Awakening the Great Chapter 99

Chapter 99 — Ranita's Descendants

The sun rises. On a plain where mountains and fields, sand and shattered stone lie intermixed, the two armies stand arrayed. A great wave was stirring. Countless banners fluttered, weapons and armor glimred in the light. Drums and war horns set the air trembling, and dust clouds blood pale and thick across the field.

Calix stood atop a hill at the center of the allied forces, gazing down at the battlefield. His eyes held within them the essence of the battle itself — the enemy's formations and movents, and even the flow of mana.

"Hadiya, the right cavalry needs to advance a little further. Tell the left to ease up on the other hand — they've pushed in too deep."

The order, delivered in a low voice, spread smoothly outward. This entire sequence had been designed for a central breakthrough. Draw the Imperial forces outward, then drive straight for the heart in a single blow. The Mountain Rabbits were moving precisely for that purpose.

Hadiya and Wheatley soon mounted their horses and shot forward. Dispatching ssengers to their own forces was already well into double digits. Romance, Kotchap, and the other veteran mbers were working themselves ragged passing along orders — yet not a single one had been unnecessary.

Calix's commands were ticulous and precise. The mont their own troops edged out of position or the enemy showed any sign of reacting, he demanded real-ti adjustnts. If the allied forces' cohesion was imperfect, he would hold it together with his own hands.

Thanks to that, at so point, a peculiar chain of command had taken shape.

"Lord Barakh, the enemy has halted. Just as he predicted."

"How did he see this far ahead? And how did he know the speed of our cavalry?"

"……It is an uncanny skill, I'll grant."

Kalahim's commander, Barakh, let out a sigh despite himself. Both armies were squirming as though caught in a dance. Without direct collision, they probed each other's weaknesses and displayed remarkably refined troop managent.

'I was already well aware of the Niboria Imperial Army's caliber — but to handle even a hastily assembled alliance like his own limbs. He was not rely gifted with the sword!'

Before long, however, the superiority between them was made clear.

Calix's gaze cuts through the enemy lines and buries itself deep within. The Imperial infantry had begun to advance toward the center. In that single choice, the intent and unease of the enemy commander were laid bare.

"Just as I thought — they don't want to be encircled."

"They're coming through the center?"

"Yes. But the real threat lies elsewhere."

At Royce's question, Calix pointed deep beyond the enemy lines. A group bearing distinctive colors was pulling away to the flank.

"Right on schedule — the knight order is moving."

His gaze shifted at once to where the Niboria banner was rippling in the wind. With the sun pouring over the battlefield, the curtain of battle was rising.

***

The front line slowly expands — then, in an instant, the entire battlefield warps. Drums and battle cries tangled together, and the true opening of the fighting began.

Raaaaaaah!

Boom!

The first line of the Imperial forces surged into the center and crashed into Viale. Infantry against infantry. Spears and swords shrieked with a chilling clash of tal, and humans, elves, and dwarves sared blood across one another as they beca one churning mass. Within that veil of dust, dozens of lives vanished in a single breath.

Calix watched the colors extinguishing in an instant.

'What is this sacrifice for?'

Instinctively, his grip on the reins tightened. He wanted to ride to their aid that very mont — but reason seized his ankle. The main force must not move carelessly.

Then, without warning, a low voice crept into his ear.

"Friend the cook, you have to keep your focus when you're holding a blade. Let your heart waver and you'll nick your own hand. Everyone around you could be put in danger."

"……Yes. Thank you, Gregor."

The seasoned warrior's counsel steadied him at once. As the man said — patience was what was needed.

And then, the battlefield in its entirety poured into his Mind's Eye.

His heartbeat grew slow and unhurried. The noise receded from his ears, and both eyes absorbed — with perfect clarity — the sight of light clusters entangling and weaving through one another. The residue of mana was thick and heavy across the entire battlefield. And even now, the Richterkreutz Knight Order was slipping neatly away toward the left flank.

Calix imdiately restored the allied forces' balance.

"Vice-captain — lead the infantry and support the center. Set up a defensive wall alongside Viale and hold."

"Understood!"

"Captain, take the eastern front. We need a definitive edge on one flank."

"Leave it to ."

"And Hadiya — I need you on the left flank again. The enemy knight commander moved that way. Tell Barakh to be on guard. The key is not to give them a lane."

"I'll head out right now!"

The orders spread swiftly, infantry and cavalry surged into motion, and the Mountain Rabbits' formation grew busy with activity. On top of that, a montary lapse in the enemy's movents — an opening — did not escape her.

"Volga, the second-line infantry moved late. We need to wedge between the first and second lines. Push into that gap — but the key is to pull back out within three minutes. Keep in mind the opening is narrow and there's precious little ti. You go in, create nothing but chaos, then fall back imdiately. Can you do it?"

