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 Imperial’s advance. Then, utilizing the Republic’s special crossbow to attack first, they could deal considerable damage to the Imperial infantry.
‘When that happens, we’ll suffer some damages as well. But once we’re in the middle of a power struggle, even if we suffer some damage in the beginning, we’ll be winning…’
“What’re 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 Barron’s location.
“Is he planning to lead the breakthrough? Is he really planning on doing something that reckless?”
Antras couldn’t help but wonder whether the Republican was bluffing.
There were cases where Masters would take the lead in destroying the enemy’s 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, he’ll be isolated in the middle of the enemy. There’s no way that man who made his bones in war wouldn’t know this. Or maybe…’
Antras frowned as he muttered.
“Is he so confident in his own strength and power that he doesn’t care about common sense?”
His question was immediately answered.
***
“Let’s go.”
He didn’t 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 wasn’t 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 Siegfried’s 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 couldn’t continue.
CLANG!
Barron had shut him up by striking him with all his might. The moment Barron struck out, the Imperial Army’s infantry lines were smashed.
“We’re 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 there was 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 hero’s work more than anything else.
“Barron! Barron! Barron! Barron!”
The Republican soldiers followed after him and charged forward. They didn’t have the same discipline as the Imperial Army. They merely ran like mad shouting Barron’s 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 didn’t 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 don’t stop that Barron, we won’t be able to have a regular battle.”
Antras frowned. Despite plowing through more than a third of the battlelines, Barron’s 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.
“We’re 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 commander’s hands or feet. As good as Antras was, he couldn’t 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 hadn’t 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… it’s worth using it on a man like him.’
Thinking that, Antras had the formation move.
“Don’t 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 Army’s movement would change.
***
“Hm…”
For the first time, Barron’s relentless charge stopped. He stood still and looked around.
The enemy’s 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.”
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There wasn’t 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 didn’t 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 the aide following right behind him.
“What happened to the men following us?”
“They’re cut off, sir.”
“Then what about the ones who are currently following us right now, then?”
“They’re your personal cavalry, sir.”
In other words, besides the 1,000 cavalry that initially entered the enemy’s camp with Barron, the rest were isolated outside the enemy’s encirclement.
‘If I assume that about 100 of them died in the charge, and another 100 died during the breakthrough, then I’ve got about 800 left.’
Barron gave it a passing thought.
The conclusion he came to was…
“800 men are enough. Let’s 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 Barron’s 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 opponent’s 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 enemy’s head between the whirling eddy.
And Barron’s response to all this was…
“We continue as is. Don’t fall behind.”
To go forward. From the beginning till now, there were only two things he did. If there’s 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 enemy’s movements had changed, but that wasn’t 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 Barron’s troops had diminished to less than half. Although they hadn’t 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 isn’t he stopping?”
As time continued to pass, Antras’s expression turned serious.
Barron wasn’t stopping.
The Imperial soldiers used Antras’s 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 didn’t stop. The cavalry following him didn’t 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 couldn’t 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 Army’s shouts, you’d think they were the ones winning this battle.
On top of that…
“There’s a breach in the encirclement! Hurry up and rebuild!”
Antras shouted urgently as he looked down from his watchtower. He realized that Barron’s silent charge had almost broken through the encirclement.
“Send in the reserve forces! Quickly!”
“We’ve already sent in all our reserve forces, sir.”
“That’s… kugh.”
Antras gritted his teeth. If this were a Jae Nation’s 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 hadn’t 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 Antras’s 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.