Chapter 439: Just Keep Going Like This (6)
The formation of the Raypold Army resembled a bow with its center protruding forward. Given the overwhelming number of barbarians, the central area had to be reinforced to endure the onslaught.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As the vanguard clashed first, the battles at the center grew intensely fierce.
The barbarian warriors, led by their war chiefs, tried to pierce through the Raypold Army’s defenses. Confident in their numerical superiority, they aimed to break through the center with sheer force.
Woroqa bellowed incessantly, his voice booming across the battlefield.
“We are stronger and far more numerous! Push through! Surround them!”
The Raypold Army’s flanks were naturally weaker in defense compared to the heavily fortified center.
Thud, thud, thud!
Surrounding an enemy wasn’t enough to claim victory; damage had to be inflicted to complete the encirclement.
To crush the Raypold Army completely, the barbarian warriors needed to bring down the heavily armored soldiers on the flanks.
While the center was under immense pressure from the overwhelming numbers, additional barbarian warriors surged toward the Raypold Army’s flanks, attempting a decisive breakthrough.
Thud, thud, thud!
Amelia, observing the charging barbarians, gave a resolute command.
“Hold the flanks. Do not retreat.”
The soldiers began to shift their formation.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
They pressed together tightly, raising shields to form layers and thrusting spears through the gaps. They intended to withstand the cavalry charge at all costs.
Soon, the two forces collided.
BOOM!
The left and right flanks of the Raypold Army staggered, their formation slightly pushed back, but they held their ground and did not break.
Unlike the kingdom's knights, the barbarians lacked full-body armor and proper barding for their horses. Against such solid defenses bristling with spears, breaking through was no simple task.
For the barbarians, who primarily relied on cavalry charges, this formation was a nightmare.
Woroqa, frustrated by the situation, roared again.
“Get off your horses! Engage them on foot! We outnumber them by far! Push through with strength!”
Failing to breach the defenses, the barbarians dismounted, resorting to close combat. The spears made it difficult to approach while mounted, so they drew axes and charged directly at the Raypold Army.
The barbarians dodged the spears, closed in, and swung their axes, climbing over shields. Some of the Raypold soldiers were forced to draw swords to counter the assault.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Weapons clashed fiercely as both sides fought desperately. The barbarians pressed hard to break the formation, while the Raypold soldiers struggled to hold their ground.
Seeing their progress, Woroqa shouted triumphantly.
“It’s working! Keep going like this!”
The enemy had exhausted their traps. They wouldn’t have any more tricks up their sleeves. In a raw contest of strength like this, their superior numbers gave them the advantage.
If things continued this way, the Raypold Army would eventually tire and collapse.
As the lines stabilized in this stalemate, Amelia issued a new command.
“Keep the flanks as they are. The center will gradually retreat.”
The soldiers, hearing Amelia’s orders, began to move.
The formation, layered into multiple ranks, shifted as the rearmost soldiers stepped back, planting their shields into the ground.
Thud!
The rank ahead followed suit, stepping back and planting their shields.
Thud!
The soldiers’ movements rippled like waves, their rhythm perfectly synchronized.
Even those at the front, locked in battle with the barbarians, adapted to the shift.
Thud!
The bow-like protrusion of the Raypold Army’s formation began to recede gradually, creating the appearance that they were being pushed back.
“Hahaha! They’re faltering!”
“Kill them all!”
“Crush them!”
Drunk on the thrill of battle, the barbarians advanced eagerly, sensing an imminent collapse of the enemy’s line. Victory seemed within their grasp.
But the Raypold Army’s flanks held their positions tightly, refusing to give an inch.
Before long, the protruding formation of the Raypold Army transformed into a concave shape, with the center hollowed out.
It was only then that Woroqa’s face hardened in realization.
“No... This can’t be…”
Warriors on the battlefield had no time to assess their surroundings; they focused solely on the enemies before them.
Reinforcements pouring in from the rear were drawn into the center like water into a whirlpool.
The sheer numbers left them no other space to maneuver.
Meanwhile, some of the soldiers who had been stationed at the center quietly shifted to bolster the flanks.
At that moment, Amelia, wearing a cold smile, spoke.
“Strike.”
The formation of the Raypold Army shifted once again.
At the flanks, except for the soldiers at the forefront holding the shields, others turned sideways to thrust their spears.
