Chapter 3 – Story 117: Battle of Holmenia 10 – Stampede
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What became visible beyond the gate of Holmenia as it opened wasn’t the small force Romania’s general had predicted. No, it was a swarm of tens of thousands of people. They quickly surged out of the gate like an avalanche while frantically roaring, “Down with Romania! Down with Romania!”
On top of that, the ones leading the charge were――
“D-Dinosaurians!?”
The race of half-man-half-dragon who was hailed as the strongest among the seven races inhabiting the continent of Seldeas. From the point of view of a human, they had such a huge frame that you’d need to look up to them. But, by no means was that just for show either. The strength generated by the muscles, forged to sustain the huge frame, was, to put it into one word, a menace. They were easily capable of ripping a human’s body apart with a single swing of their clawed arms.
Moreover, their burly bodies were covered in tough, scaled skin that wouldn’t allow even weak blades like knives to penetrate it. Just injuring them, with their bodies clad in natural armor, was already quite a feat in itself.
The famous imperial general Inkdias, who was said to have been active in the center of Seldeas in the past, wrote in his book that hand-to-hand combat against dinosaurians on the battlefield could be labeled as an unforgivable mistake. And he was pretty right about that.
But, on the flip side, the dinosaurians trusted their own strength too much. It was no exaggeration to describe it as an illness shared by the entire race.
Whenever it came to a fight against another race, the dinosaurians would simply charge the enemy to rout them. They didn’t even take a moment to come up with plans. Because they believed themselves to be the strongest regarding hand-to-hand combat, they would single-mindedly rush at the enemy. And for this very reason, it was easy to trap them.
The dinosaurians saw the human species as weak monkeys, and thus they’d immediately go along with any provocation, no matter how silly. Making them charge at you in such a way would allow you to shower them with arrows from a distance, where their claws wouldn’t reach, and then stab them to death with spears after surrounding them.
Because of all that, Inkdias described the dinosaurians as 「Foolhardy idiots who lack prudence. Even though you ought to fear their strength, there is no need to fear their race」.
This was the common understanding among the military commanders of the human species on Seldeas about dinosaurians. Of course, the same applied to the generals of Romania’s army too.
They had heard that fierce dinosaurians were following the Divine Son of Destruction, but they regarded them as entirely worthless. They even went so far as to brag that they’d just need to trap and then kill the dinosaurians.
However, right now, Romania’s army had been led into a trap. And the dinosaurians were currently heading straight for the Romanian soldiers.
The general realized just how foolish they had been in the past to have boasted that there was no need to fear dinosaurians. Facing them at this moment, he knew it was impossible to fight against such monsters in any ordinary way.
The general started to open his mouth, trying to say something, but an iron ball came flying at his head, scoring a direct hit. That ball had been thrown by a dinosaurian who was dashing at the very front of the horde coming out of Holmenia. Getting hit by an iron ball the size of a human baby’s head, the general’s helmet was squashed like thin paper and flung away. And the content of the helmet was crushed like a much too ripe tomato, scattering swathes of blood and gray matter.
The one who had thrown the deadly clump of iron was the man recognized as the strongest warrior under Souma (needless to say that he saw himself as the strongest anyway).
“I am Jahangil Hesam Jalji, Dragon General and a descendant of the honorable dragons!”
Jahangil roared while pushing out his chest in pride.
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“The first attack is going to decide the battle’s outcome!”
Souma had told Jahangil before the battle.
“I will incite the residents of Holmenia to fight with us. But that will be nothing more than a temporary stopgap measure. If they run into a steadfast defense of the enemy or suffer a counterattack, they will be blown apart in no time.”
Lying on his belly in front of Souma, Jahangil lightly snorted, making it evident that he had no interest in such matters. From his point of view, even trained human soldiers were nothing but small monkeys. Yet, he believed that he’d be able to rout the residents of the capital, who didn’t know how to hold a spear, by himself with ease. Jahangil even started to yawn, but Souma’s next words made the color in his eyes change.
“Accordingly, we will need your power, Jahangil.”
His tail had been leisurely shaking back and forth until then, but being asked to lend his strength, it stood on end as if it had an iron marrow. And then it powerfully bashed the ground once.
“What would you like me to do…?”
His tone made it clear that he wouldn’t permit any trivial requests.
