Royal Road of the Extra Scribe

13

Returning to our base by bypassing the battlefield once more, I could confirm the enemy forces attacking from the rear as expected.

“Form a formation! Don’t panic… Ugh!”

The enemy commander, sweeping away soldiers at the front, was instantly recognizable to me.

‘Clad in red armor and a golden helmet… Could it be the Horn of Ferocity!’

He was one of the generals of the Albad Kingdom, the right-hand man of the 2nd Division Commander Gillias Melburn.

‘In that case, the one commanding here must be Gillias Melburn.’

The Horn of Ferocity was an SR character, while Gillias Melburn was an SSR character.

Both characters had mediocre performance compared to their grades, but they were characters I favored.

Facing off against such characters brought mixed feelings, but I had no time to dwell on such thoughts now.

“From now on, this area will be under the command of our mercenary group, Ilya’s Mercenaries! Officers, report to duty immediately!”

The officers nearby looked uneasy at my shout, but they obeyed quietly as they knew well that we had turned the tide of the battlefield by charging straight into the enemy forces.

The fact that the high-ranking officers had all died in the enemy’s arrow attack was now proving to be helpful.

They no longer had the luxury to stick to their stubbornness about command authority.

“Andy Smyson. Leading the 2nd Infantry Division temporarily. Now, he will be under the command of Ilya Anfey.”

“Very well. Wade is currently commanding the troops in place of Captain Ilya. From now on, follow my orders.”

I divided Smyson’s troops into three units of 300, 400, and 300, placing them on my left, center, and right with gaps to defend our position and repel the advancing enemy strongly.

This was a kind of formation. I had created a tactical wedge.

The enemy advancing like a flood would clash with these three units holding their ground.

At that moment, the advancing enemy would flow through the gaps of the wedge formation.

Our mercenary unit positioned behind would then sweep up the flowing troops, which was the essence of this tactic.

“If their numbers decrease meaninglessly, they’ll be in trouble. Now, how will Giliath Melburn respond?”

If the opponent was indeed Giliath Melburn, he would surely come up with a countermeasure.

Suddenly, three tactical wedges appeared.

Giliath’s expression turned cold as ice.

Despite their fierce assault, they had ultimately attacked nearly 9,000 troops with only 2,000 troops.

This was to create an opportunity for the disoriented Ulysses’ main force to regroup and counterattack.

Initially, it worked well.

Commander Horn ruthlessly attacked the confused enemy, smashing them to pieces.

But it was salvaged by the sudden appearance of a new unit.

The placement of tactical wedges was a piercing blow to the vulnerable spots.

Ignoring it and trying to break through resulted in troops flowing through the gaps, disrupting the formation. Attacking from the sides led to entanglement.

“Who goes there? Who’s over there?”

The epitome of precise and confidential tactics.

The Caliper Kingdom’s army, renowned for lacking strategic depth, had never expected such a tactical counterattack.

“It can’t be helped. Horn! Quickly destroy the wedge on the right flank! Then concentrate the forces and strike the rear units!”

Overwhelming the enemy with sheer force.

“Yaaargh!”

Horn charged in swinging his massive axe.

With one blow, several soldiers fell on both sides.

“Ugh!”

“Please, spare us!”

“How are we supposed to stop this!?”

Soldiers panicked.

Horn chuckled, about to take advantage, but then…

“Ha!”

“Ugh…!?”

Horn had to desperately dodge a spear aimed at his neck.

“What are you!?”

Silent, a woman stared at him intently.

In the left hand, a sword. In the right, a spear.

Seeing that sight, the confident grin on Horne’s face widened.

“Oh ho, just as you were in the intelligence, eh? You’re Illya Antfei!”

“So, you’re the fierce Horne.”

The two exchanged glances. Illya spoke up.

“This is the first expedition of my dear disciple. As a commemoration, I shall aim for that neck of yours.”

“hahahaha! If you can, go ahead!”

Clang! The clash between the two was fierce.

In strength, Horne held a slight advantage, but in cunning, Illya overwhelmed him.

As Illya managed to thwart Horne’s tactical wedge, Horne, feeling his feet entangled, grew even more anxious.

