Chapter 231: A Knights Honor (3)

Antras tried to anticipate how Barron would react. If Barron followed the standard procedure, then he would deploy spearmen in between the infantry to prevent the advancement of the Imperials advance. Then, utilizing the Republics special crossbow to attack first, they could deal considerable damage to the Imperial infantry.

When that happens, well suffer some damages as well. But once were in the middle of a power struggle, even if we suffer some damage in the beginning, well be winning

Whatre they doing?

Antras had been busy working out what could happen during the battle when he suddenly opened his eyes wide.

The Republic had made a completely different move from what he had expected. The cavalry stood in a wedge formation at the front of the Republican Army. And at the very front, was a flag fluttering in the wind, signaling General Barrons location.

Is he planning to lead the breakthrough? Is he really planning on doing something that reckless?

Antras couldnt help but wonder whether the Republican was bluffing.

There were cases where Masters would take the lead in destroying the enemys battle lines with force, but that all depended on the time and location. Even if Barron was a Master, the Imperial Army had 200,000 troops; just the infantry alone consisted of 140,000. The infantry stood close to each other as they moved forward. Even if he was a Master, if he tried to break through this, he would surely get stuck in the middle.

In which case, hell be isolated in the middle of the enemy. Theres no way that man who made his bones in war wouldnt know this. Or maybe

Antras frowned as he muttered.

Is he so confident in his own strength and power that he doesnt care about common sense?

His question was immediately answered.

***

Lets go.

He didnt shout loudly or give a speech to boost morale, but

Yes, sir!

There was absolute faith in the voices of the officers who followed him.

With General Barron at the forefront, his personal cavalry charged forward in a wedge formation. There were 1,000 of them. While 1,000 cavalry wasnt a small number of men, it was still too small to charge against 200,000 men. However, there were three variables.

First, these 1,000 men were the elite of all elites who had been personally trained by Barron to be both his subordinate and disciple. Second, as long as Barron was leading them in the front, they would show enough combat power that even Siegfrieds personal men, the Ghosts, would be wary of fighting against them. And finally third. The one leading these 1,000 men in breaking through the enemy camp was General Barron himself.

***

Here they come!

Overlap your shields!

Group together

The infantry commander who was giving orders to his men couldnt continue.

CLANG!

Barron had shut him up by striking him with all his might. The moment Barron struck out, the Imperial Armys infantry lines were smashed.

Were continuing.

Barron spoke calmly as he continued to brandish his sword.

***

Gaugh!

S save me guh!

A ahhhh

Pure and simple, it was a disaster.

They were in a position to hold supremacy because there were more of them? How ridiculous. The Imperial soldiers felt like cursing at their commanding officer and telling him to come down and fight himself.

This man, Barron, was like a hurricane. They felt like they were being swept away by a natural disaster, not a war. Every time he swung his sword, soldiers died horribly and the battlelines were broken. Every time he passed by, soldiers arms, legs, and even their flesh flew like leaves in the wind.

If therewas a hell, it was here.

If this was a hellish scene for the Imperial Army, then for the Republicans, it was the glorious scene of a heros work more than anything else.

Barron! Barron! Barron! Barron!

The Republican soldiers followed after him and charged forward. They didnt have the same discipline as the Imperial Army. They merely ran like mad shouting Barrons name. As if they were racing amongst themselves, the Republican soldiers ran to see if they could reach the enemy before the other could. It was reminiscent of a fan chasing after their hero. It didnt matter who their opponent was nor was the difference in troop size important. As long as it was Barron who was leading them at the front, they would even run to the end of hell.

Dangerous. If we dont stop that Barron, we wont be able to have a regular battle.

Antras frowned. Despite plowing through more than a third of the battlelines, Barrons charge was unstoppable. This kind of military strength was rarely seen in the Southern continent. Feeling that he should quickly do something, Antras opened his fan and gave instructions.

Were going with the flow and catch operation. Make no mistakes.

Yes, sir!

Antras had originally honed his military strategies and tactics in the Southern continent which was more advanced than the Northern continent in every way.

One of them was their battle formations. If soldiers were trained thoroughly and could move like his hands and feet, then they were able to be used to quickly form a battle array that was comparable to a fortress. It was very useful. It was a strategy that the strategists of this continent who only knew breakthroughs, sieges, pincer operation, or row formation would never think of or understand.

However, in order to use this tactic, the soldiers have to train for many years until they could be moved as easily as a commanders hands or feet. As good as Antras was, he couldnt turn the Imperial Army into something like that in such a short period of time.

That was why Antras had chosen only one formation and trained the soldiers to be able to follow orders for that formation. This hadnt been easy either. That was why Antras had had to simplify the process as much as possible but in the end, he had been able to train the soldiers enough in that one formation to make it usable.

That formation was the flow and catch operation that was about to unfold right now. When the enemy penetrated deep into their camp, they would encircle and surround him in layers so that it would gnaw away at his strength. That was how this operation worked.

