Chapter 238: Deception, Encirclement, Annihilation (2)

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

At the forefront, Zwalter's sword glowed a brilliant blue. Having mastered the mana cultivation technique Ghislain had given him, his mana now surged larger and stronger than ever before.

His hair, flowing like the mane of a beast, his shining silver armor, his dignified expression, his eyes brimming with vitality, and the finely groomed beard he had styled that morning—everything about Zwalter exuded the image of a wolf running wild across the north.

"Charge!"

Waaahhhhh!

Zwalter's thunderous shout was followed by the roaring cries of his troops. Their combined voices were so loud that the very ground seemed to quake.

'We can do this! We must do this! We absolutely will do this!'

Zwalter gritted his teeth. His heart pounded fiercely in his chest.

How long had it been since he had felt his heart race like this?

When fighting barbarians in the past, he had always used defensive tactics to minimize losses. Unless pursuing a retreating enemy, he had never once ventured outside the fortress when the enemy charged.

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

Leading the charge, Zwalter was joined by all the knights and cavalry of Perdium. But they weren't alone—archers and every available soldier in the fortress followed behind them.

The sight left the barbarians stunned. Such a bold maneuver had never been attempted before, and they had no idea how to respond.

"What, what's going on? What is this? Why do they still have so many troops left?"

"Wasn't their main force already deployed?"

"Drop the ladders! We'll fight them head-on!"

The barbarians were unaware that Ghislain had recently arrived with reinforcements. They assumed the forces that had been making moves recently were merely a portion of the usual fortress garrison.

Facing an unexpected number of enemies, the barbarians' morale wavered.

But the great warriors soon burst into laughter. On second thought, this was actually a better situation for them.

"We have far greater numbers! This is perfect! Just crush them!"

Fighting them in the open field was much better than trying to storm the fortress. While the number of enemies was greater than expected, it wasn't so many as to inspire fear.

Even with all the northern fortress troops combined, they barely exceeded a thousand. In contrast, the barbarians had over 5,000 warriors gathered here.

These were men who had survived the harsh northern wilderness. To feel fear before battle was an unforgivable disgrace to them.

And with such a significant difference in numbers? To cower would mean they were unworthy of being called warriors.

"Those bastards are weaklings!"

"Let's crush their skulls!"

"The northern fortress will fall today!"

The rough voices of the warriors roared across the battlefield.

Oooooooohhhhhh!

As the barbarians regained their composure, a ferocious bloodlust began emanating from their eyes.

Their war cries, matching the bellows of the great warriors, grew even louder, drowning out the Perdium army's shouts with their overwhelming force.

Fixing his gaze on the warriors who had steeled their resolve, Zwalter roared.

"Break through!"

Boom!

The knights at the forefront of the Perdium forces tore through the barbarian ranks at high speed. Thanks to the enhanced mana cultivation technique, their strikes were stronger, and the barbarian formations quickly crumbled.

But the barbarians, well-accustomed to mounted combat, were not easily daunted by the cavalry charge.

From various points in the ranks, the great warriors shouted loudly.

"Go! Let's remind these weaklings of the terror we bring!"

For these barbarians, there was no concept of pikemen or anti-cavalry tactics. Such methods were for the weak.

To them, using anti-cavalry strategies was merely a way to minimize their own losses—something only the cowardly would consider.

As always, the barbarians utilized their bodies with ruthless efficiency.

"Everyone, swarm them!"

"Oooooooohhhhhh!"

"The great warrior's blessing is with us!"

The warriors threw themselves at the incoming cavalry, unafraid of being trampled, swinging their axes at the horses' legs.

Neighhhh!

Horses fell, and the barbarians dragged the dismounted knights down into the melee.

Facing opponents who did not fear death was never easy. The barbarians' true strength shone in chaotic hand-to-hand combat.

With their relentless aggression, the cavalry struggled to maintain their momentum.

"Damn it!"

Zwalter gritted his teeth.

'We can't let them overpower us in morale.'

He understood the fanatical fighting spirit of the barbarians all too well. That was why he had avoided large-scale, head-on clashes with them until now.

"Raaaahhhh!"

"Die, you bastard!"

"Let's end this today!"

Fortunately, the soldiers of Perdium matched the barbarians in determination. The bitterness of their past losses had fueled their resolve, and their morale had soared after shattering multiple barbarian tribes under Ghislain's leadership.

