Hakai No Miko Chapter 152 (1/2)

Due to the zoan scouts that infiltrated deeply inside Holers, Sou lead by General Darius had departed fro, since the distance between Holmea's capital to Bolnis took several days even if one were to ride fast horses and regularly change the that enabled this speed was a new rown up in modern japan, Souma understood the value of information and the importance of its transfer speed more than anyone else It's only naturally that he desired means of faster and more precise information transfer

And what Soue a fast horse runs the distance of around 10 kuiri (approximately 30 ~ 40 km) in a half toki In contrast to that, the sound of a drum naturally travels at 340 melt per second since it's the speed of sound If you calculate sih the drum sounds is 30 to 40 times faster than a fast horse

While one would have to set up relay points for the drue of each other, there was still value in this speed even if you considered the cost of labor In addition, the zoan's dru in their quality, and could reach places that were one kuiri away in good, windless weather, according to the documents of that time

If one were to think of even faster methods for infornals

However, sonals include how they're influenced by weather such as wind and rain, and that they can't be used in circuht is i snals is fairly limited It mainly relies on the smoke color and how the smoke rises, or lack thereof, to relay information

What made the zoan's drums superior in comparison is not only the possibility to pass on infor less influenced by the weather than snals, but also the a the dru the fear that the drums' information relay will be interrupted for some kind of reason, Sou the warriors deliver the infor distance relay works after they finish beating the drums

Later on Souma would establish an information transfer method that also incorporated the special abilities of marmen and harpyians, but he had already created the prototype of it at this time

At the tih the zoan's druht Holies that Marchronis assu points

“This cluster forht be considered the Holanized unit of the city's garrison that had transformed into a temporary heavy spear unit as he said this

The soldiers' armor is the same as the armor worn by the common soldiers of Holmea that Souma and the others had seen so far

The only difference is the long spear in their right hands

The spears' length is around four to fivethe spear into the ground is just like a pole vault athlete waiting for their start The soldiers ranks were organized in a three-by-twelve fashi+on

“We have only produced a formation of three people per line with a depth of twelve lines, but at the tiained control of Solbiant Plains in the past, they constructed a dense formation of 128 soldiers per roith a depth of 64 lines”

All the zoan present grireat here the zoan suffered a historically devastating defeat, being brought up

“Although you call it a dense formation, isn't this a bit too dense?”

It's understandable for Sou at the dense forree that the soldiers are touching shoulders with the ones next to them in the lines, and even the back row soldiers' chests are touching the front row soldier's backs

I'm sure that it'll be hard to move like this

”The essential part of the cluster formation is how dense it is In the past, General Darius, who is extolled as one of our greatest co theether by one more step” — Well, you'll understand once you actually witness it”

Saying that, Marchronis turns around to the soldiers forives them an order

“Prepare your spears!”

At the sa Marchronis' command, the soldiers in the first six rows noisily prepared their spears

“Uwaah, this is…”

Souma, who looked at it from directly in front, properly coainst this forainst ht in front, the spearheads of five soldiers, who are waiting in the back, are sticking out this ith their length gradually changing as the spears pass at the sides of the first soldier That ed the spears of the first row's soldiers

This is just like fighting against Asura who held a weapon in each of his six arht be, it's nothing e this directly froood unless you destroy the for-distance archery, huh…?”

Marchronis broadly grins at Souue

“At that time, you do this — Prepare the shi+elds!”

This time they prepared their shi+elds all at once

“T-This is…”

The front row soldiers lined up their shi+elds in front of them, just like a wall As these shi+elds overlapped each other, there's not a single gap Moreover, the soldiers of the second row and beyond held their shi+elds overhead and form a roof

Marchronis picks up several pebbles at his feet and throws them at the cluster formation All of the pebbles are repelled by the shi+elds

“Even a e in an arrow into those gaps unless they shorten the distance by quite a bit It's said that in the past General Inkdias, as referred to as one of the eainst the torrential downpour of a hail of arrows froainst the elves, and o once his army closed in upon them”

In this world elves are also known for their mastery in archery Even those elven archers were defeated in front of that cluster formation

“In particular it raises Holmea's offensive ability towards the front In contrast to the coth of two to three melt in other countries, Holmea uses spears with four to five melt In order to allow them to hold those spears with one hand, they have cos froht say that Holmea's cluster for in the front due to this”

The weapon's length is a big advantage Even considering it plainly, there's a big difference in just being able to attack froe which the opponent's weapon doesn't reach Even in japan there are fa spear units that held long spears of 21 feet (20 shaku, roughly 6,4 th of 9 feet (9 shaku, roughly 2,7Marchronis' unduly emphasis on the word front, Souma asked a question,

“What about the flanks and rear then?”

“They are frail”, Marchronis declared “On top of being in a close for shi+elds, so a change of course is difficult If there are no signals such as druside the coe their direction If they try to change their course unskillfully in a hurry, fellow soldiers will collide with each other and the whole fore, it's nor infantry or chariots to the left and right of the cluster for it won't go that easily after all, Souma properly kept this inforle zoan warrior ca h the drums! It looks like a human ar towards some city called Luoma”

Due to the words of the warrior, tension spreads through everyone like an electric shock

“It finally caht fist with a slap was Zurgu

Though it's not only Zurgu who is excited over the long-awaited news about the punitive force

He doesn't speak up, but Garas up the leather bag with ale in it, which he had thoroughly enjoyed until noith a cork Jahangil busily struck the ground with his tail

“What's the enemy's scale?”

The zoan warrior answers Souma with,

“Yes! The enemy has more than 7,000! There's no mistake in that as the second and the third drum relayed the same number!”

