Volume 13 Chapter 5 The Ant’s Kingdom Part II
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
*Kondrad Perspective
”A ton of enemies are coming. This time, leading the charge are Guard Antmen, along with Rider Antmen, Bowman Antmen, and Magic Soldier Antmen Antmen, forming the Soldier Ant-man.”
I stood at the foot of the hill, where the darkness began to creep in, facing a swarm of nearly a thousand monsters.
The Antmen seemed to have identified us as foes, gripping their weapons tightly.
I’ve been hunting monsters for years, but these Antmen were a type I had never seen outside the Southern Region.
This time, during our Southern Region expedition, Alfonso gathered intel from Monster Hunters and the Hunter Guild beforehand, so we could identify the enemy monsters.
In that sense, the Southern Region was unique, home to many types of monsters not found elsewhere.
”The Soldier Ant-man is an S-class target… With this many, only experienced Monster Hunters can hope to take them down.”
Alfonso fumbled with his glasses, focusing on the Soldier Ant-man ahead.
”Calm down. The walls are already more than halfway built. Send the heavily injured to the castle. The rest of you, get into formation with long spears and shields, 5 rows wide.”
My instructions made the soldiers all move together, lining up shields and stabbing out long spears in a square formation.
They knew what to do because they’d trained that way many times before.
Sir Kent gave us the hints about this formation and weapons──our soldiers’ long spears are 3 times longer than the kingdom’s official spear.
On the other hand, shields weren’t officially part of the kingdom’s soldiers’ gear, but Sir Kent forced them to upgrade and made all soldiers carry big assembled shields.
”Get those spears ready! Stab! Now!”
The officer in front gives the commands, and the soldiers form a 3-times-longer spear wall as instructed.
A squad of enemy soldier-ants tries to get close but gets hit with the sharp spear tips, spraying black mist everywhere.
Still, the enemy soldier-ants don’t seem scared; they keep charging without hesitation.
”Front line, push! Second line, stab! Go, go!”
The second row of soldiers, following the officer’s orders, rushes at the enemy soldier-ants attacking the front line, stabbing with all their might.
The enemy soldier-ants’ heads get pierced and burst apart in a spray of black goo.
”…Enemy approaching from the left flank at high speed! Looks like about 50 Rider Ant Men riding in a big group.”
Seeing the dust storm rushing from the left, I quickly give instructions to the officer in charge of the left wing.
”Hold low, angle your shields and tilt your spears. Never break your formation.”
My orders are understood, and the soldiers on the left lower their bodies, tilt their spears, and wait for the charge of the Rider Ant Men.
The Rider Ant Men, yet unaware, speed up and charge straight into the front line soldiers.
Then, the Cavalry Ant-Man crashed into the left wing with a dull thud, sending the army ants impaled on their spears, and the fallen Cavalry Ant-Man was tossed to the ground while a nearby Soldier drove a dagger right under his jaw for the kill.
The Cavalry Ant-Man, slashed at the vital point, flailed his limbs and died just like that.
The failed charge of the Cavalry Ant-Men lost their mounts one by one, getting smashed to the ground and stabbed under the jaw with daggers.
The Cavalry Ant-Men who charged into the left wing achieved nothing and were brutally cut down.
”Alright, ready the troops in the left wing.”
As I was giving instructions to the officer, an arrow zipped past my face.
It seemed the enemy monsters, angered by the massive losses of their Cavalry Ant-Men, decided to engage us from range.
Arrows began to rain down, and magic fireballs started hitting the ground.
The Archer Ant-Men and Magic Ant-Men positioned at the rear were trying to inflict damage on our Soldiers.
An arrow struck a nearby Soldier in the chest, and he collapsed.
In that moment, the officers flanking me raised their shields to protect me.
”You don’t need to protect me. I can take care of myself. But if you surround me with shields, I can’t see the battle!”
I told the officers guarding me to step back, then unsheathed my sword and began to cut down the arrows raining down.
At that moment, a communication via mirror came from the back of the enemy crowd.
It was the Cavalry unit from Ane.
They finally received the order to converge and had arrived at this place.
”Tell the communication officer to relay to Ane, ‘Charge from the rear and disrupt the enemy forces.’ We will push them back in response to Ane’s attack.”
Officer in charge of communication, who received instructions, manipulates the mirror to send signals to Ane and the others.