They clenched their teeth and met the barbarians head-on.

The barbarian warriors relied on their numbers, hurling themselves into the fray without hesitation. Their eyes gleamed with the thrill of battle, indifferent to the deaths of their comrades beside them.

"Keep pushing forward!"

"Let's show these weaklings the might of our warriors!"

"The wolves of the north will die here today!"

With fierce, terrifying expressions, the barbarians charged forward, swinging their axes.

Neither side had any intention of retreating, their mutual animosity driving them to fight to the death.

Initially, the battle seemed to favor Perdium. Their organized formation and successful preemptive strike inflicted fewer casualties on their side.

But the barbarians charged as if they didn't care about being annihilated. With their overwhelming numbers, they began to press the Perdium soldiers, their manic fervor taking its toll.

Boom!

"Ugh!"

A barbarian tackled a mounted knight, pulling him from his horse. The knight, Skovan, barely dodged the attack by pulling on his reins, then countered with a slash of his sword.

'Damn it, is this really going to work? Can we win like this? Their numbers are overwhelming!'

This was the strategy devised by the young lord and Claude, but no matter how he thought about it, it seemed absurd. Abandoning the fortress to fight outside?

Though resentment briefly surfaced in his mind, Skovan shook it off. He trusted that the young lord had some hidden plan.

As frustrating as the situation was, Skovan couldn't deny that the recent days of fighting alongside Ghislain had been exhilarating.

'I am a knight of Perdium!'

He couldn't forget the comrades he had lost. He couldn't forgive the barbarians who had tormented his estate.

He swung his sword with renewed vigor, determined to make the strategy a success and annihilate the barbarians as promised by the young lord.

"Uraaaaaahhh!"

With a roar, Skovan fought back against the relentless waves of barbarians, cutting them down repeatedly.

But, as the saying goes, "numbers cannot be ignored." Eventually, a barbarian found a brief opening, shoving him off his horse.

"Ugh!"

Clang! Clang!

As soon as he hit the ground, several barbarians rushed in, swinging their axes at him. Skovan, however, unleashed a burst of mana, deflecting all the attacks.

Slash!

He immediately rose and decapitated the barbarians who had surrounded him.

Looking down at the corpses sprawled at his feet, he let out a bitter laugh.

'This insane mana cultivation technique—I thought I'd die learning it… but it just saved my life.'

While it lacked endurance, its explosive power was undeniable, proving invaluable in this chaotic battle.

Slash!

"Huff, huff…"

Having cut down more barbarians, Skovan scanned the battlefield with weary eyes.

The tension of combat was exhausting, far beyond what one would feel under normal circumstances. Every movement drained him more than usual.

Skovan had pushed himself to the limit, fighting off wave after wave of barbarians while repeatedly detonating bursts of mana. His body was soaked in blood—some his own, but mostly the enemy's—and exhaustion weighed heavily on him.

'I have to fall back now.'

The momentum of the cavalry charge had waned. While they had broken through the frontline, the sheer number of remaining enemies made it impossible to push deeper.

'I can't believe they stopped our cavalry with their bodies alone. These bastards really are relentless.'

It was time to retreat. Cavalry couldn't function effectively in this chaotic melee.

The mounted soldiers had already withdrawn after the initial charge, and the knights had remained behind to cover the retreat.

As if reading Skovan's mind, Zwalter's voice boomed at just the right moment.

"Fall back now! Knights, withdraw! Quickly!"

Skovan, alongside the other knights, cut through the barbarians as they moved toward safety.

He desperately wanted to collapse and rest, but he gritted his teeth and kept moving. Having survived this long, he wasn't about to die now.

'I'm so jealous of that bastard Ricardo!'

The guy was always popular with women and lived like a carefree playboy. Right now, he was probably lounging in some camp at the edge of the demonic beast's forest.

The thought made Skovan's blood boil.

'I'm not dying! No, I can't die!'

As he thought of that irritating face, an unexpected surge of strength welled up within him. Driven by jealousy and frustration, Skovan swung his sword furiously, cutting down his foes as he moved.

"Shields! Form the defensive line, now!"

At Zwalter's command, the shield-bearers who had been following began assembling a formation. The soldiers carried massive, thick shields, unlike their usual equipment.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Where the knights and cavalry had withdrawn, a long wall of shields had suddenly been erected.