This was originally for Grand Duke Forrest of Fuhrer Siegfried, but its worth using it on a man like him.

Thinking that, Antras had the formation move.

Dont miss your orders. Messengers with the signal flags, make sure to check your flags!

Yes, sir!

Based on the movement of his flag, the Imperial Armys movement would change.

***

Hm

For the first time, Barrons relentless charge stopped. He stood still and looked around.

The enemys movements had suddenly changed. In the beginning, the enemy had tried to stay as close together as possible in front of him, but now, they were turning away from him; they were minimizing the damages suffered from his charge while encircling him. When he examined his surroundings closely, he realized that he was in the middle of a huge whirlpool of enemies moving around him.

How interesting.

There wasnt a hint of dismay in his voice. It really did seem like he just found this new sight to be amazing and interesting.

Watching him like that, the Imperial commanders gave their order.

Fire!

Archers waiting on either side of the whirlpool shot arrows at him. Barron didnt blink an eye at the countless arrows pouring down towards him. He merely swung his sword and either blocked or swatted them away.

Then, he turned to speak to theaidefollowing right behind him.

What happened to the men following us?

Theyre cut off, sir.

Then what about the ones who are currently following us right now, then?

Theyre your personal cavalry, sir.

In other words, besides the 1,000 cavalry that initially entered the enemys camp with Barron, the rest were isolated outside the enemys encirclement.

If I assume that about 100 of them died in the charge, and another 100 died during the breakthrough, then Ive got about 800 left.

Barron gave it a passing thought.

The conclusion he came to was

800 men are enough. Lets go.

Yes, sir!

He decided to continue with breaking through. And his deputy followed along with this ridiculous decision as if it made sense. Without a faith stronger than steel, this was impossible.

Advance!

Waahhhhh!!

Antras smiled when Barrons reckless charge began again.

***

How foolish. Is he trying to break through this formation with pure force? Too bad this was decided to nullify the opponents force in the first place

Antras stood up from his seat and opened his fan as he spoke.

The price for such foolishness will have to be death.

The movements of the soldiers forming the formation accelerated even more. The whirlpool seemed to turn faster as the attack on Barron continued. The arrows continued to pour down on them while heavily armored infantries were deployed alongside cavalry with lances. He had hidden the blade of a deadly sword that cut off the enemys head between the whirling eddy.

And Barrons response to all this was

We continue as is. Dont fall behind.

To go forward. From the beginning till now, there were only two things he did. If theres an enemy, cut them down. After cutting the enemy down, move forward. These were the only two things he continued to do, stoically.

He had briefly stopped when the enemys movements had changed, but that wasnt because he had been blocked. He had been curious about the new movement, it had been something he had never seen before. And once his curiosity disappeared, he continued to silently move forward as he had done before.

How foolish. Do you really think that would work?

Antras clicked his tongue when he saw that Barrons troops had diminished to less than half. Although they hadnt been able to capture Barron yet, the number of troops following him was steadily decreasing. At this rate, the enemy would reach his limit first.

But then

...Why isnt he stopping?

As time continued to pass, Antrass expression turned serious.

Barron wasnt stopping.

The Imperial soldiers used Antrass formation to continue to form an encirclement with minimal damage and continued to attack him. It was very effective and now only about 200 cavalry were following Barron.

But even with that

Barron didnt stop. The cavalry following him didnt stop either. Even the Republic soldiers attacking outside the encirclement showed no signs of withdrawing. Instead

Barron! Barron! Barron! Barron! Barron!

Barron! Barron! Barron! Barron! Barron!

Barron! Barron! Barron! Barron! Barron!

Morale was going up.

What on earth

Antras was dumbfounded. Did those guys not understand? Were they all blind that they couldnt even see what was in front of them? Their commander was trapped inside an encirclement and was continuously being attacked. The number of soldiers following him had also decreased to about a fifth of the original amount. So why was their morale rising?

If you just heard the Republican Armys shouts, youd think they were the ones winning this battle.

On top of that

Theres a breach in the encirclement! Hurry up and rebuild!

Antras shouted urgently as he looked down from his watchtower. He realized that Barrons silent charge had almost broken through the encirclement.

Send in the reserve forces! Quickly!

Weve already sent in all our reserve forces, sir.

Thats kugh.

Antras gritted his teeth. If this were a Jae Nations elite group that had personally been trained by him, then they could quickly change formation and respond. However, these were the Imperial troops. Teaching them just one formation was the limit.

He had known this, but hadnt paid much attention to it because he believe it would be possible to capture such a big fish of an enemy with this one formation - whether that be Grand Duke Forrest of Fuhrer Siegfried

But he never thought there would be a man like this. Continuously moving forward steadily, bit by bit, like a rock being polished and pierced by the falling water drops under the eaves.

But this was the result. He destroyed Antrass tactic and overcome the difference in numbers.

Antras had only seen one such man in his long career on the battlefield.

Is he the reincarnation of the Tiger King Jayhan?

Antras remembered an old enemy who was the hardest to deal with in the Southern Continent.