far. She immediately knew what the enemy was doing.
It was heated oil.
A large pot was thrown to our side as it was, and while scattering the remaining oil, it struck someone’s helmet. It sounded like a gong.
“Don’t be scared! Charge!” (??)
The front line leader encouraged them. A person with a pot appeared from the barrier again, but this time, the soldier in the back grabbed the shirt of the person in front of him and pulled it. The soldier pulled the other person from the barrier. It seemed that the direct hit was avoided.
However, after that, the offensive momentum disappeared.
They weren’t afraid of the heated oil. Then, the entire barrier made of logs was covered with oil.
It was possible to overcome the barrier in eight minutes, but so far five minutes had passed. The oil had also transferred to the limbs when they tried to overcome it, so they were slipping.
They would have been good targets if such a thing was done in front of them. They became the prey to spears similar to the prey of harpoon fishing.
Angie clicked her tongue unintentionally. The strong soldiers were skewered by those who clearly seemed to be weak soldiers.
As she couldn’t stand the situation, Angie pushed the horse forcibly to push the soldiers away.
“What’s wrong with you all!? Where is the bravery of the volunteering chivalric order who is famous in history!?” (Angelica)
She raised her voice as hard as she could.
“Try to overcome such a wall even if you have to push the butt in front of you!!” (Angelica)
While saying so, when she looked at both sides of the barrier, she could see that people overlapped, but she could still see thick wires circling between the trees.
The height of the wire was about waist length, but it was bad on the contrary. It seemed that they were able to overcome it if they tried hard, but it was a height that required them to creep underneath and it was extremely tedious.
Because of that, even if they made a big detour, they couldn’t make a breakthrough, resulting in a slow offensive and defensive battle with the wire as the boundary.
‘Is this the case with just one wire stretched? It’s well thought out.’
Angie was impressed.
But Angie’s forces were already invading both sides. She didn’t know how far the wire was stretched, but it might not be possible to cut it even if there were no enemies. No matter how she thought about it, the soldiers couldn’t break through.
Then, she went forward as it was.
“Move away, move awayyy–!!” (??)
It was then a sentence of Shan language jumped into Angie’s ears through the gap between angry words in the battle field. Angie reflexively–…
“The enemy is moving away! Pursue them!” (Angie)
…shouted.
It was at that time. A man appeared at the barrier and hit the head of a soldier on the front line with something like a liquor bottle. The moment the liquor bottle broke, the fire wrapped around him with tremendous momentum.
This was the same weapon dropped from that eagle. Angie immediately thought so, and at that time, the soldier’s assault would be slowed down.
When a companion got caught by a fireball, it wouldn’t be possible to pull their cloth even for one step regardless of whether they were the volunteering chivalric order or not. Again, since the fire was hot, it wasn’t possible to plunge into it. To reproach the soldiers, Angie looked at her waist, trying to pull out her sword from the scabbard.
“Princess!” (??)
She heard the voice of an adjutant. When she looked forward, the man, who threw the bottle, was there as it was. He stood on the barrier with one leg on it. Half of his body could be soon, and he was holding a gun.
The soldier in front of him and was supposed to kill him, was now on fire and dancing crazily.
At the same time the muzzle was aimed, her surcoat was pulled strongly from the flank. Immediately after that, a strong shock fell on her head and she lost consciousness.
—
“–!! Hime-sama!” (??)
“Ughh…” (Angelica)
Angie’s eyes opened up and a familiar face appeared in the field of vision.
“What is it…? Gustav…” (Angelica)
She was muttering the name of the vice commander.
“Hime-sama, have you woken up?” (Gustav)
“I told you… stop treating me like a princess…” (Angelica)
“Please forgive me. But now, we are at war.” (Gustav)
War. As soon as she heard that word, her mind became clear.
Her head was throbbing.
“Ugh… what happened?” (Angelica)
“You were hit on the head. But the bullet was deflected by your helmet.” (Gustav)
Judging from the sensation of the head, the helmet had seemed to be taken off, and the head was bandaged. She felt a dull pain.
“Don’t get up!” (Gustav)
When Angie tried to get up, Gustav stopped her.
“I’m fine… somehow…” (Angelica)
Angie raised her body as it was, and she wasn’t dizzy.
“Are you really fine?” (Gustav)
“Yes.” (Angelica)
The source of the pain seemed to be on the left side of the forehead. It was around the hairline. There was a terrible dull pain around it, and she could feel that her brain was shaking, but… it wasn’t to the point of fainting.
She didn’t feel too bad to walk. Fortunately, when she touched her nose and ears, nothing came out.
She had heard that the blood and mucus came out from the nose and ears when the skull was cracked. She tilted her head and hit the ear lightly, as if there was water in the ear, but she didn’t feel any liquid coming out.
‘I seem to be fine.’
She grabbed Gustav’s hand and stood up.
“How long had I fainted?” (Angelica)
“It’s about three minutes.” (Gustav)
“Kuh…” (Angelica)
Speaking of three minutes, that short period of time seemed to have felt long. Especially when it came to the turning point of the war itself.
She turned her eyes to the battlefield.
Angie stared at a magnificent bonfire that burned in front of her with stunned eyes. She immediately suspected that the fire was burning on the oil-covered barrier. Through her nose, she smelled the peculiar smell of volatile oil, like an overcooked oil pan.
The volunteering chivalric order couldn’t get over the fire, so they were trying to make a detour around the left and right flanks, but it seemed that there was something remaining on her side.
“What happened to the encirclement?” (Angelica)
“The enemy pulled like a wind after that shooting. They evaded the enemy from both flanks. Then, they turned around and moved in to attack… Now, that side seems to be confused.” (Gustav)
‘Did they see through everything…?’
It felt that the things that should be done according to the textbook were discarded one by one.
If the orders came all at once, they couldn’t prepare against the assault from both flanks. It would be easy to get confused if they were hit.
“I’m going to give orders.” (Angelica)
“…Understood!” (Gustav)
Gustav showed a slight hesitation, but he saluted.
Angie was frustrated. She wanted to get back at them.
For that purpose, the enemy should be hunted down.
‘It was said that the bridge was still there, but it might not be usable at the moment. Perhaps, they are waiting for a large number of refugees to complete the transfer.’
‘If not, there is no need to fight in such a place. If there’s nothing left to protect at the rear, such a battle would be meaningless.’
‘In other words, the withdrawal margin isn’t limitless. In that case, the soldiers must be saved from confusion.’
“You don’t want to get shot again. Please don’t get too close from the beginning.” (Gustav)
“I know!” (Angelica)
Angie got on the horse that was brought by an adjutant, and then, she moved forward. There was still severe pain in her head.