Chapter 3 – Story 67: The Humiliation of Sunomuta 7 – Stone Throwing

<– Previous Chapter | ToC | Glossary | Next Chapter –>

Short Update:

Currently 14 people are supporting Hakai no Miko as patrons. I’m willing to increase the release rate to weekly on Patreon, if we hit 25, and apply the same to the public blog, if we hit 40 (that one I promised before). Likewise I’m going to drop the public release rate to monthly if we go below 10.

Why? Because I’d think that asking a few folks of the hundreds reading this series to support my work with a coffee or two per month isn’t asking that much. And if it is, then I should fill the slot with another series instead. By the way, as bonus you get to read ahead, and you also get access to the other series on that Patreon.

And no, of course I’m not asking those who cannot afford to pay Patreon. If you’re one of those readers, please be as kind to at least spread the word among your community about this great series. Thanks! 🙂

What the zoan retrieved from their waist belts were spindle-shaped leather belts with the center part being the thickest while the belt kept getting narrower towards the sides. A loop had been added to one end. The zoan passed their right hand through the loop before firmly clasping the belt itself.

Next they picked up the fist-sized stones laying at their feet and placed those on the central part of the belt. They wrapped up the stone in the middle by folding the leather belt in two, and after putting the overlapping ends together, they firmly grasped the belt and started to swing it around by widely rotating their arm.

“Those brutes…don’t tell me…!” General Numitos was startled by that sight.

In front of him, the zoan timed the direction of the stone and let go of the belt’s ends when the stone had picked up enough centrifugal force, hurling the projectile towards the heavy spear infantry. Capitalizing on the momentum behind the throws, the stones shot at the Holmean soldiers with tremendous speed.

“S-Stones incoming! Block them with your shields!”

The stones rained down on the soldiers while General Numitos was still shouting.

This was a means of attack Souma had thought up for the zoan to fight the dense formation of Holmea’s heavy spear infantry. The overwhelming disadvantage weighing down on the zoan when having to face a dense formation of heavy spear infantry was the length of the spears. The zoan’s machete usually had a length of around thirty to fifty selch (approximately 30 – 50 cm). In contrast to that, the spears of the heavy spear infantry possessed a length of around four to five melt.

Just this alone made it already clear that the heavy spear infantry could attack the zoan outside the range of the zoan’s machetes. Moreover, the dense formation used by the infantry unit basically meant nothing short of suicide if the zoan attempted to fight the spear wall from the front.

‘But, in that case we just need to have a weapon allowing us to attack from outside the range of the soldiers’ spears.’ That solution sounded awfully simple, but it was a thinking completely based on the logic of modern weapons development. In reality, the question of just what the zoan should use as a weapon posed quite a problem.

The zoan’s distinctive trait was to be found in their running speed. Bulky, long or heavy weapons as well as bows and throwing spears were out of the question as they’d get in the way of the zoan’s running.

Accordingly, Souma narrowed it down to slings. Since slings were ranged weapons, you could use them to attack across much further distances than any spear could stab. Besides, slings would only require the zoan to hold onto a small leather band. Something that wouldn’t hinder the zoan from running. Since any random stone lying around on the ground could be used as a projectile, munition supply wouldn’t trouble the zoan either. On top of that, slings were far easier to handle than bows, which required a certain degree of mastery, if you didn’t need to aim very precisely. And above all else, the zoan, who generally slighted archery, were open to accept slings, just as they had already participated in the stone throwing during the Decisive Battle of Bolnis.

But, all of this didn’t mean that you could look down on stone throwing at all. The small shepherd David defeating the giant soldier Goliath with a stone throw was one of the famous examples for this. Even on Earth, stone throwers used to be regarded as excellent weapons in old times.

Not to mention the fact that zoan, who had a lot more physical strength than humans, were the ones doing the throwing here.

