Chapter 765: Reinforcements on Both Sides

For now, the only thing that matters is destroying the enemy before them.

They must clear the way for the Central Army Group's advance.

The situation has improved. Heavy units such as shaggy giants and war rhinos have been almost entirely eliminated.

With no heavy targets left, the ballista units can switch to anti-infantry ballista bolts and strike deep into the enemy ranks.

Just as Agnico predicted, the Northern Mountain Raider army attacks far more weakly without its heavy units and mountain-beast cavalry.

More than two hours have passed, yet the raiders still have not broken through to the formation for close combat.

Just as everyone begins to think the plan has succeeded, the situation changes.

The mounted scouts bring back a report.

The Northern Mountain Raider army has gathered nearly another hundred thousand troops and is closing in.

Windson warns, "My lord, the enemy must have drawn these troops from the nearby fortresses."

"Our mission is complete. Send the signal and have Marshal Dominic reinforce us!"

Agnico shakes his head. "No. Our mission is to draw in as many enemy troops as possible!"

"We must pin them here and wear them down, even if all we can do is exhaust them."

"Every raider we kill is one fewer defender at the fortresses!"

Agnico then issues his orders. "Pass the order! The second echelon is to withdraw and rest for five hours."

"The first echelon will use stamina-restoring potions and prepare to take its place!"

"Except for the crews operating ranged weapons, reorganize every soldier in the garrison warbands into close-combat reinforcement battalions. I want two battalions ready!"

The raiders' reinforcements arrive around noon.

Their banners and totems identify them as a different Northern Mountain Raider faction.

Raider banners combine images of mountains, animals, trees, flowers, and grasses.

Different mountains represent the major factions, while different animals identify the legions within each faction.

The various trees and plants represent different branches of service.

A single look through his telescope tells Agnico that this new force is more elite than the one they fought earlier.

Even so, Agnico does not change his mind.

They are not fighting only for the kingdom. They are also fighting for Peace Haven.

If they cannot withstand the Northern Mountain Raiders, what will they do when the mountain demons arrive?

Peace Haven must also face Lumir's water demons and Ogiro's tree wraiths, all of them extraordinary beings.

This is Peace Haven's first battle against calamity creatures. The army must gain experience here and, more importantly, learn that it can win.

The sacrifices being made now are not meaningless. They are all for Peace Haven's future safety.

An hour later, the newly arrived Northern Mountain Raider tribe enters the battlefield.

Its troops arrogantly drive the earlier raider force aside, even resorting to violence against them.

Their domineering behavior makes it clear that this force is exceptionally aggressive.

Agnico orders his army to adjust and adopt a full defensive posture.

The battle turns brutal almost at once. This tribe is even more ferocious than the last.

Within only half an hour, the fighting becomes a close-quarters slaughter.

On the cavalry front, the riders and their mounts have rested for a while after fighting through the night.

The horses remain exhausted. Even after both mounts and riders take stamina-restoring potions, they can do little more than harass the tribe's mountain-beast cavalry.

This tribe does not deploy heavy units. Instead, it simply spends human lives battering Peace Haven's formation.

Two hours later, Peace Haven has been forced back to the second defensive line.

Even that line is on the verge of collapse.

Every reserve battalion has been sent to the front, yet the situation continues to deteriorate.

A second thousand-strong formation of war-rhino cavalry is repelled, but the fighting tears a gap in the line.

Agnico draws his longsword. "Guard battalion! Follow me and hold that gap!"

Windson and the other Vorry military officers draw their swords as well and charge down after him.

Dikern's cavalry battalions are in desperate straits. More than ten thousand mountain-beast cavalry have closed an enormous ring around them.

Once their room to maneuver disappears, the cavalry will be wiped out.

With no other choice, Dikern and his men lead their cavalry into a frontal clash with the enemy.

The result is predictably disastrous.

Peace Haven's cavalry also inflicts considerable damage on the mountain-beast cavalry.

But there are too few of them, and they were already badly outnumbered. If their losses continue, the enemy will soon be able to detach mountain-beast cavalry and send it into the main battlefield.

The battle grows more brutal with every passing moment, and the Mixed Army Group's casualties keep climbing.

Dusk falls again. Standing atop a shaggy giant's corpse, Agnico pulls his longsword from its enormous skull.

"All forces, fall back! Bring the wounded and contract the defensive line in good order!"

He can already feel the ground trembling. The First Cavalry Legion has arrived.

A few minutes later, a black line appears on the horizon beneath the fading light.

The tremors grow more distinct, and the Northern Mountain Raider legion also notices the disturbance.

Mounted on an exceptionally large war rhino, the commander of the newly arrived tribe stares toward the southwest.

At first, there is only a streak of red. Then it spreads into a surging sea of crimson.

He recognizes it as a powerful human cavalry legion.

He immediately orders his remaining three thousand heavily armored war-rhino units and five hundred shaggy giants into an anti-charge line.

The mountain-beast cavalry in the distance also begins to assemble, ready to cut off the human cavalry as soon as its charge loses speed.

They will destroy the human cavalry here and shatter the confidence of every human force in the area.

He knows the elite human cavalry numbers only six thousand. He is confident he can swallow it whole.

But as his troops finish deploying, the Blood Lion Knights wheel in a broad arc toward the mountain-beast cavalry in the rear, as though they have seen through his plan.

This forces the commander to change his tactics, sending the mountain-beast cavalry to intercept while the war-rhino units charge from the flank.

As his army begins moving again, he notices something wrong. The ground is shaking far too violently.

He whips his head toward the southeast.

A dark mass spreads across the dimming horizon.

Then everyone realizes it is not the coming night, but an immense cavalry force stretching beyond sight.

Simon, commander of the First Cavalry Legion, casts aside his cloak to reveal a black-and-crimson pattern. Behind him, thousands of riders do the same.

An even greater sea of crimson surges into view, carrying the scent of blood and death toward the flank of the Northern Mountain Raider cavalry formation.

Signal flags shift again and again. The enormous cavalry force unfolds into a vast scaled wedge formation and closes at full speed.

Each scale is a hundred-man cavalry unit arranged in its own wedge.

Simon lowers his war spear, sends the shaggy giant before him flying, and leaps with his horse into the enemy formation.

A chain of faint flashes and explosions follows.

Fifteen thousand elite cavalry sweep across the battlefield and punch straight through the raider infantry's flank.

They leave an enormous empty swath behind them.

The First Cavalry Legion sweeps across the field like a blood-soaked brush. Everything in its path vanishes, leaving only crimson earth and countless corpses.