The Lutania army that appeared was about a thousand strong.
In times of war, a force that small could only be a scout team.
"Fenris… mobile army."
With his keen eyesight, Leonard quickly identified them.
Each soldier was clad in flawless full-plate armor. Engraved on the armor was the emblem of a wolf.
It was undoubtedly the Fenris mobile army.
They didn't approach the village directly. Instead, they positioned themselves at a considerable distance, creating a wide encirclement around the village.
With such spacing, the encirclement couldn't be tight. Naturally, it appeared thin and patchy.
"Hm…"
As Leonard observed silently, his subordinate spoke beside him.
"What should we do? We far outnumber them. If we fight, we have the advantage."
Even though only half their forces had arrived, they still had 5,000 soldiers. If they decided to break through, they could easily do so.
"If you lead us, leader, we could even annihilate them."
If Leonard personally joined and commanded, their strength would be greatly enhanced.
While he hated exposing himself, once Leonard took the field, he had never lost.
Despite this, Leonard was cautious.
"Let's watch a little longer."
His reluctance to act was similar to Hellnik's, but the reasons were different.
Hellnik was fearless, confident in his abilities. His necromancer fighting style didn't require him to exert himself unnecessarily.
Leonard, however, was different. He wasn't deliberately trying to exhaust the enemy like Idun either.
Leonard was a man who only moved when he was absolutely certain he could cut off the enemy's lifeline—truly wolf-like in nature.
This meticulousness and caution were what had allowed the Revolutionary Army to survive until now.
"Why aren't they moving?"
Leonard tilted his head in confusion.
The mobile army merely surrounded the village and did nothing else. The villagers, having spotted them, were already in a state of panic.
The villagers were likely deliberating on what to do. The arrival of such a force surely meant their location had been exposed.
Leonard clenched and unclenched his hands as he pondered.
'If I assume the Duke Fenris is here…'
He'd heard countless warnings from Gartros about how dangerous the Duke Fenris was. His reputation for strength was widely known.
But Leonard was no ordinary man either—a superhuman who always concealed 30% of his strength.
'If I unleash my full potential… could I win?'
Even in Ghislain's previous life, opinions on Leonard's abilities were divided. This was because Leonard never fought head-on, always fleeing instead.
And yet, even the continent's seven strongest failed to capture him. People joked that Leonard might secretly be the continent's eighth strongest.
Such was the mystery surrounding Leonard.
'The odds are fifty-fifty… no, slightly in my favor if I join the fight.'
His side had five times as many troops. Including the villagers, the numbers would increase further.
If he ambushed part of the mobile army and hindered the Duke Fenris…
'It's worth a try.'
No matter how strong the mobile army was, not all of them were knights. His side also had plenty of knight-level and battle-hardened fighters.
Leonard usually avoided action unless the odds of victory were 80% or higher, but this prize was too tempting to pass up.
After triple-checking the escape routes for contingencies, Leonard slowly stood.
"I've always been curious about the skills of those people in the rumors… Let's strike from behind."
His subordinate grinned. From his perspective, it seemed doable.
"Understood. Once you make the first move, everyone will follow immediately."
Even now, Revolutionary Army members hidden throughout the village were beginning to emerge. They must have realized that they had been discovered.
As the revolutionaries gathered and formed ranks, the mobile army remained stationary, merely maintaining their encirclement.
To anyone watching, it looked as if they were intimidated by the superior enemy forces.
This setup encouraged the Revolutionary Army to attack rather than retreat.
Tension hung thick in the air between the two sides.
As Leonard stood and prepared to move, he felt a vibration and froze.
"Wait."
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
More troops were approaching. This time, it looked to be another thousand men, accompanied by numerous wagons.
Leonard frowned.
"The odds just dropped."
Two thousand mobile army soldiers could handle five thousand revolutionaries.
Leonard hesitated again. His rule was to never gamble on a fifty-fifty chance.
