The Duke's Eldest Son Escaped to the Military

The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military (119)

Translator: ChubbyCheeks

41 The Demon Unit! (2)

Iron smiled as he sent the executives back before going through the operation once again.

In the first place, it did not even cross his mind to completely destroy the rear. However, he firmly believed that they could still bother the monster corps just like a thorn stuck in one’s mouth.

If they continued to bother them, then the damage would accumulate. What would happen if one of the main pillars of the monster corps were forced to withdraw from the battle to come back and deal with them? If that happened, then it meant that their job was done.

“Hoo… These monster bastards are still giving me a hard time in this life too.” 

Iron sighed, did his final checks and went to sleep.

The next day.

Even though the sun was yet to rise, the people in their temporary camp were already moving busily.

Meanwhile, Iron, the knights and the rangers, all garbed with some light leather armor, hid near their accommodations as the artillery unit, the first and the second company prepared to leave at the break of dawn to draw the monsters’ attention.

Not long after, all of the units were ready to move.

The artillery unit and the second company left their camp followed by the first company who killed the nearby monsters and acted as if they were protecting them. Not long after, a group of monsters followed the first company for an attack. It seemed like their group were successful in luring these monsters to the north.

“All of them have left.” 

Iron nodded lightly at Nyx’s report.

“We won’t move right away. We will only move under the cover of the night.” 

“Yes, sir!” 

The troops bowed their heads at Iron’s orders and waited patiently for the night to come. 

They hid before quietly moving towards the goblins’ old territory. Thankfully, there were no monsters present after doing their reconnaissance so it seemed like his subordinates were doing a good job.

In addition, the terrain made it easier for them to hide so they endured and staved off their hunger with just their emergency rations as they waited for the war between the humans and the monsters to begin. 

Maybe it was because he hoped that it would come sooner? 

The battle crazy orcs were the first to attack and sweep away the human army. However, the orcs had no choice but to turn back since the coalition of territories arrived much earlier than they had expected. 

The ogres and werewolves* joined one after the other but they stayed put. It seemed like they were waiting for the center’s wyverns. Only when they were completed did the monster corps begin to slowly move forward. 

“They’re moving.” 

Iron smiled after confirming that the monsters were already moving.

He finally felt that waiting and enduring in an environment where they couldn’t even eat and sleep properly was finally paid off.

Everyone looked at the monster corps with joy as they shouted ‘Finally!’ in their heads. 

From the very beginning, the monsters had planned for an all-out war as if they had already assumed that they would win this battle no matter what. 

“They’re not here yet?” 

Hearing Iron’s question, the ranger that was watching the situation from above the tree nodded his head. 

It seemed like the troops from the Northeast had not yet arrived.

In the current situation that they were in, participating in an all-out war meant that the human army would definitely face defeat. This was the reason why the clever troll had gathered all of the monsters to prepare for an all-out war. It knew that this was the golden opportunity for it to solidify its victory and position. 

Although they had classified this as a small monster corps, the number of monsters gathered this time was larger than the monster corps that attacked the Lion Castle Fortress. They were even already fast-approaching the number of a mid-sized corps. Besides, they had rallied together this time unlike in the Lion Castle Fortress where they were only barely able to fill in the numbers and create a corps. 

It was absolutely impossible for their insufficient troops to fight against them.

“It’s unfortunate but we can’t do anything about it. We’ll move right away.” 

“Yes, sir!” 

All of Iron’s hidden troops began to move from their hideout after hearing his orders.

They needed to make a ruckus in the rear and attract the monsters’ attention. 

―Kki… kkirrriik! Humans, how…?

Stab!

The goblin looked at the humans that suddenly appeared in the forest with an expression of disbelief as it got stabbed in the chest.

With that as the start, the goblins that were in charge of the monster corps’ military supplies were killed one by one. 

Only those with no lord-class monsters among their group were sent to the rear to take charge of the supplies and be used to fill in the gaps of their corps whenever they faced shortage in troops. They did not have any buffs from the lords nor any magic strengthening for the sorcerers. They were literally placed there to fill in the numbers. 

Because of that, Iron’s troops, which consisted of knights and rangers, were able to easily slaughter them. 

“Move quickly. We have to give them enough damage to cause confusion and bother them.” 

“Yes!” 

The knights and the rangers responded in unison as they moved quickly.

The knights smashed the temporary barracks that the monster corps had created while the rangers moved swiftly and killed the escaping monsters. 

At first there were just around dozens of monsters. But when they started to sweep the forest and reach the hundreds, the monster corps finally responded.

The leaders all had the same reaction.

‘We can’t leave them as they are!’ 

That was what passed through their heads. 

‘I’m quite concerned about the rats that infiltrated our rear!’ 

However, they couldn’t break the legion. They gathered the monsters, who weren’t of the same race, under their command and ordered them to catch these mice while the rest were preparing to sweep away the human troops who were able to establish a temporary front while they tried to maintain their corps. 

Their attention was attracted by the mice but it was still clear that their strength was still enough to overwhelm them both. 

“Is the Northeastern Army still not here yet?” 

“Yes. I think they still need half a day to get here.” 

“Hoo…” 

Olan Temphet, one of the two heads of the territorial army, sighed. 

Their battle with the monster corps was right around the corner but he had no choice but to frown when he heard that the Northeastern Army was still far away. They were fortunate that the monster corps, who looked like they were ready to engage in an all out-war at any given moment, had stopped moving. Considering the screams heard were from inside the forest and the monsters were slowly falling backwards, it seemed like they had encountered a problem with their rear. 

“Something seems to have happened with the monster corps.” 

“Uhm… That’s a relief. But what exactly is going on?” 

