Chapter 855: Strike at the Commander!

In the central area of the Five Forts, twenty thousand calamity creatures have the Seventh Warband completely surrounded.

The warband once had more than four thousand men. Now only half can still stand.

Those more than two thousand men are squeezed onto a small patch of ground.

The calamity creatures around them do not attack. They only keep them surrounded.

A vast spell formation of cloud and mist has appeared above the Seventh Warband's remaining men. It sinks slowly toward them.

Streams of mana pour into it without pause from deep within the enemy force.

The calamity creatures' spellcaster force has created an enormous transformation ritual.

Its leader is an Iron Rank water demon with long, pale-gold hair.

Its purpose is to turn every soldier of the Seventh Warband into a calamity creature.

Then the transformed soldiers would use temporary mimicry to look human and trick the nearby defensive stronghold towns into opening their gates.

The calamity creatures can no longer save their breakthrough force. But this region is short on human troops, and they intend to exploit that.

Their plan is to seize a vast stretch of territory and turn every human across these several thousand square kilometers into a calamity creature.

Even if the humans recapture the area afterward, they will suffer heavy casualties.

More importantly, with its people gone and towns destroyed, the region would cease to function as a strategic node.

Garrisoning and supplying the area would cost far more in the future.

That would disrupt deployments in more defensive sectors and give calamity creatures more chances to break through.

There is no despair in Dimir's eyes. He calmly accepts the approaching end.

He organizes his personal guard, gathers everyone who can still move, and prepares for a final charge to the death.

But the shelled creatures surrounding them excel at defense.

The soldiers fight bravely, but they can no longer break that solid line.

Just as the Seventh Warband is about to be driven back, the mist near the Five Forts suddenly churns.

A horn blast pierces the poisonous mist and rings across the battlefield.

The tremors underfoot grow stronger. Dimir knows at once that a massed cavalry force is charging.

Light suddenly shines in the poisonous mist behind the forts.

Pabos leaps out of the mist on horseback, war spear in hand and a cloth covering his visor.

A mass of cavalry follows. The riders, too, have potion-soaked cloths over their visors and their horses' mouths and nostrils.

The cavalrymen's Civilization Aura shines like sunlight and drives away the mist around them.

Before the calamity creatures can react, the two combat battalions' cavalry cleaves their rear ranks like an axe.

With the enemy unprepared for an attack from outside, both cavalry battalions charge through almost unopposed.

Cavalry already in full charge cannot be stopped by a hurried defense.

In moments, the enemy's left wing is thrown into utter chaos.

The riders of the Second Combat Battalion then split into hundred-man units, cutting the left wing apart still further.

The Iron Rank naga commander immediately sends cavalry to intercept the unexpected human force.

Do not underestimate two thousand men. Two thousand cavalrymen charging at speed sweep across almost a third of the enemy force.

Large-scale battles have become common on the continent since Peace Haven's rise.

Before that, apart from conflicts on the scale of the War of the Six Kings, most battles involved only a few thousand men.

Henwell pioneered the use of large formations to maneuver through enemy lines. Warfare on the continent grew far more intense as a result.

Even a hundred-man cavalry unit can now sweep across a wide stretch of ground.

The calamity creatures are in disarray. They cannot gather their heavy infantry quickly enough.

Dimir is the quickest to respond to the reinforcements' arrival.

He orders his men to keep the enemy heavy infantry in the fight. Those troops must not be allowed to break away and block the Ninth Warband's cavalry maneuvers.

Lightly armored enemies, even extraordinary creatures, cannot stop a head-on cavalry charge.

Pabos sees the enemy commander send light infantry to split the Seventh Warband's formation.

Pabos immediately orders five hundred-man units from his First Combat Battalion to intercept and destroy the light infantry.

The two human forces coordinate without a word, keeping the calamity creatures at a local disadvantage throughout.

Calamity creatures die in great numbers beneath the cavalry charges. The Seventh Warband moves toward the nearest fort while keeping the enemy heavy infantry engaged.

If Dimir gets his remaining men inside the fort, it will make up for their disadvantage in numbers.

Realizing the humans' intention, the naga commander sends cavalry to block the Seventh Warband's withdrawal route.

Just as large numbers of calamity creatures are shifted toward Fort Five, Pabos abruptly changes direction.

Pabos leads more than five hundred elite cavalrymen in an accelerating charge toward the spellcaster force. Its elite defenders have been drawn away, leaving it poorly guarded.

Worse, maintaining the poisonous mist and transformation ritual has badly depleted their mana. They cannot immediately break their connection to the ritual and fall back to safety at the rear.

For now, they can only launch scattered spells in an attempt to drive Pabos's force away.

The naga commander also immediately orders the nearest cavalry to intercept.

Every so often, Pabos detaches a hundred-man unit from his force of more than five hundred elite cavalrymen to hold off enemies closing from the flanks.

Pabos is not at the very front now. Another hundred-man unit leads the way.

They must punch a hole through the enemy's hastily formed line so the riders behind can drive deeper.

After two hundred-man units smash through, Pabos leads his personal guard through the breach in a deadly charge at the enemy spellcaster force.

In the blink of an eye, he crashes into the enemy ranks.

His war spear whirls, skewering and killing the spellcasters within reach one after another.

The speed of his charge magnifies his enormous strength still further.

The war spear's one-meter blade shears through magical protection and cleaves the spellcasters in two.

Behind him, the triangular wedge drives into the enemy's spell formation. Many riders fall from their horses.

But far more riders unleash blinding flashes, followed by muffled explosions.

The activated Heart-Piercing Lotuses punch through enemy defenses, leaving bloody holes the size of serving bowls in the spellcasters' chests.

One sweep leaves several hundred spellcasters dead or wounded.

Only half of Pabos's personal guard remains. His own armor is shattered, and two icicles are lodged in his body.

The Iron Rank water demon inflicted those wounds. Even while occupied with the transformation ritual, he can still strike back.

Pabos has not killed his opponent. He has not even wounded him; he has only forced him away at the cost of his own injuries.