V4 C13 - The Battle of the Border (Part 1)

After eighty long days of careful planning and coordination, Count Barthlow’s forces were ready.

Fifteen-thousand soldiers, under the command of Prince Augustus and Princess Aeila, would assault the border fortress of Atryus.

With artillery and siege ladders at their disposal, it wouldn’t be impossible for them to capture the fortress. However, their main objective was to act as a distraction for the Demon Empire’s forces.

At the same time, Cout Barthlow’s forces would sneak into the empire and march with great haste to the Dread Keep with the intention of capturing or destroying the castle, before turning their attention to the surrounding lands.

They would wage guerrilla warfare until the Free People’s Alliance were ready to mobilize at which point the Demon Emperor would fall.

***

“Have we received any word from Lady Mania?”

“Not yet, Jess.”

Jessica clicked her tongue in frustration, but then calmed herself when she remembered who her boss was. “Raven, what did his majesty say?”

“His majesty said that they will be here soon.”

“…If his majesty has said as much, then that means things are going according to plan.”

“Even though the original plan was to have Lady Mania here when Prince Augustus’s forces assaulted us.”

“Shut it, Cain. Lucy, are your men in position?”

“They are.”

“Excellent. Remember, not a second earlier, alright?”

“By his majesty’s will.”

Jessica gleamed. “Yes! By his majesty’s will!”

***

The barrage came first.

Mages and horse-drawn catapults pelted the battlements and gates relentlessly.

Then, the vanguard slowly marched towards the walls in a tight formation, with ladder carriers and a battering ram shielded behind them. The skeletons on the walls knocked arrows and rained volley after volley upon them, but the Holy Legion remnants weren’t phased.

In fact, because of their large tower shields, few arrows found their mark.

Once they were within fifty metres of the walls, it was the Holy Legion’s turn to start firing arrows up at the walls.

On the surface, everything seemed to be going according to Count Barthlow’s plan.

But that was what worried Augustus the most.

“Isn’t this too easy?”

“My prince?”

“This. We’re already gaining this much ground and our enemies are barely scratching us. Something feels…off.”

Barthlow said that they’d be stretched thin and that they wouldn’t have enough men to defend Atryus, and we do have numbers on our side.

It’s just…

Memories of the Sack of Themis came into his mind.

The cheers of victory as Karak-Harth died, followed by that haunting, evil laughter on the wind, and then the slaughter.

The Demon Emperor had played them for fools before and it wasn’t unthinkable that he was doing so again.

Or the Count could be right and the enemy merely wanted them to think that was the case.

“…Should we halt our-?”

“No. We continue as planned, but send word to the officers to keep an eye out for anything that seems even slightly suspicious.”

“As you command.”

A booming sound echoed across the field.

Several fire balls smashed against the gates, blowing the left one off its hinges.

Seconds later, the portcullis fell from the gatehouse, sealing the breach, but both sides knew it wouldn’t hold for long.

With the battering ram now in place, the Holy Legion made swift work of the portcullis, then quickly dragged the war machine out of the way to pave the way for the next stage of the plan.

“Calvary! Forward!”

Dozens of horns sounded off as Prince Augustus led his five hundred mounted soldiers down to the causeway, through the breach and into the courtyard.

The skeletons and Machai on the other side were ready to meet them, but the knights charged into them regardless.

In a mighty clash of steel and screams, the two sides broke against each other, as the horses ploughed through the Demon Emperor’s lines and deeper into the first layer of the castle, Prince Augustus leading the way.

He was scared out of his mind and mindlessly swinging his blade from left to right, not knowing if his strikes landed, but he kept going nonetheless.

A few minutes later, the rest of the vanguard followed them into the first layer, with some scaling ladders to climb onto the walls, but most charged through the breach to help take the courtyard.

The Machai and skeletons put up a good fight, despite being outnumbered severely, though it was clear that the first layer would soon fall, especially now that Kella, Dante and the adventurers had joined the fray.

