CCTnovel Chapter 212 : Decisive Battle at Bangsil Plains
Chapter 212 : Decisive Battle at Bangsil Plains
The Level Kingdom's Suppression Force.Commander: Alex Level.
Five hundred Knights.
Four Masters.
As soon as news reached us that the suppression force had departed, the entire camp became restless.
Everyone could feel that the battle was imminent.
“How about proposing a decisive battle at Bangsil Plains? We'll settle everything in one fight.”
“A decisive battle?”
“We're in a hurry, and they're in a hurry too. Alex Level will probably accept it gladly.”
At the meeting convened to discuss our strategy, I proposed to Deron Level that we fight a decisive battle.
While Alex Level could replenish his forces however he wanted because most of his army remained tied down on the battlefield, Deron Level had already squeezed every available soldier out of the four Territories under his control.
Dragging things out under these circumstances wouldn't benefit us.
“We have to consider how the residents see us too. Locking ourselves inside a Castle and waiting for Alex Level isn't the answer.”
“Indeed. If I'm to prove that I'm the rightful ruler of the Level Kingdom, I must defeat him in a single decisive battle.”
After pondering for a moment, Deron Level asked with a worried expression.
“But... if we fight a decisive battle, can we really win? Rightful ruler or not, none of that matters unless we win first. The Beastmen won't be participating in this battle either.”
I'd already informed him some time ago that the Beastmen would be excluded from the final battle against Alex Level.
Bringing outside forces into a civil war wouldn't look good in the eyes of the Kingdom's residents, and it would also encourage Alex Level to lower his guard, so Deron Level had agreed with my reasoning.
But now that the enemy was actually approaching, he couldn't help feeling uneasy.
As he said, regardless of legitimacy or justification, winning came first.
“Yeah, it'll be fine. We have more than enough.”
“I see.”
After thinking for a moment, Deron Level nodded.
“This never could have begun without you and the Johnson Territory. I'll trust you to the very end.”
“You won't be disappointed.”
He probably wouldn't.
It was true that Alex Level had spent the past year obsessively exterminating monsters and refining his army into an elite force.
Even I acknowledged that the Level Kingdom Army had become quite formidable.
But there was something worth considering.
Those monster hunts the Level Kingdom Army had been conducting over the past year?
To them, it had been special training.
To us, it was simply everyday life.
Just last year alone, we'd carried out two large-scale monster extermination campaigns.
As for the smaller hunts, they happened so often that it would've been embarrassing to count them.
Things had eased somewhat only recently after the Beastmen joined us.
Just a few years ago, however, the Johnson Knight Order had defended the Territory entirely on its own.
The Johnson Knight Order had survived that hellish battlefield where only the strong could stay alive.
Any mid-ranking Knight had at least ten years of experience fighting monsters.
Even the newest Knight had over three years of combat experience.
They were all veterans.
‘In fact, when the Black Lions first joined the Territory, Rudik alone had basically brought most of them under control.’
Even the Black Lions, whom the Beastmen themselves deeply respected, never underestimated the Johnson Knight Order.
The south simply knew nothing about us because we'd never had any contact with them.
If anything, our level was far above the southern Knights.
“Uh... are we really going to be alright?”
“What do you mean?”
“The enemy Knights. I heard every last one of them is riding warhorses. We even left our Mountain Goats behind, so I'm wondering if that's really alright.”
“Why wouldn't it be?”
“Well... just look at Sir Irene—I mean, Sister-in-law. Knights who know how to fight with warhorses are terrifying.”
“Terrifying, my ass.”
Our ever-reliable Sir Rudik was worrying about something completely unnecessary.
Apparently, he was concerned because all five hundred enemy Knights had warhorses.
But it was a pointless concern.
‘They aren't Knights who truly know mounted combat. They're just Knights riding horses.’
Wars between humans weren't particularly common in this world.
As a result, cavalry skills weren't especially advanced.
Using warhorses against monsters was incredibly inconvenient.
Warhorses were treated as strategic assets.
Losing one was an enormous loss.
Because of that, fighting monsters while mounted was extremely rare.
‘The only people crazy enough to do that would be the Crimson Comet.’
Why had the Crimson Comet become famous despite Irene not even being a Master?
Because they openly did something so outrageous.
Knight Orders that specialized in cavalry tactics were exceedingly rare.
Since the only Knight Order Rudik had personally fought was the Crimson Comet, his standards for mounted combat had become absurdly high.
‘I've seen the southern Knights during the Lord's Council, so I have a rough idea. Rudik hasn't.’
If cavalry had really been that overwhelming, no one would've casually sold off their warhorses no matter how desperate things became.
Half-baked cavalry charges only became liabilities.
To the Johnson Knight Order, who specialized in heavy weapons like greatswords, massive battle axes, and giant war hammers, mounted Knights charging at them were nothing more than easy prey.
‘The real problem is the Masters.’
The Knights that the regional Lords had painstakingly preserved were capable enough that, with the Johnson Knight Order holding the center, they could handle Alex Level's Knights.
The problem was that the enemy had brought four Masters.
Since Sir Shudarn, our defensive specialist, had to remain beside Deron Level, we were at a disadvantage in terms of Master-level combat power.
‘Honestly, I never expected him to bring every single Master. He really knows how to commit to a decisive battle.’
Leaving only Jonathan behind on the main battlefield and bringing everyone else...
The remaining forces there would continue to suffer greatly, but if securing certain victory was the goal, there wasn't a better strategy.
If the Level Kingdom forces simply entrenched themselves and hunkered down, even the combined forces of the Beastman Alliance and Haken would struggle to inflict serious losses.
Breaking through a fortified defensive line would require us to overextend ourselves.
Neither we nor Haken wanted that.
Haken still had to keep an eye on Vines.
