Greatest Alchemist? Chapter 210

 Opening of Hostilities

Divine Empire Sydnia and Triaria Kingdom’s Sanctuary invasion army was slower than expected, and that time was an advantage for us.

Their troops seem to have slowed down their pace to match the undead that they had brought along with them.

As the Trination build their field encampment, Lomaria Kingdom brought out catapults and even ballista.
Yggurle Kingdom erected many watchtowers for their archers, and the magic division had secured copious amounts of mana potions as a countermeasure for magic power exhaustion.
Valkyra Kingdom had also prepared a notable amount of all sorts of potions.

「Titan, are the Heavy Knight Golems equipped with large shields enchanted with magic resistance?」
「Ｙｅｓ，　Ｍａｓｔｅｒ，　ｇｏｌｅｍｓ　ｄｅｐｌｏｙｅｄ　ａｓ　ａｒｒａｎｇｅｄ．」
「I see, please make sure the Archer Golems don’t run out of arrows.」
「Ｒｏｇｅｒ，　Ｍａｓｔｅｒ．」

I left Titan and walked 500m south from the field camp to where Laeva and Kaede were setting traps.

「Ah, Takumi-sama. The installation of explosive traps is going well.」
「Kaede set poison traps too, Master!」

Laeva’s traps were the so-called landmine-like magic device. The general land mine and the directional anti-personnel claymore had been successfully reproduced.
Kaede laid threads on the ground which would then coil around the marching soldiers above it, even inflicting additional poison damage.

「Then, let’s have a meal once we’re done.」
「Okay!」
「Yup! Will be done soon!」

We went back from the frontlines to the field camp. During that walk, I verified the locations of ditches and pitfalls. It wouldn’t be funny if we fell into the pitfalls when it’s time to attack, after all.

The camp is another 200m south of the fort, and when the enemies’ attack reach this this far, our strategy is to abandon it and retreat to the forts. And this camp has traps set too.
And so, the two forts will become the last line of defense.

In the forts and the field camp, the armies of the three nations were moving around hectically in preparation to intercept. What is especially different is the golem unit I’m taking along. Enormous Heavy Knight Golems, half-man half-horse Centaur Golems and the like stared at the south without moving in the slightest. The impact a golem unit made of metal that exceeds 300 in number had was significant.

A splendidly bearded man wearing shiny silver armor over a body that never missed training approached me.

「Iruma-dono, the soldiers of the Trination have arrived at their posts. The timing of the operation will be left to you.」
「Yes, we may lose in numbers, but we’re prepared. Let’s win.」

The person who came to talk to me was Valkyra Kingdom’s Knight Order Commander Galahad Von Bauer. For this defensive battle, he came to the frontlines as the supreme commander.
Divine Empire Sydnia and Triaria Kingdom’s allied forces exceed 10,000. Moreover, the monsters joined and the undead increased midway. Facing them, the total count of our side came to be the Trination alliance’s 6,000 soldiers and our 300 golem unit. It’s few according to the numbers, but we had the field camp and Laeva and Kaede’s traps. If we take in all the other defense setups we prepared, I think we’ll manage somehow.
According to the reports from the intelligence divisions of the Trination alliance, Sydnia and Triaria’s allied forces have no order in their ranks, no different from a swarm of monsters. However, as it has been predicted that there were individuals similar to the assailant with abnormal strength from before, we can’t look down on them, but we’ve also taken measures against them.
Nonetheless, despite having countless undead mixed in among them, the act of undead attacking the Sanctuary made me question their sanity.
Perhaps the central figures of the Divine Empire of Sydnia were no longer able to make proper decisions.

After several meetings in order to communicate with the commanders of Trination, we finished conducting interception simulations and checking the coordination between units when the flags of Divine Empire Sydnia and Triaria Kingdom hoisted by their troops appear alongside clouds of dust in the southern savage lands.

The enemy army visible from the camp’s watchtowers was still at a distance that couldn’t be seen as anything but grains of rice.

「At the pace of their march, it would still take some time. Alright, everyone, prepare to intercept!」
「Archers to the watchtowers! Mages in charge of the barriers and attacks, hasten preparations! Rush the catapults and ballista preparations too!」

Galahad-san loudly issued orders after my prompt.

「As expected, they have been encroached by miasma.」

As soon as I thought I heard someone talk all of a sudden, there stood the Great Light Spirit Selene.

「Particularly the troops hoisting Sydnia’s flag, right?」
「Yes. It’s reasonable for the Undead to have it, but for living people to be encroached by miasma, they can no longer be called people.」
「Then that thing looks like it would be useful, huh?」
「Correct, and I shall allow Mimir to use Light Spirit magic. Its efficacy would be tremendous.」

Saying so, Selene disappeared.

In the battlefield, rather than soldiers’ warcries, Sydnia’s and Triaria’s allied forces raised monster-like roars and increased their marching speed.

When the invading troops neared the spot 300m from the camp, sounds of explosions could be heard all around.

A massive battle, unprecedented in the history of this continent, had marked its beginning.

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