Chapter 100

Errol, who had been moved to the rear of the formation by the command of Knight Commander Tamarel, was greatly surprised to learn that most of the vanguard’s main force, excluding a portion of the knights, was heading towards the Silent Wetlands.

“As expected… that man?” No other reason came to mind for this sudden change in tactics. If so, what information had that man conveyed? This too was not difficult to guess. The forces of darkness were probably crossing the Silent Wetlands.

“Ah!” Errol gasped. And then a chill ran down her spine as she realized that no one in Eshtalen, including herself, had anticipated such a situation. It was probably due to the deeply ingrained image of the ‘impassable barrier’ in their minds.

Errol, galloping hard behind the veteran knights and pondering these thoughts, received another order from Tamarel during a rest break to change their exhausted horses.

“The order is to return to the front rank.”

“The order to return to the front rank, received and understood.” Errol politely repeated the order to the senior knight, then, with a tense expression, commanded Tamarel, who was looking at a map while the squires were changing horse tack, “Knight Errolomine Breeze Bahim Eshtalen, I have come upon the Knight Commander’s order.”

“…” Tamarel gave a wry smile at Errol’s somewhat stiff words. “You can speak more comfortably. The situation earlier was… well, the situation.”

But Errol shook her head and replied, “No. I have been too rude until now. Please forgive me, Commander.” It wasn’t anger or deliberate stubbornness. Until now, she had always preferred to be called a regular knight of the Iron-Blooded Silver Knights rather than a princess. But through this incident, she had realized that she had somehow begun to take being treated as a princess for granted, and she had renewed her resolve. Tamarel understood this but reluctantly nodded, thinking to himself that he still preferred her previous demeanor.

“There’s nothing to forgive. Don’t worry about it.” Tamarel said that and then showed her the map. “I called you because I thought you should know the general situation. Look here.” And then he slowly informed her of the current situation.

“Hmm…” Errol looked at the map, listened to Tamarel’s explanation, and then quietly asked, “If I may be so bold, was there any information regarding the enemy’s troop composition?”

“Unfortunately… However, Prince Dunstel told me that in previous battles, resurrected corpses seemed to have led the vanguard.”

“Resurrected corpses, you say…” Cursed monsters that, being already dead, would resurrect no matter how many times they were killed. That alone was enough to inspire fear, but Errol couldn’t believe that was the full extent of the forces of darkness’s power. It was impossible for mere resurrected corpses to break through Sharindel’s sturdy walls. Errol kept getting hung up on that point.

But while she was deep in thought, stroking her chin, the adjutant reported that the task of replacing the exhausted horses was finished.

“Prepare to depart!”

“Prepare to depart!”

At Tamarel’s command, Errol and the other knights remounted their horses and reformed their ranks. And immediately following the next command, the knights slowly began to gallop in formation. After changing horses two more times, Eshtalen’s vanguard and China’s armored vehicle unit finally arrived at the estimated enemy emergence point. It had been about ten hours since Jun-sang brought the intelligence.

“Send out scouts.”

“Sending out scouts!”

Tamarel first arrayed the knights on a hill overlooking the wetlands and then ordered the light cavalry in the rear to act as scouts. As they stopped, the Chinese military officers immediately dismounted from their armored vehicles and approached.

“Welcome.” Tamarel greeted them, and the officers gave a brief salute before getting to the point.

“Is that the Silent Wetlands?”

“That’s right. It’s one of the continent’s forbidden hidden wonders.”

“My country also has a few such places, but this seems to be the first time I’ve seen one directly.”

“…”

Tamarel thought that if nothing else, these foreigners’ bragging was difficult to get used to, but he didn’t voice that thought.

“Since we’ve sent out scouts, it might be best to rest for a while.”

When Tamarel spoke, one of the officers immediately replied, “We’re planning to send out two of our armored vehicles as scouts as well. What do you think?”

“Scouts?”

“Yes. One on each side. We don’t need to change horses, and our armament and defense are stronger, so we’ll be much more advantageous for initial responses.”

“…”

To be honest, due to the long-distance travel from Eshtalen’s capital, there were more than a few overloaded axles and bearings, but Tamarel had no way of knowing such circumstances. After a moment of thought, Tamarel nodded and replied, “Thank you for your consideration. If you do as you say, it would be a great help to us. We earnestly request it.”

“Haha, leave it to us.” With that, the Chinese military officers withdrew, and Errol asked, “Why are you following their words?” Tamarel smiled grimly and replied, “Why wouldn’t I refuse when they’re willing to throw themselves into a difficult task? At least it’s better than our soldiers dying or getting injured.”

“And observe their strengths and weaknesses at the same time?”

“Precisely.”

