As soon as Roman heard the news that the enemies had attacked, he realized that the fifth defensive line would not hold for long. 'The southern front is generally lacking in national defense awareness, but among them, the fifth defensive line is truly the worst due to Commander Baron Bruce.
With outdated equipment and a rotten mental state, even if they hold out, they won't last more than two hours.
I must arrive within at least one hour.'
This was the information from Lucas, and it was also mentioned in the book given by McBurney.
Time was of the essence.
Roman informed the officers of the reserve unit that he would go ahead and quickly moved with his soldiers.
It was about a two-hour distance from the reserve unit.
Logically, cutting that time in half was a very difficult task, but Roman's soldiers ran after him without a hint of complaint.
This was the moment when their training shone.
For the soldiers who had constantly climbed mountains with heavy gear, running on flat ground was nothing that would leave them breathless.
After running for a while, they soon reached the vicinity of the fifth defensive line.
At that moment, Roman stopped first upon seeing a man running towards them in a panic and signaled his soldiers to halt.
"Oh, it's the reserve unit!" the man exclaimed.
Baron Bruce.
To him, the reserve unit was like an oasis in the desert.
He wiped the sweat pouring down his face with his sleeve and approached Roman, saying, "Are you the commander of these soldiers? Let's skip the formalities and guide me to the rear. Right now, it is more important for me to inform the royal family about the dangers on the southern front than to assist the fifth defensive line."
He was still panting.
Roman observed Baron Bruce, who was looking down on him as if it were a matter of course. 'The commander of the fifth defensive line.' It was a face he had confirmed in the personnel list.
The problem was that he should not be here now that the war had broken out.
There were only two possibilities: either the fifth defensive line had already fallen, or he had fled alone.
"Baron Bruce. Why are you here alone without any troops?" "Baron Bruce?! Have I ever seen such an insolent brat? If you belong to the reserve unit, you are at best a minor noble, yet you dare speak to me in such a manner?" "It seems you are mistaken about something..."
Suddenly, Roman grabbed Baron Bruce by the collar.
His pitiful movements were meaningless.
Baron Bruce struggled to shake off Roman's grip, but the powerful hold kept him firmly in place.
Looking down at Baron Bruce, Roman Dmitri felt a chill in his heart.
The look in his eyes was far too fierce for Baron Bruce to bear.
Roman spoke, "The fact that you are here means one thing: the commander has abandoned his soldiers and fled. According to military law, deserters can be executed on the spot regardless of their rank. Do you understand what that means?" "You can't be..."
"It's not a 'can't be.'"
Swish! The wind blew.
Before Baron Bruce could even see Roman draw his sword, the blade glinted in the sunlight and sliced through his neck.
Baron Bruce's head fell to the ground, his face unable to accept death, frozen in a look of terror.
Thud.
Roman shook off the blood.
It was a shocking situation.
Killing a noble was a tremendous event, yet Roman's gaze remained calm as he looked at the body sprawled on the ground.
"If he had ordered a retreat and fled, he wouldn't have died by my hand."
This incident would not become a problem.
They were in the midst of a war.
The only witnesses were Roman's soldiers, who were not particularly shocked by the recent events.
During the process of breaking down Barco, Roman had shown the aspect of a predator.
Perhaps when Baron Bruce screamed, they too wished for the same outcome as now.
"Let's go."
Roman took the lead, and to keep up with him, the soldiers quickly followed, leaving Baron Bruce's corpse behind.
Only one hour had passed since the enemy's attack began.
It was still a time to take advantage of the defensive position, yet the fifth defensive line, with its gates breached, had turned into a hell of chaos.
Thud! "Cough."
"Kraaaah!" Screams echoed from all directions.
The soldiers of the Hector Kingdom ruthlessly slaughtered the soldiers of Cairo, and with enemies constantly pouring through the gates, deaths were occurring one after another.
There was no way to stop them.
The dusty magical weapons were unresponsive, and even if they shot arrows, enemies had already invaded the walls.
Still, the soldiers fought to the end.
Since Baron Bruce had commanded a desperate resistance, the only knight of the fifth defensive line, Stephen, swung his sword with all his might.
"Die!"
Thud! His face was drenched in the blood of the enemy.
Stephen, who was called a 'real soldier' in the fifth defensive line, cut down the enemies one after another.
Twelve soldiers had already met their end at the sharpness of his sword.
But there was no end in sight.
Seeing the endless stream of enemies, Stephen's mouth felt dry. 'Damn it, damn it.' It was over.
It was already a lost battle.
If the gates had remained intact, they might have held on, but once the gates opened, there was no way to stop the enemies.
'I knew a day like this would come.' Complacency was contagious.
Everyone knew that neglecting equipment and being careless in guard duty was wrong.
Yet, if everyone had acted carelessly for generations, people accepted it as a tradition.
The southern front was strong under the commander's power.
As a mere knight, Stephen could not change much, and accepting reality led to the current situation.
Crash! The walls crumbled down.
Enemies poured in through the broken walls.
Everything went dark.
Even with the advantage of defense, the fifth defensive line faced the crisis of collapse in less than an hour.
'I cannot let us be annihilated like this.
I must retreat and save the soldiers for the future.' He hurriedly searched for the commander.
Orders belonged to the commander.
He had intended to persuade Baron Bruce to retreat the soldiers, but no matter how he looked, he could not find the commander.
'Could it be...' Suddenly, the image of Baron Bruce running alone came to mind.
