Swords swung. A skeleton with glowing eyes flew through the air from the front. The impact of the cavalry was not something that the crudely assembled skeleton soldiers, reinforced by magic, could withstand.
The mass of the warhorse, combined with its speed, becomes a weapon in itself. Simply being trampled by cavalry is enough to tear a human body apart with ease. And the attacks wielded by the riders on top are no less devastating than the bombardments launched by skilled mages.
-KWAAAAANG!
“Forward!!”
From the moment the cavalry was deployed to the frontline and began their charge, their effectiveness depended entirely on the field commander leading the charge. The sound of wind, the shouts, the excitement and terror of the battlefield blurred together, blocking out all senses except for the voice of the field commander.
Thus, like a stampede of wild beasts. The cavalry followed the lead, advancing and grinding down everything in their path.
“Forward!!”
The cry of the leader echoed in their ears. The Beastman Nobility’s cavalry were elite soldiers with centuries of history. They were a formidable force, honed through conflicts among the nobility, occasional slave hunts, and battles against the Empire and the Sultanate’s forces.
For them, becoming one with their horses was as natural as drawing a sword. The cavalry swung their swords and spears in unison, occasionally letting out blood-curdling war cries as they charged.
Toward death. For death. To show the enemy nothing but death! Forward!
“URAAAAAAAH!!”
“Hearttaker! Hearttaker! Hearttaker!”
The Beastman warriors, consumed by frenzy, roared. The skeletons scattered like a receding tide, crushed like waves against a breakwater.
The Empire’s command, watching from a distance, was thrown into chaos.
“Are those bastards insane?”
“The Beastman Nobility’s cavalry has been deployed to the enemy’s rear!”
“Those lunatics are hell-bent on dying!”
The noble commanders sneered. Most of them were knights, and they themselves were cavalry officers commanding their own knightly orders.
The reason cavalry hadn’t been deployed earlier in this battlefield was that the Empire couldn’t utilize their proud knightly orders and had to rely on heavy infantry instead. They were forced into a battlefield where cavalry couldn’t shine.
When the wide, open plains became the frontline, the cavalry commanders cheered. They expected the slow skeleton soldiers to become easy prey for their cavalry.
What shattered that expectation was the sudden surge of skeleton forces rising from the ground, perfectly aligned with the cavalry’s charge. The horses, terrified by the skeletons, swords, and spears emerging from the earth, broke formation, and the first cavalry charge ended in horrific casualties.
By the second and third wave of losses, the cavalry commanders began to think of themselves as heavy infantry commanders. Horses are skittish creatures, and attacks from below during a charge were a tactic the cavalry had never imagined.
The battlefield, having lost its diversity of troops and the advantage of speed, quickly descended into chaos. The frontline stagnated. Now, all they could rely on was holding the line until the scholars of Philainneil University could secure victory in the magical warfare.
“Uh… breakthrough… achieved?”
“…Huh?”
“The Beastman Legion’s cavalry has broken through the enemy lines once and is preparing for another charge.”
“…What?”
An anomaly had occurred. The cavalry had successfully raided the enemy’s rear. The cavalry officers all stood up abruptly, looking down at the battlefield from the hill. They could see the enemy’s rear scattering.
Beyond the dust cloud, the Beastman cavalry began their advance again. Slow, then fast, then a full-force charge. A beautiful, perfect assault!
“Have the enemy… changed their anti-cavalry strategy?”
“Perhaps they’ve focused their underground ambushes on the frontline, leaving no strength to defend the rear?”
“We can’t just hand them the victory like that! Levanth Knights! Prepare to deploy! Gather the cavalry!”
The cavalry officers shouted as they left their tents. The battlefield had changed. It had become a battlefield where cavalry could be deployed! They shouted as they returned to their troops.
And that was a miscalculation.
“They’ve fallen for it!”
-KWAAAAANG!
A sufficiently long greatsword yields the same result as an extremely unwieldy lance. And Diemonica had the strength to perform a splendid lance charge even with an extremely unwieldy cavalry spear.
Fernandez casually shrugged off the shock running from his forearm to his shoulder as he strode through the enemy lines. The Beastman cavalry, following his command, ravaged the enemy’s rear.
It was a matter of mass. The skeleton forces lacked the mass to form a phalanx to stop or bind the cavalry charge. The Legion of Wraiths crumbled in an instant, and before they could rise again, the cavalry executed a flawless retreat.
“Prepare for another charge! Forward! Forward!!”
Following Fernandez’s shout, the cavalry began to retreat. The effectiveness of the cavalry depended entirely on the field commanders from the moment of the charge. And Fernandez had abilities that set him apart from other field commanders.
He could see magic.
“Shift the charge path to the left!!”
-DUDUDUDUDU!!
The sound of the cavalry’s hooves was light. Fernandez sharply turned the reins, making a sudden, wide detour. As the cavalry detoured, skeletons rose from their original path of advance.
The replenishment of the Legion of Wraiths’ skeleton forces was a type of magic performed by the Burial Priests. And magic always leaves traces.
By reading the cavalry’s charge path, the Burial Priests within the Legion of Wraiths cast their spells. Large-scale offensive magic was impossible due to the clashing magical forces. Instead, the Burial Priests used simpler magic. The resurrection of the wraiths.
A very special magic, created from the arcane secrets of the Empire of Ashit. Difficult to detect, and even harder to counter. Thus…
