In the dark night, Fernandez was running through the bushes. Time is always a precious strategic resource, and simply running fast can save it. It’s an easy resource to conserve. There’s no reason not to run.
“Huff, puff. Huff.”
Abel was barely keeping up with Fernandez’s pace, her breath reaching her chin. Until now, that is, to break the seal of the Einherjar and shake up the strategy, he needed to be stealthy, so he could preserve Abel’s condition, but now the situation had changed.
Tactics always change according to the enemy’s movements. The trees flowed like afterimages. Kicking off branches, stepping on the next tree trunk, twisting his body forward. Forward.
-Pop!
A purple flower bloomed in the distance on a tree trunk. In this dense forest without moonlight or starlight, that was the only marker. The aura of Freya was spreading across the northern region. The path was clear.
‘From the moment they realized Freya’s presence, they must have been aware of the Einherjar.’
-And the Einherjar is a bluff. Its true form is…
‘A highly precise strike by dispersed forces.’
The resistance forces, which had begun to gather, were completely reorganized and widely dispersed, with some retreating, some advancing, and some engaging in guerrilla tactics. This tactic is possible because there are means to simultaneously gather battlefield information, allowing the enemy’s deployment to be adjusted to our liking. That’s the first move.
“Yarl! Yarl!”
A warrior, dressed in full gear, approached Erik, who was mounting his horse, and knelt down, panting. As Erik turned his head to look down at him, the warrior stammered with a choked voice.
“The enemy, the enemy has appeared!”
“The resistance?”
“Yes, yes! Now, from all sides… Signal fires are rising from all sides!”
Erik turned his head toward the horizon where darkness had settled. As the warrior said, white smoke was rising in straight lines from all directions.
“Shallow tactics.”
Bard chuckled. Seven were visible to the naked eye. The frontline was long, so his forces were spread out as much as the enemy’s. No matter how many were sporadically ambushing along this long frontline, it was ultimately just a self-defeating move.
“They’re doing something foolish, Caldaris.”
“Yes, master.”
“Lead the cavalry. If the scattered fools dare to raise their heads, it’s better to pick them off one by one.”
In preparation for this situation, Bard had thoroughly fortified all camps. It’s not something that can be destroyed in a single morning. Erik’s forces had been reduced since the internal strife, but they were more united than ever.
Every allied camp had at least one demon lurking. If the enemy had concentrated their forces to break through, and if those forces collapsed, it would be a terrible burden for the already outnumbered enemy.
“Don’t disappoint me. Go!”
“Yes, master!”
A lizard-like demon bowed its head and retreated. Bard chuckled as he looked at Erik. Tonight, blood will flow like a river. Very good.
The legion from Erik’s camp began to march toward the camps with signal fires. The enemies ambushing the camps would start to collapse the moment they realized they were surrounded.
Engaging in a siege with enemies at your back means being caught between the anvil and the hammer of a perfect encirclement. And they lacked the morale, will, and forces to do so.
“You’ve worn yourself out, Freya.”
You should have waited for the Einherjar. Bard laughed with a sneer.
-To counter this, if the enemy deploys their forces, create confusion as if preparing for a full-scale battle…
When the enemy concentrates their forces to pick off the dispersed allies, at the moment they aim for the protruding allied positions. In the area they most desire, in the way they most desire. Leak information that suggests a ‘large legion’ is gathering. That’s the second move.
Fernandez stopped and looked at the distant red lights. Abel, panting, soon stood beside him, calming her rough breath.
“Are, are we there yet?”
“Almost.”
Fernandez laughed as he watched the cavalry rushing toward the vast camp.
“They’re retreating!!”
The warriors in the camp shouted in victory. Not only were the casualties not significant, but the enemies who had suddenly attempted an ambush in the darkness began to retreat all at once.
The enemies disappeared into the forest as quickly as they had appeared. They must have been panicked. Seeing that the isolated camp on the outskirts of the frontline was thoroughly fortified, they must have found the time consumption unbearable.
“Haha, stupid fools!”
A warrior from the Kazalid clan laughed heartily as he looked into the dark forest. It seemed they wanted to shake the increasingly solid frontline of Hazart Kazal, but it was already too late.
“Captain! Someone is approaching!”
“Ah, it must be allied reinforcements. What a pity! We could have wiped them out in one go!”
The warrior laughed heartily as he watched the approaching forces. Judging by the presence of demons, they must be Erik’s direct troops. A scaled demon leading the way on horseback shouted to the warrior on the camp’s palisade.
“The enemies?”
“They’ve been gone for a while!”
“How many were there?”
It was difficult to determine the exact number due to the darkness. But estimating the enemy’s numbers was almost simple arithmetic. This camp had about two hundred warriors, and from the besiegers’ perspective, at least three times that number would be needed to break the fortress.
Therefore, even conservatively, there must have been over four hundred enemies appearing from the forest. The warrior boldly shouted.
“At least five hundred!”
“Five hundred… five hundred…”
The warrior had slightly exaggerated the enemy’s numbers to expand his achievements. The number he had seen with his own eyes was less than a hundred. Everything was due to the darkness, the dense forest, and the sudden ambush…
The demon on horseback stroked his chin, lost in thought.
‘There were at least seven signal fires, and assuming they deployed at least four hundred troops to each frontline…’
This meant the enemy’s maximum forces had begun ambushes from all directions. In other words, the enemy had no remaining soldiers. They would have no physical forces left to devise other tactics.
Without a legion to hold the center, they are nothing but scattered guerrillas. They probably never imagined Erik would react so quickly. The demon smiled wryly.
“You, report this to Bard. We will pursue the fleeing remnants into the forest!”
Erik’s forces are by no means small, and each one is an elite deeply blessed by demons. Even with some losses, rooting out the enemy’s remnants was now the top priority.
It wasn’t a wrong judgment. Perhaps it was the best proactive move a frontline field commander could make.
“They’ve started the pursuit.”
Kirhas looked at the small flower buds blooming on the wooden planks. All the warriors were holding small planks.
Even a goddess couldn’t give detailed information and tactics to every soldier without losing too much mental energy. So…
