“Yuri-kun, it’s alright over there! We can make it on ti.” (Myaro)
Myaro, who rode a Galloping Bird, said it when she was about to arrive. I looked at the clock.
The clock was pointing at one minute before the eting ti with Liao.
“How’s the bridge!?” (Yuri)
“They have finished crossing!” (Myaro)
“Got it! You should cross the bridge first!” (Yuri)
“Understood… Well then, please be safe!” (Myaro)
As Myaro said so, she went in the direction of the bridge.
“Sprinkle the remaining caltrops!!” (Yuri)
Caltrops
When I shouted, so people put their hands in their waist bags, grabbed caltrops, and threw them over the heads of the approaching enemies.
‘They used it a little bit before, but this is the end.’
‘Since the front of Liao was downhill toward the enemy, he could do sothing flashy such as pushing a burning cart, but since there’s no slope on my side, there’s a limit to what I can do.’
‘My side is overwhelmingly inferior, so if we hit them straight, we will lose power in an instant, just as a child and adult baring their strength against each other. If we throw the caltrops, so random people will be injured. Then, those affected will beco obstacles and slow down their montum.’
“Alright, we’re going to retreat to the final line!! Withdraw, withdrawww!!” (Yuri)
I shouted while waving my hands. At the sa ti, I also ran.
‘My leg is hurt. It’s a burn inflicted when sniping the enemy commander with montum. The skin on the soles of the feet hurts like burning every ti I take a step. The enemy also wants to pursue after losing.’
At the tip of my eyes and nose, there was a striking white line. After looking behind and confirming that there were no late unit mbers…
“Cut it down!!” (Yuri)
I shouted loudly. When I looked at the lumberjack standing in the depths of the forest, he looked confused.
‘What the hell is he doing?’
My killing intention suddenly burst out.
“It’s fine, cut it now!!” (Yuri)
As I said that again, the lumberjack swung his ax and slamd it into a tree that had already made a large cut.
Since the tree didn’t fall after one swing, the ax was swung down again and again. Three seconds after everyone crossed the white line, the three fell down while echoing the sound of fiber breaking.
At that ti, the enemy that was approaching before , but those in the front row, noticed the falling tree and stumbled a step or two forward to stop while looking up.
‘It’s regrettable since I can’t crush them, but since there’s no enemy on this side, I don’t have to fight back.’
“Alright, just cross the bridge as it is! If you’re injured, throw away your luggage and run!!” (Yuri)
When I ran out while looking behind, a tree was falling and… *Dumm* it hit the ground, and I saw a canopy of branches lying on the ground.
—
Upon reaching the bridge, Liao’s unit, which seed to cut down the tree, arrived at about the sa ti in equidistant. Liao’s unit was also tattered like my unit.
“Liao.” (Yuri)
“Yuri-dono.” (Liao)
He looked tired as I expected. His shoulders were moving up and down, following his breathing. When our eyes t, I felt sothing was being communicated.
“You guys, cross first!” (Yuri)
When I said that…
“Follow Yuri-dono! Cross what you can cross!” (Liao)
…and Liao also gave out the instructions.
They began to cross. There were only a few refugees left on the bridge. Most of them had crossed over. The other side seed to be very clogged, so it might not be possible to completely cross over, but it would be over in the anti.
It was Myaro’s job to asure this timing. There was really no excess or deficiency in the timing. We were able to arrive at the sa ti at the best timing.
“Sorry. In the end, we had to fight.” (Yuri)
When I said that, Liao made an indescribable face.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a battle like this. I just don’t like the battle of death.” (Liao)
‘Well, indeed. The matter is different between a battle of fighting to the death and a withdrawal battle.’
“If possible, I also want to avoid fighting. Well, I guess it’s impossible.” (Yuri)
‘There were so casualties on my side, but for Liao, it shouldn’t be just one or two people. Fortunately, the surviving soldiers were desperately crossing the bridge. There’s no one who wants to die. Especially when they are escaping from the verge of death.’
“It seems the other side is very angry, isn’t it?” (Yuri)
Liao said.
Both Liao and I only had less than a minute of ti earned. Even if we knew that it was more than enough, the enemy was approaching in anger.
Although they were still far away, it was at a distance that we could see them clearly.
From the starting point of the hill where Liao ca from, soldiers climbing up to attack were seen. They were overcoming trees one after another. In the first place, the trees were hidden and only the upper branch was visible.
“Your side as well. They are probably very angry.” (Liao)
“Well, yeah.” (Yuri)
I suddenly smiled.
‘It’s funny. The enemy is approaching as if they are walls of death, but it’s not that scary. Is it because I feel that I can control them no matter what the adversity?’
