Flanking Strike
Kar tribe warriors and Imperial soldiers.
Compare the two sides man for man, and the Kar held a slight edge in individual combat power. That was only natural. They were born warriors, tempered by the barren northern wastes until their will was as hard as the frozen ground they walked.
And yet the Imperial soldiers were still stronger—still able to hold back greater numbers of Kar—for one reason alone: disciplined formations and trained military doctrine.
Some Kar warriors did study martial arts on their own or inherit a transmitted style, but most fought purely on instinct.
And so—
Clang!
The Kar warrior who blocked Bert’s strike dropped low and lunged straight at him. Before he could do anything else—
Thrust!
—a spear drove down from above and took his life on the spot.
Whoosh!
“Move. There’s no time to rest.”
“Yes, sir…!”
Bert could not believe what he was seeing.
How many has he put down already…?
All Bert had done was run forward on order and swing at anything that got in the way. Every time his own attack was blocked, a spear flashed in from the side without fail and dropped the Kar warrior in a single blow.
Sweat rolled down his spine.
I… I picked a fight with a monster like this…?
He found himself reflecting on his past self. He had thought the squad leader had beaten him half to death that day. Now he understood how much force Arteon must have been holding back.
“Bert! Get your head on straight!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
Three Kar warriors were already charging from the front. Bert lifted his axes. Any other day he would have been frozen with fear—but instead—
“There’s a monster right behind meeeee!”
—he roared his true thoughts without meaning to and hurled himself at them, axes swinging.
Slash! Crack!
Maybe it was the burning gaze at his back. Maybe it was knowing that if they broke these three, it would finally be over. Either way, Bert’s axes were nothing like before.
Shhk!
One axe scored a Kar’s arm. The follow-up buried itself in another’s neck.
Thud!
The dull impact dropped one of them, and the remaining two wheeled around, screaming.
“You damned Imperials!”
“Dieee!”
They came in from the flanks, going for the squad—but—
Clang! Tang!
“S-Squad Leader! Over here!”
“You’re not getting through.”
Raphelson and Zalbarog sealed both sides before the strikes could land.
Thrust! Thrust!
Arteon and Raymon answered at once. Their spears shot forward in a single straight line and dropped the last two.
Seeing it, the rest of the 4th Platoon who had been following behind erupted.
“We did it!”
“We broke through!”
They had not been idle while the 4th Squad opened the path. They had finished off the stragglers that bounced free and cut off enemy routes of approach.
Hendris saw the road open and barked the next order.
“Swing right and move on the enemy center! Avoid contact with other groups if you can!”
“Understood!”
The entire 4th Platoon answered as one. Then—
“4th Squad! Hold the lead as you are! Once the fighting starts, 1st and 2nd Squads cover both flanks of the 4th! 3rd Squad will push with me and put our weight behind the 4th for the frontal breakthrough!”
“Understood!”
“Yes, Platoon Leader!”
“Understood!”
The leaders of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Squads roared back and poured on more speed with their men.
To the warlords directing the fight in the center, the sudden sight of a platoon bursting out through the left blocking line was pure shock.
“What is that?”
“Who the hell are they?!”
They could not hide their confusion. Roughly thirty men? That handful had forced a path through their warriors and come this far?
No—worse than that—
“They’re attacking first?”
There was no precedent. The Empire had always been the side that absorbed their assaults. But the sudden appearance left the warlords no choice. They spun at once. If they did nothing, their rear would be hit. They had to stop this, no matter what.
“Turn some of the warriors and stop them! We cannot give them our backs!”
The Kar warlord Harambu roared the order.
In that instant—
“Sorry, but we need to pass through here.”
“Wh-What?!”
A voice from the side made Harambu whip his head around in shock. In that same breath—
Shhk!
—something seared hot across his throat.
“…Huh?”
The world spun. Then—
Thud.
—his head hit the ground, and everything went black.
Collapse.
“The enemy commander is down! Hit them from behind!”
“Uwaaaaaaaah!”
“Kill them all!”
“Aaaargh!”
On Arteon’s shout, the 4th Platoon’s blood was up. They slammed into the Kar warriors’ rear. The Kar still driving forward through the center reeled.
“Wh-What?!”
“Enemy to the rear! Watch your backs!”
“Aaaaaaagh!”
In a heartbeat, more than twenty of them were gone under the 4th Platoon’s assault. They tried too late to turn and hold—but the Imperial soldiers at the front were already pressing hard.
“We’re here too!”
“You think we’ll just let you go?!”
Caught between both attacks, the Kar fell without ever finding their footing.
“Gyaaaaaah!”
