Book 6-3.2
The Heavy Armor Infantry that were taken prisoner from the war with the Silence Empire were immediately drafted into Pareia's army. They had even considered training warriors as Heavy Armor Infantry, but Heavy Armor Infantry required a significant amount of training.
But after knowing the impact they could have, they could not just let them go to waste. That was why they just had to use the soldiers of the continent.
"They will need to get used to it as they are now citizens of our Pareia. All of them are high in spirits so there should not be many issues."
The tax rate in the Fedore region and Henkel Plains fell to under twenty percent, similar to the Rojini Kingdom. But most importantly, the fact that Pareia does not separate nobles and peasants made the citizens of Fedore and Henkel Plains welcome them with open arms.
The Silence Empire, like any other nation, had a significant gap between the nobles and peasants. Even the tax rate which had recently gotten better was still close to fifty percent.
In addition, Pareia gave their warriors significant payments, so it was easy to see why the soldiers were high in spirit.
"Then I am relieved."
Yulian had a satisfied expression on his face as he called Thriger over.
"Captain Thriger."
"Yes, Glow."
Thriger, who had been chatting with the First Mate, quickly lifted up his head and responded. Yulian started to smile and shouted toward him.
"I want to hear that energetic song of yours. You told me you would prepare new lyrics. Is that not ready yet?"
"Hahaha. As I expected, the Glow knows the charm of my song. Should I sing a verse for you right now?"
"If you are going to do it, do it in a loud vigorous voice so that everyone can hear."
"Hahaha. Of course."
Thriger let out a laugh as he prepared my voice. They had full control of the quicksand river, and there was not much that Thriger could do in war, but at least his heart burned like the other warriors.
Let's row our boat forward~
Across the turbulent quicksand to the other side~
A place with bright sand and breezy winds.
To the land of courage.
Row the oars~
Catch the blowing storm,
Let's cross through the sand and continue to push forward~
Captain Thriger's deep voice echoed across the quicksand river. Everyone started to sing along with Captain Thriger's song.
"All units, in formation!"
Once the Greatest Warrior gave the command, the warriors who had gotten off first set the tone as the rest of the warriors got in formation behind them.30,000 warriors in formation really looked powerful.
"Forward!"
The warriors started to move forward in formation.
In the front with the red flag was Yulian and the Red Storm.
They could see the first oasis of the Kiriping Tribe, the most northern tribe in the Western Desert, after less than a day of moving. By the time the Greatest Warriors prepared the troop to attack, three individuals rushed toward them on pirmas.
The three men who quickly stood in front of Yulian and the Greatest Warriors looked around before approaching Yulian and giving him the Warrior's gesture of respect.
He intuitively had determined who the Glow and overall commander was after looking around.
"Warrior Shisai greets the Pareia's Great Glow Yulian Provoke-nim under orders of the Kriping's wise Glow Edona Moninetz."
"Warrior Kutao greets the Desert Conqueror, Desert War God, Yulian Provoke-nim under orders of the Gutita's Glow Allai Schultz."
Warrior Shiapa greets Pareia's Great Glow, Yulian Provoke-nim under orders of the Idera's Glow Motatat Kurichi."
"Speak."
Once Yulian gave them permission to speak, the Kiriping's Shisai started to speak.
"Glow Allai Schultz has indicated that he wishes for Gutita to become loyal to Yulian-nim."
Once Shisai went, the other two men shared similar messages. After hearing their messages, Yulian had a bright smile on his face. The thing he was most worried about had disappeared.
If they were to receive an opposition from the Kiriping while they were here, the Shuarei would be able to completely take control of the Idera tribe and start to attack the Gutita tribe.
But Yulian was happy seeing all three tribes accepting Pareia's condition for their surrender.
To be honest, this decision was a calculated one by the three Glows.
If they were going to have to surrender in the end anyways, they would have to pick either Pareia or Shuarei. Picking Pareia was hands down a much better decision for them.
The different reforms that Pareia attempted had gone past Pareia and resonated with the other tribe's warriors and women. In addition, Pareia was safer than other tribes, especially with their recent campaign into the continent where they gained the plains and no longer had to worry about food. No matter what, the scale tilted in Pareia's favor over the Shuarei.
Pareia quickly started moving south, gathering each of the three tribe's warriors along the way to increase their numbers.
"What did you just say?!"
Venersis shouted in shock after hearing the messenger warrior's report. He could not come up with an answer. Just how fast can they move on the quicksand river that Pareia managed to get to the north before they did? Venersis just could not understand.
And for them to be heading south now, their speed moving south was sure to be even faster than their speed moving north.
"All units increase their speed as much as possible. We need to take as many oases before Pareia makes their way down."
Venersis called the Greatest Warriors over to give that command before deciding to personally rush to the north first.
Although Pareia moved south as fast as possible, the Shuarei's speed moving north was almost at a similar pace. In the end, the two powers clashed around the middle of the Idera territory.