Although shields could easily block arrows, things became completely different when it came to stones which were a lot heavier than arrows. Each and every thrown stone caused a heavy impact on a shield, numbing the arm behind it. Moreover, the shield was shattered, depending on where the stone hit. And, whenever such stones were to hit the body, they break bones and burst flesh even from atop helmets and armor.

Even the Holmean heavy spear infantry, which was widely known as fearsome corps among neighboring countries, experienced mounting numbers of casualties as they were unable to endure this hail of stones.

“Argh, damn it! Don’t fear some dumb stone throwing! There is nothing to fear as long as we can close the distance!”

Just as General Numitos pointed out, slings were weapons that required time for reloading and generating enough centrifugal force before being thrown. Hence, the soldiers would just need to close the distance during that downtime.

Or so he thought.

But, because the heavy spear infantry had solidified its defense against the zoan stone throwing, the dense formation, which was already slow under normal circumstances, had now adopted the pace of a snail. At this rate, they had a very long way left until they’d reach the zoan who were continuing to throw their stones.

Despite that, the infantry slowly but steadily shortened the distances, even while suffering casualties. And then they finally reached a distance you could describe as just a little bit further to go.

“Everyone, fall back!”

Alongside Garam’s order, his adjutant Shishul hit her drum next to him. In response, the zoan dropped their stones, turned around, went down on all four, and started to flee all at once.

This maneuver took General Numitos completely by surprise. Furthermore, if you compared the Second Division’s dense formation with a turtle, the zoan were running away at the speed of a rabbit.

Although Holmea’s heavy spear infantry had finally clawed its way in range, their enemy ran on them in no time. And after opening up more than ample distance again, Garam put on hard brakes and yelled, “All hands, stop! Begin the attack!”

Once again Shishul used her drum━━━━this time with a different rhythm━━━━to inform Garam’s order to the whole zoan army. The zoan warriors reacted at once. They stopped and began to throw stones again.

Being able to move as one unit with a single drum order was a unique ability of the zoan. From early childhood, the zoan would play various games such as jumping, running left and right, sitting down and standing up in tune with drumming rhythms. Those games allowed the zoan children to memorize the different drum tempos and rhythms. For this reason, their bodies now moved instinctively the instant they heard certain rhythms.

Seeing such a systematic stone throwing attack performed so unexpectedly well, General Numitos flew into range, only able to stomp his feet in frustration.

“Y-You goddamn cowards!! Fight us properly, you wimps!!”

It was only natural for General Numitos to take that view. In this era victory in battle was decided by both army’s main force’s clashing directly. Because of that, the army of any country would always equip its infantry, their main force, with the best armor and strongest weapons, even going as far as getting the state to assist with extra budgets, so that they’d be able to fight under better conditions than the infantry of enemy nations. And as the eras passed, the infantry’s equipment kept getting heavier, eventually resulting in the birth of a soldier unit referred to as heavy infantry.

The heavy infantry, which received the best, state-sponsored equipment, also served as a symbol of national power in manufacturing skill and financial clout. The question of how many of such heavy infantry units an army could deploy usually decided over victory or defeat in war.

Also, the strategy of using dense formations, which had advanced to being one of the main military doctrines in the West, was centered around heavy infantry, showing just how important a role heavy infantry held within armies.

However, the strategy employed by the zoan right now was the complete opposite. Without directly clashing with the enemy, the zoan kept attacking one-sidedly while maintaining a certain distance. Even if Holmea’s heavy infantry tried to drag the zoan into close combat, they’d never be able to catch up with the zoan, who were by nature as fast as horses, on top of their equipment being so light that it couldn’t be even compared with heavy infantry.

At this point, General Numitos realized that the zoan had knowingly headed out much further than the other army divisions for the sake of leaving some space to retreat. As such, it was understandable for General Numitos to label them as cowards.

