I Planned a Su*cide Mission and Got Kicked Out of the Party

---

“The enemy outnumbers us four to one. They might encircle our forces!”

Right after the skirmish broke out, Helmut expertly ordered the riflemen to fire in unison, showing off overwhelming firepower based on sheer numerical superiority.

Of course, since not all of this legion was human, the number of riflemen was small, and there were many more orcs armed with spears and swords. However, Alex’s side mainly consisted of infantry equipped with spears and shields; they could handle riflemen well from a distance but were at a disadvantage when it came to close combat.

Without breaking the formation, Alex had hundreds of Ironclad Knights waiting in the rear while issuing orders to observe the enemy’s movements. A frustrated knight quickly suggested to Alex.

“What are we going to do if they encircle us? Do we have a plan?”

“We can either break through the enemy’s center swiftly or use our cavalry to sweep through those orcs and at least disrupt one flank. We can do this. We may only have a few hundred left, but we are the Royal Knight Order. Shattering the enemy forces moving to encircle us would be a piece of cake. That’s why we’ve kept the cavalry back, right?”

“It’s too thick. Just leave it.”

“What?”

Even though Alex saw the enemy orcs spreading to the left and right because of his subordinate’s words, he didn’t show any particular reaction. Instead, he called over a mounted knight and issued a command.

“It’s disrespectful to leave the enemy riflemen without a response. Tell the archers to begin firing. Let’s show them that bows are still better than their absurd weapons.”

“Understood.”

And thus, the archers began shooting, marking the entirety of the Imperial Army’s response. Helmut chuckled mockingly, thinking Alex was intimidated.

“Pretending to be calm when he’s actually panicking, huh? To see them making moves right in front of us to encircle… and not act? If your forces were mine, I could’ve overcome a four-to-one disparity somehow! Keep encircling! And bring up the artillery!”

In response to fears of an enemy counterattack, the dozens of cannons that had been pulled back moved to the front under Helmut’s orders. Upon seeing the cannon muzzles aimed at them, Alex frowned.

“This might be difficult.”

“Yes, if you give the order now, we can quickly aim the Ironclads at the enemy’s center—”

“Stop the archers’ firing and reinforce the shield wall. Those shields are enchanted artifacts, so they should hold out for a decent amount of time.”

Following Alex’s commands, the archers stopped shooting and took cover behind the shield wall. Soon, Helmut’s artillery began to roar, and Alex’s collective army was left clustered together, receiving cannon fire.

Of course, the enemy’s artillery wasn’t more than a few dozen cannons, so the bombardment wasn’t of sufficient scale to cause serious harm to the entire army. However, combined with the feeling of helplessness from having no way to respond to the enemy’s attack, the movements of the orcs, which began to encircle them, spread fear across the legion.

A knight, now exasperated, suggested again.

“We have to do something! At this rate, we’ll do nothing and all die!”

“What makes you think they can kill us without letting us do anything?”

“Well, if they keep narrowing their encircle like this, we will surely die!”

“Is that so? It looks too thin for that.”

“Thin or thick, being encircled is dangerous!”

“When your brother was alive, I didn’t learn much, but I did pick up a little.”

As Alex adjusted his helmet, the curious knight asked.

“From the previous Hero? What is it? Some huge tactic or secret?”

“Math. Time it well, and after 15 minutes, let me know. It should be adequate, from what I see.”

Alex’s words were even more perplexing. In the end, the knights who could not challenge his authority obeyed his words and remained inactive in response to Helmut’s movements for the next 15 minutes. The more this happened, the more Helmut scoffed and disregarded Alex.

“Even with the encirclement nearing completion, and you’re still not moving? Have you lost your nerve or run away already? Or maybe the shock from the last battle has made you incapable of acting? Regardless, it’s just sad for your subordinates. To have such an idiot as a commander!”

“Fifteen minutes have passed, Your Highness.”

“The enemy is accelerating. They’re likely trying to complete their encirclement before we can show any movement.”

“Isn’t that threatening?”

“While they’re tightly packed, a group of 50,000 is no small matter. The encirclement is long, and as they move quicker from behind, it’s harder to maintain their formation. One thing I will acknowledge, Helmut is more skilled than I. Therefore, I can’t win by competing with him multiple times.”

“What exactly do you mean?”

“However, I can make him mess up at least once. If that one mistake can end it all, then I win forever. It’s a slimy method, but I hope you can overlook it since I don’t have the time to hone my skills. Silence. Prepare the lances. We charge in three minutes without forming a rank.”

