Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume6 Chapter1 (section)

=== Part 3 ===

As he charged, Moldorf tore through the wind, tore through the glittering sunlight, through the surging crowd and through the screams.

Ax also pulled out his sword but it was already too late. Moldorf’s readied spear was already in position to pierce his neck.

The finishing blow was about to be delivered. Then – just before he did so, an unexpected sound struck his ears.

Gunshots.

Certainly, that wasn’t unexpected on a battlefield. Besides which, they were coming from a position far away from Moldorf’s. He didn’t think that the bullets would hit, but the gunshots that resounded were so orderly that it felt incongruous.  

It should be too early for their allied troops to be in sight of the enemy sentries. In which case,

''An enemy ambush?''

After all, they had positioned a fake Ax in the decoy army which they had constructed at their rear. For a second, Moldorf suspected that every move they had made there might have been provoked by the enemy. The Ax before his eyes might well be another body double.

In some ways, Moldorf was too calm.  As a general who had led countless soldiers over many years, he kept his eyes and ears on his surroundings even while in the middle of an assault, and because of that, in that moment, the force of his spear was slightly weakened. 

And in that same moment, Ax’s sturdy sword flashed upwards.

Sparks flew between Moldorf who was on horseback and Ax who stood on the ground.


At the same time, a large part of Garda's army was making the detour around the forest when suddenly they were struck by an attack from their flank.

The very gunshots that Moldorf had heard echoing caused many of the mounted warriors to be thrown from horseback with a clatter. The other horses bolted upright and while the soldiers were thrown into confusion, what they heard next was the reverberation of horses' hooves advancing towards them.

“E-Enemies!”

An unknown cavalry was launching a charge from their side. Their momentum was like a loosed arrow and there was only time for a single shout of “Enemy” before the soldiers galloping in the van had pierced the chest of two, then three of Garda's soldiers with their spears.

Although Garda's army was numerous, the soldiers from the various countries were unable to move as one. Their reaction to the unexpected event was dull and, just as Moldorf had assessed, the army was fragile. Some turned their horse towards the forest and tried to escape through it; some got caught up in the charge and fell from their horse, or ended their lives pierced by a spear; some lost their judgement and attempted to flee as the enemy soldiers passed by their flank, and so were decapitated from behind by enemy swords.

The one leading the assault force was Lasvius, the commander of Helio's dragoons. About five hundred followed behind him.

He was a man whose forte primarily lay in leading operations that involved small or medium-sized dragons. There were currently no dragons left in Helio so he had of necessity ridden a horse into battle, but even so, his skill was far superior to the average cavalryman.  

When Lasvius, who had led a deep thrust into the enemy ranks suddenly turned around to once more meet Garda's army head on, the cloud of dust that flew up was thick with blood.

“Calm down, calm down!” The general from Lakekish shouted angrily while quieting his horse which had bolted upright. “The enemy are few in number. Follow me!”

Although the troops' morale was by no means high, there were many far-famed commanders from each respective country. They were on the verge of gathering the various units in a coordinated strike at Lasvius' troops when,

“Guah!”

The soldier next to the Lakekishan commander was shot in the head and collapsed face forward from horseback. The commander cried out in surprise as a spurt of blood showered him the face.

“Wh-What!”

This time, it had come from behind.  

Their white clothes fluttering in the wind, a group from the Pinepey tribe appeared. Most of them had a gun on their shoulder as they raced forward. They were nomads who excelled at horseback marksmanship. Along with the innumerable gunshots, the top of their shoulders were momentarily wreathed in white gunpowder smoke. It was almost humorous how the soldiers of Garda's army scattered before them, unable to maintain their battle formation. 

As the Pinepey drew closer and spread out on either side, from behind them appeared a new group of riders wielding swords and spears. 

Leading them was a swordsman whose face was half covered by a mask.

Their momentum carried them rushing through the centre of Garda's forces which had fallen to the gunfire. Swords, spears and maces glittered in the light of dawn. Garda's soldiers were cut down without being able to react and were trampled by the horses. The sound of screams and the horses' hooves rose together, and the battlefield was filled with a bellowing reminiscent of a dragon's roars.

“Right, we're going too. Follow me!” 

Lasvius brandished his spear and urged his men to charge once more. “Yeah!” the riders behind him shouted in response and he grinned inwardly as he jolted up and down on his horse.  

''That Orba'', he thought.

The two-stage surprise attack was a plan that had been suggested by the masked leader of the other group of riders, Orba. Before leaving Helio, they had accurately foreseen that they would be far fewer in number than the enemy. Orba however had presented a plan to deliberately divide their troops into even smaller units. In doing so, it would conversely become difficult to gauge their numbers and the enemy would not be able to predict how many more attacks were still to come.

In reality, they were running out of bullets from this two-stage assault and the troops from Helio weren’t even seven hundred strong. Since Helio had only just fought the usurper king Greygun and the city was still in chaos, this was the most soldiers they had been able to scrape together. Furthermore, there had been no time to reorganise the troops, so their defence was fragile.