“Perhaps Sir Iron, who’s still left inside the forest, did something?” 

“It would be dangerous to do something in this situation where the corps is not moving but…” 

Olan couldn’t help but mumble upon hearing the words of Kate, the head of the Winstell family. 

“Find out what’s going on inside the forest.” 

“Yes!” 

At Olan’s order, the knight went out and gave an order to the scout to find out what was happening inside the forest. Since they had placed most of their reconnaissance forces in the forest to monitor the monster corps, it was easy to get the information that they needed. 

“A large monster force is moving inside the forest. And considering that some of the areas in the forest have collapsed…” 

“Hoo… Was it really Lieutenant Colonel Iron?” 

“I believe he’s buying us time until the Northeastern Army arrives.” 

“Hoo… It must have been a tough decision to make but he has great courage.” 

Olan and Kate nodded heavily at the thought of Iron buying time for them in the forest. 

“We should prepare too. They’re doing their best inside so we should try our best to endure too.” 

“Yes.” 

The two heads strengthened their will and determination as they decided to fight back instead of retreating. If they chose to retreat while thinking of the risk of taking in damage here, then Iron’s troops, who were struggling inside to buy time for them, would definitely be wiped out. 

Fortunately, the monster corps decided to reorganize instead of going straight for an all-out war as they tried to deal with the disturbance in their rear that was caused by Iron and his troops. 

“The battle will take place at night. The Northeastern Army would probably already arrive by then, right?” 

“They will.” 

The knight standing next to Olan answered his question. 

They prepared to fight at the thought that it was something that was worth trying.

While the humans prepared for battle, the monsters who tried to deal with the rats first had no choice but to change their minds once again. They felt that it would be difficult to move their forces since the humans looked like they were preparing to fight right away. They might be strong when they were united but just a single tribe missing from their ranks would result in a huge loss in strength. 

They couldn’t decide what to do. So, the monsters just pulled their blades out and made a decision. All of the monsters began to move as their opinion united. They decided not to care about the rats that were disturbing their rear and just make contact with the humans’ main force as soon as possible. 

“They’re coming! Everyone, get ready for battle!” 

The sun was just setting when the figures of the two groups clashed on the plains.

The orcs acted as the vanguard who were immediately followed by the ogres and the werewolves while the wyverns roamed the skies. Even the trolls kept the wizards in check from the rear with their sorcery. 

The humans fired their artillery and tried to cast spells to stop the attack of the monster corps. However, the monster corps right now was far more solid and stable than the monster corps in the Lion Castle Fortress so their attacks were not enough to stop them from moving forward. 

What was worse was the fact that the wyverns began to raid the base located at the rear of the army which brought confusion and chaos to the ranks of the humans. The orcs took this opportunity and rushed forward with all their might to collapse the humans’ battle line while they were embroiled in confusion from the raid. 

Then… magic and artillery came raining down on the monsters from afar.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“It’s the Northeastern Army! The reinforcements have arrived!” 

The battlefield, which was about to collapse, barely managed to hold out and endure as their morale increased at the knight’s cry. 

The Drake Unit quickly approached and fought against the wyverns in the sky followed by the airships that fired artillery to support the ground forces. 

“Don’t collapse!” 

“Hang in there!” 

With Olan and Kate’s bloody cries, the human army barely managed to reorganize their battle line as they began to fight the monster corps in earnest.

Iron, who was standing on the outskirts of the forest, turned around after watching the battle.

“Fortunately they were able to endure it.” 

“It’s truly a relief.” 

“Our hard work was not in vain.” 

Ariel and Nyx looked relieved when they heard Iron’s words. 

“We have to move more busily from now on. Our army might be holding out against the monster corps but we still have a lot of work to do.” 

“Yes!” 

“Yes!” 

“Let’s fight in a way that’s suitable for the name Demon Unit!” 

Iron moved quickly with a wicked smile hanging on his lips. 

They intentionally aimed for a large place to cause as much damage as possible and make the corps turn back but now, they did not need to do so anymore. It was time for them to show the monsters what the Demon Unit was truly like. Right now, they would stab them in their most vulnerable and painful places.

Iron headed towards the forest for the last time after smashing the monster corps’ logistic bases outside the forest. 

―Hu… human?

The temporary command post was left empty after everyone had charged forward. No matter how many troops from the monster corps had charged forward, there would still be hundreds of monsters that remained in their command post. Because of this, they did not really have much concern about the place. In addition, they had left sorcerers behind so they believed that they would be able to organize themselves in the case of an attack. 

But the humans have appeared here.

―Kiikiii…

“Aren’t you underestimating humans too much?” 

Iron spoke as he stabbed the orc sorcerer on the throat. 

Suddenly, a bloody magic circle appeared in the air as powerful red lightning poured down on Iron. 

Baang!

“That’s a bit tingling.”

―Human…

A huge troll covered with fierce energy stared at him. A troll lord that was large enough to be compared to an ogre was trying to overwhelm Iron with its chaotic energy. 

At the same time, the troll lord’s guards appeared and blocked the knights and rangers that were causing chaos in their command post.

“You know how to use your brain.” 

“You have to trap a rat to catch it.” 

The troll lord’s hideous momentum covered the area as it looked at Iron as if he had completely played in its hands. 

However, Iron just smiled as he stared at the smug troll lord.

“Who knows… I don’t know if you really caught us or not… after all, only the results will tell us. You know?”

***

Notes

*werewolves – this has been mentioned before when discussing the monsters in the forest but I thought it was just a typo so I typed it as dire wolves but it seems like it’s not. I will use this going forward. It seemed like the wolves in the forests are called werewolves while those outside are direwolves.

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