Debuff Master

Mortar shells rained down at the camp.

“Get down! Get down!” Siegfried shouted before he got down on the ground and sprawled his legs into a V-shape.

Mortar shells exploded around him, and the only thing he could do now was to leave his luck to the heavens.

Actually, he did not simply hunker down and leave everything to luck. He took out Inzaghi’s Compass and crawled according to its instructions. While he was busy crawling on the ground, someone’s desperate screams abruptly echoed.

“M-My weapon…! Where’s my weapon?! My +15 weapon!”

It was the Adventurer, RealDumplingBread, who had succeeded in enhancing his weapon to +15 a while ago, and he was rummaging through what remained of the mobile enhancement machine.

Unfortunately, he couldn't find his weapon…

Why?

Because his weapon was destroyed in the explosion!

A mortar shell struck the mobile enhancement machine before he could take his weapon out of it. It sounded cruel, but the harsh reality was that the weapon was destroyed even before he could hold it once after such a heroic enhancement.

“My weapon… where’s my weapon… where… weapon…” RealDumplingBread muttered like a zombie as he continued to rummage through what remained of the mobile enhancement machine as mortar shells bombarded him from the sky.

It looked as if he had gone insane—no, he actually did go insane. It wasn't strange that he had gone insane, as enhancing an item to +15 was an incredibly rare feat, but he had lost it without even being able to hold it once.

Unfortunately, his +15 weapon wasn't going to come back no matter how desperately he dug, and the mortars were not going to spare him out of pity just because he had lost his weapon.

To make matters worse, a bombardment was bound to hit the same place twice unless the artillery’s target was changed, which was unlikely in these kinds of large-scale battles.

A mortar shell flew in a parabola and landed right on the mobile enhancement machine.

It went without saying that RealDumplingBread, who was still rummaging through the debris even though the mortar shell landed in front of him, was blown into smithereens when the mobile enhancement machine was struck once more.

Siegfried was stunned speechless by RealDumplingBread’s horrible luck.

“Wow… My condolences…”

That was the only thing he could say…

What else could he say to someone so unlucky?

He was not acquainted with RealDumplingBread or anything, but he dared say this was probably the worst day of that person’s life. That was the end of the man who had inspired thousands to try their luck with the mobile enhancement machines.

“What the hell?! How long has it been since we finished the last battle? Why are they attacking again?!”

Siegfried and Hamchi grumbled while hunkered down to avoid getting blasted by the mortar shells. Two hours was too short of a time for the enemy to regroup and launch this scale of an attack.

The enemy was probably right up the camp’s doorsteps, and the only plausible explanation was that they had already conquered the supply route well before anyone in the Royal Faction noticed it.

In other words…

Meanwhile, the bombardment continued, ignoring Siegfried's thoughts.

“Those crazy bastards!”

“Damn it!”

“Can’t they tell us first before firing bombs at us?!”

The Adventurers on the ground got up one by one.

Then, an announcement blared from the speakers installed around the camp.

— Prepare for battle! Prepare for battle!

— All forces are to prepare for battle this instant while the enemy has paused the bombardment!

— This is not a drill!

However, Siegfried begged to differ. “What prepare for battle are you talking about!? It’s over! We have to retreat, you morons!”

He rushed to the field commander’s tent and screamed, “Stop at once! What the hell do you mean to prepare for battle?! We need to retreat while we can!”

“What do you mean by that, Your Majesty?”

The field commander of the Bayaba Territory Forces, Lieutenant General Harold, was surprised when Siegfried rushed into his tent.

“Are you asking us to retreat, Your Majesty?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“But why so? This is an important strategic location for our forces, and losing this place would result in having our supplies cut off. Retreating just because a bombardment is a bit—“

“Pardon me…?”

“How far can the artillery on the continent shoot? Tell me off the top of your head.”

“It will depend on the model, but the maximum range is three kilometers at best. Anything more than that is—“

“…!”

Lieutenant General Harold couldn't continue speaking as his face turned ghastly pale.

The artillery on the continent was quite different from the ones in real life. They resembled the medieval cannons used centuries ago, and they depended on magic more than science. Thus, the artillery in the game only had a firing range of three kilometers at best, just as Lieutenant. General Harold said.

So how come the enemy had managed to bombard the camp when the supply route was at least five kilometers away from it?

It could only mean one thing…

“N-No way! Has the supply route already been conquered?!”

“You just realized that?”

“But we did not receive any report from our—“

“Think! It means they conquered it so fast that our scouts didn’t have the time to react!”

“…!”

“We have to retreat right now! Defend this location? That’s no longer possible!” Siegfried shouted out of frustration before adding, “Think about it: the enemy managed to conquer the supply route in an instant, and they managed to conduct such a large-scale bombardment on us immediately afterward.

"What do you think? Do you still not have even a rough idea of just how big their army is?”

“T-That's…!”

“Also, it's a basic military strategy to launch a full-scale assault after bombarding the enemy, right?”

“How foolish I was!” Lieutenant General Harold recused himself for forgetting something so basic.

However, Siegfried no longer pushed the issue and instead switched to a more gentle approach as he said, “It happens, so it's fine.”

The Bayaba Territory was located at the rear of the Kyiv Kingdom, so they rarely faced any large-scale battles like this one.

“Sound the retreat this instant. We'll get wiped out if they catch up to us.”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty!” Lieutenant General Harold immediately accepted Siegfried’s advice and grabbed the megaphone.

He then ran out of his tent and shouted at the top of his lungs, “ALL FORCES! PREPARE FOR RETREAT! I repeat! All forces prepare to RETREAT!”