At that time, he had not thought of it as fleeing.
Could someone who was supposedly the commander of a defensive line run away without fighting properly? His blood ran cold.
Stephen instinctively sensed that this place was his death ground.
"You damn pig."
He could follow and flee.
But he did not want to.
Rather than abandoning everyone to save himself, he thought it was honorable to fight to the end and die.
"Graaaah!" He charged with his sword, cutting down enemies one after another.
After all, he was already a dead man.
Baron Bruce would not let the survivors go quietly, and there was even less reason to spare important figures like Stephen.
He felt at ease.
Accepting death, Stephen continued to take lives, even as wounds multiplied on his body.
Swish! He sliced through an enemy's flesh.
He felt the life extinguish through his sword, but in return, he was stabbed in the back with a spear.
Thud! "Cough."
Pain pierced through his mind.
Now, death was in front of him.
Just barely, he beheaded the soldier who had stabbed him, and as he looked at the sword falling from above, he thought, 'It's over.'
Now, it was his limit.
In that moment of accepting death, swoosh! A man with a sword appeared, splattering bright red blood everywhere.
When Roman arrived at the scene, the gates had already been breached.
There was no time to think.
He dashed forward and commanded his soldiers, "I will take the lead. Clear the enemies one by one and follow me."
It felt like a past life.
Cheonma Baekjunghyeok.
He always fought the enemies first at the forefront and achieved the great feat of conquering the martial world.
It was no different in this world.
He knew that if he could kill even one more, he could end the war with minimal damage.
Roman threw himself into the chaotic land and swung his sword at the enemies who spotted him.
Thud! The massacre had begun.
The first two soldiers who launched a surprise attack had their heads severed in an instant, and those who rushed at Roman fell to the ground, splattered with blood in the blink of an eye.
It was overwhelming power.
Like a lone wolf among a flock of sheep, Roman swiftly advanced, cutting down every enemy he encountered.
He did not rush.
He maintained a proper distance from his soldiers, and naturally, most of the blades that should have been aimed at the soldiers were focused on Roman.
"That, that monster!" "Kill that guy!" The soldiers of Hector knew that Roman was no ordinary person.
They all attacked him at once, but no matter how many numbers charged at him, it was the Hector Kingdom that became the corpses.
In just five minutes, Roman had slain dozens of soldiers.
Blood dripped from his sword, and he too was soon drenched in blood.
At that moment, Roman's gaze fell upon a man fighting desperately against the enemies. 'Stephen?' A figure from the personnel list.
According to Lucas's information, if he was assigned to the fifth defensive line, Stephen was said to have some value.
Thus, Roman quickly made a decision.
He cut down the enemies blocking his path.
And at the moment Stephen accepted death, he swung his sword and beheaded the enemy attacking him.
Thud! Thud.
The head rolled on the ground.
There was no time to introduce themselves.
Many enemies had already entered the walls, and Roman continued to cut down the enemies rushing at him without rest.
"What... is this?" Stephen was stunned.
He could not accept that he was still alive, and the sight of Roman slaughtering the enemies was shocking.
Was there such a person on the southern front? In his confused mind, a name suddenly came to mind.
"Roman Dmitri. He is supposed to be assigned to the reserve unit of the fifth defensive line."
It was what Baron Bruce had told him that morning.
Stephen could not honestly accept the existence of Roman Dmitri upon hearing that a ranker was being assigned to the southern front.
Rankers were strong.
Frankly, he thought that someone like Roman Dmitri should be needed more on the western front, and if he truly cared about the kingdom's safety, he should not be assigned to the fifth defensive line.
However, that was a misconception.
Seeing how quickly Roman had arrived, Stephen realized how hard he had run.
Thud! "Grrr."
He finished off the last remaining enemy nearby.
Roman wiped the blood off his sword and approached Stephen, saying, "Are you Stephen?"
"Yes."
"Baron Bruce is dead. From now on, you are in charge here, and based on your years of service in the fifth defensive line, tell me what methods are necessary to defend this place. If you believe there is no hope, then I, Roman Dmitri, as the commander of the reserve unit, will order a full retreat of the troops."
It was a bewildering situation.
His mind could not organize itself.
Roman sought Stephen's advice based on 'experience,' and Stephen, after a brief but careful consideration, said, "... In fact, this battle has already tilted heavily in favor of the enemy. Logically, retreating would be the right decision, but that would give the enemies an advantageous position. Behind the southern front flows a river. They need to secure a route for supply troops in case the war drags on, and if they do not capture the five defensive lines, they cannot prolong the war."
As he spoke, he organized his thoughts.
At first, he thought they should give up.
But the more he spoke, the more he could not abandon this place.
If so, they needed to turn the tide somehow.
"There is only one way. We must stop the enemies from pushing through the gates any further. The gap in the broken walls is not very wide, but the gates are different. If we can secure just ten minutes, we can use the reserve barricades to at least temporarily block the enemies' entry."
It was the only method.
Once all the enemies entered the castle, there would be no chance of victory.
Stephen knew it was a very difficult choice, yet he spoke the best option considering the future situation.
However, no matter how he thought about it, it seemed impossible.
In a situation where countless enemies had already rushed into the castle, how could they break through and secure the gates?
At that moment, Roman spoke without hesitation, "From now on, I will secure space to set up the barricades. You, right now, move the troops to prepare the barricades."
At those words, Stephen could only widen his eyes.