Reincarnate as the Villainess's Husband - Chapter 86

Chapter 86: Battle of Donkeys(2)
The battlefield was silent. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and massive beasts waited in this silence with the calm before a storm. The wind gently rustled the banners on the Hindonpon side, and the vapor from the breaths of the Konotger beasts was visible in the cold air.

Neonidas stood motionless on his horse at the very back of his army. His eyes were resolute, his face hard and expressionless.

The black horse beneath Neonidas stomped impatiently, the rhythmic sound occasionally breaking the surrounding silence, as if heralding the approaching storm.

Although the sky was clear, the faint mist on the horizon added an eerie unease to the battlefield. A thin fog spread across the ground, proclaiming the cold of the earth that would soon be soaked with the bodies of the fallen in this vast arena.

On the opposing side, the shields of the Hindonpon Kingdom’s forces gleamed as they reflected the sunlight, while the massive Konotger beasts cast menacing shadows on the ground. Each of these creatures moved restlessly, shifting their weight as if impatient for the battle to begin, their chains clinking and deep growls resonating through the air.

The scene was quite different on the imperial army’s side. Thousands of donkeys, chained together and laden with bundles of straw and wood, stood motionless in the front lines. The soldiers standing among them wore tense expressions; some were drenched in sweat, others whispered prayers, while a few stared into the void, attempting to accept the inevitable.

This peculiar formation had already planted seeds of fear in the hearts of some soldiers before the battle even began. Yet at that moment, Neonidas’s silent authority reigned supreme. Without his command, no one moved, and no one dared to speak.

As the wind lightly fluttered Neonidas’s cloak, he recalled the words he had spoken in the tent earlier.

“We will either win or die.”

This simple truth weighed heavily on every soul in his army. Yet while some were crushed under its weight, others drew inner strength from Neonidas’s sharp and resolute demeanor.

In the rear lines, archers checked their bows while mages muttered their final incantations. Allea, standing amidst the mages, had her eyes fixed on the massive Konotger beasts in the distance. The cool determination in her gaze was familiar to those who knew her. Yet deep inside, she was silently hoping that Neonidas’s seemingly insane plan would somehow turn into a miracle.

One of the Hindonpon generals, seated on his horse, cast a disdainful glance toward the opposing side.

“This formation… It’s not a battle, it’s a massacre,” He murmured.

General Velmar leaned toward his subordinate. “Begin!”

The war horns sounded. The long, deep notes echoed through the mountains, opening the gates to war.

The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck, signaling that the Konotger beasts were charging forward. Neonidas had a faint smile on his face as he raised his hand into the air. While his hand remained suspended, every gaze turned toward him. The moment that would determine the fate of the battle stretched on like an endless silence. Then, with a sharp motion, his hand came down.

At Neonidas’s command, the soldiers moved, lowering their torches onto the bundles of straw and wood on the donkeys. For a brief moment, the crackling of flames replaced the battlefield’s silence as the torches ignited the straw. The fire quickly consumed the loads on the donkeys’ backs, forming a ring of orange flames visible from afar.

As the fire began to spread on their backs, the donkeys’ screams were heartbreakingly deep, piercing the hearts of even the most hardened soldiers. The terrified animals, chained together, hesitated for a moment, their eyes wild with panic. But the soldiers’ whips and commanding shouts transformed their fear into desperate movement. As the heat of the flames became unbearable, the animals’ panic escalated further; some thrashed in an attempt to rid themselves of the burning loads, but their movements were limited by the chains binding them together.

*Scream* Scream*Scream!

Seeing the wood and straw burning on the donkeys’ backs, Neonidas issued another command. Someone swiftly relayed the order to the soldiers in the front lines. The soldiers holding the donkeys released them, and the animals, driven by sheer desperation, bolted forward. Thousands of burning donkeys advanced toward the Konotger beasts like a circle of fire.

The chained donkeys had no choice but to move straight ahead, unable to veer left or right. Some succumbed to the pain and collapsed, but the sheer force of the thousands behind them dragged the fallen along, inflicting even greater agony.

It was as if thousands of flaming projectiles, bound by chains and fueled by panic, surged forward. The wind carried the dense smoke from the burning straw and wood toward the enemy’s front lines, stinging eyes and reducing visibility to almost nothing. The crackling of flames, the donkeys’ agonized cries, and the panicked shouts of soldiers shattered the battlefield’s silence into chaos.

*Scream* Scream *Scream!

Fear had taken hold of the Konotger beasts. Despite their massive size, their instinctual fear of fire forced them into a frenzy. Initially, their riders tried to control them, but the fiery advance of the burning donkeys overwhelmed the beasts’ instincts. Though trained through magic, the primal force of nature—fire—was something they couldn’t resist.

No matter how strong or magically resistant a creature might be, at its core, it is still an animal. The survival and reproduction instincts that drive evolution were evident in the Konotger beasts, and like any other animal, they feared fire as a result of their evolutionary history.

The sight of a ring of fire approaching drove the Konotger beasts into a frantic retreat. Five hundred massive creatures turned back in fear and panic, trampling their own ranks as they fled. The screams of men, the desperate shouts of commanders, and the wild neighing of beasts created a cacophony that transformed the battlefield into a scene from hell.

The enormous bulk of the Konotger beasts crushed the front lines of their own army, their riders screaming as they were thrown to the ground. Most were instantly crushed beneath the beasts, while the rest added to the growing chaos.

In just seconds, the konotger animals crushed and killed tens of thousands of soldiers of their masters, the kingdom of Hindonpon!

