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The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 13.
After going around the battlefield again, I returned to the main forces and was able to confirm the enemy unit harassing our rear as expected.
“Li-line up the formation! Don’t panic… Ugh!”
The enemy commander at the very front, mowing down the soldiers. I immediately recognized who he was.
‘Reddish-brown armor and a golden helmet…Is that the Fierce Horn?’
He was the right-hand man of Gillias Melbourn, the commander of the Second Army of the Alvard Kingdom.
‘So the one commanding here is Gillias Melbourn.’
Fierce Horn was an SR character. Gillias Melbourn was an SSR character.
They were both characters whose performance was rather mediocre compared to their rarity, which is why they were characters I often used.
The fact that I had to face off against such characters gave me a strange feeling, but there was no time to indulge in such sentiments now.
“From now on, this place will be commanded by Ilya Mercenary Corps! Immediately have the officers come under my command!”
At my shout, the nearby army officers made sullen expressions, but they had seen with their own eyes how we had charged into the frontline army and turned the tide of the battlefield, so they obediently followed my orders.
It even helped that the high-ranking officers had all been killed by the enemy’s arrow attacks.
This way, they didn’t stubbornly cling to command authority.
“I’m Andy Smithson. Currently temporarily leading the 2nd Infantry Corps. I will now place it under Ilya Anfei’s command.”
“Understood. I’m Wade, acting in Ilya’s stead as commander. Follow my orders from now on.”
I split Smithson’s unit into three units of 300, 400, and 300 men, positioning them to my left, center, and right with space between them, firmly holding their ground to strongly receive the advancing enemy.
This was a kind of tactical wedge formation.
The enemy forces pouring in would clash with these three units holding their positions.
At that point, the advancing enemy forces would spill into the gaps between the wedges.
Our mercenary corps positioned behind would then sweep up those spilled forces – that was the gist of this tactic.
‘But if their numbers get meaninglessly whittled down, it will become troublesome for them. Now, how will you respond, Gillias Melbourn?’
If the opponent really was Gillias Melbourn, he would surely come up with some countermeasure against the sudden appearance of these three tactical wedges.
Gillias’ expression turned utterly cold.
While they had boldly charged in, in the end they had attacked a force of nearly 9,000 with only 2,000 troops.
This was to buy time for Ushis’ disorganized frontline army to regroup and attack again.
At first it went well.
The confused enemy was savagely attacked and decimated by Fierce Horn.
But then that situation was salvaged by the appearance of my unit.
Deploying the tactical wedges was a stinging move.
Ignoring it and trying to break through would cause their forces to spill into the gaps, shattering formation. Attempting to flank and crush would leave them bogged down.
‘Who is that? Who the hell is over there?’
A precise and confidential quintessence of tactics.
He had not expected such a tactical counterattack from the Calliper Kingdom’s army, famous for its lack of tactics.
“Can’t be helped. Horn! Quickly smash the wedge on the right wing! After that, we’ll consolidate our forces and strike the unit behind them!”
Overwhelming the enemy with superior force.
“Uwooooah!”
Fierce Horn charged in, swinging his massive axe.
With that one strike, four soldiers were instantly bisected.
“Hiiiiik!”
“S-Save me!”
“How are we supposed to stop this?!”
The panicked soldiers.
Horn sneered, about to finish them off, but then –
“Hah!”
“Kuk…!?”
Horn had to hastily leap back to avoid the spear thrust aimed at his neck.
“Who the hell are you!”
“…”
A woman silently glaring at him.
A sword in her left hand. A spear in her right.
Aroused by her appearance, the arrogant Horn sneered.
“Oho. Just like the reports said. So you’re Ilya Anfei!”
“And you must be Fierce Horn.”
The two exchanged glares. Ilya declared, “This is my beloved disciple’s first deployment. I’ll take your head as a memento.”
“Hah! Try it if you can!”
Clang! Their clashing power echoed like a horn blast.
While Horn held a slight advantage in strength, Ilya overwhelmed him in skill.
As Horn’s feet became entangled, unable to destroy the tactical wedge, Gillias could only grow more anxious.
“Horn is stuck… Can’t be helped then…”
In the end, he had to resort to his trump card.
***
The opponent seemed to have come out mainly relying on Horn to break through our tactics.
