Chapter 450: Enemy Plans Exist to Be Ruined

We had been just as badly outnumbered in our clash with the Bavarian vanguard, the final battle of the Beren civil war. Benjamin, leading the Offenburg Knights, fought desperately to protect our forces, but in the end he fell.

Taking up his noble will, I took the field and led the Gale Knights against the Bavarian vanguard as it rolled toward us like a giant wave, and ultimately pulled off the greatest cavalry charge in the duchy’s history.

I stood before my men, who were visibly tense.

Hungarian flowed from my mouth, so fluent it would have surprised a native speaker.

"On the eastern plains of Radensdorf, we fought the Bavarian vanguard. The interception force was wiped out, and you’ll remember the columns of refugees fleeing for their lives. We were outnumbered then too."

Only silence and stillness surrounded us.

When I looked ahead, I saw the enemy forming up their ranks. That huge army would soon surge toward us all at once, trying to surround us in one stroke and sweep us away.

"But who won that battle?"

"We won!"

"The commander led us to victory!"

"Who smashed Bavaria’s finest heavy cavalry, the pride of their army?!"

"The Gale Knights smashed them!"

"Death to Wittelsbach! Death to Basel!"

When we set out to face the Bavarian vanguard, the fleeing nobles criticized our decision as reckless. But we won that battle. My men remembered that astonishing fight vividly.

"This is no different from then. We will win this battle, and we will advance. Gale Knights, you don’t need to bleed for Rosenheim. But the spoils you want are right over there. Everything over there will be yours as a reward. Will you fight with me?"

"We’ll fight! For the reward!"

"For Streit! For the Gale Knights!"

"And for our new home!"

Raaaaah!

Sweet rewards, and honor.

That’s right. We’re an invincible cavalry that has won even when the odds were against us.

Their raw hunger became the ultimate stimulant, driving their morale sky-high. There’s no such thing as loyalty without a price. For the men who bleed for me, I have to win, no matter what.

And I have a very handy item.

Now’s the time to use it.

[Using Courage 200% Boost Scroll]

[Using Cavalry Breakthrough 200% Increase]

[You are temporarily invincible]

"Baron of Landschaft, ready to ride with me?"

"Mmmph! Mmph! Mmmph!"

"Glad you like it. My back should be fairly comfortable."

"Mmmmmmmph!"

What a perfect day.

We even have an audience. How great is that?

"Let’s go, warriors of the gale! Let’s make another legend! Hyah!"

"Streit mert! (For Streit!)"

"Magyarország mert! (For Magyarország!)"

Raaaaah!

We charged with a roar. Naturally, the enemy sent forward their finest horsemen: the heavy cavalry. I’d seen only fifty of them during the battle of the nobles, but it seemed their entire force was here.

The heavy cavalry numbered around two hundred. Could anyone short of the grand duke field a force like that, let alone a mere prince of the duchy? My guess was that the Swiss Confederation was backing the Count of Basel with everything it had.

Had they staked everything on this grand strategy too?

Interesting. Enemy plans exist to be ruined!

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

Even charging head-on into the overwhelming might of the heavy cavalry, my men showed no fear at all and kept their morale high. A wedge formation took shape with me at its point.

I couched my halberd and gripped it tight.

Then, from behind me, the Baron of Landschaft screamed.

"Fuuuuck, you lunatic! We’re all going to die!"

"Did your gag come loose? Shut your mouth unless you want to bite your tongue off!"

"Charging heavy cavalry head-on? With nothing but light cavalry? And people worship a psycho like you as the Gale Knight! Idiots, all of them, with eyes that are only for show! Nothing but idiots!"

"For a baron, the bastard sure talks a lot of crap."

I ignored the thrashing Baron of Landschaft and focused on what lay ahead. By all common sense, charging heavy cavalry head-on is nothing short of suicide unless you’re heavy cavalry yourself.

But Cavalry Breakthrough 200% makes it possible.

It’s good for only a single breakthrough, but it makes us temporarily invincible. That’s the power of the system, the unfair ability I was given. But isn’t the world itself unfair to begin with?

Medieval or modern, unfairness has always been there.

My men’s equipment was flimsy against heavy cavalry, but we never slowed down. Chrysos showed no sign of tiring, even with a noisy passenger on his back.

Through the slit in my visor, I saw a massive wall of heavy cavalry clad in thick plate filling the view ahead. Short of a pike formation or gunners, who would dare stand against a heavy cavalry charge?

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

The distance between us closed in an instant. A heavy cavalryman’s lance was aimed precisely at my shoulder. Without the power of the system, that lance would have knocked me out of the saddle without fail.

Raaaaah!

Fuuuuuck!

Crunch! Crunch! Crash!

But that fine lance shattered all too easily the moment it touched my shoulder. It lasted only an instant, but I could clearly see the rider’s shocked, bewildered face. My halberd took his head.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

I swung the halberd without letup. The guy strapped to my back made things a little awkward, but not one of the heavy cavalry could stop our charge. The Gale Knights quite literally bulldozed through the heavy cavalry.

Anyone watching this battle would have been left slack-jawed at such an unreal sight. Light cavalry tearing straight through heavy cavalry, the very byword for terror on the battlefield!

"Aaagh! They’re coming this way!"

"R-raise your pikes! Pike formation!"

Crunch! Crunch!

After the heavy cavalry came the infantry. The plan must have been to smash us with the heavy cavalry, then send in the infantry to drag riders off their horses or take the unhorsed prisoner. But the plan backfired.

The infantry, completely unprepared for cavalry, was laid to waste. Packed together, they were trampled under hooves or crushed one another while trying to flee, and they died in droves.

"H-how can this be! A monster like this can’t exist!"

I could feel the Baron of Landschaft’s fear at my back. We’d punched through the wall and were slaughtering the infantry one-sidedly, so he must have finally realized what kind of absurd monster he’d been fighting.

The Count of Basel’s great army fell into chaos and splintered in every direction. The heavy cavalry was destroyed and routed, the infantry was trampled, and the archers, scrambling in panic, became prey for the horse archers Herto led.

I kept driving forward as if to pierce straight through their center. The invincibility wears off only once the cavalry stops, so we had to wreck as much of their formation as possible to come out alive.

Thankfully, my men didn’t scatter even as enemy soldiers turned their backs. They knew by instinct that the moment they scattered, it would be over. The Hungarian riders’ survival instincts shone through.

"Don’t fall behind!"

"Stay behind the commander no matter what!"

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!

In the middle of all that chaos, the Commander Scouter showed me the optimal route, and I led the Gale Knights down it. We pierced the center, scattering blood as we went, and finally reached the Count of Basel’s position.

"Gale Knight! It’s an honor to cross blades with you again!"

Clang! Claaang!

The Lightning Knight, Handendorf, charged in to protect the Count of Basel, but with Courage 200% on top of Cavalry Breakthrough, I pressed him without mercy.