Oooooooohhhhhh!

The barbarians, seeing this, let out victorious shouts. If they were going to defend like this, why had they even left the fortress in the first place?

They pressed their attack even more ferociously.

Though they had taken heavy losses at the start, it didn't matter. Their numbers were still overwhelmingly in their favor, and the early casualties only fueled the barbarians' rage.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The warriors' axes hammered down on the shields with unrelenting force.

The Perdium shield-bearers clenched their teeth, enduring the ferocious assault. They didn't retaliate with thrusts through the gaps in their shields; they focused solely on defense.

"Kehahaha! Finally scared, are you?"

"This is what weaklings do!"

"Now that you've come out, just surrender your heads quietly!"

Emboldened, the barbarians tried to push past the shields.

The spearmen positioned behind the shield-bearers thrust their weapons at any who crossed over, but the barbarians recklessly pressed on, throwing their bodies into the fray.

This was the fearsome nature of barbarian warriors—once they entered a frenzy, they were blind to their surroundings.

And so, they didn't notice.

They didn't notice that the shield-bearers' formation was slowly extending outward.

Zwalter, watching silently, his eyes gleaming, was waiting for something.

'The formation is complete… but the attack escalated faster than expected.'

The plan had been to fight a bit longer before fully forming the line. But the barbarian frenzy forced their hand—they couldn't afford to delay any longer.

If they had waited, the knights and cavalry would have suffered heavier losses.

Now they had to hold with shields and endure.

'Come on… come on… we can't hold for too long.'

Contrary to Zwalter's anxious thoughts, the barbarians' assault only grew more ferocious. Believing they had seized the advantage, they pressed forward without hesitation.

Perdium's forces were far outnumbered by the barbarians. Simply defending would inevitably lead to a breach.

Now, only the barbarians were attacking. The Perdium forces focused solely on defense, occasionally striking down those who made it past the shields.

Clang! Clang!

"Oooooooohhhhhh!"

"Victory is ours!"

"Push harder! Keep pushing!"

Caught up in the heat of battle and the thunderous cries, the barbarians didn't hear it.

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

The sound of hooves pounding the earth, growing louder with every moment.

Zwalter, noticing someone approaching from a distance, raised an eyebrow.

The reinforcements he had been waiting for hadn't arrived, and instead, a lone rider was charging toward them at full speed.

'What is this… why?'

Clang! Clang! Clang!

With each axe strike, the shield line trembled. The ferocious barbarian onslaught was too much for the regular soldiers to hold back for long.

Zwalter encouraged his men with his voice, but his eyes remained fixed on the approaching rider, his expression filled with confusion.

'What is happening? Why? Why is he coming alone?'

It was true the operation had advanced more quickly than anticipated. Zwalter had gritted his teeth, determined to hold out as long as possible.

But now it seemed the enemy's movement had been anticipated, and their ally had arrived even faster than expected.

The problem was… it was just one man.

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

The sound of something approaching swiftly caused the barbarians at the rear to turn their heads.

They spotted a lone figure charging toward them with incredible speed, and they shouted in alarm.

"An enemy! An enemy is coming from behind!"

"What? Alone?"

"Is he insane? Charging at us alone?"

A small commotion broke out at the rear of the barbarian formation.

But those engaged with the Perdium forces at the front paid it no mind. They were focused solely on breaking through the shield line. If there were an issue at the rear, they would receive a signal.

But no signal came. The barbarians dismissed it as nothing of importance.

Who would fear a single man's charge? There wasn't a warrior among them who would.

A few warriors at the very rear turned, gripping their axes, ready to intercept. A single enemy wouldn't require more than them.

But as they turned, their eyes widened in shock.

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

With every blink, the lone figure grew closer.

"What, what the hell? How is he so fast? Is that even possible?"

It was a feat of horsemanship that required perfect unity with the horse, pushing its power to the absolute limit. Even barbarians who had spent their lives riding were astonished.

Zwalter, recognizing the approaching figure's features from a distance, shouted loudly.

"Ghislain!"

The rider, his red eyes glowing, was Ghislain.

As he gathered mana, the spear in his hand began to radiate a deep, bloody red.

A cruel smile spread across Ghislain's face.

"Here I come, Father."

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