Knight and Wand

Chapter 229: Military Strategy is Unpredictable
The lightning-fast iron hooves kicked up large pieces of mud, and the two hundred Thorn Flower cavalrymen on the right wing of the battlefield suddenly collided with the five hundred Uriah cavalrymen who were pressing forward.

War horses collided, spears and lances clanged, and the shouts and neighs of men and horses fell to the ground, mixing into a symphony of killing on the battlefield.

The unavoidable huge cavalry charge did not allow either side to penetrate each other, and the riders who had charged into the other side's formation had to stop in the melee and fight desperately with the enemy in front of them.

The knights who broke into the battle array discarded their blood-stained spears that could no longer be used, drew the maces and swords at their waists, and swung them around, fighting countless Uriahs from horseback to the ground.

The rows of phalanx spearmen on the flanks surrounded them and took the opportunity to assist the knights in holding back the Ulya cavalry. Sickles stretched out from the forest of spears and hooked down the steppe cavalry on horseback. The short-armed warriors rushed out and used the rams and swords in their hands to pierce the Ulya horses through the gaps in the vests.

The Uriah cavalry in the center launched a second wave of charge. The huge cavalry had no knights to block or drive them away. They recklessly slashed at the corners of the central army of the Thorn Flower. The cavalry spears, which were longer than the Orland infantry spears, outnumbered the enemy and continuously took away the lives of the Thorn Flower soldiers at the corners of the formation, forcing the northern army to collapse.
While one side of the battlefield was caught in a fierce battle, a griffin swooped down from the left wing of the army and knocked over several grassland cavalrymen. The giant beast that swept across from the sky dimension instantly caused the Uriah people's charge formation to be thrown into chaos.

At the same time, Lion activated his magic power, and a faint miasma of light that no one noticed spread out from the saddle of the Death Claw.

Among the two hundred Thorn Flower Iron Cavalry who were charging with guns at attention, the Avalon Knights at the front felt a surge of power rising from their bodies, and their armor and weapons suddenly became as light as nothing.

Lohak, Azerien, and even the group of guards knights who were charging on horseback were not surprised by the boiling power that surged into their bodies.

"For! Avalon!!!"

A deafening war cry roared out from the mouth of Lohak, who was wearing a horsehair helmet, and dozens of knights had red eyes under their helmets.

Torrents converge and steel collides.

——Bang! ——Bang! ——Bang! .
There were a series of clashes of weapons, and countless Uriahs were knocked away by the huge force of the Avalon Knights. Lohak, who was in the front, almost ignored the force of the spears stabbing his armor. He swung his halberd and axe and swept past, and several enemies were knocked off their horses with their bodies twisted, including their armor.

With the help of more than a dozen powerful "Medal of Arms Knights", two hundred Thorn Flower Cavalrymen, led by the knights' spears, almost cut through the chaotic Uriah army like a hot knife cutting through butter.

Spreading its huge wings, the griffin landed with a bang amidst a terrifying roar, and its body spun suddenly, using its claws to blow away all the surrounding cavalry.

Baron Redo on the far left seized the opportunity, raised his spear and halberd high, rode on horseback and led his halberd soldiers to attack.

The trained hunters loosened their chains, and dozens of armored war dogs, stimulated by the smell of blood, barked wildly and pounced on the chaotic enemy.

Leon steadied his body and saw Redo's army led by a hundred halberd soldiers approaching quickly. He immediately urged the Death Claw to rise into the air.

The War Hounds and Duwana Halberdiers quickly took over their positions and charged into the battle formation one after another.

The rear row of Uriah's cavalry lost their fighting spirit. They were blocked by a large group of friendly troops in front of them. They did not want to deploy their formation and get into a chaotic battle with the infantry without speed, so they distanced themselves and reorganized their troops.

Looking at the defeated enemy, Leon stopped the left-wing army from pursuing.

At this moment, the enemy's most elite core troops were not far away.

".Cavalry, regroup!.Baron Ledo, hold your line!"

As the Death Claw flew over the heads of the knights and halberd soldiers, Leon raised his magic spear and pointed it at the mixed company of archers and crossbows behind the spearman phalanx, including his own crossbowmen.

"Sergeant Mathieu! Form four rows and come to me!"

With a loud shout, the griffin landed on the shallow hill with a bang.

Hearing the archers behind him marching in unison to the left, Leon looked to the right not far away and saw that two companies of Thorn Flower Cavalry had reorganized.

Turning his head and looking diagonally ahead, he stared at the Uriah flag that had circled back to the left wing of the Thorn Flower.

Achaji, who was hundreds of meters away, was also looking at the northerners who were still on high alert. Those northerners did not get involved in the melee, which made him think whether to launch an attack immediately or continue to make a detour.

But a loud horn sounded, forcing Achaji to look back in the direction from which he came.

