The Time I Reincarnated as the King of Knights?!

(A/N: Song of the day: Second Chance by Shinedown)

/\\//\\//\

Okay, okay, it's happening. It's happening. I was on the ship when Soeui appeared in front of me urgently, saying there was a massive mobilization of Eastern Empire troops. And this was it. He reported airships, and everything. Okay, it's go time.

We probably have about 24 hours before they make it here, but I trust in our minefield and booby traps. I didn't order full-scale industrial and mass production for no reason. There are more landmines in the forest than were placed in World War 2, and more booby traps than were probably used in the Vietnam War. This will slow them down to a crawl, guaranteed.

It would be hard to imagine and try to describe the carnage that was about to happen.

/\\//\\//\

And carnage it was. All across the border, the only things that could be heard were constant explosions as if from a drumline mixed with screams of terror and confusion, as well as some officers trying to establish order.

Every inch gained was met with resistance, but not from any living beings, but by something unseen that came with no warning.

The ones looking down below from the airships could only see the trees shaking and breaking from the explosions, dirt and fauna blasting into the air, and perhaps a more gruesome scene: bodies and limbs. It was a macabre landscape that was slightly hidden by the forest canopy.

"Stop! Let the magi-tanks go through first!"

In one part of the forest, a commander had managed to gain some kind of order, but at a great cost. It was no exaggeration to say that the troops he commanded were practically wiped out. He only had a rag-tag group left, but all he could do was go on. Luckily, there was a tank at his command.

He orders the tank forward and orders his remaining troops to follow behind.

They advanced a few feet before explosions occurred, but the tank held on. The only thing that they felt was vibrations that went through the ground. It was very slow progress, but compared to what they went through, this might as well have been heaven.

"It's going to be slow, but as long as w—" 

The commander's words were cut off by an explosion bigger than anything they've experienced. The tank exploded into a giant plume of smoke; the turret blasted into the air before falling back down. All the crew inside died instantly. The large, metal shards from the tank acted as shrapnel, impaling and killing the commander and the other troops behind the tank.

An entire unit was lost. And they weren't even halfway across this section of forest.

An order was given to carry as much troops on the air-ships as possible, but is was almost negligible. There wasn't enough room or airships for it.

Not only did the magi-tanks start exploding into giant plumes of fire and smoke, but the increased intensity and power of the anti-tank mines also killed any surrounding soldiers as well. The lucky ones got off with broken bones, which caused them to use healing potions, eating into their stockpile, and causing their supply lines to have to work harder.

From above, it was a light show of fire and smoke. The ones on airships could only watch helplessly at the carnage below, knowing that the casualties they were taking were immense.

/\\//\\//\

Goddamn! This is more effective than I was thinking. I'll admit, I did not factor in the tanks acting like a grenade throwing shrapnel after it blew up from an anti-tank mine. 

And they moved troops into the air-ships? Oh, yeah, they're about to find out that's a bad idea once they get sniped out from the sky. Souei using clones to report information live is not something I thought of, to be honest, but it's good.

And from his conservative estimates, it's a complete nightmare for the Eastern Empire. I wonder what Rudra, Velgrynd, Feldway, and the others are feeling looking at this. I doubt they care about the casualties they are taking. They only want to conquer at any cost. They spent a lot of resources building up this army, and they're going to use it.

I know it's one thing to love your army, and another to be brave enough to order the thing you love to go fight and die, but this is something else. There's no love here.

Well, they're about to leave the first section of the forest. And, again, with conservative estimates, it was an immense loss of troops and tanks. Just based on rough estimates, the losses could be the army of a small to medium-sized nation. 

/\\//\\//\

(A few hours later.)

The Eastern Empire had made it through, but it was never meant to stop them, only wear them down, and it worked. Troops all across the forest grew paranoid and suspicious. Some had seen their fellow soldiers fall into holes before being impaled; some had seen others activate tripwires, causing a large ball with spikes resembling a mace to fall from the trees, impaling and killing them instantly, some had tried to scavenge supplies from dead bodies fro health potions only for the corpse to explode, killing multiple people in a small radious around the explosion.

They were scared to move forward, fearing that every step could lead to a trap or a tripwire. Their advance slowed to a crawl as they made sure to be extra aware of any traps and to deactivate. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, and sometimes, there would be a double trap that activated if a tripwire was tripped or cut.

Commanders and officers had to force troops to advance, which would lead to more traps being activated. They had no breaks.

But finally, everything seemed to stop. At least, the explosions did. There were still multiple cases of troops falling into traps and activating traps.

Everyone was tired. Supplies, for some reason, were starting to dwindle. They were using more healing potions and eating more food than they were able to replenish, and as for scavenging dead bodies? They didn't know, but for some reason, the corpses were rigged to explode, and they didn't know how, why, or who was causing it.

