Her Majesty’s Swarm - Volume 4 - Chapter 9

The Battle for the Hapul Wetlands

Northwest of the Eastern Trade Union was a strip of wetlands called Hapul. It was an area abundant with nature but ill-suited for an army. The soldiers’ boots would sink into the swampy terrain, slowing the army’s march.

This greatly slowed down the Nyrnal army. Their soldiers were all heavy infantry meant to fight effectively against the Swarm, and the weight of their armor easily dragged their legs down into the squishy soil. Presumably, this would be the most difficult obstacle in their way.

“Why are we even spreading our army thin like this?”

“Hell if I know. The higher-ups told us to.”

Nyrnal’s own foot soldiers didn’t know why their country was so obsessed with expanding their borders. The Empire had claimed the former Kingdom of Maluk and was in the process of invading the Dukedom of Schtraut. Nyrnal had also attacked the Popedom of Frantz, and now the Eastern Trade Union.

The Empire was launching too many wars. As powerful as Nyrnal’s military might be, it could only fight on so many fronts.

“Walking through these wetlands is so difficult.”

“I think the elephants feel the same way.”

Nyrnal’s army included a unit of battle elephants. Their bodies were covered in heavy armor, and they marched as a symbol of unrivaled strength. But now, their legs were sinking into the muck, and they couldn’t advance properly.

“Yeah. I wish this war would just end already...”

“I wanna go home. I’ve had it with having to march through foreign countries for so long.”

Even as they complained, Nyrnal’s soldiers obeyed their orders and marched on.

Just then, a soldier paused. “Hey, did you just hear something?”

“You must be hearing things,” his comrade replied. “I didn’t—”

Before he could finish, a shower of arrows rained down on the battlefield, gouging into the Nyrnal soldiers’ flesh. Even the heavy infantry couldn’t fully defend themselves from the arrows.

“Don’t falter! Keep going! The enemy’s close by!” the commander called out, ordering Nyrnal’s infantry unit to keep marching.

But neither the soldiers nor the battle elephants could move quickly in this terrain. The arrows continued raining down on the army. The infantry toppled over, and the battle elephants rampaged blindly in pain. Their stampede trampled the Nyrnal infantry underfoot. Chaos reigned over Nyrnal’s lines.

“What are you doing?! Keep moving! March!” The commander desperately barked orders, but they fell on deaf ears.

“March, march!”

One group of heavy infantry managed to break through the wetlands, barely holding on to their shields to block the incoming arrows. When they emerged, it wasn’t the Swarm who awaited them.

“One-Eyed Black Wolf Brigade, charge!”

Instead, they were met with a group of mercenaries—light infantry armed with halberds. The mercs formed a line and charged toward Nyrnal’s soldiers.

“Fight back!”

“They’re just infantry! We’re not up against the Arachnea here! Crush them!”

Nyrnal’s soldiers were relieved to see that they weren’t fighting the Arachnea, but that feeling was short-lived.

“Teach Nyrnal’s dogs to fear us! Charge!” ordered their leader, Konrad.

The mercenaries thrust their halberds on Nyrnal’s soldiers. Even heavy infantry couldn’t completely block an attack from such heavy weapons. The halberds tore into their flesh, sending them toppling to the ground.

“Why are you so slow?!” the Nyrnals’ commander barked at them. “The enemy’s right in front of us!”

“But sir! We can’t move that quickly with this heavy armor!” a soldier replied.

Indeed, the heavy infantry were essential units for keeping the Ripper Swarms in check, but they were too slow for typical close-quarters combat. Their inability to move swiftly allowed Konrad’s men to take them out one by one.

“Crossbowmen! Pelt them with bolts!” Konrad shouted to his ranged mercenaries.

The crossbowmen deployed behind the halberdiers, taking aim at Nyrnal’s soldiers.

“Fire!”

At Konrad’s order, the crossbowmen unleashed their bolts. Their barrage swooped down on Nyrnal.

“Gah!” a soldier called out as a well-aimed bolt pierced his skull.

“Those dogs! What are our crossbowmen doing?!”

Crossbows had proven effective against the Ripper and Genocide Swarms, and they were just as lethal against heavy infantry. Some soldiers toppled over with their heads shot through. Others were shot through the heart and collapsed, puddles of blood pooling beneath them.

The Nyrnal commander’s subordinate turned toward him. “Our own crossbowmen are still in the back row! They’re still trying to wade through the wetlands!”

“Then have them hurry up! At this rate, they’ll wipe us out!” the commander howled in frustration.

“Now it’s time! Cavaliers, charge!” Konrad shouted, his horse letting out a loud neigh.

“Cavaliers?! Mere mercenaries have cavaliers?!”

The cavaliers Konrad led were lightly armored and carried simple lances. The sound of their horses’ hooves thundered as they charged at the Nyrnal soldiers who’d only just emerged from the wetlands.

“Assume anti-cavalry maneuvers! I repeat, anti-cavalry maneuvers! Surround them!” the Nyrnal commander ordered as the cavaliers sprang into action.

But by now, Nyrnal’s infantry unit was so greatly weakened by the halberdiers and crossbowmen that they couldn’t defend themselves properly.

The cavaliers raised their voices in a battle cry. “Chaaaarge!”

“Raaaaah!”

They charged into Nyrnal’s infantrymen, thrusting their lances to skewer the enemy soldiers. Blood danced through the air. Even the soldiers who held up their shields to deflect the cavaliers’ charge were eventually stabbed from behind. They fell to the ground, their corpses trampled by the horses.

“Commander, our crossbowmen have arrived!”

“It’s too late already. Far too late!”

By the time Nyrnal’s crossbowmen arrived on the scene, the heavy infantry had been wiped out.

“At least bring the battle elephants over! They’ll make these curs pay!”

A few of Nyrnal’s battle elephants escaped in the chaos of battle, but even so, there were still over a hundred of them left. If they were to charge into the enemy lines, they would trample the soldiers. The halberdiers wouldn’t be able to block them.

“Crossbowmen, prepare to fire! Battle elephants, forward!” Nyrnal’s commander ordered.

At his order, the Nyrnal crossbowmen began firing and the battle elephants surged ahead. The elephants threatened to crush the Eastern Trade Union’s soldiers with their tremendous bodies. However...

“All forces, evade!”

At the last second, the halberdiers moved away, avoiding the battle elephants’ charge.

“What?! They dodged them?!”

Unlike cavaliers, battle elephants couldn’t make sharp turns. Once they began charging, they could only keep moving in one direction. Evading an attack with a clear trajectory was mere child’s play.

“Hit them from the flanks! Take out the elephants!” Konrad cried.

The halberdiers pierced the elephants’ hides. The war beasts trumpeted in pain and fell to the ground, thrashing.

“I saw you use battle elephants plenty of times during when you unified the south, so I know all about these things.” Konrad sneered at the Empire’s men. “Try something new for a change, you Nyrnal shitheads. Go on, what’s your next move?”

With both their heavy infantry and war elephants wiped out, the Nyrnal army had only its crossbowmen left.

“Dammit! Retreat! Find a way around!”

“Roger!”

And so, Nyrnal’s army began retreating. The crossbowmen fired at the Eastern Trade Union troops to keep them at bay, and then fell back to the wetlands again.

“Don’t let them get away! After them! Teach these Nyrnal bastards a lesson!”

Unlike Nyrnal’s heavy, sluggish infantry, Konrad’s mercenaries were lightly armored and swift on their feet. They ran off in hot pursuit of the enemy crossbowmen. Once Nyrnal’s soldiers found themselves slowed by the bog yet again, their fate should have been sealed...but things weren’t that simple.

A howl shook the sky as something swooped down from above.

“Dammit! Wyverns! Aerial defenses! Set up aerial defenses!”

Wyverns, the Nyrnal military’s pride and joy, descended on Konrad’s mercenaries. The mercenaries held up their shields, bracing themselves to block the attack from above.

The impact of their attack shook the air. Twelve wyverns blew fire at once, roasting the mercenaries alive. Their fire breath couldn’t be stopped by a mere shield. Their jets of fire set the ground aflame, burning the halberdiers and crossbowmen to a crisp.

“Crossbowmen! Fire!”

Having finished their nosedive, the wyverns soared back up to the sky as the mercenary crossbowmen shot in their direction. A few of the bolts hit their targets, causing the wyverns to shriek in pain and shake off their riders.

Still, the damage they took was relatively insignificant. As the wyverns flew away, largely victorious, the Nyrnal crossbowmen threw away their weapons and fled.

“Damn those wyverns,” Konrad cursed under his breath. “We’ll lose this war if we can’t handle them.”

“We’re supposed to handle those things?” blurted a panicked soldier beside him.

“Yeah. If it weren’t for them, the fight would be even, but we can’t shoot those things out of the sky without a ballista. And having to assemble ballistae on the field all the time is basically impossible.”

Hearing those words, the Arachnea’s queen smirked at Konrad.

“Then it’s our turn,” she said.