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CHAPTER 29 – MARCH!
Although dawn had arrived on this day, it was destined to rain heavily.
This was the day where the Grand Army marched to reclaim Kameyama Castle.
Nobody knew how many soldiers were silently cursing at the Chief Commanders as they watched the heavy rain. However, they had no choice but to march and fight without any sense of self-preservation once the military orders were made. Most of these soldiers understood what they had to do.
After all, the samurai’s code was what they followed until they died.
Swoosh— The rain was so heavy that they couldn’t even see the river and the edges of the port ahead of them.
Lily was clad in white clothing and held a dark blue Sakura Parasol, standing under a roof.
“Sister Kagami.” Hatano Kana approached Lily.
“Are you ready? We’re about to set off.” Lily said.
Since the Army had decided to march into the depths of Tanba and claim Kameyama Castle, then it would coincide with Lily’s quest to find Uesugi Rei. Since Lily also didn’t know Uesugi Rei’s specific whereabouts, she didn’t need to go against her orders and act on her own. They were about to set off this morning.
“Mm.” Kana nodded solemnly. Since Nakajou Mikazuchi was practically invalid, he didn’t march along with the army. Instead, he was ordered to guard the port and military supplies.
“Let’s go.” Lily held the umbrella and went into the torrent. Kana also opened an umbrella.
She carried a firearm on her back. It was a gift from Taira no Iemori, and it was better than the firearm she previously had.
As an essential character in claiming Kameyama Castle—the guide—Kana naturally had to lead the pack. To ensure her safety, Lily stuck close to her.
However, there was no need for Kana to take the vanguard position since she had pointed out the path to the army already.
Lily and Kana came to an empty area in the port.
At this moment, many warships were anchored on the river as rain fell. Soldiers were transporting supplies onto those ships under the rain.
“Lady Kagami.” The tall and gaunt samurai in white armor, Taira no Iemori, approached. “I have three thousand sailors from the Taira Clan with me. We’ll take the fast ships of my clan and travel by water! We’ll disembark somewhere about fifty kilometers away from Kameyama Castle.”
Lily nodded. “Please be careful, Lord Iemori.”
“Lady Kagami…” Lily wasn’t close with Iemori at all. Hence, he couldn’t help but be moved after receiving such gentle words from Lily.
He glanced at Lily and said, “people say you’re the most beautiful woman in the world, Lady Kagami. But in my opinion, Lady Kagami, your heart is the most beautiful thing of all.”
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“……” Lily only glanced at Iemori with solemn eyes before turning around and walking to her position.
The front position was the first to group up. There were a total of three positions.
The first part was the vanguard. Composed of 1’000 elites from the Minamoto Clan, led by Minamoto no Hiromasa.
The second part was the frontline. Minamoto no Yoshitada personally led 5’000 soldiers from the Minamoto clan. At the same time, elites like Igarashi Kaede, Amami Manya, Minamoto no Tsukawa followed.
The third part was a mixed array of female forces. It was composed of female cavalry riders led by the remaining Tsunaga Sisters and Shiina Airi. It also included Lily and Kana.
In addition, the 3’000 sailors led by Taira no Iemori were also considered the strongest elites of the Taira Clan and the world’s strongest naval army. They had ironclad ancient-wood warships that not even archdemons could sink. Since the navy would reach before the land army, they were considered to be in the first position.
This time around, the grand army had learned the lessons from the previous failures. They virtually placed all their strongest forces at the front lines. Aside from elite soldiers and well-trained formation creators, they also had Lily, Minamoto no Yoshitada, Taira no Iemori, Igarashi Kaede, and Amami Manya. They were all Throned Sovereigns or stronger. Even if they had to face an archdemon, the worst-case scenario where the army was completely slaughtered by a powerhouse would never happen. These human powerhouses could fight them on equal ground or stall them until the army behind them could complete the formation and lend them their strength.