“Horne’s feet are tied… In that case, there’s no choice…”

In the end, he had to resort to his ultimate move.

***

The opponent relied on Horne as their main force to break through our tactics.

“They’ve taken the bait.”

The opponent’s mistake was hastily sending Horne out without knowing the disadvantage we held.

“I’ve got you…!”

I immediately signaled.

At that moment, the wedges on the right and center closed in, forming a unified force.

Simultaneously,

“Fusée infantry! Charge!”

The Fusée troops from the right surged towards the enemy’s main force, where Gilias Melben would be, initiating an assault.

The combined forces of the right and center wedges coordinated with the Fusée troops, swiftly defeating the enemy in front of them and advancing.

“Check.”

Pawns, rallying towards the exposed king. With our superior numbers and the absence of Horne, who could turn the tide, the enemy’s main force, where Gilias was, couldn’t withstand the assault.

They had to either hold their ground until death or retreat.

Once we dealt with the rear forces, we could focus solely on the front lines.

As long as we held our defense line, the war would end in victory by forcing the enemy to retreat.

“It’s over.”

Now, Yulia’s safety was assured.

Just as we were feeling relieved,

“Hey, Captain Wade, something’s off!”

“Yes?”

“There’s a unit heading our way!”

“It’s just some stragglers slipping through the gap in the wedges. Deal with them.”

However, the unit sent to intercept was abruptly shattered by a forceful halberd strike.

The man wielding the halberd. I knew that figure.

“Gilias Melben…!?”

“hahahaha! Did you not expect me to take action myself?”

Gylias charged straight at me, sweeping aside the mercenaries in his path. Breaking through the guards in front of me, he stood before me.

“You may have thought you tied up Horn’s feet neatly, but that means your main force is tied up in return!”

Indeed. As a result, Master Iliya’s feet were also bound there.

In this situation where our bases were weakened, Gylias pushed forward and attacked me in reverse.

“Our base will eventually fall due to the troops you sent, but if I strike your neck here, the situation will change. Don’t you think so?”

“…And?”

“What?”

“Do you believe you can capture me? The Second Division Commander, Gylias Melben.”

“Hah, you… who are you. Show your face.”

“I refuse.”

“Fine, let me check by striking your neck myself! Huaah!”

The blade of the halberd, enveloped in a sinister black flame. I countered his attack with the polearm I had drawn to its limit.

Clang! The clash of polearms.

Seeing my polearm, Gylias grimaced fiercely.

“I thought you were just a mere pawn… How wrong I was. This just got more interesting!”

“Haa!”

Clang! Gylias skillfully blocked a rapid 3-hit combo.

Unlike other soldiers, he had rich combat experience.

He was on a different level compared to the bandit leader he faced in the past Salion kidnapping incident.

‘Can I really win this?’

Although Gylias was a pawn character, his strength was considerable.

His personal combat power in the game was 78.

He was among the top tier of pawn characters.

‘I can only pray my current strength exceeds 78…!’

This duel was a test of where I stood, how much I had grown.

“Huaah!”

The crescent blade falling down.

No matter how sharp the polearm was, facing a thick halberd head-on with a thin shaft was not efficient.

Clang! I tilted the polearm to deflect the opponent’s strength and counterattacked.

“Don’t underestimate me!”

“Haa!”

After about 40 exchanges, I began to feel the strain of the battle.

‘Indeed, it’s tough with just a polearm…!’

But if I revealed the Chester move here, there was a possibility my true identity would be exposed in the future.

Because few used the Chester move.

‘Nevertheless, it’s fine. The situation is in my favor.’

Time was on my side.

First of all, once Fuji’s unit completely crushes the enemy’s main base, they have to engage in a fight where the enemy has no retreat. From that point on, even if Giliath kills me, the situation will not be reversed.

Moreover,

“Wowww──!”

A cheer rose from the left wedge.

It seemed like Master Ilya had seized the upper hand.

“If we hold out, it’s over!”

And Giliath knew that too.

Growing impatient, Giliath bit his lower lip and launched a fierce attack, but he couldn’t break through my skillful defense.

