Dungeon Defense (WN)

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“Hiyaah!”

“Whoa there!”

The mounted archers were no more than 20 meters away from where we had crouched down.
They were shouting at each other loudly, but that was most likely so that they could accurately grasp the location of their allies.
It’d be a calamity if they couldn’t figure out where their allies were due to the darkness and end up crashing into one another.

The mounted archers passed Laura and I.
They weren’t paying attention to their flanks at all.
Well, it’s only natural since they’re using all of their concentration keeping an eye in front of them and figuring out each other’s location.

This is why night battles are usually avoided when possible.
Out of the five senses, sight is one of the most important senses for humans.
Stepping out into a life-threatening battle where your vision is restricted puts a heavy mental strain on people.
……The very fact that an army would resort to a night battle proves how elite their soldiers are and the fact that they would even use mounted archers, which are already difficult to use, shows that they are not conscripted soldiers but professionals.

But why does that matter?

Even elite soldiers can’t survive if their necks are broken.

“…….”

I silently clenched my right fist.
This wasn’t some sort of signal.
I was simply moving my hand on my own.

However, the effect was absolute.
Dark entities started to surge out from the ground.
They looked like slimes made out of shadows.
The shadows instantly formed into the shapes of death knights, and, although they were fully equipped in armor, half of their bodies were still submerged in darkness.
The sound of crickets disappeared.
The death knights’ overwhelming presence caused the crickets to go quiet.
12 death knights.
They were the night itself.

Kill them.

The death knights let out a breath.
It was a terribly icy breath.
It was far from the warm breath that would normally come out from humans.
Their breaths were the remnants of the mana that prevented undead monsters from becoming dust.
I could tell that the black knights were composing their killing intent.

Now.

The mounted archers began to shoot their arrows towards my encampment.
No matter the era, soldiers are at their weakest after they’ve just attacked.
Right as the mounted archers were turning their horses to back away, my death knights rushed at them like bullets.
It was only a single strike.
12 black knights cut 12 mounted archers in half.
The mounted archers split into two pieces with their horses.

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“U-Uh―.”

Fortunately, the few mounted archers who weren’t chosen for the first attack only let out a shocked noise.
I couldn’t see them well because of the dark, but their eyes were probably wide open.
They didn’t have enough time to scream.
The death knights naturally swung their swords again and again, as they killed off the rest of the mounted archers.
The small group of 20 mounted archers was annihilated.

– Guuuoooo.

The death knights lowered their swords and looked at me.
Is this it? Is this all we get to face? They implicitly complained to me.

These high-ranking monsters are formally my subordinates, but they’re prideful at all times.
Should I say they’re like a pearl necklace on a pig? Due to my Demon Lord level being E and their monster level being exceedingly higher at A, they look down on me.

Well, they still listen to my orders, so it’s fine.
There’s no need to share a deep mental connection with all monsters.
It’s different from my goblins and fairies.
The death knights are strong.
That’s all I require from them.
I nodded with satisfaction.

Afterward, we proceeded to quickly subdue the mounted archers in other areas.
I moved while leading 12 death knights and 10 fairies.
After taking out 3 groups, I came to the conclusion that the mounted archers didn’t move in groups of more than 50 just as I had expected.
These numbers were more than enough for me to handle.
I used various methods to deceive the groups of mounted archers.

“Hey, bad news! The enemy is retaliating!”

I approached a group of mounted archers on horseback.
The archers became wary due to my sudden appearance from the fog.

“Who are you? Which unit do you belong to?”

“Friedrich.
I am Sir Refheim’s attendant.”

This was the name of a soldier I had just dealt with.
I looked at his identity through his status window before killing him.

“Listen here, my unit has split up and we’ve been running around like dogs in heat in order to inform the other units about the situation.
The monsters have finally stepped up in order to charge at us.”

The mounted archers appeared half in doubt as they looked at each other.
It seems that since I looked human, was wearing armor meant for humans, and could speak the Habsburg language fluently, their suspicion towards me was lowered.