The sun was already starting to set, and using the mirror for communication was now or never.
Just then, the cavalry unit that had received the message was fighting the Soldier Antmen in the valley of a hilly area, and they were racing down the hill behind them.
The front line was led by the heavy cavalry team commanded by Austronesia, galloping with pounding hooves, charging fiercely ahead.
Austronesia, striking from behind, knocked aside the Bowman Antmen and Magic Soldier Antmen, scattering the fallen ants under each of their hooves.
The ants, caught completely off guard, looked confused and muddled, unsure what was happening.
”Now! Left flank and right flank troops, move forward and encircle the enemy cluster! We’ll trap them in the Crane-Wing formation and crush them all!”
Following the orders, the troops began to shift from square formation into the Crane-Wing formation.
Meanwhile, Ane’s light cavalry also made their rush, and the chaos among the enemy forces grew even worse.
The Soldier Antmen were in total disarray, as my troops spreading in the Crane-Wing formation used their own ant soldiers──soldier ants and Rider Antmen──to take them down, spewing out black mist in the process.
* * *
After shooting down many monsters, the black mist filled the air, and the fog thickened, making visibility poor.
Amidst this, a massive individual ant──strangely larger than the others──cut through the central troops, breaking through.
I saw it dragging what looked like a carriage pulled by 6-headed war ants, swinging a huge shield and a long sword, forcing the soldiers back and smashing through bravely.
”I will take down that one. Others, fight your own battles and kill the other ants.”
”Sir Kondrad! That cannot be! The Supreme General──fighting one-on-one?!”
Ignoring Alfonso’s protests, I urged my horse forward, charging into the army of ant soldiers──probably the Guard Antmen leading the rush.
During the charge, I swung my trusted sword at the Guard Ant-Man’s right shoulder, but the blade only slid off the tough surface without cutting through.
…Looks like my strength can’t land a normal hit…
Realizing my regular attacks weren’t working, I put all my strength into my sword and unleashed a Sword Flash at the Guard Ant-Man.
But when the Sword Flash hit the Guard Ant-Man’s shield, it vanished without a trace.
The Guard Ant-Man looked at me with a smug expression in its multi-faceted eyes.
It then swung its massive sword down at me.
I barely dodged the attack, but my balance was off, and it would take some time to regain my stance.
”Protect General Kondrad! If slashes won’t work, then hit it with a hammer!”
A nearby officer, quick on the uptake, instructed the soldiers to strike the Guard Ant-Man with hammers.
Soldiers from the crowd began stepping forward, picking hammers from their gear and bringing them down on the Guard Ant-Man.
While I managed to regain my footing, I decided to switch my attack target to the army ants being used as mounts and started chopping them up.
Even though the Guard Ant-Man shuddered from the soldiers’ hammer strikes, it seemed those attacks weren’t effective.
Eventually, after taking down the army ants, the Guard Ant-Man felt the pressure of being outmatched and started to retreat.
”Damn it, it’s getting away!”
As I tried to charge my mount to block the fleeing Guard Ant-Man, I was stopped by a familiar voice.
”Dad! Get out of the way, you’re in the way!”
The voice belonged to Ane.
Turning to follow the voice, I saw the gun cavalry aiming their magical guns at the Guard Ant-Man.
Seeing this, I immediately stopped my pursuit and halted my horse.
Tat-tat, tatatat, tatatat.
Automatic gunfire rained down from the cavalry, focusing on the Guard Ant-Man.
At first, the shots were deflected, but as the barrage continued, its limbs began to stiffen, and eventually, it exploded into pieces, scattering chunks of flesh around.
”…Cease fire. Dad, we’ve taken down the leader of the enemies.”
”Idiot! I told you to call me ‘General Kondrad’ in battle, not ‘Dad’! You make the soldiers look bad!”
Normally, Ane wouldn’t call me Dad in front of the troops, but since she looked fired up about the big fight after a long time, I scolded her to get her to focus.
Ane’s face suddenly blanches when she gets called out.
”U-Understood! General Kondrad! We’ve defeated the enemy commander!”
”Good. Ane, merge with Austronesia’s cavalry squad and start wiping out the remaining enemies. Don’t let a single one escape.”
”Yes! Understood!”
Ane rides off briskly on her horse, leading the same cavalry squad and charging into the battlefield.
”Sir Kondrad, please don’t push it too far! What will you do if you collapse here?”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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