Errol nodded in understanding at Tamarel’s words. Immediately, two of the Chinese armored vehicles, in relatively better condition, broke away from the formation and began to circle the wetlands. And about thirty minutes after the light cavalry and the two armored vehicles began scouting, the first gunshot rang out. Tamarel, who had been looking at the map, suddenly looked up and shouted, “Where is it?”

Errol shook her head. “It seems to be east… but the sound is echoing too much to be sure.” But no sooner had she finished speaking than the sound of machine guns began to erupt repeatedly from the east, and then a messenger from the Chinese army galloped up and reported the enemy’s location.

“News has come from the scout we sent to the east that they have encountered the enemy. There might be a diversion, so please remain here. We will go first.”

“…”

It wasn’t a request for permission, just a statement of a decision. Tamarel frowned, but he nodded and sent the messenger back.

“Why did you just let him go?”

“They’re already departing. What could I say now that they would listen to?”

“…”

“However, if such blindness to glory is their true nature, it might be difficult to undertake great endeavors with them in the future.”

Tamarel said that, then ordered the resting knights to prepare for sortie and slowly began to follow the Chinese army. After moving a short distance, he saw the Chinese armored vehicles unleashing a barrage of fire upon zombies swarming across a small ford. The overwhelming firepower of the Chinese army, including the low-pressure cannons and machine guns mounted on the armored vehicles, as well as the rifles and grenades equipped by individual soldiers, literally poured down like a rain of fire, shattering the zombies floundering across the ford.

“…” Tamarel, and Errol as well, were speechless at the overwhelming power.

“Those are… weapons from another world.” Errol bit her lip. If such powerful weapons belonged to the enemy, could her Iron-Blooded Silver Knights truly perform effectively? Errol could only shake her head. She had to admit that there was no way to withstand that overwhelming firepower with any conventional weapon or tactic.

“Hmm…” Tamarel’s expression was equally grim. The sight of the knights observing from the hill was immediately noticed by the Chinese military officers.

“Hehehe… Comrade Xiao Qiao, look at their dumbfounded expressions.” To the young lieutenant with binoculars, Major Tang Zhiyang, who was in overall command of this operation, replied with an expressionless face, “Lieutenant, if you have time to pay attention to other things, focus on the front line first.”

“S-sorry.” The battle situation was proceeding smoothly, but Major Tang was troubled by the defeat in Sharindel. Although the firepower had been somewhat lacking, the fact that troops armed with modern weapons and trained in regular military exercises had been annihilated by mere shambling corpses was simply hard for him to believe. Therefore, even as other officers relaxed their initial tension and enjoyed the slaughter by unleashing their full firepower, Major Tang remained tense and kept his eyes fixed on the front.

Suddenly, he saw something strange.

“Hmm?” It was a naked woman. Her face was obscured by long, seaweed-like hair, but the naked body beneath, despite the considerable distance, shone alluringly and beautifully, unlike the other corpses. Was this also a type of living corpse? Major Tang tilted his head and then raised his binoculars to examine the woman closely.

Then, through the cascading, seaweed-like hair, a pair of red lips caught his eye. The lips, captivating Major Tang’s gaze, remained tightly shut, then slowly opened like a flower blossoming in the sunlight.

Thump!

Major Tang suddenly felt as if he had heard such a sound. Although he clearly heard nothing with his ears, something had burrowed into his mind and began to wildly disorient him.

“Wh-what is this…?” His hand trembled violently, and the binoculars fell from his grasp. At that moment, Major Tang was greatly startled once again. It wasn’t just one. Behind the remnants of the zombies, the naked bodies of the women he had seen earlier rose up like phantoms, filling the Chinese soldiers’ vision. As the vividly gleaming red lips all opened simultaneously, a silent song pierced through the sound of gunfire and began to tear at the Chinese soldiers’ minds.

“Ugh, uwaaaaaaah!” One of the soldiers fighting on the front lines suddenly let out a grotesque scream, jumped up, and began to spray gunfire at his comrades. That wasn’t all. A loader, who was loading a low-pressure cannon on an armored vehicle, suddenly screamed and threw a grenade into the armored vehicle. It didn’t take long for the Chinese army to plummet into a pit of destruction and chaos.

“Th-this was it.” Major Tang then realized why the Chinese army summoned in Sharindel had been annihilated in an instant, but it was already too late. He desperately raised his rifle and pulled the trigger at the naked woman.

Thwack!

Even with his trembling hand, the bullet he fired accurately smashed into the woman’s alluring breast. However, even with such a fatal injury that would have instantly killed a human, the woman did not stop the movement of her gasping lips.

“Snap out of it! Kill those wo…” Major Tang screamed until his throat was hoarse, but a bullet fired from behind him pierced his forehead, and he fell, eyes wide open. Behind him, the lieutenant who had earlier mocked the knights’ dumbfounded expressions and been reprimanded was now smiling vacuously, pulling the trigger of a pistol aimed at his own head.