She hoped that the other side's commander would be able to make a calm decision and control his troops. Elisha did not have a hobby of slaying monsters and having war at the same time. She would much rather concentrate on confronting the large army to fight back against the monsters, rather than getting bogged down in a chaotic battle and dealing with the endless numbers of small fries. She sincerely wished for the ceasefire to go through.
But...
"......Flame Lance!"
—A single magic shot from St. Gallen's army shattered that wish of hers.
"Guh! Ahhhhhhhh!"
The golem that had been used as a foundation tilted from the impact, and Tullius screamed.
The Mud Golem was weak against magic. Even a low level spell can destroy it by repeated firing on it. And an intermediate level spell would crush it no matter how large Tullius’ mud golem was.
The huge body of earth tilted greatly. In front of the scene, the mage who had unleashed the attack raised his voice.
"Don't follow the lies of the vile Arquell army! They are trying to deceive us!"
"......That's right!"
From yet another location, a soldier agreed.
"They're the reason we're starving! No way can we play pretend friends now!"
"You guys are asking for too much!"
"You know how miserable we've been because of you guys......!"
Once the wave of hate started, there was no stopping. The St. Gallen soldiers were releasing a flood of bitterness and resentment towards Arquell.
With their eyes flashing in hate, they raised their weapons and began to fight again. Arquellians or monsters, they were the same in their eyes.
There was no sign that a commander was in control of these soldiers.
"Tch...... has the commander over there already been killed by a monster?"
The lack of an official response and the sight of the hordes pouring in from the rear of St. Gallen led Elisha to assume so. Her instincts were right. General Jurgen Bauer, the commander of the expeditionary force of the Army of St. Gallen, had already been shot dead by the girl leading the horde of undead. A priest was on his way to heal him, but was there enough time given how chaotic the battlefield has become? And even if they could heal him, would the general be able to regain control of his army?
In the meantime, the magic of the mages, the bows and arrows of the soldiers were raining down on Tullius and the golem. Tullius continued pleading despite the scene unfolding.
"Please stop! Stop fighting, and together—"
His words were ignored and the Mud Golem finally began to collapse.
Magic landed on the golem’s chest, stomach, arms and legs, crushing them all back into the earth. The golem sank to the ground facing upwards and created a huge dirt cloud. The figure of Tullius was also caught up in this and he disappeared. Finally, a high-pitched noise was made.
—kiiiiiiiiiinn...... gah gah......!
Perhaps it was due to the damage to the device that carried his voice throughout the war zone?
For a moment, a deafening silence ruled the area.
"M-my lord ......?"
"It can’t be—!"
Attacks continued as a sign of refusing the ceasefire. The faint hopes of the poorly trained soldiers of the Arquell army were completely shattered.
The St. Gallen soldiers, on the other hand, were the exact opposite.
"The enemy commander is down! Here’s our chance!"
"Crush them now!"
"Take their food! To the main camp! I'm sure they've brought plenty!"
In addition to the inferiority of the individual soldiers of the Arquell army, the commander of the army, Tullius, disappeared along with the mud golem. From the point of view of the attackers, this was the perfect opportunity to destroy them.
This time, however, it was not meant to be.
—A flash. A silvery streak from a sword and the head of a St. Gallen soldier was lopped off.
"Did you really think we'd just let that happen?"
Elisha, who had drawn her sword, stared coldly at the enemy soldiers as she remained in the same position.
She then gave her orders to her knights.
"......Second Order of the Imperial Guards! New instructions! St. Gallen's forces must be driven back first!"
"B-big sis!"
"Are you sure? Earlier, we were told to prioritise defeating the monsters."
"They're the kind of people who denied a peace treaty personally offered by the Count of the Kingdom while monsters have appeared. There's no need to think of them as humans."
She replied to her hesitating subordinate.
The ceasefire order that Uni gave earlier was based on the need to fight back against the monsters. Since no ceasefire was going to happen, there was no reason to treat the St. Gallen army as allies.
And in terms of danger level, trained St. Gallen soldiers were bigger threats than zombies, the lowest level of undead.
"If they want to be friends with the corpses rather than us, then by all means. We'll just have to pay them a lesson. They're a bunch of dirty bastards who would single-sidedly shoot a commander trying to make peace with them. Get them now!"
"Yes!""
The knights put aside their doubts and resumed the battle against the St. Gallen army.
After confirming this, Elisha called out to Due, who was fighting nearby.
"What about Lord Schwarzer? It seems that your master is buried alongside the golem."
"...... Hah! No way master couldn’t deal with that!"
He laughed it off while mowing down a group of enemy soldiers. Temporarily being freed from fighting after killing the previous group, he turned to face Elisha while shaking his sword free of blood.
"By the way, Uni is probably with him."
"In that case......."
Elisha agreed as soon as Uni was mentioned. This was the slave maid who put her master before anything else. She would surely be able to overcome any crisis her master might face on the battlefield, no matter what it took.
However, if that were to happen, there would be no one to take control of the Arquell army through the communication device—
"Don't let them do it! Protect our allies and prevent the enemy from breaking through!"
—A noble on horseback rushed to the front.
At the sound of his heroic figure and voice, the Arquell soldiers reflexively obeyed and resumed their defence.
"Until Lord Tullius returns, Doldran will lead this war!"
"...... Margrave Doldran!"
The appearance of the warrior key to the west of the kingdom gave Elisha some optimism.
At present, the tactic of hiding behind the earth walls set up throughout the basin had already failed. Nearly half of the walls have already fallen. On the other hand, this also meant that the significance of coordinating widely dispersed troops through communications was reduced. It would be more efficient for a general with the leadership skills of a commander to lead directly from the front.
The army of Arquell saw some respite in this gruelling battle.
"Strengthen the defences on our remaining walls! The rest in the rear, ready your muskets! Suppress the enemy by shooting them!"
"Ooohhhhhh!"
The flow of the war seemed to be turned upside down.
Command of the Arquell army was quickly taken with the arrival of Margrave Doldran. In contrast, the chain of command in the St. Gallen army was still in a mess and they were unable to launch an effective attack on Arquell.
It could not be helped. The monsters had attacked the main camp of the St. Gallen army. The commander and the senior officers who should be taking over command from Bauer were still being attacked. Restoring control in such a situation was not something that could be done quickly.
In addition, the monsters attacking the Arquell side were the lowly zombies, but the ones attacking St. Gallen were the main force of monsters. Naturally, there were more powerful monsters fighting St. Gallen. In addition, because they attacked from behind, they were caught between the Arquell army and the monsters. While the other side only had to fight enemies in a single direction, the other side had to deal with enemies from both their front and back. They also had to reinforce their main camp. The level of difficulty they faced was very much different.
(The monster attack is a blessing in disguise, in some ways.)
Elisha thought about it as she fought, and got the chills from thinking so.
……Were the winds of fortune going in Tullius’ favour once again?
If the monsters had not appeared, their army would have very likely lost. Their new weapon, the musket, and the fortifications supported with alchemy were brilliant strategies for sure. Yet, even with these, they did not stand a good chance of repelling St. Gallen. At the eleventh hour, the worst of interference came in, switching up the advantaged and the disadvantaged.
"To avenge our lord!"
"Damn you Count......! You murderer!"
The voices of the soldiers struggling to defend themselves reached Elisha's ears.