“But there has been no response on our side…….”

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It was at that moment.
The death knights surged out from the ground once they managed to approach the mounted archers from behind while in their spirit form.
The horses reared in surprise.
Right as the mounted archers were about to unsheathe their swords on their waists, the death knights swung their swords faster.

Red blood splattered through the air.
The headless corpses slumped before weakly falling to the earth.
Thud, thud, thud, the corpses fell to the grass one by one.
A few of the horses that were free from their riders ran off into the fog.
The remaining 6 horses must have not realized their riders were dead as they proceeded to snort.

“Lord, we must continue to wipe them out.”

“I agree.”

Laura and I mounted our own respective horses.
Since we’ve confirmed that the mounted archers aren’t a match for the death knights, it’d be wise to annihilate our enemies as fast as possible instead of resorting to surprise attacks.

“Knights, heed my words! I understand that you are unsatisfied with serving me instead of Barbatos.
However, this is a battlefield!”

I shouted pompously and raised my right arm.

“Put your pride aside.
Feed the honor spoken of by losing soldiers to the dogs.
Swing your swords for the sake of your true cause, for the sake of your allies who are painstakingly enduring the enemy’s assault even now! If you cannot even do this, then you would be smearing the name of the person who had bestowed you all upon me.
You would be smearing Barbatos’ name!

– Guuuoooo.

The death knights let out a discontent cry in response to my words.
They were clearly annoyed, but I could tell that they understood what I was saying.
There’s no problem, then.
You guys just have to obediently obey my commands!

It’s only natural that they’d be unsatisfied when they’re suddenly serving a Rank 71 Demon Lord after serving the Rank 8 Demon Lord.
Who cares? I, Dantalian, am the one who won a match against that Rank 8.
The battlefield isn’t generous enough to care about your emotions.
You guys should know this very well as professionals of the battlefield!

“There is no need for you to enter your spirit form! Charge!”

I turned my horse and rushed to the next location with Laura right at my side.
My death knights were running at superhuman speeds at both of our sides while my fairies flew next to us.
Familiars located here and there throughout the sky notified me of the enemy’s location.
We eventually collided with another group of mounted archers.

“Demon Lord Dantalian is here!”

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The mounted archers turned to me in surprise.
They hastily knocked their bows and immediately shot at me.
Their reaction speed was alarming.
I made the fairies use their wind magic to create a type of wind shield in front of me.
The arrows made a shrill noise as they went around Laura and I.

– Gruuuaaaaah!

It seems the death knights got hit by a couple of arrows, but they didn’t slow down and continued without faltering.
The mounted archers didn’t get another opportunity to shoot an arrow.
The death knights swung their swords and split the heads of the imperial soldiers.
It was a strike filled with nothing but strength.
As their swords continued to swing and stab, nearly 20 mounted archers were cut down in the blink of an eye.
It was like a tram was crushing soldiers underneath it. 

“How are you guys slower than someone as pathetic as me!? The training you experienced in Barbatos’ army must have not been harsh!”

After confirming that the entire unit had been annihilated, I hid my satisfaction and smirked.
The death knights got worked up despite the obvious taunt.
They had been with Barbatos for hundreds of years, so they had pride in once being a part of the Rank 8 Demon Lord’s army.
I used their pride.

At that moment, one of the mounted archer units must have heard the commotion as they shot a barrage of arrows at us.
Contrary to the other units that had been taken by surprise until now, they attacked first.
After shooting a volley of arrows at us, they unsheathed their swords and charged at us.

“It’s a Demon Lord! Slaughter him!”

This time, the scale of the battle was quite big.
At a glance, they had about 40 soldiers.
This was either two small units that had been combined, or it’s a unit that’s being led by a somewhat high-ranking general.
As the mounted archers naturally transitioned into light cavalry, they let out a roar as they raised their swords.
Among the cavalrymen, two of them swung their sabers at me.

