The five imposing guardians guarding Danyum were a sight to behold.
Every step they took, their feet dug into the ground as deep as a man’s shin, and when they kicked out their front feet, an armful of trees were uprooted and toppled over. Clouds of dust rose as high as the creatures’ heads, and whenever they moved, they caused a light breeze that swept over the soldiers of Black Scale.
And Lakrak, who was facing all five of the guardians, was a living legend. The guardians were busy twisting their bodies to avoid every swing of his spear, and it was difficult to track him when every move of his triggered crackling lightning.
As the smell of the guardians’ blood permeated the air, tension lingered among the army of Black Scale as if they had already joined the war. And with the mythical fight going on in the background, Black Scale began to move.
When Vasen Lak Orazen said that he had never lost against an army of people, Su-Heon the adjutant covered their mouth and smiled. Su-Heon did come from one of the four major families of Automation, but they were still a Human, making them an uncommon sight in the army of Black Scale. Compared to Lizardmen, Su-Heon wouldn’t be considered physically strong, but they had proven their competence through other abilities until now.
‘Prince Vasen is an interesting man.’
There were lots of concerns when the news that Vasen had been appointed the commander of the First Army first broke out, but beside the fact that Vasen was a prince, Vasen had earned the title of commander with his achievements at the southern sea.
‘If he’s confident and has the capability to back it up, then he has nothing to hide.’
Su-Heon said, “But Commander, judging from the situation, we need to enter the gorge first—their snout, so to speak. Not only have they blocked the gorge, but they have also placed archers at the top of the gorge. Even though our soldiers possess bravery like no other, they still bleed when hit with blades. Would it be okay to proceed like this?”
Face the enemy with greater numbers. It was one of the fundamentals of military strategy and tactics. And this was true even when the total number of soldiers on both sides were the same. In that case, a narrow path would limit the number of enemies who could pass through and thus granting one an advantage. But at this moment, it was Danyum’s army that benefited from the terrain.
Vasen replied, “Can the battle formation that I specified be done without much trouble?”
“Oh, yes.”
The formation Vasen specified was one that surrounded the enemy. At a glance, it seemed advantageous, but Black Scale’s army were the one that had to go through the gorge rather than their enemies. In Su-Heon’s opinion, the formation encircling the gorge wasn’t that useful no matter how threatening it might seem since they would have to fight in the gorge anyway.
“Are we not going to advance today, unlike what you told the generals?”
“No. Don’t you see Apostle Lakrak fighting the guardians of Danyum over there? Of course I think Lakrak will win, but behind those guardians is the god of Satyrs, the Limitless God. We don’t know what strategy their god will use with a Miracle, so it’s better to hurry.”
“Then wouldn’t it be better to go into a wedge-shaped formation?”
The wedge-shaped formation was a typical offensive formation, and it was a common one to employ when fighting in a gorge like this.
But Vasen clicked his tongue.
“Three generals came by earlier and said something similar.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. It’s my fault for not giving a proper explanation.”
Su-Heon asked, “Then may I ask exactly what is happening?”
Vasen didn’t reply immediately and instead looked at the gorge in the distance. The gorge itself wasn’t very narrow. If all ten thousand soldiers Black Scale had deployed were Lizardmen, Vasen would have said to advance in a wedge-shaped formation, having judged that it was worth going up against the enemies that way.
With Night Sky’s blessing, the Lizardmen had outstanding strength, and they would be able to quickly climb up the gorge that was several meters high. Lizardmen also possessed great physical attributes, so the wounds arrows inflicted on them would be less severe, and in close combat, they were considered experts compared to other species.
In fact, that would’ve been a better tactic than any if they were all Lizardmen, but the fact was that out of the ten thousand soldiers, only 2000 were Lizardmen. The rest of the soldiers were mentally and physically strong and had been selected to receive military training, but they were far from an excellent army. Making them go head-to-head with the enemy would be dangerous. A tactic was needed to protect the weak with the strong, while at the same time slowly attacking the enemy’s vulnerabilities.
