The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon

We marched along the well-maintained main road leading toward the capital. The march went smoothly. A small unit tried to hinder the allied forces by setting off a fire as we passed through a narrow gorge, but Brody Valdorf, scouting ahead, caught the scent of oil and embers and tore them apart.

We arrived at the Red Fox Plains in front of the imperial capital. The Red Fox Plains were so close to the palace that it was also known as the emperor’s garden. Once we captured this point, we could push straight into the capital. Given the situation, even Azure’s wizards must have felt the pressure. This battle was a crucial turning point in the effort to rescue Rubia.

On the plains, 110,000 imperial infantry soldiers, organized into 8 divisions, had dug trenches and were waiting for the allied forces. They were positioned at the nose of the fox. 10,000 cavalry were split into 2 divisions and stationed on the wings. On either side of the plains, near the cheeks, deep rivers flowed. Meanwhile, 90,000 allied troops slowly took position on the wide ears of the fox.

”We’ve arrived.”

Unsurprisingly, the scouts, led by Brody Valdorf, had already reported detailed information. They also had plenty of intelligence obtained by interrogating numerous prisoners.

Two commanders led twelve divisions, and one of the commanders was Marquis Ridbaren. Apparently, there had been a reshuffling of titles after the purge of old houses like Ivote. Ridbaren was said to be an inquisitor, and he was the father of Sisel, the girl who accused Rubia of being a demon worshipper. She was the one most responsible for turning her into a test subject for the mages.

I recalled Rubia’s trembling voice. It’s okay if they’re not human.

Everything happened because of a single, supposedly trivial remark. If religion demanded a sacrifice, then this man was perhaps the most fitting living offering. Facing him here felt strange because I’d never even imagined getting revenge on that family. It felt like an unexpected gift being shoved into my mouth. I instinctively gripped the hilt of my sword, as I always did.

The other commander was Arne d’Oscar, or Count Oscar. He was an old general who commanded the Heltabasha Lancers, a unit where all members used lances over four meters long. He and his lieutenant led the two 10,000-strong cavalry units on either wing.

”Lancers, huh... Ten thousand of them? This’ll be something to see.”

”Think you’ll be okay?”

”What, are you worried? Just focus on what’s ahead. If we break through here, the road to the capital will be clear. Once we’re in...”

I knew. That was why we had to win. I trusted Isaac, but the plan had to go off without a hitch. I was ready to jump in myself, but I couldn’t overturn an army of hundreds of thousands alone.

Knock knock.

A black-haired, black-eyed woman entered the room quietly. She was one of the allied medical officers, and she stared at me with shining eyes as she set a box down in front of me.

”What’s this?” I asked.

”This is the Lurium we salvaged from the destroyed iron men. I convinced the other medics to help collect them. Of course, once we enter the capital, we’ll do a full-scale search...” She smiled. ”I couldn’t help myself. I had to bring you a little now.”

I looked disinterestedly at the half-vial of shimmering silver magic liquid.

”You must’ve been a famous general in the Empire, right? Hiding your identity, resisting the oppression of the class system...”

”Wrong.”

I cut her off without hesitation, but she wasn’t the least bit fazed. I’d known over the past two months that she was overly friendly.

”Then the imperial court was truly foolish not to recognize someone like you. I’m honored to have you by my side.”

”Who knows? Maybe I’ll become your enemy someday.”

Even as I pushed her away with rough words, her gentle demeanor never changed. ”I’ll never treat you as an enemy, but if the time comes, I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know. I’ll adjust my behavior accordingly.”

She just wouldn’t leave. Isaac’s past achievements were undeniably impressive. Compared to when he used to act alone, now commanding 90,000 troops, the scale and speed of movement across the front lines was astonishing.

I set the vial of Lurium beside me. ”Just make sure the plan is conveyed properly. There will be pushback.”

”Of course.”

This woman would likely become the war hero of the Free Confederation. Humans would assume she had commanded everything until now.