However, their blades never managed to reach me.
Right as their swords drew an arch as they were about to slice into me, a single broadsword blocked them both.
Clang, a sharp metallic sound rang out.
A single broadsword managed to block two sabers at the same time.
A death knight had managed to reach my side and protect me with their sword.

– Gruuaaaah!

The death knight pushed their sabers away and swung its blade.
The sword sliced the waist of the two cavalrymen in one slice.
Their armor was destroyed and their warm innards burst out.
A large amount of blood splashed onto my body.

– Guoooooh.

The death knight looked at my face for a moment.
It was for only a brief moment.
Should I say it looked at me or that I could feel its cold gaze from behind its helmet? It turned away and jumped into a group of mounted archers.
Each time their swords cut the morning air, the heads of imperial soldiers burst and their bodies were split in two.
The cavalry unit of about 40 men was wiped out quickly.

“R-Retreat!”

“That bastard is the leader!”

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I shouted towards the cavalryman who ordered a retreat in a commanding tone.
One of my death knights threw their sword like a javelin.
The two-meter long two-handed sword sunk accurately into the cavalryman’s shoulder.
The soldier’s entire right arm was torn off.
The man let out a cry as he fell from his horse.
He wasn’t able to brace himself as he fell since he landed head first and broke his neck, dying instantly.

A normal slaughter followed after.
A light cavalry can’t stand a chance against death knights that are the greatest heavy soldiers.
The imperial soldiers daringly engaged in a close-quarters battle, and their daringness ended there as they had to pay for their bravery with their lives.
We were finished here.
I shouted towards my death knights.

“To the next point!”

We managed to deal with 12 units of mounted archers within roughly 30 minutes.
At times we carried out close-contact battles and at other times we either pursued or were pursued.
The imperial soldiers were slaughtered mercilessly during close-quarters battles and we let a fair amount of them escape during pursuits.
My goal is to make the imperial army give up on using mounted archers.
If they’re going to retreat obediently, then there’s no need for us to go out of our way to pursue them. 

During one of the battles, an arrow avoided the fairies’ wind shield and hit my thigh.
This was the only injury I sustained throughout the 12 small skirmishes.
It was terribly painful, but that was all.
Demon Lords have an impressive regeneration power.
I won’t die from something like this.
Come to think of it, I got hit in the thigh by an arrow shortly after I woke up in this world as well.
Hm, what an odd misfortune.

During the final battle, I, unfortunately, lost a single death knight.
There was a genuine knight mixed in as one of the commanding officers for the mounted archers.
He was most likely in charge of all the mounted archers.
He had his own standard, so I was certain.
The battle came to an end with me acquiring a standard for the first time in my life.

“I believe that this is enough.”

Laura spoke in an obviously exhausted voice.
She didn’t manage to kill a single soldier; however, she commanded the death knights and the fairies with me.
I was also slightly tired, so I nodded.

“Yes.
I would be grateful if they all went back like this…….”

If I were to make a rough estimate, we’ve killed about 240 soldiers and nearly the same number of soldiers have retreated.
The on-scene commander of the imperial army must be currently contemplating whether they should continue using mounted archers or not.
If it’s something they can’t decide on their own, then they would have sent a report to Margrave Rosenberg.
Therefore, the right wing of the 6th legion has bought that much time…….

Sunlight was beginning to light up the horizon.
The sun was completely covered by the fog, so only its rays shined hazily beyond the mist.
Our field of view didn’t get any better despite the arrival of dawn.

I gazed towards the area where the enemy soldiers were located.
No matter how much you attack us with mounted archers, we will not come out.
The type of battle that you are hoping for will not happen.
Now, what will you do, imperial soldiers?

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter.
Please be patient for the next chapter because I’ll most likely have to delay it a fair bit.
My entire next week is filled with 5 final exams, so I’ll definitely be busy.
I’m dreading it already.
I also have to start thinking about what I want to do after I graduate, so I’m stressing out.
Ugh. 

I’ll see you guys on the next release.
If I’m still alive.