With the courtyard all but cleared of enemy forces, Prince Augustus ordered the mages to breach the second layer, but hundreds of arrows flew into their lines, killing most of the mages instantly.

“Where did that-?!”

“Take cover!”

A second, more intense volley of arrows flew down from the second layer’s walls, though there were less casualties in the second barrage. The Holy Legion quickly reorganised with the volunteer forces and took up more defensive positions as the arrows continued to fly.

“Whose shooting at us?”

“Elves, my prince! There’s more than a thousand of them on the battlements!”

“Get our men onto the first layer’s walls and have them shoot back. Keep pressing the attack, but don’t act recklessly and put our men’s lives at risk.”

“As you command!”

***

“Jess, we’ve spotted the three VIPs!”

“Where are they?”

“Augustus is in the centre of the enemy formation and Lucy can’t get a clear shot. Kella and Dante have swung around to the east with the rest of the adventurers.”

“How many?”

“Maybe a hundred total?”

Jessica smiled. “Then, that’s fine. Cain, grab Lucy and handle Dante, would you? I’ll take Kella.”

“Woah, woah, you think we can beat them?”

“Of course not, but you know what our role is, don’t you?”

Cain sighed and grimaced a little. “I just hope they get here soon.”

***

“Look out!”

An arrow zoomed past Kella’s head and tore through the two adventurers standing behind her, killing them instantly.

Thanks to Dante’s warning, she had just about managed to avoid the attack, but the others hadn’t been so lucky.

Another arrow came a moment later, but Kella bashed it away mid-air.

Lucy clicked her tongue from atop the battlements and knocked another arrow against her bow.

“Hey, why don’t you come and make this a fair fight?” Dante taunted, generating energy around his legs.

Then, using his Arts, he leapt up onto the battlements and swung his large scythe at Lucy’s neck.

Just before it connected, Lucy rolled beneath it. She went to fire another arrow, but Dante relentlessly pursued her across the battlements, forcing her to continuously dodge his attacks or risk death.

However, Dante was then forced back himself.

Cain swung his blade and kicked at Dante, forcing the slayer to block his attacks. Dante swerved his body away from the kick and caught Cain’s foot between his chest and elbow. He then squeezed it hard, snapping the bone and breaking Cain’s foot, before throwing him at Lucy before she could fire again.

“Cain, are you-?!”

Dante zoomed at tremendous speed towards them again, but he hit an invisible barrier. With a single swing of his scythe, Dante destroyed the barrier and continued chasing his opponents.

However, the barrier Jessica made had given her enough time to heal Cain’s injury and to conjure a second, much weaker barrier.

The barrier broke quickly but it gave Lucy and Cain a chance to recover, and for Jessica to descend to the first layer to face Kella.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, A-ranked adventurer Kella.” A horde of Machai jumped down after her, surrounding the hundred adventurers. “Now then, before we get started, I don’t suppose any of you would be interested in joining our ranks?”

“Hey, aren’t you Jessica? Roland’s fiancé, right?”

“Oh?”

“I thought your whole team was murdered.”

Jessica burst out laughing. “Yes, that’s what the Dark Lord wanted you to think.”

“…What?”

“Those of us worthy to serve his majesty survived, but the rest were thrown away.”

The adventurers who knew Jessica and her team couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

Many of them had cried upon learning of their horrific fate; now, they’d been reunited in the worst possible way.

Jessica didn’t care.

If none of them accepted her offer, she’d have them all but Kella killed.

Why, Jessica didn’t know but it wasn’t her place to ask.

Perhaps there’s something more to her than meets the eye, like Lady Hilda.

Jessica’s eyes turned into a deep shade of violet as her smile turned ever more sinister. “If any of you were to accept my offer, you would awaken to the truth of this world and know what your true purpose is in life. His majesty would gladly welcome you to his side and reward you lavishly.”

“…What did he do to you, Jessica?”

The priest laughed. “He opened my eyes. So, I guess this means we don’t have any takers?” None of the adventurers answered. “Very well.” Jessica clapped her hands as even more Machai emerged to further surround the adventurers. “Try to take some of them alive, if you can - Lady Mania’s always after new test subjects.”

