162. The Outbreak of the Great War (2)

When Mo Fei's small fleet arrived at the Dark Continent, the enemy forces had already completed a comprehensive encirclement of Napo, a vital stronghold occupied by the Bear Clan.

Deldu's fleet had now fully returned, while the Death Cavalry remained unembarked. The position currently held by the Death Cavalry was the most perilous. Once the enemy finished surrounding Napo, they would undoubtedly dispatch a large force first to uproot this thorn in their side. After all, no commander could possibly feel at ease with such a formidable force lurking nearby while conducting a siege.

Just as the enemy recklessly finalized their encirclement of Napo, another massive army pressed down toward the Death Iron Cavalry. However, they were exceedingly cautious; it appeared their mission was straightforward—annihilate the cavalry if the opportunity arose, but at the very least, force this cavalry division back into the sea should a complete victory prove unattainable.

"They have quite a high opinion of themselves, playing this trick on us," a berserker vice-commander muttered, watching the enemy troops carefully advance behind shield carts toward the cavalry's defensive encampment. "Surely they don't think they can push us into the sea with this little stunt, do they?"

"If you fail to respond with caution, you just might find yourself pushed right into the sea," Mo Fei's voice sounded directly behind the berserker vice-commander.

These berserkers commanding the cavalry troops had been paying too much attention to the front, failing to notice that Mo Fei had already arrived among them.

"Young Master!"

Only then did these berserkers realize that the newcomer was none other than their young master, Mo Fei.

"No need for formalities. Let's deal with these fellows first," Mo Fei quickly intervened, stopping the berserkers as they prepared to step down and salute him.

"Now, I am taking command of the cavalry. Obey my orders."

"Yes!"

"Kane, lead the First Regiment and advance."

Kane, standing behind Mo Fei, acknowledged in a loud voice and took the lead, pushing the First Regiment forward.

"Second Regiment, left flank! Third Regiment, right flank! Fourth and Fifth Regiments, center. Provide backup to the vanguard!" Hearing Mo Fei's commands, all the detachment commanders swiftly shifted their formations.

"Mage corps in the center. Fire at will once the enemy enters attack range, and cavalry archers, suppress the enemy's charge."

"Yes!"

Three thousand mages moved forward in unison, positioning themselves directly behind the Fourth and Fifth Regiments.

"Sixth Regiment, do not attack; protect the mages."

The commander of the Sixth Regiment was just wondering if the Young Master had forgotten about their regiment when the order finally reached them. They well knew that the close-quarters combat capability of mages was abysmally poor; without military protection, they were destined to be slaughtered in a chaotic melee. Deeply aware of the gravity of their mission, they immediately moved into a semi-enclosing formation around the rear and flanks of the mages, leaving only a semi-circular opening in the front—an opening the Sixth Cavalry Regiment could fill at a moment's notice. As for the present, since the Young Master was leading several units at the front, their primary focus needed to be on securing the flanks.

These mages, hailing from the Magic Continent, had been trained by the sixty Bear Clan mages. While only a handful could achieve instantaneous spellcasting, their spell-chanting speed had improved qualitatively through continuous training. Although they lacked the monstrous proficiency of the sixty Bear Clan mages, the concentrated attack of three thousand mages was still more than enough to give the advancing enemy a harsh lesson.

The distance closed. The enemy had not anticipated that this cavalry force, heavily outnumbered, would actually deploy into an offensive formation. Faced with this bizarre turn of events, the enemy vanguard halted, and the two armies fell into a standoff.

The enemy vanguard had already entered the range of the cavalry crossbows, though they were still somewhat out of the mages' attack range, so the cavalry held their fire.

Over by the city, the besieging enemy forces had already commenced their assault; there was no time to wait any longer.

"Center and flanks, press forward. Mages, enter attack range." Hearing the sounds of the enemy siege echoing from afar, Mo Fei knew they could wait no longer.