As for us, we had no desire to exhaust ourselves on a battlefield that wasn't even truly our own.
Of course, the Dog Tribe and Bull Tribe clearly felt otherwise.
But Irene and I had to think about the Alliance as a whole.
We couldn't simply act however we pleased.
Considering the overall situation, Alex Level had made an extremely efficient decision.
“If only you were a Master, things would've been much easier.”
“...Sorry about that.”
“Forget it. It isn't enough of a problem to matter.”
Not every Calamity-class monster was equally dangerous.
Still, these Masters had defeated multiple Calamity-class monsters.
Their abilities couldn't be underestimated.
Even so, I didn't find them particularly frightening.
From everything Irene had told me after personally fighting them, they seemed manageable.
If they had truly been that dangerous, Irene would've found some way to stop them herself.
If she'd really wanted to, it wasn't as though there had been no options.
‘Besides, Calamity-class monsters? With Raysha's current form, she could probably handle one by herself.’
We only had two Masters.
But those two were me and Raysha.
Since Raysha would be fighting alongside me...
Shouldn't the enemy be more afraid than we were?
“But weren't you saying Sister-in-law Raysha wouldn't be participating? The Beastmen are all waiting on Hurus Island. If you're going to use someone as obvious as Sister-in-law Raysha anyway, there wasn't much point making the Beastmen stay behind.”
“That's what it looks like to you too?”
“What do you mean?”
“You think Raysha will stay behind too, don't you?”
“If the Beastmen aren't participating in the battle, isn't that the natural conclusion?”
If even Rudik thought that...
Then Alex Level would probably think the same thing.
If so...
Things might become rather interesting.
Maybe he'd truly get blindsided.
Alex Level was always the one scheming behind the scenes.
I couldn't help wondering what expression he'd make after getting a taste of his own medicine.
We sent a messenger to deliver a formal challenge to Alex Level.
The moment he heard we wanted to settle everything at Bangsil Plains, he accepted without hesitation.
A quick, decisive battle was exactly what he wanted.
If we'd occupied a Castle and barricaded ourselves inside, things would've become troublesome for him.
In fact, if we truly wanted to force Alex Level into taking losses, that would've been the most efficient strategy.
But our objective was also for Deron Level to reclaim the Level Kingdom.
We couldn't simply drag things out forever.
This time, both sides' goals happened to align perfectly.
“You definitely informed them that the Beastmen wouldn't be participating?”
“So they said.”
“He must've been delighted.”
“We're lucky he didn't call us complete idiots.”
“Well... probably.”
“If your goal was to make him lower his guard, I'd say it worked.”
I gave one additional instruction to the official who delivered our challenge.
Tell Alex Level that the Beastmen wouldn't be participating in this battle.
Most of the officials imprisoned on Hurus Island were highly capable.
This young official was no exception.
Without making it obvious, he let the enemy know that the Beastmen had been excluded from the battle.
According to him, the other side enthusiastically approved of our decision.
They said it was only proper since this was an internal conflict within the Level Family, and Beastmen had no place interfering.
Outwardly, they praised Deron Level for making such a magnanimous decision.
Inside, they were probably calling him a fool.
‘The old Deron Level cared far too much about appearances. Thanks to that, Alex Level seems to have swallowed the bait.’
If the Beastmen had participated, Alex Level would've immediately spread rumors throughout the Kingdom.
Since Deron Level needed to stabilize the Level Kingdom as quickly as possible, he had little choice.
At least we'd managed to make Alex Level lower his guard.
That wasn't a bad outcome.
“But then... what's all this?”
“What do you mean?”
“You clearly said we didn't need to worry about their cavalry.”
“So?”
“But this...”
“Isn't this only natural?”
We were currently constructing defensive positions on Bangsil Plains.
There wasn't much time, so it wasn't anything elaborate.
We were simply placing obstacles to block the enemy's advance.
The Level Kingdom also possessed fairly capable magic forces, and the nearby Territories had Builder Mages.
They weren't as active as the Golem School Builders in our Territory, but they were more than capable of quickly erecting obstacles.
‘I'm not particularly afraid of their cavalry, but there's no reason not to do something that we can.’
Even simple obstacles like these would prevent Alex's mediocre cavalry from fighting properly.
Otherwise...
They'd have to abandon their warhorses altogether.
Either way, we had nothing to lose.
“They're coming.”
“They certainly are.”
By the time we'd finished setting up the anti-cavalry obstacles...
A cloud of dust rose in the distance.
A large force of mounted Knights was charging toward us.
They were clearly in a hurry.
If they wanted to preserve as much of the remaining forces at Haken as possible, they needed to finish this battle quickly.
Things would've been different had we remained inside a Castle.
But since we'd chosen to fight in open terrain, they were naturally confident of victory.
The three hundred Knights gathered by the regional Lords were already a known quantity to Alex Level.
A force of 350 against 500 was enough of a numerical advantage to inspire confidence.
And they also had four Masters.
It would've been strange if they weren't confident.
“So? How about you? Feeling confident?”
“What is there to say? As long as they're not Masters, none of them can beat me.”
“That's true.”
Claiming he'd beat everyone except Masters sounded a little unimpressive.
But it wasn't wrong.
The strongest among his peers.
Unless someone was a Master, nobody could overcome Rudik's overwhelming physical abilities.
“Good. That's reassuring. Keep the Knight Order under control too.”
“Well, I've always been better at that than you, Brother. You should go spend some quality time with Sister-in-law.”
“You really had to put it that way... Anyway, got it.”
With that, I left command of the Knight Order to Rudik and prepared for my own battlefield.
If nothing else, Rudik was someone I trusted completely when it came to this sort of thing.
His claim that he was better at commanding the Knight Order than I was wasn't an exaggeration.