Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 160: How Team Orihime Fights
“Keep the cavalry advancing and aim to flank if possible!”
“””Understood!”””
The leader of the pursuit team shouted from the front of the cavalry, and the four riders behind responded.
After confirming this, they spurred their horses onward to chase down the small enemy force ahead.
As they caught up with the unit that had descended from the hills, they slowed down a bit and issued further instructions.
“Once you merge with the rear pursuit team, follow closely!”
“Roger that!”
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And they resumed their pursuit.
“Hm? What’s…?”
But within just 20 meters, they noticed something unusual about the road ahead.
“Damn it!! Sto—STOP!!!”
They hurriedly applied the brakes.
Neigh!!
“Huh!?”
“Huh?”
“What the—!!”
“Whoa!!”
While four of the five horses managed to stop in time, one couldn’t and ended up crashing into a different area.
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Splish
Splash!
The horse sank up to its knees in the ground, abruptly halting its momentum, and throwing the knight riding it forward.
“What the hell!? Mud? Why is there a swamp here!?”
One of the knights who managed to stop shouted as he calmed his horse, approaching cautiously until he finally realized that the ground had turned into a muddy quagmire.
The earth had softened into a muddy mess, resembling a natural swamp, but with less water content than typical marshlands, making it less glossy and harder to distinguish.
“Hey! Are you okay?? Damn, this is the kind of magic those Klaufeldt guys use. To use it here…”
The leader observed the situation and recognized it as the Klaufeldt’s Knights’ magic.
The leader, had faced Felix in the final of the public matches, and fought him. Schmeichel was a former adventurer and one of the top knights in the mercenary knight group.
Recalling the public matches and the subsequent joint suppression, he gritted his teeth at the memory of the Mudification Madness.
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“Back during the joint suppression, they turned the feet of that giant crab monster into a swamp, right!?”
In addition to Schmeichel, there were other members who had participated in the public matches and the joint suppression, all of whom echoed Schmeichelwords.
“Hey! The ground here’s turned into a swamp too…”
A voice rose from the cavalry exploring the south side of the road in search of a detour route.
“Ku, they got us…”
Schmeichel cursed.
Although the south side of the road was open, the north side featured a low cliff about 2 meters high.
While the southern side led down to the foot of the hill where the pursuit team had descended, this particular area was steep, unlike the gentle slope elsewhere.
Thus, unable to detour north, they had no choice but to circle even further south past the swampy area.
Though only 10 meters away, the time spent stopping the horses, assessing the situation, and making decisions was costly.
In a pursuit, losing sight of the enemy would immediately decrease efficiency, so even this minor delay was a blow.
Furthermore, rushing in rashly risked becoming immobilized, much like the knight earlier.
They had to slow down their pursuit to anticipate similar traps ahead, making it quite a bothersome trap.
“Let’s detour south for now, then get back on the road!”
While the cavalry struggled with the swamp trap, the infantry unit caught up, prompting Schmeichel to issue new orders and lead them back onto the road.
But within another 20 meters, another trap was set on the road.
Across the entire width of the road were walls of earth about 50 centimeters high, spaced several meters apart, likely constructed of stone wall stone walls.
“Ku, not too high to jump over but annoyingly inconvenient!!”
A knight on horseback grumbled.
While not too difficult to jump over if they knew it was there, the height was still burdensome for the horses, not to mention the effort it would take for the infantry behind them.
Since the traps were only set on the road, avoiding them meant straying from the road, but that immediately worsened the footing, so in either case, losses were inevitable.
If these were walls too high for horses or men to cross, they could easily have taken a detour, but they were just manageable heights, leaving the pursuers in a dilemma.
“Ku, the horses are getting winded… We’re almost there, hang in there!”
Jumping over yet another hurdle, Schmeichel patted his horse’s neck.
Before the pursuit team, for the third time, an obstacle appeared to block their path.
“… A smoke screen this time?”
Schmeichel muttered with an exasperated expression.
Over an area about 15 meters wide ahead of him, a slightly yellowish, semi-transparent smog blanketed the path.
Looking north, he saw a wall about 3 meters high, while the south faced a slightly elevated hill, making this area ideal for trapping smoke.
“What now, Schmeichel…?”
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One knight asked him. As they paused here, the enemy would likely continue to escape.
