Katahane no Riku

Chapter 13.The offensive against the?fort

Winter was approaching.*1

With temperatures enough to freeze fingers, it was almost as if general winter himself was preparing to launch an offensive. Before one would notice, the breathed air had already become white. If rain was to pour, all this rain would have already turned into snow. Once there was snowfall, the shape of warfare would change. As snow would accumulate, the movement of the troops would slow down and transportation of food would become harder. For the spiritualists, the coming of winter was a disadvantage. And of course, to the demons that were restricted to the food stocked up in the castle, the long-drawn siege would be disadvantageous as well.

In other words, both the demons and spiritualists were eager to end this war. But in both of their dictionaries, there was no such word called truce. Until either side was completely destroyed, this war wouldn′t end. This time′s case, whether the demons would go for a do-or-die attack or if they were to seclude themselves in the castle, the flow of the war would change. In case the war would change to a siege, the battle would be decided by which side gives up first.

“…Well, I can′t imagine lieutenant general Gortoberuk going for a siege though.”

As she was breathing out white vapor due to the cold, she sighed.

Gortoberuk, who would mostly deal with things using strength, was a demon that she just couldn′t imagine going for a contest of endurance by holing himself up in the castle. In order to clear away the disgrace of having the fort being taken from him, he would just plan a strategy to go for and attack without doubt. Either way, Riku couldn′t predict what kind of battle it would turn out to be.

But, rather than knowing Gortoberuk next moves, it was more important to think on how to take the fort back. It looked more or less something stupid to do, but even so, the forty nine demons were still following after her. Including her, all of them were going up the mountains. By the way, the one that wasn′t there with them was at the foot of the mountain stand-by, still mounting on the horse he had been riding on so far.

“Ha…Ha…. Just, a little bit more.”

Said Roppu Nezaarand while feebly breathing after he stopped his feet. With his ear and arms full of bandages, his figure was very pitiful. Putting his hands on his knees, he was catching his breath. No matter who, it was clear to anyone that would look at him that he was straining himself.

“Really, you are too weak.”

“Hey, ojou-chan. Shouldn′t have it been better if we had left that rabbit brat at the lieutenant general′s villa?

Vrusto was whispering next to Riku′s ear. Different from Roppu, Vrusto didn′t show any signs of being tired. In fact, demons that would show signs of exhaustion actually were what was very uncommon. Except for one of the demon races, the demons in general would ever so often have more physical strength than humans. If Roppu was at his perfect condition, he would most likely have been able to go up a mountain such as this one in one breath.

” I′m definitely being suspected of being a traitor. If I bring him along, I can prove I′ve not been planning anything along the way.”

“I see. That′s why you′ve been dragging this dead weight near you. I thought you were doing it just to have someone guiding us.”

“Well, there is that too.”

As a messenger, Roppu had been trained. And so, he knew very well about the terrain around here. This time too, he used a secret path and was able to escape from the fort. The path Riku was going through now was one different from the one generally used. Because it didn′t go through maintenance, it had rocks and branches that fell from the big trees around. Because of that, one could end up tripping without properly paying attention. In fact, there were soldiers that were covered in dirt just because of this reason. But even if it had all these problems, the enemy wouldn′t be aware of this path.

“Ah, uh… First lieutenant Barusak, the place you had pointed in the map before is about somewhere in here.”

Right at the time Riku stepped her foot onto a branch, Roppu humbly declared.

Just by turning your head, through the trees, it was possible to see the stone fort. One way or another, they were able to successfully go to the rear of the fort through a roundabout way.*2 The place that general Gortoberuk′s flag used to be set now had an unicorn and a griffon flag, both fluttering in the wind as if they were intimate to each other.*3 With the corners of her mouth rising, she rose her right hand to signal her soldiers to stop.

“Thank you, sergeant major Roppu Nezaarand. For now you should wait here. That, unless you want to follow me in order confirm that I′m not a traitor.”

“Th-that…”

“What about if I take two or three enemy general heads? Would it be enough as a proof? Well, although I don′t think there are any really good generals sitting in that fort.”

The general that was leading all this must be without mistake glaring at Myuuz castle at the plains down the mountains.

This fort capturing was only the appetizer before going for an offensive onto the plains. She needed to properly savor the taste. Riku lightly licked her lips.

“Now then, we will be proceeding according to the plan. Are you ready to take that dirty flag down?”

The forty nine demons all silently nodded. There were some demons that had their faces twisted in desperation, but Riku ignored it. In reality, Riku was a bit anxious about whether it would properly work or not. But then, if she were to behave like that, nothing good would come out of it.

“The attack will go with the five people we decided on before. The rest should follow warrant officer Vrusto′s directions.”

“Understood. Don′t die, ojou-chan”

Seeing Vrusto indiscreetly saluting to her, Riku gathered the four people she had selected before. They were demons of smaller stature that were more developed in terms of agility rather than strength.

“Don′t worry, I will be the one facing the general. Besides, not everyone are spiritualists in there. They should have mixed in many normal foot soldiers in their army. That′s why you all you will need to do is swing your sword around to your heart′s content. Once you think the situation is dangerous, you should run away from the fort.”

“”Yes.””

The four demons vigorously nodded. And then, Riku, who saw their confidence rise, once again made a sign.

As she did that, this time, five demons that had confidence in their physical strength went forward. All of them were strong enough to easily crush a horse. Riku herself and the four demons she had chosen got on these demon′s arms respectively. The foothold was bad, but even so, by crouching and leaning on her right knee, it was possible to get some extent of balance.