Karin smiled gratefully and left.

Absorb.

The silver magical liquid in the vial flowed into me. It was still not enough to satisfy the class advancement requirement, but if I could steal even a tenth of the palace’s secret archive, then I could likely repeat the advancement process several times over.

***

”Three months of food rations? That’s a bit luxurious for an expedition.”

Thanks to Brody Valdorf’s success in tracking down every supply depot the Empire had set up, the allied forces were thriving. The werewolf’s sense of smell was dozens of times stronger than a dog’s. With 90,000 soldiers, the allied expedition had no supply problems.

Cheers echoed from below. ”Waaaaahhhh!”

On the cliff across the way, Isaac looked out indifferently. He seemed unconcerned about the fate of the 500 soldiers he had dispatched. Five kilometers away, the allied forces had built positions and, under Karin’s orders, continued to send out small units to provoke the enemy.

They dragged along long-range ballistas and fired a few shots. Then they shot flaming arrows. They pulled down their pants and urinated toward the enemy lines. The idea was to humiliate the Empire’s troops, refusing to budge against the allied forces who had won consecutive victories.

For morale purposes, the Empire would occasionally dispatch slightly larger forces than the provocation units. Ironically, two out of three of the provocateurs lost, and that number soon grew to four out of five.

Even if these troops were being sent out as punishment for violating military laws through looting or rape, the repeated losses created frustration and resentment within the allied ranks.

”No need for the pawns to understand the big picture.”

That was why Isaac hadn’t explained the purpose of the strategy. Karin Krexar managed the internal discontent gently and effectively. She was doing better than expected, so I didn’t need to worry.

I stood atop the hill, recalling my conversation with Isaac.

”You know what the basic rule of gambling is?”

”What?”

”You gotta get your opponent to sit at the table. To do that, you need to lose a little first. You build up their confidence so that they’ll keep raising the stakes.”

In other words, lose on purpose to set the stage.

”You think it’ll work?”

”Ten thousand lancers. They won’t resist the urge to charge. Not charging would be idiotic.”

Right around the time soldiers started voicing concerns about constantly losing, night raids saw fewer soldiers returning. Among them were elite mechanized infantry who had quietly hidden themselves in the cheeks of the fox formation. These elite troops, with much of their bodies replaced by cold steel, lay hidden in the reeds by the riverbank.

”All the Empire’s ambushes so far have been in forests. They never even imagined that the plains could be used.”

Of course, they couldn’t ambush while lying in wait forever. For it to work, the enemy had to come to them. Isaac was convinced the enemy would advance their troops.

It happened on day four of the standoff between the two armies.

”They’re coming.”

Maintaining formation, both the imperial cavalry and infantry moved forward. I could feel their inflated morale after winning all the skirmishes. Isaac had called it, almost unbelievably accurately. I was shocked by how easily repeated small victories could numb someone’s sense of caution.

In any case, it had finally begun. The battlefield roared.

”Perfect. They’ve walked right into the snare. Time to roast the turtle that stuck its head out...”

”Let’s go down and fight.”

”Hmm... So, are you really not interested in watching this with me? I could walk you through everything that’s happening step by step and give you a personalized lesson.”

Clatter.

I shook my skull. I didn’t need to know all that, because quickly saving Rubia was enough. Standing around posturing on some hill didn’t suit me. Every second mattered. I had to surround the capital and draw the mages out as soon as possible. More than anything, I felt like I needed to swing my sword to release the tension tightly coiled inside me.

There stood the man who had pinned false charges on Rubia—Renaud Ridbaren.

One of the co-commanders, they said?

He was someone completely irrelevant to the true power of the imperial family, so insignificant that even scorning him felt like a waste. Even so, a surge of vengeful fury boiled noisily within my mind. There was no way I’d let him go.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The imperial infantry steadily advanced. The synchronized footsteps of tens of thousands of soldiers sounded like the heartbeat of the earth.