“So, what is that guy doing?” (Liao)
“He’s probably sharpening his weapon.” (Yuri)
From what I saw, Dolla was crouching down on the side of the road and sharpened his spear hard. As far as I could see, it was a rough whetstone, and while sprinkling water in a water bottle, the weapon was sharpened with a force that seed to create smoke. He gave a feeling that it was nice to have a blade.
His appearance was strange.
The sides of the helt were full of scratches as if it was hit by a sword many tis. Besides, sohow, the chainmail which was double-worn, was torn in places like a rag. He wrapped a headband-like cloth around his eyebrows, which was dyed red. Perhaps, he had a wound on his head and wrapped it so that blood wouldn’t get in his eyes.
He had been fighting too much.
“Dolla, are you done?” (Yuri)
When I called Dolla out, he poured the water in the water bottle to finish up, dropped the whetstone, stood up and drank the rest of the water bottle. He threw it on the side of the road.
‘A whetstone is so valuable that it can’t be thrown away easily when it cos to a high-quality finishing whetstone, but since he was using a rough whetstone, there’s no problem throwing it away.’
“I was resting for this.” (Dolla)
Dolla said. As he approached with his spear, I slled a strong, dry sweaty body odor with a distinctive bloody odor.
Although I hadn’t seen him for a while, the pressure was different.
‘Has this person changed? Is it because he experienced the battlefield?’
“Can I depend on you?” (Yuri)
“Ouh.” (Dolla)
“When the gun cos out, stop by the balustrade sohow.” (Yuri)
I raised the gun and showed it to him.
‘I got this one from the first enemy I t. It’s worse than what I imported from the Albio Republic, but the barrel is shorter and it’s easy to handle.’
“Alright, shall we go?” (Yuri)
“Yeah.” (Liao)
Liao started walking. I also followed after him and put my foot on the bridge.
The enemy was just around the corner, but our soldier hadn’t crossed the bridge yet. As expected, it seed that the other side was still using it.
When I ca to the middle of the bridge, I put my back on the balustrade and started preparing the gun. There were only two lead balls left.
Eight people from behind, prepare a spearhead!!” (Liao)
It happened that Liao’s soldiers were at the end of the line, so Liao gave order.
“You too, Gurney!! Put out your spear!!” (Yuri)
I gave orders to an unknown soldier. Since Dolla and I were left behind, I wouldn’t be able to hold and put up a spear. It would be difficult to stab it.
“Co on!!” (Dolla)
I heard Dolla’s loud angry voice. The enemy had caught up. When I raised my face and looked at him, Dolla thrust his spear to the sky and held it in front of the enemies.
The bridge was surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the enemies and allies. The voice that could echo vividly in that situation would probably intimidate the enemies.
However, when the front row, who shouldn’t be scared, beca scared, there would be a push from behind. The enemy rushed it without stopping.
At the mont of clashing, Dolla swung his spear with a trendous force while shouting ‘Oraaa!’.
The spear unleashed by a giant who learned techniques and forged by training, crushed the shield raised by a Knight easily. The broad-bladed spear tip, which invaded from the shoulder opening, broke the enemy torso along with the chainmail as if ripping a thin rope net.
After giving a slash that seed to cut things into half, Dolla didn’t stop and moved. He made a full turn on the spot, and while taking a small step with montum, he crouched down as if crawling. The spear moved as if a breeze struck the feet.
It was as easy as cutting bamboo. Then, there were four feet thrown off the bridge. Dolla shook his leg, poised him to dance, and kicked the cobblestones to make a distance.
It was exciting. It was a trick that could only be done because of the blessed physique of Dolla, and it was impossible for to do that. For a mont, emotions similar to longing ca to my heart.
However, there was no narrative emotion on the battlefield, and the bridge wasn’t the sole place of a hero. The enemies rushed in without stopping. A Knight with broken legs, fell backward. He might be covering his head while being stepped over. In the anti, the flow of enemies didn’t stop much.
I looked behind.
The line still remained about a quarter of the bridge. Dolla was still in the middle of the spot, and gradually pushed back.
Aah, damn it. Should I use the last Molotov cocktail?’
“Hey! Can you withdraw faster!?” (Liao)
Liao shouted.
Dolla retreated while swinging his spear and killing the enemies, but the pressure of the group was still huge. He took a step back, then two steps, and it beca ten steps. He was quick to approach the rear end of the line.
I took off my clothes, and threw it over the balustrade. In other words, I threw it into the river.
“Oi, I haven’t crossed yet!” (Liao)
Liao shouted impatiently.
“It’s fine! Not everything will collapse!” (Yuri)
‘Maybe.’