Finally realizing that substantive orders had been issued, the knights excitedly moved their hands to their cavalry lances. Helmut, observing from behind the encirclement, failed to notice their stealthy preparations. To his eyes, there were merely a few hundred foolish Ironclad Knights doing nothing to break through, even while being encircled.

“It’s truly foolish to have such a good unit and not take any risks. If I had the command of the Shadow Knight, I’d make far more attempts than this…”

Meanwhile, a knight who had closely followed Alex asked the army commander their plan.

“What’s the objective? Which formation are we going with?”

“A free formation. The target is the enemy commander.”

“The enemy commander? But we’re going without a proper formation?”

“Look. It’s adequately thin.”

Alex pointed at the front with his finger.

“It’s the first time the enemy has disregarded us to this extent. They’re able to do this because we’ve pulled our knights back and are showing no signs of attack. Do you think a conservative would deploy his defensive forces so thinly? No, it’s an opportunity that won’t come again. If I hadn’t been caught off-guard last time, this opportunity wouldn’t have even happened.”

“Indeed… it’s thin.”

“Only one instance of cheating is allowed. Remember that. Just by starting to form up our cavalry, the enemy will become suspicious and reinforce their defenses again. That would actually decrease our success rate. Once I signal, we charge in disorderly, aiming precisely and accurately at the enemy’s battle standard. I won’t look back. If any of you fall off in the process, I won’t care. Keep that in mind.”

Alex raised his thumb and gestured around his neck.

“This is just a lion hunt. Now! Charge!”

Alex’s charge came as a surprise even to his own forces. When Alex first surged forward, the Imperial infantry mistook him for a horse going wild and tried to stop him.

However, as dozens, then hundreds of cavalry began charging into the north in chaos, the Imperial forces realized that the movement of the cavalry they had waited for hours had finally begun, and they didn’t stop their way.

Leading the charge, Alex urged his horse forward and raised his spear high.

“Lance!”

All cavalrymen aimed their spears forward at once. Helmut jumped to his feet with wide eyes.

“No, what is this! If there were signs of enemy cavalry moving, why didn’t they report it?!”

“There were no signs.”

One pale-faced human officer answered.

“It seems they couldn’t even control their own raid!”

“Impossible! No, could it be? What’s going on! We need to retreat! There’s been a mistake in our formation. At this rate, even if it is an accident, we could be broken through!”

After directing guards to protect himself, Helmut hurriedly began to retreat. The riflemen guarding the center opened fire enthusiastically, and the cannons quickly turned their muzzles toward the cavalry.

However, it was impossible for the artillery to catch up to the movements of the Ironclad Knights. Instead of stabbing enemy soldiers with his spear, Alex charged frantically toward Helmut, nearly flying through the ranks.

It was essentially the same situation as the last defeat. The loathsome enemy commander right in front of him. Alex, losing his rationality as he rushed at him.

But despite the essence being the same, everything else was different. The one breaking was Helmut’s army. It was Helmut who was scared.

With a red flag in one hand and a spear in the other, Alex Harker was a living disaster and an approaching death. Helmut stumbled side to side faster than a crab, shouting.

“N-no way! Such a charge is impossible unless it’s her! Rose Caprice must be hiding her identity among the troops! It’s a complete deception!”

“But General, that’s a white horse!”

“She might have just changed mounts! That flag must have a shield depicted on it!”

“But it certainly shows a white cross!”

“It’s a trick! If you remove the helmet, the Emperor’s face will be revealed!”

He acted as if he had completely forgotten who he had been arguing with before the battle. Like an unstoppable hurricane, Alex rapidly broke through the thousands of Helmut’s direct guards to stand right before him. Hearing Helmut’s wretched howls from a close distance, Alex stopped momentarily, then spoke.

“Then take it off and show me.”

And with that, Alex threw his helmet to the ground with a loud thud. Just as Helmut was about to open his mouth in disbelief, Alex wouldn’t allow him to utter a sound.

The long spear in Alex’s hand pierced Jean Helmut’s heart. After passing his flag to the knight beside him, Alex leaped off his horse and drew the sword that was still sheathed at his waist, staring wide-eyed at the dead Helmut’s body.

Holding the sword with both hands, Alex cleanly beheaded the commander, who hadn’t yet fallen back. It was only after Helmut’s head was severed that he collapsed sideways, sprawling on the ground. After removing the helmet from Jean Helmut’s head, Alex grabbed his hair and spun around while roaring.

“Urah!”

Like a lion hunter, he roared as if he were a lion himself. It was the moment that the last “general” of the Demon King’s Army met his end.