“We could charge through, but who knows what’s inside… We could flank around the hill, but either way, we’ll have to cross the bridge on the road. We’ll flank around from the north!!”
“Understood!”
Given the choice, Schmeichel decided to flank around from the north and soon caught up to the fleeing team from the other side.
Ahead, a group of about 5 was in the smokescreen, followed closely by another group of about 10.
“We’ve caught up! Let’s charge straight through!”
Schmeichel shouted, unleashing Stone Hail from his horse.
Wind blades followed from another knight right behind.
With 4 against their 5, the cavalry held the advantage, so Shumaikel decided to lead the charge.
If they hesitated here, the group ahead would escape, so it was crucial to defeat this initial group without being held back.
“Ku, they’ve caught up! We’ll hold them off as long as we can!”
“Understood!”
As the pursuing team fired magic, the fleeing team of 5 stopped in their tracks, turning to face them.
“Can’t afford to dawdle here! Charge!”
Upon seeing the halted enemies, Schmeichel command rang out.
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“Wind Wall!”
A mage from the fleeing team conjured a wavering wall in pale green.
With that, four of the cavalry split into pairs, veering left and right to flank.
Clang!
“Guoh!”
It was the first direct clash between the two forces.
The flanking cavalry boldly swung their swords at the feet of the surrounded enemies, only to have their blades deflected by spears from horseback.
Similarly, on the opposite side, knights from the fleeing team attempted to halt the cavalry, but were swiftly repelled by the spears.
“Keep pressing forward! They’ll soon be on our tails!”
With two enemies out of the battle, Schmeichel wasted no time on the rest and steered his horse westward once more.
“Damn it, hold on! Fire… Guh!!”
A mage attempted to cast a spell at Schmeichel back, only to be knocked aside by a spear from a following cavalry member.
“They’ve broken through after all! Annemarie, Marcela, First Team, cross the bridge at full speed! Second Team, hold the bridge front!”
“””Understood!”””
As Gascoigne, glancing back, saw the four cavalry break through, he issued orders.
First Team, including Annemarie and Marcela, immediately crossed the bridge at full speed.
“Stone Wall!”
The remaining Second Team, led by Gascoigne, stopped before the bridge, conjuring a three-meter-high earthen wall right in front of it.
“Captain, we can’t use much magic like this.”
Having spent a considerable amount of magic energy with the mud wall, the mage from the fleeing team panted.
“Well done! Here we go!”
“A barrier in front of the bridge… We can’t break through like this. Everyone, eliminate the enemy. But don’t push too hard; as long as we keep our horses, we’ll make it in time with reinforcements right behind.”
“””Understood!”””
As Schmeichel caught up, he slightly restrained his horse’s pace and four cavalry spread out in response.
Responding to his command, the group charged forward with shouts from the rear.
Swiftly taking down the remaining members of the fleeing team they had left behind moments ago.
“Ha, is that okay? You’re being so relaxed about it?”
“What are you talking about…”
“Fire Blast!”
“Fire Blast!”
Boom!
Before Schmeichel finished speaking, the incantations of two women were heard, followed immediately by a thunderous explosion.
“What!?!”
Looking towards the source of the noise, smoke rose beyond the earthen wall.
“One more blast should do it. Marcela, let’s go!”
“Understood!”
“”Fire Blast!””
Boom!
And again, the thunderous roar echoed.
“No… Could it be!?”
Finally realizing the enemy’s aim, Schmeichel face turned to astonishment.
Crack! Boom! Crash!
As if mocking Schmeichel, sounds of something breaking and vibrations reverberated.
“Damn, looks like they’ve completely wrecked everything safely. I had my doubts, but those girls from Klaufeldt are really something, no doubt.”
Gascoigne smirked as he glanced back briefly.
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“I never imagined they’d bring down the bridge…”
Schmeichel was dumbfounded. The nearly thirty pursuers who had finally caught up were also left speechless.
“I could’ve blasted you all to pieces, but I didn’t know your exact numbers. It was the right call; with that many, we wouldn’t have been able to defeat you.”
“…As expected of you, Captain. We’re now even in terms of catching up. From here on out, it’s a race against time! All units, charge!!”
“Oooooohhhh!!”
From there, they were heavily outnumbered.
