Chapter 99

Today is a double update.

2/2

Beautiful wheat fields spread around.

Now, all the wheat has been harvested, and the fields are trampled by thousands of soldiers.

The Rosais-Equus-Carlo Allied Army and the Ald Army were camped about two kilometers apart from each other.

Ald made the first move.

After allowing his soldiers a minimal amount of rest, Ald immediately advanced to approach the Allied Army.

The Allied Army also marched out to meet Ald's forces.

Both sides beat their drums and gradually formed their battle lines.

Since both armies numbered over ten thousand, it took some time to fully form their battle lines.

"What is this formation?"

Ald tilted his head as he looked at the enemy's battle formation, which had been drawn by a sorcerer.

The shields of the heavily armored infantry covered half of the body of the soldier to their left.

By protecting each other with their shields, the heavily armored infantry were invincible as long as their formation held.

However, such a formation of heavily armored infantry had a weakness, similar to Siegfried's back.

That weakness was the right flank.

Naturally, the rightmost soldiers had no shields to their right.

Therefore, it was common practice to place elite troops on the right flank to prevent it from being broken.

Ald had been taught this as well.

But the enemy had set up the opposite formation.

The enemy had deployed an excessive amount of troops on the left side, including all their elite cavalry.

"…They are trying to break our right flank and bring the battle into a flank attack."

Ald's soldiers were also heavily armored infantry, and their weakness was also on the right.

It was easy to imagine a strategy that concentrated forces on the left to exploit this weakness.

"But in doing so, their right flank is vulnerable…"

In other words, the battle would come down to which side could break the other's right flank first.

"What should we do? My king?"

"We will proceed as planned. Our formation is almost complete, right? It's too late to change it now. …Keep the hawks flying to monitor the enemy's formation from above. Don't fall for any provocations from the enemy's sorcerers. And send a message to the cavalry on the left wing. …This war depends on your bravery."

A decisive battle for the throne of King Domorgal was about to begin.

The war on the Adelnia Peninsula began with the attack of light infantry and cavalry.

The first to move were the cavalry on the left wing of the Allied Army.

The Allied Army had six hundred cavalry, while Ald's army had two hundred.

Moreover, four hundred of the six hundred Allied cavalry were the born cavalry of Equus.

In no time, the six hundred Allied cavalry overwhelmed the two hundred Ald cavalry.

But Ald was calm.

"While our right-wing cavalry are holding off the enemy's left-wing cavalry, our left-wing cavalry will flank the enemy's right. The enemy has no cavalry on their right. Our flank attack will be decisive faster."

"General Tonino! The enemy cavalry is approaching!!"

"It took longer than I thought. The delay in the right wing must have worked. This battle hinges on whether we can hold off this cavalry… Send a message to the light infantry. Start the javelin attack!!"

As Bartolo gave the order, the sound of drums echoed across the battlefield.

At the same time, a loud explosion rang out.

"What? What's happening!!"

"Damn! The horses are panicking… Oh!"

Startled by the sudden explosion, flames, and smoke, the horses began to panic.

Ald's cavalry came to a complete stop.

Some horses threw their riders and fled, while others dragged their riders along as they galloped away.

The strength of cavalry lies in their mobility and shock power.

Stationary cavalry are nothing to fear.

"Kill them!!"

The light infantry and the heavily armored infantry led by Tonino charged at the cavalry.

They surrounded and eliminated the cavalry one by one.

"Truly, this is remarkable. This explosive javelin… I wonder if I could get one as a souvenir."

Tonino sighed as he watched the light infantry of the Rosais Kingdom.

Just as Tonino repelled Ald's cavalry, the Allied Army's cavalry also defeated Ald's cavalry.

The Allied cavalry, riding the momentum of their victory, charged into the right flank of Ald's army.

At almost the same time, the heavily armored infantry of the Allied Army clashed with the right wing of Ald's army.

