Battle In the Citadel (4)

They might have arrived in the headquarters safely, but the place had turned into a battlefield on its own sense.

It was a battle between the soldier doctors and medics treating the severely injured people who were desperately holding onto their life against the Death God, waiting with his large sickle to pull the souls from their bodies.

The first floor of the headquarters and barracks was turned into a field hospital, the overflowing injured people were lying directly on the ground leaking out voices of agony. There were lots of people beyond saving as their chest didn't move up and down anymore.

Alongside of the walls were the refugees looking at the disastrous scene of hell with frightened expressions. They were like Karito's group who had escaped from the main street that has been blocked up by the Alwina's detached force and barely escaped from the massacred place. Their faces all lost its vitality and despair took over.

While Ordy was looking for a doctor, Karito and Reona accompanied his injured subordinates, then Ordy's name was called by an extremely loud voice that seemed to echo throughout the building.

"Ordy, is the third platoon leader Ordy here?!"

"Did you call me? Sir commander!?"

When that person found Ordy's figure, ....[person]?, he found that it was a half man and half horse much bigger compared to ordinary centaurs of Alwina Defence Force. The centaur then released a rough snort as he made his appearance.

[TL: that is how it is from raw]

On his back, sat an oversized long bow. All the parts were made entirely with metal, no matter how you looked at it, it was a very powerful weapon. The arrows contained in the barrel were also made from metal, even the diameter of the handle was twice bigger than normal arrows.

"Excuse me, even though you had retreated back here, the castle gates on the border side had also been seized by the Alwina army. You need to move out together with the soldiers that can still move in order to protect the survivors and intercept the main army coming in pursuit."

"Understood. Will commander engage too?"

"I can't just rush out and abandon issuing commands from the base. I hate how I only can shoot arrows from the distance."

Even though the Commander had stated so, but Ordy knew.

This commander was once an active fighter with a long military record, and his strength was top-class even among all the demi-human tribes. His favorite bow which was bestowed with spirit power was said to have enough power to shoot down a dragon in a single shoot. Moreover, it is also a characteristic of the Centaurus tribe to be the masters of archery .

If one were to receive a hit from the arrow that he released, it will even pierce through a fully equipped Orc with a large shield.

"I entrust it to you. I am relying on the mobility of you and your men."

Relaying only such orders, the commander left quickly for the gate on the border side.

[TL: this is kinda confusing yeah, but I guess it is the gate of inner citadel that overlook the other gate on border side, or the author just fucked up the convo before.]

Ordy looked back towards his subordinates. There was around ? who were unhurt or only with slight injuries. Although their fatigue had accumulated, you must not underestimate the stamina of beastmen. All of the men that had been trained by Ordy could run around steep mountains for three days and three nights straight.

The only problem lies in their equipments. Even if they were to split into two and attack, their fighting power is too different. If they wanted to stop an overwhelming enemy troops without direct confrontation, it could only be done with a guerilla war using gunpowder or magicians.

"Are there no remaining magicians in hand?"

"No, most of the remaining magicians here had used too much of their magic and were already exhausted their physical strength to the limit. The magicians who are still able to move are used to strengthen the defenses of the headquarters so we can't bring them along."

"What about the explosives?"

"That is...."

The subordinate pointed to a building that was built on a remote place to minimize the damages that could be dealt to the headquarters and barracks in cases of emergency, the warehouse ―――― at that place.

Yet, what was left there now was only a mountain of rubble.

"It seemed that there was a tenacious guy in the enemy's Sky Cavalry that went around bombarding the headquarters, and seemed to had dropped all the explosives just before he was shot down and blown away. Thanks to that, not only have several soldiers and refugees who had escaped here earlier fell victim and died, but it seemed that the provisions that was brought by the reinforcements were also gathered in there. There are considerable amounts of weapons and spare arrows left in the reinforcements' supply carriage, however there are no explosives left."

"That's troublesome indeed."

In a glimpse of only a few moments, Ordy's line of vision was immediately directed towards Karito.

Noticing what Ordy wanted to said, he replied with a silent consent.

Even though the battlefield was scary, he doesn't want to run away at his own convenience, there are times in which he should stand up. Especially when he was asked by someone he is in debt to.

"I will cooperate."

"I am sorry, our power simply isn't enough."

"I don't mind, I have already rode the ship. In order to survive, I will do what I can till the end ."

Ordy's beastly ears fell flatly as he apologetically lowered his head as it showed the state of his heart, Karito made a wry smile as the gap appearance reminded him of a solitary wolf.

Reona joined in the talk too. The first thing she said was.

"Then I will fight together with you too!"