During all these years, the Empire had never fought the archdemons in earnest before. It was a lesson that they had learned after sacrificing thousands of lives.
As for the middle position, it was composed of the main fighting power of the Army. There were a total of 30’000 soldiers, personally led by Ashikaga Makoto. Ashikaga Kiyoshi also led soldiers from the Ashikaga Clan.
Minamoto Jujiro Takamune and Nobutada Ida stayed behind to escort the supplies.
Most of the remaining soldiers were part of territorial armies with low fighting power. They remained in Port Ayabe and were led by Minamoto no Hirohikari. Even Prince Narinaga was stubbornly persistent in remaining in Port Ayabe. Considering the fact that it wasn’t dangerous and he could gain merit passively, the Emperor agreed.
With such a lineup, it could be said that the victory of the battle was solely dependent on the 10’000 elites in the front position. If the front position had lost the battle, the army in the middle position would have to retreat. These soldiers in the middle position were mainly used to conquer Kameyama Castle. If they were faced with resistance, they could surround and besiege the castle. Moreover, they could also serve as garrison after claiming it.
Lily and the rest were situated on the third part of the front position. If the immeasurably powerful existences like Lily were ignored, they were naturally the weakest part within the front position.
As the main commander of the third part, Shiina Airi led 800 female Uesugi Calvary Riders. Ijuin served as the vice commander and led 200 Tsunaga Sisters plus 300 shrine maidens, who were newly added.
These shrine maidens were fresh reinforcements. They were proficient in formation and other mystical arts. They were proficient in combat, in all aspects.
Lily, on the other hand, remained as the solo swordswoman she always had been. However, Lily and her shikigami had enough combat power to go against any position all by herself.
But since they were all acquainted with one another, Lily and Kana stayed within the group of Tsunaga Sisters.
Although they were rescued only recently, none of these Sisters wanted to stay behind. They stubbornly insisted on her delving into Tanba once again. Lily was moved by their bravery.
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This time around, they chanted no slogans. Under heavy rain, the front formation of the army marched silently.
The middle formation had also started to group up and would set off soon. The front formation and the middle formation would not be more than 3 kilometers apart.
At this moment, the suspension bridge on Tange River had been repaired. Lily and the rest followed the army and crossed the river, marching deep into Tanba.
Kameyama Castle’s perpendicular distance from this place was about 200 kilometers. Yet, it was very difficult and troublesome to cross the mountain. It would probably take them more than 500 kilometers to actually reach.
The rain continued along the way, turning the ground into mud. Although Lily wasn’t bothered by it, the army—even if they were elites with the lightest gear—were all affected and slowed down.
The front position didn’t carry any burdens. The soldiers carried their own rations and they would not encamp during the way. They would stop and rest on the spot in order to preserve the army’s mobility and agility.
“I’ll go ahead and check it out.” Since Lily had nothing else to do but to listen to the rain as long as she remained behind, she simply informed Kana before getting on the Demon Hound and rushed her way to the first part, which was several kilometers away.
“Lord Hiromasa.” Lily held her umbrella and rode her Demon Hound as she made her way to Hiromasa, who was riding a horse.
Lily’s personal grade 6 white horse was killed during her first battle with the demons. In the end, she realized that Demon Hounds were much more useful! Even if they were destroyed, they could be recreated using Resentment Energy.
“Why are you here, Lady Kagami?” Under the heavy rain, Hiromasa wore red-black armor and had no helmet. He was also drenched completely. He asked Lily loudly.
“Lord Hiromasa, haven’t you forgotten that I’m a solo swordswoman?” Lily smiled.
Hiromasa was naturally happy since Lily came to him. Hiromasa definitely liked Lily and admired her. However, It wasn’t to the extent that it was considered to be passionate. Of course, in order to dispel the rumors about him and a certain someone else in the capital city, he decided to treat Lily even better than before.
“Lady Kagami, what can I do for you?”