The barbarians, unaware, had practically marched themselves into a trap and were now surrounded.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
“Aaaargh!”
Barbarian warriors fell one by one, struck down by relentless attacks from both sides before they could understand what was happening.
With their weak defensive equipment, they had no means to block the torrent of spear strikes.
Barbarians believed that sheer physical strength and merciless aggression were all they needed in battle.
Woroqa, realizing the full extent of the situation, trembled with anger. At last, he saw through the enemy's plan.
“This… this can’t be…”
The traps and tactics they had seen earlier were nothing more than bait, crafted to deceive them into thinking there was no more to worry about. But this was the real threat.
The strategy was designed to catch them when they were fully engaged in fighting. No army in the world would retreat simply because the enemy was pulling back.
He couldn’t believe that Amelia had such skill.
“Attack their sides! Push the flanks! Quickly! Break through the flanks now!”
Woroqa shouted furiously. Since the Raypold Army’s flanks refused to give way, the barbarians were being led straight into the enemy’s strategy.
The barbarian warriors, realizing this too late, desperately tried to break through the flanks. They understood that the tide of the battle would only turn if they succeeded.
But the Raypold Army stood firm, refusing to yield.
“Damn it! What’s going on? We’re so much stronger!”
Despite the warriors’ relentless attacks and their loud battle cries, the flanks of the Raypold Army held their ground.
From the start, Amelia had stationed the best elite troops at the forefront of the flanks. Among them, countless shields glimmered with blue mana.
Amelia had boldly assigned knights to defend the vanguard of the flanks, ordering them to focus purely on defense.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
No matter how much the barbarians attacked, they couldn’t breach the Raypold Army’s defenses. The strongest warriors among the barbarians had all been concentrated on breaking through the center.
But the center had already been drawn into the trap and was now surrounded.
Realizing the futility of the situation, Woroqa sounded the retreat horn and shouted.
“Fall back! Retreat, now!”
The sheer number of warriors packed into the formation made retreating a difficult task. Meanwhile, the Raypold Army tightened their formation, slaughtering the barbarians trapped in the encirclement.
The chaos didn’t stop there. Magicians, who had pulled back earlier, resumed unleashing their spells, and archers rained down arrows again.
While priests from the Salvation Church did their best to protect the trapped warriors, they couldn’t shield everyone from the constant assault.
The surrounded warriors continued to fall one after another.
Seeing this, Woroqa roared in fury.
“Argh! That woman! How dare she!”
He still had a significant number of troops left, but with the front blocked, he couldn’t deploy all of them at once.
While he could attempt a flanking maneuver, it wouldn’t be enough to break through the heavy infantry.
The only option was to spread out on both sides and charge in after repositioning.
But would the enemy simply allow that? And even if they tried, could the heavy infantry be breached so easily?
It wouldn’t work. They needed to reorganize their formation and fight anew. Continuing like this would only lead them to dance to the enemy’s tune.
“Retreat faster!” Woroqa shouted urgently.
The warriors, sensing the danger, began to fall back gradually.
Meow.
Amelia gently stroked Bastet, who yawned lazily, as she surveyed the battlefield with a calm expression.
“Flanks, retreat,” she ordered.
A new command was issued. This time, the Raypold Army’s flanks began to take slow steps back.
Thud!
And yet, even as they retreated, they didn’t forget to thrust their spears at the barbarians.
Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!
“Aaaargh!”
Thud!
The entire formation of the Raypold Army began to pull back. Mistaking the reason for this movement, the barbarian warriors focused on attacking the flanks.
“They’re retreating! They’re falling back!”
“Wipe them out!”
“We have the numbers to crush them!”
Despite the apparent retreat, the Raypold Army suffered no losses. They simply withdrew while steadily eliminating the warriors trapped in their encirclement.
In fact, by disengaging slightly, they minimized their own casualties. The barbarian warriors were too busy chasing the retreating Raypold Army.
Seeing this, Woroqa’s mind reeled.
“What… what’s going on?”
He couldn’t understand. He had no idea why the enemy was retreating voluntarily.
Panicking, he shouted in desperation.
“Don’t follow them! Retreat! Retreat, you stupid fools!”
‘We can’t keep being dragged around without understanding their intentions. If we aren’t careful, we’ll all fall into their trap and be slaughtered.’