He and his adjutants ran around the camp, sounding the retreat, and the Royal Forces immediately prepared to retreat.

***

Ten minutes after the retreat was sounded…

“The enemies are coming! The enemies are here!”

A massive thirty-thousand-strong army attacked the Bayaba Territory.

The Bayaba Territory, which was an important strategic location for the Royal Faction, was conquered in the blink of an eye. No, there was no need for the Rebel Faction to conquer the Bayaba Territory, as the Royal Forces had already retreated, and they managed to enter the city without a single casualty.

Fortunately, the city’s residents were safe.

Why?

Because this was just a civil war with the kingdom’s succession at stake…

The Bayaba Territory was one of the Rebel Faction’s future assets if they won the war, so they had no reason to massacre its residents.

The Royal Faction was able to retreat with negligible casualties thanks to their decision to boldly give up the Bayaba Territory.

As for Siegfried…

[Alert: You have obtained 25,000 Contribution Points!]

He was awarded contribution points for his quick thinking, which had saved the lives of countless soldiers, but these contribution points were not important to him right now.

Three hours later, Siegfried found himself sitting on the ledge of a fort wall

“Hmm… This is a big problem…” Siegfried muttered. The Royal Faction had retreated all the way to a mountain fort located twenty-five kilometers from the Bayaba Territory.

The mountain fort was overlooking the Bayaba Territory, and Siegfried could see the Rebel Forces swarming the territory. His main dilemma right now was that they had no way to stop the Rebel Faction, and it was only a matter of time before this mountain fort was conquered.

“How clever of them,” Siegfried said. He was truly impressed by the enemy’s strategy.

Duke Taranis was making very good use of his army. It was extremely clever of him to use his soldier’s superior quality to defend from the front while pressuring his enemy’s rear.

“We will be in real trouble if they get any more ground from us…” Siegfried grimaced and grumbled under his breath.

“Because things are very serious right now…”

“Let me explain,” Siegfried proceeded to explain their current situation to Hamchi.

The mountain fort they retreated to was located twenty-five kilometers away from the Bayaba Territory, so it was going to be conquered in no time, but what was going to happen after the fort was conquered was the real problem.

“We can afford to lose this place, but we can’t afford to lose this place,” Siegfried said, pointing at the map.

The Horn Territory. It was the territory located at the furthest ridge of the rugged mountain range.

“Do you know what’s going to happen once they conquer that place?”

“Here, take a look at the roads branching out from the Horn Territory. Can you see it?” Siegfried asked while tracing the roads on the map with his finger.

“It’s in the shape of a fan, right?”

“They can spread throughout the entire kingdom once they conquer this territory right here.”

Siegfried nodded without skipping a beat. “Exactly. It’s over once they conquer this place.”

Siegfried could see through the plans of the Rebel Faction, and things weren't looking good for the Royal Faction he had decided to support.

“Yeah?”

“What’s so smart about this? Anyone can see it, you know?”

“But the problem is… What should we do to get—“

“Your Majesty!” Lieutenant General Harold's shout interrupted Siegfried.

“We have received a call from the royal capital!”

“Oh? Let’s go,” Siegfried followed Lt. General Harold to the communications room.

***

— I greet Your Royal Majesty, King Siegfried van Proa.

Siegfried was on the call with Taycan’s father, Duke Undertaker.

— I have heard that Your Majesty’s quick judgment has saved our troops. His Majesty sends his gratitude.

“It was not a big deal.”

— King Siegfried.

“Yes?”

— Please tell me honestly.

“Tell you honestly about what…?”

— This war. What are your thoughts on it?

“That is…” Siegfried trailed the ends of his words before he looked straight at the duke and said, “To be very honest with you, we’re half-screwed.”

“Your response was too slow. You should have sent more troops to the rear and stabilized it even if the capital was going to be in danger. Well, I am certain you did not expect the southern nobles to side with the rebels.”

— All of this is caused by my short-sightedness.

“I do not think this is the right time to point fingers. How many troops can you send as reinforcements?”

— Ten thousand is our limit. Any more than that then the capital will be in danger.

— Can Your Majesty stop them if ten thousand troops were sent to reinforce the army?

“It’s not like I have a choice… but I am not sure how long I can fend them off…”

— Haha…

Duke Undertaker could only laugh in response. He could not see a solution to their current crisis as they were already outnumbered and were pincered from both sides.

— I understand, Your Majesty.

“Do not even think of doing that,” Siegfried suddenly said.

— Pardon me…?

“You were thinking of launching an all-out attack just now, were you not?”

He could see right through the duke’s intentions.

— But we have no other choice. Attrition is going to kill us at this point.

“Probably.”

— If we take the risk and attack the enemy’s main forces, then—

Siegfried cut the duke off and said, “We will be ruined. Do you really think they aren't expecting that? We will never be able to get through their defenses. They know that all they have to do is defend while poking at our rear, and they have most likely laid all sorts of traps by now. All they have to do is occupy the Horn Territory, and that will be the end of this war. I dare say that they are very well aware of this, too.”

— But we have no other choice—

“We have to poke them back!” Siegfried shouted, “Are you just going to sit back and let them do what they want?! We should poke them back and let them have a taste of their own medicine!”

— I would have done that if it were possible, but—

“We need to make it possible.”The source of thɪs content is novelenglish.net . ꜰirᴇ.nᴇt

— What do you mean by that, Your Majesty…?

Siegfried smirked and replied, “I will infiltrate and wreak havoc behind enemy lines."