""That won't do.""

She was immediately rejected by Ordy and Karito who both answered at the same time. She glared at her father and her benefactor as she bared her canines grimacing in vexation .

"You saw me a while ago, I can fight just fine! Why is Karito allowed while I am not!?"

"The circumstances are different between you and Karito. Karito can materialize something that we and other people can't. Reona, you ought to understand. I feel sorry to utilize him too, but I can't say any extravagant things anymore."

"But I am still a member of the Garm Tribe, as a fine warrior――――"

"What do you plan to do with Rina? If I were to fall on the battlefield and you followed after, who will protect that little child? Rina is still a child who has not finished her 'Moonlight Night Ceremony' yet."

"That is....."

Reona shrank down as Ordy's words hit on the sore spots. The Garm Tribe do have a very solid solidarity, but Rina and Reona doesn't have any relatives other than her father.

"If something happens to me, I entrust Rina to you. Please protect an important member of our family in my place. It is hard too for me to ask since you have taken care of that child since your mother's death, I am sorry."

"Father...."

"Don't cry. this is not necessarily a farewell."

The father's big palm rested on Reona's head and ruffled her hair. A few drops of tears marked the ground as Reona looked down.

"Let's go. Let's support our allies' retreat as much as possible."

"Roger that."

Ordy and his subordinates, with their beastmen characteristic parade, rushed out into the main street that leads to the gate of the border side.

As if to run after Karito's back , "Karito!" Reona shouted. Reona looked straight at him with bloodshot eyes.

"Father――――I entrust Father to you! You must absolutely bring him back safely!"

"OK, leave it to me!"

He raised his thumb up and lifted his lips forming a fearless grin. Even though he understood that he does not look like those main characters from action movies, at least he wanted to show off something for this charming girl.

"And you too, make sure you come back safely! If you die, I will go to the next world and send you flying!"

Receiving such a vigorous voice from behind, Karito rushed out again in order to catch up with Ordy's group.

While going against the flow of the allied troops escaping towards the headquarters, he was able to join up with Ordy immediately on the main street. He was waiting in front of the buildings along the main street.

"Go to the building's roof. It will be much faster if we move from roof to roof."

As instructed, Karito and Ordy's group went to the top floor, they jumped out from the windows and landed on the roof. Everyone else were beastmen so they were able to jumped easily without their's comrade support. Karito also succeeded with ease thanks to the influence of his enhanced Parameters in <WBGO>. Ordy's subordinates who had been divided into two groups, also got onto the roof in the same way on the buildings across the main street .

"There!"

Ordy pointed towards the Alwina flagpole that was fluttering in the middle of the main street. A wave of the Alwina main force was heading towards the headquarters with visible speed. The soldiers defending the castle gate on the border site were gradually being reduced by the human waves.

The sound of rough, running footsteps reverberates even to the unstable roofs. Some roof shingles looked like they were about to give up under the stomping but they didn't stop nevertheless. Looking at the figures of the beastmen nimbly flying over the buildings, Karito remembered the famous action movie Parkour in his previous world.

As soon as they approached the advancing Alwina army that was filling the main street, they found out that the battle line's vanguard was not of any ordinary soldiers'.

Their huge flesh of body seemed to stretch out twice the size of a large adult. Their ugly appearance resembled that of a pig's. Since they looked like a very familiar villain monster that appeared in fantasies, Karito immediately identified the real nature of this enemy.

"Could that be an Orc?"

"That is right. They are going to be troublesome, they will not go down with a half assed attack. At the very least, you will need an attack similar to a heavy cavalry with a lance and charge to kill them with one blow. A long-distance magic attack from a magician will be the most effective in this case ."

With a group of more than 100 Orcs leading them, rows of soldiers composed of ordinary soldiers followed a little bit behind them. He felt that the Orc's group was being used as a shield for the Alwina main army.

The Orc's wore brigandines, an armour made from the best quality of leather sewed with several small pieces of metal and worn like an apron, they mainly wield giant axes and maces as their weapons. Their victim's blood was still stuck on their bodies and weapons, and seemed like they didn't maintain their weapons since their blades were chipped in some places, and bloodstains caked here and there.

One of the Defense soldiers at the rear that wasn't able to escape, fell victim to the Orc's group. Swinging their maces carelessly, they crushed the upper parts of that soldier's body together with his protective gear, and flung him towards the buildings. A vulgar smile that reeked of stench leaked out from the Orc's mouth.

"Anyways, slow them down with the Archers. After that――――sorry, but will you be able to do it?"

"Yes, I think I can manage somehow."

