CHAPTER 105: CHAPTER 105: CHARGE_1

"The Artillerymen under my command, when fully staffed, could achieve a top training performance of firing three bombs per minute. In actual combat, firing two bombs per minute was already considered excellent. Their powerful firepower could instantly destroy an enemy’s formation. No army could resist the might of the cannons.

"But monsters are not human. They are not afraid of the casualties caused by cannons. On the contrary, the death of each monster only sparked their greed, while completely disregarding the attacks from muskets. And now, they had closed in to within one hundred meters.

"At that time, the only ones who could maintain their will to fight were the Knights and Crusaders summoned by the Church. One hundred Knights, along with more than three hundred armored Crusaders, formed a defense line that steadied the formation.

"When longswords easily inflicted damage upon those creatures that even muskets couldn’t kill, the monsters actually fell to melee weapons.

"Meanwhile, the monsters’ attacks—whether with rusty kitchen knives or bites from their large mouths—were completely ineffective against the armored Crusaders. Instead, the Crusaders’ strikes could wound, even kill, the monsters. The Divine Arts cast by the Priests also elicited agonizing howls from the creatures.

"This discovery lifted the sagging morale. Once the engagement became head-on, the cannons could potentially cause friendly fire. Therefore, I ordered all the artillery to fall back and create distance to re-establish their positions. Simultaneously, I summoned those soldiers brave enough for close combat to the front to relieve the pressure on the front lines."

This situation should have evolved for the better. However, it only served to make them more tense, as they knew the outcome. Thus, they were even more curious about what had happened to worsen the situation.

Fortunately, Barton did not intend to delay and instead continued directly.

"We are said to be the Imperial Army. In reality, we are under the direct control of the Eastern Provinces and equipped with the best gear in the Empire. When other Imperial Army units were still using melee weapons, we had already started to massively equip our ranks with muskets and cannons.

"As for melee weapons, training was still conducted, but the intensity was extremely weak. In some less strictly managed units, they had already been phased out of regular training."

Barton didn’t directly talk about the situation at hand but rather complained about the problems he faced back then.

Namely, among these 3,000 troops, excluding the 1,000 Serfs responsible for logistics, only 2,000 were combat-ready. Among these 2,000, only 1,000 belonged to the Imperial Army. Unfortunately, these 500 Artillerymen and 500 Gunners had little to no close-combat ability. Of the remaining 1,000, aside from the armed forces of the Church, only the Nobility’s armed forces—often looked down upon—still possessed close-combat capability.

In theory, by dispatching these men to cooperate with the Church’s forces in constructing defenses, they could have held out longer. Even if they couldn’t win, they could have at least stalled, buying the main army time to retreat and regroup.

But a problem arose due to the command system. The Nobility’s forces were not at all familiar with Empire commands. So, when they saw him withdrawing the artillery, they thought the Imperial Army was about to flee. Almost simultaneously, these Nobility’s forces chose to retreat. Due to issues of command authority, the army Commander had no power to order them.

Once one started running, they all did. The retreat of those Lord’s troops triggered a chain reaction, causing an already dire situation to disintegrate further. After the loss of those Lord’s forces, how long could the front line rely on the less than 500 Church forces?

"Inside the Musketeer squad, many were driven mad and tried to flee, some even turning their muskets on their comrades. Soon, not even the veteran soldiers in the Supervision Team could withstand the pressure and ran.

"In that situation, I was forced to organize some of the Artillerymen willing to engage in close combat to fill the gaps. But all those under my command were Artillerymen, after all. I led them to fight the monsters, and we suffered heavy casualties due to insufficient weapons and Armor. I watched with my own eyes as they were killed by the monsters and then devoured."

Barton’s breathing became rapid as he spoke, and a look of panic even flashed across his face, suggesting the scene had profoundly affected him. After all, he had witnessed his familiar comrades being devoured alive. The fact that he hadn’t gone insane on the spot was a testament to his strong will. For some reason, he suddenly became angry.

"This war was already lost at that point. But after the engagement, I discovered that those monsters were not as terrifying as we thought. An orderly retreat could have preserved most of our strength.

"But with the disruption of orders, we realized that the Commander had, at some point, fled the battlefield with his trusted troops. Without leadership, everyone fell into total disarray. Even those who wanted to escape were quickly overtaken and killed by the monsters.

"Fortunately, the people from the Church were incredibly strong, blessed by Divine Arts. The Church Knights charged through the monsters, splitting the battlefield. This suppressed the collapse of the defense line.

"But I soon noticed a problem: those livestock-like monsters seemed to never fill their bellies. The more we killed, the more corpses they devoured. In the end, both monster and human corpses became their nourishment.

"After eating these corpses, the monsters began to grow stronger. Their bodies swelled in size, sprouting more and larger mouths filled with teeth. Some even developed special attacks.

"I witnessed with my own eyes monsters grabbing chunks of Flesh and stuffing them into their mouths. In the next second, they would spew out ghastly green stomach acid.

"A regular person sprayed with it would screech in agony as their skin and muscles seemed to melt, dying in their struggle.

"Even the Crusaders in Armor could not hold out. Once sprayed, their metal Armor corroded away, followed by their Flesh. They screamed until they were devoured by a surge of monsters.

"There were also monsters that belched after consuming corpses, exhaling a gray-green gas. Not just common folk, but even Armor couldn’t stop these gases. Anyone who inhaled them would shriek and then die, though nobody knew what exactly was happening to them.

"And then there were the colossal Flesh Monsters..."

Barton described the horrific scenes he witnessed on the battlefield, sending chills down everyone’s spine.

At first, Dismas and the others had somewhat despised Barton for fleeing. Now, however, they understood his predicament. They realized they probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer themselves if they had been there.

"I admit I was driven mad with fear by those monsters at the time. I wanted to escape, only to find that we were completely surrounded by them.

"But in that moment of despair, the roar of the cannons restored my resolve. It was those Artillerymen I had previously withdrawn—they hadn’t abandoned us.

"Taking advantage of the bombs tearing through the monsters’ lines, I led the remaining Musketeers and Artillerymen in a desperate breakout from the battlefield.

"The last sight I had was of those Church Knights. They were still chanting for Holy Light as they charged at the monsters, even though fewer than ten of them remained. As for the Crusaders, they had long been overwhelmed by the monsters."