The Decisive Battle of Henkel
The battle of Henkel Plains.
It became a war of legend.
Book 6-1.1
"Charge."
Marquis Spotch ordered the troops to charge as soon as the door of the gate opened. Based on what he knew of the enemy, he thought that their infantry will be pretty awkward, and he could now be sure that his hypothesis was correct.
What he needed to be wary of was not the enemy infantry but the approximately three thousand cavalry.
"Knight Asus."
"Yes, sir."
As the knight answered from the right of Spotch, Spotch didn't even turn his head as he gave the command.
"As soon as we get out of the Road of Victory, take thirty cavalry and move out to the left. The enemy cavalry and pirmas are not visible. Find them."
"I understand, Marquis-nim."
"Knight Pront."
"Yessir."
"Same thing as Knight Asus. Move out to scout the right side once we get out of the Road of Victory."
"It shall be done as you commanded."
Marquis Spotch gave orders to his subordinate knights to cover the sides as they rode forward at ful speed.
"The enemy's formation is not that great. We will charge through instantly and make room for the infantry to set up."
Once the leaders heard their commander's orders, they urged their sections to move even faster.
Around 100 knights and 5,000 cavalry had their first clash with Pareia's warriors less than five minutes after the entrance to Henkel Gate was opened.
The charge really was like lightning.
Neither the knights nor the cavalry of the knight's brigade did not even dream that those barbarians would manage to stop their charge.
The one leading them was a master like Spotch, and the knights following right behind him were the Blue Blooded Knights and Marquis Spotch's personal subordinates, both groups said to be some of the best in the entire Empire.
In addition, there was nothing that 5,000 cavalry could not charge through. They might be worried a bit if the enemy was the Rojini Kingdom, but their enemy was just the barbarians from the desert.
As expected, no, the enemy did manage to hold on longer than they expected, but the barbarians' formation started to quickly break down.
"Send the signal."
Spotch and the knights completely broke down Pareia's formation before ordering a signal to be sent to the Gate.
The magician who had stuck right behind Spotch and had chanted all sorts of defensive magic started to send the signal to his fellow magician at the gate.
Even though a conversation was impossible at this distance, it was not difficult to exchange preset signals. The magician accurately delivered Spotch's message, and 30,000 infantry soldiers poured out of the gate to verify the message was received.
The infantry quickly set up fences and traps in the area that their ally cavalry had cleared for them. At the same time, the remaining warriors from Pareia started to retreat as they were worried for their lives.
A bit later, a large number of pirma riding warriors appeared in the rear.
'As expected.'
Marquis Spotch was thinking that it was as he had expected.
"I'm sure they were thinking about surrounding us while we were charging through the formation here. Their numbers seem to be over 20,000 while we are barely over 5,000."
Spotch leisurely looked toward them while explaining to his subordinate knights. One of the tasks of a leader was to explain a bit of strategy and tactics during calm moments of a war.
"But they seem to have looked down on us too much. The cavalry and infantry here did hold on for a decent amount of time, but we managed to set up our defense before the rest of their troops were able to surround us."
Spotch nodded his head and answered.
"I'm sure they are getting anxious right now."
"How could Count Terros have lost the Fedore region to those barbarians?"
"The Lord of Fedore, Count Terros and his knights are not terrible, but they have lived too peacefully in the rear. In the end, they were not able to fend off those barbarians and lost their castle."
"But it is also true that we are much stronger than Count Terros and his knights."
One of the knights proudly answered.
You should not be egotistical, but he felt like it was okay to say that much. They had gone through this monster-like Master Spotch's difficult trainings.
"You are right. All of you are different."
Marquis Spotch did not scold the knight either, and agreed. His long war experience let him know that even that type of excessive confidence was required at a time like this.
"The enemy is starting to set up their formation once again."
"Where are our Heavy Armor Infantry?"
"All of them are ready. The enemy will not be able to charge through and just end up dying by our spears."
"Everyone to your locations! The important thing for us is HOW we win. Do not forget that our real enemy is not those barbarians. We need to return with as many soldiers as possible in order to cut the life out of those damn Rojini bastards."
All of the knights had confident expressions after hearing Marquis Spotch's words. They all headed back to their locations.
Phew phew phew phew.
The moment he thought the enemy cavalry was going to move, Spotch started to frown at the numerous arrows flying their way instead.
"For being barbarians, their archers have been trained well. They can shoot quite far."
Arrows endlessly continued to fly at them, however, Spotch did not give any special orders. Arrows will run out eventually, and the Heavy Armor Infantry's shields and armor prevented serious damage from happening. As expected, the enemy's arrows started to dwindle as time went on, and they started to fix up their formation.
"Oowooooooo~"
They then heard a odd shout before a straight line of cavalry with infantry behind them started to rush out from Pareia's side.
"Those idiots. They are trying to pierce through an area that has already set up its defensive formation … Kight Lust, Kaios."
Spotch clicked his tongue at Pareia's stupidity before calling a few knights over to take some cavalry to go around to the left and right to attack from the side. Spotch would personally lead the Heavy Armor Infantry and 500 cavalry to defend against the enemy's charge.
'The moment the enemy's formation starts to break down and Knight Pront and Asus confirm there are no hidden enemies on the sides, we will move forward.'
Spotch started to smile as if he had already won.
As a veteran of one hundred battles, he was suspicious at the fact that things were going so well, but he didn't think he was being conceited.
The enemy held off better than he had expected, and other than this useless charge line in front of them right now, the way the enemy used their archers was quite advanced as well. But it was clearly visible to him that the enemy had never gone against Heavy Armor Infantry before.
"Since they said that the castle walls and gate at Fefore were destroyed by the enemy's magic, they were unable to prevent the enemy's cavalry and pirma warriors from charging through. So this should be the first time the enemy has fought against Heavy Armor infantry.'
Spotch started to smile once more.
He reaffirmed his belief that it was just a matter of time to send those barbarians back to their lands.
"I hope they fall for it. If not, I will not be able to forgive myself, Runa."
Runa did not move his eyes from the battle as he responded to Yulian's extremely heavy voice.
"There is no way they will not fall for it if the enemy is brave and smart. I do not believe that a master of the Empire will be dumb."
The straight line of cavalry that led Pareia's charge was instantly broken down, and the warriors started to fight against the spear soldiers. The warriors must have been able to show their strength in this physical battle, as the Empire's front lines started to break down.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The sound of drums could be heard from the Empire's formation before their cavalry moved to the front and started to kill the warriors.
"All units, charge."
Yulian bit down on his lips before ordering the prepared warriors to charge once more. He really wanted to stand in the front and destroy the enemy's formation.
"You must hold back. In order to make it better for us in the future, you need to hold back now so that we can reduce the amount of sacrificed warriors in the future."
Runa also had a pale expression as he urged Yulian to hold back.
They could see the blood pour out from every fallen warrior. They would be able to instantly destroy that defensive line if Yulian and the remaining twenty Red Storm warriors made their move.
However, the war would return to a stalemate if the enemy returned to the gate. They needed to hold back and hold back some more, in order to take the gate.
Suddenly, the enemy's cavalry started to attack from both sides, leading Pareia's formation to start to crumble. Pareia was being completely overwhelmed right now.
"Glow, it is time."
Yulian started to run toward the battlefield almost instantly. He had been waiting for this moment. He needed to run as fast as possible and kill at least one more enemy soldier to save as many of his warriors as possible.
The moment Yulian and the Greatest Warriors joined the battle, Pareia's formation started to quickly recover.
"I am the Glow of Pareia!"