Yet he couldn't shake off the regret gnawing at him.
While he was lost in thought, the enemy began to act strangely.
"What? What are they doing?"
The mobile army, which had been surrounding the village, began grouping in threes and fours, assembling something. They seemed to be diligently connecting their long spears.
The revolutionaries in the village watched in a daze, curious about what was happening.
In no time, the mobile army had created strange constructs by linking their spear shafts.
The men with the wagons unloaded massive stones beside these constructs.
Leonard tilted his head in confusion, then widened his eyes in realization.
"Could it be…"
That rumored siege weapon? Was it real?
Before he could fully grasp the situation, the stones began flying toward the village.
Boom! Boom! BOOM!
"Ahhh! What is that?!"
The revolutionaries, who had been neatly gathered in the village square, were suddenly bombarded by stones.
Gathering in one spot made them perfect targets for a rock barrage.
The mobile army said nothing—no offer of surrender, no declaration of war, nothing.
As soon as they were ready, they simply unleashed their barrage, reducing the village to rubble.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Stonebrook Village—its people, its buildings—everything was being annihilated.
For the attackers, it was cathartic. For the victims, it was anything but.
"Scatter!"
"Run!"
"Get out of here!"
There was no way to withstand a stone bombardment in an open area.
There was nowhere to hide. The siege weapons were so powerful they destroyed buildings effortlessly.
The reason the mobile army had maintained a distant encirclement became clear—they needed the space for their siege weapons.
Stay still, and you'd be crushed by rocks. The revolutionaries scattered, attempting to flee.
But there was nowhere to go. The village was completely surrounded.
Those who fled were immediately caught and killed by the mobile army.
"Gahhh!"
"Spare me!"
"I surrender! I surrender!"
The mobile army showed no mercy. Even those who surrendered were not spared.
They simply killed everyone—those who fled and those who fought.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
All the while, the stone bombardment continued, as if they intended to erase this place completely.
Leonard was speechless at the absurd spectacle.
"…"
What kind of army starts by hurling rocks and demolishing everything in sight?!
But here it was. The Duke Fenris was even more brutal than the rumors suggested.
Leonard crouched again, the dense trees and foliage concealing him well.
His subordinate, visibly shaken, asked, "W-what should we do?"
"…"
The battle was already over. They should have attacked before the wagons arrived.
Hesitating and reorganizing their ranks had cost them their chance.
Though no one could have predicted such a reckless assault.
Leonard bit his lip several times before speaking.
"We retreat."
The odds of victory were gone. He wasn't foolish enough to cling to pride.
The two of them began to withdraw slowly.
Being on a remote mountainside, they were unlikely to be discovered. Still, they moved carefully to avoid detection.
After putting a significant distance between themselves and the village, heading in the opposite direction…
"There they are!"
A raven appeared, cawing loudly. Nearby, several more ravens gathered, looking oddly out of place in this mountain.
Leonard muttered with an incredulous expression.
"Ravens… talking?"
One of the Dark's clones, raven No. 3, cried out as it scanned the area.
"Did you think you could escape this great one…?"
Pop!
Leonard unsheathed his sword and, in an instant, slashed through the raven, causing it to burst.
Though the situation was baffling, Leonard didn't dwell on it for long.
He could feel it—a powerful presence rapidly approaching from afar.
"Run. If we're caught, we die."
"What?"
His subordinate, bewildered, stared at him. But Leonard ignored him and bolted ahead. His speed was so incredible, his subordinate struggled to keep up.
L-Leader! Leader! What are you even talking abou—"
The subordinate's cries faded into the distance as Leonard disappeared, far ahead, leaving him behind.
It was hard to run on the mountainside. There were too many obstacles. Something had clearly gone wrong, but he couldn't understand why.
They were in a position overlooking the Fenris army. Even if the Fenris forces spotted them, pursuing them would be difficult.
