Dungeon Defense (WN)

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We nervously watched the bloody battle that was unfolding on the plains.

The Queen’s cavalrymen had become quite weakened after 5 hours of fighting. It was probably thanks to their heavy armor as there weren’t a lot of casualties on the enemy’s side. Most of the casualties were their horses. Thanks to this, we had the advantage in terms of mounted soldiers.

“Heave ho!”

“Hurry up and drag it out!”

There were horses that were 1.5 times bigger and more ferocious-looking than the ones from my original world collapsed and breathing heavily on the ground near our fences. Our spearmen carefully stabbed them to death. The corpses were dragged out from behind the fences and used as another type of barrier.

“……Queen Henrietta succeeded in her charge.”

“……Indeed.”

I gave Jeremi a casual response as if it were a matter very distant from me before I continued to think to myself.

Dust filled the battlefield. The individual who I assumed to be Queen Henrietta raised their sword up high before entering the cloud of dust again. This was my first time witnessing an extensive cavalry battle. However, it wasn’t exactly good news that a breach was allowed.

“Will our forces lose?”

“……That may happen.”

I let out a sigh. Didn’t that mean there was definitely a chance that we could lose?

“Are they monsters? We outnumber them. No, we also have a terrain advantage. We were definitely superior to them in everything except their mounted archers. Is it possible for us to lose in a straightforward battle?”

“…….”

Jeremi squirmed. She probably thought I was upset, but she was wrong. I wasn’t angry.

I got angry when we were dealt a blow by the mounted archers because I had not prepared any defenses against them despite the fact that I had experienced cavalrymen changing to mounted archers during the Battle of Austerlitz. In other words, it was my mistake.

It was different now. Queen Henrietta’s army was conquering the battlefield purely through their skills alone. There was nothing to be upset about here. It simply perturbed me.

“Jeremi, bring Jacquerie here.”

“Understood.”

I’m the commander. It’d be unsightly if I just kept sighing here.

I had read every single military strategy book that I could get my hands on ever since I initially joined the Crescent Alliance and I learned that a commander’s capability shines the most when they lose. I had to be ready for a defeat…….

“Did you call, Your Excellency?”

Jacquerie approached. This sturdy mercenary captain had basically returned after taking a blood shower. It was mostly thanks to our mercenaries that we were able to repel Brittany’s army when our archers on the left wing were significantly weaker than the other armies. My speech was basically secondary. We were able to endure this long because the mercenaries were giving orders to the farmers.

“Jacquerie, be honest with me. Do you think our cavalrymen will lose?”

“……It is normally difficult to determine who the victors will be, but I believe they will lose as well.”

Jacquerie spoke bluntly. Victory and defeat were probably insignificant to a dwarven mercenary who had been on a battlefield for more than a century.

“Henrietta de Brittany is undoubtedly the greatest cavalry leader in our era. The continent will bow before her achievements for at least 20 years. She will probably earn herself a nickname like Blutbefleckt (Bloody) Henrietta.”

“Blutbefleckt Brittany, huh?”

I also nodded solemnly. That was an appropriate nickname.

A queen with fluttering, scarlet hair who stands in front of everyone……the title of Bloody truly suited her. She will drain the blood of Franks and Brittans before ultimately trying to conquer the continent.

I intended to make Queen Henrietta leave the stage early. Troubled times gave opportunities to both crises and heroes. Similar to how she did in <Dungeon Attack>, I believed that Queen Henrietta would use the chaos in Frankia to rise as the victor. That was why I had to stomp her out before she could.

If it was now, I believed that it was more than possible since we had an advantage in terms of both strategy and causes. But was it impossible in the end……?

Queen Henrietta was probably thinking the same thing. Did she come to the conclusion that she had to subdue Duke Henry de Guise early since he seemed like the most competent noble? Did she make us gather here by intentionally giving us the impression that this battlefield was advantageous for us……?

“I’m jealous.”

Henrietta possessed a powerful army. An army that was so powerful that they didn’t have to resort to making complicated plans or strategies. If I were to compare this to a game, then it was like character levels. An absolute value.

I didn’t have that. I was weak. I had to incite commoners and scheme alliances to make up for my lacking power. However, it seems that even this wasn’t enough before a powerful army. This was probably the limit of a Rank 71 Demon Lord.

I spoke.

“Jacquerie, it is obvious where our allies will retreat to if they lose.”

“Indeed. They will come to us.”

A river to our left, a forest to our right, and Brittany’s army standing firm up ahead.

Backward was the only direction in which our completely defeated cavalrymen could retreat……In other words, to our wooden fences.

The cavalrymen were going to run to our wooden fences and beg to be saved. It wouldn’t be that much of an issue if it were the enemy that did that and not our allies. We would simply have to keep defending as we had been if it were the enemy. However, it was going to be our allies running up to us. We couldn’t kill them.

Our barricades will get pushed out of place and our spearmen will become flustered. Our allies will be the ones messing us up. It’d be fine to say that this was the worst possible situation. It was clear that Queen Henrietta’s aim was to charge at us when that happens.

I chuckled.

“It is quite ridiculous if you look at it like this. Does this not make it seem like the Queen had been waiting for us to bring out our cavalry all this time? There was a reason why she had reserved her saintess until now. St. Denis Plains will become a hellscape where allies are crushed by allies…….”

“What should we do? We could retreat first.”

I shook my head.