“Su-Heon, you said that the gorge was like a snout, right?”
“Huh? Yes.”
“Then we just need to make them throw up what they ate.”
“Pardon?”
“What do you think would happen if your nose is tickled by a foxtail?”
“…What?”
Vasen sighed.
“Just watch.”
Vasen decided to put himself in the shoes of Su-Heon and the other generals. They were veterans. And therefore, they were still tied to old tactics even when they were introduced to a new battlefield.
‘It’s not a bad choice to reference the past, but it’s a problem to stick to the old tricks even after learning new ways.’
Fortunately enough, Black Scale’s army wasn’t the only one plagued with such a problem; the same was true for Danyum’s army.
‘That’s why they picked a formation like that.’
In Vasen’s view, the formation Danyum’s army had gotten into was a complete failure. Since the commander was leading an army of thirty thousand, they couldn’t have been a fool; they were probably a veteran adhering to the old ways just as Vasen expected.
‘If that’s the case, you should have set up camp at the end of the gorge, not the entrance of it, or have a large-scale fight with the gorge at our backs. Wouldn’t that have been better? You even have more people.’
Of course, the opponent being ignorant was good for Vasen.
Vasen confirmed that Black Scale’s army had surrounded the entrance of the gorge. And each unit was in their place as Vasen had commanded. Even though there were still people who doubted Vasen’s orders, the chain of command fortunately seemed to be functioning properly.
“Attention.” Vasen made the order through the command system. “Aim the cannons at the entrance of the gorge.”
And soon after, with the sound of loud booms, rocks scattered into the gorge.
***
“What are you all doing! Hurry and fight back with cannons as well!”
As Danyum’s commander-in-chief, Yubaim Dolan, shouted this, one of the generals replied, “We are already doing our best, but the infantry are too tightly aligned, so it will take some time to bring the cannons forward!”
“Place the cannons on top of the gorge!”
“If we try to raise the cannons to the top of the gorge, either the cannons will be damaged, or our people will get hurt. We would have to take a detour, but that would take a long time.”
Yubaim slammed down on the desk.
“Then pull back one of the troops on the west side.”
At those words, another general said, “Please reconsider, Commander-in-Chief!”
“Why?”
“The enemy’s cannons are far away, so the damage isn’t too severe right now. However, the soldiers are very agitated as our troops aren’t able to fight back. If we pull back one of the units, I’m worried that the morale of those who aren’t able to fall back will suffer greatly.”
“…Damn it!”
As Danyum’s army was slowly moving their cannons forward, Black Scale continued their plan. They measured their distance from the gorge and confirmed that there was no cannon at the opponent’s front; then they began to advance little by little.
Su-Heon realized what Vasen had meant by tickling the nose.
“Was this formation more advantageous even from outside the gorge because we have cannons?”
Vasen silently nodded.
With soldiers wielding swords and spears alone, a formation that encircled the gorge would be useless against enemies inside the gorge. But things were different if there was a cannon that could take lives from a distance. Since the firepower could be focused on one point, the fundamental principle of facing less enemies with more allies would be maintained.
“The enemy’s commander would have thought of using a cannon too, but it’s hard to shoot a cannon from inside the gorge.”
Because their own men would get hit.
“But they can’t shoot from on top of the gorge, either.”
The current cannon used was field cannons, where the cannon balls would be loaded through the muzzle. If they tried to shoot downward, the cannon balls would only roll out, and even if they aimed at the front with a parabola trajectory in mind, the gorge wasn’t that wide, so their own men would get hit.
“Then Danyum’s army should…”
“They shouldn’t have settled in the gorge in the first place.”
“But the cannons Danyum’s army used are nearly identical to ours. If they bring their cannons to the front…”
“That would be a good thing.”
“What?”
Vasen continued to move Black Scale’s cannons forward while shooting. Although each shot didn’t take down many of the enemy infantry, their soldiers were already in a panic state due to the continuous outpour of cannon balls.