However, some among the zoan also wished to gain honor on the battlefield by brandishing their own machetes and taking down their enemies in a bloody melee. Even if this strategy caused the zoan to suffer no losses, in the end just throwing stones at the enemy created discontent among the warriors. If they were insulted as cowards on top of that, it naturally caused them to get very pissed.

“We have especially gone out of our way to go back to our childish innocence and have some fun by playing with stones! You don’t need to be sold and unkind about it!” Zurgu, the red-furred giant, jeered, “Here! It’s a stone throwing contest! The Holmean turtles have shown up to get squashed by stones!”

Zurgu threw his stone while cracking jokes, before opening his mouth widely in a roaring laughter. This caused the warriors, whose blood had risen to their heads due to General Numitos’s provocations, to suddenly chuckle as well. Together with that laughter, the zoan started to hurl provocations at the Holmean soldiers.

“Right, right! Come and play with us, turtles!”

“Don’t bunch up like that as dudes, and come have fun with us instead!”

The zoan put even more force into their stone throwing. The atmosphere between the warriors had changed. Garam could palpably sense that.

Just moments ago, the hotblooded folks were on the verge of drawing their machetes and charging at the Holmeans. But, Zurgu’s laughter had taken the wind out of their sails, and in addition, changed the warrior’s mood. Garam believed that he wouldn’t be able to achieve something like this.

《Ferocious Fang》 Garam and 《Mad Claw》 Zurgu, both great men extolled as representatives of the plains, were born in the same generation and served as leaders of their respective clans. The question of who of those two excelled more was the hottest topic not only among the zoan themselves, but also between the other races under Souma’s command.

Moreover, Garam, who was one of the parties concerned here, couldn’t help but constantly be conscious of this. Of course, Garam was confident enough to state that he wouldn’t lose to Zurgu when it came to individual bravery. However, at the same time Garam was also aware that he fell behind Zurgu when it came to sense the finer changes in the flow and immediately deal with them during big battles like this one.

In later years, when Souma was asked to name the superior commander between those two, he would instantly answer with Zurgu.

“Zurgu smells the scent of a battlefield. He’s one of the rare commanders who will instinctively adopt the most ideal measure to deal with a situation. I don’t know any commanders who excel that man. I’ll always deploy Zurgu in battles I must win at all costs. He’s definitely my strongest general.”

As if proving those words, Souma would later grant Zurgu huge military discretion and allow him to freely fight as commander of a dedicated assault force. Zurgu would answer that trust by performing many great achievements, earning him the title of bravest general under the Divine Son of Destruction.

The one sensing that talent to command before anyone else was doubtlessly Garam. But, no jealousy was to be found there. In the past Garam had regarded Zurgu as a bitter enemy, but nowadays his judgment had changed into reliable comrade-in-arms and worthy rival. This was the outcome of the idea of trying to learn from Zurgu’s conduct instead of denying it outrightly having budded inside Garam.

For this reason, Garam imitated Zurgu and laughed alongside him.

“A stone-throwing contest, eh? I couldn’t do that while I was a kid even though I wanted to do it. For me to be able to catch up on that truly is a windfall!”

“What, you’re not playing that game much in the Fang Clan?”

Garam smiled bitterly at Zurgu, “Everyone hated me joining the game.”

Zurgu burst into loud laughter, without even having to act, when he heard this.”

“Figures! You don’t even know how such games work! I’m pretty sure you threw the stones at full power at all the kids!”

Garam stood out in physical ability since his early childhood. It was unthinkable for other children to be keen to have a stone-throwing contest with Garam.

Seemingly having been reminded of such events due to Zurgu’s remark, Garam frowned testily, which caused the zoan to break into loud laughter.

At that point any negative feelings towards stone throwing had already vanished amidst the zoan warriors. Not only Zurgu who was famous for being adventurous in his thinking, but even Garam, a hero gathering a lot of envy from the other zoan warriors, were proactively throwing stones at the enemy. This made it very hard for anyone to speak up against it.

As a matter of fact, there existed a continuation to Souma’s future word where he had labeled Zurgu as the strongest general.

