Ouroboros Record ~Circus of Oubeniel~

Chapter 71: Battle of Clavicule 2 (3)

They were all convinced that the mission was a complete success

"......Stalagmite Phalanx"

Despite their confidence in their success, ninety-six out of the hundred infiltrators died instantly.

"Gah! Guh ......?"

The few survivors who remained were unable to move, their whole bodies pierced by spears, and their lives slowly drained out of them in anguish.

(S-spears......? From where......?)

The only person carrying a spear in his view, tinged red in the evening skies, was the sentry who was guarding the entrance nonchalantly without any sign of noticing me. There was no way he was the one who attacked them.

His vision, slowly becoming clouded, noticed the true nature of the spears that had pierced him and his comrades.

It is sharp, hard, but has a distinctly different shine from metal.

(S-Stone......?)

The stone pillars pointing upwards to the skies were milk-white in colour with no lustre.

Stalagmites. A stalagmite is an upward-growing mound of mineral deposits.

Originally, groundwater containing lime dripping from the ceiling of the cave accumulated on the floor and formed stalagmites over the years.

Of course, there was no way that such a thing could suddenly appear out of the ground and skewer people randomly.

There could be only one reason for these stalagmites to have taken their lives.

"T-Theres a mage of this calibre"

The soldiers head hung downwards as he lost strength.

When all the soldiers eventually expired, the magic spear that had pierced them crumbled. It returned to the earth from which it came from.

All that was left were a hundred bloodied corpses punctured with holes. As the magic dissipated, none would be wiser of the culprit who had slaughtered them.

And in the tent that the enemies were targeting, the master and his servant were conversing.

"...... Hmm? What's up, Uni?"

"My apologies, Master. A group was closing in on us, so I cleaned them up. A hundred people ambushing us was definitely not in the plans......"

"Hmm... I see. Thank you for your hard work. It's a lot of work just to control the communications, and I'm sorry you had to do all the extra work."

"No, master. For your sake, I would do anything......"

The dead soldiers were clueless. It was beyond their imagination that they would be disposed of like this with little effort.

Jurgen Bauer, the man who had sent them there, did not expect this to be possible. He was unaware of the girl who had set fire to their supplies, and now, disrupting his plans once again.

Finally, the sun vanished from the horizon and the night arrived.

The time that Tullius Shernan Oubeniel had been waiting for.

The time that despair and hell will descend on the army of St. Gallen.

"Time, time, arrived......!"

With the arrival of night, came evil.

Night fell and the battle was still ongoing as St. Gallen proceeded to force themselves through. It was the time of day when the troops should have retired for the night and retreated back into their camp. But this time, there was a reason the battle had not halted.

"By now, the detachment should have made a dent in the enemy......."

A detachment created from their reserve troops was sent to ambush the enemy earlier. The success or failure of that mission remained unknown.

They were given communication devices but being in a highly dangerous mission, they could not risk alerting the enemy while contacting them. If communications exposed them and resulted in a failure, no amount of regrets would be sufficient. A little delay in the reports was unavoidable given that the detachment was marching straight into the enemy base without sufficient intelligence.

If there was an unforeseen incident and the mission had to be cancelled, they should receive some message from the detachment. Otherwise, the mission should be in progress. There was nothing to do but wait and have faith in them.

General Bauer decided to continue the fighting for an unusually long time due to this expectation.

"But sir. Our soldiers are exhausted. This should be enough......."

The staff officer suggested in a pained voice.

They have been fighting for about three hours now. If the St. Gallen army were in their normal state, they could still continue for another three hours, but they were starving. Also, this battle in the Clavicule Basin was an unexpected encounter for the St. Gallen side.

Taking into account the fatigue of the march to get here, it was not surprising that they were reaching their limits.

"This cannot be helped, huh?"

Bauer regretted deeply, but acknowledged the validity of the staff officer's opinion.

They should be almost, almost defeating the army of the crazed lord. Half of the defensive earthen walls have fallen and the enemys were running out of ammunition. Even if their assault on the main camp proved unsuccessful, they were still in a superior position. Choosing to reset their advantage here would be unworthy of the reputation of the commoner turned general.

Still, fighting through the night is not a common tactic employed by military strategists. It was autumn and they were at a basin in the mountains. The cold of the night would be harsh and could potentially kill soldiers. If they didn't retreat now, their forces might have to sacrifice themselves in exchange for the crazy Count Oubeniel.

If there was only one enemy, it was a plausible choice to continue the fight. But the Arquellian reinforcements will soon be arriving after this battle. They could not let all of their subordinates fall due to a mere Count in the frontiers.

It was a common sense decision. Normally, he would not have hesitated to support such a decision. However.

"General, your orders to retreat will have to wait."

One of the mages dispatched from the academy, a man dispatched directly from Grandenburg nervously cut into the conversation. This was the person that had reported to Bauer about the trump card not being ready a few days ago.

"I've just received a report that the thing you requested is finally finished. If we put it into action, the weak soldiers of Arquell will be brought down in a single blow. We can even defeat the enemy commander, Count Oubeniel "

As well. He was going to finish with that but the cold glare from Bauer cut his voice abruptly.

Whats the point of this now? Bauer seemed to be saying. They had been forced to carry this extra luggage over the harsh mountains instead of other more important supplies. If they didnt need to bring this trump card, they could have lightened the logistics. And only when he was planning to retreat that there was finally a chance to use it? And that we could defeat the entire enemy as well as their commander in one fell swoop? Am I to entrust the lives of more than 30,000 soldiers to something questionable that is neither from the sea nor the mountains? It felt like the military was being ridiculed at this point.

There were plenty of things to be annoyed about. But Bauer had other things to say.

"The report from the academy calls this a prototype that has not yet reached the point of completion?"

The mage raised his face to meet Bauers. He looked like he saw some hope that he might get permission to play with his prized toy due to Bauer phrasing his doubts as a question. His eyes blazed passionately.

"No problem, sir! With the adjustments we've made over the past week, I think we're ready to call it a finished product!"

"I've also heard that your master, who built it, said it was difficult to control."

"My master is a very profound man! He must have been trying to be humble!"

Who knows, Bauer thought, disgusted by his high-pitched shrill. He did not know his master well but Bauer was sure that his master was surely more calm than this screaming disciple. Perhaps he should put more faith in this thing instead of fear.

The second-in-command standing beside Bauer gave Bauer an uneasy look. Bauer agreed with his sentiments completely.

Nevertheless.

"Understood. However, make sure our comrades do not get hit, okay?"

Use whatever that they could use. This was a situation where he needed to place his bets.

The mage smiled widely.

"Leave it to me! I'll offer you the head of Tullius Oubeniel!"

As soon as he said that, he turned himself around and left the place.

The second-in-command complained in annoyance.

"Are you sure, General? It's time for a retreat."

"I know. All the more so."

A gasp rose from the side of the room.

"As a VIP of Gallerien, we have been allocating supplies from our meagre resources to them. For the sake of the starving troops fighting, they have to play their part."

What Bauer wanted to say was that the secret weapon and those who operated it would be their shield as the soldiers retreated safely.