Of course, the half-nymph Viola and Lyle-sensei traps that produce poisoned grass on wells are also being utilized in this war.
From the territory of the Lauren Knights to the City of Spike, the soldiers and horses must have drunk a lot of poison but no one fell.
「It seems like the empire has switched its focus in supplying antidote potions.」
「Does that mean that there are people in the empire that know about it?」
The cause of the mysterious plague has not yet been discovered to be “nymph poison”.
They still don’t know what kind of poison it is until now because no one had thought it to be the curse peculiar to nymphs.
However, even if the cause is unknown, they knew from the previous battles that it can be treated with antidote potions.
There are logistics officers in the empire who know what they are doing.
「In addition to the 70000 troops, there are also horses. They will never be able to procure enough recovery potions for them so it makes sense.」
However, not being able to stop them hurts a lot.
The empire is also in a total attack mode to bring forces that you would normally leave behind to control your country. They are desperately advancing their troops to end this as soon as possible.
So, as the imperial troops made their way to the City of Spike, they were stopped by a large number of monsters from the Oracle’s Great Cave.
It wasn’t enough to hurt them but it wasn’t something they could ignore either.
The imperial army in the vicinity of the cave was a mixed battalion of 5000 men composed of knights and mercenaries gathered from one of the three state kingdoms of the empire, the one on the northeast, the Kingdom of Rastoir.
The Rastoir General Rai Rakan was reluctant to accept the order from the empire’s headquarters to go down the Oracle’s Great Cave.
Going westward to the Silesie Kingdom, the honorable knights of Rastoir were made to do trivial tasks such as guarding the siege weapons.
This time, they were ordered to imitate adventurers.
However, an order is an order and they had no choice but to do it.
「Brave warriors of Rastoir! Let’s get rid of the monsters in our way.」
General Rai is wearing an iron helmet and a lamellar breastplate on top of his chainmail. He is also wielding a big sword and riding a horse as he orders the battalion under his banner to attack the cave.
The Rastoirians, who live on the border of the human world, are accustomed to fighting demons and in peacetime, they are doing things similar to what adventurers and mercenaries would do.
They probably thought that conquering the basement level of a dungeon would be a piece of cake.
-0-
—Scene Change—
-0-
The Oracle Great Cave, which has been closed for a while, is now fully mobilizing miasma from the ground to spawn monsters.
Instead of using them to protect the dungeon, they are being used to attack outside.
If Oracle-chan, the dungeon master, were here, she would probably lament that this is an evil way but this place is currently in automatic management.
As the avalanche of ogres and goblins made their way out of the dungeon, the volunteer corps and the knights of Viscount Oracle’s domain lurked in a hidden room, watching.
「Oi, quack captain. Are the imperial troops really coming this far?」
A female knight, Dross Tocord, wearing full plate armor in the service of Viscount Ortholet, asks a niichan, a brown-haired man in leather armor, who is scouting the outside of the dungeon using the viewing window next to him.
「Dross-oneechan, stop calling me a quack and let me remind you that my name is Mars!」
The brown-haired niichan, who looks like a punk, is the general of the Oracle’s Great Cave Siege Army of less than a thousand men.
He is the son of the village chief of Ona Village, where the base camp of the volunteer army is located. He has been given the title of first captain of the volunteer corps.
However, for the odd reason that he is cheerful and has a loud voice, he has become the leader of the ex-local troops of the Ona Village, and every one of them is now a veteran.
He is the son of the village chief, and even though he is their captain, he has an open and honest personality which makes him a surprisingly capable general.
「You are the one who should stop being a sissy. This sister is a proud knight.」
「I’m a proud captain too. And let me remind you, I was personally appointed by Hero Takeru-sama.」
The black-haired female knight signs when she sees the brown haired punk laughing proudly.
From a knight’s point of view, the battle of the young volunteer army looks like peasant children playing.
,
And yet, they are stronger than the knights who trained for a long time because they use guns and cannons which she found discouraging.