“I’ll deploy Garam in battles I must not lose no matter what. His proud way of fighting and his gallant figure draws the popularity of many warriors to him, regardless of race. Under him many warriors will fight for us without hesitating to give their lives. He has the genuine caliber of a marshal.”

In addition to all that, the stone-throwing attack by the zoan definitely caused losses among the heavy spear infantrymen. Due to them being one-sidedly attacked, Zurgu laughed loudly, shouting, “Man! Even though we were somewhat wary of you because you’re called Holmea’s strongest army corps, you’re a total disappointment!

However, Garam rebuked Zurgu with a grim face, “Don’t take the enemy too lightly, Zurgu.”

Due to that warning, Zurgu suppressed his laughter and said with a voice quiet enough so that the other zoan wouldn’t hear it, “Yeah, I know even without you telling me.”

Zurgu had already realized what Garam was trying to tell him. And yet he further ridiculed the enemy to encourage their side’s warriors.

“The folks confronting us right now aren’t wearing black is what you want to say, right?”

It was just as Zurgu pointed out. The color of the heavy spear infantry that was getting showered by their stones was red and light brown as they wore bronze and leather. It wasn’t the same black as the one used for the equipment of Holmea’s strongest army corps, which had butchered Zurgu’s ancestors more than thirty years ago.

“Yeah, it looks like those guys haven’t come out yet.”

◆◇◆◇◆

Hiakis’s eyes also caught how General Numitos struggled in the front row. Given that General Numitos, one of Alexius’s lackeys, had gone as far as directly begging Hiakis to entrust him with the front row, Hiakis had humored him, but now he could only curse at General Numitos’s cowardly and tame way of fighting.

A single runner galloped his horse towards Hiakis, just as he snickered at General Numitos deplorable performance.

“Message! Message!”

The number of people who would send a runner under these circumstances was limited. If they came from behind, it’d point to Alexius, but this messenger came from the front. In that case, it could only be his hotblooded colleague.

“I came with a report from Regimental Commander Gaius to Deputy Corps Commander Hiakis!”

Just as Hiakis had expected, the messenger hailed from one of the three regimental commanders in the mid-row.

“He say, 『I’m already tired of watching the brats fooling around. Hurry up and deploy us to the front』!”

Those words were blunt and bloodthirsty as typical for Gaius. Hiakis chuckled lightly at the messenger passing on Gaius message while imitating his tone.”

“Very well. ――Tell the hotblooded idiot: Show them that we are the strongest!”

Regimental Commander Gaius, who listened to those words from the messenger after he returned to the regiment, was such a big man that foulmouthed folks ridiculed him for having descended from man-eating ogres. Gaius bent his huge frame on his horse, and with his stiff beard that covered the lower half of his face trembling, he cackled loudly.

“Spewing some nonsense while being the likes of a helmet holder, aren’t we!? It goes without saying that we’re the strongest!”

Gaius let his horse gallop in front of the mid-row while thrusting his thick, right arm high into the air and yelling at the soldiers, “What are we!?”

The heavy spear infantrymen in all black answered in a chorus, “”We are the 『Black Wall』! We become Holmea’s 『Black Wall』!””

Gaius further asked, “What is the 『Black Wall』!?”

“”A wall that will never break! An indestructible barrier!””

“What means indestructible!?”

“”We won’t be defeated by anything! We are invincible!””

“Then we’re truly Holmea’s strongest! The strongest, invincible army corps 『Black Wall』!”

“”Yeah! Yeah! Yeaaaahh!””

The soldiers thrust their spears in the air, shouting.

“Now then, let us head out, men! We shall show the whole world that we’re Holmea’s strongest army corps!”

The 3,000 heavy spear infantrymen of the mid row started to move under the command of Regimental Commander Gaius.

<– Previous Chapter | ToC | Glossary | Next Chapter –>

Translation Notes: