NOVEL WEB Chapter 58
Chapter 58 – Collision (8)
‘This can really speed things up. And stamina too.’
Looking at the grass and soil flowing beneath his feet, Balun smiled faintly.
Even though moving a dozen or so at a time was all he could manage, it didn’t matter since they could repeat it multiple times. It wasn’t perfect, but it was still incredibly fast.
Moreover, being able to fully conserve the stamina of the horses and soldiers that would be used for marching was just a bonus.
“You’ve arrived.”
“Where are they?”
“Their village is just beyond that low hill over there. It’s a large village with at least hundreds of people. It’s a tribe under Garhan.”
As Balun landed on the ground, scouts were already waiting for him. They reached a position near the enemy without any obstacles, and were thoroughly watching the opposing tribe.
“They seem to be moving around busily, but they have no idea. Perhaps because they were distracted, even their scouts are completely absent.”
“They must not have expected it. They never thought we would reach here in such a short time after encountering them near their territory.”
At the scouts’ report, Balun nodded as if he had anticipated this.
The speed at which they crossed the sky was something even those who could ride all day on horseback couldn’t possibly have predicted.
There was no way the enemy could have anticipated it.
“Prepare yourselves. Once everyone arrives, we must attack them while they are still unprepared.”
Balun continued to survey the sky for arriving allies as he commanded his troops to prepare for battle.
Until those hanging from invisible strings arrived one after another, the enemy remained holed up in their village, completely unaware.
“Chief, everyone has arrived.”
It didn’t take long for everyone to gather. Including Riena, all returned to Balun’s side.
“As I mentioned before our departure, and it still stands now, we have a mission. The reason we’ve endured under His grace is to fulfill this, and today’s war is for that purpose.”
Balun encouraged his troops one last time. Just the word mission resonated strongly. Everyone present had struggled to survive by any means necessary to make it this far.
“We are not like them, plundering for ourselves. We fight to fulfill the duty commanded by the divine.”
Talk of missions and duties was something only those who were well-off could afford. But now, they too had gained this.
That power was formidable. It meant that for those who had prioritized their lives above all else, something more important than life itself had finally emerged.
“Morin, distribute the magic armors to the vanguard.”
Just before the full charge, Balun ordered the transporter Morin to distribute the magic armors. Although they could indeed equip their horses with armor, no one chose to do so. There was no reason to waste stamina.
Morin followed Balun’s orders, unloading the heavy goods he had been carrying on his back and distributing the contents to those in the vanguard.
The items, slightly larger than a fist, were magic armors transformed into small, light items thanks to the transporter’s trait, enabling him to carry them all by himself.
“Take them quickly.”
Just like in a game, Morin tossed the items onto the ground. Upon touching the ground, the magic armor turned into real armor, and those in the vanguard equipped it onto their horses.
Now all preparations were complete. As the sun was nearly setting, everyone mounted their horses and charged over the hill towards the enemies, who had not even finished preparing.
Common sense would dictate that such a scene couldn’t possibly be created at this hour.
“Th-the enemy…! Enemies are approaching from the east!”
Naturally, those set to be ambushed could do nothing but be astonished. It had only been two days since they first encountered them.
Taking into account the time for the scout to return, the time to assess the situation and prepare, and the time it took to get back here, it was physically impossible.
“No way. Is it really them!?”
The chief, Ohren, who had been preparing for war against the Arin tribe alongside his warriors, jumped up in shock, his eyes wide open.
However, when he ran up to the watchtower, he could already see a proper cavalry charging over the hill.
Unlike the grassland tribes who mostly had free-attired warriors, with traded and plundered goods, their neatly equipped soldiers were exactly as the dying scout had reported.
“Quickly counterattack. They are coming! They don’t have that many numbers!”
“B-but it’s too late. We should rather take cover inside the village!”
Chief Ohren urged his warriors to quickly fight back. But the vanguard, led by Riena, had already galloped right up to their doorstep.
It was too late to mount up for a proper head-on fight. They would have to shamefully choose to fight amidst the obstacles of the village instead.
“Fire!”
Desperate, they began shooting arrows as a form of resistance. Whether fired by a woman or a child, arrows could be deadly.
“Arrows! Quickly grab the shields!”
Arrows slicing through the sky began to rain down densely over their heads. Facing them as they charged, it was expected that they would have to endure this.