While Gascoigne and his team fought valiantly in a literal last stand, they were bombarded with magic support fire from across the river by prioritized mages who had been allowed to escape. However, once the mages began to withdraw, the battle quickly turned against them, and they were wiped out in no time.
“Let’s find a crossing point! I recall there’s a ford to the south that should be shallow!!”
Schmeichel and his group, having dealt with the enemies in front of them, knew the real challenge lay ahead. If they lingered and failed to cross the river promptly, they would allow the enemy to escape.
North of the bridge, the water was deep, and beyond that was a forest, making pursuit time-consuming. They hurriedly searched for another crossing point.
A few minutes later, just as Schmeichel remembered, they found a shallow ford to the south of the bridge.
It was at the southernmost edge of the field, with towering cliffs on the other side of the river. There was a riverbank just below these cliffs, perfect for their purpose.
“Watch out for ambushes from the front and north! There might be hidden troops!!”
As they crossed the river, Shumaikel issued commands.
While the front and north were open, the embankments were slightly high, providing potential cover for surprise attacks.
As they crossed cautiously, they heard unexpected voices.
“Rock Fist!”
With the voice came fist-sized rocks raining down from above.
“What?! Up there!!??”
“Fire Blast!”
Along with another voice, fireballs rained down from above in succession.
“Why…”
BOOM!!
Caught completely off guard from above, they were unable to resist at all and were hit directly by the combined magic of Rock Fist and Fire Blast.
With that, the pursuit team was decisively defeated, and the tolling bell marking the end of the battle echoed across the field.
“Ku, why are all of you up there on the cliff!?”
After the exercise, while being treated for his wounds at the debriefing session, Schmeichel grumbled.
“Even though you were firing with reduced power, taking hits from combined magic like that has left me covered in wounds.”
“The members we chose this time are all capable of using Full Body Enhancement or High Jump Enhancement at combat level. They used that to climb up to the top of the cliff.”
Surveying the painful wounds, Isamu answered.
“Full Body Enhancement! Ah, the one that half-elf used in the finals…”
“That’s right. When they asked if it was okay to go up the cliff, I thought they were kidding… If they can climb like that, of course they will.”
Gascoigne said, exasperated.
“If we had engaged you in a straight chase, we wouldn’t have stood a chance if there was a significant numerical difference. So, we guided you to a place where we could take you all down together.”
“I see. The intermittent hindrances were also…”
“Yes. Dividing the responsibilities for hindrance allowed us to conserve magic power. One by one, members detached from the main unit, heading towards the cliff via small forests and hills on the south side. It made them easier to track when they split right in front of us.”
As Isamu explained, following the initial mud madness, Isamu detached, followed by Felix after lining up low earthen walls, and then Ulysses detached after creating a smokescreen.
Each hid themselves while rushing towards the cliff. Annemarie and Marcela also immediately headed towards the cliff, obscured in the confusion of the bridge.
At that point, these five had already climbed the cliff before the enemy arrived, and the outcome was almost certainly decided.
One of the victory conditions was reaching the western end of the escape team’s highway, so as a pursuit team, they had no choice but to pass through the highway.
Even if they hadn’t been able to bring down the bridge, they would have had to run along the highway, which ran along the cliff, so surprise attacks from above couldn’t be avoided.
Moreover, this time, they used magic to deal the finishing blow to minimize casualties. Normally, they would have destroyed the cliff itself to attack.
By doing so, they could have kept the magic power consumption down and increased their attacking power, and even if they couldn’t kill the target, they could have blocked the road to prevent further pursuit.
“Kahaha, I never thought you’d consider climbing that cliff. You guys were the first to do that. Indeed, it was the right choice to leave it to Isamu and the others.”
Eleonora, who had watched the whole thing from above, was in high spirits.
“I was truly surprised. Attacks from above the cliff are a standard tactic… I never thought you would try that on that cliff.”
“That’s right. Well, we couldn’t climb it ourselves, so it’s obvious. But we were shown something good. Isamu, thank you.”
“No problem. I learned a lot too. And sorry for destroying the bridge…”
“Kahaha, it’s fine. Fixing that is also part of the training. Schmeichel, pay attention next time.”
“Eh?! Oh, that’s right!? We have to fix that!!”
The exclamation of the pursuit team, who had forgotten that losing meant maintenance, echoed in the waiting room.