The Biography of Albrecht - Chapter 42

Chapter 42

Translator: Nezu

Editor: Daed

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Eventually, the little king’s troops numbered more than 700. 200 men were deployed on the center and left flank and 300 were deployed on the right flank.

Deployment started early in the morning and finished before noon.

It was very different from movies where everything happened in a flash. However, though it took a long time to deploy the troops, it seemed to be the case for the other side as well.

Though the phalanx formation arrangement took only a short time to finish, it took a long time to match its distance from the center and left flank, and from the right flank. If the spacing was too wide, it would create an opening. If it was too narrow, both sides would get entangled.

Their side had three lines in the front and two lines at the back. In order to match the enemy’s battle lines, their own lines were forcefully thinned while the enemy had four to five lines.

King Leopold was further away from his army than expected. It would take quite a long time to reach him by horse but Albrecht’s monstrous vision made it possible for him to see his face.

Despite the chill in the air from the spring’s cold spell, the spring sun looked down at the battlefield with its eyes wide open as if watching a spectacle, giving the people below some warmth.

Albrecht recalled his memories from Earth and remembered hearing from somewhere that war was nothing but boring and brutal.

The soldiers had long been prepared for the battle after living in the garrison for months. However, now that they finally stood together on the battlefield, their hearts couldn’t help but beat erratically. Their hands holding their spears trembled slightly.

The chilly wind from spring’s cold spell swept through the soldiers, as if freezing their hearts.

Albrecht observed the opposing army with his sharp blue eyes, wearing his helmet. However, something from the right flank of the opposing army, which was opposite him, glimmered in the bright light of the sun.

What was that?!

At first it appeared indiscernible but as he stared at it intensely, he ended up seeing someone mounted on a horse, wearing plate armor.

So that it wouldn’t affect the morale of the soldiers, Albrecht quietly asked Randolph who was next to him.

“Randolph. Is that plate armor?”

“I’m not sure.”

Randolph answered, as if he had never heard of it before. However, the knight behind him answered instead.

“It’s armor made by a dwarf, sir. I heard that there are a few in the Veles Kingdom in the west. But why mention plate armor all of a sudden…?”

Albrecht thought it should be fine telling him since he was a knight.

“I saw a knight on the right flank opposite us wearing plate armor.”

Then, to Albrecht’s surprise, the knights turned pale from astonishment.

“R-really?”

Albrecht rushed to answer to prevent the knights from being frightened.

“That means that we have to fight hard. We have to destroy the enemy’s left flank as soon as possible. I’ll charge forward so follow me even if you die.”

Albrecht said as he stared at them fiercely. The knights nodded, intimidated.

Anyway, a fucking plate armor? Albrecht wondered if it was one of the advancements of technology in this era.

Between the late middle period in Earth’s Europe and the early modern period, plate armor was the definitive version of metallurgy and the assembly of the cutting edge technology at that time. Though it was said that the period that it was actively used in was short due to the appearance of the gun, it was still considered invincible against a spear.

As far as he knew, the method of making steel thin yet hard needed the same technology as making alloyed steel. He couldn’t help but wonder just what the dwarves were like.

The appearance of the plate armor created an unexpected variable. However, it was still uncertain whether the knight wearing it was going to be a tough one or not. Albrecht could only hope that the knight wearing the plate armor would fall off his horse and end up with broken bones.

The two armies faced one another in silence for some time. Shortly afterwards, the center of the opposing side opened a path. King Leopold came forward with an ensign and a few adjutants. On Albrecht’s side, the Great Lord Sigmund also came forward with an ensign and a few adjutants in tow.

The heads of both sides stood in the center of the battlefield. King Leopold was as tall as Albrecht. He had long, disheveled hair and beard, as well as big, sharp eyes, reminiscent of a mountain bandit.

He spoke in a hoarse voice.

“Where’s the king? What’s a thief doing out here?”

Sigmund smiled, his eyes looking a bit condescending.

“By ‘thief’, you mean you? You’re the one who’s trying to usurp the little king’s crown.”

King Leopold laughed and pointed his finger at Sigmund, as if to say ‘oh look at this fellow’. He seemed a bit annoyed and was forcing himself to hide it.

“Wooow, look at this bastard. Know how to play with your tongue now? I like guys who use their tongue to tell jokes. I really like them. Hmm, like really. Really like to pull their tongue out.”

