Dungeon Defense (WN)

Chapter 300: Empire Murderer (2)

Chapter 300: Empire Murderer (2)

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The Brittan army heard about the collapse of the capital a step late.

According to a report from our wyvern scouts, the enemy suddenly increased their speed two hours ago. It was a drastic increase in pace. It was evident that they were trying to escape as far as they could from a pursuit.

Naturally, Laura didn’t leave this be.

“Wyvern unit, your scouting mission is now over. Go and obstinately bite the enemy’s rears.”

After Laura’s order, the 300 wyverns immediately changed into a pursuit team.

The wyverns carried out a strategy where they would drop from the sky rapidly to attack before flying back up. It was incredibly annoying to deal with.

It wouldn’t do much if the enemy was holed up in a fortress, but they were currently marching mindlessly. They couldn’t form a proper archer unit to retaliate. The enemy’s pace clearly became slower.

The pursuit battle that started in the morning continued into the night and the following morning.

Monsters may have more stamina than humans, but there was no way that they wouldn’t get tired after two days of marching. Soldiers gradually started to drop out. Nevertheless, Laura continued our pursuit.

“If our troops are struggling this much, then imagine how much the enemy must be struggling. One’s military strength is always relative. Even if we have losses, as long as the enemy has more losses than us, it will be our victory.”

Once a portion of the Demon Lords asked for a break, Laura gave them a flat refusal. The Demon Lord army really moved hastily while only taking the bare minimal breaks. Soldiers dropped out, but they were ignored.

Day four.

At this point, our forces had practically caught up to the Brittan army. The only difference was the fact that we were located south of the Sequana River while the enemy was on the north side. We were both running with the river between us.

Were they unable to endure any longer? They attempted to cross the river at a place called Pont de l’Arche.

However, the bridge was extremely narrow, so our forces were able to wait while fully blocking the entrance of the bridge. The Brittan army put their cavalrymen forward and did whatever they could to break through our formation. There was a clash.

They might have succeeded had the Green Rose Knights been the ones charging. Our troops were visibly exhausted after marching for four days straight. Nonetheless, it was impossible for a knight order to break through a formation of 25,000 soldiers unless they were monsters like the Green Rose Knights.

They failed to cross the river. Brittany ended up losing another precious cavalry unit before retreating.

On the sixth day, another clash occurred at the fortress city of Rouen located in the northwest.

A majority of the cities north of Frankia had conformed to republicanism due to the previous civil war; however, Rouen was located in the most southern part of the northern region. They were relatively close to Parisiorum, so Brittany had some influence over the city.

They replenished their supplies and attempted to cross the river again after raising their morale—but they failed.

A total of 3,000 men were lost on both sides combined. The number of casualties was mostly the same on both sides. The fact that the losses were similar even though they were attempting something that put them at a disadvantage proved how capable the Brittan army was……but a failure was still a failure.

On the eleventh day, another battle happened at Rouen.

The enemy seemed rather determined this time. Not only did they use the bridge, but they also tried to cross using a large number of rafts. However, their entire advance party was drowned before they could get even halfway across the river. The Water Spirit King under Vassago’s command had sunk them.

Their attempt to cross the river failed this time as well. Brittany suffered a loss of about a thousand men.

Consecutive defeats.

The army that was once known as ‘the army that knew not defeat’ had reached rock bottom in terms of morale. Not only did they abandon Parisiorum and run away, but they had also lost their saintess who was their mental pillar. Adding consecutive defeats on top of this made their situation worse.

In comparison to our army, Laura was practically being worshipped as an idol among the Demon Lords. It was at the point where they’d probably believe her if she declared that she was going to make cheese out of mold.

“My Earth Spirit King died last time and now my Wind Spirit King has died. You bastards, do you know how much time it takes to raise a spirit to the level of a spirit king!?”

……Excluding Vassago who had to struggle desperately since he had to deal with Demon Lord Agares every time there was a fight.

I kindly consoled him.

“Now, now. Last time you only faced Agares with three people, but didn’t Her Excellency Barbatos join you this time? Do not worry too much.”

“I’m asking you how you’re going to compensate me, you thick-headed brat.”

Vassago was making a fuss. It seems that he was rather upset since he had lost two of his precious spirit kings. Seriously, what a stickler. Vassago finally calmed down after I promised to gift him a rather large portion of land after the war was over. He was like a child who was running rampant because he wanted to have some candy.

Well, excluding these small occurrences, the Demon Lord army had no problems.

The enemy was on a losing streak. They were able to get provisions from Rouen and catch their breaths, but there was a problem with that. The Batavia Republic’s navy was still blocking the entrance of the river, so this meant that Rouen’s supply line was also cut. Their fundamental supply problem was still an issue.

Half a month went by. In the end, the Brittan army gave up on Rouen and left.

They pillaged all the places they went through in order to replenish their lacking supplies. The northern region was an area that was especially hostile toward Brittany. The civilians decided to hide in the forest and launch surprise attacks, forcing the Brittan soldiers to suffer more.

They were getting bit at every possible moment. This was probably the aptest description.

The last place the Brittan army arrived at was a port city called Le Havre. It was a port city connected to the sea……. It should be obvious, but they no longer had an escape path. 

“We will force a siege on the enemy here.”

Before the start of this war, Laura swore to never engage in a pitched battle with the Brittan army.

That practically became a prophecy as one truly never occurred after nearly a month since we started our pursuit. There have only been small-scale clashes. Before long, the Brittan army didn’t get to have a single proper fight before they were checkmated.

Now the Brittan army was being forced to defend against a siege, something which they weren’t confident in. The Republic of Batavia’s navy surrounded them on the sea while our Demon Lord army was surrounding them on land. This wasn’t all.