But instead of shields, Riena raised her sword towards the incoming arrows.
Compared to the attacks launched by monsters in the game, arrows with no real force were utterly nothing.
“Impossible. This can’t be happening.”
Ohren’s captain, who had been directing the soldiers to fire arrows, froze at the sight.
The cross-shaped red slash unleashed by the skill Riena cast towards the sky looked like the legendary technique of a master warrior at first glance.
“They broke through!”
In that moment, Riena and the vanguard increased their speed and completely broke through their defenses. The arrows shot from the running horses pierced through those who tried to block, and those who attempted to hold their spears were trampled by the galloping horses.
Their infantry tactics had been abysmal from the start. The moment they decided to dismount, the outcome was half settled.
‘What in the world?’
The sight of the Arin tribe’s vanguard rampaging through their own territory was exactly like how they used to plunder weaker tribes.
Ohren’s captain gritted his teeth as he witnessed Riena, clad in armor that exposed her identity as a female knight, slaying soldier after soldier with her blazing mana-infused sword.
He realized who he was meant to face as the best warrior of his tribe.
‘That woman must be killed.’
The captain, adorned with a spear, pushed himself to mount his horse and dashed towards Riena, shivering with terror.
Coincidentally, Riena, who had gone in deep to break a path, was too focused on withstanding the incoming attacks to notice him running up from behind.
“Die!”
“!”
She turned around just as the sharp shimmer of the spearhead approached her. There was still a little time, but if she didn’t react immediately, the spear would pierce her body.
“Guh.”
But in that moment, before Riena could even respond reflexively, the captain who had been charging with all his might was struck down by a tremendous force and fell to the ground.
Blood splattered, and the earth trembled. A massive and translucent hammer had fallen from the sky, saving her.
‘I’m glad I saved that.’
Tensed, he watched the chaotic battlefield through the screen, biting his lip as he held the mouse.
The reason he hadn’t dropped the hammers on the fiercely resisting enemies the moment the war started was to conserve his limited number of drops for a necessary moment, trusting the residents to hold out.
That judgment had paid off perfectly, with the hammer pinpointing the enemy’s main forces.
Thanks to that, Ohren’s warriors either died or suffered serious injuries from hammer drops when they tried to show their strength against the Arin soldiers, becoming little more than floundering fools on the ground.
Of course, Ohren’s warriors had more hammers than they could use, but the Arin tribe’s soldiers weren’t just idly watching either.
“How dare you use wicked sorcery!”
“It’s not sorcery; it’s the blessing granted by the divine.”
Ohren gnashed his teeth as he watched his tribe being invaded by far fewer enemies, slowly crumbling. Meanwhile, Balun merely sighed and shook his head.
“Submit now. I don’t think you understand how you’ve been treated by Garhan, but we can take care of your tribe members for a better price.”
“Ha, you talk big. Who would believe such a thing?”
Ohren rejected Balun’s offer of surrender. He had already endured humiliation submitting to Garhan, while taking the tributes and spoils.
Someone who held the belief of preferring to be the head of a snake rather than the tail of a dragon wouldn’t become subservient to Balun.
Balun, who had offered rights to others, had no intention of handing over the governance of tribe members either; thus, the final negotiations promptly collapsed.
“If that’s how your chief thinks, then so be it. I will take good care of those who surrender to me.”
“Y-you witch. You really are a wicked shaman…”
As Balun raised the staff in his hand, the druid skill activated. The soldiers, anxiously holding their swords, never expected a thorny vine to burst from the ground and ensnare them, causing them to scream.
The war was thus concluded.
With most of the warriors dead and the chief himself killed, there was no longer any reason for the remaining tribe members to fight for their lives, and most chose to surrender.
“It’s an overwhelming victory, Chief. We won against enemies several times our number.”
“Was there heavy damage on our side?”
“From what we’ve confirmed, over ten have died or been injured.”
“Unfortunately, there’s no time to rest. We need to keep an eye on the surrendered ones until they are fully our own.”
Rakum, having actively utilized his spear skills, approached with a relieved expression, but Balun shook his head with a serious face.
This was the first time they absorbed an opposing tribe through war. And it was against enemies of significantly greater stature. Though such things were common among the grassland tribes, they still needed to stay vigilant until they arrived at the village.