At some point, an unknown number of Feru cavalry appeared on the high slope of the hill.
Elipher, who was leading his troops, looked around the battlefield, drew his thorn sword, and shouted angrily:

"——Oland!!!"

Count Thornflower was the first to rush down the hill.

"-- Orland!!" Hundreds of lords and knights from the Valley County raised their guns and roared, attacking the rear of the enemy army that was engaged in a melee on the right wing of the Thorn Flower Front.

Behind the Knights of the Order of Arms, hundreds of heavy cavalrymen galloped on their horses, with their heraldic battle flags fluttering, and followed the lords in the charge.

"."

Seeing the enemy reinforcements appear so quickly from afar, Chief Uriah hesitated for a few seconds.

Continue to lead the army to fight to the death. If you can kill the opposing griffin knight as soon as possible, the outcome may still be unknown.

But he didn't want to and couldn't continue to take risks for the Kantadar people. What was the point of sacrificing all the tribesmen who followed him to the war and dying for the Duke of Kantadar?
"Retreat, all troops, retreat!"

Lion held Gungnir tightly, waiting for the enemy's attack.

But he saw Uriah's heavy cavalry in black armor in the distance, turning their horses around without hesitation and starting to move away from the battlefield.

The sound of the prairie bugle seemed to carry resentment. The Uriah cavalry, who had not yet engaged in a life-and-death battle, heard the signal to withdraw and retreated like a tide at a faster speed than when they came.

None of the Uriah people wanted to die meaninglessly on the northerners' territory, so after receiving the order from the war leader, they turned their horses and galloped towards the southeast following the flag.

Balf seized the opportunity of the enemy's retreat and quickly ordered the army to advance on all fronts. Several left-wing infantry phalanxes made a detour and surrounded the enemy troops on the right side of the battlefield who were unable to escape.

Seeing that victory was inevitable, the Scarface Baron looked at the Ulyaians retreating further and further away, feeling a secret regret in his heart.

The infantry could not catch up with the Uriahs' reckless retreating horses, and the Lord's flanking troops seemed to have only 400 cavalrymen, which was not enough to complete the encirclement and was destined to fail to keep all the enemies.
The shouting and killing in the wilderness gradually died down. When the last Uriah man still standing was killed, the noise on the bloody battlefield was finally replaced by the roaring cheers of the Orlanders' victory.

However, only the noble generals leading the army knew that they could not relax yet.

The remaining cavalry of the Thornflower family joined the cavalry of the nobles of Valley County. Elliver ordered Balf to lead a thousand men to stay and clean up the battlefield, and then gathered the Feru cavalry that were still capable of fighting and returned south.

"Leon, pass on my order and have the Valley County infantry who have not arrived in the rear turn around immediately and return to Bayer Village to support Baron Anquila's rearguard troops." Elifer, who was riding non-stop, looked up and shouted to the sky.

After receiving the order, Leon rode the griffin ahead.

On the way, he notified the Valley County infantry team that was still trudging along to turn around, and he soon arrived at the riverside village where Baron Anquila was stationed. But the situation was much better than he had imagined. There were traces of fighting in the suburbs of the tributary where the river could be crossed, and there were some wounded soldiers in the village camp occupied by the Uriah people, but the casualties of the army that was left behind by Elifer were not serious.

Upon asking, they learned from Baron Anquila that the Ulian reinforcements of a thousand people were not very motivated to fight. They only launched a few tentative attacks on them and then retreated.

Leon couldn't help but sigh that when it came to fighting, few things went according to the planned process.

But no matter what, they won in the end. Even though due to the unexpected appearance of enemy reinforcements, the 2,400-man flanking force had to send half of them to cover the rear and block the enemy, and they were unable to cover all the enemy's retreat routes and annihilate them completely, but at least the 2,000 Uriah vanguards paid a heavy price, and it was also an indisputable victory.

Almost an hour later, near dusk, the returning eight hundred infantrymen of the Valley County and the seven hundred cavalrymen led by Elliver arrived at the village of Bayer and joined more than a thousand men from Anguila.

Everyone unceremoniously enjoyed the temporary camp set up by the Uriah people outside the village, as well as a considerable amount of food and fodder therein. The army, which had been running back and forth today, was finally able to rest.

The camp with stoves lit was filled with the sounds of soldiers celebrating and the aroma of food.

After seizing several days' worth of rations from the enemy camp, Elliver generously treated the entire army to a big meal. The corpses of several enemy war horses left outside the village also provided Death Claw, the biggest "hero" of this battle, with a good meal of fresh horse meat.

After attending the military meeting of the nobles, Leon rushed to the camp of Azerien and others before nightfall to confirm the safety of his companions and soldiers.

Seeing Leon coming, the old guards such as Azerien, Lohak, and Zabron reacted calmly.