They said the allied army would lure the enemy into attacking the crescent-shaped bulge in their formation, right?

It seemed like things were going according to Isaac’s plan.

Sprint.

I stopped watching and flung myself toward the densest cluster of enemy troops.

A trumpet blared from somewhere.

Fwooooo!

KA-KA-KA-BOOM!

Explosions erupted as landmines, set by hidden mechanized infantry lying in wait across the plains, detonated. It looked as if the earth itself was firing cannons from beneath the feet of the 10,000 cavalrymen on both flanks.

BOOM! KRAKOOM! KABOOM!

I left the hill where I had stood with Isaac and dropped down to the level of the infantry. At that height, the strategic overview disappeared.

”Uh... uh, ugh...”

They must’ve been ordered to retreat after putting up a token resistance. The formation in the center had jutted out. An old man standing in the middle was trembling, his face deathly pale. Even as people shouted around him, he didn’t seem to hear them.

Temporary hearing loss was a phenomenon often seen among soldiers on the battlefield. No one helped him, not that they were in better shape either. They said the army placed disposable troops in the path of the first imperial charge, and it seemed true.

”You idiots! You can’t even carry out a simple order to pull back after a light fight?!” A regional commander’s sharp voice rang out. ”Remember! Don’t retreat backward, run to the sides! The sides!”

I glanced at the soldier following Isaac’s command and then walked straight toward the oncoming imperial army. Even if I went on a rampage, it probably wouldn’t affect the bigger picture Isaac had planned. All around, there were only screams and madness.

Even so, the imperial infantry pushed so close together that they couldn’t even properly swing their swords. They were pressing into each other, crushing their own formation, turning from an army into a mob. This likely wasn’t the encirclement phase yet. Although it was a simple tactic, it was only possible through a deep understanding of military structure.

Before either side had even properly clashed, the imperial formation had already collapsed. I pushed forward, cutting down soldiers as I searched for the supreme commander. A storm of blood rose up, and though the infantry tried to retreat, they were completely trapped, entangled in a net made of their own comrades. I’d probably killed a hundred men, yet it felt like I hadn’t moved forward at all.

Whoosh!

Leaping up, I scanned the surroundings. The encirclement seemed nearly complete. A phalanx of allied spearmen had emerged from the center and were pressing inward, jabbing at the imperial soldiers armed with swords and shields.

While I was tearing through the broken imperial line, a shrill, desperate voice erupted toward the tightening wall of spears. ”Break through! I said break through, you ogre! I let a beast like you serve me, so you’d better get me out of here alive!”

Despite the distance, the voice pierced through. It was a thin, brutish tone I’d heard before. I instinctively turned toward it and saw the crest of Erast flapping on a spear.

A name I had forgotten came back to me.

”Kirk... Ray?”

CLANG!

In front of him, a massive knight was being forced forward. The knight swung a greatsword, cutting a bloody path.

Shhk!

With astounding valor, the knight severed several spears. The knight’s sword came crashing down on the heads of the momentarily startled allied soldiers, crushing two of them.

”That knight...”

Yet, the knight already looked exhausted. They barely managed to parry the second wave of spears with the flat of their blade. The knight yanked their greatsword back and swung it 180 degrees, desperately trying to clear a path for the master barking orders behind him. Three allied soldiers stumbled backward, opening a brief gap.

The moment didn’t last. From among the ranks, the allied elites, mechanized infantry, rushed in. Masters of combat who wielded their very bodies as weapons, a synchronized assault from every direction.

Clack! THUNK!

As I sprinted toward them, I saw a chakram, part of a press-like device, clamped onto the knight’s neck. It happened in a flash. The knight’s head, helmet and all, flew upward. The severed head spewed blood midair, and a droplet splattered onto my already bloodstained blade.

Thud.

A severed, familiar face rolled out of the helmet.

”Chris... tina?”