"Obviously. I've been waiting for exactly that."

"Loop around through the center-right on your way in. Every other judgnt I leave to you."

Volga drew a short breath, then led roughly fifty cavalry out onto the field.

Thud-thud-thud-thud.

As Volga advanced along the path Calix had shown him, not a single unit stood in his way. When you're fully engaged facing the enemy head-on, you simply cannot watch both flanks. The Imperial soldiers had given everything to push through the center — and paid for it by offering up their backs.

Crack!

"E-enemy! They ca from behind!"

"What in the—……!"

Volga chose the crude thod of hurling short spears rather than charging with drawn blades — and it proved remarkably effective. There was no need to cross swords at all. He could see the morale of the Imperial troops crumbling before his very presence.

The front-line infantry, split between front and rear, floundered with no idea how to respond. And naturally, the balance of the central line was restored.

But he wouldn't be greedy beyond that.

"Ti to head back!"

"Hey, human! These guys are completely rattled! Isn't this exactly when we should hit them from the rear—"

"If I say we're pulling back, we pull back! Retreat!"

The green recruit's words are dismissed without a second glance. Undoubtedly, it was because he had no experience fighting alongside Calix.

His friend had always fought with the favorable current already in hand. If anything had changed from before, it was only that the scale of the fighting had grown sowhat larger.

'When he tells

to pull back, all I've gotta do is haul tail.'

Sure enough, on the way back the way they'd co, the gap between them and the Imperial soldiers narrowed to a razor's edge. If they'd been even a mont slower, they'd have been swallowed alive in the midst of the Imperial forces.

Volga thinks.

That the battlefield is a terrifying place.

But without question — the most terrifying thing was hiding right there among the Mountain Rabbits.

***

The battlefield is a place where the unpredictable happens.

Calix was no exception to that. The right flank held a clear edge, and the center was holding well enough — yet in the end, the disaster struck on the left.

Far in the distance, golden hues erupted in a violent surge. One would be Kalahim's commander Barakh — and the other—

'That's the Richterkreutz knight commander.'

It was no simple golden radiance. It was of a different order from the Falling Fire, which writhed and lashed like petals in the wind. An overwhelming sense of presence — heavy and densely compressed, as though pressing down upon the very air. Closer to mana that carried order within it than brute force.

It gathered together and extended outward in a smooth, unbroken line — filling one corner of the battlefield with overwhelming weight, layered like wall upon wall. It did not scatter like shrapnel. It did not spiral or swirl. It simply — compressed like steel and claid a specific space for its own.

Then, one of those threads gradually began to dim. Even at a distance too great to hear, a skin-crawling silence rolled in.

Calix pressed his lips firmly together.

'Barakh has been defeated.'

The movent of mana slowed visibly — then staggered, and retreated from its position. The enemy's power remained overwhelming, and there was no longer anything left capable of standing in its path.

He had to think clearly.

"The west has been breached. The enemy cavalry will be coming back around before long."

At that, Zahira's face drained of color.

"What? Then our rear is completely open!"

"The center's in danger now too. Viale looks like they're nearly at their limit."

"These idiots! I clearly told them to be careful — just buy ti, that's all I asked!"

Dwarf Basim and Hadiya, who had just returned to the main force, added their voices to the chorus. But Calix was already looking beyond all of that.

The essence of the battlefield pours into his field of vision.

The Imperial forces had pushed in fairly deep. The left flank had been swallowed by dust clouds, but on the right, fierce flas were still burning bright. And at the heart of the battlefield, Viale was clinging to the defensive line with desperate, labored breaths.

And right there — was a path.

The enemy commander had committed strength to both flanks, and the main force, the Richterkreutz, had left its position. After the long fight, the opposing infantry had ceased holding any formation and had simply lumped together in one mass. Because of that, a single thread appeared — one only he could see. Terribly dangerous, yet the sole route that would carry them straight to the enemy's heart in a single bound.

A central breakthrough.

Calix poses the final question to himself.

'Do I go to Kalahim's aid — or press on as planned?'

It was a foolish question. Pressing forward was itself the act of saving their allies. The single decisive move that would cleave the battle in two. The Mountain Rabbits had been waiting for this very mont from the very beginning.

"Now."

Then, his voice resonated — low and deep. In the sa instant, resolute eyes blazed all around him. Every one of them had known from the start.

'Draw the Imperial forces outward — then strike the head in a single blow.'

Calix had laid out the plan, and his comrades had believed him. So even if the choice was lethally dangerous, they would bear it. They would ride together into enemy lines, drive those n's skulls into the dirt. And at the end of it, bring this senseless battle — humans killing humans — to a stop.