“Uh… Are you really planning on invading the fort like that?”

With a worried face, Roppu raised his eyes to the direction of the fort.

“The fort was firmly build. Since it didn′t fall in these two hundred years, then without siege weapons or big hammers, there is no way to invade it. We don′t have this sort of things prepared, so isn′t it fine to do it this way?”

“But we thought we had taken a secret path…”*4

“Which side do you think the people at the fort are being more watchful?”

The Myuuz castle is being surrounded and the demons don′t have any army coming from the mountain side. With that, the only thing to be worried about is demon reinforcements coming. If something happens at Myuuz castle, the spiritualists that are surrounding the castle would definitely contact the people at the fort. Anything else don′t really need much attention.

“In other words, this side has low priority. Rather than aiming for the well guarded part, it′s obvious that it is better to aim for the weaker one.”

Saying that, Riku looked forward. By straining her eyes, it was possible to see the tiny figures of guards protecting the fort. But not a single one of these guards were looking to her direction.

“Well then, let′s start, shall we?”

With that, the five muscular demons started moving. The demon whose arm Riku was on was in concentration, determining in which angle he should aim. The same was for the remaining four demons, calculating the distance and so on. Riku, who was a human, didn′t have good eyesight like demons. Perhaps it would have been possible for her to increase her eyesight with spiritualist arts, but she wasn′t able to use them. In order to not disturb the demons that were diligently working on the calculations, she could only held her breath.

“We will go now. 3…2…1…”

The demons swung their arms with all their strength, and with that, Riku was thrown high in the air. Right at the moment when she was thrown, she used her leg strength to add impulse. After that, there was no return. With the cold wind strongly blowing at her, it felt like a thousand needles were prickling her face. But pain of this extent didn′t matter. In Riku′s eyes, only the fort that was rapidly nearing closer was being reflected.

“Hm?”

At the moment when the soldier standing on the fort noticed about it, everything was already over for him.

Right at the moment the soldier turned his head, Riku′s figure suddenly right in front of his nose. Riku, who was flying through the air, extended her right feet frontwards and kicked the soldier in his belly. While still having her foot through the soldier who had fallen like a rag doll she drew her halberd. While thrusting her halberd at the neck of the guard that was lying on the floor, Riku gave a smile to the other guards.

“Good afternoon. It′s been sudden, but can you do me the favor of dying?”

Of course she didn′t wait for an answer. She didn′t need an answer anyway. Raising her blood covered halberd, she rushed forward, cutting down the soldier′s arm who was about to draw his sword, and decapitated another soldier that had been in panic.

“Shit, why is this red haired demon here!? It′s too strong!”

“Su-surround it! Let′s bring it down with numbers!”

As to surround Riku, the many guards approached forming a circle around her. They seemed to aim for doing an combined attack from all sides. As she was thinking whether she should make a path out of the encirclement through brute force or look for an opening, at that moment…

“As if I would let you!”

Coming from the sky, the demons suddenly appeared in a flash. *5

With the sudden appearance of another enemy, the soldiers at the fort got their formation scrambled. With that, it became possible for Riku to break through it by herself. The four demons that were a bit late in taking part in the fight

“First lieutenant! Leave the small fries to us.”

“You should go after the big ones we can′t defeat!”

While soaking their small swords in blood, each of them were speaking in turns.

Even without them saying, it was what Riku was planning to do, but actually being said that felt very different. With that, Riku′s mouth turned into a happy smile.

“I will leave this place to you!”

Saying that, she left the place.

Not expecting that they would have been broken through, the soldiers were taken by surprise. Mowing down such soldiers, she rushed inside. She had thought that it would be a bit problematic for her to swing her halberd in the inner parts of the castle, but it seemed that they were unnecessary worries. Originally, it had been a demon fort, and so in other to be in accord to demons that had builds of over two meters, the ceiling was high and the corridors were wide. That′s why she would be able to swing her halberd to her heart′s content.

“The de-demons are attacking!”

“It′s a monstrously strong red haired demon!!”

In response to the many shouts throughout the inner part of the fort, soldiers wearing spiritualist clothes appeared. The spiritualists that were wearing clothes which had that nostalgic Barusak crest were now coming at her with the demon banning swords. The swords that had demon banning power infused had the might of blowing off an arm just by grazing it. But that was only applied to demons. Therefore, Riku rushed at them without any worries.

“Did it lose its mind? That demon.”

Against the spiritualists that were giving off smiles of ridicule, Riku instead sent back another smile.

“The stupid ones are you.”

As if doing a run-up, she increased her speed and jumped upon a demon banning sword that was thrust at her. Sending the spiritualist that had his mouth opened in surprise flying with a kick, flying to the direction of a spiritualist from the Bistolru behind him, who was preparing to shoot an arrow. Lightly deflecting the arrow, she cut his head, sending it flying. With that, she had finished that spiritualist from Bistolru, that now had his head separated from his torso.

“One… No, two people.”

Giving a glance to the spiritualist she had kicked before, it seems that the shape of his body and neck had changed a little. Perhaps because she had put in too much force, his neck had been snapped.

“Now, who is next?”

Now looking back to, just like ants, a bunch of spiritualists were overflowing the place.

Many spiritualists had expressions on their faces that were curious to look at. She thought it was because two of their companions had been killed, but it seemed to be for a different reason. Whatever it may be, from the start, Riku didn′t hold interest in what their expressions meant.

Full of insanity, she was about to rush after them, but right at that time…

A blazing ball of fire appeared right in front of her eyes.