Dungeon Defense (WN)

Chapter 100: A King and his General (13)

Chapter 100: A King and his General (13)

* * *

They must have realized that their attempt to lure us out had failed as the imperial army quickly retaliated. Thanks to our scouts, we knew where exactly the imperial army was going to strike. Every unit in the right wing assembled at that position. The two armies finally collided after about an hour.

Laura and I gazed at the battle in front of us.

“They are coming at us in a typical way.”

“They are powerful because they stick to standards.”

The first to charge was naturally the cavalrymen. They most likely intended to end the battle by sending in their foot soldiers after their cavalrymen manage to create an opening.

The cavalrymen fearlessly charged at our encampment that was protected by fences and sharp stakes. As expected, the wave of cavalrymen that appeared from the fog 100 meters away from us and closed the distance between us in an instant was ruthless. They pushed against us like tanks. Their charge was so fierce that we almost lost our first line of defense on just the first charge.

“You idiotic pigs! Raise your spears! I told you to raise your spears! Why are you cowering in fear!? Where’s that arrogance you had when you were raping those humans!?”

A non-commissioned officer that happened to be a lizardman shouted as he kicked the rears of orc soldiers. A few orcs fell over. They hurriedly adjusted the helmets on their heads and grabbed their spears. Demon Lords may be the ones ordering them, but that doesn’t mean monsters would suddenly become brave and lose their fears.

“Grrb, grruub, grrb!”

The orcs held up their spears. Normally, humans hold long spears that are 5 to 6 meters long, but orcs held spears that were longer than 9 meters since they were much stronger. Spears that were practically 10 meters long were being held up like the thorns of a hedgehog. Adding to this, these spears were a lot thicker than human spears. No matter how much aura a knight releases, they wouldn’t be able to get through this forest of spikes with ease.

“Kiyaaah!”

Of course, it was only natural that there would be a monster-like human. A single cavalryman let out his aura like an explosive blast and destroyed six to seven spears with a single swing of his sword. A gap was formed in an instant.

“I, Frederick of the Wild Boar Cavalry, will earn the most merits!”

The knight let out a cry as he pushed into the opening. An ogre that was waiting in the back immediately rushed in. Clang, the knight’s lance and the ogre’s axe collided. The ogre had deliberately equipped himself with a large axe in preparation for cavalry. Anything that wasn’t a large axe would normally get destroyed by a knight’s aura. The knight’s advance stopped for a slight moment, and that was more than enough time for us.

“Krrb, grhuub!”

The orc infantries that were waiting in the second line of defense all charged in at once and stabbed at the horse the knight was riding on. The cavalry in this world rode specially raised horses that had monster blood mixed in them, so warhorses meant for cavalrymen were exceptional; however, there’s no way that a horse could endure a countless number of spears stabbing at it. The spears penetrated through its thigh and into its flesh.

– Neeeigh!

The horse rampaged and headbutted the ogre in front of it. It was two times the size of a normal horse, but a horse of that size only managed to weaken the ogre’s posture slightly. That was its last act of desperation.

“Thou are steel! Novae copiae!”

The mages that were positioned a set distance between one another ran over and began to hastily chant a spell. It was a spell to greatly increase the piercing power of spears temporarily. After receiving the spell, the orc spearmen thrust their spears forward once again. They pierced into the knight’s chest, waist, and one of them managed to accurately pierce the horse’s head. Blood poured out.

“Ugh, khhb!”

Was it because he had strengthened his body with his aura? Despite being impaled in the chest and waist by spears, he managed to raise his sword and cut the spears. He had quite the vitality. Nonetheless, the knight still ended up dying despite his struggle. The ogre had swung his axe while the knight was busy dealing with the spears. The blade of the axe shattered the knight’s helmet, head included. Brain matter splattered everywhere.

“Hruuaaaah!”

The ogre roared. He was flaunting that this was his domain after catching a strong prey. The orc spearmen followed along and roared as well. The gap that seemed to open in the first line of defense was patched up by the second line of defense. Our formation was firm. That knight had the honor of being the first person in the imperial army to breach the Demon Lord army’s first line of defense, but the price wasn’t cheap.

The first cavalry charge ended like that. A few places in our formation became unstable. Fortunately, no spot got completely breached. Once the cavalrymen turned their horses around and went back, the monsters cheered as if they had already won.

“They are withdrawing rather easily despite having charged at us so intensely.”

