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Chapter: 245

The horn of war blared, and countless soldiers marched forward.

The goblins also swarmed out of their nests to confront the humans, but they didn’t rush in recklessly.

Understanding the sheer number of humans and sensing their formidable spirit, they knew better than to charge in headfirst.

In this standoff, the elves raised their bows.

“Let’s take the glory of the first attack! We’ll surely teach them the terror of the elven hunters.”

The distance to the goblins was far too great for arrows to reach. Nonetheless, the elves readied their arrows on the bowstrings.

But—

“Hold on! Our new weapons will be far more effective than those flimsy elven arrows! Grant us the glory of the first attack!”

The dwarves blocked the elves’ way.

“Hah! You think your dwarven weapons can reach where those goblins are? That’s a joke! The range of your weapons is surely as short as your stature.”

“Even so, those pathetic arrows won’t be of much use against the goblins. Or do you plan to set them on fire just to shoot them? You spineless ones who whine like you’ve broken a bone from snapping a twig?”

“Is that all you have to say? You little dwarven turd!”

“What if I’ve said it all? You wretched ear-twitcher!”

As always, the elves and dwarves began to squabble, even with the goblin threat looming in front of them. If there hadn’t been a goblin foe, they likely would’ve aimed their weapons at each other.

Trying to calm the rising tension was the knight king, Lucius, who had gathered everyone.

“Both of you settle down. With war on the horizon, this is no time for us to fight among ourselves.”

Even with the knight king’s words, the elves and dwarves refused to stop glaring at one another.

If I had known this would happen, I should have called just one of them. The knight king found himself regretting this a little.

“For the first attack, I would like to start with the dwarves’ new weapon. I hope the elves understand this.”

“What? That toy of the dwarves? There’s no telling if it will even work properly.”

“Hahaha! Unlike your ear-twitchers, they acknowledge our inventions! How satisfying! And we’ve already showcased our new weapon to the king! That’s a judgment coming from someone who has seen its power firsthand!”

The elf turned to look at the knight king at the dwarf’s words, and the knight king spoke as if to persuade the elf.

“I’ve heard plenty about the elven archery skills. Your accuracy and power must be unparalleled.

But what’s about to start is war. It will be a fight against a great number of enemies.”

At the knight king’s words, both the elf and dwarf listened carefully. The words of a king who had established a grand kingdom couldn’t be brushed aside.

“Are your arrows sufficient to kill all enemies in one shot? If not, it might be wise to conserve your arrows.”

“Conserve? What do you mean by that?”

“Literally. Elven arrows don’t spring forth infinitely, so we’d like to save them for taking out key targets.

With your archery skills, can’t you just pick off the most threatening goblins from that massive horde?”

Nodding at the knight king’s words, the elf agreed. If it was within bow range, hitting precisely would be a piece of cake.

“The weapons the dwarves made… have considerable power, but they can’t perform that kind of precise targeting.

So I’d like to request the elves to focus on sniping the hobgoblin or orc commanders.”

“Indeed. You’re asking us to shoot them in the head.”

“Glad to hear that this is moving along quickly.”

Hearing this, the frown on the elf’s face eased a bit.

“While I’m not pleased at losing the glory of the first attack to those dwarves, I guess it can’t be helped.”

“Thank you.”

Having resolved one issue, the knight king surveyed the surroundings.

The dwarves, who had been arguing with the elves, were now exiting the command tent to prepare their new weapons, while a cow beastman who had brought the army from Vistia was staring intently at a small rat beastman who was devouring rice cakes.

The rat beastman, who introduced himself as the leader of the Rattkinia shield squad, was consuming a pouch full of rice cakes while bearing a shield larger than his body.

This sight caused a flicker of concern in the knight king about whether they had enough supplies.

And—

“Ooo… This flag… it is infused with the power of the gods…”

“This is the famous undefeated flag. Truly an impressive item. The magic intertwined is so complicated that it’s unrecognizable… Only a divine being could have created such a thing…”

The great warrior of the lizardmen and the mage representative of Procyon were deeply engrossed as they looked at the knight king’s flag.