‘He fell for it.’
The opponent’s mistake was rashly sending out Horn without knowing the card we were holding.
‘Got him…!’
I immediately sent the signal.
Then the wedges on the right and center narrowed the gap to become one unit and concentrated their power.
It was simultaneous.
“Ferge infantry unit! Charge!”
The Ferge infantry unit that appeared on the right side began charging towards the enemy’s main force, where Gillias Melbourn was likely to be.
At that moment, the wedge units on the right and center that had joined forces advanced in step with Ferge infantry unit, crushing the enemies in front of them.
“Check.”
The pawns gathered their strength to march towards the defenseless King. With this, the enemy’s main force would be crippled.
Because we had more troops.
Moreover, the formidable Horn that could turn the tide of battle was bound by master, so the main force where Gillias was could not withstand this attack.
They would either have to persevere and die or retreat.
Once we dealt with the rear forces, we could focus solely on the vanguard.
The defense line of the vanguard had not collapsed yet, so if we held the good terrain and forced the enemy to withdraw, we would win this war.
‘It’s over.’
With this, Julia’s safety would also be guaranteed.
That’s what I was relieved about when suddenly,
“H-Hey, Commander Wade. Something’s strange!”
“What?”
“There’s a unit coming this way!”
“Stray soldiers that slipped through the gaps between the wedge units. I’ll deal with them.”
However, the unit that went to intercept them was violently crushed by a halberd imbued with aura!
The man wielding the halberd. I knew that figure.
“Gillias Melbourn…!?”
“Kuhahah! Didn’t expect this body to take the field himself?”
Gillias charged straight at me, mowing down the mercenaries.
He broke through the guards in front of me and stood before me.
“You probably thought you tied down Horn nicely, but look at it the other way, it means your main force is also tied down!”
Indeed. Because of that, Master Ilya’s movements were also bound there.
With both our main forces weakened, Gillias left his main force and came to challenge me instead.
“Our main force will eventually fall to the unit you sent, but if I take your head here, the tide of battle will turn, won’t it?”
“…So?”
“What?”
“Do you really think you can capture me? Second Army Commander, Gillias Melbourn.”
“Heh, and just who are you to say that? Show your face.”
“I refuse.”
“Very well, I’ll cut off your head and find out myself! Huaaah!”
The blade of his halberd wreathed in a sinister black aura. I met that attack with my spear, which drew out aura to the extreme.
Gigirik! The clash of auras.
Seeing my aura, Gillias contorted his face fiercely.
“Thought you were just an ordinary man… Seems I misjudged. This just got more interesting!”
“Haah!”
Kang kang kang! I nimbly blocked his rapid three-strike combo.
Unlike other soldiers, he was rich in combat experience.
Far beyond the bandit chief I faced during the Saleon kidnapping incident.
‘Can I really defeat him?’
While Gillias was an aura character, his combat prowess was considerable.
His personal combat ability in the game was 78.
Among aura characters, that was upper-mid tier.
‘I can only pray that my current strength exceeds 78…!’
As such, this duel was proving my level of growth and advancement.
“Huh!”
The descending crescent blade.
No matter how much aura was imbued, parrying that thick halberd head-on with a slender spear shaft was inefficient.
Gigirik! I tilted my spear to deflect his force and counter-attacked.
“Gah! Don’t wriggle around!”
“Haah!”
Around 40 seconds had passed.
I felt myself gradually tiring from the exertion.
‘A spear alone really isn’t enough, is it…!’
But if I used Chester-style here, there was a risk of my identity being exposed later.
Because so few martial artists used the Chester-style.
‘But it’s fine. The overall situation favors me.’
Time was on my side.
Once the Ferge troops completely destroyed the enemy’s main force, the enemy would have to fight a battle from which there was no escape. From that point on, even if Gillias tried to kill me, the tide of the battle would not be reversed.
Moreover,
“Uwaaahh—–!”
A cheer rose from the left wedge formation.
It seemed that Master Ilya had seized the advantage.
‘If I just endure, it will be over!’
And Gillias knew that too.
The impatient Gillias bit his lower lip and launched a furious attack, but could not break through my intricate defense.
Eventually, he used his last resort.
“William! Now!”