King Leopold was just about to turn his back when an adjutant came up to him and whispered something to his ear. King Leopold seemed to remember that he was going to say something to them.

“Surrender now. I’ll leave you alone if you do. Otherwise, I’ll take all your lands and give them all to my vassals.”

Sigmund smiled as if finding his words absurd.

“How about you surrender? You look like you’re having a hard time handling all those lords swarming to you like ants?”

King Leopold’s army was so oversaturated with lords that even if they took away all their enemy’s lands, he wouldn’t be able to give all of the lords their share. Sigmund knew of this problem.

Though King Leopold wanted to react violently again, he painstakingly tried to protect his dignity and smiled. Though eventually, his expression became very strained as he uttered threatening words.

“I’ll definitely kill you myself.”

Then he turned around and returned to his side. Sigmund did the same.

As King Leopold went back, the grand and loud trumpets sounded behind him. His whole army marched in unison.

The sun’s eyes widened as if to convey that the show had finally begun.

Albrecht saw the sight of more than a thousand men marching in unison. It was insignificant compared to an army the size of tens of thousand people recorded in the history of Earth, but it was still spectacular to see their formation which didn’t break as they advanced.

“Archers-! Take your positions-!”

Sigmund’s adjutant shouted in the middle. More than 30 archers stood behind the army in ten rows. The archers of this era used wooden bows and were still at a relatively crude level compared to the horn bows used in the palaces of Korean history.

It was actually quite hard to find wooden bow users in this era.

Though wooden bows could penetrate chain armors, it would have difficulty penetrating the gambeson inside the armor if it didn’t carry enough power. Archers couldn’t even shoot more than ten times since their muscles would be strained.

Thus, this world preferred crossbows over wooden bows. However, since crossbows were very expensive, mercenaries who used them could be hired instead. The Jennes Mercenaries from the south were famous for using crossbows. They were the ones that Albrecht had seen back in Roybeck.

The archers of this era were not really strong compared to those hired mercenaries. Hence, they weren’t really used in wars.  Even King Leopold’s army didn’t have any archers. However, Sigmund seemed to have thought of the benefits of having archers and trained some.

Albrecht observed the actions of their advancing enemy and realized that they were still quite far from them. The archers didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking yet.

However, it was quite worrying that the opposing army kept their pace and advanced surprisingly well. There should have been gaps between every formation as they chased each other but there was no sign of that.

If this continued, it was only possible to charge towards the enemy’s flanks in a straight line. However, it was obvious that the knights on the left flank would block it.

Albrecht thought that he had to make his decisions based upon his intuition. He recalled something from his memory on Earth. Plans were useless during war, but it was still necessary. He called over the adjutant commanding the army and ordered the right flank to move forward.

“D-do you mean, now? Move forward towards the advancing…army…”

The flustered adjutant couldn’t even finish his sentence when Albrecht glared at him.

“Talk back to me one more time and I’ll execute you for insubordination. Command the right flank soldiers to advance.”

The adjutant cleared his throat and shouted helplessly.

“Soldiers-! Advance-!”

The infantry commanders were surprised as well. However, since they were people who were supposed to die if commanded, they weren’t in a position to talk back.

“7th division, advance!”

“5th division, advance!”

Orders of the infantry captains could be heard everywhere, and they advanced in step with the squad next to them.

“Stand by. We’ll go to the front in a moment.”

Albrecht said to the knights and then rode his horse alone towards the advancing soldiers. They were the same men whom he had dined with for the past few weeks.

One by one, he called out the names of the infantry captains.

“Don’t be afraid! I’ll charge in a moment and crush our enemy! I’ll also rush forward to the front regardless of my own safety! So fight bravely!”

The soldiers’ hearts started to beat faster at Albrecht’s declaration. However, it wasn’t because of the fear that they felt earlier. Instead, it was because of the adrenaline gushing out and the inexplicable excitement swirling all over their body.

Albrecht turned his horse around and shouted towards the knights.

“Randolph! Lead the knights and follow me in a wedge formation!”

Albrecht sprinted out of the right flank and slowly steered towards the enemy’s right flank. Randolph led the 70 knights and followed Albrecht.

The enemy’s left flank, who had been watching Albrecht’s knights, flocked to the left to stop the surprise attack. The sudden move of their enemy’s right flank made their center panic.

“H-hey! W-what are you doing!”