I stood at the fourth line of defense as I observed the situation. My death knights were in their spirit form at the first line. It wasn’t the time for them to step forward yet. Due to this, I had nothing to do. All I could do was pray for my allies and watch them like this.

“That was only the first assault. That was most likely a test charge to see how we defend ourselves. The battle will become more intense from now on, Your Lordship.”

I nodded in response to Laura’s insightful comment. The reason why we managed to successfully block their charge was due to the fact that the cavalry only intended to confirm our strength and because we had set up numerous wooden fences and stakes. The cavalrymen had to reduce their speed slightly to either remove the obstacles or avoid them entirely. This managed to reduce the strength of their charge considerably.

“What are you doing, you sons of bitches!? Why aren’t you running after them!?”

“Do you intend to get us all killed by slacking off, huh!?”

A couple of non-commissioned officers kicked at the goblins. The goblins hid behind the orcs before rushing out ahead after the officers pressured them. A hundred goblins ran out at the same time.

“Kerururuk!”

“Kerub, kehururuk!”

The goblins ran out in pairs of three. One of them carried a bunch of stakes on its back, one of them received the sakes and put them in the ground, and the last one swung its hammer and impaled the stakes deeply into the ground. The goblins were the sappers in this battle. The sound of stakes being set up resonated throughout the battlefield. It didn’t take more than a minute for sharp stakes to be set up all throughout our frontline once more. After they finished working, the goblins ran back as fast as they were chased out, no, they returned faster than that.

“Superb.”

Laura was in awe.

“The division of labor is perfect. By using the goblins to set up the wooden stakes, we diminish the charging power of the enemy cavalrymen. The orc spearmen fight back against the cavalrymen. If their formation happens to get breached, then the ogres waiting in the back will immediately come forward and support. With the orcs from the second line of defense coming forward to encircle them as well, the mages will help with finishing them off……General Zepar truly is talented.”

“Mm. He does specialize in defense more than offense.”

I spoke while recalling my memories from the game. Rank 16 Demon Lord Zepar and Rank 13 Beleth are the complete opposite of one another. If Beleth relies on his immense strength, then Zepar is a strategist, one that specializes in defense at that. From what I can tell, there’s a simple reason why Zepar has a high rank.

It’s because his Demon Lord Castle is god damn difficult to conquer.

There is a characteristic that becomes more prominent the higher a Demon Lord’s rank is. It’s the fact that each Demon Lord has a fixed type of monster that they favor. For example, Barbatos only has undead monsters in her Demon Lord Castle. That’s why, although it’s hard to beat the boss, Barbatos, getting through her castle is fairly easy. You simply have to bring along a saint that’s extremely effective against undead monsters. In <Dungeon Attack>, you have to figure out the characteristics of the Demon Lord you’re going to be facing and plan accordingly.

However, Zepar doesn’t have a particular type of monster that he favors.

He’s the only Demon Lord above rank 20 that uses orc soldiers. The other Demon Lords try to keep face by forming units with monsters at least 2 ranks above orcs. Zepar even has goblins! F rank goblins! Be it orcs or goblins, Zepar positions them in ways that draw out their potentials the most, which results in the creation of an impregnable Demon Lord Castle.

From the perspective of the players, he’s an incredibly annoying enemy. What’s the reason why players have an advantage over NPCs in RPGs? It’s because players have a typing advantage. Players can use a fire skill if a slime comes out and if a flame salamander appears, they can just use a water skill. On the other hand, the NPCs can only use the skills that match their race and elemental typing. Players naturally have an overwhelming advantage.

By putting together an appropriate combination of monsters, Zepar is able to completely nullify ‘a player’s elemental advantage’. What can you do? The players have no other choice but to churn their brains as much as possible and strategically plan out each and every battle. Or grind heavily until they out level the monsters. Well, if you look at this from another perspective, defeating the boss, Zepar, is rather easy once you manage to get through his castle…….

“Look. The cavalrymen have returned.”

Laura pointed towards the area in front of us.

“They seemed perplexed by the new stakes. Nothing has changed after their first charge.”

She was right. The cavalrymen charged in bravely and a few of them managed to get through here and there. However, because of the stakes, they had to charge at a set distance away from each other which meant that even if they did manage to get through, only one or two knights could get through the opening.

The result was obvious. Ogres came out urgently, support from the second line of defense spearmen, and enhancement from mages. The same exact scenario from earlier repeated itself.