“More than 7,000!?”

Souma's voice unintentionally became shrill and nervous due to number of soldiers that exceeded his expectations by a lot However, if he, who designed the strategy, reveals his unease here, everyone will end up beco anxious Sou his throat

“It's a lot more than expected, isn't it?”

“daer nu this with a threatening voice towards Marchronis right after Sou Marchronis, who had settled into a position similar to Souma's uessed his intention, conteuess I have butted in a bit too much recently

Marchronis proh the fact that Soun experience, but once they exchanged words, he noticed that far fro an amateur, it would be better to call Sou of diht by Marchronis like water that was sprinkled on sandy soil in the desert For a teacher there are no pupils ht than that Because of that he unintentionally got engrossed in it while he forgot the looks of those around him

“I feel ashamed It looks like ized honestly

He can even understand the apprehensions of the zoan who restrained him They were able to obtain the support of the dwarves and dinosaurians in addition to the zoan due to that speech, but it's unkno stable that backing is There's also the fear that the support they gained at great pains will sway if Souma appoints Marchronis, who is a human just like him, to a responsible post at this point, which would also cause the others to wonder if Souives preferential treatu”

It was Garahtly aard

“Noas we accou understood the value of Marchronis' advice Given that he was able to achieve his goal of restraining Marchronis, he only snorted lightly and doesn't object to Garau's abundant chest Going by the appearance of the blow, it was a light poke, but there's an unexpectedly heavy sound and Zurgu groans slightly

“The zoan deht?”

“… For sure, right!?”

As if to pay back, Zurgu slapped Garath that u turns aith an expression of feigned ignorance However, apparently hurting froht hand back and fro

“I told you to de off your stupidly great strength”

“Ah! I intended to pat you lightly, but was it too strong for the frail, estee to quarrel all of a sudden, Souht to leave the surprise attack to these two Once he looks at Shyehed and said,

“It's just two bratsaround You lose if you worry about it”

Sou wryly at Shyemul's blunt remark

◆◇◆◇◆

Two days passed after Gara the zoan warriors in Bolnis, and went to launch a surprise attack against the punitive force

The zoan ae for quite a while, but with thestarted have arrived as of yet

In exchange, the warriors who had been playing the druan to return, and even further details about the punitive force's state was delivered to Sou to that information, the majority of the punitive force seems to be composed of infantry with only a s chariots and being cavalry As far as the zoan warriors could judge, it appears that the punitive force's h

Due to that report, Sourumbled,

“That's not an overly pleasant story for us”

“I think it's better than being belittled Battle is all about fighting with both sides staking all their honor and ability”

Due to that reh pride, Souh it would be easier if they did look down on us」 However, the sharp ears of a zoan apparently didn't fail to hear that Shyeh as if to say 「You are faint-hearted, my lord」

“Around when do you think will they arrive at the bridge at this pace?”

Being asked that by Souma, the warrior replied as he recalls the circumstances of the punitive force that he had seen with his own eyes

“Let's see They areslowly, but I believe that they will arrive within less than a few hours”

“I see At last, huh?”

Souu's surprise attack to succeed splendidly He can't erase his worries no matter how hard he tries, but he has no other choice but to believe that it will be alright if it's those two

However, so suddenly bothered Souma

“… Wait a moment!”

In a panic Soue just now Around the ti whether he hadn't ended up saying so bad, Souma finally lifted his face

“Just now you said slowly, didn't you?”

“Huh? Umm… Yes, I did, but what about it?”

Souma asks yet another question on top of that,

“Is the human army's movement slower than usual?”

It's not like the warrior said slohile harboring any particular intention Certainly not considering that this aspect will be sharply pointed out, he replies while beco flustered

“Eh… no… that's only what I felt somehow”

Souma had some kind of bad premonition

It's a sensation as if he just now truly noticed the point of a knife being thrust in front of his eyes It's a chill as if a piece of ice had been thrust down his spine The blood vessels in his entire body freeze and his heart pounds

So, Soma?”

Souma calms down due to Shye a puzzled voice

At any rate, let's think it through after I calm down, he took a deep breath After that he broods on why he felt bothered by this word Pondering about it for a while, Souma reached a certain conclusion

“…Is it possible that they are being cautious?”

However he immediately puts it down as impossible

Just like Garam and the others said, until now the zoan have never left the plains to attack As a matter of fact, even at the time when Souma proposed to take this city, the zoan showed their disapproval towards leaving the plains Even just taking this city is an irregular event to such an extent On top of that, ould even think of the zoan leaving the city to launch a surprise attack? Much less to say about this being a s like a surprise attack against an ene it, he persuades hi the alarh assessards to battle, ith the perceived by a zoan warrior

Which re speed is slower than Marchronis anticipated at first Marchronis said that his own perception was off, but is there so in that?

Isn't it possible that the punitive force has deliberately slowed down its march for some kind of reason Marchronis couldn't predict?

“But why are they acting as if they are trying to gain time?”

Holmea should desire the suppression of this revolt to take place as fast as possible And yet it see reason to have purposefully slowed down

“… Are they waiting for soht of as the very first is the possibility of reinforcements If he believes in the words of Marchronis, there are no reserves of the national army left over that can be moved However, there are still the feudal lords' private armies in Holmea

However, it's ainst us who are even less than 2,000 It's difficult to iine that they would expressly request reinforce our side a surplus of tie if revolts occurred at various places after being triggered by our revolt He couldn't believe that the feudal lords would send reinforcements even when they have to prepare for such unexpected situations as well

Just what are they waiting for then?

Pondering about it like that, the worst possible prediction pops up in Sou for us to attack them?”