***

Dante broke Lucy’s bow in two.

Cain lunged at Dante’s back, but Dante spun to the side and bashed Cain on the back of the head with the butt of his scythe. As Cain collapsed, Dante’s foot flew into Lucy’s chest, breaking three of her ribs.

She vomited and fell onto her side, unable to stand back up, but Cain tried to keep going, awkwardly shuffling on all fours towards Dante.

“Now then.” Dante pushed his scythe’s blade against Lucy’s neck. “Why are two human adventurers working for the Demon Emperor?”

Cain spat at him, so Dante kicked Cain’s teeth in.

“Okay, if you don’t want to talk, we can do this the difficult way.”

Just before Dante could start interrogating Lucy, he felt a shiver rush down his spine, leaving goosebumps all over his skin.

It was a sensation he hadn’t felt since that day in Themis, and it made him grin a toothy smile.

“I was waiting for you to show up!”

***

As Prince Augustus’s soldiers fought at Atryus, Count Arlan Barthlow and his elite force of twenty-thousand men were marching with great haste across the border northwards, their sights firmly set upon the Dread Keep.

Their advance hadn’t been marked or assaulted yet by the Demon Emperor’s forces, just as the count expected.

They had the Beast Woods to their left and a vast open plain on their right, meaning that they were in a fairly strong position to resist any potential attacks.

Not that they will attack us.

Count Barthlow smiled as he recalled his spies’ reports.

The eighty rebel cells he had created across the Demon Emperor were all ready to move upon his order and, better yet, they’d confirmed that Abaddon was still in the north with the vast majority of the empire’s forces.

He sent his messengers back with explicit orders for each cell as well as the date of his invasion, so they’d all move in unison and sow utter chaos throughout the Demon Empire.

In a week’s time, we’ll have taken the Dread Keep and then the real war can begin.

A few minutes later, his column was ambushed from the front and side by werewolves and elves, numbering roughly six-thousand in total.

Despite his careful planning and attempts to divert his enemies away from him, Count Barthlow was not so arrogant he didn't anticipate an attack on his soldiers. He had, admittedly, not expected them to number six-thousand strong.

His men, however, were organised, confident and level headed.

They held their lines and the enemy couldn’t breach them.

For every soldier he lost, they lost at least two.

Everything was still within his calculations.

Now, once this force has been repelled, there will be nothing-

“My lord the rear guard just sent word! They’ve been attacked and-”

“Tell them to hold on for a few more minutes and we’ll send relief to-”

“My lord, the line has already collapsed and the rear guard is routed! The enemy has broken their formation and scattered them completely!”

“…What?”

That’s impossible!

How could my elite men have been so easily defeated?!

“How many enemies are attacking us from the rear?!”

“…S-seventeen, my lord.”

“What?! Just seventeen?!”

The sounds of battle drew closer from the rear of the column as Count Barthlow and his strongest forces turned to face them.

He had kept his finest men, five hundred in total, close to him in the centre of the column as his final trump card in the event something went terribly wrong, but the count had never expected things to go wrong this early in the campaign.

“Tell the men to hold the front and flanks whilst we handle this. Knights, with me!”

Count Barthlow drew his sword and rode forward with his five-hundred steel clad knights.

The foot soldiers moved out of their way as they trotted to the rear. Many of Barthlow’s men continued to retreat to the safety of the front of the column, or desert him, but the count paid them little mind.

We have to control this before the whole army routs, and nothing rallies soldiers better than seeing their leader fight alongside them.

Then, he saw them.

The seventeen soldiers in full dragon-metal plate armour, carrying spears, swords, shields, bows and arrows, and even magical staves.

No two knights held the same equipment, but they were all painted with blood.

Their helmets were fashioned to resemble that of demons and each of them had a vicious aura of pure malice dripping off their bodies.

They were the Satyr Knight’s soldiers, the finest weapons that the Demon Emperor possessed - the Dread Knights.