"Prepare to charge!"

At last, the mont to leap had co.

***

The Mountain Rabbits did not charge blindly. Their direction was absolute.

'Follow the movents of the one leading at the front.'

Calix found the small gaps within the chaotic front line and drove himself through them.

Where speartips crossed and shields beca knotted together. In the exact instant the flow of the front line shifted on a knife's edge, the cavalry plunged into enemy lines.

Thud-thud-thud-thud.

Rather than aiding the allied center, Calix bypassed the foremost line and swept around in a wide arc. Imdiately after, Imperial units could be seen arrayed at every turn. The road to the enemy headquarters was long and treacherous. But from the start, his intention had never been to push through by force.

"Maintain speed! We break through as-is!"

Along the direction Calix carved out, a thousand Mountain Rabbits crossed the broad plain. They advanced with as little collision as possible, and when they had to fight, they targeted only the most vulnerable points.

A precise strike that split the fault lines.

The Imperial infantry felt that sothing had gone wrong — yet had no idea how to respond.

"Stop them! Stop them by any ans!"

"How are we supposed to……."

Imperial low-level commanders scread themselves hoarse, but it was all but impossible for infantry to shackle cavalry. What's more, their opponents were none other than the Mountain Rabbits.

Not a single soldier did the mad thing of rushing forward first, and the outco turned on a single mont of hesitation. Before the encirclent could be completed, a cavalry force of close to a thousand had punched straight through the middle line.

A pebble cannot bore through a boulder — but rain that pours from the sky traces a smooth, flowing course all the way down to the ground. A gap had opened before their eyes, and as though bewitched, it crumbled without a thing anyone could do.

That was all it took.

And soon, Calix's field of vision revealed the destination. Where the Niboria Empire's crest and commanding banner fluttered side by side. What he wanted was one thing only — the enemy's heart.

"One hundred and fifty paces to contact! Prepare for maximum acceleration!"

Then, the Mountain Rabbits surged in perfect unison toward the place where chaos and dread had beco one.

"I-it's the Mountain Rabbits!"

"Shields — raaaise!"

Tension rippled through the Imperial main force's front line. Shield walls ford and speartips were thrust outward in an instant — yet the soldiers' pupils were trembling. They had clumped together just as their training dictated, but none of them could say with certainty that they could hold.

It was not a question of how many heads each side had.

Rumble-rumble-rumble!

And at that mont, what entered their field of vision were masses of flesh the size of houses. As the elven cavalry naturally gave way, the dwarves ca bursting out from the rear lines. The sight of a different race was already strange enough — but what truly shocked them was the creature those dwarves were mounted upon.

"What in the world is……."

Krraaaarrgh!

Rockboars let out their roar and ca thundering forward.

Their front faces — enormous as houses — were fitted with thick barding, and their razor-sharp teeth were plated with tal that glinted with every shift of the light. They snorted blasts of hot breath from the ends of their snouts, baring their savage nature as a declaration that they were ready to charge at any mont. They were the mightiest beasts on earth, which dwarf Basim never tired of boasting about.

But at the very front, the sa figures always stood. Gregor and dwarf Basim, Zahira and Volga. The core mbers ford the leading rank of the cavalry — and at the center of them all, Calix was there.

"Lunos."

The young man whispered quietly into his warhorse's ear.

"Let's move like a bolt of lightning. Faster than anyone — straight to the enemy's heart."

At the willing request, Lunos pushed his body to the absolute limit as if he had been waiting for just that. The muscles across his entire body swelled taut as though on the verge of explosion, veins standing out vividly everywhere. Thick gusts of breath ca blasting out to push back the wind, and his mane whipped in fierce arcs as though surging against a storm.

Prrrrrr.

This was no borrowing of power from a Mana Stone. It was the expression of a wildness that had slumbered deep within him for so long, the realization of a potential awakened by an elven leader. The outstanding bloodline mounts surged forward with all their power — yet Lunos alone seed to exist in a different fra of ti, slicing through space and pressing ahead of them all.

And then Volga blew his whistle with every last bit of breath he had.

Wheeeeeee!

Wheeeeeeeee!

Wheeeeeeeeeee——!

The signal for maximum acceleration. As the Mana Stones set into the barding erupted with explosive force, human and horse beca one and were transford into a streak of light.

Crack!

Hooves split the ground as if it were only natural. Unable to bear the force of the thrust, countless grains of earth scread and shot upward. Then, as the blade of his treasured sword Srna caught the sunlight and flashed — behind him, close to a thousand Mountain Rabbits charged forward in one body.

They leaped into that thicket of spear blades without a mont's hesitation. There was no doubt. They simply pressed onward — straight and true — toward victory.

Because Calix had decided it would be so.

That was enough.