“F-Fight! Don’t run! We are the honorable warri— gurk!”
And in the middle of that chaos—
“…What is that kid?”
—Hendris could not hide his astonishment as he watched Arteon, who had broken free alone and taken the enemy commander’s head.
“Hurry! We have to get as close as we can before they spot us!”
The 4th Platoon had reversed the western blocking line and was racing for the heart of the battlefield. A surprise attack only meant something if the enemy did not see it coming. At their current pace—
Damn it…! They’re going to notice before we get there…!
—a proper ambush was already slipping away. Even a small force of more than thirty men running in a pack was bound to draw eyes.
“Ah?! We’ve been spotted!”
“Run faster! Hit them before they can form up!”
Hendris shouted over the 1st Squad Leader’s cry. If they lost the edge now, everything they had paid to break the line would be wasted.
Then—
Whoosh!
—Arteon, running at the point, suddenly surged ahead.
What was he trying now? Hendris started to call him back—
Boom!
—but a heavy stamp of Arteon’s foot launched him forward like an arrow. The speed was absurd. Hendris’s eyes went wide. So did every other man in the platoon watching him go.
A dash so fierce it left them in another world entirely. In a blink he was far ahead, and the longer they stared—
“…What is that kid?”
—the more impossible he seemed.
Arteon, already off the formation line, poured mana into his legs.
Hummm!
He still could not handle mana perfectly, but—
This much is enough…!
—his body felt ready to fly. At that blistering pace, the warlord directing the Kar warriors in the central fight entered his sight. They still had not registered the charge. Arteon cut off the unit’s straight line of approach and slid sideways instead.
The instant he left the warlord’s field of view—
“…?!”
—the Kar warlord finally saw the racing 4th Platoon and bellowed.
“Turn some of the warriors and stop them! We cannot give them our backs!”
On that order, the Kar in the center began to pivot toward the 4th Platoon—exactly when Arteon closed the last of the distance.
Got him…!
“Sorry, but we need to pass through here.”
Arteon’s grip locked on his spear. The warlord reeled at the figure that had appeared beside him—but—
Hummm!
—Iglis’s mana-wreathed blade sheared straight through his throat.
Shhk!
“The enemy commander is down! Hit them from behind!”
Arteon roared and drove into the central field. The 4th Platoon, arriving on his heels, seized that momentum and crashed into the enemy. Arteon fell back into the 4th Squad’s formation with a short breath and began cutting Kar warriors down in turn.
The mood of the field flipped in an instant. Imperial soldiers who had been one push from breaking instead shattered the Kar lines.
Bwoooooooo!
“They’re running!”
“Don’t chase! Hold formation and collect the wounded!”
“We won! We won!”
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Watching the Kar warriors flee, the Imperial soldiers raised a thunderous cheer. A victory this complete had been a long time coming.
Arteon let out a quiet breath and swept a look over his squad. Minor cuts and bruises, nothing serious.
Raymon came up beside him.
“Squad Leader… we made it because of you.”
It had been a good plan. Their own limits had nearly ruined it. The others might not have seen it, but Raymon understood the situation with perfect clarity.
We were too slow…
They had been a heartbeat from being caught. Arteon had cut that danger off at the root, and that was why the operation had succeeded.
Arteon tapped Raymon’s shoulder.
“You did well. We only pulled it off because of all of you.”
He scanned the field again. The enemy had withdrawn, but the work left was endless. The wounded still needed care, and the blocking-line walls had to be raised once more.
We won this time… but there’s no knowing when they’ll hit us again.
Arteon raised his voice.
“4th Squad! Help the others and rebuild the formation on the double. Finish fast and we pull back!”
“Yes, sir!”
On their answering shout, Arteon set to work with the soldiers, stacking the broken walls. Materials were so short they had to use enemy corpses for the rebuild, but not a man complained.
Time passed. They were still hauling their wounded and reinforcing the wall for the next fight when a voice called from behind.
“Arteon!”
“…?”
Arteon turned. Hendris, leader of the 4th Platoon, stood there waiting.
“The company commander is calling for you. Come with me now.”
The company commander—of the 1st Company—
Peerland, then.
A commander famous for being exacting to a fault…
I’ll know when I get there.
Arteon fell in behind Hendris and moved out.
At that same moment—
Ssssshk.
—Kar warriors who had been lying in wait lifted their heads. The battle was over. The field reeked of blood. Night had fallen, and this was the hour when their blades gleamed sharpest.
At their center, the Jireun Bractus had loosed spoke a single line.
“We take the enemy commander’s head and return.”
Their eyes flashed. Then they raced away into the dark.