The Hindonpon army quickly descended into disarray. The stampeding Konotger beasts obliterated the front lines, while the soldiers behind them, instead of advancing, began to retreat in panic. Coordination within the army was completely lost; generals shouted, officers tried to rally the troops, but their efforts were futile against the overwhelming fear and flames.

Neonidas, witnessing the chaos, felt the lines of victory etch themselves onto his face. He raised his hand once more, this time signaling the archers and mages preparing to unleash their deadly assault.

“Fire!” Neonidas shouted, his voice cutting through the roar of the battle and the wind. Hundreds of archers simultaneously drew their bows. The mages standing behind them imbued the arrowheads with elemental and poison-based magic. The energy radiating from the arrows caused them to shimmer with a dark, eerie glow.

Allea watched the battlefield with immense shock and horror. No, in fact, everyone stared at the scene with varying degrees of dread. Yet Allea quickly regained her composure, casting a short spell to lift herself into the air.

Her body ascended like a blazing streak of fire. Her eyes burned crimson, and her hair flowed like flames in the wind. The fiery energy emanating from her hands was so intense it distorted the surrounding air.

Raising her arms above her head, Allea let sparks dance from her fingertips, which then coalesced into fireballs. These fireballs merged into one enormous blaze, darkening the sky with its intensity. A brief silence followed, shattered by the storm of magical energy she unleashed.

A torrent of fire rained down from the heavens upon the enemy army. The flames consumed everything in its path, including the earth. After Allea’s attack, the mages and archers joined in, raining destruction upon the Hindonpon forces, leaving the battlefield littered with corpses.

Since Mana is everything to a sorcerer, individuals with significant political influence, like Allea, never use all their Mana. After all, a trap or assassination attempt could happen at any moment. For this reason, they always utilize only a small fraction of their Mana. Yet, despite this, Allea’s magic was devastatingly destructive.

There were three waves of attacks by mages and archers. Following this, Neonidas issued another command, and this time, light cavalry charged forward to deliver the final blow. The light cavalry units, receiving Neonidas’ order, felt that the moment they had been waiting for had finally arrived. Each rider, tightly gripping their mounts, was poised like a drawn bow. The war horn echoed through the sky, shattering the eerie silence and signaling the cavalry to advance.

The cavalry stormed forward like a temper, the metallic clangs of their horses’ hooves resounding like thunder. Hundreds of horses galloped together, and the tremors beneath them amplified the waves of panic spreading through the enemy ranks. Neonidas’ troops formed a perfectly aligned attack line, following each other in seamless order.

Most of these units were equipped with long, sharp-tipped spears. Every rider leveled their spear, ready to pierce through the dense crowd of armored enemy soldiers like an ocean wave cutting through the current. The spear tips gleamed in the sunlight, forming a line of death across the battlefield. Each rider moved like a cog in a well-oiled machine—disciplined, determined, and relentless.

As the first wave of cavalry neared the disorganized front lines of the Hindonpon soldiers, panic set in among the enemy. Some tried to raise their shields, but the chaos caused by the rampaging Konotger animals had made it nearly impossible to establish a proper defensive line.

Upon the first impact, the spears carved through flesh and metal alike. Screams were drowned out by the metallic echoes of falling shields and shattered armor. The power of the long spears tore through the enemy’s front lines, striking fear in those behind them.

The cavalry, losing no momentum, pushed deeper into the enemy formation. Some riders turned on their mounts, pulling their spears free from the bodies of fallen enemies and driving them into new targets. The long spears spelled disaster for the Hindonpon soldiers, who were tightly packed together. Wherever the spears struck, blood stained the ground a dark red.

The terror in the enemy soldiers’ eyes revealed the weight of the battle’s horror. Some tried to flee, but the chaos behind them prevented any retreat, while others swung their swords desperately among the cavalry. Yet these efforts were futile against the long spears. The Hindonpon soldiers seemed trapped, surrounded by spears that pierced their ranks. While the cavalry impaled them mercilessly, the soldiers collided with one another, crushed by the chaos.

The cavalry’s advance was so overwhelming that some of the enemy attempted to surrender. But there was no mercy on the battlefield. Soldiers who dropped their spears to signal surrender were cut down, trampled by the charging cavalry behind them. Like an unstoppable tide, the cavalry shattered the Hindonpon army’s formation, leaving it in disarray.

The center of the enemy army became a graveyard. Spears stood upright where they had struck, their tips still embedded in either bleeding corpses or shattered armor. The cavalry’s path left a trail of complete destruction. The ground was darkened with blood, smoke, and the stench of charred bodies.

Tens of thousands of Hindonpon soldiers were either crushed or skewered by the spears. The cavalry flooded the battlefield, burying what remained of the enemy army into the earth. From a distance, Neonidas watched the perfect massacre unfold, a faint smile playing on his lips. Victory was inevitable.

Neonidas gave one final order, sending the infantry forward to crush any remaining resistance. Within two hours, nearly every Hindonpon soldier left on the battlefield was slaughtered.

Thus, the largest and most well-equipped army in the history of the Hindonpon Kingdom was utterly annihilated—because of donkeys—in just two hours. This defeat marked a dark and indelible stain on the kingdom’s history. The magnitude of such a crushing defeat, compounded by the humiliating tactic that led to it, ensured that even thousands of years later, no nationalist movement within Hindonpon could ever take pride in their history.

This most humiliating loss in history would reduce an entire nation to the status of slaves.

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One of the longest chapters I have ever written. Actually, I could have made it longer but I thought it was unnecessary so I gave up. I hope you liked it.