This is probably what his excellency Viscount Ortholet meant to Knight Dross when he said “Times have changed”.
「Ah, yeah, I get it. I don’t really care about that, quack. I’m asking whether the imperial army is coming or not.」
「Of course they are coming. The undefeated warlord said so.」
「State Secretary Lyle is indeed capable but there’s something about that man that I don’t like….」
「Ah, the enemies are here, oneechan!」
The knights of Rastoir are wearing matching helmets. They entered the entrance of the cave, destroying ogres and goblins on their way.
Behind the horse-riding knights with big barbarian swords, spear-wielding mercenaries on foot follow.
Those troops are already on their way to rush into the great cave.
The army in the cave’s hidden room are preparing to intercept them.
「I already told you I’m not your older sister!」
「It’s not the time for that, neechan. Come on guys, get ready!」
At Mars’ command, the volunteer army scattered to their own positions.
The Oracle’s Great Cave has0 hidden rooms for maintenance and a hidden passageway connecting them.
If you surprise them from there, you can also unilaterally intercept enemies entering the dungeon.
In normal dungeon management, this is one of those forbidden moves that should never be done but since it’s war, it can’t be helped.
Oracle’s lament that “It’s the end of the world” is likely to be heard.
Incidentally, according to Oracle, the reason why hidden maintenance rooms and passageways can’t be used for offense is because if their existence is discovered by adventurers and are blocked, it would be a fatal blow to dungeon management.
Hidden rooms are meaningful only because they are hidden.
Therefore, this strategy is only an emergency measure.
Now, the question was whether the enemy would be lured into the dungeon but that problem seemed to have been cleared up.
The knights dismounted from their horses and the spear-wielding mercenaries entered the cave without care.
They are already familiar with fighting monsters so for them, this is a daily occurrence.
They never thought that the enemy, whom they had underestimated as a small army, would be using the dungeon for a siege.
Therefore, the knights of Rastoir, who were lured to the big room at the back of the underground floor of the Oracle’s great cave, could hardly resist the volunteer army who suddenly appeared from what they thought was a wall and was shot.
「Well, if we’re talking about close combat, we’re talking about shotgun!」
Captain Mars smiled proudly as he stroked his gun.
The first squad had been given a new weapon, the shotgun, because they were expected to fight a hard battle.
As the captain, that made him proud.
Normally, they can only shoot once per reload but the shotgun can load up to six to nine shells per reload.
Although the effective distance is reduced, the ability to kill in close combat is greatly improved.
「Captain’s bullets hardly hit anything.」
When a subordinate said that, Mars shouted “shut up!” with a red face.
The volunteer army started laughing with their hands on their stomachs. It was a usual scene for them, looking like they were having a good time even on the battlefield.
「The honorable knights are the pitiful ones.」
Knight Dross did not join their fun. With a sorrowful look on her face, she slits the neck of an enemy knight who was barely alive.
Rather than being bathed with iron balls without even knowing how they died, they would at least prefer to die with a sword like a true knight.
「Quack, stop playing around, the next batch is here!」
「Neesan is horrible.」
A platoon of enemy knights and mercenaries came into the large room.
Mars and the others quickly go behind the enemies through a hidden door that looks like a wall.
As the imperial knights curiously rubbed the wall where the volunteer army had disappeared, another squad appeared from a different hidden door that shot and killed them.
In a narrow cave, a large army had to be divided into small groups, and the siege army who knew all the hidden passages had an overwhelming geographical advantage.
It was no longer a battle but a one-sided shooting and killing that would continue until the imperial forces gave up.
「What’s this….what’s going on there?」
One after another, knights and mercenaries under their banners are sent in and one after another, they disappear.
No report came back. It seems as if all of their precious soldiers are being dragged into the depths of darkness.
Even the Rastoir General Rai Rakan suppressed his impatience and waited for the good news with arms folded and a solemn expression on his face.
Finally, when the number of missing exceeded 1000, he grew impatient.