The first battle was won by Pareia with their overwhelming numbers and difference in momentum. However, thanks to Venersis's efficient decision-making and order to retreat, they did not manage to get enough progress to really call it a victory. The two War Gods moved according to their intuition, but did not manage to run each other at all.
Maybe it was because their respective intuitions recognized the other as their greatest danger.
The two powers clashed a couple times, but the two men did not meet either time. It was already an established fact that one of them would surely die if the two of them met in battle.
However, the two men had to meet again because of the sense of upcoming crisis.
Both Pareia and Shuarei have remained on either side of the Eagle Seeking Oasis for close to one month.
The last battle had been a week ago, so both Yulian and Venersis were heading to battle with the mindset that they would achieve definite victory in this next battle.
Pareia's forces totaled 50,000. Of them, 40,000 were warriors while the remaining 10,000 were Heavy Armor Infantry. The Shuarei army was similar in size, with 35,000 warriors and 20,000 crossbowmen and Heavy Armor Infantry they received as reinforcement from the Southern continent.
There were multiple locations throughout the desert with small scale battles, but this next battle should be the battle to determine who will be the standing power in the Western Desert.
"All units, charge!"
Yulian shouted loudly to increase the morale as he headed out in the front. Seeing Yulian move, the Shuarei moved their crossbowmen forward to start shooting arrows.
Crossbows shot further than bows and were known for their piercing abilities, but in return, they took at least twice as long to fire. As a result, they would only manage to shoot a few arrows before they were attacked by Pareia's warriors.
"All units charge!"
Venersis seemed to know that as well as he ordered the warriors to charge forward after shooting just two rounds of crossbows.
You could not really say who had the advantage.
The Shuarei's decision to not charge at the same time as Pareia and instead attack with the crossbows did injure Pareia's vanguard and lower the strength of the charge, but Pareia's warriors who had gained speed were rushing toward them at scary speeds.
The reason Yulian shouted and ordered a charge even when he knew the enemy had crossbowmen was to gather the speed from charging first. If they were the same strength, the shamshir coming from a faster running pirma would always be stronger.
Pareia's warriors instantly pierced through the Shuarei's vanguard.
"We cannot let them take even an inch!"
Venersis shouted loudly as he urged his warriors forward, before personally stepping in to start breaking apart the formation of the charging warriors from Pareia.
However, Venersis has to debate about his action as Yulian was rushing toward the Shuarei's main forces at the same time.
It would be difficult if his main force's formation became a mess. Many of the other units were moving with the main force as a focal point.
Yulian also had to be concerned once Pareia's vanguard was about to be broken apart by Venersis. They didn't even have a strategy from the beginning.
According to Runa, since both Yulian and Venersis had abilities that transcended human limitations, if both of them were at the same level, Pareia should win in a battle of strength between the warriors. Believing that to be true, Runa asked Yulian to just push forward in a battle of strength.
Runa believed that if they tried to strategize against Venersis, the warriors would not be able to show off all of their strengths.
Yulian made up his mind to break apart the Shuarei's main force first and chaotically started to run through the enemy formation, while Venersis started to do the same for Pareia's formation.
Thanks to the two of them, the two formations became intertwined and started to fiercely attack one another.
A bloody battle.
As a disgusting amount of blood was being spilled in the battle, Yulian and Venersis finally came face to face.
Neither of them said anything. They just glared at each other to try to look an opening.
"Huuuuff … Hooooooo……"
The noise of the two men's rough breathing was the only thing showing their wills to one another. It was their way of saying that they were right here.
In the end, the battle was first started by the Red Storm and the Desert Sword. Both warrior brigades desired to create an advantageous environment for their leader. Furthermore, this would be the battle right before the two individuals started to fight. If they won, wouldn't it give their side a sense of relief?
Claaaaaaaang~!
A loud noise of weapons clashing echoed through the desert as the Red Storm started to exchange blows with the Desert Sword. Both sides were fighting harder than they had ever fought before. They were both the groups that represented their individual formations.
Although the Red Storm had less members than the Desert Sword, the Red Storm warriors' skills were superior to the Desert Sword warriors. The Red Storm started to slowly push back the Desert Sword.
"Shall we start?"
Venersis focused all of his attention on Yulian and opened his mouth.
"Our unfinished battle. Let us finish it today. You will not bode well to think I am the same as the me of the past. I hope you do not have a reason to lose your focus."
Yulian was burning with courage as he answered back. The last time he battled against Venersis, Venersis was one step higher than him and could leisurely inspect the Shuarei's formation even in the middle of their battle. That difference in power had always been on Yulian's mind.
But he believed that such a situation would not happen again today. He could tell that he became stronger after returning from the Hero's Land, and his inner ki was getting stronger and stronger as time went by. He was no longer that twenty year old fresh chick of a warrior.
Venersis seemed to understand that as well. Venersis stopped paying attention to his surroundings and only focused his attention on Yulian.
"Yaaaaaaaap~!"
"Oowoooooooooo~!"
The two men's shout echoed across the battlefield.
Claaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang~!