They were tired, confused, and already wanted to go home, but at least they were able to rest for a few moments.

"Everyone, get up! We're moving again!" an officer said. 

Some troops were hesitating, but they got up, knowing what would happen if they disobeyed. Slowly, feelings of frustration were building up in the Eastern Empire's army.

"Let's go! There's no more explosions. The tanks will provide co—" The officer stopped speaking as an arrow was shot through his head.

And it wasn't the only case. Panic quickly spread as arrows were fired and started killing multiple people.

"Where are they coming from!"

"The trees!"

"Where? I cant see any—" A soldier died from a headshot before being able to finish.

A mage started to fire spells into the trees, trying to kill whoever was firing arrows, but was quickly taken out by another headshot before they could continue. Whenever a threat presented itself, they were quickly taken out with lethal and deadly precision. To the Eastern Empire's troops, it was like they were surrounded.

"I can't see anyone in these trees!"

"Just start firing spells at the trees! Have the tanks shoot at the trees! I don't care, just do som—" Dead, headshot.

The little sense of order they had after going through the minefield was lost again. Tanks started shooting at the trees, but it didn't seem to be killing anything. No matter how many trees were destroyed, no evidence of a body was found.

But they did notice that they could advance. 

"The tanks are working! Advance behind the tanks while they clear ahead!"

They thought they were advancing, but soon there was something worse that was coming, something that would make them wish for an arrow through the head.

As they were advancing, a soldier looked down as they felt something on their foot. It was a sphere with the letters "W.P." 

"What th—" The voice was cut off before the grenade exploded, releasing dense, white, irritating smoke all around the area. The soldier nearest to it immediately started to scream in pain as they ran around, before it quickly spread to more soldiers. All across the forest, the dense white smoke was unleashed. 

From above on the airships, it looked like a haunting, white mist slowly rose from the forest. The screams of pain could be heard even from high up.

The soldiers on the ground screamed as an intense and burning pain was fell throughout their bodies. It stuck to their clothes and skin as it burned. Any exposed skin that came into contact was burned to a yellowish color, and showed signs akin to being necrotic. Skin fell off, showing the layer underneath. Some tried to take off the clothes they had, but it only made it worse as more skin was exposed. For some, it was so bad that it burned through to the bone, leaving holes in their body and skin. (A/N; It burns at like 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit according to the Department of Defense.)

The eyes of soldiers that were exposed became irritated, inflamed, and burned. Their lungs and respiratory tracts of those who inhaled it burned and caused irritation, coughing, and fluid build-up in their lungs. Some chose to end their own suffering.

"What…is…this?" A soldier said as they crawled on the ground.

The medics didn't even know what to do. They tried using healing potions, but as soon as someone was healed, the white phosphorus would stick back to them, reverting any healing done. They were just wasting supplies.

"I need…more potions!" A medic screamed, hoping for an answer in all this chaos.

"We're out of potions!"

"How? We should…have plenty!"

"This smoke is stopping any supplies from getting through! And anything that gets through is too little! There's nothing we can do! We have to wait for this to pass!"

"What are the mages doing!? Why aren't they throwing some kind of water magic?!"

"They can't concentrate on their chants with this smoke!"

The two medics continued screaming at each other to communicate. There was nothing they could do. The healing magic seemed to have very little effect on treatment, which made them realize that his smoke was magical in nature, but there was nothing they could do. They could only watch with envy at the airships above and those on them.

"They don't care. What's the point of this?"

/\\//\\//\

It's hard to read the reports on what's happening. These are millions of people going through this. And from the live reports, they haven't even used the napalm. The tanks and the crews in them are the only ones relatively safe, assuming the air filters can hold up.

They're being forced to walk across all this. I would've retreated if I were in their position, but alas, I'm not. Not a single person on our side has died, while countless hundreds of thousands have already died on their side. And who knows how many of those deaths are officers or other commanding positions. That leadership structure is going to collapse.

I went down from my airship and went to Gabiru, who was getting ready to carry the napalm, white phosphorus, and chlorine gas, and cluster bombs along with his dragonewts. 

"Lady Pendragon!" He saluted as I got closer to him.

"Gabiru, if you're not ready now, then get ready. I want you and your men to drop a constant supply of bombs. I don't want to hear a moment where bombs are not dropping."

"I understand, Lady Pendragon!"

"Good, now go. You only have a few hours."

After saying that to Gabiru, I went to Carrera. She was going to go crazy on the battlefield, and I had to give her a heads-up about what she had to expect. The napalm, gas, white phosphorus, and cluster bombs.

I don't wonder how things are going on Diablo's side. With their speed and how efficient they are, I wouldn't be surprised if they already have a revolutionary army that consists of former Eastern Empire troops.