Dungeon Defense (WN)

a single volley.
If we fire a few more volleys, then we could easily neutralize a hundred of them.
Their losses will only increase as long as they cannot get through our barricade.

“Ah……!”

Jeremi let out a gasp next to me.
I turned to see Jeremi’s eyes wide open.

“I thought something was weird! Commander! They don’t have them!”

“Don’t have them? What do they not have?”

“Their lances!”

Jeremi shouted.

“They do not have their lances!”

“What?”

I looked back at the battlefield in surprise.
Silver-plated armor that had no opening.
Warhorses that were bred by crossbreeding with monsters.
They had everything necessary to be considered heavy cavalry━and yet, they didn’t have their lances!

Be it the 8-meter lances that were characteristic to Brittany and which usually brought fear to normal infantrymen or even the common 5-meter lances, none of them were present.
The heavy cavalrymen were instead holding something completely different.

“Bows……!?”

At that moment, thousands of arrows flew through the air.
Brittany’s cavalry unit had become mounted archers! They got about 10 meters in front of our barricade before readying their bows.
Our forces were completely bewildered by this unexpected attack.

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“A-Arrows!”

Screams erupted from here and there.
The soldiers that were clinging to the fences were shot down by the arrows.
Dozens, no, I could tell from a glance that hundreds of our spearmen had fallen.
Different from the heavy cavalrymen who were in full armor, our side mostly had farmers.
Their defenses against arrows were abysmal. 

Brittany’s mounted archers kept firing in rotation a short distance from our barricade.
The front row would shoot their bows before retreating and changing position with the row behind them.

Like this, it felt like they would repeat this endlessly.
A swarm! They were doing a swarm tactic! Brittany’s cavalrymen that boasted the most discipline in the continent were carrying out a tactic meant for mounted archers which was commonly carried out by nomadic tribes.

“Auaaaagh! Dodge!”

“You fools! Raise your shields! Raise your shields!”

“Guaagh, arm, my arm!”

Our army instantly fell into disarray.
The spearmen did the best they could to block the arrows with their small wooden shields.
The farmers hastily raised their shields to their heads.
They were experiencing a rain of arrows for the first time.
This naturally caused them to gradually lower their spears.

I was so dumbfounded that I was at a loss for words for a few seconds.
The words that came out of my mouth right after were more like a sound of astonishment than an actual sentence.

“Was this what you were aiming for, Henrietta……!?”

“Commander! Please give an order!”

Jeremi brought me back to my senses.
Damn it.
I didn’t have the time to even get angry.
Our formation was still being maintained thanks to the dwarves, but we would only incur more and more losses if we let things continue like this.
I gnashed my teeth and shouted.

“Fight arrows back with arrows! Send the archers forward and make those who have shields protect the archers!”

“Give the order to the others immediately!”

Fortunately, they were elite assassins who competed for first and second place in the demon world.
Even though there were thousands of spearmen crowded together, they dashed in skillfully and gave the orders to the dwarves.
It didn’t take even two minutes since I gave the order before the dwarves started to shout the order.

“Archers forward! Archers forwaaard!”

“Defend the archers with your shields! Men, don’t be scared! Archers always win against mounted archers!”

“Believe in your allies! Protect your allies!”

The soldiers moved urgently.
The archers merged with the frontline.
The archers who had gotten swept away during the panic were pushed forward with the help of their comrades.
There was a bit of a delay, but they began to fire back.
The dwarves did their best to raise morale.

“Aim for the horses! Shoot at the horses!”

A majority of our 3,000 archers were hunters.
They couldn’t fire volleys like trained military archers, but their aim was at least up to par.
The archers trusted that they would be protected by their allies as they proceeded to fire their bows.

“Damn it!”

I couldn’t hold back my anger as I stomped on the ground.
I was completely fooled!

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Queen Henrietta knew that we would go on the defense.
Our side was in high spirits because we were going to fight on St.
Denis Plains.
However, Queen Henrietta was hoping for that.

I grit my teeth.
I had experienced something like this before.
Margrave Rosenberg, he had also turned his highly trained cavalrymen into mounted archers. 

“Is this going to be a repeat of Austerlitz……!?”

There were tens of thousands of spearmen crowded on these narrow plains.
This was probably the perfect opportunity to maximize our losses by using bows against us.
We were so afraid of Brittany’s cavalry charge that we didn’t prepare countermeasures for mounted archers.

“Commander, we still have the advantage.”

Jeremi spoke to me calmly.
She wasn’t faking an emotion on her face like usual.
Her natural cold and dry face came out.

“If we continue to protect our archers with shields, then their mounted archers will have no other choice but to retreat.
Look.
The wooden fences are carrying out their roles.”

Jeremi was right.
I made sure our fences were made incredibly sturdy, so they were acting as excellent shields against the arrows.

A fair number of archers clung on to them to avoid the enemy’s attack before peaking out the small gaps between the fences to fire their arrows.
The spearmen were slowly backing away to where the arrows didn’t reach.

“I know.
However, I feel pathetic for allowing myself to get fooled by Queen Henrietta!”

“Their sudden attack may have been immediately effective, but it does not change the fact that Queen Henrietta does not have the advantage.
If we continue to remain calm…….”

Jeremi trailed off.
She was staring ahead of us.
I instinctively felt a foreboding feeling when I saw her eyes.
I turned my head as I followed her gaze.

Their mounted archers slowly backed away.
There were several warhorses that were shot down by arrows sprawled out here and there on the ground.
At a glance, it looked like they were withdrawing in order to avoid our arrows.

“Their second line……!”

The cavalrymen in their second line came forward like they were changing places with their first line.
Cavalrymen that were wearing more elaborate armor than the mounted archers we saw a second ago had come forward.
It was their knights.
Knights wearing mantles that had a black lily, the symbol that represented Brittany, embroidered into them made their horses gallop towards us.

Even their horses were fully armored.

Different from their first line of offense, the cavalrymen of their second line were fully armed.
That’s right.
Fully armed! They were holding their 8 meter-long lances!

Urgent cries came out from our soldiers. 

“Knights! It’s a cavalry charge━!”

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter.
As expected, it’s time for Dant to struggle after acting so overconfident.
He actively jinxed himself before the fight.On another note, Korean Thanksgiving is next Tuesday.
I’m not sure when, but I’ll probably be visiting my relatives on Monday or Tuesday.
There are still heavy restrictions on gatherings here, so I’m honestly not sure if I’m actually going or not.
I’ll just wait for one of my relatives to contact me.

See you guys in the next chapter.