"How's it going?" Erwin asked as he cast his gaze toward the slightly disheveled Sherry.

In Georgina's absence, Erwin could only deploy Sherry and around a dozen other martial artists who were skilled equestrians to act as scouts.

"The battle has already begun!" Sherry replied while panting heavily, clearly having just returned as quickly as he could from the Canston Plain.

"How many troops has Mackney brought with him?" Erwin asked.

"It looks like around 30,000 to 35,000," Sherry replied.

"What about Onen's side?"

"It looks to be around the same number of people."

Erwin nodded in response. The numbers on the two sides were roughly the same as he had anticipated. He had asked Shiba about the forces on both sides in advance, so this was all within his projections.

The only thing that he was concerned about was whether this unit of 600 troops behind him would be sufficient to reap full rewards from the battlefield in the aftermath of the clash.

Among these newly recruited 600 men, most of them were martial artists, and they were currently under Sherry's command. There were only around 50 magicians who had been assigned to Larwood, and on top of that, there was a great deal of variance among the abilities of these magicians. Some of them could only be referred to as elementary magicians.

Having said that, it was already beyond Erwin's expectations to have been able to recruit so many people in a small town like Lomu on such short notice.

The 500 or so martial artists weren't remarkably powerful by any stretch of the imagination, but Erwin had equipped them with suits of Xuanwu armor, which gave them a significant upgrade when it came to their defensive prowess. [1] 

These suits of Xuanwu armor had been constructed from the armor plating taken from the Skycourt Kingdom's mercenaries. Erwin didn't know what type of material it was, and the blacksmiths in Lomu didn't know much more than he did. Thus, at the time, they had only charged according to the number of units ordered. However, upon beginning their work, they immediately regretted their decision. Unfortunately, the deal had already been signed by both sides, so they had to complete the job, even if they were crying the entire time, much to Erwin's amusement.

Thanks to the conscientious efforts of the blacksmiths of Lomu, the armor plating was crafted into close to 800 suits of armor. Sherry and Lanyon had tested the suits of armor in person, and they discovered that the armor displayed exceptional defensive properties against attacks from all types of physical weapons, as well as spells of different attributes.

The only downside was that the suits of armor were very heavy, so after putting them on, the wearer's mobility and offensive prowess would be significantly discounted.

Of course, it wasn't like these martial artists of Lomu had much offensive prowess to begin with.

The name "Xuanwu armor" had been coined by Erwin, and it was quite appropriate.

"When should we set off, Commander?" Lanyon asked.

"There's no hurry. With roughly 30,000 troops on each side, the outcome of the battle won't be decided anytime soon," Erwin replied with a smile. "In any case, we still have to wait for Lia and the others."

Erwin cast a meaningful gaze toward the east as he spoke.

Lanyon and Sherry both knew that even though this was purportedly a rebuild of the Four Winds mercenary legion, Erwin's true objective was actually to assemble an army for the Universal Church.

Thus, the flag of the mercenary legion was no longer the same as the old flag of the Four Winds mercenary legion. Instead, they had chanced to a new flag with a white background and a sea wave design, which had been designed by Erwin.

Looking at Erwin's composed yet excited expression, Sherry and Lanyon couldn't help but feel a little befuddled.

After all, they only had around 600 men, and even with the Monge Riders mercenary legion thrown into the mix, their forces amounted to only less than 900 troops. In contrast, each of their opponents had over 30,000 troops under their command. Even if the two sides were to battle to the death, it would still be very difficult for a small army of fewer than 900 men to reap the spoils, so the two of them were wondering where Erwin's confidence was coming from.

Even though they had gone through life and death multiple times with Erwin in the past, they knew that this was definitely not going to be an easy battle, given the enormous disparity in numbers between the three sides.

In reality, the source of Erwin's confidence came in the form of a single gorgeous figure who was standing atop a nearby mountain amid the gentle breeze.

...

While everyone was waiting amid an atmosphere of tension and anticipation in the Ero Valley, the battle on the Canston Plain was raging on fiercely.

After that war of words, the two sides had finally begun to engage in battle.

First, it was Lucidy Farody leading 8,000 golden-armored Striking Salamander cavaliers to storm Count Onen's forces.

The cavaliers were charging forward with devastating might like a golden claymore that was attempting to pierce directly into the heart of the Wild Ax Legion.

However, to everyone's surprise, Count Onen didn't send out any cavaliers of his own to oppose the enemy cavalry, which meant that he was planning to ward off the charge from the opposing cavaliers with his own footsoldiers.

In theory, this wasn't impossible, but generally speaking, when it came to footsoldiers who were pitted against cavaliers, they would always be equipped with anti-cavalry equipment, such as huge shields and long spears.

However, the soldiers of the Wild Ax Legion were only wielding labryses without any defensive equipment, and that was very perplexing.

At this point, Onen had already retreated to the side of his army, and he remained completely unfazed as he watched the oncoming wave of golden cavaliers.

He raised his ax high above his own head as he roared, "500 steps! 300 steps! 100 steps! Fire!"

Onen's rousing voice was ringing out across the entirety of the Wild Ax Legion's ranks.

Immediately thereafter, he swung his ax down in a swift motion, and thousands of axes were instantly hurled through the air by the mercenaries beside him.

The axes flipped end over end as they flew through the air like a series of crimson tornadoes, crashing into the oncoming Striking Salamander cavaliers at high speeds.

The blades of the axes tore through the suits of golden armor as alarmed horse neighs rang out incessantly.

Some of the cavaliers had their heads split open by the oncoming axes, thereby killing them on the spot. However, they remained charging ahead on horseback, but in a completely different direction from where the opposing army was, presenting a sight that was both harrowing and comical to behold.