Gillias called out to someone. At the same time, I detected a chilling killing intent.
Twang! An arrow shot through the air, aiming straight for my heart.
‘An arrow imbued with aura!’
Was there another skilled person hiding?
The level of that aura was not too high, so I could deflect it with a flick of my spear, but Gillias took advantage of that opening to attack me.
“Die—-!”
He swung his halberd in a full swing.
There was no space for me to properly evade.
“Tch!”
Clicking my tongue, I drew the sword on my back with my left hand.
Kang! A blue aura blocked the force of the halberd.
Gillias’ eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost.
“A sword in the left hand…! You’re from Chester…!”
In the moment he was dumbfounded,
Slash! I had already launched a counterattack.
I raised my sword diagonally, deflecting the halberd over my head and letting my body pass beneath it. Then I thrust my sword towards his side, aiming for his neck.
“Damn you!”
Realizing he couldn’t completely evade, he used his right shoulder to block his neck.
Thump! The sword stabbed into his shoulder.
I couldn’t finish him off in one blow, but with this, the battle was decided. I tried to strike his heart with the spear in my right hand.
But then,
“Don’t underestimate this Gillias Melbourn—-!!”
Hoo! He grabbed the heavy halberd with his left hand and swung it using only that one hand.
“Huh!?”
I tried to block it by planting my spear vertically into the ground, but crrr! The force behind the halberd bent my iron spear, and kikik! Riding the bent shaft, it came crashing towards my head.
“…!?”
Kang! The blade of the halberd grazed the side of my helmet’s visor.
Jiiiing! My vision blurred terrifyingly.
I gritted my teeth to keep from losing consciousness and clenched my hand tightly around the grip of the sword.
So he couldn’t follow up his attack. Kkwajik! I twisted the sword embedded in his shoulder.
“Kuaaaargh—-!”
The pain made Gillias drop his halberd.
With both of us having lost our combat ability, I thought William might attack me with another arrow, but the one who intervened was a completely different person.
“General, are you all right!? Oh, your shoulder…!?”
“I’m fine! Now quickly finish him off!”
Covered in blood already, Fierce Horn tried to attack me with his huge axe.
I tried to somehow evade that axe, but it seemed I had a slight concussion from the earlier blow, and my legs wouldn’t move properly.
‘This is bad…!’
The falling axe.
Kang! Master Ilya intervened to block it. Horn’s expression turned sour when master appeared.
Master crossed his spear and sword to receive the axe, explosively raising her fighting spirit. Along with it, the thick aura imbued in her weapons surged like crashing waves.
“My apologies. I was delayed dealing with the sniper. Are you okay?”
“Kuk…. I’m all right.”
“You rest. I’ll take care of these guys.”
Master began pushing back Horn in earnest.
The initial exchange was relatively even, but as time passed, Horn could not withstand master’s technique. Master’s unorthodox style was too much for Horn’s simple and straightforward approach. An advantage in compatibility, one could say.
While Horn’s armor was nearly destroyed and tattered, master was virtually unscathed.
Seeing this, Gillias must have judged that there was no more hope, as he got up clutching his shoulder and shouted.
“Damn it… We’re retreating! Horn, you cover the rear. I’ll open the way out.”
“Yes!”
While Gillias’ guerrilla force retreated, he growled at me, “I’ll be sure to remember that face, brat…!”
“…!”
I unconsciously touched my face. My helmet had been knocked off by the halberd’s grazing blow.
I hurriedly put the helmet back on, so luckily no one besides Horn and Gillias had gotten a good look at my face.
“Ars… No, Wade. Shall we pursue them?”
“If we try to wipe them out now, it will take too long. Let’s leave the pursuit to brother Ferge and go rescue the vanguard.”
“I’ll go. You rest here.”
“…I suppose I should. Phew!”
Plop! I plopped down as if collapsing.
It was partly the concussion, but mostly the sudden release of tension.
I began taking stock of the situation around me as I waited for the battle to conclude.
TL NOTE:
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you would like to support me or read 10 chapters ahead, you can do so via patreon.com/ChibiGiant.
I could only translate up to 10 chapters ahead while matching it with the mass release for the week as this took a while to sort out. Starting from next month, that will increase. And yes! More incoming.
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