“Sometimes, a single person at the right place at the right time could do more than ten thousand soldiers ever could.” - Gregorian Aurelius Secundus, famed general and later Second Emperor of the Elmaiya Empire.

Reinhardt actually didn’t have many troops with him at the moment.

Out of his company’s two thousand or so men, over a third were at the north, near the Podovnian camp, either assaulting it with Lars or inside the forest nearby giving the illusion that the small force was larger than they actually were, for the injured. Other than that, Grünhildr and her second strike platoon were still at Aldenstadt, helping the city weather the siege, while Soledad’s cavalry platoon were already engaged with the enemy cavalry.

All that left Reinhardt with only a little over a thousand men under the various platoons with him.

When he felt that the time was right, he finally gave the command to charge out. The main force of the Podovnian army was distracted by the “fire” at their camp and paid for it as the Caroman and Levainian infantry they faced broke into their formation in several places. Their flanks were occupied by the harassment from cavalry, while their own cavalry were entangled in a chaotic melee and wouldn’t be able to go to their aid anytime soon.

Soledad’s assault on the right flank of the cavalry brawl also opened up a path since her actions allowed the Caroman cavalry to push back their enemies. That path was one Reinhardt would take with the rest of his company, and led straight towards the rear of the Podovniy formation. With a loud roar, the mercenaries of the Free Lances company rushed out from the forest they hid in, and charged towards the enemy lines.

Mischka’s first strike platoon led the charge from the very front, the platoon forming the point of the wedge formation. They were flanked on their sides by Erycea’s and Alycea’s platoons, while Elfriede’s and Reinhardt’s platoons followed close behind them, in the center of the formation. The rear was held by Alvaro and his Warforged, who kept pace with the rest even while they secured the back of the formation.

It was a gesture of trust given to him as he and his people would be responsible for securing the backline even while the mercenaries fought their way through the enemy formation. The rear guard was a risky position that demanded much from the people assigned the task.

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The mercenaries rushed past the fighting cavalry and barreled straight towards the back of the Podovnian lines, where their archers were positioned. Several of said archers saw them coming while they were still a distance away and warned their compatriots, and some of the archers turned their bows towards the approaching mercenaries only to witness their arrows shatter on the wall of shields that rushed towards them.

While those archers switched to melee weapons before the mercenaries crashed into their formation, it did them little good in the end.

Mischka’s troops were dominated by dwarves, orcs, therians, and hybrids, most of which were big even for the standards of their respective races. They specialized in brute force, wore armor so thick and heavy it would have rendered an average human barely able to move in it, and carried weapons and shields that would be beyond a human’s ability to use effectively.

They had forcefully tossed cavalrymen aside in the past, horse and all. A group of archers stood no chance whatsoever in stopping their charge and were simply either shoved aside or directly trampled beneath their boots.

Erycea and Alycea – who similarly had positioned their strongest shieldbearers at the front – had it easier as they simply followed behind and enlarged the gap Mischka’s platoon already pried open. Together, the three platoons pushed as hard and as fast as they could through the enemy archers as their main target would be deeper within the enemy formation.

Reinhardt aimed for a decapitating strike, even if it would be a risky endeavor for his company. It was the most effective way he could use his troops and impact the battle in a major way.

Since the Podovnian leaders were situated in the safest place, in the very center of their formation, his mercenaries had to go through many layers of soldiers to get there. They relied on Mischka’s platoon’s brute force to push their way in, while a couple of Mischka’s men raised Salicia up from time to time, at which point the one-eyed archer would snipe off a commander that was directing his or her men to get in their way.

The mercenaries pushed deep into the enemy formation before Mischka’s platoon split to the sides and disgorged their best warriors to continue the push forward together with Elfriede’s and Reinhardt’s platoons. Meanwhile the rest of the platoon spread to the sides and assisted Erycea and Alycea to hold the flanks and prevented the enemy from interfering with those who continued to charge forward.

Some of the Podovnian soldiers managed to regain their bearings and turned to strike at the mercenaries’ rear, but there they found themselves stymied against the disciplined lines of the Warforged that acted as the rear guard. Alvaro directed his men to hold the line and thus prevent the Podovnians from disrupting the assault team’s efforts, despite being greatly outnumbered.

The situation was one that placed both sides at risk. The Podovnians had the mercenaries encircled within their formation, and given time, would likely be able to eradicate them as the weight of their superior numbers took their toll. However, whether they would even have that much time was a question that hung in the air, as while the mercenaries placed themselves in a dangerous spot, they did so in order to get a chance at an equally vital target.

Even while the mercenaries fought their way towards their direction, the Podovnian Marquis and his generals found themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place, as a Caroman strike force had similarly pushed towards the from the front, conveniently closing off the directions the mercenary assault from their rear did not cover.