There were also some cavaliers who were knocked off their horses by the flying axes before being trampled to death under the hooves of the horses behind them.

As a result, the formation of the golden-armored cavaliers was plunged into complete disarray, and severe casualties were being suffered.

"Split up to the sides! Don't trample your own comrades!" Lucidy hurriedly commanded in a loud voice as he rode along amid the charging cavaliers. 

In response, the cavaliers immediately tugged on the reins of their horses before splitting up as instructed to avoid trampling all of their fallen comrades to death.

However, once these cavaliers in suits of heavy armor built up substantial momentum, it was not so easy for them to stop themselves, and as a result, there were still many fallen cavaliers who were trampled to death under the hooves of their own comrades.

Thus, despite how formidable the Striking Salamander mercenary legion's assault looked, it was easily nullified by the volley of throwing axes from the Wild Ax Legion.

A furious look appeared on Mackney's face upon seeing this.

Thankfully, his eldest son, Lucidy, wasn't charging at the forefront, so he wasn't felled by the flying axes.

"Is that all of you've got?" Count Onen chortled with glee at the sight of the struggling Striking Salamander cavaliers, then raised the ax in his hand before declaring, "Charge! Kill every single last one of them!"

He certainly wasn't going to pass up this valuable momentum shift.

Upon receiving this order, the soldiers of the Wild Ax Legion who were closest to the enemy immediately charged forward like a pack of starving wolves, roaring loudly as they did so, even though they were unarmed as they had just hurled their axes toward the oncoming golden-armored cavaliers.

Meanwhile, the cavaliers of the Striking Salamander mercenary legion were in a state of complete disarray.

Some of them were split up to either side of the battlefield, while some were still yet to get up from the ground, so they were unable to formulate an effective defense against the oncoming footsoldiers of the Wild Ax Legion.

Around 10,000 troops had rushed out from the Wild Ax Legion's ranks, and they instantly clashed violently with the opposing golden-armored cavaliers.

Once the cavaliers lost their speed and momentum, they held no advantage at all in a battle against footsoldiers.

The ax-wielding soldiers of the Wild Ax Legion were far more ferocious and flexible in battle than the cumbersome golden-armored cavaliers.

Many of the golden-armored cavaliers who were still on horseback were quickly sent toppling down by a few swipes from enemy axes before being brutally slaughtered.

The warriors of the Wild Ax Legion were all extremely experienced, and they didn't target the golden armor of their felled enemies at all. Instead, they specifically targeted the enemies' necks and other regions that weren't protected by their armor.

Soon, a string of agonized howls could be heard ringing out from the ranks of the golden-armored cavaliers.

Mackney could see that his mercenaries were only suffering more and more casualties as the battle wore on, and he hurriedly ordered, "All footsoldiers, charge! Rescue our cavaliers! All archers and magicians, advance and attack the opposing camp! Don't allow them to send any further reinforcements!"

In response to his command, 10,000 golden-armored footsoldiers immediately began to charge toward the opposing camp in an orderly formation.

After that, a flurry of arrows were sent flying toward Count Onen's troops.

The magicians of the Striking Salamander mercenary legion also began to rise up into the air, and spells of all types of different colors began to flash over the sky, casting a series of majestic arcs before landing in the opposing camp.

It had to be said that the adjustments that Mackney had made on the fly were very effective. Just as he expected, Count Onen's was unable to send any further troops onto the battlefield due to the concentrated barrage of arrows and spells that were coming their way.

However, at the same time, Mackney's troops were unable to gain any advantage on the battlefield. The combined cavaliers and footsoldiers of the Striking Salamander mercenary legion totaled roughly 16,000 men, and they were only facing around 12,000 soldiers from the Wild Ax Legion, but they weren't able to gain the upper hand at all.

The soldiers of Count Onen's Wild Ax Legion all excelled in melee combat, and that was something that no one had anticipated. Prior to the commencement of the battle, the merchants of Tellier had always been under the impression that Onen and the nobles of Zans were nothing more than a bunch of royal cowards, and that they would be sure to crush the nobles in battle.

However, things weren't going quite as they planned.

Seeing how evenly matched the two sides were, both the Luther Family and the Fayma Family sent people to ask Mackney whether he needed them to send out their troops to apply pressure to Onen's forces, but Mackney turned them down, telling them to be patient for now.

Mackney knew that even though the Luther Family and the Fayma Family had a total of over 10,000 troops, there were barely any capable warriors among their ranks. If he were to recklessly send those troops into battle at a time like this, there was a good chance that they would worsen the situation rather than turn the tables.

In short, these two allies of his could only be expected to contribute if they were already winning the battle, but he certainly couldn't count on them to turn the tables in a losing position.

As an experienced leader on the battlefield, he was well aware of how important it was to have backup forces. If he were to send all of his backup troops onto the battlefield at once, only for unforeseen changes to arise, then there would be no one to cover their forces for a retreat, and the entire army would be decimated.

Mackney was beginning to regret underestimating his enemies. If he could go back and make this decision again, he definitely wouldn't have decided to rush into this battle in such a rash manner.

He wasn't worried that he would lose, but he knew that even if he could win this battle, a huge number of his troops would have to be sacrificed. As a result, they wouldn't have sufficient power to take over the city of Zans in one fell swoop and slaughter Onen and the nobles.

Thus, this battle would've been completely pointless.

In this situation, he couldn't help but recall what his youngest son, John, had said to him.

1. Xuanwu is a deity that is known as one of the four symbols of Chinese astronomy. It's a black turtle with a serpentine tail, and it's renowned for its defensive capabilities. ☜