But the army led by Moldorf had the same weakness and on top of that, it had the added misfortune that Moldorf, who had in effect been entrusted with its command, had gone with the vanguard. Orders flew about in every local accent and it was impossible to tell who was handing down decisions to whom. Lasvius’ unit charged once more and Orba’s unit effortlessly cut down Garda’s army then plunged into the forest. 

At their head, Orba smoothly galloped his horse to slip through the trees. A soldier from Kadyne thrust at him from the side with a spear, but Orba easily sliced at the tip and sent it flying.

“Forward, forward!”

While he took command to hurry them through the forest, the leader of Garda’s army, Moldorf had Ax in his sights but had just missed him. Ax had tumbled backwards and he was going to pursue with another attack, but the Taúlian soldiers swarmed to stop him.

“Don’t get in my way!” He swung his spear from atop his horse. 

With wild energy he mowed down another and yet another, blood spraying, while Orba’s horse-riding form approached from behind.

''Clang'' – sparks flew. Moldorf managed to stop Orba’s sword thanks to his animal intuition and turned to look back at him with a ferocious expression. He opened his mouth so wide you could see into its red depths.

“So you’re still alive, you masked brat?”

“Unfortunately so.”

Orba and Moldorf circled around one another on horseback, jabbing repeatedly at each other. In the blazing white sunlight, the favoured weapon each held in hand glittered and clashed with the other’s.
[[Image:Rakuin no Monshou v06 063.jpg|thumb]]

In a head-on confrontation, Moldorf, who was proficient at fighting on horseback, had a huge advantage. But all around him were Taúlian soldiers thrusting spears at him from the ground and preventing him from overwhelming Orba.

Moreover,

“How much longer does a man like the Red Dragon of Kadyne plan on playing the sorcerer’s accomplice?” Orba shouted at Moldorf as sparks flew yet again.

“What!?”

“Right now, you should be rallying the western powers to destroy Garda. I don’t get it, how long are you going to be content to be Garda’s slave?”

“B-Bastard!”

Orba nimbly twisted his neck away just as Moldorf’s spear cleaved through the air right before him. If he had been just a fraction slower, the force of that strike would easily have torn off his head. 

“What would you understand?”

“What I understand is something you should know too.” Orba continued to ridicule him. “Take your troops back to Kadyne. They’re undermanned over there. You can retake it.”

“Shut up, boy! Do you not understand that that will only cause the people who have been taken hostage to be injured in vain? And besides, it isn’t only the people of Kadyne, our princess, Lima Khadein, is in Zer Illias. But you keep flapping that mouth of yours as though you know everything.”

“And what if I keep flapping it? Your spear has been slicing nothing but air for a while now. You wouldn’t be able to bring down a single bird with that.”

Thanks to those words, Orba was able to gain an understanding of Moldorf’s circumstances, as well as of those of the soldiers serving in Garda’s army. Naturally, he had absolutely no way of knowing Kadyne’s situation from the outset. It was just an act to draw out the real motive.

The tip of a spear flew over the top of his shoulder with a whistling sound. They were surrounded by ten or twenty soldiers and it would be easy to lose a limb if one relaxed one’s attention.

“If it’s about your princess, then all the more reason.” 

“What!”

One of Moldorf’s blows was about to pierce Orba’s mask. Just before that happened, a gleaming sword swept upwards and deflected it.

“There is no way that a princess wouldn’t lament that her home country had submitted to the sorcerer because she was taken hostage. Show true loyalty, Moldorf. Prove to your princess that Kadyne will not bow to the likes of Garda.”

“Y-You. You bastard!” 

Moldorf’s face turned blood-red at the masked swordsman’s impudent words. He was no longer aiming to defeat Ax. His target was now Orba alone and, skilfully handling his horse, he cut down the distance between them. 

Although Orba was forced into a defensive position, at that same time, his troops exited from the forest in a line and immediately crossed spears with Garda’s forces. The Taúlian army was also on the alert. Furthermore, the main body of Garda’s troops were still being held back by Lasvius’ unit. 

''Damn'', Moldorf was forced into making a new decision.  

However great their numerical advantage, it would be difficult to take back the momentum that had passed into their enemies’ hands.

What was especially problematic was that no sooner had Cherik's army, which had originally been the one to need the reinforcements, seen that those reinforcements were in difficulty than they had lost the vigour with which they had thrown open the city gates and flown out, and instead indecisively held back before even having crossed swords with the Taúlian troops. 

“Bah!”

With a silent prayer, he swung his spear one last time and shattered Orba's sword. With that, his remaining regrets were all the more bitter and he glared piercingly into Orba's eyes before pulling on his reins with all his strength.

“Retreat. Retreat, retreat!” He cried out as he kicked his horse's flank, and even his voice sounded stained with blood.


<noinclude>

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Rakuin no Monshou:Volume6_Prologue|Prologue]]
| Return to [[Rakuin no Monshou|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Rakuin no Monshou:Volume6_Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>