The flag bestowed by the Goddess of Life was woven with magic so complex that even mages couldn’t comprehend it, so it was no surprise they showed interest.

But why was the lizardman so curious? He was even kneeling and clasping his hands in prayer.

A moment later, the great warrior of the lizardmen, who had to fight soon, got up without caring about the gazes of others.

At least it was fortunate that he quickly finished his prayer and stood up.

“The formations of each army will proceed as previously explained. The dwarves will initiate the attack, so please prepare yourselves.”

With that, the rat beastman, who had been busily chewing the last rice cake, swallowed it all and loudly proclaimed.

“Yes! Just trust your responsibility! In the name of Greytail, we will definitely guard the front line!”

Despite his cute appearance, the rat beastman exuded a fierce spirit. The cow beastman nearby merely nodded silently at the sight of him.

Thus, the command staff of each faction inside the tent emerged to begin the war, and after sending off the mage who had been inspecting the flag until the last moment, the knight king finally grasped his helmet.

“Phew… May the gods guide us.”

There was still the risky factor of ogres involved, but the Goddess of Life had promised her aid through the priests.

The knight king donned his helmet and grasped the flag in his hand.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

“All right! You lot! This is the moment our invention will shine! Do it right!!! I won’t hold back if you shoot off course again!!!”

A multitude of dwarves hurriedly sprang into action.

The strange wooden devices they assembled and secured demonstrated their skill, having repeated this task countless times over.

The assembled machinery was optimized for throwing something.

In other words, it was a primitive catapult.

“All set! Bring out the ammunition! Don’t forget to apply plenty of oil before loading!!! And remember to ignite the fuse before launching!”

However, this ammunition wasn’t just ordinary stones.

It was ammunition made by piecing together wood and binding it with string.

A special projectile created to burn all goblins, who were weak to fire.

“This time, the loading area is made of iron, so it’ll be heavier! But at least it won’t burn the catapult while lighting the ammunition on fire! Let’s synchronize accordingly! Check the oil!!”

“Oil check!!!”

The dwarves repeated the shout as they moved.

“Load!!”

“Load!!!!”

After loading the ammunition into the catapult, they applied the oil.

“Ignite!!”

“Ignite!!!!”

“From the prepared catapults, fire away!”

“Catapult one! Fire!”

“Catapult two! Fire!”

“Catapult three! Fire!”

“Catapult four! Fire!”

“Catapult five! Fire! All catapults fired!”

With flames igniting the projectiles from the five catapults, the oil-soaked string quickly caught fire, scattering fragments in all directions.

A rain of fire poured down upon the goblins, raining down destruction like divine wrath upon those weak to flames.

Despite this successful firing, the dwarves didn’t rejoice but proceeded to their next action.

“From now on, we’ll initiate autonomous firing! Shoot everything until we run out of ammunition! Set the enemies ablaze!!!”

Thus, the dwarves continued showering the goblins with fiery projectiles from the catapults.

However, due to carelessly spilled oil catching fire, three of the five catapults burned down before running out of ammunition.

Nevertheless, the rain of fire pouring upon the goblins played a sufficient role in declaring the start of the war.

“Epona Knight Order! Charge! Focus on breaking the tightly grouped enemies!”

The knight riders and beastmen galloped swiftly toward the clustered foes.

“Vistia. We’ll strike at the enemy’s flank.”

The allied forces made up of various beastmen began to slightly veer to the side.

“Rattkin! Maintain the shield formation! We will pressure the front line!”

The shield squad of the rat beastmen at the forefront kept a solid shield formation as they advanced.

“O great warriors of the dragon! Give in to instinct and rampage!!”

The warriors of scales, the lizardmen, roared without a second thought, gripped their obsidian weapons, and charged at the goblins.

“Heh, it’s quite tumultuous up ahead, isn’t it? Isn’t that right, elf?”

“We’re simply hunting opponents worth hunting.”

At the emotionless words of the elf, the mage smirked bitterly before starting to cast fire magic, while the elves summoned wind spirits to imbue their arrows.

Thus, the war commenced.

 

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