In The Name Of Ingrad! (11)

A new order was given to the whale beastkin unit, which was firing fiercely with the unbelievable explosion behind them.

“Slow advance!”

Among various commands, the order “slow advance” was a shooting technique in which they advanced forward while maintaining bombardment. This could be called a tactic created only for the whale beastkin, highly valuing their close-combat ability.

In truth, whether on land or sea, the whale beastkin were an extremely outstanding race.

That was because they had unbelievable physiques and their whole bodies were muscular, allowing them to display tremendous strength. Moreover, if they enlarged their bodies through partial beastkin transformation, their stamina recovery was added to that, making them truly become existences worthy of being called monsters.

Literally, with absurd bodies, the whale beastkin, who usually would not even suffer a serious wound, were now advancing toward the Demonic Tribe.

The whale beastkin unit numbered five thousand. In reality, by numbers alone, it could be seen as an absurdly small number compared to the Demonic Tribe army.

However, the scene they were creating was one no one had predicted.

“Herman, lead five hundred and stir up the battlefield.”

“You want me to jump into the bombardment?”

“We will be careful not to shoot in the direction you are going, so go.”

It was an absurd order, but Herman obediently nodded, and he was seen moving to the rear, detaching some of the troops he was responsible for, and running down.

Then he gave an order to Oliver, who had returned to his side.

“Tell them to send two more of those things from earlier over there.”

“Kuh, they were magnificent. I will order them to throw them a little deeper this time.”

“That is up to them. Instead, tell them Herman’s kids are going that way, so throw while avoiding them.”

“Ah, are those kids charging in recklessly?”

Ulde, bothered by Oliver’s word “recklessly,” nodded and said,

“Let us correct that to bravely.”

“Well, if one is reckless, one is brave. Understood.”

Oliver withdrew like that. In truth, the reason Ulde had sent Herman down was for “one experiment.”

The iron plate armor worn by the whale beastkin was special defensive gear engraved with a magic defensive formation, and he remembered hearing that it was free from firearm explosions to some extent, so he wanted to test that.

If this was possible, Ulde thought he could trample the enemy with a bolder and more reckless method in tactics, and soon, while watching Herman and the others courageously (recklessly) charge into the bombardment, he gave an order to his adjutant.

“Shoot while avoiding our allies as much as possible.”

Since Ulde had not given an order not to shoot in that direction, the adjutant looked slightly flustered, but when Ulde soon asked whether he intended to disobey, the adjutant hurriedly ran off.

That was because, in his opinion, what Ulde was doing right now was nothing more or less than madness. However, no one could predict at this time what kind of result this would create.

Meanwhile, there were those watching this from afar…

“Why in the world are they operating their troops in that manner?”

It was a question Bella’s adjutant asked, but Bella also could not know the answer. For now, the best Bella could do was merely watch the situation and respond to the surviving Demonic Tribe members trying to scatter around them.

To put it bluntly, the battlefield was unfolding so strangely that she wondered if the correct answer was to retreat like this and protect Linda. Just then, the black sphere that had caused a tremendous explosion flew toward another part of the sky again, making her tense up. This time, the Demonic Tribe failed to block it with magic and allowed it to pass directly overhead, and it began dropping a dreadful black rain on them.

Kwakakakakang!!!

A tremendous explosion occurred, enough to remind her of the time when the Ranger unit had carried out something called bombing before, and the area was devastated. Bella could not even guess how many Demonic Tribe members had been swept up in that and killed.

Now it was to the point that the Demonic Tribe felt pitiful, making her head complicated. Then it happened.

“L-look over there.”

She saw the whale beastkin beginning to sweep through the middle of the tremendous bombardment.

With something that looked like a hammer(?) in one hand and a greatsword in the other, the overwhelming combat power of the whale beastkin rampaging freely was a sight she had never imagined until now, and the movement of the whale beastkin freely playing amid the rain of bombardment, as if fear had never existed in the first place, was enough to stir overwhelming emotion.

They could only stare blankly at them, but then one soldier who had been showing bravery at the very front was seen being thrown forward as if bounced away with a “bang!”

He had been hit by bombardment fired by an ally.

That was extremely unfortunate. With bombardment of that power, she could expect he definitely could not be all right, and feeling as if she had seen one unfortunate death, she needlessly doubted the judgment of Ulde, who led the whale beastkin…

“Wh-what… what is that?!”

Along with the flustered voice of the adjutant, Bella and all eight hundred soldiers had to lose their words as they saw the whale beastkin stagger to his feet and begin sweeping around him once more.

“Damn it… That hurts like hell.”

Herman had rolled roughly across the ground. Ulde had clearly promised that he would make sure bombardment was not fired in this direction, so it was absurd that bombardment had flown in.

“These bastards have gotten slack, and dare not listen to orders?”

Herman, who made a small misunderstanding(?), made up his mind to deal with them later and looked around at the Demonic Tribe giving off a menacing presence nearby.

It was absurd that all their eyes were dead.

That was because he thought of the Demonic Tribe as a race that showed bravery even in the face of death. But looking at reality, they were cloudier than the eyes of rotten frozen pollack.

“I am extremely displeased right now. I got hit by a shell!”

Since he had been hit squarely in the middle of the back, he could not know exactly what had happened to it, but seeing that it ended at the level of throbbing, he judged it was not a serious injury.