Eventually, he resorted to his last resort.

“William! Now!”

Giliath called out to someone. At the same time, I sensed a deadly intent.

Ping! An arrow shot through the air, aiming for my heart.

“An arrow tipped with poison!”

Was there another skilled individual hiding?

Since the level of this archer wasn’t too high, I could have easily deflected the arrow with a flick of my spear, but taking advantage of this opening, Giliath launched an attack.

“Die──!”

A full swing of the halberd.

There was no room to dodge.

“Tch!”

I clicked my tongue and swiftly drew the sword strapped to my back with my left hand.

Clang!! The blue aura of the sword blocked the halberd’s strike.

Giliath widened his eyes as if he had seen a ghost.

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“The sword in your left hand…! Chester’s…!”

The moment he hesitated like that,

Swish! I was already launching a counterattack.

I raised the sword diagonally, letting the halberd pass over my head, then drove the sword through his body towards his neck. Then, I plunged the sword into his shoulder, using my right hand to aim for his heart.

“Damn it!”

Realizing he couldn’t fully avoid it, he used his right shoulder to block his neck.

Thud!! The sword pierced his shoulder.

I didn’t finish him off in one blow, but the tide had turned. I attempted to strike his heart with the spear in my right hand.

But then,

“Do not underestimate Giliath Melburn──!!”

He firmly gripped the halberd with his left hand, swinging the heavy weapon with just one hand.

“Argh!?”

I tried to block the halberd with my spear held vertically in my right hand, but the force behind the halberd caused my spear to bend and twist, coming up towards my head.

“…!?”

Clang!! The halberd’s blade grazed the side of my helmet.

Ziiing! My vision blurred.

I gritted my teeth, trying to hold onto consciousness, and with all my might, I focused on holding the sword in my hand.

To prevent him from landing another blow. I twisted the sword stuck in his shoulder.

“Screaaam─!”

In this agony, Gilias dropped the halberd from his hands.

In a situation where both sides had lost their combat abilities, I thought that William’s arrow attack might come again, but the one who rushed in was a completely different person.

“General, are you alright!? Your, your shoulder…!?”

“I’m fine! Rather, hurry up and take care of that guy!”

The fierce horn, already covered in blood, raised a giant axe to strike me.

I tried to evade the axe somehow, but perhaps due to the blow from earlier, my legs didn’t move as I wanted.

“This is bad…!”

The falling axe.

Clang! It was Illya’s master who rushed in to block it. The master’s appearance caused a change in the horn’s expression.

Intersecting spear and sword, the master parried the axe, explosively increasing his combat prowess. Along with it, a profound aura stored in the weapon surged like a raging wave.

“Sorry. I was a bit late in dealing with the sniper. Are you okay?”

“Guh… I’m fine.”

“You rest. I’ll take care of these guys.”

The master pushed back the horn in earnest.

The initial confrontation was relatively evenly matched, but as time passed, the horn couldn’t handle the master’s tactics. The straightforward and linear horn was no match for the master, who was exceptionally unorthodox. A matter of compatibility, one might say.

While the horn’s armor was almost destroyed and tattered, the master had no significant injuries.

Seeing this, Gilias, perhaps seeing no more hope, grabbed his shoulder, stood up, and shouted.

“Damn it… Retreat! Horn, guard the rear. I’ll open up the escape route.”

“Roger!”

Gilias’ retreating troops. Growling at me, he uttered, “Remember that face well, rookie…!”

“…!”

I absentmindedly touched my face. My helmet had flown off due to a blow from the halberd.

Quickly picking up the helmet and putting it on, fortunately, besides Horn and Gilias, no one else had seen me properly.

“Alse… No, Wade. Shall we pursue them?”

“Pursuing and annihilating them would take too long. Leave the pursuit to Perzi and let’s go rescue the vanguard.”

“I’ll go. You rest here.”

“…Seems like that’s what I should do. Hwiyou!”

Thud! I sank down as if collapsing.

It was partly due to the concussion, but mainly because the tension had suddenly dissipated.

I decided to wait for the situation to settle before sorting out the surrounding circumstances.