This wasn’t all. During the first charge, the orc javelin throwers and goblin stone slingers missed their timing so they had to wait, but they went all out this time around. A knight surrounded by aura slashed away all of the javelins that flew at him from his front. 

However, he couldn’t deflect the projectiles that came at him from his blind spots. A few spears hit the warhorse. The warhorse that had been moving with powerful steps lost its balance in the blink of an eye. The knight fell off from his horse helplessly. The knight took in the impact that had the terrifying speed the horse had been advancing at added to it. 

I witnessed 6 knights either die or get injured after falling from their horses. On a side note, one of the knights got up as if nothing happened. He then ran off back towards where he had come from. I was so bewildered that I watched him the entire time until he disappeared into the fog. Is his body made of steel……?

The right wing of the 6th legion defended against the 2nd charge perfectly.

The morale of our army spiraled all the way up to the sky. I could only see about a hundred meters around us because of the fog, but I could hear the cheers of monsters from all around us. The goblin sappers were in high spirits as they went out to set up the stakes again.

The military band started playing music at that moment. They played an awful song that consisted of bugles, gongs, etc. In other words, it was the perfect anthem for monsters. Ogres, orcs, goblins, lizardmen, and beastmen all stomped along to the rhythm. They were all singing their respective anthems that had been passed down their lineage or villages. It was a bizarre and noisy choral symphony. 

The third assault from the imperial army wasn’t another cavalry charge. The mounted archers made another appearance. They were most likely the mounted archers that my unit didn’t defeat and let go. They shot arrows from afar and retreated over and over again. Most of the wooden fences were destroyed by the cavalrymen, so the monsters were exposed to the arrows.

I clicked my tongue.

“Dang it. Should we utilize the death knights again?”

“No. Lord, look over there.”

The mounted archers strategy which looked like it might be successful was immediately shot down. The situation now was vastly different from several hours ago. Back then, the Demon Lord units were spread out thin, but we were now gathered. Therefore, we have a lot of ogres and mages positioned here.

The mages cast a luminous spell increasing our field of view and clearly revealing the mounted archers. The lords of the mountains didn’t let this opportunity go to waste. 

“Kruaara!”

The ogres took the javelin throwers’ spears and threw them towards the mounted archers. The spears flew through the air like bullets and pierced through the mounted archers like skewers. They didn’t drop in speed as they continued through the air with the corpses attached. This scene happened all throughout the battlefield. In the end, the mounted archers could no longer bear the loss as they tucked their tails between their legs and retreated.

The roars of the ogres echoed throughout the battlefield.

***

Author’s note:

Something that Dantalian doesn’t know.

Q. Why does Zepar use monsters in such a unique way despite being a Demon Lord?

A. In chapter 85, there’s a specific line of dialogue where Barbatos is teasing Zepar.

“I said that he was an imbecile but cool. Keke! Even if someone’s cool, an imbecile is still an imbecile. He fucked up greatly. Did you guys know? He put all his military power into that fight, so even now he only has 20 ogres left. A Rank 16 fellow only has 20 ogres!”

During the 6th Crescent Alliance, in other words, when he had recently become a Demon Lord, he made a huge strategic mistake. He charged at the Kingdom of Brittany’s royal cavalry, the <Green Rose Calvary>, which was known as the third strongest in the continent. No matter how strong cavalrymen are, they can’t possibly compare to ogres! The young Demon Lord thought as he ordered his army to charge.

As Barbatos said, the result was catastrophic. They were done in by the aura-using knights riding warhorses with monster blood coursing through them. ‘Never fight against cavalrymen on an open field’, not only did Zepar learn this lesson, but his name wound up being put up as an example in military textbooks. 

Zepar ended up reaching a point beyond recovery due to this incident, so he naturally had to gather whatever monsters he could possibly get his hands on in order to protect his castle.

Therefore, the reason why Zepar became a genius in defensive battles was due to him losing all of his high-ranking monsters like his ogres. (. .. ) They say that defeat is the mother of victory, isn’t that beautiful?

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Wow, chapter 100! I’ve gotten far. There’s around 500 chapters so this means I’m almost 1/5 done with the WN. I don’t know if this is fast or not. 

In any case, the end is near (of my exams). Still got the last 2 exams left. I got nothing much else to say except that I’m still contemplating about my life, so I’ll see you guys in the next release.