“The cannon has arrived right behind us! Make room!”
At those words, the infantry of Danyum’s army cheered and made way. And just then, Vasen commanded the cavalry to charge. At the same time Black Scale’s last cannonball was shot, Black Scale’s prided Cockatoo cavalry launched their attack.
Danyum’s spearmen quickly fixed their formation, but half of the infantry had already given up their spots for the cannon. The archers at each side of the gorge shot their arrows, aiming at the Cockatoo cavalry, but Black Scale’s cannoneers were now aiming at the top of the gorge.
Only a few riders fell from their Cockatoos, and the rest broke through the enemy’s collapsed formation.
“Do not be afraid! If we keep the formation with our spears, we can deal with the cavalry with no problem!”
Danyum’s generals shouted as hard as they could to the point that they seemed pathetic, but that was no use. The spearmen at the very front had already lost every last bit of their fighting spirit and put up a poor resistance. They ended up getting their heads cut off by the Cockatoo riders, or they tried to run away and got stabbed in the back.
As the generals of Danyum prepared and calmed the next row of spearmen, planning to create another phalanx, the Cockatoo cavalry quickly turned around at the command to retreat.
The cannon fires started anew. And as this routine repeated once more, Yubaim made his command.
“We should advance forward.”
There was immediate opposition.
“Commander-in-Chief, we cannot do that! We can’t give up the advantage of terrain when little damage has been done on the enemies!”
“Look around you! Look at what’s happening if you have eyes! How is this advantageous? We tried to safely fight along the canyon, but we aren’t even able to take advantage of our superior number.”
Yubaim was right.
But then another general said, “However, the enemy has already gotten into formation. If we advance like this, it would be the same as running into their arms!”
Yubaim felt like he had been hit on the head.
‘We were the ones who were waiting for the enemy to come into our arms. How did this happen?’
Yubaim asked, “What are you suggesting then? That we retreat?”
The question was met with resounding silence.
If they were to retreat back to the end of the gorge, there would be no place for them to make a stand to stop Black Scale from reaching the capital, Derimerit.
Yubaim said, “There’s nothing else we can do. Putting aside our disadvantage, we must try to take advantage of our superior numbers.”
They had undergone loss in the battle just now because they fought in the gorge, and Yubaim judged that at least a few hundred had died. It could be considered a large number, but they still had more men than the enemy.
“Advance!”
At Yubaim’s command, Danyum’s infantry got into formations and advanced forward. Black Scale’s cannons fired, but perhaps it was because they were at least able to face the enemy, Danyum’s soldiers were less agitated than before.
Yubaim was worried, so he asked for a briefing sooner than usual.
“Is there no problem with the advance?”
“Yes, there is none. Each infantry squad is maintaining formation next to the cannon. I think they are trying to fight our troops without retreating.”
When Yubaim was going to give the order to keep advancing, another general said, “The enemy’s cavalry aren’t anywhere to be seen.”
Yubaim got lost in thoughts for a moment. Then yet another general said, “The enemy cavalry seems to have returned to the rear as they got exhausted from the preceding battle.”
That seemed reasonable.
And Danyum’s army continued to advance. They got back into a wedge-shaped formation and marched toward the front of Black Scale’s army, who had arranged themselves into the shape of a fan. Yubaim was thinking of dividing the Black Scale’s relatively smaller troop and destroying half of them first.
And once the army in wedge-shaped formation faced Black Scale’s infantry, Vasen, who had been waiting for that moment, pulled out his sword.
“Attack!”
The sudden shout came from the right side of Danyum’s army. From there emerged the cavalry that Danyum hadn’t noticed.
Vasen had the exhausted Cockatoo cavalry fall back while the horse cavalry made up of several species took vanguards. And Vasen himself was taking point.
Riding a Cockatoo, Vasen yelled, “Cut off the enemy’s rear!”
Updated from 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝘮