The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

Chapter 252

Splash!

Blood scattered, creating a red mist in the air.

“Hah!”

Urging his horse forward, he crossed the sea of player corpses. The players, already overpowered, were mostly turning their backs and fleeing.

But there was no room for mercy. This was a battlefield. Until victory was completely assured, even a moment’s complacency couldn’t be allowed.

“You damned bastards!”

Near the last line. About thirty players, seemingly from a single guild, formed a line to block the path.

‘Hmm.’

A quick glance with analytical eyes revealed that their average level was over 60. Their equipment also surpassed that of knights, making them elite players.

At the front, they had built a multi-layered wall with large tower shields about 1.5 meters tall, with spears behind them. And further back were bows, crossbows, and magic.

Lastly, there were healers and buffers.

They had formed a classical and most powerful formation.

The one who appeared to be the guild master was summoning a small flame dragon on a throwing javelin, shouting orders towards him….

‘At least double-digit rankers.’

The mana energy emanating from the spears was unusual. Even if the skills had less versatility, their sheer power often surpassed that of knights’ mana manipulation.

Just like the flame dragon-engraved spears ahead.

However.

“Dalton.”

“Oh, Master!”

With Raul’s single word, Dalton spurred his saddle and shot straight ahead. Even an Expert-level knight could often sprint faster than a horse.

Let alone Dalton, who had reached the rank of Master. Bending low and gliding across the ground like a swift water bird, Dalton ran.

He placed two swords at his sides, preparing to draw them.

Thud! Wham.

Players standing awkwardly between the guild and the knight division were flung in all directions by Dalton’s force shield.

“Kill him!”

“Hrraaah!”

Members of the unknown guild launched their attacks towards Dalton.

Fwoosh!

The most conspicuous was, of course, the flame dragon-imbued javelin. Soaring through the air, burning as if it were a small dragon breathing fire.

And just before the attacks reached Dalton, his eyes gleamed, and a small cry burst forth.

“Hiyaah!”

Slash!

Could a hand move faster than light?

Dalton’s speed at drawing his sword was beyond comprehension, and the aura blade that followed literally tore through the space in front of him.

Click.

Before anyone knew it, Dalton had resheathed his sword and leaped back onto his horse, which was running alongside the knights.

Thud, thud. Thump.

The once formidable-looking guild blocking their path was ‘deleted’. The remnants rolling on the ground could only stare blankly as they were trampled by the horses’ hooves.

Clop, clop.

Finally, the First Knights broke through the first line of the 70,000 players.

“…Hmm. That was fast.”

Raul, parting the barrier of people and looking towards the Second Prince’s second line, murmured. The enemy formation, which had seemed like one gigantic mass, was changing.

“Wow, the enemy commander is pretty good,” Josh said, somewhat admiringly.

In the second line of the Third Prince’s army, 80,000 troops had split and formed new formations.

It wasn’t a drastic change, but the anti-cavalry positions which had previously only been complete at the front were now layered three and four-deep.

‘So, he’s using less trained provincial troops to form a human wall on the flanks and blocking the center with more trained central and regular forces?’

Indeed, this was the standard response. The player unit had just been too chaotic, but rapid formation changes in response to the situation were the hallmark of warfare and a measure of the commander’s skill.

But Raul wasn’t going to lose in such a battle.

「Change formation. Line formation! Prepare for ranged combat.」

“Line formation! Change arms!”

In an instant, the command was relayed, and 5,000 knights shifted from their wedge formation into a long rectangular line formation.

Normally, they would be forced to charge due to the enemies left behind, but….

‘The rear player units have already collapsed, so there’s no need to worry.’

Anti-cavalry formations. Composed of stakes, pikemen, and crossbowmen, they were meant to counter cavalry charges. However, such formations had significant disadvantages.

First, the soldiers were densely packed. Three to four-meter-long pikes required two to three soldiers per pike, resulting in densely packed troops.

Second, limited armament.

Both hands were needed to wield the pikes, leaving their armament limited. Apart from the pikes on the ground, they had only short swords about 60-70cm in length at their waists.

Such disadvantages inevitably led to a certain conclusion.

“Commence firing!”

Thud, thud, twang!

At Raul’s command, the knights fired their bows and crossbows at the enemy ranks. As arrows and bolts rained down from above, the pikemen were stunned.

“No, it can’t be!”

“Please….”

All they could do was hope the arrows missed them. But stray arrows showed no mercy. The frontline pikemen holding pikes to block the knight charge had no way to avoid the brutal rain of arrows.

Thud, thud, thud. Crunch!

The hedgehog-like pikemen’s formation collapsed in an instant. Of course, the crossbowmen and other ranged units in the rear responded with counterfire, but….

Thunk.

‘It doesn’t even tickle.’

The arrows shot by regular soldiers could not penetrate the knights’ plate armor. Even the destructive power of crossbow bolts might pierce armor, but the armor, reinforced with mana, didn’t allow even that.

“This is insane!”

“How many power armor users do they have?”

The mana arrows from the hidden knights in the enemy camp were easily deflected by the ‘power armor force field.’

‘Insane, yeah. We worked so hard to prepare this….’

Raul felt somewhat proud. The front two lines of the five-row formation. A total of 2,000 knights were all equipped with power armor.

Even prestigious families found it difficult to secure even a hundred power armors, yet there were 2,000 here.

This was all possible thanks to the 『First Magic Tower』.

The tower, acquired around August last year, succeeded in producing the first power armors before the year ended.

And currently, in June.

Raul concentrated most of the territory’s production capabilities on the manufacturing of power armor, resulting in securing 2,000 power armor users.

‘Of course, the power armor quality is somewhat lower.’

The power armor they produced were mainly of F-Grade and E-rank.

However, as they were designed with upgrades in mind from the start, it might be possible to elevate them to intermediate level with further research and development.

Regardless of the rank, power armor was still power armor. The existence of a force field turned a knight into a weapon rather than a mere human—it was essentially a cheat code.

Had the power armor users not been the vanguard breaking through the outermost lines, even the First Knights would have suffered casualties.

“Advance slowly.”

“Slow advance!”

The knights, who had paused to engage in a shooting battle, began to advance slowly.

Thud, thud!

Of course, they continued mounted shooting. And the results were devastating.

“Ah, argh! Shieldbearers!”

“Arrows are reaching here, be careful!”

The meticulously prepared anti-cavalry formations were consumed one after another and crumbled meaninglessly, causing morale among the soldiers to plummet.

Master Delo, commanding his troops, also realized this and bit his lip.

‘Damn. There’s no solution like this.’

Who would have thought the enemy, expected to charge, would suddenly switch to a shooting battle?

If only those foreigner bastards had held out even a little, the results could have been different.

“Advance the shieldbearers! Archers, keep counter-firing, and pikemen, reform the formation from the rear.”

In the end, there was no other choice. The only option was to reform the formation while the shieldbearers blocked the enemy’s shooting.

And Delo continued to issue commands.

“Prepare the knights for deployment! Cavalry, prepare for flanking maneuvers!”

The enemy commander was surprisingly bold and knew how to exploit weaknesses. It was unlikely he would miss the moment this side’s formation changed.

‘The moment the shieldbearers form the front line, they’ll charge.’

They had to counter at that exact moment. Otherwise, if the shield line collapsed, the previous losses would just be repeated.

The knights were already joining the second line from the main camp. And something was being prepared by the annoying Empire forces in the second line’s rear.

“The enemy is charging!”

Even without the lieutenant’s shout, he knew.

“Deploy the knights! Follow me!”

Master Delo handed over command to the lieutenant and finally charged into the battlefield himself, and Master Gervainen also rode towards the enemy lines with his knights.

‘You bastards! I’ll slaughter you all.’

Delo gritted his teeth and summoned an aura to his poleaxe.

***

“Finally, they have arrived?”

A tremendous mana energy could be felt from the enemy camp. As Raul adjusted the speed of the knights, the officers gathered around him.

“Philip. I’ll leave Master Delo to you.”

“Yes, Master.”

They had already crossed swords once during the prince rescue operation. If it was Philip, handling Delo alone wouldn’t be too difficult.

“Jake, Pierce. Deal with Master Gervainen.”

“Leave it to us.”

“Ahem. I can do it alone… Ah, got it!”

Jake grumbled after getting a glare from Philip for stepping forward unnecessarily. Raul also knew that Jake alone would be enough to deal with the one-armed Master Gervainen.

However, what Raul wanted in this battle was an overwhelming victory without any gap. Be it other noble houses within the kingdom or the player alliance opposing him.

Through this battle and the final battle in the capital, he intended to clearly show what ‘level difference’ really meant.

Philip, Jake, and Pierce left the formation and dashed towards the enemy knights. Raul watched their backs with cold eyes and shouted.

“We’ll break through and head to the enemy main camp. All units, full charge!”

“Follow the Master!”

“Waaah!”

The knights reformed into a wedge and began accelerating.

*

‘…Hmm?’

From the enemy camp, three knights charged alone towards this side’s knights. Master Delo first thought they were insane, but as their speed increased, his face grew stern.

“…Gervainen!”

“Yes, they’re superhumans.”

Although they hadn’t unleashed their power yet, the closer they got, the more it could be felt. The enormous mana writhing within them.

“Letion! Move around and intercept their path.”

“Yes, commander!”

At Delo’s command, Letion, the vice-commander of the Hatchet Knights, led the knights and cavalry to flank to the left. And only Master Delo and Gervainen went forward to meet the three charging masters.

Vhhh.

Rumble!

Yellow aura blades rose from Philip, Jake, and Pierce’s greatswords. From Delo and Gervainen’s axes, dark blue aura blades surged.

“Haah!”

“Die!”

Boom! Crack!

The clash of the five masters produced a tremendous sound and waves of mana that spread in all directions.

Meanwhile, the Marquis McNeil’s Hatchet Knights and cavalry collided with the First Knights who had flanked.

“Break through!”

Vice-commander Letion was fierce.

Having reached the top level of Expert, he summoned a temporary aura, and several knights did the same while confronting the First Knights’ ‘charge barrier.’

Boom! Crash! Slice.

“…Guh.”

But the brave Letion couldn’t withstand Raul’s single strike, got a hole in his heart, and fell from his horse.

“Argh!”

“Retreat, fall back!”

“Damn it….”

The knights and cavalry of the Third Prince’s side, who had charged in with high spirits, crumbled in an instant like a sandcastle hit by rough waves.

In front of the 2,000 power armor users, the knights were no different from ordinary people.

“Charge!”

And the First Knights broke through the enemy’s second line as if running through an unguarded path.

(To be continued)