「Alright, I’ll go in.」
「General Rai, we’ll face the danger with you!」
At this point, instead of stopping the general from facing the danger, the spirit of the valiant Rastoir warriors decided to move forward and become the general’s meat shield.
To protect General Rai, the proud knights under his banner stormed into the dungeon.
「That’s a lot!」
Captain Mars shouted in impatience.
It was all well and good until a group of knights armed with barbaric swords and lamellar armor plunged into the big room.
They rained them with bullets but there were too many of them to kill.
The weakness of firearms is that once all the bullets are fired, it will take time to reload them.
In panic, they tried to escape to a hidden room but Mars, who was last in the row, was caught in a hidden door.
「Captain, what are you doing?」
「Nooo! Help me!」
The volunteer corps hurriedly dragged Mars, who was jittery, from the hidden door into the hidden room.
A Rastoir knight jumps at him with a shimmering, rugged barbarian sword, ready to slash Mars’ lower body. Good thing that they managed to drag him in and hold the hidden door.
「You’re really!!! Captain quack is safe! Turn around and go to another squadron!」
「Don’t call me quack….」
Since Captain Mars is unreliable, he is no longer in command and other soldiers started giving commands on their own.
When the knights were trying to open the hidden door, another group of shooters appeared from another hidden door, and corpses piled up.
「Bastardddd!」
General Rai slashed at the shooters while shouting loudly.
「Hiii!」
The volunteer corps rushed to fire shotgun shells but General Rai’s air-shaking rage deflected the bullets and slashed them down.
Knight Dross, feeling that it was now her turn, drew her saber in defense of the slashed volunteer soldier.
「Idiot, is this how a knight fight?」
「I don’t like what I’m doing either!」
Her hands are already numb with just one slash from the general but even so, Dross managed to block two or three heavy slashes.
She has no plan of beating him. She’s only buying time.
The volunteer soldier, who had regained his composure, pointed his loaded shotgun at General Rai, who was angrily slashing.
「General, look out!」
His Rastoir Knight guard, who was wielding a barbarian sword next to him, used his own body as a shield and took the shell in his body.
After catching the body of his companion, who was blown away by the shot, General Rai held the body of the brave knight in his arms and gave the order to retreat.
「Pull back!」
His guard knights retreated to the dungeon corridor, protecting General Rai.
The volunteer corps fired a volley of bullets in hope of defeating the enemy general but they were unable to do so because of the enemy’s desperate defenses.
「Are you alright? Here’s a potion. Drink it.」
Knight Dross is taking care of the young volunteer soldier who has been slashed and has him drink a recovery potion.
Captain Mars also came to see how he is.
「Hey, Dross-neesan. Is that big guy the general? Will he come back again?」
「I don’t know. However, we must remain vigilant. He seemed to be a general who could make a surprisingly calm decision so he will no longer attack without a plan.」
As predicted by Knight Dross.
Now that it has become known that the Oracle’s Great Cave had become a fortress of Silesie Kingdom, the imperial army would no longer make any brash moves.
-0-
—Scene Change—
-0-
General Rai, who crawled out of the cave, realized that the proud Rastoir warrior he had been carrying was no longer breathing.
“OOHHHH” he cried like a beast.
General Rai could do no more and began to gather his soldiers and horses and prepare to start a camp.
If he is forced to fight more unreasonable battles, he’ll just return to his homeland. Then, a messenger came in.
「General, we have received a demand from Crown Prince Feed from the main camp saying “Sink The Oracle’s Great Cave immediately”.」
「Tell him that unless the Golden Lion Emperor comes here in person, I won’t have any more of my precious soldiers killed in this absurd battle! 」
In the end, the siege forces of the Kingdom of Silesie in the Oracle’s Great Cave fought well even with their small number. They will hold out there until the war is over.
If the imperial forces pulled back, they would launch an offensive or spit out monsters. That threatens the imperial army a lot so they have no choice but to have a fraction of the imperial forces stay there.