The subordinate ran as fast as he could, confident he could escape.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
Before he could spot it, a force tearing through trees and smashing rocks came charging toward them.
"Eek! Eeeeeek!"
Turning around, he was horrified. Something was chasing them at an incredible speed.
He gritted his teeth, pushing himself harder, but it was impossible to shake off.
Thud.
"Ugh!"
Leonard's subordinate was grabbed by the scruff of his neck and thrown down.
Ghislain laughed as he looked at the fallen man.
"Look at this guy. Already running away?"
"P-please, spare me!"
"Who are you?"
"I-I'm Leonard's adjutant!"
"Is that so?"
Ghislain immediately pulled out his hand axe and drove it into the adjutant's shoulder.
Crack!
"Arghhh!"
"Where did he go?"
"I don't know! I really don't!"
Crack!
"Aghhh! It's the truth!"
Ghislain licked his lips as he looked at the screaming adjutant.
It probably wasn't a lie. Leonard had always been like that, even in his past life.
During battles, Leonard was always hiding somewhere nearby, observing. If he had gathered this many troops, he must be around somewhere.
Even when Ghislain first stationed his forces, he had sent Dark to scout the surroundings, but they couldn't find him. Leonard was so cautious that his whereabouts were only revealed when he tried to flee.
"Do you have a fallback point if you retreat from here?"
When Ghislain asked Tarim, he'd said there wasn't one. They were to decide whether to regroup with the Artrode army or retreat, depending on the success of their ambush.
Still, since this man was Leonard's adjutant, Ghislain thought he might know more.
"N-no, there isn't! But…"
"But what?"
"If we lose the battle, we are ordered to regroup in the Grimwell Kingdom."
"Hmmm…"
Ghislain had heard that from Tarim too. These bandits were trained to survive, so scattering wouldn't hinder their ability to regroup.
"Well, if you have nothing else to say, just die."
"P-please, spare me!"
Crack!
Without further conversation, Ghislain swung his axe again.
There was no new information to be gained from this one.
It was a bit disappointing to let Leonard escape, but annihilating the Revolutionary Army's ambush unit was enough for now.
"Well, I never expected to catch him all at once anyway."
That was the problem when dealing with Leonard. He never fought directly. If he'd just show himself, Ghislain could capture him somehow.
At least Amelia had confronted armies head-on. She didn't sneak around watching the battles and then flee like Leonard did.
"I'll need to set a trap soon."
If they took down the Artrode Kingdom, Leonard would inevitably show up again. He'd probably skulk around like this, so a method to capture him was essential.
Ghislain clicked his tongue and descended the mountain. Beside him, Dark was chattering noisily.
"Damn it! My number 3 got destroyed! That guy's crazy fast! He's definitely a superhuman!"
Dark had taken many hits from superhumans before, enough to gauge their skill.
Ghislain laughed and asked, "What was it like being hit?"
"Stronger than the priests of the Salvation Church. Those guys were more like Pow! but this guy was Bam!—you know?"
"Hmmm, I see."
Ghislain didn't know Leonard's exact strength, having never faced him directly. He only knew the man was very strong.
As Ghislain casually chatted with Dark on their way down, knights appeared, dragging a man bound tightly.
The knights were making a commotion as they approached.
"My lord! Look at this one!"
"He's a big fish! A big one!"
"And he fights pretty well too!"
Judging by their disheveled state, the knights had struggled significantly. They bore wounds all over, their appearance messy.
Their captive fared far worse. Covered in blood, his body was so battered he couldn't even stand properly.
Ghislain had the knights lift the man's face for a closer look and was taken aback.
"This guy is…"
His face was so swollen it was unrecognizable.
It seemed he had been beaten to a pulp.
[T/L: I am in dire need of support. I will give discount to all those who will buy the rest of the chapters all together, so please support me the reader on my webnovel platform and read ahead chapters on my ko-fi page "RevengerScans" : https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]