At Woroqa’s shout, the rear troops halted their advance. However, the warriors already engaged in combat didn’t retreat so easily.
They were warriors who were difficult to control from the start. Not knowing the situation, they simply continued to follow Raypold’s forces blindly.
“I said retreat!!!!”
Woroqa dashed forward, shouting repeatedly until the warriors finally began to withdraw.
Even then, only those attacking the flanks responded. The ones trapped in the center couldn’t withdraw properly and were being cut down.
Still, as Raypold’s left and right wings retreated, the encirclement began to loosen, offering a sliver of breathing room.
The sheer number of barbarians trapped inside made it impossible for Raypold’s forces to eliminate them in one go. Instead, they systematically killed them while moving.
Woroqa urged his warriors to hurry. The flanking warriors had already retreated. There was no need to keep fighting if the enemy was releasing the encirclement voluntarily.
“Quickly! Just get out quickly!”
Now, it was up to the warriors deep in the center to escape. Many of them were still alive. If this kept up, a significant number might be able to retreat.
Then, they could regroup and fight again.
Woroqa held onto that belief when Amelia spoke once more.
“Annihilate them.”
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Suddenly, the central formation shifted to the sides, creating a wide, gaping opening.
Now, the barbarian warriors were blocked only by soldiers on the flanks.
As those soldiers fell back and turned with puzzled expressions, the cavalry of Raypold’s forces, which had been waiting in the rear, finally moved.
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
“Ha-ha-ha! Get ready to die!”
Vulcan, a bandit-turned-warrior, roared as he swung a massive club with unrestrained glee.
Beside him stood Conrad, the leader of the Actium Merchant Guild, elegantly clad in armor and wielding a spear.
He was not only Amelia’s advisor but also a formidable knight on the battlefield.
The warriors attacking the flanks had already retreated. Those in the center were turning to flee.
They were utterly defenseless.
Into that gap, Raypold’s cavalry charged.
Boom!
“Aaargh!”
The barbarian warriors who had entered the center couldn’t resist at all. They were completely trampled and slaughtered.
The warriors who had already retreated could do nothing but watch as their allies were decimated.
Woroqa stammered as he tried to speak.
“To… to rescue our allies….”
But pulling back the flanks had allowed the enemy cavalry to move freely. Once again, he had been outmaneuvered.
Raypold’s central formation was now wide open. They could push back by sending reinforcements. Yet, Woroqa couldn’t continue his sentence.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
At some point, Raypold’s left and right wings stopped moving and raised their shields again.
Woroqa didn’t dare commit more troops. He couldn’t grasp the enemy’s strategy or their formation this time either.
‘What is this? Are they trying to hold us off again? Or is this a bluff? Another trap? What would happen if we charged now?’
The battlefield is ever-changing. A commander must swiftly assess the situation and make decisions.
But Woroqa couldn’t bring himself to decide.
He couldn’t read their intentions.
Even if there was no deeper meaning, after being outplayed so many times, Woroqa couldn’t stop second-guessing. Amelia, in turn, was toying with his very psyche.
In the end, the warriors trapped in the center were completely wiped out by Raypold’s cavalry.
‘What is this….’
Even then, Woroqa couldn’t issue a single command. The barbarian warriors watching the massacre wore expressions as if they had been bewitched.
They had clashed fiercely, yet when they came to their senses, they had already been beaten and forced into retreat.
The warriors, who had only focused on the enemy in front of them, couldn’t even figure out how or where things had gone wrong.
Raypold’s forces didn’t move any further. With their smaller numbers, they had no reason to overextend.
This battle alone seemed to have killed about 10,000 barbarians. Nodding slightly, Amelia stroked Bastet and said,
“Move to the next location.”
Meow.
At her command, Raypold’s forces began withdrawing in perfect order. Their formation showed no signs of collapse.
Woroqa and the barbarian warriors could only watch in a daze.
For Woroqa, his mind was in even greater disarray.
‘Why are they retreating? What’s going on? Weren’t they trying to block us? Could this be a lure?’
Once again, he couldn’t make a decision. He could only watch as Raypold’s forces left the battlefield.
As if reading his thoughts, Amelia looked at the distant barbarian forces and smiled.
“I will fight where I want, when I want, and how I want.”
That was how she fought.