However, the Avalon cavalrymen, who experienced the amplified state for the first time on a real battlefield, looked at Leon with extraordinary enthusiasm.

"Hail, my Lord!"

The few young men who were fortunate enough to be recruited into the Guards stepped forward excitedly, straightened their backs and saluted their master with chest beats.

Even the one with the worst performance among the group killed at least two Uriah cavalrymen. Today, they not only felt the passion of killing everyone, but after the battle, they also felt the admiration and respect from other Thorn Flower comrades.

Knight Filippo on the side was equally excited:
"It is an honor to fight alongside you again, Lord Leon."

Filippo was overjoyed as he touched the chest of the leader he was serving. He was fortunate enough to kill a centurion of the Ulians today. This military achievement even attracted his father, whom he had not seen for a long time, to come and visit him.

As one of the less prominent second sons in the family, it was the first time in many years that Filippo saw such a proud and gratified expression on the face of his father, Baron Anquila.

"Your strength is beyond description. I never thought that I could be as strong as Lord Marcello and Lord Ledo on the battlefield." Filippo said gratefully.

The other three young knights who joined the Knights Templar also nodded in agreement excitedly.

Leon nodded, not surprised by the excitement of these new knights.

The title of knight, after all, is just a title that embodies noble status and honor. Reality is not a game. It does not mean that a warrior who obtains this title will possess the extraordinary martial arts and strength of a true "Knight of the Order of Arms".

Although these four young Knights of the Flower of Thorns had served as attendants of nobles and had undergone years of training, their martial arts skills were much better than those of civilian soldiers, but they had not yet reached the level of those knights who had fought in many battles.

But after today's battle, with the boost of the Boiling Heart, not to mention their martial arts and experience, many of them undoubtedly temporarily reached the level where they can compete with ordinary Knights of Arms in terms of strength alone.

The Thorn Flower Cavalry on the left wing were able to kill five hundred elite enemy cavalry with only two hundred of them. Although they also had the help of the griffin raid, they would never have been able to do it so easily without the sudden appearance of a dozen Avalon "warriors" to lead them. You must know that the Thorn Flower Knights on the right wing suffered heavy losses today.

Thinking of the necklace that had been sealed into the Neti card, Leon heard from Corvis that an entire imperial legion probably only had a few hundred pieces of Boiling Heart. That thing was also high-end military equipment for the Mage Empire. I really don't know how it was smuggled to the Western Continent and how that guy Doson got one.

Of course, it was a bargain for me now, especially with the help of Ms. Aphrodite's Neti magic. This precious equipment could now be used in bulk depending on my magic power.

Not long ago, he could only barely enhance the power of six or seven people, but now, with the increasing magic power, he could spread it to more than ten or twenty people with extreme consumption.

Unfortunately, according to what Laura said at the time, the effect of the black Neti card is ultimately limited, and at most it can only reproduce magic on one hundred human targets.

But think about it, it's not a small number. The Thorn Flower Family has just been revived, and including himself and Lohak, there are probably no more than a dozen Knights of Arms.

Later, I can really increase the number of military knights to run across the battlefield.
Looking forward to the safe scene, Leon responded to everyone's greetings, looked around at the Avalon soldiers around him, and felt a little relieved.

Without counting, I knew that twenty people was no more, no less.

Maybe it was because of learning magic, but his memory was getting better and better. As long as he paid attention, he could basically remember most of the warriors he had seen under his command.

At least among the cavalry brought out this time, Leon did not see anyone sacrificed, only a few servants suffered minor scratches.

"Now that everything is alright, I feel relieved." Leon patted Sir Filippo's arm.

If possible, he wanted to bring everyone back to Avalon with all their limbs intact.

After exchanging a few words with everyone, Leon left the cavalry camp.

The tent he was assigned was a little far from here, because the Deathclaw had to stay away from the warhorse, and he had to make sure he could take off at any time.

He had not gone far on the muddy ground covered with axles and horse hooves when he heard Azerien's call.

Looking back, Leon stopped when he saw his good brother walking towards him quickly.

Azerien caught up with his companions, looking a little puzzled: "Leon, we just won a battle, why don't you seem very happy?"

Leon was stunned when he heard this.

"Was I that obvious?"

"It's not that obvious, but I know you. When you have something on your mind, you become less talkative." Azerien shook his head.

Leon smiled bitterly: “Well, it’s true.”

He nodded to his partner, whom he trusted so much, and expressed the hesitation and worries in his mind without hiding anything.

"To be honest, during the past few days in Usato, I have had an idea that I don't know whether it is good or bad."

Leon looked down at the fertile soil beneath his feet, then looked up at the gloomy sky.

".I have been able to confirm that it should be feasible, and it may have a miraculous effect and quickly decide the outcome of this war, but I am more hesitant about the serious consequences it will cause after the war."

(End of this chapter)