Of course, the half-nymph Viola and Lyle-sensei traps that produce poisoned grass on wells are also being utilized in this war.
From the territory of the Lauren Knights to the City of Spike, the soldiers and horses must have drunk a lot of poison but no one fell.
「It seems like the empire has switched its focus in supplying antidote potions.」
「Does that mean that there are people in the empire that know about it?」
The cause of the mysterious plague has not yet been discovered to be “nymph poison”.
They still don’t know what kind of poison it is until now because no one had thought it to be the curse peculiar to nymphs.
However, even if the cause is unknown, they knew from the previous battles that it can be treated with antidote potions.
There are logistics officers in the empire who know what they are doing.
「In addition to the 70000 troops, there are also horses. They will never be able to procure enough recovery potions for them so it makes sense.」
However, not being able to stop them hurts a lot.
The empire is also in a total attack mode to bring forces that you would normally leave behind to control your country. They are desperately advancing their troops to end this as soon as possible.
So, as the imperial troops made their way to the City of Spike, they were stopped by a large number of monsters from the Oracle’s Great Cave.
It wasn’t enough to hurt them but it wasn’t something they could ignore either.
The imperial army in the vicinity of the cave was a mixed battalion of 5000 men composed of knights and mercenaries gathered from one of the three state kingdoms of the empire, the one on the northeast, the Kingdom of Rastoir.
The Rastoir General Rai Rakan was reluctant to accept the order from the empire’s headquarters to go down the Oracle’s Great Cave.
Going westward to the Silesie Kingdom, the honorable knights of Rastoir were made to do trivial tasks such as guarding the siege weapons.
This time, they were ordered to imitate adventurers.
However, an order is an order and they had no choice but to do it.
「Brave warriors of Rastoir! Let’s get rid of the monsters in our way.」
General Rai is wearing an iron helmet and a lamellar breastplate on top of his chainmail. He is also wielding a big sword and riding a horse as he orders the battalion under his banner to attack the cave.
The Rastoirians, who live on the border of the human world, are accustomed to fighting demons and in peacetime, they are doing things similar to what adventurers and mercenaries would do.
They probably thought that conquering the basement level of a dungeon would be a piece of cake.
-0-
—Scene Change—
-0-
The Oracle Great Cave, which has been closed for a while, is now fully mobilizing miasma from the ground to spawn monsters.
Instead of using them to protect the dungeon, they are being used to attack outside.
If Oracle-chan, the dungeon master, were here, she would probably lament that this is an evil way but this place is currently in automatic management.
As the avalanche of ogres and goblins made their way out of the dungeon, the volunteer corps and the knights of Viscount Oracle’s domain lurked in a hidden room, watching.
「Oi, quack captain. Are the imperial troops really coming this far?」
A female knight, Dross Tocord, wearing full plate armor in the service of Viscount Ortholet, asks a niichan, a brown-haired man in leather armor, who is scouting the outside of the dungeon using the viewing window next to him.
「Dross-oneechan, stop calling me a quack and let me remind you that my name is Mars!」
The brown-haired niichan, who looks like a punk, is the general of the Oracle’s Great Cave Siege Army of less than a thousand men.
He is the son of the village chief of Ona Village, where the base camp of the volunteer army is located. He has been given the title of first captain of the volunteer corps.
However, for the odd reason that he is cheerful and has a loud voice, he has become the leader of the ex-local troops of the Ona Village, and every one of them is now a veteran.
He is the son of the village chief, and even though he is their captain, he has an open and honest personality which makes him a surprisingly capable general.
「You are the one who should stop being a sissy. This sister is a proud knight.」
「I’m a proud captain too. And let me remind you, I was personally appointed by Hero Takeru-sama.」
The black-haired female knight signs when she sees the brown haired punk laughing proudly.
From a knight’s point of view, the battle of the young volunteer army looks like peasant children playing.
,
And yet, they are stronger than the knights who trained for a long time because they use guns and cannons which she found discouraging.
This is probably what his excellency Viscount Ortholet meant to Knight Dross when he said “Times have changed”.
「Ah, yeah, I get it. I don’t really care about that, quack. I’m asking whether the imperial army is coming or not.」
「Of course they are coming. The undefeated warlord said so.」
「State Secretary Lyle is indeed capable but there’s something about that man that I don’t like….」
「Ah, the enemies are here, oneechan!」
The knights of Rastoir are wearing matching helmets. They entered the entrance of the cave, destroying ogres and goblins on their way.
Behind the horse-riding knights with big barbarian swords, spear-wielding mercenaries on foot follow.
Those troops are already on their way to rush into the great cave.
The army in the cave’s hidden room are preparing to intercept them.
「I already told you I’m not your older sister!」
「It’s not the time for that, neechan. Come on guys, get ready!」
At Mars’ command, the volunteer army scattered to their own positions.
The Oracle’s Great Cave has0 hidden rooms for maintenance and a hidden passageway connecting them.
If you surprise them from there, you can also unilaterally intercept enemies entering the dungeon.
In normal dungeon management, this is one of those forbidden moves that should never be done but since it’s war, it can’t be helped.
Oracle’s lament that “It’s the end of the world” is likely to be heard.
Incidentally, according to Oracle, the reason why hidden maintenance rooms and passageways can’t be used for offense is because if their existence is discovered by adventurers and are blocked, it would be a fatal blow to dungeon management.
Hidden rooms are meaningful only because they are hidden.
Therefore, this strategy is only an emergency measure.
Now, the question was whether the enemy would be lured into the dungeon but that problem seemed to have been cleared up.
The knights dismounted from their horses and the spear-wielding mercenaries entered the cave without care.
They are already familiar with fighting monsters so for them, this is a daily occurrence.
They never thought that the enemy, whom they had underestimated as a small army, would be using the dungeon for a siege.
Therefore, the knights of Rastoir, who were lured to the big room at the back of the underground floor of the Oracle’s great cave, could hardly resist the volunteer army who suddenly appeared from what they thought was a wall and was shot.
「Well, if we’re talking about close combat, we’re talking about shotgun!」
Captain Mars smiled proudly as he stroked his gun.
The first squad had been given a new weapon, the shotgun, because they were expected to fight a hard battle.
As the captain, that made him proud.
Normally, they can only shoot once per reload but the shotgun can load up to six to nine shells per reload.
Although the effective distance is reduced, the ability to kill in close combat is greatly improved.
「Captain’s bullets hardly hit anything.」
When a subordinate said that, Mars shouted “shut up!” with a red face.
The volunteer army started laughing with their hands on their stomachs. It was a usual scene for them, looking like they were having a good time even on the battlefield.
「The honorable knights are the pitiful ones.」
Knight Dross did not join their fun. With a sorrowful look on her face, she slits the neck of an enemy knight who was barely alive.
Rather than being bathed with iron balls without even knowing how they died, they would at least prefer to die with a sword like a true knight.
「Quack, stop playing around, the next batch is here!」
「Neesan is horrible.」
A platoon of enemy knights and mercenaries came into the large room.
Mars and the others quickly go behind the enemies through a hidden door that looks like a wall.
As the imperial knights curiously rubbed the wall where the volunteer army had disappeared, another squad appeared from a different hidden door that shot and killed them.
In a narrow cave, a large army had to be divided into small groups, and the siege army who knew all the hidden passages had an overwhelming geographical advantage.
It was no longer a battle but a one-sided shooting and killing that would continue until the imperial forces gave up.
「What’s this….what’s going on there?」
One after another, knights and mercenaries under their banners are sent in and one after another, they disappear.
No report came back. It seems as if all of their precious soldiers are being dragged into the depths of darkness.
Even the Rastoir General Rai Rakan suppressed his impatience and waited for the good news with arms folded and a solemn expression on his face.
Finally, when the number of missing exceeded 1000, he grew impatient.