Sigmund’s adjutant shouted in bewilderment. Sigmund looked at the right flank silently, frowning. However, somehow he felt like the move wasn’t just a reckless action but some kind of game changer.

“Command the center to advance as well.”

“B-but Great Lord! What about our advantageous terrain…”

“Command to advance!”

At Sigmund’s command, the center advanced as well. Naturally, the right flank and the center began to extend in a diagonal line.

“Randolph! Give me a spear!”

As Albrecht shouted and ran, Randolph handed him a spear from behind. Albrecht seemed to be running towards the enemies after receiving the spear. However, he changed direction and dashed through the ally soldiers and enemy soldiers.

No matter how trained they were, the soldiers were still human. The enemy’s left flank didn’t stop upon seeing Albrecht’s right flank and knights advance, but their steps grew slower.

As a result, some of the soldiers of King Leopold were left behind, with more of their left flank advancing towards the center.

With the spear under his armpit, Albrecht charged at full speed towards the enemy’s protruding part: the side of their formation.

It didn’t matter now whether the knights followed or not.

The horse running at full speed and his own monster-like strength merged into one power and crashed right into that part. In one fell swoop, three infantry were penetrated at once. The soldiers hit by Schwarz rolled around with broken bones. Even the knights following Albrecht crashed into the formation.

Bang! Crack! Crash!

There was a series of terrible collisions, with people being trampled on. Albrecht and most of the knights simply broke through the formation.

The rest of the enemy’s troops followed the formation that had been pierced. They all looked at Albrecht and his knights with shocked faces.

Albrecht turned his head to look at the knights on the enemy’s left flank. The enemy knights were just about to set up their straight formation. However, Albrecht shifted direction and rushed towards the left flank, which was closer to the center, alarming the enemy knights. They were having a hard time deciding what to do.

After Albrecht pulled the reins, Schwarz lifted its front legs. Albrecht drew Siegfried’s Thunder Axe and raised it to the sky with a battle cry.

“Kill them all!”

It was so loud that the air almost seemed to shake and everyone in the battlefield heard it. The enemy soldiers around were terrified. It gave the ally soldiers courage while it gave the enemy soldiers fear.

Albrecht led the knights to sweep towards the enemy’s center. Like a typhoon, Albrecht swung his axe and knocked down every enemy.

With each swing of the Thunder Axe, several soldiers fell at once. Their formation began to collapse as they tried to move away from Albrecht.

After swinging his axe for a long time, Schwarz soon lost all its impetus and stood still for a moment. As Albrecht looked back, he saw that some of the knights were no longer able to follow him. After a while, Randolph broke through the enemy lines and appeared.

“Master!”

Albrecht guided Schwarz towards the enemy knights again. The enemy soldiers abandoned their weapons and fled. It wasn’t long before he joined the ally knights again.

“Follow me!”

The knights who had been slaughtering enemies for a long time now looked at Albrecht as he shouted loudly. Their faces seemed to be flushed and their eyes seemed to be on fire. They ran after Albrecht wordlessly.

Albrecht ran past the enemy’s nearly shattered left flank and towards the enemy knights. They struggled to decide whether they should form a straight formation or to just fight recklessly.

Albrecht rushed like a tiger towards them, swinging his axe and breaking down armors, helmets, shields, and bodies. The knights who had been dilly-dallying were slaughtered as Albrecht and his knights advanced and killed them without hesitation.

After killing all the enemy knights in an instant, Albrecht, covered in blood with his blue eyes flashing, saw the enemy soldiers on the rear backing away. They abandoned their spears and fled as soon as they met Albrecht’s eyes.

Albrecht shifted his beastly blue eyes again and saw King Leopold in the distance. King Leopold with a terrified look on his face cried out ‘What! What!’.

Before long, the sound of the enemy’s trumpet was heard, and the enemies retreated in unison. Albrecht, who still had the energy to lead his knights to charge towards King Leopold, also heard their side’s trumpet. Why?

The enemy’s left flank had already been shattered, and their right flank was already coiled in the enemy’s center. Their center was also being pushed unilaterally because of Albrecht’s actions.

Why was their trumpet for retreating sounded as well?

Though their side’s troops were fewer in number, the length of their battle line was quite long because it was thinned.

Passing through the center, something flashed on the left flank. A knight wearing plate armor was seen mounting his horse and retreating slowly.