Convinced that the iron plate armor, which could be called a product of Ingrad’s magic engineering, was sturdy, Herman made sure to be careful not to get hit in the head and charged toward the surrounding area once more.

When he held a firearm in one hand and a greatsword in the other and began emitting aura, the Demonic Tribe’s faces turned pale.

Despair began to overlay the realization that the one they had only thought was a “monster” was a “Master-class monster.”

“Kuhahahaha!!”

A madman began to run wild.

Meanwhile, the person who had hit Herman’s back whistled as he handed his firearm to a soldier, and the soldier who received the gun asked in a worried voice,

“What were you going to do if he died?”

“A kid like him won’t die. He is a guy who came back alive just fine even when he got chewed up by a pack of man-eating sharks. Do you know how tenacious his vitality is?”

“…That may be true, but…”

Herman was a famous figure among the whale beastkin. He was known as the strongest whale beastkin, but he was also famous for his absurd stamina.

Oliver, who thought it was fortunate that whatever the case, he had not died, placed a finger over his lips and said,

“It is a secret.”

“…Do you two normally have a grudge against each other?”

“He and I are friends. Friends who cannot live without each other.”

The whale beastkin wanted to ask why he would try to actually kill him, but he turned his head at Oliver’s ominous gaze. Soon, the bombardment position was adjusted, and the whale beastkin continued firing while narrowly avoiding their allies.

It was around the time Oliver confirmed that and returned to Ulde.

“They are holding up well. The armor’s performance is also quite impressive.”

‘Armor?’

Oliver found it strange, and the conversation between the adjutant and Ulde continued.

“They say it can defend against human sixth-circle magic once, so it is certainly impressive.”

“They say one set of the iron plate armor we are wearing costs three hundred great gold coins, right?”

“I heard that is the price for soldier-grade iron plate armor, and the commander-grade ones cost twice that.”

‘This is expensive… huh?’

Oliver looked down at his armor, and Ulde’s voice reached his ears.

“The armor’s performance is certain. We can change our troop operation method like this. I will have to tell them to supplement the equipment with helmets next time too.”

“Kuh, it would truly be amazing if we wore helmets too.”

Oliver was extremely curious about what kind of operation he had thought of, and just as he arrived, he cleared his throat once. Seeing Ulde flinch and turn around, Oliver felt puzzled.

“What were you talking about? From what I heard, it sounded like you were saying something about a new operation…?”

“Ah…”

Ulde seriously wondered whether he should tell him or not, and soon, with the thought of creating an accomplice, he told him that the “reckless operation” he had told Herman about was actually Ulde’s own order.

Oliver, who looked at Ulde with a sour expression at that, asked,

“What were you going to do if our allies died from the bombardment?”

“They did not die. You saw it too, right? Herman getting blown away.”

Oliver nodded with a guilty expression, and realizing that both of them had something weighing on them, silence descended.

“…Did you shoot him?”

“…Was it an experiment?”

Ulde and Oliver opened their mouths at the same time, but realizing no further answer was necessary, Ulde held out his hand, and Oliver clasped it.

And as the adjutant watching this let out a sigh, Ulde said,

“A tight-lipped man usually lives long. You know that, right?”

It was a moment when silence was directly connected to life.

At that time, something major was beginning to happen in Ingrad as well.

“The gate installation is finished. You can move like this.”

After hearing Hare’s words, I looked around.

Numerous ships were positioned around the Sea Fortress. Moreover, this voyage was a monumental undertaking, and with even a gate installed, I had decided to personally lead the campaign.

Most of my retainers opposed this, but I persuaded them by saying that if battle actually broke out, I would not step forward, and Volv would act as the commander-in-chief, so I was barely able to come out.

Moreover, since I could return to the castle at any time through the gate, I was permitted to step forward.

“By the way, was there a reason Lady Murumur had to come along as an escort?”
Demina was beside me, but I wondered if there was a reason even Murumur had to be with us.

At that, Murumur said,

“Your Majesty’s safety. And if I can serve the king who heads toward the battlefield, could there be anything more glorious than that?”

It was a burden. However, Murumur had expressed her will that if she did not accompany me, she would absolutely not permit it, and in reality, all the other retainers also insisted that if two Masters did not attach themselves as escorts, going to the battlefield was absolutely out of the question, so I had no choice but to allow it.

Honestly, with the things I had to do in the country greatly reduced, I had recently been feeling lonely.

I could simply make more Sea Fortresses, but it weighed on my mind that I alone was leisurely and comfortable.

And because of this decision of mine, war support was scheduled to be carried out more actively, so I thought it might become a great help to our allies.

This expedition was scheduled for a maximum of two months. The number of ships mobilized was one hundred twenty warships and one Sea Fortress, along with ten thousand troops and two thousand Rangers. In addition, many special branches such as snipers had been deployed, and to make this Sea Fortress more complete, I had even separately asked Hare and the others to prepare “Float” magic.

It was a hidden card, and its outline was as follows. First, the number of top-grade mana stones needed to float the Sea Fortress into the sky for about two hours was two hundred.

In response, the number of top-grade mana stones we had forcefully scraped together and prepared was around six hundred, a quantity that made strategic operation possible. By finding methods of operation in various ways, this was planned to show great activity in the future… but how effective it would be remained to be seen.

“Well, for now, I do not think there will be any major battle… Let us go. To the East Continent!”