Karito re-equipped the AA 12 as he replied to Ordy. But, he switched the ammunition from the buckshot bullet to another kind of bullet. For such huge monsters that was equipped with protective gears, ordinary buckshot bullets might not be able to do the job.

The plastic part of the cartridge that peeked out of the insertion point of the magazine was green in colour. Aligning the dented rear part of the magazine into the guided rail part of the trigger guard, and the ammo was loaded with a satisfying click. .

The Orc battle line had already drawn near several house away from the building where Ordy's group and Karito hides.

With nods as if saying 'anytime', Ordy sent a signal with hand gestures to his subordinate on the opposite building. After adjusting the timing, the subordinates who were holding arrows exposed themselves the moment he raised his hand and clench it into a fist.

A dozen or so arrows were shot towards the Orcs. The tip pierced into their exposed shoulders, but because of the thick fat and muscle of their huge body, the piercing was far from giving them fatal injuries.

But, they were able to fulfill their purpose. When the Orc groups discovered Ordy's group shooting arrows at them, they stopped their legs and raised a cry of anger. The following Alwina army had taken notice of the assault too.

"Now!"

Ordy gave the signal. Karito raised his body alone this time as the subordinates lie down, then he fired the AA-12.

What happened next was a small explosion. The Orc's upper body that was on the fire line was blasted away and disappeared. The Orcs' movement who fell into rage stopped all at once as they witnessed the death of their fellows.

Ignoring the Orcs' bewilderment, Karito kept shooting at them without a care. An explosion occurred on the Orc's body each time the AA-12 was fired. Bows and arrows were out of the question, each time the ammunition made contact with their protective gears, large holes would decorate the Orcs' giant bodies from the blast.

Pieces of flesh mixed with armor pieces scattered around. Fragments of their fellows poured onto the Orc's following after them, the numerous dead bodies turned into obstacles to those of the living.

The 32 fires caused 32 small explosions. The explosive smoke mixed with the blood mist drifted into the main street. Dozens of Orc's corpse covered the road in an instant.

Silence came abruptly. The surviving Orcs and the Alwina army that trailed behind them, became dumbfounded while looking at the scene right in front of them. Without any clear indication of magic such as light bullets and fireballs, each time the sound of the footsteps of a gigantic beast rang, the Orcs ended up being blown away. The enemies couldn't even catch up with such development. .

Ordy's group was also feeling the same thing. having forgotten that their sense of hearing was temporarily paralyzed because of 12 cases worth of gunshots just now, all of them stared dumbfoundedly at Karito as they can't believe the reality displayed in front of them.

That person himself felt a sense of nervosity from facing the number of enemies that exceeded tens of thousands in addition to the visual impact of the large groups of Orcs at the same time. However, in the contrary to that, he was loading a new drum magazine with mechanical precision while maintaining a calm thought.

"(As one would expect from the , this rapid-fire, this power is no joke.)"

―――― The nature of the bullets that was used was Frag-12. To put it simply, it is a small, high-explosive projectile for shotguns. In <WBGO> it is an ammunition that was banned to use for PVP (Tactical Combat Mode) alongside the drum magazine specialized for the AA-12.

Despite saying that it was the small version, the destructive power of the warhead itself was on a different league from the explosive bullets for pistols or rifles. Since it can pierce through even 1 cm thick of iron plates, any ordinary armor will not be useful at all. Even if the Orc was of the size of a small elephant, it will be easy to blow their body and vital points into pieces.

However, no matter how ugly the opponent is, looking at the flesh and blood being turned into mincemeat by their own hands, anyone would feel the insides of their stomachs churn. It made Karito gulped remembering the figures of the Defense Force soldiers that were turned into mush by the Orcs' hands.

The other side surely mass-produced the corpses in a similar way too. It is just that the tables have turned the other way this time.

Firing the Frag-12 again, Karito opened a large hole on the Orc's chest along with its armor, another Orc got their shoulder blown away and it's arm flew in the air, and another Orc had most of its internal organs gouged out from its abdomen with its remainings scattered around. In a blink of an eye, another dozen of mutilated Orc corpses was produced.

As the one-side massacre started again, the Orcs lucky to survive were trying for a counterattack, but they having no tactics or weapons to deal with a distanced enemy, they could only throw themselves to the enemy with their strength and endurance. However, before they could even approach, the road was already been blocked by the corpses of their own race and the ruins of the destroyed buildings. Including the Alwina army following behind, they had no way to move forward.

"Pre, prepare the 2nd shoot! Aim at the soldiers at the back!"

When the sound of gunshot reverberated again beside him, Ordy came to his senses, and shouted out loudly as to not be drowned by the sound of the gunshots. He once again used hand gestures to signal his subordinates to prepare the second volley at the same time. and the arrows were released.