“His Highness Leraje has joined us.”

“The Northern City Alliance has joined with 5,000 mercenaries!”

Once the victor became clear, the forces that had been watching quietly until now started to gather. Ex-rank 14 Demon Lord Leraje whose Demon Lord Castle was located in the northern region of Frankia, ex-rank 27 Demon Lord Ronove, and troops from the free cities in the north.

Our army increased in size by 10,000. We didn’t have to worry about our supply lines anymore. Our navy fleets supplied us from the sea while the free cities in the north handled our supplies on land.

I repeated the slaughter that we carried out at Parisiorum. We captured the people who were living nearby and cruelly burned them at the stake. We didn’t have to do this on a large scale this time. Twenty people a day was more than enough. Our goal was to make the people of the city afraid and lower the enemy’s morale, after all.

35 days since we started our pursuit.

There was a commotion within Le Havre. Fires started to surge as the sound of combat could be heard from within the city walls.

“Lord, do you think the people have started to rebel?”

“No. Agares is probably the one causing the commotion.”

“Agares?”

I smiled.

“The Brittan army has finally decided to surrender. Not an overall surrender, but probably an honorable one. Therefore, a surrender where we allow them to return to Brittany. However, an honorable retreat does not come without a price.”

I didn’t feel the need to kill Queen Henrietta. It was fine as long as I crushed her enough so that she couldn’t establish a foothold on the continent again. This was possible by chasing her out of Frankia, destroying her powerful knight orders, and making her supporting factions turn their backs on her…….

“To an extent, subjugating Demon Lord Agares is our cause. In other words, an honorable surrender can be acknowledged if they give Agares’ head to us. Queen Henrietta most likely ambushed Agares.”

“And Agares figured it out.”

I nodded.

“Their ambush itself was probably successful, but their target is Agares. A successful ambush is not enough to take her head. An intense clash between Agares and a bunch of knights must be happening in the city right now.”

Laura grinned.

“Then Your Lordship, this is the perfect moment to strike.”

“Exactly.”

We looked at each other and smiled.

We have absolutely no intention of accepting their surrender. We’ll attack them now and force the Brittan army into a half-dead state. Of course, a siege is harder for the attacking side, but the enemy is currently going through some internal discourse. This was basically a perfect opportunity.

“If the Queen wants to surrender honorably, then let her. However, there is no reason for us to send her army back safely as well……kuhu. I am curious as to how people will react in Brittany if the Queen returns by herself.”

“As I thought, you have a nasty personality, Lord.”

“Are you not the same?”

Laura beamed.

She raised her baton and gave a command.

“All soldiers, attack.”

A single sentence from Laura was enough to make an army of 35,000 soldiers move.

Catapults launched boulders into the air while our siege weapon slammed against the gate. The ogres personally carried logs and smashed the gate while our wyverns descended to attack the guards on top of the ramparts.

The Brittan army fought bravely. It was almost hard to tell that they had been experiencing consecutive defeats. However, they were lacking in vigor since all of their knights had left to fight Agares. It took only two hours for us to capture one corner of the ramparts.

Our envoys delivered the good news.

“The south gate has been destroyed!”

“Ogre unit, charge in! His Highness Beleth and Her Highness Sitri are taking the lead!”

Once a corner was captured, the other walls fell one by one like dominos.

The Brittan army may be skilled at pitched battles, but a majority of Demon Lords are skilled at sieges. After fighting humanity for over two thousand years, capturing fortresses was all they knew how to do well. The demons swarmed into Le Havre like a tsunami.

“The Batavian navy has occupied the pier.”

“They are cooperating with our troops to pincer the enemy. They are fighting on the streets!”

We also had the veterans of naval combat, Batavia, on our side.

The enemy was being pincered on both land and sea. They also had to deal with a rampaging Agares on the inside. Even Elizabeth wouldn’t be able to do anything in a situation like this. We gradually gained the advantage in the street battles.

And then.

“Agares spotted! Agares has been spotted on the west side of the city! According to the report—Agares has been severely injured! Her entire body is covered in wounds!”

We found Demon Lord Agares, the goal of this war.

It seems that not only did Agares beat the ambush, but she also endured the fierce attack from the knights. In other words, this was the best-case scenario for us. Agares had become a wounded tiger while Brittany lost an uncountable number of knights.

“Daisy.”

I called out to the girl standing next to me.

“Yes, Father.”

“Go take Agares’ head. Make sure not to make any mistakes.”

The sword which Baal once had. It was one of the most overpowered weapons in the world, but it was now in the hands of Daisy. She may not have awakened fully as the hero, but Agares was severely injured. If she coordinates with the other Demon Lords, then she should be able to defeat Agares with ease.

The black-haired girl nodded her head.

“If that is your order.”

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Woo chapter 300. We’ve reached another milestone. I hope everyone has been enjoying these translations so far. We sure have come a long way :^). These morning constructions will be the death of me. It’s like they do the loudest part of their construction at the start of the day, so I always wake up to some loud bang.

On a more serious note, I actually just got hired for a job at a game translation company and I’ll be starting on the 25th. I know I mentioned several times on previous occasions that I might potentially get a job, but those always fell through. Nonetheless, it’s legit this time. There’s a 3 month training period where I may or may not get fully hired afterward. In any case, this will undoubtedly alter my schedule heavily. I will, however, do my best to keep this translation going. Of course, the gap between chapters will probably increase. I was somehow able to maintain a 2-day gap between chapters, but that gap will most likely increase by a day or two. We’ll just have to wait until I actually start working and I get accustomed to my new schedule.

I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.