“Nothing really. Still, the front position is the most dangerous place to be. Lord Hiromasa, do you know how to deal with archdemons?” Lily asked.
Hiromasa said, “We are naturally not comparable if we fight them one on one. But in the vanguard, I have the best elites of the clan. Even the weakest soldier is a Late-Stage Sword Saint.”
“This army is composed of the best soldiers selected from the Taira Clan. They boarded Lord Iemori’s ship and only arrived yesterday. These samurai… they can split into small groups, dozens at most and a few at least in each group. All of these groups come from the same origins and have great cooperation. They can respectively form into small formations when they face an archdemon. These formations are not limited by terrain and are very flexible. Also, these numerous small formations can form into a singular, massive big formation. They can join and disconnect themselves at will. So, it’s especially suitable for mountainous battles!”
“The flatland warriors that we’ve dispatched previously have suffered great losses in the deep mountains. This time around, we sent the best mountain fighters in the clan. Even if a Throned Sovereign Archdemon is here, we’ll be strong enough to stall them and protect ourselves. With that, we’ll have enough time for the powerhouses in the back of the army to reinforce us.”
After listening to Hiromasa’s words, Lily was a lot more relieved.
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“Lord Hiromasa, if you’re really facing powerful enemies, I will be here to help.”
“Hehe, in that case… I thank you, Lady Kagami. However…”
“What is it?”
“Nothing…” Hiromasa’s desire was to become the knight in shining armor and rescue her. Not for Lily to come rescue him.
“Enemy attack!” Someone suddenly shouted in front.
“Demons?” Lily also felt immense Eldritch Energy coming from the front and held the handle of her sword.
“Lady Kagami, stand back for now. After all, we’re the vanguard. If we allow a girl to take the lead, it’ll be an insult to us, the clan’s elites! Please, Lady Kagami, let me show you our ability first!”
Hiromasa spoke as he pulled out his weapon and ordered, “Team one, formation!”
“Archer teams and Onmyo teams, follow-up. Team two, scatter and protect the archers and onmyoji! Rest of the teams, standby!”
Hiromasa rode his horse and rushed to the front, staying with the remaining teams on standby.
In the face of an enemy attack, Hiromasa didn’t rush in blindly. Instead, he observed the situation with several teams of agile soldiers in his command.
The first team with 100 or so people split up on the mountainous road. Many groups were formed with several people, each had ancient golden formations appearing under their feet.
Within a moment, the forest trembled and massive wolf demons emerged from the mountains and pounced at these warriors.
However, at this moment, the warriors were already prepared!
Within the formation, faint golden light emerged from each soldier and enhanced their strength. They also had clear roles to play and remained in their specific positions.
“Howl!” A Mid-stage Spirit Jade demon wolf which was about 3 meters long charged into an eight-man formation at the edge of the battlefield.
“Guard!” The soldiers grouped up, back to back, and pointed their spears outwards.
Wham! A faint golden light emitted. The demon wolf slammed forcefully and the soldiers trembled continuously. However, they supported each other and didn’t topple!
A group of seven soldiers was led by an Early-stage Spirit Jade soldier. They blocked the attack from a Middle-stage Spirit Jade demon wolf.
The other demon wolves were similar. All of them pounced onto those small formations but failed to overwhelm it. Those wolves were all in confusion as it happened.
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“Arrows!” Hiromasa shouted.
The 100 or so archers behind instantly let out volleys of spiritual arrows!
These arrows seemed to be carrying special vibrations that would automatically dodge their allies’ own formations.
Stab! Stab! Stab! Arrows impacted the demon wolves.
“Attack!”
Within those formations, the soldiers in advantageous positions received spiritual support from other soldiers. They used their spears and stabbed them into the wolves.
“Arf—!” Several demon wolves were penetrated with both arrows and spears, they died!
“Awesome.” Lily was spectating far away while riding the Demon Hound. She couldn’t help but sing praises in her heart.