“Beware those let loose after being caged for so long. All that pent-up frustration and aggression has to go somewhere, and it’s likely headed your way.” - Brian Edessach, retired mercenary turned barkeep.

To the south of the battlefield, Reinhardt and his Free Lances was positioned on the far western end of the battle lines, with the dwarven heavy infantry to their east and the light infantry taking up the region closer to the defense lines. At first, when they were informed to send an extra thousand of the heavies to the north and to let the Free Lances take up the place, some of the dwarven commanders expressed their skepticism.

It was an understandable doubt. This time around the dwarves sent out their elites from the central region, arguably the best troops in Knallzog responsible for the defense of the most important areas of the kingdom. These elites typically only met their match when sparring against their own fellows, and were rarely matched otherwise.

On top of that, the dwarves understandably had a high opinion on their own military’s prowess, which was understandable given how their heavy infantry and heavy cavalry were arguably without peer in the world. For that reason, the main elite units of the dwarven army were entirely composed of dwarves, with non-dwarves forming part of the auxiliary legions instead.

Back during the days when the Free Lances were still under Reinhardt’s aunt Ingrid’s command, the company was at least half dwarven by composition, if not more. That ratio had been greatly diluted under Reinhardt’s lead because he had more relaxed hiring policies and also accepted people from many different places.

Because of that though, there was a bit of skepticism amongst the dwarven elites about their performance, though the grumbling was mostly settled by a command from uncle Angus. Reinhardt himself mostly ignored the grumbles, as he knew that it was better to let actions and results speak for themselves rather than to try to convince the other side using words.

As the signal was given, the Free Lances surged forth alongside their dwarven allies. Reinhardt places all three strike platoons as well as Erycea’s and Alycea’s platoons right at the forefront of their charge, while Elfriede’s platoon split up into smaller units and followed each of the five platoons to do their headhunting where opportunity beckoned.

To their left flank, Reinhardt positioned Alvaro’s and Astrid’s units to hold against the enemy troops further west in case they pushed against the exposed mercenary flank. Alva and Branka’s archer platoons also stayed close to the edge of the forest to lend fire support from afar, with more of their members stationed closer to the west.

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Meanwhile, Reinhardt and Lars brought their own platoons alongside Nicole, Egil, and Fatimah, following behind the charge, with each platoon assigned a section to watch out for. Should their troops in the assigned section show signs of faltering, the backup troops would be there to reinforce them as needed. Alternatively they were to replace a platoon that had taken too many injuries or were fatigued from the battle.

It turned out that he had over-prepared, as the Imperial army before him crumbled to the charge and started to scatter and rout in short order. Apparently the knowledge that they were hemmed in from all sides and were facing enemies they had never seen before had demoralized the enemy and caused quite a bit of panic within their ranks.

So when Reinhardt and his mercenaries charged straight into the enemy ranks, that just further amplified that panic and allowed them to make rapid progress that forced the dwarven heavies to their immediate east to speed up as well to not be left behind.

Several enemy officers of varying ranks were swept up in the mercenaries’ charge and were either killed or captured in the process, the mercenaries working like a living organism and efficiently passing the captives – or heads – to the rear for safe keeping. After all, officers meant bounties and bonuses that they could be exchanged for after the battle.

The march of the dwarven war chariots from the east and the dwarven cavalry from the west practically squeezed the enemy army to escape from the north-west and south-west, where the dwarven infantry were not present. A large number of the enemy troops ran away, around twenty thousand or so were taken prisoner after the battle, and at least as many were killed.

It felt a bit like a dream to witness the enemy that had been fighting against them for the better part of a month suddenly turned to rout in a single day. Then again, the victory relied a lot on the enemy’s unfamiliarity with the dwarven forces, and if what their captives said about the enemy numbers were true, the enemy still had plenty of soldiers to spare.

Soldiers that would learn from their early losses.

Most of the dead enemy soldiers met with tragic ends. The weapons used by dwarves were typically heavier ones to suit their stronger physique, and the damage caused by their blows often either directly carved a person’s body into halves or crushed them to the point that not even their own mothers would be able to identify them.

Many of the enemy soldiers taken captive had been close by when they saw their compatriots meet with such grisly ends, which made their decision to surrender quite understandable. Courage and bravery was one thing, but it was another thing entirely when one was covered in the blood and guts of a compatriot that was standing next to them just moments ago. People they might have known or even talked to just the night before, perhaps even their friend or family.

As for those who ran away, many of them dropped their weapons or threw away their armor in order to run faster, so they would likely either pose no more threat or would at least burden the enemy’s supply situation. Naturally, the leaders on the coalition’s side were aware that winning the one battle didn’t mean that they had won the war, so they immediately planned out their next move.