Receiving the attack order, the vanguards of the Crusaders, that is, the armoured knight squad started moving.
The knights in Full plate armour and tower shields along with the halberd in their hands moved together in a horizontal line. They gave off a pressure as if a wall of iron itself was approaching close.
“Don’t shoot yet. Arrows and attack magics won’t have much effect on them anyway.”
Kurono spoke to the adventurers that were standing in front of the fence with long range weapons like bows in their hands.
The heavy armoured knights had already stepped on the bridge and were clearly inside the range of the bows but Kurono still did not give the order for attacking.
“It must be the enemy’s squad with the strongest defence. As far as we know, there should not be any squad more heavily equipped than them.”
Standing beside Kurono wasn’t Lily but the eldest of the elf sisters, Irina.
All three sisters were gathered here and were pouring their magic in their bows [Sylphlight] to fire at the approaching enemy.
“By sending the heavy armoured knights first, they would probably use the infantry to attack next. They must be using them in place of castle siege weapons. Well, if it’s those knights, they definitely can breakthrough both the wooden fence as well as the barbed wire.”
If they allowed those knights to approach like this, the main gate would be easily toppled and it will open the path for the next squads.
If the gate was broken through, they will be unable to stop the enemy who possessed immense numbers and Alsace would fall by noon.
“It seems they are fortified with light magic. Also—a defensive light magic has also been deployed it seems.”
“Then neither arrows nor attack magic would have much effect like this. They really have an iron wall like defence right now.”
In Kurono’s original world, the era of armours ended with the introduction of guns.
Even if someone covered himself in iron, he won’t be able to stop a bullet. If guns became the mean weapon of the enemy, then armours would end up only as a decoration.
But with the help of magic, bullets could be deflected in this world.
Their advance would be difficult to stop with just the firepower of the Adventurer Alliance.
Fiona had told Kurono about such ranks of armoured knights that use composite Union magic to obtain an extraordinary defence.
These heavy armoured squads were able to completely defend against long range attacks to compensate for their slow movement speed.
Then what could they do? How could they stop such a squad that possessed such an immense defensive ability? It was a situation that would make everyone else think that it was over but,
“Kurono, you’re laughing.”
“Yeah.”
Kurono was laughing.
“Well I can’t help but laugh. I really didn’t think that such an amateur tactic would actually go so well—“
The knight squad had approached them much closer on the bridge. The sound of their steel heels as they marched could be heard by every adventurer here. Yes, they were currently exactly in the middle of the bridge.
“Do it. Blow up the bridge.”(kurono)
❖
The moment he heard that sound, Norz suddenly regretted a lot of things in his mind.
Why did he make them advance through the bridge without even checking thoroughly?
Why did the enemy choose a place like this that was surrounded by rivers to make their last line of defence?
Why, at the last moment, had he underestimated them and thought that there would be no trap?
But all these thoughts were now too late. That’s why they were called as regrets. No matter how much he regretted it now, the lives lost would not be returned. Yes, the heavy knights that fell into the river would never show their silvery splendour ever again.
*DODON!!*
The sound of explosion roared.
“Im, impossible……”
Norz, as well as the troops waiting alongside him could not believe the scene for an instant.
The bridge on the river was supported by numerous thick pillars that would not crumble no matter how many carriages drove over it. That could be seen from a single glance.
There’s no way it would have collapsed from the weight of those knights.
But those pillars had easily crumbled and collapsed along with the exploding flames that blew up.
By the time they realized it, it was already too late. The enemy had laid some kind of trick on the bridge no doubt.
Cutting some important parts, or maybe they weakened the structure itself and then destroyed the bridge at the perfect timing through the use of some kind of remotely controlled magic.
To explode something through magic like this, they either needed to draw a magic circle or attach a magic item or they could infuse energy inside a rod beyond its limit etc etc. As long as they had time and magicians, it was not impossible to do it.
“This is impossible!!!”
Norz’s shout was drowned out by the thunderous crumbling sound of the bridge.
The pieces of the bridge blew up and scattered in mid air as the armoured knights pathetically fell below.
These knights could defend against arrows, flames, lightning with their high defence but against the flowing deep river, they were totally powerless.
The tough and sturdy armour as well as the defensive light magic, both were useless if they were completely drowned. But due to the immense weight of their armour, it was impossible for a human to resurface back and he could only drown while being trapped inside their armours like a coffin.
“Ad, Advance! Save the heavy knights!!”
In front of the view of the knights drowning while trying to resist by flapping the water, Norz gave the order for rescue.
Probably, more than half will die. But, they needed to save as many as they could no matter how small the number.
That feeling did not come because he really wanted to save the lives of his subordinates. He only wanted to lessen the responsibility of letting the knights die due to his own negligence by saving at least a few knights. As various thoughts came into his mind, Norz ran towards the river leading his troops.
“Look! The ones who fell in places where the depth isn’t high are still alive! Hurry up and pull them out!!”
The Rone river did not have a despairing depth that could drown all of the heavy knights. Knights trying to desperately come towards the shore while only a small part of their helmet was above the surface, could be seen here and there.
They need to at least save those, that thought was also completely destroyed as another thundering explosive sound resounded.
“What was that sound?………”
*DODODODO* a sound like a river that flowed at high speed during heavy rains came from upstream.
Impossible, every soldier thought that but the sound kept on getting louder.
The weather was absolutely clear today. It hasn’t rained at all. There’s no way the river water would have raised.
But, the sound only came closer.
*DODODODODO!!*
By the time they realized, a giant wave came and devoured everything inside the river, whether it be corpses or living ones, without any distinction.
In just a few seconds, all the knights and soldiers inside the river had completely disappeared from the river as the flow of the river settled.
❖
A few 100 meters upstream from the collapsed bridge, a single witch was standing.
“I wonder if that much was fine?”
It was Fiona Soleil, the member of Kurono’s party [Element Master] and clumsy and reckless witch who could not control her own magical energy. She was also the reason behind the flash flood that drowned the knights in the river.
The method was very simple. Fiona had simply fired the highest level of water magic that could generate an enormous amount of water into the Rone river.
Inundating a castle normally required the creation of a dam and time to hold up water there but Fiona had created both the conditions with a single magic.
“Yeah, it worked brilliantly Fiona.”
In Fiona’s hand was a lightly shining white crystal. From it, Kurono’s voice could be heard.
Using Lily’s telepathy as a basis, this crystal could be used to talk with people who were far away instantly.
“The enemy will soon realize that there is a magician upstream so quickly return here.”
“Roger.”
After the short conversation, the crystal in Fiona’s hand broke.
Since it was an item made hurriedly without using any proper techniques and design, the time allowed for communication was small. It was a use-and-throw item.
Just because there was magic, it is impossible to create something convenient like an all purpose cell phone but for the time being it was plenty useful.
“fuu, I am not really used to using water magic.”(Fiona)
Fiona threw away her water magic enhancing wand that had become useless with a single use and started walking back towards the village as per Kurono’s orders.
“Maybe because I used an element I’m not used to, I’ve gotten hungry now. Aah, I really want to eat an ice candy right now.”
‘Didn’t you just eat breakfast?!’ Kurono’s voice could not be heard here.