Souma nodded once and said, “Please lead their charge and cut into Romania’s army straight from the front.”
It was said that even a flock of cowardly sheep would turn into wolves if led by a lion. So just how terrifying would that flock of sheep become if that lion were a ferocious, peerless dragon?
“Moreover, it’s not enough to simply fight and win! Don’t let a single enemy get close. Please stomp them into the ground with an overwhelming force and might! I think you’re the only one capable of that, Jahangil!”
Jahangil slowly got up in response to Souma’s words.
In the past, Solon told Souma to assign Jahangil a heavy responsibility rather than simply ordering him without listening to Jahangil’s opinion. Jahangil would get furious if you ordered him around. But the more expectations you had of him, the more he’d try to answer those by rousing himself and exhibiting his full might.
That analysis of Jahangil proved to be correct.
At this moment, not a trace of his previous listless mood could be seen in Jahangil. It had been replaced by a fighting spirit, accompanied by a fiery aura, which was now filling his body. In front of Jahangil, who was wrestling with himself to suppress the maelstrom of joy, excitement, and belligerence welling up from deep inside his core, Souma delivered the words that would release a terrifying dragon.
“I order thee, Dragon General Jahangil Hesam Jalji! Temporarily leave thine post as my personal guard and fight the enemy while standing at the head of the people!”
Jahangil released a roar of delight. And he answered Souma’s expectations more than enough. No, he went far beyond that.
Leaving his back to his three sons, Jahangil charged into the midst of Romania’s army and exhibited the full extent of his ferocity. Whenever he threw one of his iron balls, a human, alongside his armor, was turned into ground meat. Whenever he brandished his chains, several soldiers were mowed down at once. Furthermore, by just wielding his limbs, Romania’s soldiers were blown away like fallen leaves in a storm.
Yet, there existed some brave soldiers who would challenge him by thrusting out their spears. However, he didn’t even pay attention to those humans and overran them all.
In addition, following him were the dinosaurian warriors who were nowadays called Souma’s elite guards. They didn’t even number a hundred, but every single one of them could be rightfully called a match for a thousand. They charged into the enemy, who had been thrown into chaos by Jahangil, freely wielded their violence, and slaughtered Romanian soldiers without an end in sight.
And before long, all the Romanian soldiers, who had tried to rush into the capital, had been turned into chunks of flesh and pools of blood. It was a sight far too tragic to behold. Even the people of Holmenia, who tried to attack Romania’s army after following the dinosaurians, were flabbergasted by this. Fear and awe filled their eyes as they looked at the creators of this tragedy, the dinosaurians.
A single man rushed out of that crowd. He stepped over the Romanian corpses, ran up to Jahangil, and yelled, “Nothing less of you, Sir Jahangil! You’re truly invincible! I couldn’t imagine a more reliable ally to have on my side!”
Jahangil cheerfully snorted at the exaggerated praise by Marchronis. However, Marchronis hadn’t glazed Jahangil just to flatter him. The ones he truly wanted to hear his words were the residents of Holmenia who were standing behind them.
Marchronis thrust his right arm in the air after turning towards them, “People of Holmenia! Look at these Dinosaurian heroes! With them on our side, we have nothing to fear from the Romanian brutes!”
After being partly dumbstruck by Jahangil’s valiant courage, the people finally came to their senses thanks to Marchronis’s words. They feared the dinosaurians not only for their appearance but also for their harsh fighting style, which would remain forever unattainable for humans. But, remembering that those dinosaurians were their allies, their fear turned into relief to have such reliable forces with them. Moreover, Marchronis’s men raised their voices and thrust their arms into the air to bolster that change in opinion.
“There’s nothing to fear as long as they’re with us!”
“Right! We will send the Romanian scum packing together with them!”
“These people are our allies! Our allies!”
Lured by those words, the people of Holmenia also started to cheer.
“Such strong people are our allies, huh!?”
“This is truly promising!”
“Ooohhh! This’s amazin’!”
Being surrounded by people and being extolled like that didn’t feel bad to Jahangil, despite him considering humans nothing more than weak monkeys. He folded his arms and straightened his back before releasing a conspicuously strong snort.
“I shall scatter the enemies! You may follow me!”
With those words, Jahangil and the dinosaurians charged at the remaining soldiers of Romania’s army, who had watched all of this from a distance while scared.
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