The two flanks advanced first, followed closely by Kane leading the First Regiment and the center. By this point, even if the enemy on the opposite side casually tossed a stone, it could easily hit Kane.

At a signal from the sixty Bear Clan mages, the large army halted once more. Just as the enemy commanders were trying to figure out how to respond, overwhelming, sky-blackening fireballs rained down. The sixty monstrous Bear Clan mages launched their attack first, immediately followed by the barrage from the three thousand mages. In a single instant, the thirty thousand enemy vanguard troops vanished without a trace. Under the dense fireball bombardment of the three thousand mages, nothing was left on the ground save for scattered fragments and severed limbs. Three signal whistles pierced the air with crisp notes, and the cavalry charged.

This hostile force numbered no less than four hundred thousand, yet they had long since been terrified out of their wits by the rapid, devastating strikes of the Death Empire's cavalry. They had only dared to surround the position now by virtue of their sheer numbers, but they were instantly stunned into a stupor by the mages' monstrous assault. The moment the cavalry launched their charge, the enemy troops at the very front shattered and routed. The enemy behind, completely unaware of what had happened, were thrown into complete chaos as they were trampled by the retreating throngs, and soon they too collapsed into disorder.

Without even needing to eliminate sixty thousand men, the four-hundred-thousand-strong army tasked with pinning down the cavalry had completely disintegrated. The right flank of the besieging enemy forces was now entirely exposed to the cavalry.

"Kane, assemble the cavalry. Form up in a mass charge formation and annihilate them." Mo Fei timely altered his attack command, issuing the order for a massed charge.

The low, resonant horns of assembly sounded. Each cavalry detachment rapidly rallied. Kane's First Regiment now served as the protruding spearhead, with all other cavalry units arrayed alongside it to form a massive wedge-shaped army. The Sixth Regiment, originally tasked with protecting the mages, also became part of this sharp, lethal spearhead. Consequently, no troops were left to guard the mage division. Yet, Mo Fei trusted that with the sixty Bear Clan mages present, facing scattered enemy remnants would pose no problem whatsoever.

What Wudos had never expected was that the tides of offense and defense would reverse so quickly. He had been the one on the offensive originally, and now he was the one being attacked—and all of this had happened in the span of just over ten days.

Faced with an enemy siege force several times the size of his own, Wudos felt, for the first time, just how utterly insignificant he was. Why on earth had he ever entertained the notion of trying to match wits with the Death Empire? Had he simply listened to his elder brother Mo Fei's advice from the start—to advance steadily and strike surely—how could things have come to this today?

Watching the enemy troops commencing their siege outside the city walls, Wudos felt completely devoid of confidence. Although this small city occupied a crucial strategic location, the enemy forces on the Dark Continent had not fortified it into a towering, impregnable citadel. Judging by the enemy's numbers, breaking through this small stronghold would likely not take long.

Right now, Wudos had no choice but to pin all his hopes on the Death Empire's hundred-thousand-strong cavalry. Naturally, Wudos did not expect this mere one hundred thousand cavalrymen to crush an enemy force several times their size, but regardless, carving out an escape route was entirely within the realm of possibility. Wudos had posted observation sentries on all four sides of the small city, stationing three separate observation posts specifically in the direction of the dock-side cavalry. Their objective was singular: to guide the main army in breaking out of the encirclement the very moment the Death Cavalry opened a breach. Wudos believed that the pride inherent to the Death Empire's cavalry would prevent them from abandoning their allies-in-arms to save only their own skins.

Wudos's judgment proved flawlessly accurate. Shortly after the enemy launched their siege, the observation sentries heard the thunderous sound of hooves rolling across the ground.

Soon enough, intimately familiar with the combat methods of the Death Cavalry, the Bear Clan observation sentries watched in sheer disbelief as the rapidly approaching, formidable cavalry force of the Death Empire deployed into a full-scale assault formation. Weren't they here to lift the siege? Could it be... could it be that reinforcements had arrived?