“If we retreat now, then we would have to bear the responsibility for this loss. Jacquerie, stick our troops close to the forest. We will continue to battle while using the trees as another form of defense. Queen Henrietta will advise us to surrender.”

“Understood, Commander.”

We acted with haste as we positioned our soldiers in the forest. The forest was the worst possible place for cavalrymen to charge at, so that made it the best possible line of defense for us. We also moved our wooden fences to the forest as well.

The issue was the fact that our cavalrymen started to retreat before we could finish repositioning. I was hoping that they would endure for at least 10 minutes, but I realized the sudden change due to the terrified cries from our cavalrymen.

“H-His Highness Guise has fallen!”

“Retreat! Retreat and regroup!”

Supreme Commander Duke Henry de Guise had fallen in battle.

From what I could tell, he had honorably exchanged blows with Henrietta de Brittany. The champions crossed blades before one side lost their head. The beautiful queen defeated the enemy’s commander in a duel. This will probably make the busybodies of the continent erect all at once. If I weren’t on the losing side, then I would’ve gladly tipped my hat to this as well. Damn it.

Sure enough, the cavalrymen on our side ended up ruining our defenses as they retreated. The spearmen formation that had been courageously fighting against the enemy was torn apart. I saw Brittany’s cavalry following right behind our men.

“They should’ve just fought to their last breaths, tsk.”

The cavalrymen that belonged to the Frank nobles ripped through their allies’ infantry formation. However, that only happened to the center army and the right wing. I had ordered our civilian militia to attack anyone that approached our wooden fences be it ally or enemy.

The mounted soldiers panicked as they shouted.

“We’re allies! We aren’t your enemies!”

Our soldiers stabbed their spears at the cavalrymen as they booed.

“Fuck that! People who were defeated aren’t our allies!”

“Fuck off, cowards! Do you even have dicks, you bastards!?”

In the first place, my men had joined the army because they were moved by my speeches. Units like cavalries were a type of high-end power that mostly served nobles or their guards, so farmers naturally disliked them. The mounted soldiers had bewildered looks on their faces.

“Damn it! How ridiculous!”

“Let us go somewhere else!”

They spewed out curse words as they turned their horses around.

We limited the damage received by the left wing that I was in charge of. We chased our allies away as we slowly prepared our defenses at the forest.

However, the situation was different for the areas placed under the command of the Empress Dowager’s nobles and the Batavia Republic. They didn’t have a natural form of defense like a forest on their side. Furthermore, the mounted soldiers belonged to them. What kind of commander would chase out their own army?

Their infantry line was ruined.

The friendly cavalrymen stomped on their own side as they retreated which was shortly followed by Brittany’s army doing another cavalry charge on them. It was impossible to expect their infantrymen to be able to endure in a situation like this.

Their spearmen were gradually pushed away from their wooden fences. There were also a fair number of infantrymen who could instinctively tell that they were going to lose, so they ran away with the cavalrymen. Like how a weak dam would eventually collapse, random spots throughout their formation started to break apart.

Once Brittany’s army did a lance charge in those locations, they completely fell. The dam had collapsed. The spearmen and archers could no longer fight back as they continued to withdraw.

“…….”

“…….”

A curtain of silence fell over the civilian soldiers. It was only natural. A slaughter was happening before us, after all.

Our defenses were falling apart with each passing moment. The spearmen who were unable to get into position were nothing more than fodder for the knights.

Several infantrymen struggled desperately to maintain their positions, but the knights ran at them with their aura-imbued swords as if they intended to get payback for all the hassle the infantrymen had made them go through up to this point. It was impossible for a small number of infantrymen to block knights. They had no other choice but to die.

Only the supreme commander would be able to control a situation like this. However, Duke Guise had already been decapitated. Once the soldiers became certain of their defeat, they stopped resisting and tried to escape.

“How foolish…….”

I muttered.

Running away meant showing your back to the enemy. Infantrymen who were running away on foot and cavalrymen who were pursuing them on horseback. It was obvious what was going to happen. They would probably have a higher chance of surviving if they simply played dead.

There were still a few mercenary groups that were resisting fiercely. They couldn’t overcome the unfortunate fact that their will wasn’t enough to stop aura. The mercenary groups were slaughtered mercilessly without exception.

The Brittan soldiers pillaged their enemies excitedly. They stole from the wagons and stripped corpses of their armor. It was all money to them. Queen Henrietta had told them that they were free to pillage the enemy however they desire as a way to reward them for fighting so bravely.

Once the battlefield had settled to a certain degree, Brittany’s gaze naturally turned toward us.

The only army that had set up at a position and continued to defend. Our volunteer army.

A knight that looked like they had fairly high standing approached us.

“Hm.”

The knight examined our wooden fences before glancing at the forest. He must’ve concluded that it would be difficult to charge us. He shouted at us.

“Hand over your commander! If you hand your commander over, then we will let the rest of your men go!”

I felt my heart sink for a moment. He was obviously lying. He was probably going to wipe us out after taking the commander. It was a basic scheme, but it would be the end of me if our soldiers got tricked by it.

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Not much to say about this chapter. I’ve been notified that some of the pdf/epub links on the DD LN Table of Contents page are broken now because they’ve been active for almost 4 years. They’re apparently broken for some people but fine for others. I’ve added a new link near the top of the page, so if the other links don’t work, that one should.

On another note, tomorrow (Oct 1st) is my birthday. Happy birthday to me.

Welp, I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.

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