Ald's right wing was now caught between the Allied cavalry and the heavily armored infantry.

Of course, the right wing was manned by elite troops. But even the elite could not withstand being attacked from the front and the right.

Ald's right wing collapsed.

* Blue: Allied Army

* Red: Ald Army

* Square: Infantry

* Triangle: Cavalry

* Diamond: Light Infantry (Explosive Javelin)

"Hey! Don't run!! Fight to the end!!"

Ald shouted at the top of his lungs.

But the heavily armored infantry, whose formation had been flanked and broken, could not stop fleeing.

"Sir Ald!! Please flee. Our formation is already broken!! We will hold them off as long as we can, so please hurry!!"

"Damn… I understand. Damn it!!!"

Ald kicked his horse and tried to leave the battlefield.

Ald's army was in complete disarray, with no formation or command.

If the commander had more experience, a rapid retreat would have been possible, but it was too much to ask of the young Ald.

All he could do was survive.

"Is that Prince Ald? I will take your life."

"What! Why are there cavalry here!!"

Ald looked around.

The soldiers who had been fleeing north were now running south.

The conclusion was clear: they had been flanked by cavalry and were being attacked from both sides.

In other words, Ald's army was now surrounded by the heavily armored infantry in front and to the right, and the cavalry behind.

"Damn, damn, damn!! Why, why!!"

Ald desperately kicked his horse, trying to escape.

Spear, stones, and arrows rained down on him.

"Truly… there is no other way."

In the next moment, all the projectiles were caught in a white net and fell to the ground.

It was Alice.

"Sir Ald, please flee east. It's still safe there. Hurry, or the enemy's heavily armored infantry will flank you from the east."

"Alice… well done!! I'll increase your food allowance when we get back!!"

Ald galloped east at full speed.

The Allied cavalry tried to pursue Ald, but their horses suddenly stumbled and fell.

They had been caught by Alice's threads.

To pursue Ald, they had to kill Alice.

The Allied cavalry surrounded her.

Before long, only Alice and the Allied cavalry remained on the battlefield.

"Quite a loyal slave, aren't you? Were you well cared for?"

"Hardly. Prince Ald would never embrace a dirty spider like me. So… why did I help him?"

The answer was simple. Ald was scary.

This was not a matter of logic but of psychology.

As long as Ald lived and Alice wore the collar, she had to protect him.

If she didn't, she would be beaten. To avoid being beaten, she had to obey Ald.

She was driven by a strong compulsion.

"Well, never mind. You're in the way. Die!!"

The cavalry charged at Alice all at once. Spears, swords, and arrows rained down on her.

But Alice deflected all the attacks with a metallic sound.

Alice held thin knives in both hands.

"Damn! Not bad!!"

The cavalry hurled their spears at Alice all at once.

But the spears embedded themselves in the ground, not in Alice's body.

"Up!!"

At the moment the spears struck, Alice leaped high into the air.

But this was a bad move. While escaping upward might save her temporarily, she would soon be pulled down by gravity and killed by the spears waiting below.

That… if she were normal.

Alice threw her knives at the soldiers waiting below.

Even the cavalry could not react to the knives flying at them at high speed, and they fell off their horses one by one.

As Alice landed, she immediately mounted a riderless horse.

She forced the horse to turn east and kicked it hard.

Alice had no experience riding horses; she was just mimicking what she had seen, relying on the horse.

"I've bought enough time. If you're dead by now… there's nothing I can do."

Alice muttered this while clinging to the horse.

In this battle, Ald's army had seven thousand prisoners and over seven thousand dead, including two thousand who were likely trampled to death by their own allies.

The few remaining soldiers scattered and fled, leaving Ald with only a hundred soldiers.

The Allied Army had fifty-three dead and eighty wounded.

It was a decisive victory.

With this, the tide of the civil war turned sharply in favor of Carlo.

Bartolo's dominance

These days, I'm thinking about formations other than the diagonal line.