The arrows flew over the heads of the Alwina army who had delayed reactions, and screams rose in several places. Some infantries who were unlucky got their armor pierced and those who took the arrows directly on their heads fell down. one of the soldiers received the arrow in the neck resulting in his carotid artery being torn and the blood spraying to his comrades making them fall into panic.

Looking at the scene where the Orcs that they were depending and using as a shield fall to some unknown attack from some dozen of enemy soldiers, they panicked. The archers and magician units that were placed behind the infantry became puzzled as they couldn't grasp the detailed situation with their view being blocked by their comrades.

It was at that moment when Karito lowered his body on the roof and took out a new drum magazine to reload for second time,

One of the Orc that lost its temper threw a big axe of the same height as an adult towards Karito.

"It's dangerous!"

Ordy who was next to him reacted faster to the thing aimed at Karito. Immediately after grabbing Karito's arm, he threw himself to the side and and they rolled together, the hug axe then hits the roof. The power went beyond the level of striking the roof top. With the Orc's physical strength, it was able to throw a few dozen kg of axe which opened a large hole on the building and crashed to the opposite side.

Karito was frozen dumbfounded as he didn't even notice the small fragments of shingles that was scattered by the impact scratched his cheek.

"Be careful, I may not be able to protect you all the time."

"Tha, thank you."

Later on, when Karito recalled it, it was a miracle that he didn't wet himself.

Meanwhile, the Orc's group with their high fighting spirit (or it is just the reckless rush) tried to advance forward and attack once again. Just as Karito was setting up his gun after regaining his composure, soon he cursed again.

"Did they just use the corpses of their ally as a shield?!"

Certainly, this was a realistic and effective means, and it has been proven that the human body has sufficient strength to stop the hand grenade splinter, though it can't be said that it was a comfortable thing to actually witnessed such an act. You all just got the brain of a wild boar and yet making this unnecessarily cunning move!

He tried shooting at them and the explosion bursts on the surface of the giant corpse lifted up, and their foot stopped for a moment due to the impact, but resumed their charge immediately. If the opponents were ordinary man then.... But the enemy was using a meat shields that were nearly 3 meter in height and weighs several hundred kilograms, one or two shots would be insufficient.

Then.

"Then, it is time to cook them into well done!"

What he chose from the equipment list was an incendiary grenade. The Burning Grenades in <WBGO> was said to be the type that uses thermite reaction caused by oxidation between aluminium and other metals. After the pin was pulled out, it was thrown to the feet of the Orcs charging while using the corpses as the shield.

The flames caused by thermite reaction was white like sunlight. The Orcs plunged into the center of the blast unknowingly and was wrapped up by a blinding white flame as they roared and scattered around, suffering from the pain. The white flames of a thousand degree celsius carbonized them to the bone instantly, the burning smell of death spread out to the surrounding area.

Throwing a few more, the wide road was blocked by a super high temperature flame wall. Like this, it should be able to stop the Orcs and Alwina main army for a while.

.......It was still too early to relax.

"Magic Incoming!!!!"

Ordy's subordinates from the opposite building issued a warning. A magic and ridiculous amount of arrows to count were fired from the middle of the Alwina main force's rank and successively crossed over the heads of the infantries.

"Everyone evacuate away from the rooftop!"

Ordy immediately made the decision. Karito's group retreated inside through the hole that was made by the Orc a little while ago.

The cheap building vibrated. Since the Alwina army didn't know the exact position of Ordy's group, they fired a barrage of shots to suppress and check their position. Even though the strong magic bullets didn't hit either of the buildings, but it landed in the neighbouring buildings. The shock wave by the loud explosion caused the remaining window glasses to quiver. Several arrows that accidentally passed through the large hole pierced near Karito's feet.

Looking outside from the window facing the main street, the Alwina main force were advancing in the place of the almost annihilated Orc units. With the combination of long spears and big shield into a row of horizontal line, together with the support fire from the rear, the power of the advancing infantry line was beyond description.

However, as soon as they reached the pile of Orcs corpses that were scattered around, they stopped. The scale of their formation was too big for them to slip through, and the flames from the incendiary grenades still remained.

Putting away the Orcs' bodies and extinguishing the fire would take them awhile to reorganize and advance again.

"Alright, once we retreat and take a position, we will ambush them once more. Let's quickly move away from this place."

Karito obediently follow the decision of Ordy who is the Commander.

Even though he felt that it was too rash, he instinctively realized that it would be much better to obey the judgments of an experienced superior with the current situation.

―― The battle is not over yet.