According to my signal, two archers appeared from the upstream forest, transferred the fla of the torch they had to the arrow, and fired it. A burning fire left its trace, and fired at the center of the bridge.
I stuck my body out of the balustrade and looked at the foundation of the bridge. On the other side of the burnt down bridge, there was a pile of dead branches with plenty of flammable dead leaves. Then, one of the burning arrows entered there, it burned vigorously after a mont.
—
“Extinguish the fla!” (A???????)
The voice was heard from the enemy side. It was the Kuran language.
A familiar female voice… or rather it was a shout. Among the loud voices emitted by n which I could only hear faintly, that peculiar voice remained well in my ears. The woman seed to be standing on the other side of the bridge and shouting hard.
“It doesn’t matter if you use your water supply! Just put out the fire!!” (A???????)
‘What a thing to say. Rather, she notices the fire well.’
‘Well, it’s probably impossible. The fire is burning at the root of the pier.’
‘It’s a lot from the top of the bridge. If they sprinkle water from the water bottle, it will scatter when it falls, and it will only splash.’
“Dolla! Don’t get caught!!” (Yuri)
It was when I shouted so.
*BOOM!*
At the sa ti as the muffled explosion sounded, the bridge trembled as if it coughed. Tension ran for a mont, thinking whether it would collapse.
I asked a mason to break the root of the pier for a bit, and stuffed it with gunpowder. At that ti, I set up a linchpin just like breaking a ring stone with an explosion.
Stone Arch Bridge Structure
The stone arch bridge required the ring stones to form the arch. The well-arranged ring stones form a semi-circle leaning from the top of bottom, supporting the weight of tons piled on the arch and also the stone blocks. Not only was it supported, the weight of the stones pushed the stones together, creating a strong frictional resistance on the contact surface, preventing them from moving sideways.
‘What would happen if that was broken? The entire bridge would collapse.’
The bridge, which had lost its chanical force due to the gap in the stone pavent which shouldn’t be moving, began to lose its shape under its own weight.
“Oi, Dolla!” (Yuri)
Dolla seed to be holding his spear on the swaying bridge, and didn’t take a step back. He probably couldn’t hear my voice.
‘No, no, that was close. You have to pull out from there. Is it because of strange tension? He is like Benkei of Hiraizumu, Oshu.’
The Standing Death Musashibo Benkei
“Can you hear !?” (Yuri)
I extended my leg toward the bridge, and grabbed Dora’s waistband and pulled it as hard as I could.
“Uooh.” (Dolla)
Dolla made a strange voice.
“You’re going to die, you know!” (Yuri)
After rolling in order to push away Dolla, who was heavy and seed to be stepping a foot below, I felt a terrible nostalgic feeling. ‘It’s like when the elevator goes down or when the plane gets off.
Uwahh, it’s collapsing.’
I kicked the stone pavent, but it wasn’t on the hard ground, so I felt like kicking sothing that would move in the opposite direction. Even so, my body still moved a little, and then, I extended my right hand.
Soone grabbed my hand when I fell to the bottom of my waist. I grabbed that soone’s hand back, and put my feet on the stone wall of the collapsed bridge.
By relying on the hand, I stepped up the wall and climbed the bridge with one foot. I got pulled by the powerful hand, and I stood up while swaying.
“Are you alright?” (Liao)
It was Liao, whose hand I grabbed.
“Ouh, thanks.” (Yuri)
‘That was dangerous.’
With excitent and horror ca around this ti, my body quivered.
‘It’s fortunate that I still have the gun in my left hand. I should have thrown it away, but I kept it. Well, I guess it’s good that I have it.’
Then, I looked back.
—
The bridge had disappeared. When I looked down, the rubble was washed in the river with a slight amount of fine sand smoke.
There were so soldiers on the rubble that had reached the surface of the river, but the cold water slamd down like a quay on the day of the barge. They would be soon swept away. Surprisingly, there was no man who remained in the middle of a small island, probably because of the montum when the bridge collapsed.
It seed that the soldiers who fully occupied the bridge before, beca the weed of the river, if not, the sea.
‘There seems to be no way to reach this side from that side. And we have reached our country.’
“Is it… over?” (Yuri)
The words ca unintentionally.
The difficult tasks that diminished the spirit for a long ti after leaving Shaalta were over. That was how I felt.
‘Although we’re still at war until we return, it could be considered that it’s over for the ti being.’
“Aah, we’ve won.” (Liao)
Liao said.
‘We’ve won.’
Those words resonated in my ears, as if this was my first ti hearing it.
‘That’s true. I see, we’ve won, isn’t it?’
—
TLN:
Special thanks to the pictures’ owners.
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