The three observation sentries dared not immediately signal the Bear Clan main army to break out in accordance with Wudos's plan. If this cavalry force was primarily mounting an aggressive assault rather than merely relieving the siege, charging out of the city at this moment would only disrupt the battle deployment of the reinforcing troops.

"Quickly, go and report this to the Patriarch. Inform him of the situation here so he can make a prompt decision," one of the sentries said to another.

He certainly dared not make any executive decisions under these circumstances. The sudden appearance of the Death Empire's cavalry had already forced the hostile forces on this side into a total rout. Yet the Death Empire's cavalry did not stop there; instead, they swept onward toward another wing of the enemy army. Watching the grueling hardship their own warriors faced in defending the city, and then looking at how a mere one hundred thousand cavalrymen of the Death Empire had utterly swept away the enemy's siege forces, the Bear Clan commanders of all ranks exchanged glances in silence.

Under the onslaught of the Death Empire's cavalry, the enemy's first wave of siege plans went bankrupt. All enemy units were forced to pull back and gather in the center of the small city, while the Death Cavalry came to a halt, maintaining their wedge-shaped combat formation as they stood in a standoff against the enemy.

Kane secretly broke out in a cold sweat. The enemy forces were congregating in ever-greater numbers; if the cavalry launched an attack now, they would inevitably become bogged down in the enemy's human-wave tactics.

"What is there to fear? Consider today a decisive battle, and let them witness the true might of our Empire's cavalry." Mo Fei appeared at the rear of the cavalry alongside the mages. His voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly to the ears of most of the surrounding cavalrymen.

The berserker cavalrymen beside him automatically parted a path. Mo Fei urged his mount forward to the front of the battle line, while the cavalry behind him had already spread his words outward like a military command.

"Decisive battle! Decisive battle!..." The deafening roar of one hundred thousand berserkers shook the heavens.

Wudos heard it as well. Rushing about putting out fires everywhere, he finally caught a brief respite after the Death Cavalry's assault. "Warriors of the Bear Clan! Outside our walls are our allied brothers-in-arms! Today, let us fight alongside them and annihilate every last enemy blocking our path!!"

"Fight! Fight!... Destroy them..."

Amidst the battle cries, the city gates flew open wide. Bear Clan warriors surged out in orderly lines, rapidly forming an expanding phalanx on the right flank of the Death Cavalry. Stirred by the berserkers' war cries, the morale of the Bear Clan soldiers soared.

The cavalry regiments swiftly deployed into formation, and the three thousand mages rapidly moved into the central sector. The first wave of attack would be initiated by the enemy, to be immediately followed by the mages' barrage.

Although shouting of a decisive battle, Mo Fei was hardly a fool. Playing such high-stakes games against a numerically superior enemy using brute force alone was a blunder he would never commit unless driven to the absolute brink.

At times like this, it all came down to who could intimidate the other first. Yet the enemy still held the initiative in terms of sheer numbers; the addition of a mere one hundred thousand cavalrymen did not erase the opponent's numerical superiority of several folds. However, the utter routing of the four hundred thousand troops sent to intercept the cavalry forced the enemy commander overseeing the siege to carefully weigh whether a decisive battle at this juncture would truly benefit his side.

It was time to apply some pressure. With a wave of Mo Fei's hand, the entire cavalry force surged into motion, advancing in perfect alignment with the mages trailing closely behind. At a single command, their magical assault would instantly unleash a devastating blow upon the enemy vanguard.

Seeing the Death Cavalry move, the Bear Clan phalanx similarly pressed forward in lockstep toward the enemy's left flank.

The enemy commander realized that his opponents lacked a genuine resolve for a true decisive battle—otherwise, they would not have advanced at such a measured pace, but would have launched a full-scale charge outright. After prolonged deliberation, recognizing that his own troops' morale was low and that a decisive battle offered no guarantee of a thorough victory, he issued a series of successive orders.

The enemy retreated...