「Alright, I’ll go in.」
「General Rai, we’ll face the danger with you!」
At this point, instead of stopping the general from facing the danger, the spirit of the valiant Rastoir warriors decided to move forward and become the general’s meat shield.
To protect General Rai, the proud knights under his banner stormed into the dungeon.
「That’s a lot!」
Captain Mars shouted in impatience.
It was all well and good until a group of knights armed with barbaric swords and lamellar armor plunged into the big room.
They rained them with bullets but there were too many of them to kill.
The weakness of firearms is that once all the bullets are fired, it will take time to reload them.
In panic, they tried to escape to a hidden room but Mars, who was last in the row, was caught in a hidden door.
「Captain, what are you doing?」
「Nooo! Help me!」
The volunteer corps hurriedly dragged Mars, who was jittery, from the hidden door into the hidden room.
A Rastoir knight jumps at him with a shimmering, rugged barbarian sword, ready to slash Mars’ lower body. Good thing that they managed to drag him in and hold the hidden door.
「You’re really!!! Captain quack is safe! Turn around and go to another squadron!」
「Don’t call me quack….」
Since Captain Mars is unreliable, he is no longer in command and other soldiers started giving commands on their own.
When the knights were trying to open the hidden door, another group of shooters appeared from another hidden door, and corpses piled up.
「Bastardddd!」
General Rai slashed at the shooters while shouting loudly.
「Hiii!」
The volunteer corps rushed to fire shotgun shells but General Rai’s air-shaking rage deflected the bullets and slashed them down.
Knight Dross, feeling that it was now her turn, drew her saber in defense of the slashed volunteer soldier.
「Idiot, is this how a knight fight?」
「I don’t like what I’m doing either!」
Her hands are already numb with just one slash from the general but even so, Dross managed to block two or three heavy slashes.
She has no plan of beating him. She’s only buying time.
The volunteer soldier, who had regained his composure, pointed his loaded shotgun at General Rai, who was angrily slashing.
「General, look out!」
His Rastoir Knight guard, who was wielding a barbarian sword next to him, used his own body as a shield and took the shell in his body.
After catching the body of his companion, who was blown away by the shot, General Rai held the body of the brave knight in his arms and gave the order to retreat.
「Pull back!」
His guard knights retreated to the dungeon corridor, protecting General Rai.
The volunteer corps fired a volley of bullets in hope of defeating the enemy general but they were unable to do so because of the enemy’s desperate defenses.
「Are you alright? Here’s a potion. Drink it.」
Knight Dross is taking care of the young volunteer soldier who has been slashed and has him drink a recovery potion.
Captain Mars also came to see how he is.
「Hey, Dross-neesan. Is that big guy the general? Will he come back again?」
「I don’t know. However, we must remain vigilant. He seemed to be a general who could make a surprisingly calm decision so he will no longer attack without a plan.」
As predicted by Knight Dross.
Now that it has become known that the Oracle’s Great Cave had become a fortress of Silesie Kingdom, the imperial army would no longer make any brash moves.
-0-
—Scene Change—
-0-
General Rai, who crawled out of the cave, realized that the proud Rastoir warrior he had been carrying was no longer breathing.
“OOHHHH” he cried like a beast.
General Rai could do no more and began to gather his soldiers and horses and prepare to start a camp.
If he is forced to fight more unreasonable battles, he’ll just return to his homeland. Then, a messenger came in.
「General, we have received a demand from Crown Prince Feed from the main camp saying “Sink The Oracle’s Great Cave immediately”.」
「Tell him that unless the Golden Lion Emperor comes here in person, I won’t have any more of my precious soldiers killed in this absurd battle! 」
In the end, the siege forces of the Kingdom of Silesie in the Oracle’s Great Cave fought well even with their small number. They will hold out there until the war is over.
If the imperial forces pulled back, they would launch an offensive or spit out monsters. That threatens the imperial army a lot so they have no choice but to have a fraction of the imperial forces stay there.
